"This ’Buddha’s Radiant Light’ Attribute is pretty good, I like it a lot. But ’Blood Tears Curse Binding’... it’s a little evil. I..." Jiang Cai’Er frowned, her words trailing off.

Li Xiang was a bit awkward. "You don’t like it? It might be a little evil and insidious, but its power is impressive. It’s a Saint Tier Item, after all."

Jiang Cai’Er giggled. "I love it even more!"

Li Xiang nearly fainted.

Jiang Cai’Er pinched him and joked, "I’ve always wanted to learn the Gu Technique from the Miao Village, but I found out I couldn’t. This enhanced version of Black Magic is perfect. If you dare to fool around on me, I’ll turn you into a stone statue!"

Li Xiang protested, "When have I ever fooled around?"

"Hmph. It’s definitely not just three or four. I’m guessing it’s more like seven or eight. You’re not just fooling around a bit, you’re fooling around a lot."

"Hey, no way," Li Xiang flatly denied it, though internally he did a quick, serious calculation. ’There are only five in total, where did she get seven or eight from?’

"Look how scared you are. With all the treasures you have on you, this little necklace probably couldn’t do anything to you anyway." Jiang Cai’Er rolled her eyes at him and left with the robot dog.

She went back to pack her things.

That afternoon, Li Xiang used the Earth Escape Technique to take Jiang Cai’Er to school.

Ever since acquiring his Divine Techniques, he had grown to dislike driving. It was slow and boring.

...

「Japan, Mount Fuji, Hot Spring Town.」

In the middle of the night, the private baths at Snow’s Inn were brightly lit. Under the eaves, twelve Bronze Wind Chimes tinkled sharply in the raging blizzard.

The skies had cleared in Sichuan Province, but heavy snow was still falling around Mount Fuji.

Chiba Yuki, dressed in an ink-dyed kimono, knelt behind the Sandalwood counter, her slender fingers tapping at a calculator as she checked the day’s accounts.

Three young waitresses were using long-handled cypress ladles to serve sake to the last group of guests, while two middle-aged kitchen helpers in the back sliced matsutake mushrooms into paper-thin slivers.

Previously, Snow’s Inn had no employees; Chiba Yuki managed it all by herself. But ever since her Shikigami, Aoi Monshou, began keeping the peace, and with no evil old man to hold her back or cause trouble, business had been booming. She had since hired five employees: three young women and two middle-aged women.

But as the saying goes, a widow’s gate attracts much trouble, especially for one as beautiful as Chiba Yuki. However, with Aoi Monshou to protect her and her master, Li Xiang, ready to provide support at a moment’s notice, Chiba Yuki was fearless.

Suddenly, a drunken uproar erupted from the direction of the hot spring pools. Chiba Yuki couldn’t help but frown and look up, her kimono sleeve slipping down to reveal a glimpse of her pale, slender wrist.

"Proprietress—two more carafes of Juyondai!" a drunkard shouted, pulling open the collar of his yukata. His greasy hand shot out and grabbed the ankle of a passing waitress.

The waitress cried out in alarm and tried to struggle, but his hand was like an iron vise.

Up in the rafters, the Shikigami Aoi Monshou materialized. The beautiful, one-eyed nun opened her single eye, her face a mask of frost. The giant Wooden Fish in her palm flew out silently, hovering three inches above the drunkard’s head.

With a light tap of Chiba Yuki’s fingers on the counter, the Wooden Fish slammed down. The drunkard’s wild laughter cut off abruptly as he was smashed to the bottom of the hot spring pool. A few wisps of blood rose to the surface amidst the gurgling bubbles.

"We’re closing for the night," Chiba Yuki said, smoothing her flowing sleeves as she stood. Aoi Monshou transformed into a thirty-foot-tall Illusion that loomed over the courtyard.

The five other troublemakers scrambled out the main gate, leaving a trail of crooked, wet footprints in the snow.

The two brawny kitchen helpers came over, deftly fished the unconscious drunkard out of the water, and carried him outside. One of them threw him to the ground, her wooden geta sandal crushing the man’s bruised fingers. "That’s the seventh one. Why don’t these idiots ever learn?"

Rumor had it that the hot spring inn was protected by a guardian spirit. But since the only ones working there were "defenseless women," the local thugs refused to believe it and couldn’t stop themselves from trying their luck.

Chiba Yuki sighed softly and went to comfort her two daughters.

Inside the bedroom, a night light cast a warm yellow glow on the paper screen doors. Chiba Yuki softly hummed a lullaby. After her two daughters had fallen asleep, she knelt on a brocade cushion, her fingertips tracing the features of the man in a portrait.

She had painted the portrait of Li Xiang herself and mounted it in a cypress frame. The man in the painting was handsome, with sharp brows and bright, piercing eyes. Chiba Yuki couldn’t help but gaze at it, mesmerized.

"Mama’s looking at Godfather again," Asatsuyu whispered to her sister, Yukigiri. She had peeked out from under the covers on the tatami mat next to them.

"It’s late. Go to sleep," Chiba Yuki said, turning around. She put on a stern face, but kept her voice to a whisper.

The two girls immediately pretended to be asleep again, their breathing becoming deep and even.

But they were only little girls, and before long, their pretense gave way to genuine sleep.

Chiba Yuki went over to tuck them in. Then, she stepped out onto the veranda to begin her Cultivation, practicing the Breathing Technique Li Xiang had taught her, supplemented with specific Body Techniques.

Her figure was enchanting, her postures alluring. The beautiful nun, Aoi Monshou, flickered in and out of view nearby, standing guard over her.

Wisps of white sandalwood smoke rose from a celadon incense burner. In the hazy mist, faint golden veins of Spiritual Power materialized just below Chiba Yuki’s collarbones.

Her progress with the Breathing Technique Li Xiang had taught her was remarkably fast. He had given her a completely new life.

Her two daughters had also begun to generate Spiritual Power and were not far from forming their first Spiritual Power Vortex. Their cultivation was slower, mainly because they were still so young, only five years old.

Suddenly, Aoi Monshou sent her a warning. A vision appeared in her mind: deep underground, a group of mysterious figures in black were performing a blood sacrifice. Dozens of young women’s bodies lay on an altar, their blood flowing along specific channels.

The black-robed figures wore the insignia of the Mitsui Conglomerate.

’These are the remnants of the Mitsui Conglomerate,’ Chiba Yuki realized instantly.

Aoi Monshou’s voice echoed in her mind: "They are using a blood sacrifice to awaken the Earth Vein Snake Bone deep beneath Mount Fuji, a relic formed from the condensed resentment of the slumbering Orochi. The Eight-headed Remnant Soul will come for revenge."

Chiba Yuki was horrified. "Master annihilated the Mitsui Conglomerate. This Eight-headed Remnant Soul... it won’t just destroy me and my daughters, it will probably come after Master for revenge, too."

As a native of Japan, she held a bone-deep fear of Orochi. It was not a being she could ever hope to face.

Despite the late hour, Chiba Yuki grabbed her phone and immediately called Li Xiang.

Li Xiang was sound asleep when his phone rang. He picked it up and saw an international call from Chiba Yuki. ’What’s she calling me for so late at night?’ he wondered.

The call connected, and Chiba Yuki’s panicked voice came through. "Master, something is happening beneath Mount Fuji..."

She quickly explained what was happening.

Li Xiang couldn’t help but sneer. "A centipede may die, but it never falls down, huh? Looks like I didn’t do a thorough enough job last time."

It was like a tumor removal surgery. You think you’ve removed all the cancerous tissue, only to find out some remnants were left behind, leading to a resurgence and metastasis.

This called for a second operation.

"Don’t panic. I’ll be there in an hour. If something happens, just hold on." The Giant Whale Saint Armor materialized over Li Xiang’s body, a one-second transformation. He stepped onto his balcony, and with a faint sonic boom, his figure shot eastward.

In the backyard, the Little Fox and Er Huang poked their heads out of the doghouse to look around, but Li Xiang was already long gone.

Still, Li Xiang felt he was too slow.

His home was over three thousand kilometers from Mount Fuji. At a cruising speed of Mach 2.8, it really would take him about an hour.

Even if he pushed himself to his Extreme Speed of Mach 5.5, he could only maintain it for seven or eight minutes before needing to rest, so the trip would still take over forty minutes.

’Looks like I need to get even faster,’ Li Xiang thought. He always suffered from a fear of insufficient firepower (or in this case, speed), but unfortunately, he didn’t have enough Achievement Points at the moment.

「About half an hour later.」

The blood sacrifice was complete.

Ten minutes later, at Snow’s Inn, the ground began to tremble faintly.

Aoi Monshou’s green monastic robes billowed as golden scripture-talismans shimmered into view on her elegant neck. "Something is moving underground... The Snake Bone of Orochi’s remnant soul is about to arrive!"

Chiba Asatsuyu and Chiba Yukigiri were startled awake. The panicked twins, their Twin Gouyu, clutched a pink rabbit doll as they crawled to their mother’s side.

"Don’t be afraid. Mama will protect you. Once your godfather gets here, we’ll be safe." Chiba Yuki hugged her daughters comfortingly. At the same time, the incomparably beautiful and graceful nun, Aoi Monshou, had already flown outside.

The Shikigami’s single eye was wide open, its pupil glowing with an eerie blue light, while its other eye was covered by a black lace eyepatch. The Wooden Fish in its palm transformed into a barrier of green light, enveloping the entire inn.

The two middle-aged kitchen helpers and the three young waitresses were trembling with fear, hiding in their rooms and not daring to come out.