Chapter 119

"So, Nisan, what do you think of Tsuchinokami Xia Mei?"

"What do I think? She's pretty good."

"Then tell me, Nisan—who's the classmate you chat with the most, the one you're happiest with? I mean, a girl."

"Probably Tsuchinokami."

Wang Zun thought back—it was indeed only Tsuchinokami Xia Mei who got along with him; others, repelled by his aloof aura, rarely approached him, and the only girl who chatted with him daily, and most naturally, was Tsuchinokami Xia Mei.

"Then let me ask again—if you had to pick one girl from your class to be your girlfriend, who would it be? Let me guess: since you're picking from your classmates, you'd want someone with a good personality, pretty, and easy to talk to—so isn't that just Tsuchinokami Xia Mei?"

"Yeah." Wang Zun answered without hesitation.

As Wang Qianhui had said, if you're choosing a girlfriend, you pick someone you get along with—otherwise you'd be choosing someone who annoys you. And in class, the only girl Wang Zun got along with, the one he thought had a good personality, was Tsuchinokami Xia Mei.

The moment the words left his mouth, Wang Zun's lips twitched.

He felt as if his sister had somehow lured him off track, dragging him far from the path.

At that moment, Wang Qianhui said: "Nisan, you said you're definitely not pursuing Tsuchinokami Xia Mei—that means you don't like her, right?"

"Hmm, yeah."

"Then if you don't like Tsuchinokami Xia Mei, why would you pick her as your girlfriend? Don't you always pick someone you like? You wouldn't pick someone you dislike—no one chooses pain or an enemy. You pick someone you like."

Here the words ended.

Wang Qianhui paused, then pointed at Wang Zun.

"Nisan, you're lying—you clearly like Tsuchinokami Xia Mei, you're interested in her, you want to chase her."

He froze for four or five seconds.

Wang Zun fell silent, then laughed helplessly—he had no rebuttal.

It wasn't that he didn't want to argue—he just realized Qianhui's logic made perfect sense. There was no flaw. But he still felt something was off; he just couldn't find the reason in time.

Her reasoning, her thinking, that little brain of hers—brilliant.

"Cough."

He cleared his throat lightly.

Wang Zun vigorously ruffled Wang Qianhui's hair, turning it into a messy nest.

"Qianhui, I think you're a prodigy—your talent is lying. You're too good at it. I almost believed your nonsense."

"Hmph~" Wang Qianhui smoothed her hair, pouting: "I'm telling the truth, not lying. You like Tsuchinokami Xia Mei."

She leaned close to Wang Zun, sneaky even at home, one hand half-covering her mouth.

"Nisan, when should I start calling Tsuchinokami Xia Mei 'Big Sister-in-Law'? After this Saturday and Sunday?"

"If you keep acting up, your allowance is gone."

Wang Zun raised his hand as if to strike.

The next instant.

Before Wang Zun even moved, Wang Qianhui let out a squeal, snatched up her backpack, slipped on her shoes, and dashed out the door—straight to school.

One step outside, she turned back, revealing half her pale face, grinning with a cute dimple.

"Nisan, don't show up empty-handed."

"Also, if you don't like Tsuchinokami Xia Mei, consider Iori and the others."

"Don't worry—they're all my sisters. Go ahead and ruin them, I'll help you. After all, why let the water flow to someone else's field? Better to keep it in the family. I think Iori and the others would enjoy being ruined by you, hehe."

Then Wang Qianhui vanished.

"That girl."

Wang Zun shook his head, smiling.

Compared to the beginning, Wang Qianhui had become livelier than ever. Wang Zun noticed, felt no annoyance—only joy. It proved at least he was fulfilling his duty as guardian; otherwise, she wouldn't have revealed her true nature. She no longer needed to suppress her cheerfulness for survival.

After clearing the dishes, Wang Zun slung his backpack over his shoulder and left for school.

As he closed the door, Wang Zun murmured to himself:

"Don't show up empty-handed?"

…

Tokyo, Japan—Special Abilities Response Bureau.

At this moment.

Inside the Special Abilities Response Bureau's conference hall, Japan's high-ranking officials were gathered.

In addition, Tsuchinokami Kenji, Tsuchinokami Xia Mei, and representatives from shrines and temples were also present.

This meeting had been scheduled since the Six-Eyed Demon incident, originally to discuss demon responses—but after Abe no Mokuro's statement, it shifted to debating "The Return of the Gods and the Coming Purge."

Notably:

Why was the government discussing this instead of directly consulting the shrines and temples? After all, shrines and temples had specialists—shouldn't they be the ones asked about matters involving specialists, demons, and gods?

The reason was this: after the Six-Eyed Demon incident, Tsuchinokami Xia Mei learned from Master Konghai why there were no specialists in the shrines and temples today.

Initially, Tsuchinokami Xia Mei and Tsuchinokami Kenji planned to relay Master Konghai's exact words to the government.

But then they remembered Tsuchinokami Xia Mei's behavior at the villa, and the subsequent conduct of the Zen temple abbot and others—the government had already concluded they were specialists. If they now denied it, it would be deceiving the government. Not only would they face retaliation, they'd likely be imprisoned—deceiving the government was a grave crime.

So, they had to keep playing their part, no matter how bitter.

Thus, Tsuchinokami Xia Mei and Tsuchinokami Kenji discussed and decided on another explanation.

Using the power-tier system for specialists, gods, and demons that Tsuchinokami Xia Mei had obtained from Master Konghai, Tsuchinokami Kenji would present this critical information to the government.

But he could not say it came from Master Konghai—he would claim it was provided by the Tsuchinokami family, as a contribution to the nation.

Once the government received the power-tier system, they would naturally confirm the Tsuchinokami family were specialists.

Next, to prevent the government from bombarding them with questions about specialists, Tsuchinokami Kenji relayed Master Konghai's other words to the government:

"Long ago, specialists, demons, and gods nearly all left this world. As they departed, they took with them the truth and all cultivation methods, leaving only legends about demons, specialists, and gods."

This is also why yokai, the supernatural, and gods only became legends, and why the supernatural never again appeared in the world afterwards."

Speaking of this, regarding the matter of the villa, Tsuchimikado Kenji began to spin a yarn:

"However, although the cultivation methods were not left behind, in order not to cut off the faith and inheritance of the shrines and temples, the supernatural beings took the cultivation methods away, not letting them cultivate into the supernatural. While cutting off the appearance of the supernatural, they also left information for very few shrines and temples.

This information includes proof of the real existence of the supernatural, yokai, and gods, as well as the division of strength.

The Tsuchimikado family is one of the very few shrines that retains knowledge of the real existence of the supernatural, yokai, and gods.

This is also why we hesitated to admit it that day at the villa, because we knew the supernatural, yokai, and gods truly exist, but we didn't know why the supernatural, yokai, and gods disappeared. If you were to interrogate us, we would only be able to plead ignorance to every question.

When the time came and faced us knowing nothing despite answering three questions, yet knowing the supernatural, yokai, and gods truly exist, you would certainly become suspicious, wondering if we were planning to deceive the government to gain benefits, and that our lies were simply not well-crafted enough, so we were exposed, which is why we knew nothing.

After all, at that time there was no news yet of Master Konghai or the Six-Eyed Yokai, meaning the supernatural had not yet appeared, so if we said that, the credibility would be too low.

As for why Xia Mei admitted it, that was because she was goaded by Director Takahashi. She worships Shinto greatly and also knows gods exist, and could not tolerate Director Takahashi's blasphemy against the gods.

And although she is clearly not supernatural, she proposed going to deal with the yokai. That is because she believes in Shinto, and she firmly believes that the gods and supernatural beings would not sit idly by and watch yokai return to wreak havoc, and would definitely appear. She decided to use herself, a descendant of Abe no Seimei, to gamble, betting that if she were harmed by yokai, in the moment of peril, the successive supernatural beings of the Tsuchimikado family would appear.

This is why I stopped Xia Mei at that time, because I didn't want Xia Mei to gamble.

But later Xia Mei's gamble paid off. Although it was not the successive supernatural beings of the Tsuchimikado family who appeared, but Master Konghai who appeared, it also proved that shrines and temples have the supernatural, so that was why we truly admitted at that time that shrines and temples have the supernatural.

You ask why Master Konghai talked with Xia Mei. It is because Master Konghai saw through Xia Mei's Tsuchimikado family bloodline, and also saw that she had no spiritual power yet dared to fight so hard. He greatly appreciated her, and only then did he converse with her."

With the existence of Master Konghai, a temple supernatural being, plus Master Konghai conversing with Tsuchimikado Xia Mei, and the matter of borrowing the Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, after Tsuchimikado Kenji finished speaking, even if the government had doubts, after Abe no Mitoku Maro's appearance...

Abe no Mitoku Maro had told Director Takahashi and the others that since ancient times, shrines and temples did have the supernatural, but because of certain matters they left, taking the cultivation methods with them.

Upon Abe no Mitoku Maro being asked about this, the government side finally believed Tsuchimikado Kenji's words.

This is also why, when Tsuchimikado Kenji participated in the discussion of the topic "Return of the Gods" with Director Takahashi and the others, they didn't find anything amiss.

"Ahem, everyone, what are your views on the 'Return of the Gods'?"

Director Takahashi got straight to the point, and brought up the content of yesterday's discussion with Tsuchimikado Kenji and the others, each expressing their own views.

Just as they were each expressing their views.

Japan, central Honshu Island, Tochigi Prefecture.

A rural farmland.

This place was crowded with people, more than ten mu of farmland had been cordoned off, with police standing guard, archaeologists and related archaeological staff excavating the farmland, no farmers tilling the fields at all, looking exactly like a large-scale archaeological site...