Chapter 214

PS: I'm going out on a date with my blind date today to have a blast, so there's only one chapter of 5,000 words. Everyone, wish me luck!

Senior Mai's home is in Roppongi, Minato Ward; this is an out-and-out super-wealthy district in Japan.

During Japan's golden age, if you wanted to have a sweet romance with a trendy Japanese city girl, there were five essential conditions that were indispensable for a Tokyo boy at the time. If you couldn't provide these five conditions for your girlfriend, you were destined never to receive a girl's favor.

These five conditions were: a two-day, one-night trip to Hakone hot springs, a one-day trip to Tokyo Disneyland, a luxurious three-star Michelin meal, a romantic date in Odaiba, Minato Ward, and a shopping spree in Roppongi.

The Roppongi mentioned here refers to this place in Ginza, Minato Ward.

This is the absolute center of Japan's economy and commerce.

Uesugi Muneyuki thought to himself, no wonder the paparazzi could never find Senior Mai's residence; she never entered or exited her home normally!

She would just "whoosh" and be at her front door, then "whoosh" and be at the office.

"From now on, this is your home too, Junior."

Senior Mai signaled for Uesugi Muneyuki to follow.

"Excuse the intrusion." Uesugi Muneyuki had truly never seen such a scene. This showed what his grandfather had always worried about—if he died, the Uesugi Residence would indeed quickly become marginalized in high society, because in essence, their family no longer had much money or power. What remained was mainly a bit of influence from historical and cultural figures, and the personal prestige of his grandfather, who held multiple bloodlines and was a University of Tokyo professor with students everywhere.

The moment the matte black metal door frame was pushed open, sandalwood mixed with the scent of fir swept over Uesugi Muneyuki's eyelashes. In front of the six-meter-high double-layered floor-to-ceiling windows, the entire view of Roppongi Hills rushed into his field of vision, slicing the neon galaxy of the Ginza night view into a flowing sea of colorful light.

The room inside the modern building was indeed in a shrine style. Senior Mai had used Hokkaido cypress to construct a thirty-mat wide hall for the living room and Japanese-style room, with warm orange floor lights hidden in the seams of the tatami mats, resembling the gold-leaf-edged sea of clouds in ukiyo-e paintings.

The entire west wall had been transformed into a mirrored shrine. The bronze mirror reflected the sharp angles of Roppongi Hills, and above it was a stone bound by a sacred straw rope hanging from the open-ceiling area. There was even a small garden composed of dry landscape in the room; the bright red miniature torii gate did not look out of place in the room, but rather appeared quite natural within the overall shrine style.

"You sit first, I'm going to change clothes." Senior Mai signaled for Uesugi Muneyuki to sit down first.

Uesugi Muneyuki didn't think too much and sat down on the tatami, observing the entire shrine-style Ginza flat, wondering how much this cost.

It was said that the monthly rent for a standard Ginza Tower Mansion was over 2 million, and while Senior Mai might own this unit, the monthly property tax, management fees, and various other costs must surely be in the millions.

I still need to work hard!

The entryway was paved with Shiga Prefecture Shigaraki-ware red ceramic hexagonal tiles. Outside the living room, the 6.4-meter panoramic floor-to-ceiling window came into view. The German Bulthaup integrated kitchen was paired with a Panasonic refrigerator, and the wallpaper in the Japanese-style room where Uesugi Muneyuki sat used mica from a Kyoto Tang paper workshop.

Senior is really rich.

Does she count as old money or new money?

As Uesugi Muneyuki pondered, Senior Mai had already come out from inside.

She had changed into a standard Shrine Maiden outfit. The upper garment was white; although not tight-fitting, it was still stretched to reveal her curves by her full fruits. Looking at the shape outlined by the red silk ribbon on her chest, Uesugi Muneyuki realized she likely wasn't wearing anything extra underneath. Below the white garment, a brightly colored red short hakama wrapped around her firm, round moon, and her two long yet slightly fleshy beautiful legs were unexpectedly covered by a layer of white matte opaque swan-flesh long stockings. The stockings extended to above Senior Mai's thighs, the slightly flesh-pinching stocking tops bound by a strand of red thread tied into a ribbon knot at the ends. A pair of tender, snowy feet wrapped in snow-white stockings stepped on the tatami, both pure and seductive.

"Junior, do you like it?" Senior Mai came to Uesugi Muneyuki's side with a smile, sat next to him, hugged his shoulders, and shook him gently: "Do you like it? Do you like it, do you like it, do you like it? These stockings were worn especially for you~"

"I didn't come back with you tonight to look at stockings, Senior Mai." Uesugi Muneyuki said with a wicked smile: "If I wanted to see them, Eirina could wear them for me anytime."

Although the man said this, he couldn't help but gently take liberties with the long, beautiful legs and feet wrapped in pure white silk beside him. The incredibly wonderful sensation made Uesugi Muneyuki linger, and Bai Chuan Mai let him do as he pleased. In the goddess senior's eyes, pink hearts flickered faintly, and a touch of moving charm flashed for a moment before gradually fading away.

Business comes first.

"Calling you here today isn't because I'm in a rush to engage in Dual Cultivation with you; you're still a bit lacking in heat." Senior Mai hugged Uesugi Muneyuki's shoulders: "Calling you here is to teach you our sect's ultimate technique, the Spirit Sphere."

She signaled for Uesugi Muneyuki to stand up, and Uesugi Muneyuki complied: "How do I learn it?"

"It's actually very simple." Senior Mai hugged Uesugi's waist from behind. Her Six Wheels and the Sacral Chakra within Uesugi Muneyuki's body synthesized into the Seven Wheels again, and then she personally demonstrated the flow of energy to Uesugi Muneyuki: "Like this."

According to the Esoteric method, the human body has Three Channels and Seven Wheels. Among them, the Three Channels are the three main personality forces formed by the circulation of life energy in the human body. Generally speaking, the Left Channel governs a person's memory, past, and emotional aspects; the Right Channel governs a person's thinking, future, actions, and plans; and the Central Channel of most people is unopened, so one must cultivate the "Seven Wheels" to open the Central Channel.

This theory can be understood as the Central Channel being the "Ren and Du Meridians" in martial arts novels.

But after a cycle of rotation by Senior Mai, Uesugi Muneyuki's Central Channel had already been molded into her shape, faintly showing signs of opening. At the same time, through the shallow Dual Cultivation exchange earlier at the Ryotei, Uesugi Muneyuki's lowest Root Wheel had also been activated.

"Following the rotation method I gave you, concentrate the Spirit Power in your body to the index finger of your Right Channel." Senior Mai signaled: "Inject the energy into your fingertip."

Uesugi Muneyuki complied, and gradually, he began to feel his fingertip heating up: "And then?"

"Then concentrate all the strength of your whole body on your right index finger, focus your willpower, and rotate it three times according to the energy circuit I gave you."

Uesugi Muneyuki quickly rotated it three times according to Senior Mai's instructions.

There was a reaction!

A bright light the size of a quail egg began to emerge from his right fingertip. The cyan light sphere was located at the second knuckle of his finger and was constantly growing larger.

"This is... the Spirit Sphere?" Uesugi Muneyuki became interested: "And then? What should I do?"

"After cycling three times, aim your finger at the target you want to shoot, then unite your mind and will, imagining the feeling of pulling a trigger." Senior Mai pointed casually: "Just shoot in the direction of the kitchen! Hit that microwave; I've been wanting to replace it with a new one for a long time."

Uesugi Muneyuki aimed his index finger toward the kitchen, imagining his hand was a gun, controlling the energy, and pulled the trigger.

"Biu!"

The moment the intense cyan light was fired, it eclipsed all the light in the room. The light sphere shot from his fingertip flew through the air with lightning speed and slammed into a cabinet above the microwave.

Bang!

The obsidian-surfaced cabinet door caved in on the spot, leaving a shallow pit about two centimeters in diameter. Fine dust spread out from this pit as the center, and shattered stone splashed onto the floor of the integrated kitchen.

"Ah, sorry." Uesugi Muneyuki quickly expressed his apology.

"It's fine." Senior Mai shook her head with a smile: "In short, this is the Spirit Sphere."

Senior Mai explained: "You are different from me. You haven't felt energy in the Inner World since you were a child. As an adult, you have already missed the best time to master the control of Otherworld Energy. It's very troublesome to start over now, and you don't have that much time."

"So, I thought about it for a long time. You don't need to understand, and you don't need to know how it operates. You just need to rotate the energy according to the method I demonstrated to you, let the energy fluctuate along the Three Channels and Seven Wheels in your body, and fire the Spirit Sphere... You've seen the power; it's not inferior to a bullet, and it's effective against all Inner World existences."

"What is this? What is this called? A Spirit Sphere?"

Uesugi Muneyuki was extremely excited; he finally had a long-range attack method!

"Yes, a Spirit Sphere." Senior Mai tapped her finger: "With your current physical strength and energy accumulation, you can fire it at most four times. The size can reach that of an egg. When you become stronger in the future, you can increase it to the size of a basketball, and then use both hands to push out an entire mass of explosive energy directly."

"Spirit Light Wave Fist?" Uesugi Muneyuki couldn't help but say; isn't this just like the ultimate move in Street Fighter?

"That's right, art comes from life!" Senior Mai smiled until her eyes squinted: "How about it, the Spirit Sphere is very powerful, right? It suits you very well, right? And it's universal in both the surface and Inner Worlds!"

"With this, I won't be afraid of attacks from the Cursed Grudge anymore!" Uesugi Muneyuki thought to himself, finally, finally there is a way to deal with Inner World creatures and Inner World people!

Saijo Yasue, just you wait. Wait for Hironaka to find you; I'm going to blow your dead head apart with a Spirit Sphere!

"It's obvious that you haven't fully mastered the Spirit Sphere yet. We'll find a chance to go to the wilderness and try again later." Senior Mai continued: "Besides the Spirit Sphere, I have other things to teach you."

"Besides attacking, Spirit Power can also be used for defense." Senior Mai gathered a Spirit Sphere at her fingertip in a similar fashion: "Now, attack me. Don't worry about hurting me; you can't hurt me as you are now."

Uesugi Muneyuki nodded, and according to the Karate taught by Master Eirina, he threw a straight punch toward Senior Mai without hesitation.

However, at the very instant his fist was about to touch the body of Senior Sister Mai, a massive burst of force followed the explosion of Spirit Power, knocking him away; Uesugi Muneyuki rolled a few times on the tatami in a very disheveled state.

"What was that just now? I felt like I had crashed into a wall!" Uesugi Muneyuki said, baring his teeth.

"This is the second combat ability I am going to teach you today: Precision Defense."

"Normally, we people of the Inner World can all use Spirit Power to protect ourselves." Senior Sister Mai smiled and shook her finger: "But, as you know, Otherworld Energy is very difficult to replenish, and abusing Spirit Power in battle is foolish. However, if the timing is grasped well, an accurate Spirit Power defense can allow us to gain an opportunity for a counterattack in an instant."

"You already understand the firing principle of the Spirit Sphere, so you should understand that preparing a Spirit Sphere requires a bit of time. By the same token, Spirit Power defense also requires a bit of preparation time. If the Wheel rotation is insufficient, the Spirit Power will not be enough to concentrate on the surface of the body to resist an attack; if the rotation is excessive, it will instead cause the body to become rigid."

Senior Sister Mai pulled Uesugi Muneyuki up from the ground: "Therefore, from the start of rotating Spirit Power to form a defense, to the point where over-rotation instead affects body movement, the moment when the Spirit Power Wheel completes its three-pulse rotation just in time to form a Spirit Sphere to counter the opponent's attack—we call this 'Precision Defense'."

"The duration of Precision Defense is very short, only about one-tenth of a second. In this instant, the reinforcement of the body by Spirit Power can even allow us to resist ordinary bullets, and we can deflect any attack and gain an opportunity for a counterattack."

"I think this is the most suitable Inner World ability for you."

"So, Uesugi-kun, let's practice this tonight." Senior Sister Mai rolled up the sleeves of her Shrine Maiden robe, her smile gradually becoming twisted: "I will hit you, and you are responsible for using Precision Defense to try to block my attacks."

"Wait, we're doing it right now?" Uesugi Muneyuki finally understood why Senior Sister Mai had wanted him to come to her house tonight.

It wasn't to enjoy some romantic fortune; it was to be her practice dummy!

Judging by her expression, this woman had been holding back for a long time!

That's right, she had all these skills but no target to practice on, and she couldn't exactly go out and actively seek out other beings, so hadn't she just set her sights on him?

"Of course, right now. My explanation lacks concepts; you'll understand once you try a few more times!" The National Goddess's face wore an ambiguous smile: "You won't die, don't worry. At most, you'll break a rib, and I will help you heal it. Your senior sister here is also very skilled in healing sorcery!"

"Wait, I'm not ready yet!" Uesugi Muneyuki was truly panicked.

"Heh, things in the Inner World won't consider whether you are ready or not. Do you think this is practicing with your beautiful policewoman black-belt instructor?" Senior Sister Mai gradually turned dark, smiling more and more ferociously: "Junior, my dear Junior-kun, come and practice fiercely with Senior Sister! I will love you fiercely!"

If the duel with Instructor Eirina was one that brought people smiles, the duel with Senior Sister Mai was simply a "Dark Duel."

Win and there is a reward; lose and there is a punishment.

Senior Sister Mai, you plotted against me!

That night, the entire time was filled with Uesugi Muneyuki's screams.

A few hours later, Senior Sister Mai finally exhausted Uesugi Muneyuki's last trace of Spirit Power, and Uesugi Muneyuki, having suffered physical pain and only successfully triggering "Precision Defense" three times, had already fallen asleep from exhaustion.

Feeling satisfied, Senior Sister Mai, covered in a fine layer of sweat, happily hugged the man as he lay on the tatami, a trace of sweet love appearing on the National Goddess's face.

She recalled her painful childhood, recalled the worship she felt when she first saw her master display Inner World power, the shock when she discovered her true face, the joy and loneliness of surviving after inheriting her master's position as head, and the pride and solitude of rising to fame and suppressing other shrines after debuting as an actress.

She had always been winning; she always won.

She had won this time too; she hadn't even expected that she would be able to encounter Uesugi Muneyuki.

She would never be lonely again.

Holding Uesugi Muneyuki and pillowing her head on his arm, Senior Sister Mai leaned against him tightly and fell into a sweet sleep just like that.

…………

Early morning.

Uesugi Muneyuki woke up with a sore back and aching waist, his body covered in many blue and purple bruises.

He habitually reached out to touch his side, only to find nothing there; he was covered by a thin quilt.

"Awake? I've prepared breakfast and bathwater. Go eat breakfast and take a bath, and I'll send you back." A voice filled with faint joy and satisfaction came from afar.

In front of the dressing table in the early morning, Senior Sister Mai, who had changed into a plain white dress, faced the mirror and carefully drew her makeup. The slender eyebrow pencil swept across the corners of her eyes. Looking at the beautiful face in the mirror, Bai Chuan Mai pursed her lips and smiled slightly at Uesugi Muneyuki.

Uesugi Muneyuki didn't say much; he ate breakfast and took a bath, and Senior Sister Mai prepared to take him away by teleportation.

Before leaving, she placed a stone about the size of a golf ball into Uesugi Muneyuki's hand: "Take this."

"What is this for?" Uesugi Muneyuki felt a bit of trauma seeing Bai Chuan Mai; he knew she meant well, but he was still a bit unhappy after being beaten all night.

"This is a marked God Stone. If you put it in your bedroom, I can teleport between your house and mine at any time." Bai Chuan Mai extended her index finger and tapped Uesugi Muneyuki on the forehead, her smile as beautiful as a flower: "From now on, you have to leave one day a week for me, okay! Come to my house, I'll prepare good food and drinks, and then we'll practice together."

You've got to be kidding? Still practicing?

Uh, it seems like I really do need to practice often...

Uesugi Muneyuki, however, did not have a joyful expression; he only felt pressure.

Eirina takes up one day, Senior Sister Mai takes up one day, wouldn't two nights of his week be directly without rest?

Besides, learning the Spirit Sphere is indeed great, but the price is being drilled by Senior Sister for an entire night—no way!

"Objection overruled!" Senior Sister Mai hugged Uesugi Muneyuki's arm, her pair of clear, moving eyes filled with wisps of black energy, accidentally revealing a bit of twisted, crazy possessiveness and rippling, charming waves.

"Junior-kun, you are mine, you belong to me alone!"

"It's settled then, okay? If you don't come to find me, then I'll come to find you!"

"At that time, if I happen to run into your so-called Face of the Metropolitan Police Department fiancée, that tall, beautiful policewoman, at your house and something happens, it will be hard to say, right? Uesugi-kun? You wouldn't want us to have a direct confrontation, would you? I've already made a huge concession, you know!"

"O... okay~"

"Heh, that's right." A mysterious smile appeared on Senior Sister Mai's face as she stood on her tiptoes and took the initiative to give Uesugi Muneyuki a hot kiss.

"This is a little reward~"

(End of chapter)