Chapter 695 Chaos Cherry Blossoms (III)
The rain poured down incessantly. Su Jiu held open a black umbrella, looking at the dissipating Fox Girl before her. She wanted to say something, but her voice refused to come out.
As raindrops fell on the Fox Girl, they instantly evaporated into scalding steam with a “sizzle.”
E Huo, transformed from a sword into human form, looked at the figure sitting in the mud. She turned to Su Jiu and asked, “Mama, is Yama’s Hall coming to take this sister away?” She had seen it before, seen the dissipating Ibaraki. The Inari God’s reaction was very similar to the former…
“I don’t know. We’re also preparing to leave.”
Shaking her head, Su Jiu caught a strange sulfurous smell. Then, she heard the sound of skill collisions in the distance. She looked towards the horizon at the Onmyoji fighting monsters. The fiery light flickered in the sky, making it seem as if the human world had turned into hell.
But this was not her concern. Sakura, unlike Aers, had its own powerhouses. This farce would not last long. This was the foundation of an old, powerful nation.
“With this continuous rain, who knows how many crops will be ruined, and they will go hungry…” Unlike Su Jiu’s focus, the Fox Girl lowered her gaze, looking at the crops washed away by the rain. She pressed her small hands into the soil, her voice filled with an inexplicable sadness, like a princess of a fallen nation watching her lands and homes being destroyed piece by piece.
The fox ears drooped, and the girl’s nose felt a bit sore, wanting to cry, but soul bodies had no tear ducts.
“Times have changed. People won’t go hungry anymore. Stronger individuals will come to resolve disasters like this soon.”
Su Jiu replied with a bit of amusement to this somewhat naive yet heart-wrenching comment. She wasn’t from the era of Inari God and Mr. Li Er, so she couldn’t understand the taste of hunger. However, as a teacher in her past life, she had learned about the history before prosperity through texts. It was a bitterness born from the desire for happiness.
“The fox stayed within its small world, unaware of the outside.”
Hearing this, the Inari God looked at Su Jiu with a hint of surprise, then smiled with understanding. She looked up at the dark sky again, raising her hands to hold a handful of wet soil. Her eyes seemed to glimmer with a faint light, and she softly murmured:
“Isn’t this the godless era that Amaterasu God hoped for?”
She paused, a faint smile appearing on her lips, seeming to grow more excited as she spoke: “Perhaps over a decade ago, when I saw those villagers using buzzing Alchemical Artifacts, the fox should have understood that the century-long conflict between Dragons and Ghosts should end. This is now an era of human governance.”
“That little boy would visit the rice paddies every year and tell me about the changes in the outside world. I didn’t understand terms like ‘electronics,’ ‘mobile phones,’ or how ‘air conditioning’ could change the temperature…”
“The outside world is full of dazzling things that I don’t understand. I wanted to go out and see, but I could only stand on tiptoes on that small slope, watching the buildings outside grow taller and taller from afar.”
“My first and last trip away from home.”
The Fox Girl didn’t understand the agricultural machinery. She was like a traveler from an old era. To her, those were Alchemical Artifacts – a symbol of people’s affluence.
Su Jiu listened quietly. She noticed that while the Fox Girl was speaking, her thighs were slowly becoming blurry, like a fading painting – a sign that her soul was about to dissipate.
However, as she remained silent, E Huo suddenly stepped forward a few paces and crouched down, causing her skirt to get a bit muddy. She propped her head on her hand and asked in confusion, “Then why didn’t Miss Fox go to see for herself?”
“There’s no more time. The feathers that maintain my soul have completely exhausted their energy. In less than half a minute, I will completely disappear from this world.”
The Inari God looked at the little girl before her. She smiled slightly, her eyes curved. The other’s soul was very pure, like a blank sheet of paper unsullied by the mundane world. She reached out and touched E Huo’s cheek, her eyes narrowing slightly. As their gazes met, it was as if she were looking at her past self. She said softly:
“Don’t be foolish and get deceived by others. You’ve protected this human world for a century.”
I was also a blank sheet. I heard that they provided food, and that it could prevent people from starving. So, I foolishly followed.
E Huo did not resist, only scratching her head with some curiosity. Her naive face showed a serious expression: “E Huo isn’t foolish…”
“Hoo…”
With a light sigh, the Inari God’s feet had completely disappeared. She cast her final gaze upon Su Jiu, her eyes sweeping over the Crow Feather Attire she wore. She said softly:
“Your clothes… the fox seems to have seen them. Similar, yet not. They belong to a subordinate of the Black-clothed Woman. She had many conversations with Amaterasu God, discussing how to deal with the Great Serpent and Evil Immortals, and helped the people of Sakura…”
“It seems they are called – Night.”
As the words fell, her upper body had already mostly disappeared, leaving only her head sticking out. She still wore a smile, looking rather desolate.
Witnessing this scene, Su Jiu’s mouth opened and closed, but she couldn’t utter a word.
“Without Gods and demons, humans will only live better and better. It’s a pity… the fox will not see that day.”
With a sigh, she cast a final, deep look at the cornfield. As if seeing fields of ripe corn, she suddenly smiled and slowly closed her eyes.
“Although people no longer need the fox, the fox is an Inari God enshrined by the Great God…”
“I shall naturally abide by the eternal watch over the human world!”
The next second, her eyes snapped open. She looked up at the dim sky. The skills Amaterasu God had taught her echoed in her mind. Her red lips parted slightly, and the last ray of afterglow from the setting sun illuminated her body, like the beautiful and warm twilight after the rain…
Her ethereal voice, accompanied by faint singing, echoed in the cornfield. Steam began to fill the air, as if the nearby fire elements were responding to a call, and the dampness and chill gradually receded.
The singing grew softer as the ephemeral energy spread over the Fox Girl’s entire head. Raindrops pierced through her body and fell to the ground. The raindrops disappeared into the soil, one drop, two drops…
The speed began to slow down.
The Fox Girl truly turned into a pile of popcorn, lying flat on the ground, creating an illusion of a Henry-esque curtain call.
“The rain… is lighter?”
Su Jiu sighed. Just as she was about to lead E Huo away, she sensed something and looked up. The sky was still gray, but the rain had indeed become much lighter.
“Mama, so much popcorn!”
While she was still in a daze. E Huo, holding a handful of popcorn, waddled over, her pockets stuffed full. A few kernels occasionally spilled onto the ground, making her look a bit silly.
“?”
Su Jiu looked over. The somewhat suppressed feeling in her heart was dispelled by E Huo, making her laugh. It proved that when people are speechless to a certain extent, they will laugh.
She then patted E Huo’s head helplessly and said leisurely, “Keep this popcorn. It’s not good to eat it. I’ll buy you other delicious food tonight.”
“Okay!”
Upon hearing about other delicious food, E Huo’s eyes lit up. She didn’t choose to eat this special popcorn but carefully held it, afraid of dropping it on the ground.
“Let’s go.”
Turning around, Su Jiu carried Lin on her back and started walking back. E Huo followed behind her. Her right pocket rustled, and a small, furry red paw poked out. It seemed to feel too cold, though, and retracted.
“Is this… a little fox?”
E Huo looked down, put the popcorn into a storage bag, and then her gaze met a small fox head. The fox let out a small yawn, as if it had just woken up…
Looking up at Su Jiu’s retreating back, E Huo made a “shushing” gesture to the little fox and slowed her pace, smiling as she asked, “Little fox, were you brought by that sister? Do you have a name?”
“Squeak squeak?”
The little fox tilted its head, looking as if it didn’t understand.
Rubbing its slightly chubby, baby-like chin, E Huo pondered. She remembered the first time she met Su Jiu and glanced at the remaining popcorn in her pocket. She lightly tapped the little fox’s head with her finger and smiled, saying:
“How about, from now on, your name is [Popcorn]?”
Popcorn blinked its eyes, yawned sleepily, and retreated into E Huo’s pocket, seemingly agreeing to this somewhat peculiar naming convention. Its eyes closed slightly…
Popcorn had a dream. In its dream, it seemed to have become a deity, fulfilling a promise. It had stayed in a small village for a hundred years, watching it slowly become prosperous, build tall buildings, and turn into a town…
…
Walking slowly, as Su Jiu didn’t know the way back to the inn, she, E Huo, and Lin took a hitch ride on the highway about ten kilometers away. Leaning against the car window, supporting her chin with one hand, she watched the increasing number of police cars on the road, realizing that the issue within the armor might not have been resolved.
But this had little to do with her. This trip to Sakura should be drawing to a close.
“Citizens, please do not go out unnecessarily. There are signs of demon invasions in the city, and our Yin-Yang Bureau has begun its investigation… If you encounter a monster, regardless of its strength, you should fight back and call the police.”
The voice of the announcer came from the car’s radio.
“It’s been really chaotic these past few days. Luckily, the weather cleared up today, otherwise it would be difficult to even pick people up.”
The driver was an elderly uncle. He turned on the radio and switched to another channel with a “snap,” then smiled and started talking, appearing quite chatty. Su Jiu replied intermittently: “Aren’t the authorities already handling it? It should be resolved soon, right?”
“Who knows?”
Shaking his head, the uncle lit a cigarette while driving in a straight line. After opening the window, he continued, “For ordinary people like us, how can those War General-level gentlemen empathize with us?”
Su Jiu fell silent, picked up her phone, and started scrolling through it.
The uncle flicked the ash from his cigarette, looked at the sky, and exhaled a ring of blue smoke. He pointed to the Teru Teru Bozu pendant hanging on his car and smiled, saying:
“It’s better to pray to the Teru Teru Bozu. Over the years, whenever there was heavy rain like this in spring, I would hang it outside the window for my daughter, and the rain would always stop the next morning.”
“It’s just that for the past two or three years, it hasn’t been very effective. The rain takes a long time to stop, and I’ve had to drive half a month less… I wonder if the Gods have abandoned ordinary people like us to protect those War General lords.”
Hearing this, Su Jiu felt a lump in her throat. She opened her mouth, but didn’t know what to say, only able to sigh. She wanted to say that the Gods were present, but the Gods were no longer there.
