Beside him, Think was giggling. She was amused by the effect of Taiko's sudden remark. Sū ěr had indeed been plunged into an awkward situation by the boy's words.
He looked at Taiko, who was still waiting with an expectant expression, but Sū ěr remained silent for a long time. Think casually summoned a spoon from the table and tossed it, hitting Taiko on the head with a crisp clink.
"No, Sū ěr is different." Meeting the boy's confused gaze, Think crossed her arms and said, "He is a human who belongs only to me. You can think of him as a yokai whose name is 'Human'... do you understand that?"
To be honest, Taiko likely didn't understand, but under Think piercing gaze, he nodded obediently.
"Alright, eat up. After you're done, take these dishes back to your mother. I only wanted a taste anyway," Sū ěr sighed, adding a piece of meat to Taiko's bowl.
"Yes, thank you, Sir!"
The dining table grew somber for a while. Though he was shoveling rice into his mouth, Taiko's unfocused eyes showed the child was still thinking deeply.
He was even sensible enough to help Sū ěr wash the dishes and clean the room before leaving with the food. Taiko was gone, but his words seemed to linger in the room.
'A yokai named Human?'
Sū ěr relaxed his limbs, letting them hang off the chair. He leaned back and stared blankly at the ceiling, his eyes hollow, chewing over the words Think had just said.
He no longer knew what he was.
Separated from all things in the world by a barrier—was this feeling loneliness?
...I really want to live in a modern city...
She seemed to be answering Taiko's question, but in reality, Think had only glossed over it.
No matter what he said or how he masked it, Sū ěr inner answer was always the same. Like a universal truth, it wouldn't change because of circumstances or people; it was just there.
The only thing perhaps slightly softer than that truth was this string of Magatama [gōu yù].
"That's it, I can't take it anymore."
With those words, the Magatama was tossed aside. However, it didn't fall from the sky; Think reached out and caught it.
Don't misunderstand—they weren't doing anything "beneficial for physical and mental health." They were following their initial strategy: pouring the vast spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the Yasakani no Magatama [Bā chǐ qióng gōu yù]. The results were significant—presumably. One of the beads had now turned a jade color, identical to the uncorrupted body of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and was emitting a faint glow.
The price was that Sū ěr was now exhausted, looking like a dead dog.
If the "correct and easy" way to purify the Magatama—which they currently didn't know—was like using a key to open a lock, then what Sū ěr was doing was using an axe to hack the door down. While both led inside, Sū ěr method was incredibly time-consuming and labor-intensive.
The pitch-black Magatama was essentially on the level of a bulletproof steel door. The progress of purifying just one bead was something no other god or yokai could have achieved—he had spent over a year blasting it with massive amounts of spiritual energy every night.
It was almost like a job. Sū ěr suspected he had never been this diligent at his actual job before he crossed over.
With one bead purified, the Yasakani no Magatama showed more unusual movements. When pointed toward the full moon, it had a clear jumping reaction, constantly trying to fly out of Sū ěr hand... but that was the extent of it.
To be honest, the frustration was immense—so much so that Sū ěr wanted to throw it away just to have it out of his sight.
"Pfft, first time I've seen you act like a child. Being this impatient won't do, you know?" Think floated down beside Sū ěr, who was lying spread-eagled in the air. She placed the Magatama back on him and said with a smile, "If you find this boring, it'll be hard to adapt to a long life~"
For a moment, Sū ěr actually felt a maternal glow from this Imanity [Sēn jīng zhǒng]. She was like a parent teaching her child how to better survive the path of longevity.
Indeed, when it came to living long and being old, she had much more experience. Sū ěr was just a novice who had just started... Okay, that's enough about age.
"It's so annoying. I just want to go to the moon and take a look. Why do I have to collect key items like it's a game?" Sū ěr complained incessantly. "Can't I just jump up there?"
"For this world, the other side of that Heavenly River [Tiān hé] is already outside the world. Your ability, fundamentally, is to drive the world around you—it's not much different from a cheat code. But things outside this world are absolutely impossible for you."
"The world has its limits," Think shrugged and continued. "Your ability dictates that you can only operate within the rules it allows, unless you can break or distort its rules. In that case, it might be pos—hm?"
Think words stopped suddenly. Sū ěr also looked up. They stared at each other, eyes wide. Without needing to speak, they both knew who the other was thinking of.
"Speaking of distorting and rebuilding rules, we seem to have forgotten that person, haven't we?"
"Yeah, that person... we really shouldn't have. Is this the 'darkness beneath the lamp'?"
"It was our oversight... so?"
"Let's go."
"Mhm~"
Sū ěr small house. Three cups of clear tea, a plate of snacks. Two incense burners lit on either side. The rising smoke filled the room with a sense of peace.
"...Setting aside the reason, being invited by you in such a grand manner truly makes this lowly yokai feel a bit overwhelmed?" Looking at the man before her, who was watching her with a Zen-like smile, Yakumo Yukari [Bā yún zǐ] couldn't help but take a deep breath, her mouth twitching.
Is it a hallucination? Why did she see a hint of... eagerness in that Zen smile?
"Miss Ya..."
"...Just call me Yakumo. Or Yukari."
"Alright, Yakumo then." With a snap of his fingers, Sū ěr ignored Yakumo Yukari wariness and refilled her empty teacup. "Don't be a stranger. Drink, drink, drink."
In silence, Yakumo Yukari reached out for the fourth time and drained the scalding water in the teacup. She then placed the cup back down. She appeared elegant and composed, but only the loud clack of the cup hitting the table proved how unsettled the female yokai's heart truly was.