Chapter 717: Don't Force Me to Beg You to Live

The mountain wind carried mist, droplets of water hung from the leaves, crystalline and translucent, and as they fell, they reflected the figure standing with sword in hand.

"You've been following us the whole way—want to team up?"

The cold air ahead of Su Lin surged toward him in an instant; the light of dawn fell into the forest, and an illusion-like red-and-white figure stepped out from the blur—where the hem of her clothes swept past, the sleeping barrier spell-lights lit up one after another.

"Or do I need to pay you a hundred thousand yuan to pass?"

Upon hearing "a hundred thousand yuan," the red-and-white shrine maiden's eyes flickered for a moment, but quickly returned to normal as she drew an exorcism rod from her waist.

"My intuition tells me you're the culprit behind this incident."

Intuition that doesn't make sense.

But this somewhat strange Hakurei shrine maiden before him didn't have the oppressive pressure of a city enforcer, and playing a danmaku game with her wouldn't be—

The thought had just surfaced when several more red-and-white shrine maidens with identical appearances walked out from the surroundings.

"Isn't the rule of spell card battles one-on-one?" Su Lin asked.

"You've already broken the rules."

The memories sealed away by successive generations of Hakurei shrine maidens during the Great Barrier's restart can come back to life too—this resurrection tournament is really bizarre.

Su Lin's gaze swept across this group of "Hakurei Reimus," and he noticed that the shrine maidens' eyes were consciously looking toward a dump truck not far away.

Kaguya or Saigyouji Rinka?

Whoosh—!

Several sealing needles came flying; a phantom of an azure sword soul emerged, exhaling a freezing tide that halted time.

Su Lin turned his head; streaks of sword-light swept past, and amid the dense, crisp sounds, the phosphorescent powder from the shattered sealing needles drifted down, while a rotating river of stars and galaxies appeared, dividing the entire region and space apart.

"Honestly, you're my favorite character after Manly Red."

Su Lin smiled slightly: "So can we make peace?"

What answered him was the Yin-Yang Orb, growing ever larger as it came head-on.

"What a pity."

Blood-colored starlight of annihilation and ill omen transformed into countless sword-qi—a killing move, raining down from the sky.

Day and night alternated; at this moment, the order of day and night tended to be vague and ambiguous, and this was even more so for the Human Village hidden within history.

Basically impossible to tell whether it would be night or day shortly.

Especially when one could see iron-colored flying ships coming from afar, and countless bolts of Lei Ting brewing within the clouds—the two collided and erupted in conflict, completely vaporizing the carcasses of magical beasts and yao beasts strewn across the ground.

In the alley, Mokou and Huaishi, who had secretly slipped out of the village school, blew out clouds of smoke as they silently watched this scene.

"What the hell is going on with this chaotic Gensokyo?"

A bitter taste of nicotine lingered at the tip of his nose; after taking the last drag, Huaishi exhaled the waste air from his lungs.

This kind of public smoking, in the real world, would probably earn him a fifty-yuan fine, but here there weren't so many rules.

The cigarette butt was tossed on the ground, and he stepped on it with surprising manners, preventing any fire hazard.

"Can't you let me quietly finish watching the recap?" Huaishi sighed.

Even though if the sky fell there were tall bigshots to hold it up, this style that seemed loaded with patches from various MOBA games was truly dazzling.

Mokou flicked the ash from her cigarette and asked: "Is everything on that recap real?"

At this moment, the All-Heavens Golden List in the sky was broadcasting how the reincarnated sword cultivator Weigong Shilang had snatched the Church's Holy Maiden Dada Liya, and was being hunted by a group of Da Luo Jin Xian.

"There's some artistic embellishment," Huaishi said cautiously.

They, as group members who had joined later, weren't too clear about the previous events, but there was one thing that was an absolute must-watch.

That thing labeled "any resemblance is purely coincidental"—it was the TV drama series about the Devourer that couldn't be finished even after being aired continuously for ten-some days.

Therefore this All-Heavens Golden List was essentially a condensed version; Huaishi watched it quite happily, but inside Gensokyo, the expressions of certain harmless outsiders and transmigrators taken in by the Human Village looked as if they were constipated.

"What about that woman Kaguya's relationship with the other two?" Fujiwara no Mokou asked.

"I, uh—" Huaishi hemmed and hawed, forcing a smile: "That's even less clear; I only met them later on."

"Huh? What do you mean not clear." A crow appeared out of nowhere and landed on Huaishi's shoulder, speaking lightly: "Anyone with eyes can tell—ab-so-lute-ly not nor-mal."

Damn it!

Huaishi's smile instantly stiffened for a moment, twitching.

"You dead scumbag, what are you pretending to be pure for?" The crow lifted Huaishi's chin:

"This big sister here has been through it all—apart from the two parties involved and that Stellar Core Miss who's got nothing but trash cans and sticks in her head, which one of your lot wasn't secretly watching?"

"It's just that this old lady's fists are a bit too small, otherwise I'd definitely tie him up with red thread until—mmph?!"

Shut up, don't drag me down with you.

Huaishi firmly grabbed that crow's beak, then glanced with slight nervousness at Fujiwara no Mokou—this old rival who had "loved" and killed Kaguya.

"Is that so?" Fujiwara no Mokou thoughtfully snuffed out her cigarette: "That nasty creature Kaguya actually falling for someone too is quite rare, but ordinary people who meet her tend to have pretty bad luck."

An unexpectedly calm response.

Smack—! A pitch-black wing took advantage of his guard down and slapped Huaishi across the face, making him loosen his grip in pain.

"I remember the Hourai Elixir you took was made by her."

The crow fluttered over to Fujiwara no Mokou's shoulder and asked: "Your old man also chased after Kaguya and got humiliated?"

Scheming.

Ah!

Huaishi's eyes went wide—he understood that this woman was trying to use the topic to probe the other person's background.

"That's right." Fujiwara no Mokou nodded:

"It's been thirteen hundred years since I became immortal, and even now I still hate Kaguya—pretty laughable, isn't it?"

As she spoke, she pulled out a pack of Japan Seven Stars cigarettes with an aged-looking wrapper, gave it two shakes only to find it empty, and was about to head back to the village school—

"Try this one, this one's stronger." Huaishi held up the cigarette pack.

"Oh."

A cluster of flame sprang from Mokou's palm and lit the cigarette.

"Why do you hate her? It was something both of you wanted, and besides, immortality is exactly what humanity has always dreamed of." The crow went on.

"Probably." Mokou shrugged.

A very, very long time ago, before she had become immortal, she was the daughter of a noble house, but because of her mother's status, she was a child on whom no great hopes had been pinned.

She heard that her father had been bewitched beyond his senses by a woman of low status, and the young her secretly ran out, running to the home of the Bamboo Cutter.

Indeed.

She had never seen someone so beautiful.

And after being discovered, that person had gently kept her company and played with her.

At the time, she thought to herself, if only this person could marry her father and stay with her forever, but the good times did not last long — the forgery committed by Fujiwara no Fuhito was exposed, and from then on he lived in seclusion in a deep house and never showed his face again.

Her father had never given her care, yet was enamored with Kaguya, and because he was rejected by Kaguya, he abandoned the family.

This incident bred hatred in the Mokou of that time.

"I later heard she left behind a medicine pot, so I thought I'd get my hands on that thing as revenge." Fujiwara no Mokou visibly fell silent.

To obtain that medicine pot, she followed an army; a general named Iwakasa was ordered to destroy it, but halfway there she was discovered — Iwakasa, thinking her a lost child, took her along and gave her food and water.

A goddess appeared and told everyone that it was the Elixir of Immortality.

The next day, corpses littered the ground before her eyes, blood flowing like a river, every soldier dead; the goddess appeared once more and said that the people had killed each other over the Elixir of Immortality, and the only survivors were her and Iwakasa.

Although Iwakasa sensed something was wrong — because there had not been the slightest sound the night before — he did not notice at all that the look in Mokou's eyes had changed.

"Immortality." Magical words, compensated by an eternity of time.

So on a steep downhill path, Mokou kicked hard at his back, and obtained the Hourai Elixir.

A human who cannot grow cannot live in the same place, so she could only keep moving, dodging youkai on one side while living a wandering life, until one day—

The flame-bird god that guides living beings through rebirth and reincarnation suddenly appeared, and in one bite—

Swallowed her.

The two fused within the flames, burning endlessly, being reborn endlessly; regret, agony, and guilt — she blamed everything she had experienced on Kaguya.

Only this way did she have the strength to keep going.

When she saw Kaguya in Gensokyo, though surprised, the only feeling in her heart was happiness.

Mokou exhaled a puff of smoke, a self-mocking smile surfacing on her face: "After fighting her I feel fulfilled; it's not like I can die anyway, so carrying on like this is pretty nice."

"I roughly understand," Huai Shi said, "but haven't you ever thought that something was off about that goddess?"

"It doesn't matter." The cigarette in Mokou's hand had also burned down to its end; she walked toward the Temple School and glanced back at Huai Shi:

"I don't know when it started, but that woman's eyes began to show weariness during our fights; only recently, when she started pulling out some strange things as weapons, did things change back a little."

"It's probably the change you lot brought."

"So as long as I can drag that bastard who stole a taste of relief back from hell, I'll do anything, and I don't care what Yakumo Yukari is thinking."

With that said, she left a stunned Huai Shi on the spot, pulled the door open, and walked in.

"Have you been smoking again? I told you there are children here!"

Kamishirasawa Keine's scolding and a dull thudding sound came through.

Only then did Huai Shi come back to his senses.

"Weariness, huh."

Smack—!

"Why are you hitting me again?!" Flames of fury erupted in Huai Shi's eyes; he had noticed that this wretched woman had been getting more and more brazen lately.

"Oh, afraid your prince occupational disease would act up and you'd ride off on a white horse to rescue the princess."

"Are you dying for me to die?!"

Not to mention what level this Gensokyo is at — just handling the incidents here and keeping the Human Village safe has him locked down; rescue a princess?

Besides, who says the one riding a white horse is a prince? Didn't Tang Sanzang also ride a white horse?!

"But big sis roughly gets it, mm," the crow propped its beak up with a wing, gently stroking it:

"It's the Odom type, right? Always has to find a little fun for itself, but there are other factors in there too; I feel that 'lifelong regret' line was serious."

"Hey, if big sis sacrifices herself for you this time after going back, would you stay faithful for big sis?"

"..." Huai Shi didn't want to discuss this topic with the crow at all; he was more curious whether he'd be issued a jianghu kill-on-sight order by both the righteous and the underworld after returning.

He really didn't want to be stabbed through with a rolling pin the next day.

"I told you it's handled." The crow wore an expression of "you can trust me with this."

"How exactly did you handle it?"

This was what Huai Shi couldn't figure out — this wretched woman had disappeared for a while, and after coming back, she was guaranteeing—

That it was in the bag.

After poking such a huge hole, and it can still be in the bag?

Seeing Huai Shi's face full of doubt, the crow clutched its chest in heartbreak.

"Just called in some connections, that's all. Oh, right—"

As if remembering something, the crow added: "If the Fun Emperor's resurrection match doesn't go well, pretend I never said any of this, and don't go back for now."

"?"

What kind of pit have you dug for me this time?

"What pit could there be?"

"Really?"

Huai Shi's five fingers slowly tightened into a fist: "Then how about you explain how those two limited Eternal Edition card sets and resources came back?"

"Of course, I'll use the latest research results from the Heavenly Kingdom lineage as a bargaining chip," the Crow said.

"What results?"

The Crow glanced left and right, then whispered into Huaishi's ear:

"I took a resurrection coin sealed with a trace of God's power and aura and waved it in front of those old fossils, telling them the Heavenly Kingdom had developed a result that could reverse the Shepherd's nature."

"But I've got no stock on hand now. Once my good sister gets back, I'll have her get me some light, and then I can keep applying for research funding with this thing."

"A complex divinity like that, still containing the complete nature of the Slavic lineage—process it a bit more, you know what I mean."

I know my ass!

"So you can be bolder. Those old fossils would love nothing more than to kowtow to you a few times and beg us not to die."

Huaishi's face flushed red.

Blood rushed to his head and he nearly passed out.

Huaishi: 【Brother Su, Big Shot Su, please come back alive!】

Huaishi: 【Begging you, kowtow kowtow kowtow! orz】

"."

Was the Book of Destiny truly this terrifying?

Setting aside how Huaishi even knew he had nearly been forcibly stripped of the power disparity in a spell-card battle that was supposed to be won purely through skill and effort, only to have it collapse on him.

When did he come to hold such a place in that person's heart?

Was it because this youth was Emotionally Deep, or because, having endured the terrifying dream of Azathoth, they shared the empathy of fellow victims?

Su Lin glanced at the recovering existence bar, closed the prepared system backpack, and watched the only remaining shrine maiden cast Subspace and depart at top speed.

He chose not to pursue. Instead, he stepped past the individuals dissolving into particles, walked to the dump truck, and pulled open the door.

"You've returned."

The instant the car door opened, he saw Hourai Mountain Kaguya kneeling on the seat, holding up a bag of chips, and smiling sweetly:

"Eat first, or bathe first, or first—"

Bang!

The car door closed and then reopened.

"I didn't even finish my line."

Kagu

ya slumped back against the seat, tore open a bag of wasabi-flavored chips, and stuffed them into her mouth: "When an option like this pops up in a galgame, it means you can unlock a CG—aren't you tempted at all?"

"Just a startle response. That line paired with your face made me think for a second I was still stuck in the spacetime of Everlasting Purgatory." Su Lin let out a breath.

"Wouldn't it be nice to stay with me forever?"

"After taking Yaotian's move in the city of myriad heavens, why do you think I chose to go to Su Tuoni's Road of Karmic Fire?"