Chapter 117: Kaga Kiyomitsu: Blade of Parting, Five Thunder Technique, Learned

"I once heard humans say that when their small pets die, they feel sorrow and bury them with their own hands."

The Snow Goddess remained indifferent, still simmering the Soul Soup bearing boundless resentment, her movements not delayed in the slightest by Uesugi Toru's arrival.

"What I am doing now is equivalent to this."

The Snow Woman said: "Here, only when obsession or resentment is completely eradicated will true death arrive."

"Otherwise, they only become those mindless, aimlessly wandering empty souls, eternally savoring their unwillingness and pain from life, Sir Toru should have seen such things, right?"

Chi.

The "empty souls" the Snow Woman spoke of were undoubtedly Chi.

So... what she is doing now is equivalent to guiding these resentful souls to the afterlife?

Uesugi Toru could see the Snow Woman slowly sigh, her icy Spirit Power fluctuating,

"If they are not gathered together but left to die, it would be noisy... it is better to place them together, easier to handle after death, and before death they can relieve the boredom of this concubine's plain life."

【Investigate the Snow Woman's true purpose, current progress: 70%.】

A prompt popped up before Uesugi Toru's eyes, proving the Snow Woman's words were not false.

But progress had only reached seventy percent, indicating there was still something more crucial the Snow Woman had not said...

Hah.

A bone-piercing cold wind suddenly rose.

The ghostly blue flames were extinguished.

The surging sound of the Soul Soup stopped, and the basement instantly fell into deep darkness.

Profound cold wrapped around Uesugi Toru's body along with the dissipating resentment.

In the darkness, only those ice-blue pupils remained bright, still indifferent,

"Sir Toru, you clearly know why I am telling you these things."

Cold spread, thick frost and snow crawling all over the basement.

Uesugi Toru put away his folding fan and arm guard from his robe, standing with his hands behind his back: "I originally thought you were refining living souls and concocting resentment for your purpose, so no matter what I did, I would have no psychological burden."

Uesugi Toru shook his head: "But now it seems I was wrong."

The Snow Woman was slightly stunned.

The demon who could see through hearts knew that every word the four-tailed fox spoke was true, and that he indeed had not a shred of willingness to fight her.

"You would rather know the unknown truth than your own life... this kind of thing, whether you know it or not makes no difference, right."

The Snow Woman lowered her eyes, and for once curved the corners of her lips.

What an interesting fellow.

It is just a pity—

Bone-chilling cold and wind and snow appearing out of nowhere surged, wrapping around Uesugi Toru in an instant; he only managed to hear the Snow Woman's final whisper before losing consciousness.

"—I do not want my peaceful life broken by outsiders."

Flipping her sleeve white as before, the Snow Woman gazed at the sparkling ice shards scattered across the ground.

After a long time, she sighed helplessly, bent down to pick up the clearest piece from the ground and stuffed it into the gap of her sleeve.

A bit of a pity.

A slight guilt rose from the Snow Woman's heart, then was plainly cut down by herself in the next moment.

She had already warned him in the very first sentence, yet that four-tailed fox still stayed.

This was his own choice.

"Hiss—so cold!"

Under the caress of the warm spring sun, Uesugi Toru lying beneath the sakura tree opened his eyes and suddenly shivered.

He had just been frozen alive by the Snow Woman into an entire ice sculpture, then shattered into countless pieces.

This cold was indeed literally "bone-chilling cold."

Goosebumps spread across Uesugi Toru's skin; he rubbed his hands with Corona Qi for a long time before barely restoring warmth to his body.

"The aftereffects are much greater than ordinary death."

Uesugi Toru muttered a sentence, took out his mobile phone and discovered that only three or four short hours had passed in Genjitsu.

A subtle sense of time disorder...

Uesugi Toru was about to get up and move around when he suddenly discovered his Storage Backpack glowing.

Looking inside, he found that Kaga Kiyomitsu placed within was shining with radiant light.

"Finally waited for you!"

Regardless of still being at School, Uesugi Toru directly took Kaga Kiyomitsu out and held it in his hand.

Actually, the Special Affairs Division did not now prohibit students from bringing cold weapons onto campus—as long as you had the corresponding credentials.

And the esteemed "Seed" contestants naturally enjoyed this minor privilege.

In the moment Uesugi Toru grasped Kaga Kiyomitsu, a gilded prompt popped up.

【Kaga Kiyomitsu·Imitation is undergoing unknown changes: 100%!】

【Your Kaga Kiyomitsu·Imitation has undergone a key change!】

【You lost Kaga Kiyomitsu·Imitation.】

【You gained, Kaga Kiyomitsu: Blade of Parting!】

Exerting a little force, Uesugi Toru drew the sword blade.

The blade was no longer clear as water, but engraved with layer upon layer of ancient and complex sigils, stacked upon each other, exquisite and solemn.

A pale color like flowing velvet clouds climbed upon it, dripping slowly from the blade like water, falling onto the sakura petals beneath Uesugi Toru's feet.

In an instant, the petals became lush and dewy, blooming to their utmost beauty.

Yet in the mere blink of an eye, those radiant petals withered and rotted, turning into a small handful of colorless yellow earth.

A moment of splendor.

Uesugi Toru examined the brand-new Kaga Kiyomitsu, feeling its slight and pleasant tremor, and sniffed its faint fragrance.

【Kaga Kiyomitsu: Blade of Parting】

【Quality: Rare +】

【Effect One: Thrust Strengthening +.】

【Effect Two: Shousatsu.】

【Effect Three: Slash Strengthening +.】

【Effect Four: Shiretsu.】

【Effect Five: Wakare no Yaiba (Unique). After Kaga Kiyomitsu: Blade of Parting is drawn, it will continuously inflict "Separation Sorrow Domain" on those around it; after dealing damage to an enemy, this effect will rapidly strengthen against that enemy.】

【——This is the blade that slays Eight Sufferings·Aibetsuri. It is not one of the myriad imitations of that uchigatana from hundreds of years ago, but the one and only since ancient times.】

Even though its quality had not changed, a new effect marked "Unique" had been added.

The so-called "Separation Sorrow Domain" was naturally obtained by slaying Aibetsuri, and its strength appeared to be quite high.

But what its specific effect on enemies was, Uesugi Toru still needed to test for himself.

Seeing the pale liquid about to spread beneath the Sakura Tree, Uesugi Toru hurriedly stuffed it back in.

Kaga Kiyomitsu hummed, as if dissatisfied.

Uesugi Toru tapped its Sword Hilt with his knuckles, pointed at the Sakura Tree, and lectured it: "It's already lived over a hundred years; would you really be so heartless as to let it wither and die just because you stayed outside a little longer, huh?"

Hum—

Kaga Kiyomitsu trembled disappointedly, then stopped moving about, lying quietly in Uesugi Toru's hand.

"That's more like it."

After stroking Kaga Kiyomitsu twice and placing it on his leg, Uesugi Toru opened Line, tapped Ai's chat window, and asked straight to the point.

【Tsukisuna-chan】: Nanjo Sister, I want my shikigami to take the Shinto Path; I don't know if there are any idle memorial tablets recently that can spare some Incense Wish Power.

Uesugi Toru had barely finished typing and not yet put down his Mobile Phone when the message shot out, almost an Instant Reply.

【Ai】: What rank?

【Tsukisuna-chan】: One-Star Half.

【Ai】: Then this is simple; tonight I happen to be meeting with Master Hikaku of Hongan-ji for a meal, you come too, and I'll ask him for a spot.

Hongan-ji? Buddhism?

Uesugi Toru blinked; was it really no problem for a Mononoke to eat Buddhist incense?

He voiced this question.

Ai still Instant Replied.

【Ai】: Yokai naturally won't do, but Mononoke below Three Stars need not worry about compatibility being affected; once you reach Three Stars, I'll find you another way out.

【Ai】: Also, is your memorial tablet prepared?

Uesugi Toru slapped his forehead; he had actually forgotten this matter.

Since he was taking the Shinto Path, he needed to prepare a corresponding memorial tablet capable of bearing incense.

【Tsukisuna-chan】: Not yet... Sorry, Nanjo Sister. I only thought of this after learning of the "Seed" identity a few hours ago, and planned to tell you first.

【Ai】: Small matter. I'll get you a general one for now; once you get something better, just swap it yourself.

【Tsukisuna-chan】: Nanjo Sister, I love you. (Heart Emoji)

【Ai】: If you want to thank someone, thank the Five Person Council and Hongan-ji; whether this could happen a week ago, I'm at most just a messenger tool.

Things couldn't be said that way.

If the person on the other end weren't Ai, then although this could be done, how long it would take and when it could be finalized was hard to say.

To disturb Ai as little as possible, Uesugi Toru then stated his next request.

【Tsukisuna-chan】: Also, I need a Thunder Technique; the more direct the effect, the simpler and cruder the better.

Previously, Uesugi Toru had pondered for a long time which path to choose among the vast sea of Yin-Yang Techniques.

Choose one of the Four Paths and master it deeply first?

Or study the Five Elements simultaneously to increase the variety of methods?

However, after much thought, Uesugi Toru still felt he shouldn't waste too much time on this pile of Yin-Yang Techniques.

With the time spent practicing so many Yin-Yang Techniques, his Tennen Rishin-ryu would long ago have broken through to the same level as Shizuku.

Although swordsmanship breakthroughs emphasized a "feeling" and required daily practice, even going several days without practice could cause significant regression.

But Uesugi Toru's Proficiency was different; he only needed to max it out to break through, and would never regress at all.

Therefore, Uesugi Toru believed his current foundation should still be in Melee Combat, and mastering swordsmanship and Breathing Technique first was most important.

As for Yin-Yang Techniques, the Nine-Tailed Fox already had the Soul Seal control skill, so he might as well learn an attack-maxed Thunder Technique.

——The skill that came with the Folding Fan was good, but its Cooldown was a fatal flaw.

Moreover, the Folding Fan was merely a Rare piece of Equipment, so the Spirit Power it could bear was surely limited.

Thus, after weighing all factors, Uesugi Toru made this decision.

【Ai】: You want to specialize in Thunder Technique? Then I'll spend more time finding you a more powerful one.

【Tsukisuna-chan】: (Kneeling Godfather GIF)

After arranging the next itinerary, Uesugi Toru Yawned, as usual clearing the glaring 99+ Red Dots in Line.

"Hmm?"

But when his Finger moved downward, Uesugi Toru discovered a friend who hadn't spoken to him in over a week, nearly two weeks.

——【Work to Die】。

Opening the chat record with the gray avatar named【Work to Die】, Uesugi Toru scrolled to the last two messages.

【Work to Die】: I've always heard Fushimi Inari Taisha is quite popular but never had time to visit. I have a friend there; supposedly there's a chance to show us the legendary "Kami."

【Work to Die】: Ah, fine then, you go to sleep quickly. I'm going to work overtime first.

——This was still before the First Wave arrived. Back then, netizens feared he was in danger and wanted him to hide at Fushimi Inari Taisha from the Wave.

However, Uesugi Toru refused.

But after this, that enthusiastic netizen who taught him Spirit Control Technique never sent another message.

Uesugi Toru fell silent for a moment, first poked the other party, then asked.

【Tsukisuna-chan】: Haven't sent a message for so long, did you drown?

No reply.

Uesugi Toru put down his mobile phone, thinking the other party might have perished in the First Wave.

Because judging from the other party's previous statements, they were either an heir of an ancient Onmyoji Family or an Onmyoji of the Special Affairs Division.

And no matter which identity, judging from their enthusiasm, there was a great possibility they had thrown themselves into the front lines of resisting the Wave, and then...

Buzz.

The mobile phone vibrated slightly; Uesugi Toru picked it up, a hint of joy appearing on his brow and eyes.

【Work to Die】: Died.

【Tsukisuna-chan】: Then am I seeing a ghost? (Fear. jpg)

【Work to Die】: Even if I became a ghost, I'd become a super 007 Company Slave ghost, going to take the life of my superior boss. (Exhausted. jpg)

【Work to Die】: A few days ago my superior was transferred, and I had to take over his position... To be honest, if it weren't that there really was no one else, who would want a promotion? Being a salted fish, drinking alcohol every day and lying flat would be so nice.

Watching the other party pour out a large heap of bitterness with crackling sounds, Uesugi Toru instead laughed heartily.

Being able to type complaints at such speed shows both arms are still there, and they haven't been admitted to the ICU; this is a great thing.

What's wrong with being tired? Can't Rituna Minami, who can work 24 hours straight and naps in the car while sleeping, get tired?

Uesugi Toru sent a champagne-popping expression pack, then saw the other party start spamming expression packs of angry fist-waving.

Spamming for a long while, only then did the other side quiet down.

【Work to Die】: Let's not talk about this stupid work. You too, why haven't you sent a message for so long, I almost one-click cleared you from the list.

【Tsukisuna-chan】: Cultivating.

Special Affairs Division.

Rituna Minami, sporting dark circles far deeper and more profound than a week ago, smiled and took a sip of coffee.

"Little one, good thing you took the bait, otherwise if I took the initiative to speak, wouldn't I have given myself away..."

She hooked her shoe with her toe, shaking it, legs crossed, clacking away at the keyboard.

Shizuma Manatsu across from her shrank her neck; it was her first time seeing Rituna Minami show such a sunny smile.

【Work to Die】: Cultivating! I see the Special Affairs Division has been spreading something called Basic Spirit Absorption Technique lately; I happen to have a little ghost-exorcising spell that can pair with it, see if you find it difficult to learn.

Little ghost-exorcising spell?

Did the netizen really think of themselves as a complete rookie who knows nothing?

Uesugi Toru raised an eyebrow, about to refuse, but before the words could be typed, a long string of messages popped out.

He casually glanced twice, and a prompt popped up before his eyes—

【Work to Die is teaching you Five Thunder Method: Kiai...】

Uesugi Toru trembled all over, hurriedly deleting the words in the chat box clean sweep.

What the hell, bro?

Five Thunder Technique?

Can this kind of thing be taught casually?!

If learned and discovered, won't they really be hunted down by some Onmyoji Family?

What, I have the Special Affairs Division behind me?

Then it's fine.

Uesugi Toru carefully scanned line after line of obscure text, trying to understand it himself.

Mm, completely couldn't understand.

Still recognized them separately, but together completely didn't know what meaning they had.

However, it doesn't matter; for Uesugi Toru, this was just a small matter of staring a bit longer.

He himself couldn't do it, but could the progress bar not do it!?

About ten minutes later, just like an ellipsis finally finished loading, a large heap of prompts popped out.

【You have learned Five Thunder Method: Kiai】

【Five Thunder Method: Kiai (Entry Level 0/500)】

【Effect: Can release faint lightning while the Breathing Technique is circulating.】

【——Using Qi to control Lightning, using Lightning to unite Qi. Created by a certain Sword Saint of the Peaceful Era by blending the legendary Five Thunder Orthodox Method; although its power is not as good as the Original Version, it can be used without hand seals.】

This...

Uesugi Toru looked at this effect and introduction, stunned for a good while.

What version of "sleepiness brings a pillow" is this?

It seemed he had just told Nanjo Sister he wanted to learn a Thunder Technique, and in the blink of an eye, he received a Thunder Technique from the netizen that couldn't be more suitable.

And this skill followed with the two characters "Kiai" behind it; combined with "a certain Sword Saint of the Peaceful Era" in the introduction, it almost said this Thunder Technique was also created by that Sword Saint who created the Kiai Technique.

This dog luck, isn't it too outrageous?

Uesugi Toru felt a bit dazed, and after a moment he slowly began typing.

【Tsukisuna-chan】: Bro... won't I get my butt beaten by my family for learning this?

"Pfft—"

Rituna Minami spat a mouthful of coffee onto the computer screen.

It's only been a few minutes, and he's already learned this obscure and difficult Five Thunder Technique?

You have to know, this Five Thunder Technique is fundamentally different from other ordinary Yin-Yang Techniques; rather than saying it's a Yin-Yang Technique, it's more like "a breathing technique that uses Spirit Power to emit Thunder."

【Work to Die】: Can even manage my family's grave grass growing three feet high.

Damn, I actually stepped on a landmine precisely.

Uesugi Toru hurriedly apologized.

【Tsukisuna-chan】: Sorry...

【Work to Die】: What apology is this, it's a good death, we should be opening champagne instead.

【Work to Die】: Alright, learn slowly. We'll chat when you have time, I'm going to work first.

After sending an expression pack thanking his godfather, Uesugi Toru stood up somewhat eagerly, wanting to try how this Five Thunder Method: Kiai is used.

"Hoo—"

Subconsciously, Uesugi Toru circulated his breathing technique and exhaled as usual, but spat out a mouthful of crackling flashing electric arcs.

Electric light suddenly sounded in mid-air, very uncomfortable, its interest level comparable to a few incense stick fireworks about to burn out.

That's right, the kind of smallest fireworks often seen at anime fireworks festivals, that JKs hold in their hands and quietly watch burn out.

"Damn, my lips are going to be numbed by electricity."

Uesugi Toru rubbed his lips, the pain already disappeared, and couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

What great power... hurt oneself by a thousand before talking about killing the enemy, right.

Temporarily slowing his breathing, Uesugi Toru stood in place and felt for a moment, then found the key point of combining this Five Thunder Technique with the breathing technique.

He extended his hand, circulating this newly learned Five Thunder Technique along with the breathing rhythm.

Crackle!

Instantly, a dazzling electric current shot from Uesugi Toru's fingertip!

Its power is comparable to the firecrackers sold at the small shop.

If placed at the beginning, maybe it could still cause not bad damage to a stray spirit or even a half-star demon, using it to shock fox dog raccoons and such should be enough.

But now...

"It seems this thing is like the Kiai Technique, a skill that needs more practice and unleashes power in the later stage."

That's not a problem.

Because this Five Thunder Method: Kiai secretly matches the breathing rhythm of the breathing technique, so as long as Uesugi Toru uses it while cultivating the breathing technique, he doesn't need to spend extra time specifically training it.

It's just that every breath spits out a large amount of static electricity, making his mouth suffer.

Uesugi Toru thought about that scene, and it really was a bit bizarre.

But to cultivate more efficiently, can't he overcome this small problem?

Uesugi Toru thought, and spat out a mouthful of static electricity as if nothing was wrong.

Crackle, but proficiency +1.

"—Uesugi-kun! Are you going to die, why are you spitting out a mouthful of electricity!"

Shizuku's auspicious words came from afar.

In less than two seconds, Shizuku arrived with the whistling wind, looking at Uesugi Toru in amazement: "How did you do that just now?!"

Uesugi Toru stared at her, and suddenly exhaled another breath.

Caught off guard, Shizuku's face collided with this ball of static electricity.

Snap!

Shizuku's head of black hair exploded, standing on end in all directions like a burst ball of yarn, just like a cat in spiky-backed dragon mode.

Uesugi Toru turned his head, holding back his laughter.

In silence, Shizuku, her face numb, took out her mobile phone, opened selfie mode, and saw her current appearance.

"Uesugi Toru—!"

After a round of roughhousing, Shizuku deliberately tied her hair, restored to normal, into a ponytail.

She put her hands on her hips: "If you spit static electricity at me again, I'll cultivate you into baldness!"

Uesugi Toru thought of her appearance just now, and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Laugh again!"

Shizuku kicked him on the butt, but this bit of force was about like tickling Uesugi Toru.

"No more fooling around." Uesugi Toru stepped back two steps and waved his hand, "Later I'm going to eat with Nanjo Sister and a monk."

"Eat?"

Shizuku blinked: "What restaurant?"

Uesugi Toru scratched his head, saying somewhat doubtfully: "A buffet barbecue restaurant."

"Eat!"

Shizuku immediately shouted loudly: "Ruthlessly fleece the Special Affairs Division's wool, don't miss a single barbecue meal!"

So the two left the school gate together and walked toward the barbecue restaurant at their destination.

With Shizuku, this overachiever, by his side, Uesugi Toru naturally couldn't relax.

So all the way Uesugi Toru spat static electricity, while feeling countless curious and envious gazes from the people around him.

Having been stared at like aliens all the way, Uesugi Toru, upon exiting the subway and reaching the shop doorway, nudged Shizuku beside him and asked,

"Already eaten, still practicing?"

Shizuku giggled: "Not practicing, not practicing, I've seen enough just now."

"That's more like it……"

Uesugi Toru walked into the shop and headed toward Table 36 deep inside the barbecue restaurant.

Not long after, he and Shizuku stopped simultaneously and faced each other, both seeing a look of confusion in the other's eyes.

Uesugi Toru remembered that Rituna Minami had said the one who arrived at the shop first was Buddhist Master Huijue of Hongan-ji.

Shizuku also remembered that the first to arrive should have been a monk.

Before Table 36, a bald youth sat with legs crossed grilling meat, wearing a black short-sleeve shirt stretched tight beyond measure by his muscles.

On the short sleeve was a large "Tide" character, and the back was covered with meaningless graffiti and spray paint.

Around his neck hung a black skull metal necklace, both earlobes pierced with cross earrings, and on his head he wore a duckbill cap backward, through whose gaps one could vaguely see the youth was bald.

—Apart from having a shaved head, where does he look like a monk at all!

Completely the look of a non-mainstream delinquent thug, right!

Uesugi Toru took out his mobile phone again to confirm with Rituna Minami, then carefully approached and probed, asking: "Excuse me, are you Buddhist Master Huijue?"

"Huh?!"

Huijue, who was stuffing his mouth with barbecue, immediately looked up, only to choke, and gulped down plenty of bubbly Coca-Cola before catching his breath.

"Cough cough cough……You must be Uesugi-kun, the seed of Arakawa Ward, right, come come, please sit please sit."

Huijue immediately took back the black leather jacket studded with artificial rhinestones he had casually tossed opposite, bared his teeth still stuffed with meat, and gave a hehe smile.

Uesugi Toru sat down, looking at Huijue's entire outfit, not knowing where to begin.

"And the one behind with a mental state as radiant as Hongri should be Miss Tokugawa, please sit quickly too."

After Shizuku also sat down, Huijue was very familiar and used public chopsticks to pick up nearly grilled barbecue meat for the two, and smilingly asked: "How do you two find this poor monk's outfit, is it very【Tide】very【Awesome】, particularly having【Rock】flair."

The words both were about to say were all blocked back by this mudslide.

Uesugi Toru and Shizuku: "……"

Huijue said while eating meat and smiling: "Earlier this poor monk met two motorcycle-riding boys by the roadside, and they all said my attire was too old-fashioned, not keeping up with the development of the New Era."

"This poor monk thought I haven't come down the mountain for a long time, it's time to learn to accept new things, so I let them take me around and dress up properly."

Huijue shook the skull necklace around his neck: "This is still the farewell gift they gave this poor monk, how is it, not bad, right."

—Turns out he met spirited youngsters, ghost-fire boys.

—Both felt ashamed in their hearts, such a fine Buddhist Master was ruined like this.

Uesugi Toru: "Master, as long as you like it."

Shizuku: "Master, if you go out shaking around at dawn, absolutely everyone on the street will say you're handsome."

"Is that so! Haha, thank you both."

Huijue smiled and nodded, then saw Rituna Minami wearing a mask and walking over with steps not far away.

"Lady Nanjo, over here over here!"

Rituna Minami, who had cast a cognition-interference Yin-Yang Technique on herself, was slightly stunned, then furrowed her brow: "Huijue, what getup is this? Going street racing at night?"

So Huijue explained it all over again patiently.

After Rituna Minami sat down, chewing barbecue she calmly said: "If the old Abbot saw you like this, he'd probably be so angry he'd have a cerebral hemorrhage."

"His old self is advanced in years, naturally it's inconvenient to accept trendy new things." Huijue lowered his eyes, gazing at the still-bubbling Coca-Cola, "That's why we younger generation need to do something."

"——So Lady Nanjo, how do you find my getup, handsome or not?"

Rituna Minami: "To be honest, hideously ugly."

Huijue's smile froze, then he showed a puzzled expression: "But Uesugi-kun and Miss Tokugawa both said……"

Rituna Minami glanced at the two opposite stuffing barbecue into their mouths: "They're lying to you, or being sarcastic in a way you don't understand."

"Sarcastic?"

Huijue scratched his head in confusion: "What is that?"

"You can browse ch Forum or Twitter more, after scrolling for ten-odd days you'll probably be able to get on track with this society."

Rituna Minami pointed out a one-way road for him.

Huijue nodded seriously, somewhat clumsily operating his latest model Smartphone, and soon downloaded both apps.

"Put this small matter aside for now." Rituna Minami pointed at Uesugi Toru, "Uesugi-kun has a One-Star Half Mononoke Shikigami who wants to walk the Shinto Path, do you have any openings on your end?"

"No problem."

Huijue, busy registering an account, looked up and said: "The two great temples I still can't persuade, but Yokohama has a branch temple."

Huijue grinned at Uesugi Toru: "I'll take Uesugi-kun for a trip, better early than late, let's set off after eating."

Uesugi Toru hesitated: "I'm fine……but don't the two of you have important matters to discuss in person?"

"Discuss?"

Huijue smiled and asked back: "Hasn't it already been discussed long ago?"

Uesugi Toru blinked, quickly recalled everything that had just happened, and then understood.

It turned out the so-called "important matter" had already been negotiated the moment Rituna Minami first saw Huijue.

Looking at it this way, not only did the Special Affairs Division and Onmyoryo have differing opinions, even within the Buddhist Sect such as Hongan-ji there were extremely serious disagreements on how to respond to the New Era.

"Sorry, this poor monk needs to take a call."

Huijue raised a hand to gesture, picked up the phone and placed it by his ear.

After a long silence, he put down the mobile phone, smiled embarrassedly: "Uesugi-kun……Teacher's old self has something urgent, I might not be able to accompany you to Yokohama."

"Also."

Huijue hesitated for a moment, then sighed with deep apology: "It seems a few fellow disciples at the Yokohama Branch Temple whose cultivation is not refined have encountered a somewhat troublesome matter. If you have strength to spare, I ask that Uesugi-kun help out a bit after placing the memorial tablets."

This attitude, it's comfortable.

Uesugi Toru put down his chopsticks and agreed: "Naturally there is no objection."

"Then I am extremely grateful."

Huijue let out a breath of relief, hurriedly stuffed all the barbecue in his bowl into his mouth, ensuring not a single bit was wasted, then stood up and bid farewell to the three of them.

Watching Huijue, dressed in full biker gang youth style, walk out the shop doorway, Uesugi Toru could clearly hear the surrounding waitstaff and customers let out a breath of relief.

The mobile phone placed on the table by Nanjo Rituna vibrated once; she glanced at the new message and spoke:

"Coincidentally I also need to make a trip to Yokohama; I'll give you a ride."

Then isn't this a sure thing?

Uesugi Toru ate the barbecue with great relish, until he saw a barely perceptible trace of spiritual power fluctuation on the seat, only then did he startle and realize that just now he had actually completely failed to notice Huijue's strength.

He asked seriously:

"Nanjo Sister, what is the background of that Master Huijue?"

(End of Chapter)