Chapter 143: The Truth

"Wait a moment!"

Fang You barged in from somewhere!

"Little brother Fang You!" Seirin Abe, missing one of his arms, lay on the ground in agony, his face covered in cold sweat!

"My goodness, how did it end up like this? Can you still send me back now?" Fang You rushed over immediately to check Seirin Abe's injuries!

"Who are you?" Seiryuu Abe, standing at the front of the crowd, stood up. "You don't seem to be a local Onmyoji!"

"Of course, I come from the Eastern lands, a Taoist Onmyoji!" Fang You hurriedly picked up Seirin Abe's severed right arm, pulled out a needle and thread from his cloth pouch, and eagerly tried to sew it back on, hoping to clear the meridians and reattach the limb!

"A foreign Onmyoji dares to meddle in the private affairs of the Abe Onmyoji family. I advise you to leave at once!" Seirinichi Abe strode forward fiercely!

"Little brother Fang You, please leave quickly and avoid being dragged into this!" Seirin Abe said weakly!

"That's a fine thing to say! First, you dragged me all the way to Tokyo without my consent, and now you want to dump me here alone while you shoulder the blame by yourself. On top of that, halfway here I ran into a demon called Iron Rat who took all my money—you still owe me a proper repayment!" With that, Fang You began sewing Seirin Abe's right arm back on!

"You are not allowed to reattach it!" Seirinichi Abe snatched a ritual sword from Seirinshizuku's hand and charged directly at Fang You!

"Myriad arts of the Tao, lend me your divine power! Gods of the Six Dings and Six Jia, manifest!" Fang You pulled twelve paper cutouts from his hands, chanted an incantation, and tossed the paper talismans into the air. Under the power of the spell, the paper dolls rapidly expanded, transforming into twelve faceless divine soldiers wielding various weapons!

The power Fang You borrowed was that of the Gods of the Six Dings and Six Jia, twelve deities who govern the heavenly stems and earthly branches!

Among them, Dingsi, Dingwei, Dingyou, Dinghai, and Dingchou are Yin deities.

The Six Jia are Jiazi, Jiasu, Jiashhen, Jiamu, Jiachen, and Jiayin, which are Yang deities.

It is said that the Six Dings and Six Jia serve the Heavenly Emperor and can "summon wind and thunder, and subjugate ghosts and spirits."

They are also the guardian deities of Taoism, and any sincere Taoist seeking to exorcise evil can use talismans to summon and borrow their power!

At this moment, Fang You channeled the power of the Six Dings and Six Jia into the twelve paper dolls, instantly transforming them into twelve divine generals who tightly surrounded Seirinichi Abe!

"Just some cheap parlor tricks! Watch me shatter your illusion!" Holding his ritual sword, Seirinichi Abe engaged the surrounding Six Dings and Six Jia divine generals in combat!

Although Fang You had merely borrowed a fraction of their divine power and imbued it into paper dolls, the twelve transformed divine generals reduced Seirinichi Abe to a state of complete helplessness in mere moments!

Just as Fang You was finishing the reattachment of Seirin Abe's arm, another ritual sword pierced straight through Fang You's body, causing him to vomit a mouthful of fresh blood!

Looking back, he saw it was none other than Goushin Kamo, head of the Kamo family. With a very solemn expression, Goushin Kamo said, "Enough is enough. Originally, since Seirin Abe had already lost an arm, we didn't intend to pursue the matter further. To think that a foreigner like you would come here to cause trouble—the Abe Onmyoji clan is truly in chaos!"

"Family Head Kamo, please mind your words!" the head of the Minamoto Onmyoji family chimed in with some displeasure. "The head of the Abe family has shown enough sincerity. Although they raised such a traitor who consorts with demons and released the evil soul of the Eight-Branched Giant Serpent, the eldest senior captured this traitor with his own hands and is trying him before everyone. That in itself is a commendable deed."

However, Fang You, with a sword run through his chest, turned to Seirin Abe and gasped, "If you don't snap out of it right now, I'm going to die here with you! That's two lives lost, you know! My fiancée, Zhang Shengnan, is waiting for me back home! Don't screw me over like this, man!"

"I'm sorry, little brother, I've dragged you into this!" Seirin Abe raised his remaining left hand and pinched a talisman. "Shikigami Tsukuyomi, manifest the realm!"

The moment Seirin Abe chanted the incantation, Tsukuyomi emerged from the talisman in response, unleashing a powerful demonic art—Illusionary Day!

In an instant, everyone present was enveloped within the illusion!

The massive illusion began to project vivid scenes as Seirin Abe spoke aloud:

"Years ago, I was just an unknown orphan in a Tokyo orphanage. Noticed by family Head Seiryuu Abe, I was selected to enter the Abe Onmyoji family!"

"I devoted myself heart and soul to practicing Onmyodo, never daring to slack off even a fraction. Whenever there was a mission to suppress demons, I was always the first to charge forward!"

"When I grew into an adult, I founded the Onmyo Studio to resolve all kinds of chaotic and difficult evils across the land, and for a time, it flourished!"

"That was until the day I visited family Head Seiryuu Abe as I usually did, and accidentally overheard a secret!"

"It turned out that because the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda had taken in the immensely powerful evil soul of the Eight-Branched Giant Serpent, the demonic energy had continuously swelled, nearly reaching the pagoda's absolute limit!"

"If the demonic energy of the Serpent's evil soul burst through the tower, not only would the Eight-Branched Giant Serpent escape, but every single wicked demon and malevolent spirit locked inside would pour out as well, bringing catastrophe upon all of Tokyo!"

"Yet, there was a way to restore stability to the pagoda: the secret art of the Abe lineage—Bloodline Flow Source!"

"Using the blood of the eldest daughter of the Abe family, the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda could be resealed and the internal demonic energy dispersed!"

"In other words, it required sacrificing Seiryuu Abe's own daughter, Seirinshizuku, and employing the Bloodline Flow Source to once again suppress the demonic power within the pagoda!"

"Putting aside the fact that Seirinshizuku and I grew up together as childhood sweethearts, I could never accept such a cruel art simply on principle!"

"Driven by urgency, I went to the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda and released the evil soul of the Eight-Branched Giant Serpent. On one hand, this prevented its overwhelming power from shattering the tower; on the other hand, I refused to let Seirinshizuku become a sacrificial offering and pay the ultimate price for that ritual!"

"Today, I originally intended to return and take full responsibility for everything I have done. But I, Seirin Abe, can never allow the little brother who came to save me, Fang You, to lose his life here because of me. Three days from now, I will send my little brother away to safety, and then I shall return to face punishment for my crimes. If you insist on hunting us down relentlessly, do not blame me for showing no mercy!"

When the illusion woven by Tsukuyomi came to an end, Seirin Abe had already vanished from the crowd, taking Fang You with him.

The other Onmyojis stared in stunned silence at the scenes they had just witnessed, their jaws slack, completely at a loss for words.

"So Seirin Abe released the evil soul of the Eight-Branched Giant Serpent solely to save Seirinshizuku!"

A sudden wave of realization washed over the crowd!

Meanwhile, Seirinichi Abe, who had been battered and humiliated by the Six Dings and Six Jia summoned by Fang You, brandished his ritual sword in a rage, shouting, "I will hunt them down and cut them down!"

"Divine God Whip, Binding Spell!" A long whip lashed out from behind, instantly freezing Seirinichi Abe in his tracks, unable to move an inch!

Seirinichi Abe whipped his head around, only to find that it was his own younger sister, Seirinshizuku, who had restrained him with her own magical instrument, the Divine Whip!

"Sister, what are you doing? We must not let those two escape! They are undoubtedly accomplices to the demons!"

Tears welled up in Seirinshizuku's eyes as she looked at him. "Everything you did... it was all for my sake. And yet, I was the one who severed your right arm with my own hands. I'm sorry, Seirin Abe!"