Chapter 648 Train Encounter (3k)
The blue sky was dotted with leisurely white clouds, and a mild morning sun hung at the corner of the sky. Bathed in its light, Gugu birds flapped their wings excitedly. Suddenly, the wailing whistle of a train sounded from afar.
A long iron dragon shuttled forward. In the rear carriage of the dragon, a petite figure leaned against the window, fiddling with magic crystals between her fingers, a look of distress on her face.
“Eat, all of you, eat. All of you, ascend to the Initial Stage Battle King level.”
Finally, seeming to grit her teeth, she threw the magic crystals into the shadowy corner of the wall, like feeding small pets. Any ordinary passerby would have surely thought her insane.
However, the moment the magic crystals fell, they made no sound, slowly merging into the shadowy mass on the ground.
E Huo sat opposite Su Jiu, munching on a bag of cucumber-flavored chips. Occasionally, when Su Jiu wasn’t paying attention, he’d sneakily toss a chip into the shadowy mass, causing it to jolt and extend a hand to throw the chip aside.
The train continued to rumble. Su Jiu fed approximately 12 Intermediate Magic Crystals and about 40 Initial Stage Magic Crystals, essentially nourishing the eight shadow guards to around the Initial Stage Battle King level. If commanded, they could form a small force capable of shaking the world.
After feeding the shadow guards, Su Jiu fed eighty percent of the remaining magic crystals to General Feng. Only by upgrading him to the War God Level could he provide substantial assistance.
However, despite her efforts, after raising him to the Demigod Level, feeding him Intermediate Magic Crystals proved futile; something was missing.
Just as Su Jiu’s magic crystals were almost depleted, the gourd on the table subtly shook, and Ibaraki’s voice emanated from within, hissing and chuckling:
“He needs high-rank War God magic crystals as a foundation to break through to War God. Without the residual aura of rules, one cannot reach the War God Level.”
“What are you laughing at? Believe it or not, I’ll throw you out.”
Hearing this, Su Jiu’s dead fish eyes widened. This mischievous being deliberately waited until she had used up her magic crystals before speaking, purely to mock her.
With that, she pretended to pick up the gourd, making as if she would release him to be thrown outside.
Seemingly sensing that Su Jiu was not joking, Ibaraki immediately stopped his taunts. His form shifted into a wisp of black mist, appearing in the seat opposite her. Changing his tone, he chuckled, “Don’t be upset, Ms. Su. Why don’t you let me take a look at that map and see whose tomb it is…”
“I thought you weren’t afraid of anything.”
Hearing Ibaraki’s feigned submission, Su Jiu rolled her eyes. She also took out the map and casually tossed it towards him – the scroll etched with the map.
“I still want to live.”
He gave a dry chuckle, received the map, and his mental power permeated it. After a brief sensing, he narrowed his eyes and said gravely, “Judging by the patterns, there should be three treasures left. Excluding the one from the Yamagata family, I don’t recall the location of that Daimyo’s treasure in Osaka. As for this location in Tokyo…”
He suddenly fell silent. After a moment, he looked up to meet Su Jiu’s gaze and suddenly chuckled, “It should be an old acquaintance. He buried many treasures, but the entrance is guarded by various alchemy arrays, making it difficult for ordinary people to find.”
Su Jiu, hearing his abrupt words and looking at his smiling face, understood he wanted to strike a deal with her. Her face twitched as she asked,
“What do you want? Didn’t I already agree to take you to Kobe?”
“I want to buy something in Tottori. If Ms. Su buys it for me, I’ll tell you.”
Ibaraki straightened the bow tie around his neck. His youthful face wore a sly smile, his gaze fixed on Su Jiu, seemingly unconcerned about her refusal.
“Buy what? I don’t have that much money to buy you anything to extend your life.”
Upon hearing his request, Su Jiu’s small face immediately became wary. This Ibaraki Douji was very cunning and could easily trick her. If it was something unreasonable, she should dismiss it as soon as possible.
“Something very important, but very cheap. Only that can open the sealed array entrance.”
No longer meeting Su Jiu’s gaze, Ibaraki turned to look outside, as if lost in thought. His crimson eyes slightly reflected a hint of nostalgia on the glass window. * * *
Just as Su Jiu raised her eyebrows and was about to ask again, a knock came from outside the compartment door, followed by a rather serious voice:
“Passengers inside, please come out for an inspection. We are the Onmyoji stationed on the train. A large number of ghosts have disappeared in the vicinity of Fukuoka, and higher authorities suspect they have possessed humans and escaped.”
“Wait!”
Exchanging a glance with Ibaraki, Su Jiu’s mouth twitched. She casually collected him and the shadow guards on the ground, ensuring there were no major issues in the room, and then opened the door.
“Sirs, is there something you need?”
Su Jiu tilted her head, hands behind her back, putting on an innocent expression, feigning ignorance of what they were talking about.
Before her stood three Onmyoji soldiers, one man and two women. The burly man leading them was a strong individual at the Battle King level.
“This…” The burly Onmyoji sized Su Jiu up, his brows furrowing slightly. Did a normal person really wear a shrine maiden outfit when going out?
But he didn’t dwell on it. From another Onmyoji, he took a device resembling a blood pressure monitor and held it in his hand. “Miss Shrine Maiden, we need to use this instrument to check your mental power.”
“This…”
Upon hearing they wanted to check her mental power, Su Jiu was stunned. If they wanted to check her strength, she could perhaps bluff her way through, but checking her mental power was a joke, wasn’t it?
The peculiar instrument would probably explode upon testing her, but she couldn’t expose her identity. After all, the ghosts had disappeared, and she had also disappeared. There was a small chance they would trace it back to her.
“Wearing a shrine maiden’s attire, occupying an entire compartment by herself, she looks suspicious no matter how you look at it.”
Just as Su Jiu finished explaining, the female Onmyoji beside the burly man stepped forward slightly, unceremoniously grabbed Su Jiu’s wrist, and placed her hand on the mental pressure gauge.
Su Jiu could only resignedly allow the measurement. With a Battle King and two High-Rank Battle Generals present, hypnosis wouldn’t work.
The numbers on the instrument rose wildly, faster than a water gun, finally stopping at the instrument’s maximum reading: “9999 High-Rank Battle King,” and then became quiet, with sounds of gulping echoing around.
The female Onmyoji who was still holding Su Jiu’s arm quietly released it. A look of fear washed over her face as she stumbled back a few steps, pointing at Su Jiu and saying with a dry throat, “You, you’ve been possessed?”
“I… am not a monster.”
Su Jiu’s mouth opened and closed. What was this situation? She found herself in a dilemma: either expose her identity or make a swift escape.
As the female Onmyoji spoke, the burly Onmyoji pressed an alarm on his chest and immediately drew a spear as a weapon, holding it firmly in front of him, and said in a deep voice,
“Monster! I have notified headquarters. You had better surrender quickly if you still want to live.”
Seeing the reactions of the people before her, Su Jiu sighed. Weighing the pros and cons, she used another identity, took out the Adventurer King medal from her waist, and tossed it over, saying helplessly,
“This is an adventurer’s medal. I was just invited to exterminate demons during the Fukuoka Demon Extermination Day.”
“Adventurer?”
Upon hearing this, the burly Onmyoji showed a flicker of surprise. He took the medal, examined it briefly, and found it to indeed be the Adventurer King’s medal.
“This is the Adventurer King’s medal, earned by completing many difficult missions?”
His face immediately turned purple, probably from embarrassment. He hurriedly returned the medal, then grabbed the woman behind him and bowed to Su Jiu, apologizing,
“Miss, my apologies for my rashness…”
“It’s just doing my job, I understand your work.”
Su Jiu waved her hand, instead offering some desserts from the table to the three Onmyoji, and then slowly closed the door. She picked up her phone to check for any powerful resources in Tottori. The first thing that caught her eye was:
[Cherry Blossom Country Tottori (Life Hot Search Ranking)]
[Top 1: Staying up late for a cup of sweet wine]
[Top 2: Sakura Crisp! Essential for hot springs]
[Top 3: Century-old Sakura Cookie Shop Recruiting Apprentices]
…
She casually glanced at this entertainment information and scrolled past. She then looked at the Peculiar Items Ranking. Apart from the aged Sakura Crisp, which made her smile, she found nothing else.
“Sakura Crisp that’s been sitting for over a decade is also a peculiar item, huh?”
She pouted and finally set her sights on the [Cherry Blossom Country Tottori (Strange Tales and Travel Ranking)].
However, after a cursory glance, she found no mention of any wicked demons. The most terrifying legend was only something like [Hitotsuki], and as she thought this, her gaze drifted down to the gourd.
What exactly did he want to buy?
…
The three Onmyoji returned to their room, and before their bottoms had even warmed the seats, a ringing phone abruptly sounded from the burly Onmyoji’s pocket. He glanced at the message and quickly answered:
“Lord Kamishiro Yuichi, this is the Onmyoji unit of the Shiratori Express train.”
A faint voice came from the other end: “Did you call the emergency line? Do you have any information about monsters? According to our detection in Fukuoka, the monsters, including [Oni], have disappeared.”
The three looked at each other. The burly Onmyoji scratched his head and said somewhat apologetically,
“It was a misunderstanding. We measured an adventurer whose mental power reached the High-Rank Battle King level and couldn’t react in time, mistaking her, who was going to support Fukuoka, for a monster.”
“Those adventurers can’t wait to stay at the guild and wait for government rewards, why would they leave early? Besides, it seems there are no High-Rank Battle Kings in the guild…”
The person on the other end didn’t hang up immediately but mumbled twice before asking in a low voice, “Did she have any distinguishing features?”
The burly Onmyoji paused and quickly replied, “Red and white shrine maiden robe, and she wasn’t very tall, very beautiful.”
“Red and white shrine maiden robe… Is it that Swordsman? Why did she leave in such a hurry?”
The person on the other end seemed to recall something and kept muttering, trying to piece together the clues. As the leader of the Onmyoji faction, his presence here was naturally due to family reasons…
“Could the disappearance of those monsters and [Oni] be related to her?”
