In the afternoon, on the outskirts of Tokyo.

It is a shrine hidden in a sea of verdant trees, and its entire body is vermilion, and it has an elegant shape.

Except for the charred torii gate at the entrance, which looks a little abrupt, the rest of the place has been carefully renovated, and there is no sign of any destruction.

This is one of the most important shrines of the Eight Clans of the Snake Clan, and the former patriarch Tachibana Masamune used to gather the heads of the family here when discussing important matters during his lifetime.

Today, even after the death of the previous patriarch, the shrine is still fulfilling its duties.

Outside the shrine, nearly 100 cars blocked the roads everywhere, and men with loaded guns or long knives stood in the shadows, and no one dared to approach the shrine even for half a step.

In the shrine, the heads of families of all castes have gathered, and most of them are dressed in black to express their condolences for the patriarch who died in the morning.

Yuan Zhisheng was dressed in black mourning clothes and looked around at everyone.

Eri is still a red and white witch costume as a matter of course, not because she didn't have time to customize the mourning clothes, but because she still can't understand the meaning of Tachibana Masamune's death, and she doesn't understand what the death of her "father" means, so naturally she doesn't want to wear this kind of clothes.

Gen Zhisheng also didn't want Eri to know the identity of Tachibana Masamune's "father", and Eri may not be able to understand, and even if she did, it would only increase her sadness.

Fortunately, Eri has also grown these days, although she still plays games with a handheld camera, but at least it is not connected to the public projection screen, and there is no sound outside.

Because of the exception of Eri Yi, Inuyama He was not wearing a pure black mourning dress, and the behavior of still being a blue and black regular dress was beyond reproach, and Gen Zhisheng's eyes paused for a few seconds and did not say anything.

"You should already know about Mr. Masamune, and it is imperative to pursue the real culprit, but before we can do that, we need to discuss how to deal with the current situation."

After a long time, Yuan Zhisheng, who had convened a meeting of the head of the family, took the initiative to speak and attracted his attention to himself.

As the young head of the family, this is a rare initiative for him to speak, before this, it was usually Tachibana Masamune who held a meeting, and he would only echo when he was called, but this time he held a meeting out of his own will.

Seeing the growth of the young master, Wind Demon Kotaro showed a look of relief.

"That's right! The murderer of the patriarch must not be let go, but before that, the family is in turmoil, and there must be a leader to preside over the overall situation! ”

The snake has no head and does not leave, whether it is to avenge Tachibana Masamune, or to deal with the fierce ghosts and the academy headquarters, the snake Qi Eight family needs a leader.

Several other family heads also nodded, they had expected the content of the meeting before the meeting began, Yuan Zhisheng was the young head of the family, and they naturally had no objection to Yuan Zhisheng's succession.

Although Eri also showed imperial strength, she was not mentally mature after all, and she was not qualified for the position of leader.

"Although the eldest patriarch is no longer there, as long as the young master is there, our Eight Snake Qi families will be able to move forward!"

After hearing his words, Yuan Zhisheng nodded.

"Although I am young and quite immature in all matters, I am sorry for Amaterasu, but I also have the will to inherit Mr. Masamune's will and protect the family, and now I invite the heads of the family to come to discuss the succession of the head of the family."

It's only been a morning, but the changes in the source have been great.

At this time, he should have waited for the heads of the family to nominate him, and then determined his position in the resignation room, but he not only took the initiative to convene a meeting, but also did not shy away from saying his wishes.

Obviously it sounded like a struggle for power, but he spoke very quietly, and his calm expression made all the family heads a little surprised.

"Young master doesn't need to be humble, you are the Shadow Emperor of Destiny, and you are the leader of the Eight Families of Snake Qi!"

Wind Demon Kotaro immediately said, and the others had no objection to this, as the "Young Master", he was the next leader of the Snake Qi Eight Family from the beginning.

After saying this, he paused slightly, his voice changed, and his eyes were fixed on Yuan Zhisheng's face.

However, as a leader, you have to think about the bigger picture, and sometimes you need to keep hatred and humiliation in your heart to avoid a greater tragedy. Although I am not qualified to say anything to the young master, I also hope that the young master can think calmly and focus on the overall situation. ”

Although he is the main battle faction, he is not a brainless main battle, after all, he puts the interests of the family first.

Hearing him say this, Gen Zhisheng looked at Wind Demon Kotaro.

"The Wind Demon Family Master means that he wants me to suppress my hatred and not rashly become an enemy of the secret party, right?"

He directly provoked the other party's meaning.

"Yes, we are also sad and angry about the matter of the eldest patriarch, but the current incident is not clear, not to mention, we have no evidence."

Wind Demon Kotaro nodded, his gaze calm.

"It's just that there's no evidence, and it's obvious that the forces that did it, aren't they?"

Yuan Zhisheng asked.

“……”

Kotaro the Wind Demon was silent.

There are only two forces in total that will kill Tachibana Masamune, the Fierce Ghost Crowd and the Secret Party.

Putting aside whether the fierce ghosts have this strength for the time being, at this point in time, the suspicion of the secret party is undoubtedly the greatest, after all, if the eight families of Snake Qi really betray, it will inevitably be unfavorable to the secret party, and may even cause a split in the secret party.

The assassination of Tachibana Masamune has in fact indeed alleviated Ange's crisis, and may even have to change the strategy of the Eight Snake Clans, if it is not himself who suffers, even if it is him, he has to admire this wonderful assassination of the king.

Now, although there is no actual evidence, anyone with a discerning eye can judge who the biggest beneficiary is, considering that the academy envoy Su Mo has defeated the Inuyama family master head-on, with his strength, it is very likely that he will be able to do this.

However, considering Su Mo's identity, even if they knew who the real culprit was, there was no way for them to say it on the surface, and they couldn't make a move against the envoy of the academy headquarters until the family officially planned to break with the academy headquarters.

He knew that Gen Zhisheng and Tachibana Masamune were like father and son, and it was precisely because of this that he had to give an extra warning.

"Young Master—"

Wind Demon Kotaro wanted to say something, but was stopped by Gen Zhisheng.

"I understand what the head of the Wind Demon family means, he wants to advise me to be patient, Mr. Masamune's death is important, but more important is the righteousness of the family, as a leader, you can't damage the interests of the family for the sake of temporary pleasure, right?"

“…… Be. ”

Wind Demon Kotaro bowed his head and answered, Gen Zhisheng said everything he wanted to say, and he didn't have anything to add.

Seeing this, Yuan Zhisheng sighed.

"I understand what you mean, and I can understand your concerns, but you may not know it, but in fact, Mr. Masamune has already decided to die...... Kaguya-hime! ”

As he called, a white curtain fell, and the projector illuminated a black notebook with Tachibana Masamune's handwriting on it.

"This is something I found from Mr. Masamune's residence when I was sorting out the relics before. Mr. Masamune, who had always been cautious, had anticipated this possibility and instructed us not to avenge him if there was any eventuality, but to put the interests of the family first. ”

Yuan Zhisheng said in a heavy tone.

Seeing the contents of the notebook, everyone was silent, and they couldn't help but feel sad about it.

is worthy of being a dedicated patriarch, before he died, he was still thinking about his family, and even threw his life away.

The deceased is the greatest, and in the face of the deceased, people cannot ask a series of obvious questions such as "why don't you strengthen your defense if you are cautious?" and "why do you want to go out alone with the guards", but only condense sadness and anger.

Wind Demon Kotaro also lowered his head, for the sake of the family, he advised Gen Zhisheng to be steady, but in the face of Tachibana Masamune's death, he also condensed anger in his heart.

Even though Tachibana Masamune raised Deadpool and had black spots that couldn't be washed away, it was just for his daughter, which was not a reason for the academy headquarters to assassinate their leader.

For the sake of the family's interests, Wind Demon Kotaro is willing to bow his head to the academy headquarters, but it doesn't mean that he won't hide anger in his heart.

And since even he has such anger, one can imagine what kind of anger will burn in the chest of Gen Zhisheng, who is closer to Tachibana Masamune.

He looked up at Yuan Zhisheng, but he didn't expect that Yuan Zhisheng's face was extremely calm, as calm as if he had been poured iron on it.

"Mr. Masamune's order, I have engraved it in my heart, so you don't have to worry that I will repay the ink for personal grudges, as long as the academy headquarters does not humiliate our Snake Eight Families in front of me, I will maintain absolute restraint!"

Yuan Zhisheng's tone was calm, and his words were like iron.

Seeing his performance, the heads of the families no longer doubted his determination, and they all raised their minds to share the same hatred.

It's also interesting to say, if Tachibana Masamune was still alive at this time, the heads of the family might not continue to trust him wholeheartedly, after all, there were indeed many doubts about his actions, but when he died, the heads of the family no longer had any unnecessary doubts.

Gen Zhisheng's words were a kind of political statement, and such words won the trust of the heads of the family, and after confirming that he would not be rash, the heads of the family immediately pushed forward to the next issue, that is, the issue of electing the head of the family.

For everyone, this link is just a process, after all, there are only two candidates for the patriarch, and the only competitor, the head of the Uesugi family, is still playing games here, and the attraction of the position of the actor may not be as attractive to her as a handheld, so naturally it will not constitute competition.

No, she's not playing games now, but fiddling with her phone, as if she's messaging someone, and all you can see is her seriously tapping on the keyboard.

Just as Nanami Sakurai was about to speak, he would first conduct a small election within the head of the family.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Knock knock!"

Yuan Zhisheng was stunned for a moment, and the heads of the family also looked at each other.

Now it is a meeting of the heads of the family, and only the most powerful people of the eight families of Snake Qi can come in, and the nearby positions are heavily locked, and there are no guards arranged within ten meters around.

In this case, who will be able to break through the gates and invade this place directly?

If someone could break in, why knock on the door?

Didn't wait for them to react.

Erika stood up suddenly, lifted the red witch skirt and ran over, her pretty face was full of joy, as if she was going to see something important.

"Eri? Eri Yi! ”

Even Yuan Zhisheng's shouting, she ignored it, came directly to the door, and opened the door with a happy face.

"Good afternoon! You're busy! ”

Seeing Eri Yi open the door, Su Mo casually touched her head to express his gratitude, and then stepped into the hall with a natural face, greeting the heads of the family in front of him.

“……”

Seeing Su Mo's figure, the heads of the family changed color, and then said nothing.

Of course, they knew Su Mo, and they knew that this was the envoy of the academy's headquarters, and he was also the person suspected of murdering the former patriarch, Tachibana Masamune.

There was no point in asking him how he broke in, and in the current situation, they really didn't dare to do anything to Su Mo.

"Mr. Su Mo, right? As the envoy of the academy, why didn't you say hello before coming, otherwise we would have received it ceremoniously. ”

Finally, Kotaro the Wind Demon spoke.

His old eyes calmly looked at Su Mo in front of him, no one dared to underestimate this envoy now, otherwise they would not have been so jealous.

"This old man must be the head of the Wind Demon Family, I'm glad I will."

Su Mo said in a relaxed tone.

"Forget about the hospitality of the Eight Snake Families, I don't have the habit of taking bullets and bullets as a meal, as for the matter of advance notice, I said hello before I came!"

Ignoring the sarcasm in Su Mo's mouth, Wind Demon Kotaro was slightly stunned.

"Say hello?"

How did they not know?

He couldn't help but look back at Yuan Zhisheng, who shook his head coldly, indicating that he had not received a notice.

At this moment, Eri held up her notebook.

[Brother Su Mo told me! 】

“……”

Everyone was speechless.

Let's say that Su Mo didn't notify in advance, he did notify.

But the object of his notification was Eri Yi, and Eri naturally didn't know what to tell others.

No wonder Eri kept sending messages just now, it turned out that she was chatting with Su Mo?

Gen Zhisheng immediately skipped this conversation, and he couldn't get angry at Eri's head.

He tried his best to suppress his anger, maintained an iron-like expression, and asked Su Mo coldly.

"The envoy of the academy headquarters, why are you here for this?"

He wanted to clearly demarcate the boundaries between the two sides, and although the Eight Snakes didn't dare to do anything to the headquarters for the time being, they weren't sure they would give up betrayal, so there was no need to flatter him.

If Eri Yi was smart, she would definitely hear a sense of boundaries from his attitude, and maybe she would keep her distance from Su Mo.

It's a pity that Eri Yi didn't understand this, not only did she keep following Su Mo like a fart, but she also held a notebook to chat with the blonde girl who came in behind Su Mo, and continued to look out the door curiously.

"Nothing important, just to see a friend and do you a favor by the way."

Su Mo smiled slightly, his gaze met Yuan Zhisheng's gaze.

"Friends?"

Yuan Zhisheng's eyes were cold.

"There are no friends of yours here!"

"Not necessarily!"

Su Mo shook his head.

Before he could say anything more, Eri Yi picked up a small notebook and popped out.

[I'm a good friend of Brother Su Mo, and so is Sister Zero]

(End of chapter)