Susano Shrine was no more.
This news swept across Kyushu's underground like a hurricane. From Kyushu, it reached all over Japan and spilled out throughout the entire East Asia like a wildfire.
The Cultivation world in Japan was shocked.
Susano Shrine was one of the six remaining Shrines in Japan. Everyone knew that it was the abode of a powerful Demon God called Susano Nihon. Even without the Demon God's interference, the shrine was a force to be reckoned since it had powerful followers such as Chizuru Masahiro, Genkaza Takeda, and Kitaniwakawa.
Kitaniwakawa was one of the four most deadliest Kendo Grandmasters.
Genkaza Takeda was a powerful Martial artist who had reached the peak of Transcendent State.
Chizuru Masahiro was a Grand Onmyoji who had perfected the art of Dharma Spells.
Adding Violet from the Fuji Ninja Clan, Susano Shrine sat comfortably at the second spot among the six shrines, trailing closely behind the Ise Grand Shrine. The other shrines simply couldn't compare.
The Cultivation world in Japan found it difficult to grapple with the death of three mighty warriors and the utter annihilation of the Susano Shrine. Worse, the entire Kyushu underground world had fallen into the state of desolation after thousands of its members were slaughtered during the attack on Susano Shrine.
The cultivation world in Japan sizzled with disbelief and excitement.
Meanwhile, in a Kendo Judo in Tokyo, an old man wearing martial arts outfit asked people around him: "Who did you say was the one that destroyed the Susano Shrine?"
The old man sat on his folded legs, and he rested an Uchigatana sideways across his lap. He was surrounded by his disciples many of those were heirs of financial groups and sons of top bureaucrats. These youngsters lowered their heads, scarcely daring to connect gazes with the Kendo Master: Kurokawa Sho.
He was one of the most powerful Kendo Grandmasters in Japan.
He was considered the second most powerful of the four, closely following Erika. He was also the founder of the Kendo School called Peace Current that was renowned for its unpredictability. He was praised by other Kendo Masters for his never of steel and unwavering determination. Once during a fight, an onlooker suddenly shot him with a gun. While his life was hanging by a thread, he remained calm and reacted just in time to slice that bullet into halves.
"Er…"
His disciples looked at each other helplessly, none of them knew what had happened.
The fall of the Susano Shrine happened too fast. Those who had seen what happened with their own eyes had either gone mad or dead. People had been relying on vague descriptions to reconstruct the brutal slaughter. However, no one was one hundred percent certain of what had happened.
"Was he from the Hong Sect?"
Someone guessed.
"The Hong Sect was dealt a huge blow ever since Chen Beixuan had killed three of its Underbosses. It wouldn't be them." Someone else put in.
"Then could it be the Special Case Department in China? If Azure dragon and his colleagues work together, they might have a chance uprooting Susano Shrine."
"That's unlikely. The Ise Grand Shrine shouldn't sit around and let Azure dragon wreak havoc in Japan." Kurokawa Sho shook his head and said.
"Could be the Dragon Hall from South East Asia? Or was it Square Tower?"
The disciples listed all the possible candidates, but Kurokawa Sho dismissed all of them.
Hong Sect, Divine Kingdom and Square Tower were all-powerful ancient forces that had co-existed with Japan for hundreds of years. There was no reason for them to suddenly wage a war against the Japanese by slaughtering hundreds of people at the Susano Shrine. Plus, there had to be some kind of signal before these powerful forces made a move on Japan. They were too big to have slipped under the radar.
"Then who would that be?"
The disciples were at a loss after failing all their attempts at guessing.
The Susano Shrine had a Kendo Grandmaster, a Transcendent Grandmaster, and a Grand Onmyoji, it's power was nearly half of Hong Sects. Hong Sect was an international group dominated the global underground world, yet, they had only seven underbosses. Plus, Susano Shrine also had a trump card that the Hong Sect lacked: the Demon God Lord Susano.
It would take either an army or the combined might of the aforementioned groups to get rid of the Susano Shrine so thoroughly.
If those big groups didn't do it, who did then?
Even as Kurokawa Sho fell into deep thought, a clear and musical voice came from by the door.
"It is Chen Beixuan."
The voice startled everyone. They looked toward the speaker and saw a girl dressed in a white martial arts outfit sauntered into the room while carrying a long blade in her hand. Her face was cold but pretty, with clearly defined features that looked like chiseled onto his hard face. As she spoke, condescension and a stately quality flickered in her eyes, making her look like a monarch of a medieval kingdom.
As soon as the girl walked into the room, Kurokawa Sho hurried to stand up and said: "Lord Erika, what brings you here?"
The girl looked like a strident heroine in fantasy movies. She was the most powerful Kendo Grandmaster in Japan: Erika!
Erika walked into the meeting room with wide strides, a few more people trailing behind her. Kurokawa Sho looked at the group and was shocked after he recognized the rest of the visitors.
"Ito Imi, Lord Kurome, and Chiba Yosiko"
Ito Imi was also a Kendo master, Lord Kurome was the chief priest of the Kurome Shrine, Chiba Yosiko was the Grand Onmyoji from the Chiba family. There were five more people that followed the group, and these warriors and Onmyojis filled the meeting room up quickly.
Nearly half of the Overlords in Japan had gathered together.
Kurome Shrine had sent all of their three overlords to this gathering.
These Overlords were scattered all over Japan: Hokkaido, Osaka, Tokyo, Kyushu, and Shikoku, just to name a few. Kurokawa Sho knew right away that something bad had happened after seeing all these powerful men and women arrived at his Judo.
"Lord Erika, are you here to discuss the ordeal at the Susano Shrine?"
"Indeed. Chen Beixuan has blatantly insulted us by all the bloodshed at the Susano Shrine. We can't let him continue this destructive path." Lord Kurome said coldly.
Lord Kurome was a very peculiar looking middle-aged man with a pair of red eyes. He was an S-Level Overlord and possessed incredible Pupil Arts which allowed him to shoot out rays of burning energy from his eyes. Rumor had it that Lord Kurome had such unimaginable power because he was, in fact, an Illusion Form of the Demon God Kurome.
Lord Kurome seemed the most anxious to get rid of Chen Fan among all the attendees.
The chaos Chen Fan had stirred up at the Susano Shrine had unnerved Lord Kurome since Susano Shrine was superior to Kurome Shrine in nearly every measure. After he had learned that Chen Fan was gathering intel on other Japanese Shrines, he was outright terrified. Kurome Shrine was the closest to the Kyushu island, where Chen Fan currently was.
He feared that he would be Chen Fan's next target.
Therefore, Lord Kurome had sent urgent messages to all the Overlords in Japan, rallying them to join him and fight back against Chen Fan.
"Did you say that it was Chen Beixuan?" Kurokawa Sho gathered himself and asked with shock and disbelief.
Chen Fan garnered a lot of attention after he had killed many Grandmasters. During the very last battle, while he was in China, he stood against five Grandmasters and killed four of them, including Theseus the Phantom. Since then, he was ranked the third deadliest man on earth by the CIA and was considered as deadly as a fully equipped army. Slowly, a consensus started to form that Chen Fan was soon going to dominate the entire East Asia.
"Why would such a powerful Overlord come to Japan and cause such a racket and kill Lord Susano?"
"Chen Beixuan was only half-step away from reaching Immortal State and he was clearly after Lord Susano." Lord Kurome said with a troubled face.
Ito Imi and the others nodded in agreement.
Only a Demon God as powerful as Lord Susano could have attracted the attention of Chen Beixuan.
"Lord Susano had nearly reached Immortal State and he also had the assistant of Chizuru Sensei and Takeda Sensei, yet they were still no match against Chen Beixuan?" Kurokawa Sho said in disbelief.
"Chen Beixuan's level of attainment was near that of an immortal, otherwise, he would not be able to use the Hypersonic punch. Those who managed to get out of the Susano Shrine alive said that Lord Susano was dealt with nine Hypersonic punches in a row before he died." Lord Kurome said with a wry smile.
His words unnerved everyone as their faces became taut with concern.
They had believed that Chen Fan could only use Hypersonic punch once during a fight. However, the fact that he had used it nine times meant he could easily defeat everyone in this room even if they ganged up on him.
Of all the warriors in the meeting room, only Erika might have a chance countering Chen Fan's Hypersonic Punch.
"What should we do then? If Chen Beixuan really is so powerful, he could easily defeat us even if we join forces." Kurokawa Sho said with furrowed brows.
He had kept what he really wanted to say hidden in between the lines and let the others ponder on it.
Even if they managed to bring down Chen Fan by joining forces together, Chen Fan's desperate attack would kill at least five or six of them. Who would want to mess with such a deadly man for Lord Susano who was already dead? No one. However, as renowned Overlords in China, they couldn't simply let Chen Fan do whatever he wants in Japan either.
"What does Ise Grand Shrine say about this? If they decided to stay out of this, we might have to petition the government to mobilize the Japanese Self-Defense Forces."
Everyone was shocked after hearing the words.
The Self-Defense Forces were the only militia unit in Japan. Despite its small size, they were well equipped with modern weapons. Due to historical reasons, the Self-Defense Forces were used mostly as a showpiece. Its mobilization would invite the ire and condemnation of other countries such as China.
However, without using the self-defense force, no one in Japan could deal with Chen Beixuan.
However powerful Erika was, she ranked at the bottom of the Dark Roll and would be of no use against Chen Fan.
"Kurokawa San, we came to request Lord Takemiya's aid. We wish that he could help us kill Chen Beixuan and restore honor and dignity to the Japanese Martial arts community." Erika took a step forward and bowed at Kurokawa Sho
"What? You want Sansei… he is almost a hundred years old." Kurokawa Sho was taken aback by the request.
He then saw Lord Kurome and Ito Imi also rise to their feet and bow toward him. Kurokawa Sho knew that he would not be able to refuse this request. He pondered a while on it and then agreed that it might be the best option they had.
Heads were going to roll if his sansei didn't intervene now.
"Fine then."
Kurokawa Sho sat down slowly and nodded.
His consent lit up everyone's faces with joy.
Takemiya Hiro, the Sword Sage was a legend in present-day Japan.