Chapter 688: Inari God (3.5k)
Facing the old man’s reprimand, the students exchanged glances but didn’t make any significant moves, clearly waiting for the leader to arrive before sorting things out.
“Who is this… Jin Yang Park?”
A moment later, a youth wearing a white coat and a priest approached. Su Jiu focused her gaze and noticed that the youth’s hand was bandaged, and his identity was somewhat discernible from his face.
“Everyone, we are here to survey the area as requested by the Sakura government…”
After a quick scan of the town residents, Jin Yang Park slightly frowned but still managed a smile. He pulled out several boxes of banknotes from his ring, placed them between the two groups, and bowed slightly.
“There’s one million US dollars here. We wish to purchase the usage rights of that land. If possible, we hope you will agree.”
After speaking, he gestured with his eyes for the students to show their work permits and student IDs to the town residents.
…
“Old town chief, why don’t we just sell it?”
“Yeah, yeah! Isn’t Inari God also hoping we will be prosperous and not suffer from hunger?”
“They were sent by the country to survey.”
Jin Yang Park’s actions made many young town residents’ eyes light up. They began to discuss in low voices, knowing that this amount of money was something these few plots of land couldn’t earn in decades.
The old man’s brow remained tightly furrowed, showing a bit of struggle…
Meanwhile, Su Jiu and another person hid in the crowd. Lin leaned closer to Su Jiu, whispered into his ear, and said in a voice only they could hear, “I can feel the gaze intensifying. Something is warning me to leave.”
Su Jiu was slightly stunned and asked in a low voice, “Can you feel that thing’s strength?”
“It’s higher than mine, but it shouldn’t be by much. Within the Intermediate Battle King range, and it’s right here in this sea of sunflowers…”
Lin’s gaze swept towards the sunflower forest, her light purple eyes showing a hint of seriousness, as if trying to see through the layers of golden ocean to the unknown entity watching her.
“It wants to confuse me and make itself seem powerful, but its mental power is not as good as mine now. While it’s deterring me, I’ve managed to counter-scout it.”
“I didn’t expect you to be quite so useful.”
Su Jiu immediately looked at Little Foolbird with newfound respect, teasingly. She recalled that the young lady before her was originally an Intermediate Battle King, but now she was acting like a runaway young lady.
“Hehe…”
Lin smiled faintly and was about to retort when the old town chief’s voice sounded from the front. He struck his cane again and said in a deep voice, “No! My ancestors decreed that the sunflower field must never be sold easily.”
Seeing the stubborn old town chief, Jin Yang Park’s expression darkened slightly. However, he pulled out a few more boxes of money from his ring and shouted, “Another million. As long as you’re willing to sell us the land in that specific area for a few days, we can discuss anything…”
However, he was met with an even colder voice: “No! If you have nothing else, please leave quickly.”
“Let’s talk properly, don’t bring out the hoes…”
As the old town chief’s scolding rang out, the able-bodied young men holding hoes and picks had no choice but to raise their weapons and drive them away. The students, being at an age where they were easily provoked, couldn’t tolerate such treatment and also pushed forward.
In the blink of an eye, the two groups were fighting. The students, afraid of being imprisoned in a foreign country, didn’t dare to use too much force. With one side gaining momentum, the two sides found themselves in a stalemate.
But everything seemed to be maintained deliberately. The students didn’t retreat, nor did they start fighting in earnest…
“Something’s wrong… Seoul University students are far more than these, and Mr. Ran Hua, who was supposed to be here, is nowhere to be seen. He must have snuck in.”
Looking at the crowd that resembled a gang fight, Su Jiu felt a sense of amusement and helplessness. But she quickly thought of something and muttered to herself, “Luring the tiger away.”
Lin tilted her head and pointed to the sea of sunflowers, “Shall we go in and take a look?”
“Let’s follow the river and see what’s going on inside.”
Su Jiu glanced at the town residents, then grabbed Lin and darted into the sea of sunflowers, moving so fast that they were almost invisible.
Soon, the two were completely submerged in the specially cultivated sunflower forest. These sunflowers were tall, reaching almost to their chests and emitting a peculiar fragrance.
The two crossed the sunflower forest and headed straight for the river in the center. When they reached the river, Su Jiu bent down to look and found many crimson freshwater crabs and red demon shrimp in the water.
She then turned her head again and looked upstream along the riverbank, saying softly, “It seems the upstream direction is where we will find our answers.”
“Mm.”
After responding, Lin calmly stepped forward and patted Su Jiu’s head, who was hunched over. With her other hand, she secretly raised her phone and made a V sign, taking a photo.
Caption: Subservient Con Artist.
“There’s something on the other side. I can’t sense its aura.”
Unaware of Lin’s actions, Su Jiu’s attention was focused on the sunflower forest on the opposite bank. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and she then took a step forward, using the loquat branch on her lower back to push aside…
“Squeak?”
In sight, a fox with an entirely orange-red body was quietly looking at Su Jiu’s gourd in the front of her waist. In its shimmering eyes, there was no fear, only curiosity.
“Unrated fox?”
Su Jiu’s mouth twitched. She had expected to encounter a powerful demon. Just as she was about to sheathe her sword, an icy arrow shot towards the fox from behind with a chilling aura. At the same time, Lin’s urgent shout suddenly rang out:
“It’s its gaze that’s upon me! Quickly dodge!”
Su Jiu didn’t hesitate for a moment, choosing to trust her completely. With a swift sidestep, she instantly retreated to Lin’s side and looked forward…
“Whoosh!”
She saw the fox suddenly raise its front paw, forming a fiery energy shield in front of it. The moment the ice blade touched the energy shield, it made a “sizzling” sound. The blast of air caused the sunflowers to bend almost to the ground, and even the nearby plants had their leaves scorched yellow.
Several tails suddenly surged behind the red fox, baring their teeth at Lin. Its fur seemed to stand on end, and the girl’s ethereal voice emanated from it:
“Three-headed smelly bird, how dare you step into the fox’s territory!”
“Smelly fox, who are you calling names?”
A cold glint flickered in Lin’s light purple eyes. She was about to nock an arrow, her fingertips gripping it so tightly that they turned slightly pale, clearly gathering her strength.
The red fox calmly looked at her, appraising her from head to toe with a hint of mockery. “You still have a sealed decree on you. If you continue to chatter, dare I say I’ll strip you of your fur and roast you?”
“You!”
Gritting her teeth, Lin desperately wanted to attack, but her cultivation was sealed at the moment…
“Little Lin’er…”
Su Jiu placed a hand on the loquat branch, blocking the incoming waves of energy, and shook her head at Lin. Her gaze shifted to the little fox in front of her, and she explained softly, “We did not intend to enter this place. We just wanted to know the relationship between the red demon shrimp outside and this place?”
“Hand over the token of the Black and White Lord, and the fox can tell you some secrets.” The red fox glanced at Su Jiu and then looked at Lin with disgust. It raised its front paw and said indifferently, “She must leave. I dislike demons with such dark auras.”
“Then you two discuss it.”
Upon hearing this, before Su Jiu could make a decision, Lin took a deep breath, pointed towards the area of the sunflower field, picked a flower, shelled the seeds inside, and walked away slowly while eating them. “I’ll go take a look ahead.”
In the sunlight, her retreating figure had the feeling of an anime protagonist.
Although she disliked the fox, she was not a child who liked to cause trouble and wouldn’t delay Su Jiu’s important matters.
Watching Lin’s retreating back, the red fox nodded with satisfaction. Its gaze moved up to Su Jiu’s pocket, and after a pause, a look of interest appeared on the fox’s face.
“Who do you represent? The Black and White Lord, or Yamata no Orochi?”
“What do you mean, is it this?” … (Yi Ni Ba Ling (Qi)) Yi = Yi
Su Jiu followed its gaze to her pocket, as if realizing something. She took out the blue feather that [Wei] had given her earlier from her pocket and spread it out in her palm.
Absorbing the feather into her palm, the red fox blinked at Su Jiu and asked with some curiosity, “You don’t know what this is?”
“Izanami’s feather.”
Su Jiu responded helplessly. She really didn’t know what it was, but it would be best if the fox in front of her could explain.
“Pfft!”
Upon hearing this, the red fox chuckled. The entire fox rolled over as if hearing a particularly amusing joke. After a moment, it nudged the feather with its front paw and said, “These are Yamata no Orochi’s feathers. Don’t you know it’s a top-tier demon with nine heads, a winged back?”
Hearing this, Su Jiu’s eyes grew slightly grim. She had indeed been tricked by [Wei]. She then recounted her previous encounter with [Wei], not omitting how the other party had contacted her through the gourd.
The red fox continued to paw at the feathers:
“[Wei] is Tamamo-no-Mae, who is close to Gui Jun. During the reckoning, because she did not commit any major crimes, the Yin God merely stripped her of her physical body.”
“And those monster snakes come from a [ghost] named [Sheqi]. He is a general of the Ghost King Yamata no Orochi. They were suppressed together not far from the relic. It is likely that their seal was broken by Tamamo-no-Mae.”
“They might be trying to take this opportunity to awaken the consciousness of the great serpent within the armor and start another era of Hyakki Yagyo.”
Upon receiving this answer, Su Jiu was not surprised and continued to ask, “And who might you be?”
“Didn’t you mention the fox’s name? Humans like to call foxes – [Inari God], an envoy who travels and guards the human world for Amaterasu Oomikami.”
With a slight smile, the red fox slowly transformed into human form amidst a ball of red flames. It had fox ears like Tail, long hair, a red and white kimono, and a white rope knot tied behind it. Without any makeup, its eyebrows and eyes seemed to burn with a flame.
“Are you going to intervene? If Yamata no Orochi’s torso and bones return to the human world, it will definitely cause chaos.”
Su Jiu stared blankly at the former. She never expected to meet a true divine messenger here. Although not Izanami’s, it was the Amaterasu messenger she had hoped for.
She shook her head slightly. The Inari God showed a hint of loneliness on her face. She raised her hand, looked at the sky through her fingers, and said softly, “With the disappearance of the great god, the fox’s strength has also worn down to less than one-tenth of its original power over time. There are also shackles that prevent me from attacking humans, otherwise, I wouldn’t be hiding here, guarding a pure land.”
“Then I won’t participate in this trip?” Su Jiu asked, looking at the kimono-clad girl before her.
Since there were no rewards, it was unnecessary for her, a mere Intermediate Battle King, to interfere in the high-level battles of Sakura.
“Don’t you want the reward from the Shadow Dragon King?”
The Inari God looked at Su Jiu, still with a faint smile on her face. She couldn’t quite see through the girl before her. Although she was only an Intermediate Battle King, she gave her a sense of danger.
Su Jiu was slightly stunned and retorted, “Do you have it?”
The Inari God slowly lowered her hand, looking at Su Jiu with a smile, as if the fox’s true nature had completely revealed itself.
“It’s in the ruins, and it’s restricting the berserk will on the armor. It’s a scale from the Shadow Dragon King’s heart-protecting armor. As long as the armor is destroyed, it can be easily retrieved.”
“It’s too dangerous. Not to mention the armor is difficult to destroy, and you still have to face [Tail]. I won’t take the risk.” Su Jiu shook her head, immediately refusing the request.
She knew her limits and what was most suitable for her strength.
“Don’t refuse so quickly. In the fox temple, there is still a tail feather of Amaterasu, which is the second insurance left by the great god. As long as you press the tail feather onto it, the armor can be destroyed.”
The Inari God smiled and pointed at Su Jiu’s gourd, her eyes narrowing slightly, and she said softly, “Moreover, the fox can hide inside the gourd and go in with you…”
This time, Su Jiu did not rush to refuse. After all, with insurance and trump cards, agreeing seemed not too much of a loss…
As she was contemplating, bursts of black smoke surged in the sky from afar. The Inari God looked up abruptly, her expression becoming extremely unsightly.
“Someone is destroying the fox temple?! It’s those outsiders from before…”
