Meanwhile, Ye Xing, who had just finished enjoying a lavish meal, suddenly felt as if something was tugging at his wrist.
Looking down, he discovered a faint, barely visible red thread tied around his wrist, extending all the way outside the main hall as if pointing the way.
"The Matchmaking Deity... Has something happened to someone?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Ye Xing quickly walked over to Hina Amano. Just as he was about to speak, the ground of Shitennō-ji Temple suddenly began to tremble violently.
The next moment, numerous dense, writhing black arms suddenly emerged from the ground, grasping his and Hina Amano's ankles.
"This is..."
Faced with this sudden, terrifying scene, even with Hina Amano's strong mental fortitude, she couldn't help but pale in alarm, immediately calling out:
"Dispel the gloom, Hiyoribo!"
The moment Hiyoribo's true form appeared, she radiated a warmth like spring sunlight that scorched the black arms, sending plumes of black smoke rising into the air.
Yet for every arm that turned to ashes, a new one would emerge from the ground to seize Hina Amano's ankles once more.
Throughout Shitennō-ji Temple, these writhing, distorted black arms covered every surface like some grotesque ritual, creating a nauseating hellscape.
In the distance, a monk in plain robes stepped through the rainwater on the ground, his legs passing straight through the flailing black arms as he walked steadily towards Ye Xing and Hina Amano.
Just from watching how completely unaffected he was by the black arms, both Ye Xing and Hina Amano immediately realised:
This monk wasn't a psychic - he was just an ordinary person.
Unable to observe the supernatural, he naturally remained unaffected in this situation.
"If I don't enter hell, who will?"
The linen-clad monk produced a black remote-like object from his hand, his eyes gleaming with twisted fervour as he pressed the button without hesitation.
In that instant, Ye Xing felt a sudden, overwhelming sense of danger.
"Come out!"
Without a second thought, he reached toward Hina Amano nearby. His black-and-white headless soul's true form immediately manifested, its upper body crouching low as its dark and pale ghost hands moved to envelop Hina Amano in a protective embrace.
The next moment, the towering Buddha statue in the main hall suddenly erupted with blinding flames.
BOOM!!!
Every Buddha statue within Shitennō-ji Temple simultaneously produced deafening explosions at that exact moment.
Amid the flames, the linen-clad monk remained perfectly calm, even showing a satisfied expression of someone who had achieved their desired end, his skin instantly melting away before his bones turned to dust in the explosive blast.
Meanwhile, the black arms on the ground writhed and seized Ye Xing's body.
In the explosive flames, this historic Shitennō-ji Temple was instantly obliterated.
...
"What was that..."
Feeling the sudden slight tremor in the ground and seeing the explosion cloud rising in the distant city sky, the members of the Supernatural Society couldn't help but show concern in their eyes.
What truly made their hearts sink wasn't the ground tremor or the cloud that signalled the explosion.
Rather...
The rain had stopped.
...
As for Shitennō-ji Temple now... no, there was no Shitennō-ji Temple anymore.
All that remained was a deep crater left by the explosion.
"How could this..."
Hina Amano pressed her forehead, waves of intense dizziness washing over her. She could barely stand steady, let alone maintain her soul's true form. She couldn't even continue controlling the rainfall anymore.
And this was despite her enhanced physical condition, far surpassing ordinary people's limits, plus Ye Xing's soul's true form, which had protected her in that defensive posture, absorbing most of the impact for her.
If an ordinary person were here, the impact and shockwave from the explosion alone would have been fatal.
"Ye Xing... Ye Xing!?"
After regaining some clarity, Hina Amano endured the discomfort from the shockwave, scanning the chaotic surroundings with an anxious expression as she called out, trying to locate Ye Xing.
What gave her some comfort was that the black-and-white headless monster, though its form had become extremely faint like a candle flickering in the wind, seemingly about to disappear at any moment, still maintained its soul's true form - meaning Ye Xing wasn't dead yet.
"Stop shouting, stop shouting... cough cough..."
Hearing Hina Amano's calls, Ye Xing pushed aside the rubble covering him from a spot not far from her and struggled to his feet.
"Are you hurt, Hina?"
Seeing that Ye Xing was still alive and had the strength to speak, tears welled up in Hina Amano's eyes as she immediately nodded in response.
"Yes, I'm fine, but you..."
Hina Amano's gaze fell upon Ye Xing standing there, her pupils dilating in shock as she exclaimed.
"Your body..."
"Huh?"
Noticing Hina Amano's incredulous stare, Ye Xing looked down and only then discovered that his body from his left shoulder, along with his left arm, all the way to the left side of his chest, had disappeared, leaving only a bloody, mangled edge.
"Damn, they blew me up into this state."
Ye Xing scanned the area but couldn't find any trace of his missing body parts, then said indifferently.
"Never mind, don't need them."
As wisps of white mist resembling steam rose, Hina Amano watched wide-eyed as Ye Xing's missing body parts visibly regenerated within just a few breaths, completely restored.
"Bloody hell..."
Hina Amano was utterly dumbfounded.
Good grief, blown to pieces like that and still able to instantly recover?
Are you even human?
Wait...
The fact that he only suffered such injuries after physically withstanding the explosion was already incredible enough, wasn't it?
"Are you really okay?"
Hina Amano quickly ran up to Ye Xing, pressing her lips together as she wiped the tears from her face, her eyes filled with deep concern and care.
"Is the injury serious?"
"Ah, doesn't matter."
Ye Xing reached out and ruffled Hina Amano's hair, replying with a smile.
"As long as you're not hurt."
"You... really."
Hina Amano's cheeks flushed slightly as she stood on her toes and gently kissed Ye Xing.
She had intended it to be just a brief, comforting kiss.
But unexpectedly, the kiss lasted nearly half a minute, only ending when her breathing became heavy, still somewhat reluctantly.
"You... you..."
Hina Amano felt something hard pressing against her lower abdomen during their embrace, making her both embarrassed and annoyed as she lightly slapped Ye Xing's shoulder.
"I can see you're really not badly hurt if you can still... still think about doing naughty things at a time like this, hmph..."
"Ah, that's where you're mistaken."
Ye Xing explained with complete seriousness.
"Precisely because I've just experienced a crisis and felt the threat of death, my human nature makes me instinctively want to perpetuate my genes. This is human instinct, it's science."
Hina Amano wore an expression of partial belief and doubt.
"Is that really true?"
"It really is."
"Hmm..."
Just then, those black arms from the ground suddenly emerged once more.
Before they could grasp Ye Xing and Hina Amano's ankles, a dark blade flashed through the air.
Onimaru Kunitsuna, dressed in black mourning attire, stepped on the fragments of those black arms without even turning her head, speaking softly.
"Master, leave this to me. You should have more important matters to attend to now, shouldn't you? No need to waste time here."
"Alright, I'll leave it to you then."
Ye Xing and Hina Amano stood on the palm of the pale ghost hand, flying directly toward the direction indicated by the red thread.
Along the way, Ye Xing clutched his chest, taking a deep breath, his breathing noticeably heavier than usual.
The mastermind was indeed clever - clever enough to devise such a plan.
All the Buddha statues within Shitennoji Temple had been planted with explosives containing terrifyingly massive yields, enough to level the entire temple to the ground.
Indeed, who would have thought?
Within the golden Buddha statues worshipped by monks in this pure Buddhist sanctuary, such terrifying explosives were hidden.
Most importantly, the mastermind's plan was a chain scheme.
If Mask didn't appear at Shitennoji Temple, they only needed to choose any day - regardless of weekday or holiday - to detonate the explosives within the temple, instantly causing casualties among thousands of tourists.
Clearly, the mastermind had also considered the possibility of their plan being uncovered, which was why that three-headed, six-armed monstrous old monk had been prepared.
During the battle... or rather, during the tasting process, the renowned gourmet Mr Ye Xing had already sensed the distinctive qualities of this particular dish.
The old monk's true form was actually the Wrathful Vajra - specifically, the central head and the normal pair of arms.
The additional four arms and two heads came from two other evil spirits.
Through this grafting and merging method, the mastermind had created a new species that possessed both the characteristic of being difficult for psychics to detect and spiritual power stronger than that of the psychics in Itomori Town.
However, through this battle, Ye Xing could confirm one thing.
The mastermind's ability had a fatal flaw.
That was, although the converted psychics had high baseline strength, their growth potential was too weak, with an extremely low ceiling.
Originally, this wouldn't have been considered a weakness. To be honest, when people like Miko Yotsuya first awakened, they were far from reaching the strength level of those converted psychics.
But now, not only the members of the Supernatural Society, but even Light Yagami in distant Tokyo, or Haruno Yukinoshita in Chiba Prefecture, were pure stat monsters compared to the psychics converted by the mastermind.
There was a kind of simple, numerical strength beauty to it.
Moreover, after experiencing so many battles, Ye Xing had long since realised this.
The psychics transformed by the mastermind behind the scenes are beings capable of using only a single type of ability.
For instance, those like Seishu Akoya and the elderly monk from earlier who can perform soul's true form fusion are unable to utilise the long-range attacks of summoning their soul's true form.
Conversely, those capable of summoning their soul's true form cannot perform fusion.
They're either close-range fighters or lack mid to long-range capabilities.
In the end, they're merely half-baked products of forced growth after all.
The final monk and that pitch-black arm emerging from the ground were the true trump cards.
Being ordinary humans, they could likely evade psychic detection by hiding in a corner of the temple, aided by the elderly monk and the spiritual power fluctuations emitted by the evil spirits within.
Being ordinary humans, they remained unaffected by those black arms and could move freely.
The ultimate explosion meticulously planned by the mastermind behind the scenes, originally intended to cause thousands of deaths, was ultimately directed at Ye Xing and Hina Amano.
After consecutive battles and an explosion of that magnitude, it would be impossible for anyone to survive.
Fortunately, Ye Xing had long ceased to be purely human.
What does it matter if part of his physical body gets blown up? He can just regenerate it, no big deal.
However, from this incident, Ye Xing gained valuable intelligence.
The mastermind behind the scenes doesn't understand Domain abilities - at the very least, doesn't understand his Domain.
If they understood, they would know he could use the Demon-Slaying Divine Purification ability to pull Hina Amano and himself into a separate space. Not even an explosion on the level of an atomic bomb could affect him and Amano while they're in another dimension.
At that critical moment, uncertain whether he could deploy his Domain in time, Ye Xing chose the safest approach that would absolutely guarantee Hina Amano's survival.
But if the mastermind behind the scenes knew about his Domain ability, they would never have gambled their carefully planned, long-prepared explosion on the possibility that he might not deploy his Domain in time.
...
"All done."
Meanwhile, Kazusa Touma watched as the Matchmaking Deity gracefully manipulated countless red threads dancing through the air, effortlessly tearing the several psychics limb from limb with the elegant demeanour of someone crushing ants. She couldn't help but stare in stunned silence.
This...
Isn't this a bit too strong?
Kazusa Touma knew the Matchmaking Deity was a genuine deity; that much was true.
The problem was that the deities she had previously encountered had significantly lowered her expectations of what deities should be.
Whether it was the Goat-Headed Deity or that old land god from the Tokyo shrine who, according to Miko Yotsuya and others, nearly wet himself in terror when he saw Ye Xing.
The Weather God was indeed powerful, but it wasn't a true deity, just an evil spirit.
Not just Kazusa Touma, but all members of the Supernatural Society had gradually developed a subconscious belief.
Any benevolent deity inclined towards humanity possessed weak power, while any powerful deity didn't stand on humanity's side.
Yet the Matchmaking Deity shattered Kazusa Touma's preconceptions.
Isn't this way too fierce?
You look so adorable, but you're truly ruthless when you strike.
Noticing Kazusa Touma's expression, the Matchmaking Deity bounced over to her side, tilting her head with a thoroughly pleased and proud demeanour.
"What's wrong, little Kazusa? Shocked by my incredible power as the Matchmaking Deity?"
"Little Kazusa..."
This form of address made Kazusa Touma frown slightly as she spoke coldly.
"Don't call me that."
"Eh..."
The Matchmaking Deity shrank back, muttering quietly.
"Little Kazusa... you're scary."
Kazusa Touma was speechless.
How could you, a Matchmaking Deity, be both powerful and cowardly like this?
Are you playing the contrast card?
Has the competition among the Supernatural Society's harem members already escalated to the point where they need to develop such special skills just to secure a place?
"Little Matchmaker, did you call me here just to watch your performance?"
Hearing the voice coming from mid-air, the Matchmaking Deity looked up and saw Ye Xing and Hina Amano landing on the ground, immediately breaking into a delighted smile.
"Eh, Lord Ye Xing, little Kazusa was just frightened, go comfort her!"
"Who was frightened?"
Seeing Kazusa Touma frown and deny it outright, the Matchmaking Deity wore an exasperated expression, tugged at her sleeve, lowered her voice, and said meaningfully.
"Little Kazusa, being vulnerable at the right moments makes you more likeable, you know"
Hearing this, Kazusa Touma froze for a moment, then pressed her lips together and forced a vulnerable, frightened expression as she looked at Ye Xing.
"Ye... Ye Xing... I... I'm very scared..."
Ye Xing rolled his eyes and retorted.
"Could you act normal for once?"
Following this, Ye Xing reached out and pinched Kazusa Touma's cheek, speaking with a light laugh.
"The person I like is the original Kazusa Touma. You don't need to change anything about yourself - to me, you're already perfect beyond reproach."
Upon hearing this, Kazusa Touma's fair face flushed slightly pink as she masked her shyness with a cool tone.
"Hmph, you certainly know how to talk."
Beside them, the Matchmaking Deity watched this scene with a beaming, motherly smile.
Ah, youth is truly wonderful.
For this deity who presided over romantic bonds and loved shipping couples more than anything, what in this world could be more blissful than staying by Ye Xing's side?
She didn't even need to pick and choose which couples to ship - with the Harem God making moves one after another on so many different types of girls, the Matchmaking Deity was getting her fill of shipping enjoyment directly.
Moreover, she could even ship herself with Ye Xing - it was simply too blissful.
"So, Lord Ye Xing, how impressive am I?"
Seeing the Matchmaking Deity's proud expression, Ye Xing nodded and praised with a smile.
"Indeed, very impressive. Truly worthy of the great Matchmaking Deity."
"Of course~"
Although the Matchmaking Deity usually lacked proper decorum, when it came to her actual worth as a deity - having joined forces with Ye Xing to save Itomori Town together - her merits were simply immeasurable.
Furthermore, she had obtained the personal faith of Ye Xing himself, something no deity in the past had ever accomplished.
"Ye Xing."
Kazusa Touma walked up to Ye Xing and spoke softly.
"Earlier, I encountered that Izanami and had a conversation with her."
"I think I've already figured out... the principles behind her ability to create psychics."