Chapter 134

Still the Snow Woman.

She did not flee to avoid it, but instead deliberately stayed right at the center of what seemed to be an endless, boundless accumulation of resentment that had built up for ages, spreading her arms and pouring out her own spirit power.

Uesugi Toru thought in utter confusion:

Is the Snow Woman... trying to devour all this resentment with everything she has—resentment enough to drive most yokai mad?

But why?

Even taking her kind heart into account, that doesn't make sense—this is the Joto Land, a barren expanse teeming with yokai, not the densely populated Genjitsu.

So what if this resentment spreads?

—The Snow Woman gave the answer with reality.

Under Uesugi Toru's silent gaze, countless resentments were gradually wrapped in a sudden blizzard, diminished, devoured, and finally vanished.

The wails of agony rushing to the clouds all dispersed, replaced by a touch of bewilderment, a touch of hope, and a touch of gratitude.

Those weak but countless resentments all vanished after expressing their thanks.

All those wronged souls unable to find liberation, about to fall into the Joto Land and become mindless chi wandering forever, thus became Buddhas and dispersed with satisfaction.

Because of the Snow Woman alone.

Because she made a promise to every wronged soul to fulfill their obsession.

—Even though the Snow Woman knew she could never fulfill these obsessions and wishes in this lifetime, and would forever be tormented by these countless obsessions, she still did it.

His scarlet pupils shrank slightly, and Uesugi Toru could see the Snow Woman standing in midair, her expression still cold as frost.

As if what she had just done was a trivial matter, as if these obsessions that would endlessly linger in her thoughts and mind did not exist.

In the silence, the gazes of the ice-blue and scarlet eyes met for an instant, then quickly separated.

And so Uesugi Toru understood.

Understood why the Snow Woman had brewed that resentment-filled soul soup in the basement of the Mountain Inn and drunk it alone.

—Actually, it was exactly the same as what she was doing now.

—Find those shattered souls, bear their obsessions from life, and then let those people not become chi, but become Buddhas and disperse.

As for why the Snow Woman did this?

Who knows, maybe she simply didn't want to see such things happen before her eyes.

The moment these thoughts popped into Uesugi Toru's mind, several prompts suddenly appeared before his eyes.

【Investigate the Snow Woman's true purpose, current progress: 100%.】

【Side Quest Two · Mountain Inn, completed!】

【You have completed all tasks. Settle rewards?】

So the Snow Woman brewing soul soup really was simply to absorb resentment and bear obsessions...

Uesugi Toru couldn't help but recall that face, which showed almost no expression most of the time, as cold as ice that had lasted ten thousand years.

Beneath that face that treated everyone with indifference, what kind of soul was hidden?

Uesugi Toru's desire to take the Snow Woman as a shikigami grew stronger—having a kind-hearted shikigami was definitely better than the alternative.

Not to mention the Snow Woman was powerful, and her sense of measure in speech and action was even clearer than his own.

Using her to restrain the noisy Two-Shaku Adult was simply the best choice.

But probably there was no chance.

Uesugi Toru gazed into the distance at the spirit tides and space cracks constantly appearing due to the collapse of Kisaragi Station and the shattering of another world, watching the Snow Woman, who had almost exhausted her spirit power, get sucked into a pure black crack.

This way, the Snow Woman probably left the Joto Land and entered the boundless "Deep Sea" between Genjitsu and the Joto Land.

Which corner of the vast Joto Land the Snow Woman would appear in next was anyone's guess.

As for appearing in Genjitsu?

Don't joke, it wasn't the time of the First Wave anymore.

The area of the Joto Land was who knows how many times broader than Genjitsu, and the distance between the two was unknown; the probability of falling from the Joto Land and landing in Genjitsu via the "Ocean Current" could almost be said to be negligible.

"What a pity..."

Uesugi Toru sighed slightly, turned back, and prepared to have Rituna Minami find someone to look for a second shikigami for him.

But a suitable shikigami wasn't something you could find just by wanting to, and Uesugi Toru's standards were actually quite picky.

Saying he would start looking, but when he could find a suitable candidate was uncertain.

But he had to deal with the third map that was about to appear and would definitely be harder to handle, and the Genjitsu that was becoming increasingly unpredictable, so he couldn't afford not to cultivate a second helper as soon as possible.

So the plan to subdue a second shikigami had to be put on the agenda.

"Toru-sama, what a pity?"

The Two-Shaku Adult in his arms cast a concerned and curious gaze.

Uesugi Toru lowered his head, first glanced at the remaining time of the "Anger" effect, and decided to hold the Two-Shaku Adult for this period to speed up her injury recovery.

Then he patted the Two-Shaku Adult's soft and elastic thigh, rolled his eyes, and said,

"Pity you're not small enough... Two-Shaku Adult, can you return to your Two-Shaku Form? Holding you like this is exhausting."

Huh? Not small enough?

Does Toru-sama prefer smaller ones?

Because of a casual joke from Uesugi Toru, the Two-Shaku Adult's thoughts immediately became disordered.

In just an instant, she felt an enormous crisis approaching!

—If Toru-sama liked small ones, then that flat-chested plane field would have taken a huge advantage!

—And not to mention Toru-sama cultivated with her every day; by then that guy would secretly touch and grope, and she wouldn't even have the right to know!

Then according to the news she had seen on her mobile phone and the internet in recent days, wouldn't she become the "wronged party"?

If it really came to that, wouldn't she only be able to secretly... wuu wuu wuu, Two-Shaku doesn't want things to become like this.

What to do, what to do, what to do, what to do!

Although she had the glorious achievement of having her forehead kissed by Toru-sama, Ni Chi-sama still wanted to go further, so that she could run right up to that airplane field and mock her.

Actually.

Uesugi Toru simply felt that Ni Chi-sama in Eight-Shaku Form was hard to exert force when hugging.

And the latter had been wriggling slightly in one direction in his arms, naively thinking he wouldn't notice.

If this continued, his hand would passively sink into strange places.

However, considering Ni Chi-sama's self-sacrificing performance today, Uesugi Toru did not directly criticize or educate her, but instead used this method to hint at her indirectly.

Watching the super big car in his arms "po" once turn into a little girl he could lift with one hand, Uesugi Toru moved his shoulders, changed his posture, and felt much more relaxed for a while.

"Ni Chi-sama is much more obedient now... if she stays well-behaved, it wouldn't be unreasonable to find a chance to reward her later, right?"

Uesugi Toru just held Ni Chi-sama like that sitting in place, until the effect of "Anger" ended.

In the villa in Arakawa Ward.

The exhausted and weak Uesugi Toru slowly opened his eyes on the big bed in the room.

He turned his head slightly with difficulty, just letting the first ray of sunlight probing out from below the horizon hit his face.

The warm feeling immediately appeared on his skin.

Neither as cold and indifferent as the sunlight of spring and winter, nor as scorching hot as the sunlight of midsummer.

The summer that is coming, is exactly the weather now.

After upgrading, the side effects of Anger were much smaller than Angry Eyes, at least Uesugi Toru with all attributes maintained at "5" could barely move around like a sub-healthy ordinary person.

It was just that the triple weakness of flesh, Internal Qi, and Spirit Power made him especially unadapted.

Uesugi Toru propped himself up on the bed with his hand and slowly sat up, looking at the gradually rising morning sun, smiling at someone for some reason,

"This way, it counts as saving."

What should be done was done, and the sentiment was over.

Next, it was time to count the harvest from breaking through Kisaragi Station after a long absence.

Uesugi Toru yawned leisurely, pulled the fluffy blanket to the position of his neck, only exposing his head.

He first looked at the dropped items from slaying Kisaragi Station that he hadn't had time to look at yet.

【You obtained, Train Round-Trip Ticket (Special Prop)!】

"Train ticket?"

Uesugi Toru looked at the train ticket in the Storage Backpack that was no different from an ordinary Shinkansen ticket, and looked at its Status Window with some confusion.

【Train Round-Trip Ticket (Special Prop)】

【Effect: Tear off the Anti-Counterfeit Label at the rightmost end of the ticket, chant the destination three times in your mouth, and the train to Chang Shi will bring you to the destination. Within one month of tearing off the Anti-Counterfeit Label, it can be used a second time.】

【—Only with a ticket are you a civilized passenger who isn't fare evading! The train is an absolutely safe place for you.】

The train to Chang Shi.

Uesugi Toru's heart skipped a beat, recalling the information related to it.

When doing the Regional Unlock Mission, he had once ridden this strange train that shuttled between Chang Shi and Genjitsu, passing through many Horror Stations.

Battlefield, Heian-kyo, Mysterious School...

Moreover, although this train only counted non-humans like Yokai and Mononoke as passengers, it seemed to welcome humans as well.

But now it actually said that they "passengers" had not bought tickets?

So back then Kujo Tsubaki said the train would frequently undergo Strange Changes—it turned out this was the train's method to cleanse them fare-evading passengers.

However, now that he had this ticket, the danger of riding the train was greatly reduced.

And the ticket did not limit whether it was used in Chang Shi or Genjitsu.

In that case, Uesugi Toru could first enter Chang Shi, then take this train to air drop to some places absolutely unreachable by ordinary means.

Anyway, although it couldn't be used immediately, it was definitely a prop that would be very useful in the foreseeable future.

"But a Hidden Boss of a map actually dropped so little stuff, it's too stingy."

Uesugi Toru complained in his heart, recalling the three-star "Resentment Aggregate" he encountered before exiting the tunnel.

Surely according to common sense, that guy was the final boss of Kisaragi Station, right.

But he had the Yellow Turban Power Warrior restrain it, and the Yellow Turban Power Warrior dissipated when time was up before he could kill the Resentment Aggregate of the same rank.

The result was that he didn't see the Kill Prompt at all.

Uesugi Toru muttered: "It's actually quite possible..."

Because according to normal thinking, after exiting the tunnel he should have killed Ye Chun with one slash to let her be liberated, in that case Kisaragi Station itself would be willing to see it happen, and would not become an enemy at all.

Uesugi Toru curled his lip, moved his gaze away from the train ticket, and placed it on the main event of the settlement of the Kisaragi Station Instance that was about to end.

【Detected that you have completed all tasks of Area·Kisaragi Station, settle rewards?】

The previous hesitation vanished, Uesugi Toru nodded,

"Settle."

【Settling...】

【Main Quest One·Explore Kisaragi Station at least 80%, Completed!】

【Main Quest Two·Rescue Ye Chun, Overcompleted!!】

【Main Quest Three: Exorcise Mononoke Baka Hayashi, Taiko Drum Bell, High-Speed Grandpa, Completed!】

【Side Quest One·Tunnel to Chang Shi, Overcompleted!!】

【Side Quest Two·Mountain Inn, Completed!】

【Filtering rewards for you...】

【Screening complete!】

【You may select three from the following six rewards.】

Uesugi Toru took a deep breath, letting his thoughts become even clearer.

Six rewards... one more than last time.

This calls for careful selection.

He closed his eyes for a long time, and only after confirming he had discarded distracting thoughts did Uesugi Toru look at the rows of rewards stretching before his eyes.

【1. 2000 Soul Ash.】

Soul Ash reward?

No need to even look, directly excluded.

If another "0" were added at the back, Uesugi Toru might actually consider it.

But 2000 Soul Ash?

Please, that's just thirteen draws' worth; he could grind that much Soul Ash in two or three weeks at most.

【2. Select one Yokai Avatar, granting it two Random Talents.】

"It did increase by one Random Talent compared to last time." Uesugi Toru first nodded in approval, then shook his head, "But unfortunately, those two words 'random' are still too unstable."

Only when 'random' becomes something like 'gain xx-type talent' with a limiting qualifier would Uesugi Toru seriously consider it.

【3. Immediately learn "Basic Plain Spear Style - Mastery Level", and normally gain its Attribute Enhancement.】

Huh? A brand new reward never seen before?

Uesugi Toru's gaze sharpened, focusing his mind on "Basic Plain Spear Style - Mastery Level", and immediately understood its meaning.

So-called "Plain Spear Style" refers to using the cold weapon "plain spear" — that kind of long spear with only a spearhead tied to the shaft, without any other components of varying functions attached.

Opposite to it are the katana spear, cross spear, halberd, and other such cold weapons with different spearheads responsible for ranged combat.

And the two words "Basic" represent that this art contains no mysteries, secret techniques, or any school's unique moves.

It merely grants the selector the concept of "how to use a spear", plus some common stances and spear techniques.

Uesugi Toru's eyes brightened: "Meaning, wanting to switch to any spear art school later would have zero difficulty. All would have the bonus of this Mastery Level Basic Plain Spear Style."

Although the highest level of Basic Plain Spear Style is "Mastery", unable to further brush proficiency to rise to Expert Level and truly enter the domain of supernatural skill.

But learn it and it's max level, what more could you ask for?

After listing reward three as a must-pick, Uesugi Toru continued looking down.

【4. Immediately learn "Unorthodox Ko-tori-bako", and normally gain its Attribute Enhancement.】

"Unorthodox..."

The last time he heard these four words was when discussing Yin-Yang Technique classifications outside the school dojo with Shizuku and Mami Knot.

Back then Mami Knot seriously advised him not to practice unorthodox arts.

He silently looked at those seven characters emitting ominous black light.

Immediately, Uesugi Toru understood this unorthodox art's cultivation method and usage.

Simply put, this is a curse whose power can be increased almost infinitely.

—So-called Ko-tori-bako refers to a box made from square wooden pieces about twenty centimeters across, which cannot be opened without following specific steps.

The caster must place parts of a living sacrifice's body inside, including but not limited to an infant's umbilical cord, a seven-year-old's index finger first joint...

Of course, so-called living sacrifice naturally requires live sacrifice, needing the caster to personally kill them.

After completing the Ko-tori-bako, place it in the home or underground of the person you want to curse, and that family will gradually die from inexplicable causes.

And the more living sacrifices, the stronger the Ko-tori-bako's curse, the wider its range, the longer its duration, possibly even backlashing onto the caster themselves.

"Unorthodox? This should be called Evil Magic."

Uesugi Toru narrowed his eyes, committing every detail related to Ko-tori-bako to memory, clear and distinct, so that in the future upon encountering this Yin-Yang Technique he could react immediately.

Then, he excluded it from the options without hesitation.

Uesugi Toru is still far from desperate enough to need to cultivate this evil art to strengthen himself.

The options below returned to normal.

【5. Skill Adaptation: Select one skill to modify, lowering the proficiency required for its upgrade.】

Skill Adaptation is definitely a must-pick given current skill proficiency demands.

The key question is, on which skill should he place the Skill Adaptation effect?

Uesugi Toru scanned the major skills he currently possesses —

Tennen Rishin-ryu, Corona Breathing Technique, Spirit Control Technique, and Five Thunder Method: Kiai.

Among them, the first three's proficiency levels have all reached Proficiency or Mastery, only the last remains at a pitiful "Entry Level".

Uesugi Toru fell into deep thought.

Spirit Control Technique definitely not, Mastery Level Spirit Control Technique only needs 1000 proficiency to advance, the return compared to the other three is far too small.

Then among the remaining three...

Uesugi Toru's mind turned, and in a moment he had decided.

—Five Thunder Method: Kiai.

Right, not the breathing technique or sword art that had accompanied him for a long time, but the Five Thunder Method: Kiai he recently learned from an online friend.

The reason for this choice is simple.

Uesugi Toru currently needs to first maximize the use of his own resources — and in every battle, what gets wasted most is Spirit Technique Attribute.

Almost as soon as battle starts, after consuming most Spirit Power to release one Heavenly Thunder, Spirit Technique Attribute loses its function, at most releasing another after cooldown finishes.

As for Soul Seal, it can rarely be used in battle, not worth mentioning.

So Uesugi Toru wants to raise Five Thunder Method: Kiai's proficiency level as fast as possible, letting Spirit Technique Attribute also enhance his melee combat strength, achieving 1+1>2.

Having decided, Uesugi Toru looked at the final reward.

【6. Gain a Constant World Walker Identity related task prop. Upon task completion, may improve the rarity of the identity "Constant World Walker".】

Fine, no need to think further, it's this one.

After witnessing the vast background of the Walker Identity, even ignoring its effect of "increasing special event trigger probability," Uesugi Toru believed that finding ways to raise the identity's rarity was absolutely worth it.

Just a single Magatsukami staying inside the Walker Gathering was already completely worth the ticket price.

Because who knows, once the identity rarity rises to a certain degree, it might summon a Magatsukami's assistance, or even directly contract it into a Shikigami...

Although the latter is 99% fantasy, the former, or obtaining a Magatsukami's Blessing, is a very possible thing.

Uesugi Toru was just about to select the three rewards when he discovered his room door was suddenly pushed open.

Shizuku, expression slightly tense, walked over quickly from outside the door, swiftly sized him up several times, and after confirming the incomparably weak aura emanating from his body, asked solemnly,

"Uesugi-kun, what happened?"

"I already noticed in the Living Room that your aura suddenly weakened..."

Uesugi Toru froze for a moment, casually discarding the reward panel to the side.

He pinched his chin with his fingers, thought seriously for a good while, and smiled at Shizuku: "Probably because, after a long time, I did a good thing, putting a perfect period at the end of a story."

"Story?"

In the silence, Shizuku gazed fixedly at him.

Sharp little tiger teeth slightly embedded into her lips, wanting to pierce through this clumsy lie that even a three-year-old wouldn't believe.

But she still didn't.

Shizuku pursed her lips helplessly and asked: "Want to eat breakfast?"

Uesugi Toru pressed his palms together in prayer, covering his growling stomach and said: "Then I'll leave it to you, Teacher Shizuku."

In less than five minutes, Shizuku brought over a tray holding two fried eggs, grilled bacon bread, and milk at just the right temperature.

The apron-wearing girl accurately tossed the bed table hooked by her toes right in front of Uesugi Toru, then gently placed the white tray on top.

Then, she took out a knife and fork from her apron pocket and arranged them on top.

She lifted her chin slightly and said blandly: "You look pretty hungry, so I made a simple meal that could be brought up quickly."

Uesugi Toru was immediately moved and raised his knife and fork: "Shizuku, you're simply superhuman!"

Sitting by the bed, Shizuku used the corner of her eye to glance at the youth whose full body's Jing Shen wrote the two words "weakness," yet wolfed down food like nothing was wrong.

She turned her gaze to stare at the Sun for a long time, letting her vision go pitch black, wanting to muddle through this way.

Unfortunately Shizuku was ultimately defeated by the curiosity in her heart.

She couldn't help picking a convenient spot to ask: "The story, is it real or fake?"

Stuffing the last bite of the exquisite fried egg loaded with day-and-night cultivation and meticulousness into his mouth, Uesugi Toru slurped the bread crumbs off his fork.

Facing Shizuku, he replied somewhat uncertainly,

"Since you call it a story, it should be fake, right."

Probably.

(End of Chapter)