Chapter 340: When Shangshan Che Arrives, That’s When I Leave! Fushimi Inari, All The Gatekeepers Are Six-tailed Foxes
Lili Zi silently stared at the woman standing at the doorway with both hands in her pockets.
Looking for Shangshan Jun with something important to say?
And it can only be said to him?
Lili Zi prided herself on knowing Shangshan Che very well.
From ordinary to now, except for some little secrets between the two that they tacitly didn’t ask about, she knew almost everything that had happened to him, even able to list them out from beginning to end.
On the contrary, Shangshan Che was the same with her.
But this squinting fellow in front of her who was lowering her head and looking at her, Lili Zi had no impression.
Not only no impression, but she could even say she had never seen this woman before, not in any situation.
But 【Sword Heart】 told her that every word this woman said was completely true, without the slightest falsehood.
This matter reeked of strangeness everywhere…
“I know you, Tokugawa Ririko.”
Okabe Motonobu suddenly spoke up, breaking the icy silence at the doorway.
However, even if she tried her best to maintain a calm tone, Lili Zi detected a hint of malice toward her in it.
This malice wasn’t because she had offended this woman somewhere, but due to some more fundamental reason.
Lili Zi grew even more puzzled.
She was very certain that there was no such person in her memory.
Okabe Motonobu continued,
“When you said on stage during the Seed Battle that Shangshan Che was yours, I was watching from the audience seat below.”
Audience?
A fervent fan of Shangshan Che’s great strength? Even chasing her all the way home?
Lili Zi frowned slightly.
Doesn’t seem like it.
When mentioning the three words “Shangshan Che,” there was not a trace of admiration or anticipation in this woman’s eyes; instead, they were filled with a sense of “accountability.”
Intuition told her that this woman had come to find Shangshan Jun to hold him accountable.
Thinking of this, Lili Zi asked flatly,
“What is your honorable surname?”
“Ogasawara.” Okabe Motonobu spoke, her eyes softening a bit from indifference and sharpness, “Full name is Ogasawara Nobumoto.”
Chisa in the dojo was startled upon hearing this name.
—The Ogasawara lady who sat next to them that day during the Seed Battle?!
—No, that’s not right!
Using her peripheral vision to subtly glance at the doorway again without trace, Chisa’s heart, which had just settled, rose again.
—Ogasawara Nobumoto… She isn’t called that at all!
—【Okabe Motonobu】! That’s her real name!
And “Okabe Motonobu”… Chisa felt the name was somewhat familiar, but upon careful thought, she didn’t understand why it was familiar or where from.
Chisa didn’t say anything extra to tell Lili Zi this information.
Because Okabe Motonobu standing at the doorway had already turned her gaze toward her.
In her half-open dark eyes, the cold and unkind gaze made Chisa’s whole body stiffen.
Just like being discovered by a natural predator, unable to even move.
At the critical moment when she couldn’t even breathe, a figure forcefully inserted itself, blocking that cold gaze.
It was Lili Zi.
“Ms. Ogasawara.”
Lili Zi’s face was indifferent as she directly unfolded her Sword Domain, her tone sharp and exposed.
If not for the possibility of some important connection with Shangshan Che, she would have already acted to drive this so-called Ogasawara out.
“If you have any dissatisfaction with my apprentice, you can say it outright; no need for these shady little tricks.”
Apprentice?
Feeling the familiar prying sensation again, a trace of astonishment flashed through Okabe Motonobu’s heart.
Her?
That girl, who couldn’t even manage basic breathing rhythm.
Actually Shangshan Che’s apprentice?
“Saved…”
Chisa in the dojo let out a huge sigh of relief, patting her small chest, nearly unable to catch her breath.
“—Not dissatisfaction.”
Okabe Motonobu didn’t let emotions cloud her judgment: “Just that on the day of the Seed Battle, that Chisa miss inside was sitting not far from me, and I chatted with her and her sisters; very familiar, that’s all.”
“In that case, mind your sense of proportion.”
Lili Zi emphasized the words, warning: “Don’t pull any tricks on a little girl who hasn’t even entered the door.”
Okabe Motonobu stared at Lili Zi blocking the doorway for a moment, thought about her tricky performance on the Seed Battle stage, and then about Shangshan Che who might return soon.
Thus, she slowly nodded,
“Understood.”
After a while, Lili Zi spoke indifferently,
“Come in, Ogasawara.”
“Take off shoes?”
“Mm.”
The two didn’t exchange much, walking into the first floor dojo.
This tense and oppressive atmosphere spread, making even Chisa, who had run to the corner of the dojo, feel somewhat short of breath.
“Sit.”
Lili Zi casually pointed to a spot, tossed over a small wooden table, and then fetched a bottle of iced barley tea from the refrigerator upstairs.
—Tamamo was out on business, and Yagyu Oshi had returned to Shizuoka Prefecture to digest the Seed Battle gains with the apprentice master.
So at home, there were only her and Chisa.
Lili Zi was entirely devoted to kendo, naturally having no extra mind to ponder tea ceremony.
While Chisa huddled to the side, not daring to speak and fiddling with her mobile phone to look up 【Okabe Motonobu】 this name, naturally not noticing anything else.
Okabe Motonobu lowered her head, gazing at the barley tea in the plastic cup.
This color and smell were very familiar to her.
“Drink.”
After pouring the tea, Lili Zi lifted her chin slightly.
This Ogasawara lacked manners, so naturally she wouldn’t give her any good face.
“Once you finish drinking, you can leave.”
Lili Zi said flatly,
“Shangshan Jun went out on a mission; not sure when he’ll be back.”
Okabe Motonobu pulled her gaze from the barley tea, opening her eyes a fraction wider.
She stared at Lili Zi and said,
“Then I’ll wait until he returns.”
Smack!
Lili Zi tossed the emptied plastic cup from her hand, her face truly turning cold: “This isn’t some hotel or inn, nor a place for miscellaneous people like you to stay!”
Okabe Motonobu remained unmoved,
“I’ll speak to Shangshan Che when he arrives, and leave after.”
At these words, Lili Zi finally asked in puzzled retort,
“Ogasawara, are you taking my kindness for weakness?”
……
In the steadily driving MPV, Shangshan Che half-truthfully and half-concealingly recounted what had happened at Cloud Pavilion earlier.
Minamoto Shizuka sitting opposite appeared calm as ever, but her heart was extremely shocked.
This Sword Saint truly had such ability?
“With one word from the Sword Saint, Shangshan Jun you experienced so much in just a few minutes…”
Minamoto Shizuka murmured.
Clearly, the last time she and Elder Sister went to see that Sword Saint, the other party was far from reaching this level.
“No wonder… Shangshan Jun, you’ve changed.”
Minamoto Shizuka gazed at this man who still had a gentle temperament, calm as still water.
Even though Shangshan Che remained “normal,” she couldn’t see through or fathom him, but essentially, the feeling he gave had become even more profound.
The sense of crisis Shangshan Che brought her was stronger.
This much, Minamoto Shizuka could still sense.
And all this had happened in just the previous few minutes.
Sword Saint…
“Che Adult.”
From the back seat, Two-Foot Adult suddenly asked weakly and pointedly: “That one just now, was the Sword Saint?”
Shangshan Che understood she meant the intrusion into the Heartstring Channel just now.
“Yes.”
He nodded helplessly, starting to think about how to add another “firewall” outside the Heartstring.
This way, at least next time something like this happens, there’d be a warning; at least not having unfinished words overheard.
“So terrifying…”
The petite Two-Foot Adult clamped her legs tight, even scooting closer to Karuta by two inches.
Her legs trembled as she whispered embarrassedly: “Just now… I almost got scared into leaking… there were a few drops of that… uh…”
“Miss Gen, sorry…”
“It’s fine.”
Minamoto Shizuka shook her head in great surprise; she had fought Two-Foot Adult on the Seed Battle arena stage, and the other was the key straw that caused her failure.
Could be called extraordinarily valiant.
Yet without even going onstage, merely through the shikigami-master link, she was scared into this state.
Though puzzled in her heart, she still didn’t inquire.
—Shangshan Che had already picked out and told her everything he could say; pressing further would just be asking for trouble.
At this moment, Little Jia spoke straightforwardly: “Anyway, we haven’t said a word since entering, saw nothing, heard nothing, know nothing.”
Facing the Sword Saint who brought great terror, Little Jia chose to play ostrich directly.
“Little Jia, you don’t know the Sword Saint…”
Shangshan Che flicked Kaga Kiyomitsu’s hilt and smiled: “But he certainly knows you.”
!
Kaga Kiyomitsu shuddered in her scabbard.
“However, Lord Shangshan.”
After the two “little ones” finished their remarks, Qing spoke slowly: “In my thousand years, I’ve seen quite a few Sword Saints and spent decades traversing the Eternal World.”
“But one like the one you just met, reaching the profoundest mystery, is truly the first I’ve seen in my life.”
“Perhaps I’ve caught a good era.”
Qing rarely sighed in the Heartstring.
Pausing, Qing, now aware of recent era happenings, added in her heart,
“—Or perhaps, it’s an era as bad as it gets.”
Even with a Sword Saint at this level presiding over the Mortal Realm, the Eternal World still emerged methodically with the tide.
Beside Two-Foot Adult, Karuta with a serious face but somewhat bewildered eyes listened to everyone’s conversation.
Though she wrote lines of elegant script in her notebook, she completely couldn’t understand what they were saying.
Clearly, she, this little Two-Foot whom she disliked and who rejected her but had a kind heart, and Lord Shangshan’s two blades were all in the car.
Yet Karuta always clearly felt like an outsider.
Just like… back then.
Myriad thoughts surged in Karuta’s mind, making the steel pen that had been scratching nonstop in her notebook unknowingly pause.
Two-Foot Adult’s small ears twitched, glancing at the dazed Karuta with unkind eyes.
Buzz… buzz…
The mobile phone’s vibration sounded.
Shangshan Che took it out and saw it was a rare proactive call from Nanjo Emi.
Without much thought, Shangshan Che answered directly.
“Hello? Signal okay? Shangshan Jun, can you hear me clearly?”
“Very clear, Sister Nanjo.”
“Phew—”
Nanjo Emi let out a big sigh of relief: “This communication base station is finally back; that electromagnetic supernatural phenomenon from this morning was truly lingering, even after self-destructing, it troubled me for so long.”
On the phone, after venting, Nanjo Emi first sincerely and heartily thanked Shangshan Che—who had tricked over Manatsu, Akatsuki Ran, and a bunch of “enthusiastic young folks.”
—Among them, Kitano Runa wanting more rice and benefits, her group of agents protecting her, Hattori Ayako, and even some “concerned” agents from nearby who “rushed over upon hearing.”
“Shangshan Jun, this move of yours really lightened my workload a lot!”
From her voice, Nanjo Emi was almost giggling: “Now I even have time to idly make calls.”
“That’s good.”
Shangshan Che kept his eyes on his nose and mind on his eyes, naturally not admitting this was his doing.
He was just the messenger.
Truly failing to suppress the demon of “progress” in their hearts and going to Hokkaido to toil like oxen had nothing to do with him.
Shangshan Che didn’t want to continue on this disuniting topic,
“How’s the situation there? Improved?”
“Well… The Five Person Council had some minor grievances with me before, but didn’t dawdle.
Upon learning the news, they directly sent one Wild God, thirteen Ghost Gods, total fourteen high-end combatants, and many grassroots staff; cleanup work done very well.”
Nanjo Emi’s tone was much lighter than two days ago: “Now, all the demons and supernatural phenomena in Hokkaido are mostly cleared.”
“Just some well-hidden ones playing turtle, overall it’s a scene of hundred wastes awaiting renewal.”
Shangshan Che: “Like Arakawa Ward after the First Wave?”
“Indeed similar.”
“Though some places… a bit special.”
“Special? Where?”
“Nah, nothing.” Nanjo Emi dropped the topic, chuckling, “By the way, Akatsuki Ran and Kitano Runa really hate you now…”
As soon as she said this, a bunch of weird yells came from the background.
Like… the unwilling roars of oxen?
“Gotta go, hanging up soon.” Nanjo Emi lowered her voice, “If they find out their leader is slacking off calling you, I’ll inevitably get an earful from Manatsu later.”
“Okay.”
Shangshan Che’s “Okay” was only halfway said when the speaker gave the “beep beep” busy tone.
He shrugged and stuffed the mobile phone back in his pocket.
Minamoto Shizuka directly opposite had a somewhat odd expression.
“The one on the other end is the current Onmyo Major Official… Great Officer, Nanjo Emi?”
Shangshan Che nodded.
“She’s really without airs.”
Minamoto Shizuka’s expression was complex.
“Sister Nanjo’s always been like this… Any issue?”
“Nothing.”
Minamoto Shizuka seemed to recall something, slowly exhaling,
“Just think it’s pretty good.”
“We’re here.” she said.
The large MPV stopped in front of the strikingly bright red torii gate.
The torii gate was very new and clean, seemingly recently repainted.
Though not a holiday today, there were still quite a few tourists around.
Seeing the MPV arrive with an extraordinary aura, the surroundings cleared instantly.
In its place, a swath of curious gazes focused over.
Minamoto Shizuka looked out the window,
“With this scene not cleared, how will you get off?”
Once off, wouldn’t the crowd squash the current hotshot Shangshan Che flat?
“Just get off directly.”
Shangshan Che smiled at her: “Just need some simple knowledge about optics.”
Extremely fine spiritual power fluctuations arose, like natural ripples.
Then Shangshan Che directly opened the door and got out under Minamoto Shizuka’s gaze.
But the anticipated chaotic scene didn’t arrive.
The tourists marveled but just tsked twice about “look at these Celestial Dragons” and dispersed.
So magical…
She pondered that she didn’t see any spell activate…
Minamoto Shizuka blinked and tentatively got out too.
By now, Shangshan Che was standing before the bright red torii gate, facing the two newly placed fox stone statues before it.
More precisely, facing the two fox phantoms holding long naginata, vigilantly staring at him.
Shangshan Che looked up at the black-background gold-lacquered plaque, then toward the fox phantoms’ backs, and simply nodded.
He couldn’t help sighing,
“This Fushimi Inari Shrine truly has formidable strength.”
—Even the gate guard security foxes were uniformly six-tailed.
This bloodline was truly supremely noble.
“Let’s go, Miss Gen.”
In the fox phantoms’ eyes, six snowy white large tails sprouted from Shangshan Che’s back, swaying in midair, and with that highly affable face, he smiled friendly at them.
Thus, the vigilance in the two security foxes’ eyes vanished instantly, squeezing out stiff smiles and nodding back at Shangshan Che,
“Go inside to pay respects.”
Shangshan Che oh-ed in surprised admiration inwardly.
Didn’t expect his wild six-tailed fox identity and this face to be surprisingly useful.
So beyond basic worship, he should also check around and exchange with the Celestial Dragon foxes in Fushimi Inari Shrine…
Questions like what specifications and materials to use for Two-Foot Adult’s future shrine.
