Chapter 189: The West Temple Family

He had been watching Yagumo Shiki's next move, preparing to exchange a few more strikes with her to gauge her strength—or to let her see the newly learned Northern Dipper Mysteries—when a voice suddenly came from behind, and his expression changed instantly.

At his current level, Jia Ji could hear even a fly landing on the ground; he could generate a mental map of all life activity within several kilometers even with his eyes closed, and catch scents hundreds of kilometers away—but he had not sensed the slightest trace of this presence until it had drawn this close.

Had she not spoken suddenly, Jia Ji would not have sensed any aura or life force from her at all—only endless, unending cold… as if… as if…

A corpse was speaking.

Yagumo Shiki, as if having mastered the Art of Changing Faces, instantly shed her furious, murderous demeanor, flickered into existence beside the girl behind Jia Ji, and lunged toward her.

Her face broke into an unusually radiant smile, then she buried her face against the girl's chest, rubbing against it like a golden Persian cat.

This was the first time Jia Ji had ever seen Yagumo Shiki like this.

As she rubbed, savoring the full curves and contours, and the warmth that seemed to embrace everything, Yagumo Shiki wore a look of utter contentment.

After a long while, she finally explained: "Yuyuzi, this is me… uh, an ally I just brought in from somewhere else."

Yuyuzi?!

You scared the hell out of me—I just unleashed the West Temple Nirvana of Non-Remnant!

Upon hearing the name, Jia Ji suddenly understood: this was West Temple Yuyuzi, currently at the West Temple Courtyard.

That made sense.

The black-haired girl, dressed in a blue and pink cherry blossom kimono, though embarrassed by Yagumo Shiki's blatant, public harassment in front of outsiders, blushed faintly—but after thinking it over, she did not push her away.

After Yagumo Shiki finished introducing her, the girl turned her curious gaze toward the man she had just mentioned—tall and broad-shouldered, with eyes gleaming with intensity, muscles and bones as thick as tree trunks, skin and sinew as hardened as rock, jet-black spiky hair like bristles, skin pale as a corpse, and only one arm, his face radiating a heavy aura of malevolence…

She had not noticed it when he was behind her, but seeing Jia Ji's full face now, she involuntarily shrank back behind Yagumo Shiki.

It wasn't that she was cowardly—Jia Ji's current state, fully powered up with bulging muscles, looked three parts human, seven parts demon.

"An ally?"

Jia Ji sharply caught the word Yagumo Shiki had used. It seemed that while she had planned to lure him here for personal revenge, her true goal went beyond that…

"Tell me—what exactly is going on?"

It looked like a fight wouldn't break out after all.

Jia Ji rubbed his face, relaxed, and forced the most amiable smile he could muster toward the bewildered Yuyuzi, then turned to Yagumo Shiki—who still had no clear intentions—and asked.

"Hmm… perhaps we should sit down first."

Yuyuzi nodded nervously at him, then called out: "Yōki, we have guests."

…

"Hi, I'm the daughter of the West Temple family—West Temple Yuyuzi."

After taking several deep breaths, one hand still holding Yagumo Shiki's, Yuyuzi introduced herself calmly.

"Duo Mo, I'm a human martial artist—Jia Ji."

Inside the spacious, tidy wooden house, Jia Ji sat cross-legged on the tatami, before him sat Yagumo Shiki, lounging carelessly, and Yuyuzi, the complete opposite—a refined, well-mannered girl who clearly came from a noble household; beside him knelt a white-haired woman who had just finished pouring them hot tea.

She wore a black undergarment, a white cropped top, and a green sleeveless knee-length outer robe tied at the center with a black cord; below, green trousers, a black belt holding a long and a short sword; a voluptuous female swordsman.

She was none other than the West Temple family's top-tier gardener—Hōraku Yōki!

"Wait, why is the one who got feminized you?"

Jia Ji exclaimed in shock—had Yagumo Shiki turned old Yōki into a woman as a test subject to deal with him?

That would be a grave sin.

"…Yōki was always female?"

Yuyuzi looked puzzled—since childhood until now, Yōki had always looked like this; how could anyone say she had been "feminized"?

Hearing Jia Ji's words, Hōraku Yōki let out a cold, discontented snort, leaned slightly closer to Jia Ji, straightened her back, tensed her body, and the gardener's robe accentuated her curves even more in this posture.

She stood like an unyielding stone, blocking the side between Jia Ji and Yuyuzi, her eyes fixed on him with the ferocity of a lion, fierce and piercing, one hand resting on her sword hilt—ready to draw and strike the moment he made any move.

Yet her presence felt strangely uncanny to Jia Ji—as if she hovered on the boundary between life and death, neither fully alive nor dead, and behind her hung a white, mochi-like mass.

Half-spirit swordsman—Hōraku Yōki.

On this sudden man before her, she sensed an unprecedented threat—as if he had claimed countless lives, soaked in millions of bloodstains, perhaps even rivaling the West Temple Demon.

An absolute, absolute danger!

To protect her master, she must slay every malicious intruder.

"Let's have some tea first."

With a wave of his hand, Jia Ji drank the tea in one gulp, under the watchful eyes of Yuyuzi, Yagumo Shiki, and Hōraku Yōki—while thinking thoughts no one else knew.

Yuyuzi and Yagumo Shiki?

These two were clearly destined to be a couple.

Jia Ji thought for a moment and came up with a perfect analogy—they were made to form a lifelong band.

The key word is "lifelong."

Even after death, even in the netherworld, they would never be separated.

Of course, now that Jia Ji saw her jet-black tresses, he knew this girl was still a living human.

But her body was wrapped in thick death energy, even closer to the undead than Yōki's half-spirit form—that was why he hadn't sensed her immediately.

Now, this thousand-year-old girl sat before him, not with Yōki, but with Yōki—this felt strangely surreal… but nice!

Had it not been for his image, Jia Ji would have given them a thumbs-up.

Thank goodness she's not some weird two-heads-tall little doll!

(End of Chapter)