The Scheme Manifests

Amidst the ruins of Heian-kyo, the skeletal Great Snake with eight heads roared toward the heavens. A dark purple fluorescence shimmered across its body, emitting an ominous aura. The Great Snake, which had been weakened by Miketsu's high-intensity divine power bombardment, now surged with renewed vigor. A distant, primeval power radiated from it, and every living creature in the vicinity felt a crushing weight upon their souls.

"That... is the Great Snake God? No... I can't stay here any longer..." On the hillside, the resurrected Abe no Seimei shielded his eyes, avoiding a direct gaze at the skeletal giant snake. He immediately took flight to retreat. According to the oracle Miketsu had given them, the coming battle was not one they could participate in.

"Is that... what they call an ancient god on the surface? An ancient being like Chang'e..." During her flight, Yorihime murmured as she felt the aura behind her. She still clearly remembered the shock she felt when the Moon Feather Princess appeared.

"The Great Snake God... why did the Minamoto Clan and the Imperial Family once support such a thing..." Minamoto no Yorimitsu, who was also moving quickly through the forest, spoke with doubt in his voice.

"Tch... it's that disgusting snake again, and it seems even more revolting now..." Mokou spoke with disdain as she flew with her fire wings spread. Beside her, Ao Andon murmured thoughtfully, "So, is this the greatest secret hidden within Heian-kyo... a terrifying secret lore..."

In the sky above, Miketsu immediately realized what was happening after seeing the Great Snake's abnormality. She gathered a rain of light arrows and bombarded the Great Snake. However, as streaks of white light fell from the sky, all of Miketsu's arrows were erased. Amaterasu's divine power was constantly interfering with Miketsu, causing her to frown slightly.

"Tch... purposely not manifesting?"

Seemingly having learned from the previous lesson in Takamagahara, Amaterasu did not clearly manifest in Miketsu's eyes. She relied solely on her divine authority to exert long-range interference and suppression. The range of this interference exceeded Miketsu's causality vision, making it difficult for Miketsu to locate Amaterasu's position in the short term.

Seeing this, Miketsu gave up on using her Inari divine power and began using the power of Dakini-ten to summon lightning to strike the Great Snake. However, Dakini-ten's long-range capabilities were limited and lacked demon-slaying properties, so they achieved little effect.

Just as Miketsu intended to rush forward and strike the skeletal Great Snake directly with her fists, a sudden change occurred.

Amidst Amaterasu's dance, the revival ritual had entered the implementation phase. In the space surrounding the skeletal Great Snake, gaps opened out of thin air. From them, a massive amount of blood gushed out, instantly submerging the ruins of Heian-kyo. Within this surging crimson sea of blood, countless souls wailed, creating a tragic and horrific scene.

"This is... the blood sacrifice of blood souls..."

This immense power of blood and souls had been collected by the Great Snake's apostles across Japan for hundreds of years. They used various methods to force or entice humans and Yokai to offer their flesh and souls, all to store them as energy for the Great Snake's resurrection. The most famous case was the Leopard Cat Lord Oyakata, who harvested nearly all of Harima Province through the Great Snake messenger's evil sacrificial rites. Although Oyakata was ultimately defeated by Toga, the souls and flesh collected by him and the entire Leopard Cat Clan had vanished without a trace.

"Now, devour the flesh... and be reborn... Great Snake God..."

Amaterasu's ritual dance and chanting finally concluded. She called out loudly to the skeletal Great Snake. Suddenly, the vast sea of blood covering the ruins of Heian-kyo surged frantically as if alive, converging toward the skeletal Great Snake. In an instant, the five-to-six-hundred-meter-long skeletal giant snake with eight heads and eight tails was covered and filled by the surging blood.

This blood, mixed with thousands of souls, began to condense into flesh upon the Great Snake's skeleton. The Great Snake's physical body was rapidly reconstructed from the inside out, from organs to muscles, and finally, large dark purple scales grew over it.

Ultimately, when the vast sea of blood vanished, the skeletal bone snake was gone. Manifesting upon the earth was a creature of flesh and blood, its body large enough to span eight mountains and its tails enough to fill eight valleys. With crimson eyes and covered in dark purple scales, it was a colossal entity. An ancient and distant aura spread from it, making the mountains beneath its body appear utterly insignificant.

The eight giant heads looked around, and they simultaneously opened their bloody maws, letting out a roar that declared their rebirth to the entire world.

"——!!"

Amidst the ancient god's roar, a massive shockwave kicked up a violent storm that swept out in all directions. The charred trees around Heian-kyo were all uprooted and blown away by this wanton storm of roaring. A powerful aura and pressure spread from Heian-kyo as the center toward the entire world. Miketsu struggled to maintain her form within this tempest.

"The Great Snake... has been resurrected..."

...

Celestial Realm, Takamagahara.

The roar of the Great Snake's resurrection seemed to penetrate the boundaries and reach above. All of Takamagahara trembled slightly, and the orange-yellow sea of clouds churned.

At the top of Sun City, the three-legged crow saw this and immediately spoke quickly to the purple-haired girl surrounded by countless floating pages.

"The time has come. Begin the move. The gods of the heavens are all waiting for this moment..."

Hieda no Are nodded slightly upon hearing the three-legged crow's words. Then, with a wave of her hand, one of the many pages floating around her flew into her palm. This page had a blank section that had not yet been written upon.

In Hieda no Are's hand, an illusory small brush condensed from strange light. She gripped the brush and began writing new content on the blank part of the page.

"The Great Snake returns, and all living beings are in peril. The gods take pity, and eight cups of wine descend from the heavens to intoxicate and weaken the Great Snake..."

...

When the Great Snake was resurrected, its roar carried its pressure across the world. Countless mystics globally felt the abnormality, including the white-robed Daoist who was currently repairing the seals of other ancient gods in the West.

On a vast grassland, the white-robed Daoist looked toward the eastern sky, his expression extremely grave.

"Yamata no Orochi... has the seal been broken and its resurrection completed..."

Murmuring to himself, the white-robed Daoist immediately transformed into a streak of light and shot into the sky, preparing to fly rapidly toward the east. However, when he reached the clouds, he found two unexpected figures blocking his path.

One was a monk treading upon a lotus, clad in ornate robes, with a halo behind his head. The other was an emperor with a handsome face, wearing a jade crown with tassels and a gold-woven yellow robe. Both appeared calm, as if they were specifically waiting for the white-robed Daoist here.

Seeing their sudden appearance, the white-robed Daoist frowned, immediately sensing that they did not come with good intentions.

He knew who these beings were. Given the current situation, they should have immediately descended to the eastern islands instead of specifically stopping him here...

"Exalted One, please stay your step... Where are you going in such a hurry?"