Chapter 9: Shura Appears
It's noon and the sun is high in the sky.
Driving the carriage, the wolf drove into a large town. At first he just wanted to give the horse some water and food, and feed himself at the same time.
He found an inn, paid the money, and handed the carriage to the clerk to look after, while he strolled around the streets, feeling the customs and culture that were completely different from those of Ashina.
But just as the wolf found a ramen stall, ordered some tonkotsu noodles and was waiting for the meal to be served, a deep voice came from beside him.
"Little girl, are you interested in learning about the Eternal Paradise Sect? Join us and enjoy endless happiness!"
The wolf was slightly stunned.
Are you talking to me?
He turned his head to look around, and the middle-aged man who was speaking also saw the protruding Adam's apple on the wolf's neck and curled his lips in disappointment.
"What? So you're a man. Why do you have such long hair?"
Then, regardless of the wolf's reaction, he stood up and was about to leave the ramen stall.
But how could Wolf let him have his way? Although he didn't react immediately, he heard the five words "Eternal Paradise" clearly.
A hand was placed on the middle-aged man's shoulder, and the middle-aged man suddenly felt as if a mountain was pressing on his shoulders and his body was unable to move.
He was sweating coldly and felt a sharp pain in his waist. He lowered his head and saw a sharp blade that had been unsheathed and was now against his waist, ready to stab him at any time.
"Don't move. I'll ask you a few questions."
"Guest, your ramen is ready!"
The ramen stall owner naturally couldn't see what the two were doing below, and he was still enthusiastically placing a full bowl of ramen in front of the wolf.
After a slight pause, looking at the delicious food in front of him that he had never seen before, the wolf raised his chopsticks and put the noodles into his mouth. The aroma of oil and wheat filled the wolf's mouth.
If it weren't for something more important, the wolf would chew the food slowly and savor it thoroughly.
But now the wolf had to pull the noodles into his mouth in a few bites, drink a few mouthfuls of soup, puff out his cheeks, put the money on the table, and pull the middle-aged man next to him away from the ramen stall.
Watching the two people leaving, the boss picked up the money and put it into his own cash box, muttering something strange.
"What a strange guest..."
The middle-aged man was walking in front on the street, and Wolf was holding a knife against his waist, covering it with a wide haori, and still chewing chewy noodles in his mouth.
"Sir, my name is Watanabe Nobuya. I have no money, no power, and no sex. Please let me go..."
Watanabe Nobuya's distressed voice came. He didn't expect that just wanting to recruit a few new female believers into the church, he would encounter such a fierce god.
The wolf did not answer him, but continued to chew the noodles. He only gently pushed the wedge pill in his hand. The sharp blade pierced through the clothes, and the cold touch touched the skin, making Watanabe Nobuya's face pale with fear.
He immediately calmed down and stopped talking.
Just walked on the street, then avoided the crowd and turned into an empty alley.
He swallowed all the food in his mouth at this moment, and Wolf took back the wedge ball that was against Watanabe's waist, and instead placed it on his neck, making the other's relaxed body even tenser.
"I'll ask you an answer."
Looking at the wolf's eyes as calm as dead water, Watanabe Nobuya nodded quickly.
"Are you from the Eternal Paradise Cult?"
"Um..."
"Why did you give up on recruiting me after you found out I was a man?"
"Ok?"
Could it be that this gentleman is holding a grudge against me because of this? That must be the case!
"Because... the leader requires the number of church members to be fixed at 250, and... and..."
Looking at Watanabe Shinya who was stuck, Wolf frowned slightly.
Why don't you speak at the critical moment?
His eyes turned cold and he took back the wedge ball. It wasn't that Wolf let Watanabe Shinya go. Then Wolf hit Watanabe in the abdomen with a palm, beating him into a shrimp. He curled up on the ground and retched.
As a ninja, Wolf naturally knew how to make people speak.
Then he held the wedge pill in his hand and stabbed it straight into Watanabe Nobuya's eyes.
!!!
He closed his eyes tightly, fear making him unable to move, and his crotch was wet at this moment.
The expected pain did not come. When he opened his eyes, the blade was still hanging over his eyes.
"You can talk now."
Using his hands and feet, Watanabe Nobuya fearfully dodged the blade of Kusabimaru and knelt on the ground, giving the wolf a standard dogeza.
"Because the leader has only visited female believers for decades, and the believers would disappear after being visited, in order to maintain the number of people we can only find some girls to join the church from time to time!"
In fear, Watanabe blurted out everything he knew.
The wolf had a gloomy expression and reached into his arms, but in fact he used his mind to open the light curtain, took out paper and pen from it, and quickly drew and wrote something on the screen.
He then turned the drawing paper over and showed it to Watanabe Nobuya.
"Has your leader always been like this for decades? And is this the address of your religion?!"
He raised his head and took a closer look. Although he didn't know why the ferocious-looking man in front of him had the portrait of the leader, he was so scared that he nodded in acknowledgement and then lowered his head again.
"The leader is indeed a god who has remained unchanged in appearance for decades, but the address of the church is not here. It is a little further away from there, in..."
He lay prone on the ground, not daring to raise his head even when the wolf stopped talking, for fear of being beaten again by the ferocious creature in front of him. After telling the wolf what he knew, he fearfully waited for the wolf's next words.
But after a long time, there was still no response from that person, so he raised his head cautiously and glanced forward.
No one is empty.
Just as he was wondering, above the town.
Wolf, who had already been equipped with a ninja prosthetic arm, kept throwing out and retrieving the grappling hook, leaping between buildings like a mountain monkey, and quickly moving towards the place that Watanabe Nobuya mentioned.
With a grim expression, the wolf was flying in the air, but he was constantly thinking in his mind.
Their faces have remained unchanged for decades, and their followers will disappear after being favored by the emperor.
All signs point to one thing.
The leader of the Eternal Paradise Cult is none other than an immortal, man-eating evil ghost!
The wolf's heart was filled with murderous intent. The Fujiwara couple must be insiders, and the purpose of this trip was just to use their daughter to please the evil ghost!
An ominous red flame ignited sparks in his prosthetic hand and in his eyes, and then suppressed again.
Wait, this feeling...
The wolf stopped moving quickly in the air and stood on the roof of an attic, feeling the breeze and forcibly suppressing the infinite murderous intent that surged in his heart.
Just like when we were at Ashina Castle...
Back then, the giant ninja owl, Wolf's adoptive father, asked Wolf in the castle tower whether he would follow the precepts and abandon the Son of God. A murderous intent surged in his heart, and the fire of Shura burned in his prosthetic hand and eyes.
It was as if something was bewitching the wolf to choose to follow the commandments. Just as the wolf was about to say that he would follow his adoptive father, fragments of memories rushed into the wolf's mind!
That was the scene after he chose to abandon the Son of God, when Yongzhen fought with the wolf and finally died in his arms, and when Lao Ren Yixin dragged his aging body to fight the wolf in the sea of fire.
During the period, both of them mentioned a word - Shura.
Forehead! !
He was suddenly awakened. His adoptive father in front of him did not notice anything unusual about the wolf. Seeing that he was slow to speak, he began to urge him.
"Choose, Wolf. Do you want to follow the commandments and abandon the Son of God, or do you want to break the commandments?"
"I…"
There was a hint of hesitation in the wolf's eyes, but when he thought of the fragment that just appeared in his mind, his eyes became firm.
“…I can’t do that!”
The Shura Fire was completely extinguished after he said this.
But now, the ominous red flame ignited on the wolf's body again!