Chapter 311

"I just came back, and there are still many old friends to see. Could it be that I haven't fed you enough?"

Luo Li's teasing eyes made Lei Dianying's face flush, but she braced herself and said: "A lifetime wouldn't be enough."

"Alright, I promise, this time I definitely won't leave again, okay? You can't expect me to stay here forever."

Reaching out to scrape the nose of the Great Tengu, who had shed her purity, Luo Li's gentle words made Lei Dianying hesitate.

Until a moment later, hearing Master mention many old friends, she suddenly remembered something and stopped talking.

"What's wrong?"

After a pause, Lei Dianying said: "Master, there is one thing I forgot to tell you."

Luo Li watched her quietly, making a listening posture.

"It's about Hibiki."

Luo Li's eyes moved, stirred by this name, recalling memories of the past.

Asase Hibiki, that strong, kind, little shrine maiden who liked to work hard silently.

Five hundred years had passed; Lei Dianying had become a great Yokai and was still alive, but as a human, Hibiki couldn't possibly survive such a long time. Perhaps she had already returned to dust.

Thinking of this, even though he had experienced many similar scenes, Luo Li felt a trace of separation rising.

Sure enough, sometimes it's best not to get involved with non-long-lived species.

Just like the Liyue immortals who lived in seclusion in the mountains, their traces hard to find.

To say it was their nature and they didn't like making friends would be a misunderstanding.

Excluding individual cases, no one likes to be alone; it's just that they have to be.

Witnessing countless friends die, the immortals' hearts, pure as glass, would also be stained with filth and scarred; this is what is meant by a bright pearl covered in dust.

"What happened to Hibiki?"

Luo Li had originally been prepared for the worst, but who knew that what Lei Dianying said next would leave him stunned.

"When I learned of Master's death, Hibiki didn't tell anyone, left the Grand Narukami Shrine alone, and returned to her hometown, Seirai Island, to inherit the position of the Asase Shrine maiden. I only learned of this news several years later."

"I wasn't doing any better back then, didn't want to see anyone, until later I heard that the lingering resentment of the Seirai Island thunderbird had been unraveled, so I wanted to see Hibiki while passing by, but found she had already disappeared without a trace, only seeing a black cat named Neko there."

"It told me that Hibiki couldn't accept the blow of the truth and used the sealing techniques Master had once taught to seal herself. Because her own cultivation wasn't enough, she forcibly unraveled the power of the thunderbird to connect with the leylines and set up a barrier. I haven't been there since."

Speaking of this, Lei Dianying's eyes dimmed and she stopped talking.

Luo Li's eyes brightened slightly; when he taught Lei Dianying and Asase Hibiki, he had the intention of making them top-tier existences.

Sometimes he would go beyond the syllabus to explain some techniques they couldn't use yet, including various sealing techniques taught to the shrine maiden Asase Hibiki.

One of them was a barrier that could freeze time forever, but it required a constant supply of power to maintain.

He didn't expect Hibiki to use the power of the thunderbird to open the leylines and seal herself completely on Seirai Island.

In this way, as long as the sealing technique wasn't broken, she should still be in the state she was in back then.

His heart settled slightly; he didn't expect to receive good news, and Luo Li showed a faint smile.

"Master, Hibiki, she..."

Sensing Lei Dianying's low mood, Luo Li touched her long hair soothingly.

Back then, she had completely cherished Hibiki as her own sister, and learning that her sister's life or death was unknown must have been very sad.

"But Hibiki might not necessarily be in trouble."

Luo Li whispered to himself.

Of course, he couldn't be sure; everything would have to be observed carefully after going there. ===== CHAPTER 313 =====