Chapter 515 Candlelight Dinner
After [the lady’s] memorial service, Liu Bai had no other work for the time being.
However, he and Nashida were not in a hurry to leave Dongdong. For them, it was nice to change their place of residence occasionally, just like traveling.
"Xiaobai, Xiaobai, come here..."
On this day, Liu Bai was walking alone on the street planning to buy some popsicles when he passed by an alley and was suddenly pulled into by someone.
"I got scared. It turned out to be Psyduck."
Liu Bai was pulled into the alley and took a closer look, and found that it was Tartaglia.
"It's me, Xiaobai. Do you know my master?"
Tartaglia nodded and then asked Liu Bai directly.
He asked Silkock, but he received no answer.
"Who is your master?"
Liu Bai looked at Tartaglia in confusion.
"Well, her name was Silk, and when I was fourteen..."
Tartaglia had no choice but to explain to Liu Bai who his master was and how he knew her.
"Oh... I don't know him."
After listening to Tartaglia's description, Liu Bai scratched his head.
"Well, not surprising."
Tartaglia was quite familiar with Liu Bai, so he just shrugged his shoulders when he heard what he said.
But no matter what, the master's instructions must be completed.
"Anyway, I'm here to issue a challenge on her behalf. She invites you to a fight in three years."
Tartaglia conveyed Sikirk's intention to Liu Bai.
"Oh, a three-year agreement, right? Okay, go tell her. I, Xiao Bai, have made a note of it."
Liu Bai nodded and made an OK gesture.
Although he still couldn't remember who it was.
……
After Inazuma's Eye Hunting Order was cancelled, the isolation orders were also lifted one after another, and the International Chamber of Commerce on the outlying islands became lively again.
The Tenryo Bugyo and Kanjo Bugyo were also punished for the crimes they committed during the period of isolation, and the heads of the two families were replaced.
During this period, the travelers were not idle, but began to explore various places in Inazuma.
Because I was wanted before, I didn't have much time to explore carefully.
First, she helped a Fontaine man named Xavier to resolve the crisis of the Tatar Sand, thus avoiding a disaster that might be even more serious than the "Orobas Explosion".
Afterwards, the traveler wanted to go to Qinglai Island, where he could see dense thunderstorms from afar, but suddenly he remembered the masked priestess he saw in front of Konda Village when he just left the island.
So she took Paimon and Clevie back to Konda Village and found the witch in front of the village.
She had been standing in front of the Sky Fox statue here, but no one responded to her presence, as if they couldn't see her.
Ying went forward to talk to him, but the other party guided Ying to obtain a strange talisman from the sky fox statue.
"Sure enough, I was not wrong. You are the destined one."
"With your skills and experience, um... it shouldn't be a problem."
"Excuse me, my name is Hanasari, and I'm a shrine maiden."
After Ying obtained the talisman, the witch wearing a fox mask introduced herself to them.
Afterwards, under the guidance of Hanasakura, Ying and the others began to travel around Narukami Island, completing a ceremony called [God Sakura Great Purification] to purify the pollution on the roots of the God Sakura tree.
In the process, they also learned about Hanasari's identity.
It turns out that she is a human-shaped filth formed by the memories of Ying's friend "Konzaimiya" combined with the filth on the roots of the sacred cherry tree, and possesses the memories of Kitsusai-miya.
Coincidentally, like a certain Ms. Daci Tree King who wishes to remain anonymous, as part of the filth, if she wants to completely purify the pollution in the roots of the Divine Sakura Tree and thoroughly complete the Divine Sakura Purification, then she herself also needs to be purified.
So, in the end, she said goodbye to Ying and the others in front of the roots of the sacred cherry tree in the cave at the bottom of Yingxiang Mountain, and disappeared, leaving only the fox mask she was wearing on her face falling to the ground.
"Fortunately, Ying is in seclusion with the general. Don't let her know about this."
Just after Ying and the others picked up the masks, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind them.
Ying turned around and found that it was Lei Dianzhen.
Although Shin and Kage look very similar, their clothing habits are somewhat different. Kage is a warrior, and the kimono he wears has been specially modified. The furisode is retained on only one arm to make it easier to wield the weapon, and the hem of the clothes is also cut significantly shorter.
Since she is not good at fighting, she has no concerns in this regard. The kimono she wears has not been modified much and is a more traditional style.
"Eh? You really showed up at this time... You haven't been watching us the whole time, have you?"
Paimon said in surprise after recognizing Ying.
"Yes, after all, the sacred cherry tree was planted by Ying and I, and Kitsusai Palace can be considered an old friend of mine."
Zhen nodded his head.
Like her, Huzai Palace died in the dark beast tide that started in Kanriya five hundred years ago. Naturally, they were familiar with each other before that.
"But I don't have the ability to change anything, and Shenying Daifu is not dangerous with your abilities, so I didn't intervene."
Then Zhen shook his head again.
Hanasari is the filth that possesses Kitsusai-gū's memories, so even if she knew everything about the Kamizakura Purification, she couldn't help.
"That's it..."
Ying and the others nodded helplessly.
Although I didn't spend a long time with Hanasari, after knowing how much she and Kitsunayoshi have devoted to me, I can't help but feel sad to see her leave like this.
"But speaking of which, where on earth did Ying go to retreat? I haven't seen her for over a month."
Afterwards, Ying couldn't help but ask Zhen.
They haven't seen Ying and the general since they last met in the castle tower.
"She went to a very secluded place with the general. She said she was in seclusion, but in fact she wanted to prove her will to the general."
Seeing Ying asking about this matter, Zhen had no choice but to explain it to them.
"Prove your will?"
Ying and the others were still somewhat confused after hearing this.
"Yes. When she made the general, she considered that he might change his will due to wear and tear in the future, so she added a layer of insurance for this purpose."
"Whenever she wants to make a change, she must prove to the general that her will has not wavered, and the way to do that is very simple, which is to fight the general."
Zhen nodded and continued to explain.
"Fighting? Does it have to take so long? It's been more than a month..."
Paimon couldn't help but spread his hands and spoke in confusion.
"Well, if it were in reality, considering the body's endurance and the consumption of elemental power, the fight might not take long before the winner is decided."
"But the place where they fight is a space of consciousness, where they will never be truly injured or fall down. As long as their will is strong enough, it may take hundreds of years to determine the winner."
Zhen continued to explain.
"Huh?! How many, hundreds of years will it take to decide the winner?!"
Ying couldn't help but widen her eyes, and Paimon screamed in fear.
"Then, what about Inazuma? Are we just going to leave it to you alone to handle it?"
Ying couldn't help but ask Zhen.
"That's exactly what she's thinking... Anyway, with my sister around, Inazuma won't cause any trouble, and she can still fight the general for hundreds of years. This is too cost-effective... I guess this is right."
Zhen also spread his hands and said quite depressedly.
"Uh... what should we do now? Are we just going to watch her hide and fight with the general for hundreds of years?"
Paimon scratched her head. Zhen's words made her a little surprised that Zhen had such a side to her.
"Of course not. That's why I came to you, the all-powerful Traveler Adventure Group of the Adventurer's Association."
Hearing Paimon's words, Shin clasped his hands in front of him and nodded with a smile.
"Uh... As expected..."
Paimeng and the others are used to entrusting people to come to them.
"You can go and help Ying a little. Just work with her to defeat the general. The defeated general will find a way to decide the final victory with Ying."
"Hmm? Are you looking at me like that to ask me why I'm not going?"
"Because I'm not good at fighting. If I go in, I might not be able to help Ying, and I might even hinder her."
He explains to Ying and the others how to help Ying, and when he notices Paimon's gaze, he explains with a smile.
"Uh... nothing, I just thought you looked like a fox..."
Paimon shook his head.
"Anyway, let's go. That's an abandoned consciousness space. Its owner died five hundred years ago."
Shin continued to talk to Paimon and the others, and then took them out of the underground of Shadow Mountain and came to a hidden cave on Shadow Mountain.
Here, there is a dilapidated torii standing on the mountain wall, above which a purple vortex can be vaguely seen.
Although this is a real consciousness space, there is a very counterintuitive situation. That is, after Zhen was resurrected, it did not disappear, nor did it return to Zhen's body, but was separated from Zhen.
Maybe it’s because... he was really resurrected in the consciousness space?
After all, Ying had no way to get her body into the One-Mind Pure Land, otherwise she and General Raiden would only need to fight in the One-Mind Pure Land without having to find another venue.
Therefore, when Zhen is forced to be resurrected from the consciousness space because of the system's props, he will have to be separated from his own consciousness space.
Moreover, after the separation, she herself was not affected at all. Her consciousness space was still there, but the original consciousness space was no longer hers.
In this way, under the guidance of Shinji, Ying and the others kept recalling their wishes.
In the revolving images, they finally landed at the right time.
"We can't change it casually. If the sacred cherry tree suddenly disappears, it will be a disaster that is difficult to deal with..."
After Ying and the others entered the consciousness space, Zhen couldn't help but sigh.
Everything now is so different from what she originally expected, she must carefully guide the content that will have a direct and huge impact back to its original state.
……
While Ying and the others were busy looking for Inazuma, Liu Bai and Nashida were watching a movie.
Although the film industry was developed in Fontaine, Zhidong's technology was very advanced. After realizing the advantages of the film industry, it learned a lot from Fontaine and promoted the film industry in Zhidong's hometown.
But for some reason, they only bought one ticket for the two of them to watch a movie, so...
"Girl, do you want to eat popcorn..."
Sitting at Liu Bai's seat, he picked up the popcorn in his hand and asked Nashida who was sitting on his lap.
In order to attract less attention in the cinema, Nashida temporarily transformed herself back to her childhood form.
Anyway, her current appearance has not been affected by the pregnancy, so it is not a big problem for her to turn into a younger form.
"Hmm, delicious."
Nashida, who was sitting on Liu Bai's lap, leaned back on Liu Bai's chest, sat comfortably on Liu Bai as if he were a chair, and opened her mouth to enjoy the popcorn that Liu Bai fed her.
On the screen of the cinema, a film unique to Zhidong was playing. It was a historical record that told the story of the previous Ice God during his reign.
Neither Liu Bai nor Nashida knew much about this former Ice God, but that did not stop them from watching the movie with great interest.
In a dim environment, with two people in close contact, even if they don't do anything out of the ordinary, it's comfortable just to stay like this.
"Don't eat my hair, idiot..."
Suddenly feeling Liu Bai holding her hair in his mouth, Nashida pinched his thigh.
Ever since Liu Bai felt that the World Tree was more nutritious than ginseng, he has always had the habit of sucking Nashida's hair.
Especially after he lost to Nashida in a fight recently, Liu Bai always wanted to make up for it.
"All right……"
After being pinched on the thigh by Nashida, Liu Bai had to open his mouth and wiped the saliva on the strand of hair that he was holding with his sleeve.
Then Liu Bai changed his target, opened his mouth and took in the green leaf growing on the side of Nashida's head.
"Fool……"
Nashida couldn't help but blush and lower her head.
After watching the movie, the two left the theater and walked to the restaurant that Nashida had booked.
Apart from the date planned by Clorinde, Navia and Charlotte at Fontaine, the two of them had never had a real candlelight dinner.
Although eating in that way may not necessarily make the food taste good, the atmosphere is very comfortable.
So in the independent box of the restaurant, an exquisitely shaped candle lit up the small table, and Liu Bai sat alone in the candlelight.
As for Nashida, she said she wanted to go to the bathroom and Liu Bai didn't doubt it.
"This isn't enough to eat..."
Looking at the steak and fork in front of him, Liu Bai couldn't help but mutter.
Just this piece of steak was gone with one huge bite, it was not enough...
Feeling depressed, Liu Bai had no choice but to pick up the drink beside him and take a sip.
Nashida knew he couldn't drink alcohol, so she prepared just ordinary grape juice.
Boom, boom, boom!
Just then, there was a knock on the box door.
"Who?"
Liu Bai stood up puzzledly and walked over while talking.
Although there was no response, Liu Bai still opened the door of the box.
Outside the door, Nashida, in girl form, stood quietly. She had changed into a pure white dress that looked like a wedding gown. She lifted her skirt slightly and smiled.
"How can you not wear a dress for such a romantic occasion, dear."
Nashida said as she winked at Liu Bai.
"Girl, you're here just in time. Ask the waiter to bring some more food. We won't be full with just two steaks."
……