Chapter 137: Mobile Shrine, Please Let Me Call You Boss!
The footsteps were very light and slow, as if someone lightweight was tiptoeing. If it weren’t so quiet around, even Shangshan Che might not have noticed.
He listened for a while longer and found that the footsteps kept going in this house…
No, Shangshan Che observed for a moment; to be precise, this place should be called a Warehouse—and the footsteps kept lingering around the Warehouse without any intention of coming in right away.
He was somewhat puzzled.
There weren’t any other footsteps or breathing sounds around. What was that guy outside doing, entertaining himself?
In any case, Shangshan Che, bound by these fragile straw ropes, wasn’t too worried about his current situation.
On the contrary, he had to carefully control his strength so he wouldn’t accidentally snap the rope and miss out on potentially triggering an event from this opening.
“Better clear the red dots first.”
Shangshan Che used his thoughts to move the prompt line in front of his eyes, then his pupils slightly contracted.
【Your special item, Walker’s Chronometer has been activated!】
【Walker’s Chronometer（Special Item）】
【Effect: Precisely measures the degree of influence that the Walker of the Eternal World’s own actions have on history. Current degree of influence: 0%.】
【—Esteemed Walker of the Eternal World, please do your utmost to increase your degree of influence on history and leave your own mark in it.】
【Warning: Prohibited from exposing information directly related to “Walker” or “future” to avoid unknown consequences.】
Degree of influence on history…?
Shangshan Che furrowed his brow in slight confusion and looked at the area task below it.
【Current area unlocked: Mortal Realm·Sengoku Period（Three-Star）】
【Main Quest first ring·Entrance Ticket has been unlocked.】
【Entrance Ticket: Choose to join under any Daimyo, or choose to go independent.】
【Task deadline: None】
【Note: If this task is delayed too long without completion, it may cause subsequent tasks to be skipped directly.】
A Main Quest guide completely different from the three maps unlocked earlier popped up, leaving Shangshan Che silent for a moment.
From the task description and the Walker’s Chronometer panel, it seemed that after using the Key of History, he had entered the real Sengoku Period within past history.
And not some region in the Eternal World related to “Sengoku.”
“But how is that possible…”
Shangshan Che muttered instinctively.
Then he recalled Okita Soji, whom he had last seen in Fishing Master, and the street scenes and crowds in the Zan Maru trial that were no different from the real Edo Period.
It seemed that time-space travel wasn’t impossible.
Moreover, this “Key of History” was a mythical item personally given to him by Magatsu-kami.
Thinking of it that way, things seemed to make sense.
Since he was here, he might as well make himself at home.
Shangshan Che set aside his extra conjectures for now, carefully sensed the concentration of spiritual energy in the heaven and earth around him, then froze.
The spiritual energy concentration in this Sengoku Period was way too thin.
Forget comparing it to the current Eternal World or Mortal Realm; even the Mortal Realm before the Tide was better—and more precisely, it was less than a tenth of the previous Mortal Realm’s spiritual energy concentration.
“No wonder there aren’t many famous supernatural phenomena or demons in the Sengoku Period; turns out that’s the reason.”
Shangshan Che recalled the Oda army he had seen in the historical projection, which didn’t even have a single Three-Star general, and suddenly understood.
Generally speaking, changes in spiritual energy concentration don’t affect people’s cultivation speed of breathing techniques.
But if it’s too low—then it’s time to bring out Nanjo Emi’s sea level theory from before.
If the spiritual energy concentration between heaven and earth is too low, it will correspondingly lower the “sea level,” becoming the ceiling for this heaven and earth.
Presumably, “Three-Star” is the current limit barrier between heaven and earth; the closer to this barrier, the slower the cultivation speed, and crossing it is even harder.
Shangshan Che blinked; with his strength around Three-Star, wasn’t he already a top expert in this Warring States Period chaos?
But if he followed the Main Quest, it might not just be one-on-one from now on, but against hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands.
So it was better to keep a low profile—Shangshan Che, who had drowned in the Sea of Chi before, didn’t want to experience that death again.
Gulp…
A dull door-opening sound pulled Shangshan Che’s attention back.
He immediately looked expressionlessly toward the doorway and saw a child with messy hair, sallow and thin face, wearing a coarse cloth jacket on top, and stepping on a pair of ragged Straw Sandals walk in.
Upon seeing him awake, the child’s eyes lit up, and he eagerly trotted over.
Is this a child?
Shangshan Che wasn’t sure about the age of the other, who was a bit over 1.3 meters tall—people in this era were probably all this short; many Ashigaru in the previous Oda army were this height.
Moreover, the other’s face was sunken from hunger.
Even with Shangshan Che’s good eyesight, he couldn’t instantly judge the age of a short, skeletal soldier from the Sengoku Period.
With little information, Shangshan Che didn’t speak but quietly watched the child reveal a gloating expression, hum twice, and sit in front of him.
Then, he jabbered a whole lot at him.
Shangshan Che: ?
Seeing his bewildered expression, the child was stunned, then repeated what he had just said in another jabbering language.
Shangshan Che still didn’t understand what he was saying.
After going back and forth seven or eight times, the child, proficient in so many languages yet still unable to communicate, finally lost patience.
He slapped his thigh hard, pulled a gleaming Dagger from his waist, held it to Shangshan Che’s neck, and showed a fierce expression.
Whoa, this knife is the real deal.
Seeing the knife, Shangshan Che’s gaze shifted to the child’s waist—besides this Dagger, there were two Kunai and some odd things he didn’t recognize.
Ninja?
So he had been tied up here by a Ninja.
But he had just arrived and had likely passed out in the wild or Mountain Forest; why would this little Ninja bother tying him up?
Shangshan Che sized up the slender little Ninja and figured dragging him here must have taken immense effort.
In that case, shouldn’t he thank the other for not leaving him out in the wind and sun?
The little Ninja stared expressionlessly at Shangshan Che for a good while, then discovered a fact.
—That this guy in front of him wasn’t taking him or the Dagger at his neck seriously at all!
Damn it!
He had gone to great trouble dragging this pale, tender Samurai Lord back from the main road outside.
Now not only was there a language barrier, but the other seemed to have practiced the legendary “breathing technique”—otherwise, how could anyone not fear a knife at their neck!
“Damn it, this is a huge loss… Should I just pawn this thing and leave?”
The little Ninja muttered lowly, touching the warm, jade-like Bone Spoon inside his lining, accidentally revealing a corner of it.
A prompt immediately popped up in front of Shangshan Che.
【Key of History·Shrine】
【Effect: Equivalent to a normal Shrine, but can be easily moved.】
【—Please entrust it to someone you fully trust, otherwise…】
The Key of History turned into a Shrine?
Seeing the familiar term, Shangshan Che didn’t think much and instinctively reached out to activate the Shrine, forgetting he was supposed to be “firmly” tied to the pillar.
Snap snap.
The fragile straw rope couldn’t even delay for a moment before Shangshan Che snapped it into sections that fell to the ground.
Before the little Ninja could react, Shangshan Che had already snatched the Key of History back into his hand.
【You have activated Key of History·Shrine.】
Only after seeing this familiar prompt did Shangshan Che notice his arm already suspended in mid-air.
He paused slightly and looked at the little Ninja, who had been scared into sitting on the ground.
The scene was awkwardly silent for a moment.
“Uh…”
Before Shangshan Che could finish, he saw the little Ninja reach for his waist and hurl a handful of Quicklime at him.
Shangshan Che narrowed his eyes and pinched his nose.
Without thinking, the little Ninja bolted toward the door.
—Are you kidding? Someone who can break free from five-fold wet straw ropes barehanded—what kind of monster is this!?
“Two-Foot Adult, block the door.”
A eerie voice came from the still-dispersing Quicklime.
In the next instant, the little Ninja suddenly saw the half-open door go dark.
He looked up in confusion.
A colossal figure over two meters tall, almost as high as the Warehouse ceiling, had suddenly blocked the doorway, grinning at him.
“Gwah! Wah! Yokai!”
The little Ninja screamed in terror, collapsing to the ground and trembling violently—Hachishaku-sama at over 2.4 meters was indeed too horrifying for people of the Sengoku Period.
He shrank back: “Don’t eat me! Don’t eat me!”
Surprisingly, Shangshan Che understood this; he plucked a heartstring, signaling Two-Foot Adult to bring the little Ninja to him.
“po~”
Two-Foot Adult, rarely in her full Hachishaku form, extended a palm larger than the little Ninja’s head.
Just as she was about to lightly grab his collar, a Dagger pierced through her palm.
A faint pain came.
Two-Foot Adult blinked, lifted her hand, pulled out the Dagger while looking down at the little Ninja below.
Strangely, not a drop of blood flowed from the wound; the pierced palm quickly restored to normal.
The little Ninja, who had been glaring fiercely, stared blankly, his worldview shattered.
He scrambled toward the window on the other side: “Eek! Yokai! Yokai! I’m gonna die!”
Then he crashed headfirst into Shangshan Che’s abdomen.
Thud.
Shangshan Che looked down: “See, you can speak human language. Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
The little Ninja shook his head frantically, remembering the terrifying yokai behind him, and tried to flee without another word.
But Shangshan Che wouldn’t let him.
He reached out and easily lifted the other, making the little Ninja turn back with a terrified and anxious expression.
“You idiot! Can’t you wait to chop my head off later? Can’t you see the yokai behind!?”
The words were extremely fast; Shangshan Che didn’t catch many, but he got that he seemed very afraid of Two-Foot Adult.
Shangshan Che turned to Two-Foot Adult, whose head nearly touched the rafters: “Change to another form; don’t scare this child to death—I still need to ask questions.”
“po…” Two-Foot Adult sounded disappointed, “But if it’s Che Adult’s order, then alright.”
As she spoke, white mist bloomed from Two-Foot Adult, transforming back to Two-Foot form, her height suddenly half that of the little Ninja.
“Ah?”
The little Ninja, feet kicking in mid-air, froze, looked at Two-Foot Adult, then at Shangshan Che, and couldn’t help screaming.
“—Damn Samurai! You’re that yokai’s master!?”
This time, at least “damn Samurai” was clear to Shangshan Che.
Shangshan Che raised a brow, thinking this little punk, caught in his hand, was still so insolent and unafraid of death?
Whatever; he, as an adult, wouldn’t hold it against a child—especially an illiterate vagrant Ninja child from centuries ago who probably couldn’t read.
Dropping the little Ninja to the ground, Shangshan Che said slowly, word by word: “Don’t move, and I won’t kill you.”
After the previous half-understood exchange, Shangshan Che realized—they had been speaking the same language from the start.
It was just that the other’s accent was heavy, so fast speech was hard to follow.
Hearing Shangshan Che, the little Ninja showed utter disbelief.
He stared coldly: “Bullshit… You Samurai kill for fun every day—how could you possibly let me go!”
With that, he closed his eyes defiantly: “Kill me if you want! I won’t beg like a dog!”
Shangshan Che stared at him, puzzled after seeing he wasn’t joking: “How did you know I’m a Samurai? When did I say I was?”
The little Ninja’s brow twitched.
—Does this damn Samurai need to say it? Look at this height, this handsome pale face that stands out in a crowd, and those neat white teeth!
Plus the neat hair and unbelievably fair skin—unless raised in a noble court from childhood, how could anyone have skin like that?!
—And you say you’re not a Samurai!
At least lie convincingly!
If not a Samurai, he’d eat him whole without hesitation!
“Hey, Che Adult’s asking you—didn’t you hear?” Two-Foot Adult, standing nearby, kicked the little Ninja’s foot discontentedly, stiffening his expression again.
Even in a smaller form, the little Ninja couldn’t forget the giant he’d seen.
Seeing his state, Shangshan Che thought and said: “I’m indeed not a Samurai but an Onmyoji. Heard of Onmyoji? This one is my Shikigami.”
He pointed, a flame flickering at his fingertip.
The little Ninja stared blankly, curiously leaning closer to the flame on Shangshan Che’s finger.
Then, he actually felt the heat!
“Real fire…?” the little Ninja muttered in disbelief, looking at Shangshan Che as he extinguished the flame and summoned water floating in his palm. “Legends are real; there really are Onmyoji alive in this world.”
Shangshan Che sighed helplessly: “Now do you believe I’m not a Samurai?”
—If this little Ninja weren’t the first person he met in the Sengoku Period and had essentially saved him, Shangshan Che wouldn’t waste so many words.
He’d have turned into Four-tailed Fox and slapped a Soul Seal on him.
But this was his patience limit; keep calling him Samurai, and he’d use extreme measures.
The little Ninja poked the water ball, face complex: “Fine, I’ll believe you for now…”
“What do you want to ask?” He looked up, knowing people like him had no other value.
Shangshan Che dispersed the water: “First, what’s your name?”
“Shiraishi.” Shiraishi clicked his tongue. “Why ask that?”
Shiraishi—a very common surname.
Shangshan Che pondered, deciding to clarify the current time first—if the Battle of Okehazama was over, he’d join Oda Nobunaga and try to avert the Honno-ji Incident.
After Okehazama, Oda Clan’s influence expanded rapidly; joining another Daimyo against them might not work.
After all, the tide of history isn’t easily changed by one person; better to play it safe.
Plus, he’d met Oda Nobunaga and found him decent, not as brutally self-centered as history said.
If before Okehazama… he’d see the situation, no rush to decide.
So he asked: “I’ve been secluded in the mountains cultivating for years—what era is it now?”
Shiraishi answered without thinking: “Hongzhi 2.”
Hongzhi 2? What the hell year is that?
History-illiterate Shangshan Che only remembered AD years for key events, not these era names changing every few years.
He smacked his lips: “Do you know Oda Nobunaga? What’s his reputation?”
Shiraishi gave him a deep look, then scoffed: “Who doesn’t? Owari’s Great Fool is infamous!”
Got it—Okehazama hasn’t happened yet.
Otherwise, Oda Nobunaga’s nickname wouldn’t still be the mocking “Great Fool.”
This timing was decent.
Shangshan Che rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Maybe join Takeda Clan with the strongest cavalry, or chat with his namesake Uesugi Kenshin.
Or find Lili Zi’s ancestor—future Japan-unifier Tokugawa Ieyasu—though that might take time and effort.
But skip Imagawa Yoshimoto.
Fresh from Okehazama, Shangshan Che had no fondness for Imagawa army that scattered instantly, and he never even saw leader Imagawa Yoshimoto till the end.
Vassals and troops still fighting while the leader vanished—what kind of nonsense!
This guy was no good; eliminate.
Crossing out the fat, short-legged “Tokaido’s Number One Archer,” Shangshan Che asked: “Where’s this? Any big cities nearby?”
Know time, then place, then get to work.
Shangshan Che had glanced out when Shiraishi opened the door—only barren land, no soul in sight.
So he guessed it was some godforsaken wasteland.
Shiraishi: “Aratomi Village. A small village not far from Sunpu Castle.”
“You’re lying.” Shangshan Che narrowed his eyes, smiling. “A village with only one house?”
Shiraishi startled, quickly adding:
“This is the rotten shack next to Aratomi Village… No one comes usually, so I dragged you here to strip you clean.”
Shiraishi clamped his mouth, realizing he’d slipped.
He laughed awkwardly to gloss over.
Shangshan Che didn’t mind.
In this chaotic era, robbery was normal; not killing after looting showed Shiraishi had some conscience.
So he pulled Compressed Biscuit and Mineral Water from his Storage Bag, tore open the packaging, and handed them to Shiraishi.
“What is this…”
Shiraishi was wary but not surprised by the sudden items—legendary Onmyoji pulling clever tricks was normal.
“Food and water.” Shangshan Che said, breaking off some Compressed Biscuit to eat and taking two sips. “Looking at you, haven’t eaten in days?”
Shiraishi swallowed hard, then hesitantly took them after seeing him eat and drink first.
He stared at the Compressed Biscuit long, then bit down hard as if resolving something major.
Silence.
Shangshan Che watched silent Shiraishi after one bite, about to check if something was wrong.
Then Shiraishi looked up with shining eyes, staring intently: “If I make you my boss, can I eat this every day!?”
A bit less update today, need to steady the plot and outline, please forgive meow.
Also, monthly votes please at month start meow!
