Chapter 259: Ghost God Eyeball, Trembling In Fear! Kaga Kiyomitsu, Spirituality Evolution! Karuta, The God Who Governs Possibilities
“Let’s go, Shangshan Jun.”
Still ignoring the gazes focused on her from the entire venue, Lili Zi walked off the stage without glancing sideways, not even sparing a single look at the other participants.
The reason was very simple.
Simply by no longer restraining her own willpower and qi presence, no one dared to meet her eyes anymore.
If they didn’t even have this tiny bit of courage, they didn’t deserve Lili Zi’s gaze.
“What are you looking at?”
Coming to the side of Shangshan Che, who was in disguise, Lili Zi curiously peered over and saw the LINE interface on the screen along with the nickname of the agent named Tamamo, whom she had just met not long ago.
【Tamamo: Right now in the whole of Tokyo, only some top hotels have vacancies, but one night costs at least 200,000 yen… Gugu, this price makes my eyes go black.】
【Moon Sand Sauce: Then come stay at my place, my house is pretty big.】
【Moon Sand Sauce: When we were in Shizuoka Prefecture, I imposed on you all for quite some time, so now that you’re in Tokyo, let me play the host this time.】
【Tamamo: Ryūgen Jun says it’s no big deal…】
【Moon Sand Sauce: No problem, there are plenty of empty rooms anyway, and with the seed battle coming up, I also want to discuss some cultivation insights with Ryūgen Jun.】
“Tokyo has too many people lately, and there’s nowhere for us to stay.”
Shangshan Che asked her, “Can I have Tamamo and Ryūgen Jun stay at our place for a short while?
They helped me a lot when we were in Shizuoka Prefecture.”
Lili Zi rarely paused in surprise.
She stared at Shangshan Che, who was still replying to Tamamo and hadn’t even taken his eyes off the screen, and slightly raised the corner of her lips, smiling: “It’s your own house, why ask for my opinion?”
“Not at all.” Shangshan Che shook his head, “You’ve been living here longer, haven’t you?”
“What reason would I have to refuse then?”
Lili Zi said: “More people make it livelier, and I’m also a bit interested in that Yagyu Oshi.”
“Alright then.”
She walked past Shangshan Che, her voice coming from ahead: “We still need to go to the supermarket to buy some ingredients. Don’t we have to host guests tonight?”
Shangshan Che replied to Tamamo on LINE, and soon saw the other side send a string of kneeling thank-you emoji packs.
……
“Ho ho, is this Elder Brother Shangshan’s house?”
In the evening, after following the navigation all the way and bumping her head on the iron gate, Tamamo looked up in pain and muttered casually before freezing.
Because a four-story large villa with front and back yards stood right before her eyes.
Tamamo’s first reaction was that even if she didn’t eat or drink for her whole life, her salary wouldn’t be enough to buy this house.
“Eh? Does Elder Brother Shangshan live here?” Tamamo scratched her head in confusion, “Ryūgen, take a look… did we go the wrong way?”
But just as she said that, the creaking sound of hinges came along with a warm, gentle female voice, dispelling some of the emotions in Tamamo’s heart.
“You two must be Yagyu Oshi and Agent Tamamo, whom Shangshan Jun often mentions?”
Lili Zi opened the iron gate and smiled at the two: “Hello, I’m Tokugawa Ririko.”
She added by way of explanation: “Also, this is indeed Shangshan Jun’s residence.”
“R-Really?”
Tamamo put down her mobile phone, her small mouth slightly agape in amazement: “I didn’t expect Elder Brother Shangshan’s strength to be this impressive…”
Yagyu Oshi, however, fixed his gaze on Lili Zi, his expression serious.
Because from start to finish, he hadn’t sensed a third person’s approach.
The girl named Tokugawa Ririko seemed to have appeared out of thin air right in front of them.
Moreover, she had made his state of mind rise with warmth just by saying a single sentence… This state of mind cultivation was terrifying.
Not to mention the impossibly difficult clear sword heart, at least a sword technique expert after Hundred Refinements Return to One.
“Tamamo, this is an expert.”
He patted the shoulder of Tamamo, who was about to start taking kuku photos, signaling her to be serious and respectful.
Tamamo blinked, looking up at the high ponytail girl wearing a short-sleeved shirt and five-minute shorts, with an apron tied on, somewhat puzzled.
An expert? I can’t sense it at all.
She clearly looks like an 18-year-old athletic homebody high school girl!
Except for the apron, nothing about her is unremarkable.
——Due to the Special Affairs Office in Arakawa Ward being full, Tamamo had been sweating buckets looking for a place to stay and naturally hadn’t had time to surf for info on Lili Zi today.
Yagyu Oshi needed even less mention; he rarely browsed videos online and sifted useful intel from the sea of junk scrap information.
But expert is expert, could she be stronger than Elder Brother Shangshan?
Tamamo smiled and friendly shook hands with Lili Zi, then introduced herself along with Yagyu Oshi.
“You two have been out all day, you must be hungry.”
Lili Zi smiled at them: “Our dinner is just ready, if you don’t mind…”
While saying some polite pleasantries, Lili Zi turned and led the two into the yard, then toward the half-open villa door.
Tamamo, following behind her, let out an “eh” in surprise, somewhat suspiciously.
She could tell this girl named Tokugawa Ririko was Shangshan Che’s friend, but why did she seem so proficient?
Could it be that Tokugawa Ririko usually lives together with Elder Brother Shangshan?
If so, wouldn’t that mean…
Yagyu Oshi instinctively placed his hand on the sword hilt, slightly leaning in front of Tamamo, following behind Lili Zi as if facing a great enemy.
But he quickly noticed something wrong and had to clasp his hands behind his back, using his left hand to grip the right to keep it still.
Creak.
The door opened wide, and Lili Zi stepped aside: “You two don’t need to change shoes, just come in.”
“Ah, this… Miss Tokugawa, is this really okay?” Tamamo hesitated a bit.
After all, in this country of Neon that values etiquette details, you have to change shoes before entering someone else’s entrance hall, arrange them neatly, and greet once more.
This smooth little combo was common sense.
“Of course it’s fine.” Lili Zi waved her hand, “Also, no need to be so formal. Since you’re Shangshan Jun’s friends, just call me Lili Zi.”
“Then I’ll rudely impose, Miss Lili Zi!”
Her sports shoes, stained with quite a bit of dirt and dust scraps, stepped onto the dojo’s wooden floor. Seeing the footprints she left, Tamamo still felt a bit embarrassed.
But after just one step, she suddenly reacted.
Wait, what was the full name of Elder Brother Shangshan’s female roommate again… “Tokugawa Ririko”?
Tokugawa, Ririko!
Tamamo, still staring at the floor, covered her mouth in shock to keep from making a sound.
She’s from the Tokugawa family?!
Yagyu Oshi, stepping in a beat later, gazed at the “Martial” character and softly praised,
“Fine dojo.”
“Thank you for the compliment.” Lili Zi walked toward the stairs, “You two, please come up.”
After going upstairs, Shangshan Che, who was already seated at the dining table with eyes closed practicing Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound, opened his eyes.
“Tamamo, Ryūgen Jun.”
He let out a long breath and nodded toward his mouth: “Since you’re here, eat quickly. Don’t let the noodles keep absorbing water and get bigger.”
“Oh oh, coming coming!”
Tamamo dashed to the dining table with thumping steps. Her eyes quickly scanned the remaining three bowls of ramen and found a spot that was absolutely unmistakable.
——Diagonal from Shangshan Che.
This position let her eat heartily right away and absolutely wouldn’t take the seat Lili Zi wanted.
She secretly thought to herself that she was a genius, then deeply inhaled the steaming aroma of the ramen, revealing a satisfied expression: “Hehe, smells so good, hehe…”
Once Lili Zi sat beside Shangshan Che and picked up her chopsticks, Yagyu Oshi sat across from him.
But just as he sat down and was about to pick up the noodles, Yagyu Oshi’s expression changed again.
——In this fragrant ramen loaded with fried eggs and tempura, clear sword intent was unmistakably flowing through it!
Sword intent, actually infused into the meal!?
After silently taking a bite to confirm, Yagyu Oshi was even more shocked.
This realm was probably the transformation realm that the apprentice master mentioned… At least something only a sword master could achieve.
In other words.
He glanced sideways at Lili Zi, who was slurping noodles heartily, showing no sign of a powerhouse.
This girl is a sword master?
As expected of Shangshan Jun’s friend.
After gratefully finishing every last noodle seriously and giving thanks, Yagyu Oshi heard Shangshan Che across from him ask,
“By the way, Ryūgen Jun, in a few days, don’t you have the local ranking match to determine the order?”
“Yes, it seems the match venue is Sky Dome One…”
At this point, Yagyu Oshi paused and pointed upward with his finger: “I heard it’s that one flying in the sky?”
“Yeah, I’ve been up there before—super stable, no need to worry about crashing.”
Shangshan Che thought for a moment, stood up, and proposed: “In that case, perfect timing. Ryūgen Jun, I, and Lili Zi—we three can exchange thoughts and insights on cultivation matters.”
Lili Zi stretched lazily, flicking out qi barrier with her fingertip to collect the four bowls: “Then let’s call it after-dinner exercise.”
Seeing the hosts propose this, Yagyu Oshi, who had similar thoughts, naturally had no objections.
Thus, the three prepared to stand and discuss the way, just like Minamoto Shizuka, Saito Ryuichi, and Takizawa Kai before them.
“What about me?”
In the silence, Tamamo, who was blissfully lying in her chair, squinting her eyes and patting her round belly, turned her head.
Shangshan Che, having just drawn Kaga Kiyomitsu and let it float behind him, raised an eyebrow: “You don’t cultivate, why butt in?”
Under Tamamo’s grudge-filled stare, Shangshan Che waved repeatedly,
“Go go go, kid, go watch TV.”
“Tch, fine, I’ll watch!” Tamamo looked toward the massive nearly 100-inch TV in the living room center and huffed lightly.
Ignoring Tamamo vigorously pressing the remote, the three went to the first floor, walking while starting to raise questions and solve problems with each other.
In this process, Shangshan Che and Lili Zi could even maintain low-intensity cultivation, leaving Yagyu Oshi, who was fully occupied just thinking about the issues, at a loss for words.
Several hours passed in a flash, and the silver moon seemed to go from translucent to shining brightly in the blink of an eye.
Time in “discussing the way” flew by; it was the abrupt change in Kaga Kiyomitsu that pulled Shangshan Che out of his trinity flow of thinking, answering, and cultivation.
“Little Jia, what’s wrong?”
He looked toward Kaga Kiyomitsu, which was floating nearby listening along, only to discover in astonishment that the entire blade was now enveloped in pale blue light at some point.
At its top, this line of prompt had appeared:
【Your Kaga Kiyomitsu·Blade of Parting’s knowledge, accumulation, and understanding have reached the limit. It is undergoing autonomous spirituality evolution!】
……
At the same time.
Eternal World, deep within an unknown core factory.
The scarlet eyeball, which could spread its willpower across thousands of miles with a thought and cause earthquakes with a casual gesture, was hunched low over the ground, showing none of a ghost god’s dignity.
Right in front of it, the man dressed in a tailcoat today was quickly flipping through the quarterly reports in his hand.
Slap.
Two minutes later, the reports were closed.
The man didn’t look at the eyeball, which didn’t dare move an inch, and merely asked lightly: “I heard the factory core in that logistics factory in Arakawa Village ‘mysteriously’ disappeared?”
“Yes, Master Z.” Despite extreme fear, the scarlet eyeball answered crisply.
“I arrived over the factory in one second, but found no trace of the thief within thousands of miles around. The scene also had no ghost god or wild god qi left…
Finally, aside from the factory core’s disappearance, all sequences were undamaged, and the production line was intact.”
After reporting the situation, the scarlet eyeball said no more, not adding any random guesses.
The man, Factory Owner Z, lowered his gaze after listening and fell into very brief contemplation.
——Specifically stealing the factory core?
——And going all the way to a backwater like Arakawa Village that almost no one knows about to steal it?
Logically, such a remote countryside wouldn’t attract any powerhouse’s attention.
Even if there was a one-in-a-million coincidence, there’d be no need to risk offending the factory owner to steal a “battery” that’s even circulated on the market.
Stealing a factory core was a completely mismatched reward-risk affair.
Could it be… that Master Craftsman is back?
Factory Owner Z pushed up his monocle and asked: “What about the townhouse I deliberately left?”
The scarlet eyeball immediately replied: “No changes at all, not even a footprint on the dust.”
No change, that’s what’s strange.
Moreover, with the clues gone, the factory core definitely couldn’t be tracked down… but that was still minor.
The key was, what exactly was the thief’s purpose in stealing the factory core?
Factory Owner Z rarely furrowed his brows deeply, his fingers unconsciously tapping the steel armrest, producing light sounds that made the scarlet eyeball’s heart tremble violently.
Perhaps the lost core was just a smokescreen.
In reality, the thief’s true goal had already been achieved.
“Hoo…”
Factory Owner Z slowly exhaled, feeling an inexplicably tiring mental fatigue.
He had cleared thousands of miles around back then, placed disguises of other treasures in various spots to satisfy any passing powerhouses, and even planted his own banner over the factory…
Even with all that, some powerhouse still coveted this outwardly unremarkable logistics factory.
Amid the long, monotonous tapping, the scarlet eyeball’s thoughts grew increasingly tense, eventually making its whole body tremble slightly.
Factory Owner Z suddenly broke the thick, paste-like atmosphere: “The molds, any issues?”
The scarlet eyeball shuddered violently, then answered in a completely flat tone: “No light seen, completely intact.”
“What about the copies with 99.999%+ precision?”
“That logistics factory hasn’t produced copies of such high precision yet.”
After hearing the scarlet eyeball’s two simple answers, the heavy stone in Factory Owner Z’s heart settled—if these two things weren’t exposed, there wouldn’t be major trouble.
——Because many factory owners had ideas to restart the Karuta Plan, but without extremely precise parts, it was ultimately just fooling around.
“Then it’s fine.” Factory Owner Z waved casually, “Just a mere factory core, no big deal.”
“But that logistics factory is no longer of much use; replace all the production lines inside with normal ones.”
Halfway through, Factory Owner Z seemed to think it improper and changed his words,
“No, just abandon that factory entirely.”
——It had progressed halfway; as long as the plan to remake Karuta wasn’t exposed, it was good.
It made sense; the “Karuta Plan” was something only factory owners were qualified to know, and even among them, not all knew it clearly.
In Arakawa Village’s logistics factory, the only truly important thing was that one mold.
But if it were another factory owner sending subordinates to investigate, how could they ignore the mold and steal the factory core, making such a big fuss?
No such possibility.
So this was just a simple matter and coincidence: the factory core caught someone’s eye, and it was very likely stolen by a powerhouse from the ancient era.
Thinking this, Factory Owner Z’s mood lightened.
If only he could remake Karuta before the second tide.
Even an incomplete Karuta could help him choose the optimal solution from countless paths and choices.
And that was just Karuta’s most insignificant function.
He raised the glass cup by his left hand, took a sip of the pale golden liquor, his gaze passing over the enormous floor-to-ceiling window over a hundred meters long, falling on the sun imprisoned in the abyss rift valley by the spectacle-worthy black machinery.
Factory Owner Z silently chanted,
“Karuta, Karuta, deity governing possibility and branches…”
When could he sign that unalterable-by-external-objects-or-thoughts contract with the remade Lady Karuta?
Right, in the human world’s onmyoji terms, “signing a contract” was apparently called…
Contract shikigami.
……
Mortal Realm, several hours later, the three’s “discussing the way” had all ended.
Behind Shangshan Che, the long-silent Kaga Kiyomitsu finally emitted a clear, pleasant blade cry.
He took a deep breath and turned around, somewhat excitedly.
Little Jia, this saved 2000 soul spirit points all at once!
【Your Kaga Kiyomitsu·Blade of Parting’s autonomous spirituality evolution is complete. Please check!】
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More tomorrow to make up for it!
