Chapter 143: Beast

"Understood, I will be right there," I said in a hoarse voice.

If I guessed correctly, an unexpected incident must have occurred in the massive undersea secret chamber, which had now alerted Koji Miyamoto.

Rescuing Hu Xiaoyu via the ocean route was no longer feasible.

Instead, following Koji Miyamoto might present an opportunity, while also helping me figure out what exactly had happened.

Meanwhile, at the harbor, aboard a seemingly ordinary small cruise yacht, Koji Miyamoto wore a grim expression.

"A pack of good-for-nothings. If anything goes wrong with the Myriad Evils Grand Array, I will have every single one of you buried with it," Koji Miyamoto roared with a ferocious look, completely shedding the gentlemanly facade he usually maintained.

"Eldest Young Master, should we head back first?" a middle-aged man who constantly stayed by his side asked tremblingly.

"Head back? Without Lord Heisha, who dares to activate the grand array? Don't forget how Kuwata-kun and Aso-kun died," Koji Miyamoto snapped harshly.

The middle-aged man did not dare to speak further. Activating the Myriad Evils Grand Array was extremely dangerous and unstable. Both Kuwata-kun and Aso-kun had been powerful senior Onmyoji, yet they had perished within the array while attempting to activate it. Ever since then, no one had dared to activate the Myriad Evils Grand Array and venture inside.

At that moment, Koji Miyamoto received a report from his subordinates stating that Heisha had arrived.

Standing on the deck of the cruise yacht, I looked around. To think Koji Miyamoto was using such an inconspicuous vessel—he clearly wanted to avoid drawing attention.

Presently, Koji Miyamoto came out to welcome me with a full face of smiles. We stepped into the yacht's cabin. I had expected Koji Miyamoto to bring up business immediately, but instead, he beat around the bush and said nothing of substance.

Though I was worried about Hu Xiaoyu, seeing that Koji Miyamoto refused to mention it, I reined in my emotions and put on a look of total indifference.

"Aren't Lord Heisha curious about where I am taking you and what we are going to do?" Koji Miyamoto abruptly brought the topic up himself.

"I am not interested. I only know that once I complete this task, I will receive a generous reward," I replied flatly.

Koji Miyamoto was thoroughly satisfied. This was precisely the kind of powerful expert he wanted—someone who only did what was required and never pried into other matters. Even if such a person was somewhat selfish and greedy, he did not care. What he feared more were people without selfishness or greed; only by having desires could a person be controlled.

"Lord Heisha and I hit it off the moment we met. This trip is to Yunxin Island, and it involves a major secret of the Miyamoto family. I cannot trust anyone else, but I trust Lord Heisha alone," Koji Miyamoto said.

I sneered inwardly. Trust? I didn't believe a single word of it. The only reason Koji Miyamoto was telling me this so-called secret now was because he had no other choice.

"In our Eastern Island nation, there are three major schools of esoteric sorcery, yet the evil deities we worship number in the dozens. Among them, my Miyamoto family alone reveres the Deity of the Evil Moon. My primary mission in coming to China this time is to awaken the Deity of the Evil Moon," Koji Miyamoto stated.

A shock ran through my heart as I recalled the giant eye depicted on the cyan talisman array. Could the Deity of the Evil Moon mentioned by Koji Miyamoto actually hail from the netherworld?

"Isn't the eldest young master of the Miyamoto family indulging in unrealistic fantasies? China is full of gods and Buddhas across the heavens, and living beings worship more than a hundred of them, yet no one has ever been able to awaken a god or Buddha," I said coolly.

Koji Miyamoto, however, replied with a serious expression, "Our Eastern Island nation is different from China. The deities of the Eastern Island nation all truly exist, whereas the gods and Buddhas of China exist only in legends."

I raised an eyebrow. To put it bluntly, the so-called deities of the Eastern Island nation were merely ancient evil cultivators and sea demons, standing on an entirely different level from the legendary gods and Buddhas of China.

From Koji Miyamoto, I learned that the reason the Miyamoto family worshipped the Deity of the Evil Moon was because tradition held that their ancestors had once served as divine servants to the deity.

When the Deity of the Evil Moon fell, it left behind a cyan talisman array and the Eye of the Evil Moon.

Successive heads of the Miyamoto family had exhausted all possible means to resurrect the Deity of the Evil Moon using this cyan talisman array and the Eye of the Evil Moon, believing the key lay within the Eye itself.

As luck would have it, Koji Miyamoto managed to join the Evil Claw sect—one of the three major esoteric sorcery schools of the Eastern Island nation. After poring over countless ancient texts, he discovered the method to resurrect the Deity of the Evil Moon. Using this as leverage, if successful, he would earn the right to contend for the position of the next head of the Miyamoto family.

Koji Miyamoto had gone to great lengths and employed every possible scheme to achieve this. Just as he was on the verge of success, he suddenly received a report that someone had broken into the Myriad Evils Grand Array within the undersea passage.

Even if someone had entered the Myriad Evils Grand Array, Koji Miyamoto was not overly concerned; the Eye of the Evil Moon was fully capable of slaying anyone who entered.

However, fearing that complications might arise from prolonged delays, he had urgently summoned Heisha.

Directly above the Myriad Evils Grand Array lay Yunxin Island—meaning the upper and lower locations were physically connected.

Yet, the difficulty of activating the Myriad Evils Grand Array and acquiring the now-awakened Eye of the Evil Moon far exceeded anything Koji Miyamoto had anticipated.

The lingering spiritual consciousness within the Eye of the Evil Moon had awakened, but it could not distinguish between friend and foe. Anyone dispatched to approach it was invariably slaughtered by the Eye before getting close.

Therefore, Heisha's allegiance came as a timely help to Koji Miyamoto.

Because Heisha's dharma form—the Demonic Crow—could channel malevolent Qi and sever the connection between the Eye of the Evil Moon and the Myriad Evils Grand Array, it provided a chance to pluck the Eye of the Evil Moon off the cyan talisman array.

"Lord Heisha, do you understand?" Koji Miyamoto asked me.

"Yes. It presents some difficulties, but there shouldn't be any major problems," I answered indifferently.

The cruise yacht sailed toward Yunxin Island. Belonging to Korea, Yunxin Island was very small, covering an area of only about three square kilometers.

Yet the Eastern Island nation's Miyamoto family exercised control over Korea's Yunxin Island, suggesting they also shared intertwined interests with Korea.

Patrolling the waters for several kilometers around the perimeter of Yunxin Island were numerous vessels that looked ordinary on the outside, but were actually heavily armed with formidable weaponry.

I followed Koji Miyamoto onto Yunxin Island. Along the way, overt and covert sentries were countless, and reinforced bunkers were hidden among the jungle terrain and rocks.

Throughout the journey, I saw no proper buildings to speak of; at most, a few wooden huts and single-story houses were scattered across the island.

Reaching the center of Yunxin Island, which was covered by a forest, Koji Miyamoto came to a halt.

He pushed aside a large patch of camouflaged weeds, revealing a liquid crystal display screen.

After verifying his fingerprint, password, and scanning his iris, several large trees moved aside on their own, exposing a subterranean passageway.

I followed Koji Miyamoto down and was astonished to discover that the space below was a massive, modernized base.

Judging by the scale, at least half of Yunxin Island had been hollowed out.

I was secretly startled. The Miyamoto family was truly formidable, capable of mobilizing resources to covertly construct such a massive underground base beneath a tiny island.

Reaching the lowest level and passing through layers of security checkpoints, we entered a vast stone chamber.

As soon as we stepped into the chamber, a wave of gloomy, bone-chilling death Qi rushed toward us.

It was very dim inside, illuminated only by rows of dim, eerie green lights along the walls.

Deep within the chamber, numerous shadowy figures sat cross-legged.

Dead people!

My pupils contracted slightly; the death Qi permeating the room emanated from those bodies.

Drawing closer, my hands hidden within the wide sleeves of my black robe suddenly clenched into fists, as I forcefully suppressed the killing intent rising in my heart.

There were exactly ninety-nine of them—neither more nor less—comprising men, women, the elderly, and children.

Though I had seen photographs of the missing persons in Bailing City, and despite these corpses having purplish-black faces and blood bleeding from their seven orifices, their features were still vaguely recognizable.

In particular, I spotted the father and older brother of the Sea Woman among them.

"Eldest Young Master Miyamoto, what is the meaning of this...?" I asked coolly.

"This is the Myriad Evils Grand Array. It requires the malevolent spirits of a single location as a catalyst, and ninety-nine blood relatives linked by marriage to serve as the core anchors to gather the evil. This is an evil array I painstakingly researched and improved over several years. Thankfully, heaven has granted my wish, and I have succeeded," Koji Miyamoto said, unable to hide his smugness.

Beast!

I cursed inwardly, finally understanding what had happened in Pearl Town.

The so-called catalyst of malevolent spirits from a single location meant that the entire population of Pearl Town had been slaughtered using sorcery, and their blood relatives had been used as the gathering cores. Tens of thousands of people had been butchered, all merely for the sake of this single Myriad Evils Grand Array.

"Not only that, but the Eye of the Evil Moon needs to absorb malevolent Qi generated by even more living beings dying in utter despair. Therefore, I used another ten thousand people as sacrifices to the Eye of the Evil Moon, and that is how I achieved success," Koji Miyamoto laughed heartily. In his eyes, killing people was no different from stepping on an ant; he did not view it as a crime, but rather as an achievement.

Killing intent raged within my chest, and I nearly failed to restrain myself from cutting this Eastern Island devil into pieces. Such monstrous slaughter deserved to be destroyed by the heavens!

Worried about Hu Xiaoyu's safety, I couldn't be bothered to exchange any more pleasantries with Koji Miyamoto.

"What must I do?" I asked in a cold voice.