Hades, the Urban Legend

Chapter 526: Death Hairball

As soon as the words fell, the wooden scabbard of the short sword in Nurarihyon's hand made a sudden "buzz" sound and shot towards Yang Chen's forehead with the speed of a bullet!

Although the speed was incredibly fast, it posed no threat to Yang Chen. With a slight dodge, he avoided the scabbard.

The seemingly fragile wooden hexagonal scabbard, after being dodged, directly embedded itself into the steel wall behind, sinking right in!

"The sword is called Mimikazemaru. It never kills humans, only slays demons and monsters. But you, you are not considered human," Nurarihyon introduced the short sword in his hand while his body appeared a meter in front of Yang Chen.

Hand raised, sword fell.

What seemed like the simplest move was actually the most effective and hardest to evade!

In Yang Chen's eyes, Nurarihyon's swordsmanship was even more fierce and ruthless than that of Tokugawa Zōji, the Earth Ninja he had seen before. Moreover, the seemingly light sword, when it fell, came down like the thunderous iron hooves or the surging tides, sweeping in with no room to dodge!

"Good swordsmanship."

Yang Chen felt a bit of interest in fighting because he knew this was a true master.

Seeing the sword about to fall on his skull, the innate true qi from the cultivation of the Wangnian Yansheng Sutra within Yang Chen's body naturally formed an invisible shield. When the blade touched the edge of his body, it was slightly resisted for a few milliseconds.

Yang Chen used this time to tilt his head a few centimeters, inclining his body.

At the same time, with enough force in his hand to shatter Nurarihyon's body into pieces, Yang Chen swept his hand horizontally in a domineering manner!

Immediately after, a peculiar feeling appeared in Yang Chen's mind. His hand did indeed touch Nurarihyon's body, but his profound combat instinct told him it was all an illusion!

As expected, just as Yang Chen anticipated, the "Nurarihyon" that was hit dissolved into the air like scattered cherry blossom petals.

Yang Chen looked up, and Nurarihyon had already appeared three meters in front of him, holding the long, slender Mimikazemaru that glimmered with a cold, eerie light.

"Is this your demon technique or some kind of special skill? Truly a troublesome move," Yang Chen retracted his hand with some regret.

Nurarihyon didn't answer but instead asked, "Did you just unlock your seal?"

Yang Chen was stunned, then laughed heartily, "Unlock my seal? How could that be? You're not a god. If I unlocked my seal, it would violate the 'Covenant of the Gods.' Don't joke with me."

"Then how did you block my sword?" For the first time, Nurarihyon frowned and said, "I've trained my swordsmanship for twenty years by the seaside in Okinawa. I thought no one in this world could avoid my sword without paying a price. Even though you're a sealed god, if you didn't unlock your seal, how could you block my sword?"

Twenty years? Yang Chen suddenly understood. No wonder this guy only recently unified Takamagahara; he had been practicing his swordsmanship all this time.

So, it made sense that he only recently learned about the Snow Woman's death.

A naturally monstrous person, practicing swordsmanship by the seaside for twenty years, swinging a sword with the momentum of thousands of troops, was indeed understandable.

"Hmph, people from Takamagahara, don't be too arrogant. Even if His Excellency Hades doesn't unlock his seal, he's not someone you can contend with," one of the Zero assassins nearby had already started cursing.

Yang Chen signaled them to keep quiet, glancing around. Luckily, there were few people on the ship, and no one was passing by nearby, otherwise, he wouldn't have wanted to make a move here.

Yang Chen waved his hand at Nurarihyon, "Go on, as for why I was able to avoid it, I can tell you it's because I've practiced some inner strength techniques from Yanxia. But now I'm very interested in your demon techniques. Come at me again; I want to experience it a few more times."

"Are you mocking me?" Nurarihyon's expression turned cold. Yang Chen's attitude clearly didn't regard him as a threat.

Yang Chen chuckled without explaining, wanting to provoke this guy.

Nurarihyon didn't say any more. Suddenly, he grasped the hilt of his sword with both hands and pointed the blade downward, then released his grip.

Contrary to what others might have expected, the blade didn't fall and make a sound but instead sank into the ground!

"Ming Jing Zhi Shui (Mirror Still Water)."

Nurarihyon softly uttered four Chinese characters and closed his eyes.

As soon as Nurarihyon closed his eyes, Yang Chen was surprised to find that the guy had disappeared from his sight!

How could this be?!

Even if someone was invisible, he should still be able to sense their presence, but this time, Yang Chen really felt nothing! Not only Yang Chen, but the tense Soren and others watching also showed astonished expressions at the bizarre scene.

Nurarihyon seemed to have evaporated from the scene, with no way to sense his existence. Of course, no one foolishly believed he was really gone.

While everyone, including Yang Chen, was looking around, a blade light like moonlight slashed down from behind Yang Chen's shoulder!

Yang Chen's extreme combat instincts made him react almost instantly, leaning forward to dodge a bit, but his left rear shoulder was still grazed, cutting his clothes!

Yang Chen swiftly turned around, eyes wide, looking incredulously at Nurarihyon, who had already appeared behind him.

If not for his innate true qi protecting his body, Yang Chen could imagine that even if his arm wasn't severed, he would have had a large cut.

Although he could quickly heal, the fact that this guy could injure him was already terrifying!

Nurarihyon sneered, glancing coldly at Yang Chen, and stood sideways with a mocking look in his eyes. "It's not over yet..."

With that, Nurarihyon's figure disappeared again from Yang Chen's sight!

This time, Yang Chen didn't wait for anything. He directly channeled his innate true qi, creating an invisible shockwave around his body!

"Bang!"

Nurarihyon's figure suddenly appeared in mid-air, flung away by the explosive force of the innate true qi, crashing into the ceiling of the karaoke hall!

If not for Yang Chen's quick reaction, he would have suffered a small setback from the next strike!

Nurarihyon's "Mirror Still Water" technique was finally countered by Yang Chen's brute force method, making the onlookers breathe a sigh of relief.

They knew that Lord Hades couldn't be defeated, and everyone felt reassured.

Although Nurarihyon was flung away and hit the ceiling, it didn't seem to cause him any substantial harm. He only had some dust on him, which he brushed off after landing.

"You used Yanxia inner strength again," Nurarihyon snorted, "It's somewhat effective, but not particularly profound. If I used more force, you might not be able to repel me."

Yang Chen wasn't annoyed at being underestimated. He didn't bother to tell Nurarihyon that he had only used less than 20% of his innate true qi. Instead, he smiled and said, "Want to go again? You must have more than one trick up your sleeve and certainly haven't used your full strength. I want to see how far you can go."

Nurarihyon, however, shook his head and said, "I'm not here to duel with you. I'm just here to see if you're qualified to fight me. Since you've proven yourself, I'll wait until we reach the island and then fight you for the 'Sword of Death'. It won't be too late then."

Yang Chen felt a bit disappointed because he hadn't planned to participate in such a contest. He had no interest in that sword and fighting in front of everyone felt like being a clown. However, he didn't bother to explain much. Since Nurarihyon had no intention of continuing the fight, he let him go and used the time to think about how this guy's "invisibility" trick worked.

Nurarihyon reached out, and the wooden scabbard embedded in the steel wall flew back to him, sliding perfectly onto the blade like a magic trick.

Just when everyone found this trick rather novel, the next scene froze them in place.

A human head floated out from behind a pillar and drifted leisurely towards Nurarihyon. It was the head of a young man with delicate features!

The head opened its mouth and said, "General, Maotangji was drinking with some agents from the Soviet Order just now and got friendly with a bearded agent. She's been taken to his room."

Nurarihyon frowned and rubbed his temples with a headache. "Flying Headman, how many times have I told you to watch your body and not just move your head around, forgetting about your body!"

"Huh? Did I forget my body?!" The Flying Headman looked down and found that he was indeed just a head.

Immediately, a headless young man's body ran over from a distance, reuniting with the head to form a complete person.

"Sorry, General, I was in a hurry. You know, once Maotangji goes to bed with a man..." The Flying Headman pouted dejectedly.

Nurarihyon smiled playfully, "Are you upset that the woman you like is sleeping with another man, or are you afraid of provoking the Soviet Order?"

"Of course, it's not because I'm afraid of them! I..." The Flying Headman blushed, realizing he had said too much.

"Haha," Nurarihyon laughed heartily, patting the Flying Headman's body. "Go, bring Maotangji out. Otherwise, that poor bearded man will soon turn into a 'dead hairball'."

With that, Nurarihyon turned and gave Yang Chen a meaningful smile before leaving the scene with the Flying Headman.

After a while, Soren and the others finally snapped out of their shock and approached Yang Chen, asking, "Lord Hades, are those people really demons?!"

Yang Chen smiled mysteriously, "You mean the guy whose head was separate from his body? That demon, I know a bit about. He's called 'Flying Headman'. According to legend, he's not a bad demon, just one whose head and body separate while he sleeps, flying around using his ears as wings and eating small insects with his mouth. By dawn, his head returns to his body, but whatever he saw or heard during the night, he forgets by morning. Of course, that's just the legend. This is the first time I've seen one in person."

Listening to Yang Chen's enthusiastic description, even the battle-hardened Soren and the others felt a chill down their spines.