As they chatted, the two quickly arrived at the beach north of the Kamisato Estate.
Yae Miko skillfully followed a set procedure and successfully retrieved the subjugation object from there.
Afterward, they continued further north, reaching the base of the northern island reef.
Beneath it, there were also roots of a thunder sakura tree.
However... as soon as they arrived at that spot, they discovered several small Rifthounds had already appeared underground.
Moreover, those Rifthounds were damaging the roots of the thunder sakura tree!
"Are we still too late?" Yae Miko frowned, and her Kitsune's Mask immediately appeared behind her.
Bolts of lightning accurately struck the Rifthounds.
Directly tearing the Rifthounds apart.
But before that, the roots of the thunder sakura tree underground had already sustained some damage from the Rifthounds' claws.
Looking at the damage on the thunder sakura tree's roots, Yuuko asked:
"Will this kind of damage to the thunder sakura tree affect the cleansing ritual?"
Yae Miko's expression was solemn, and she sighed:
"The cleansing ritual is meant to release the accumulated defiled memories from the thunder sakura tree's roots, but now there's additional damage to the roots. If we continue, it will release more of its originally pure memories, which would greatly impact the thunder sakura tree. It would be more trouble than it's worth."
After speaking, Yae Miko let out another heavy sigh:
"For now, we can only pause the cleansing ritual and wait for the thunder sakura tree's roots to repair themselves before continuing. After all that effort, it still has to be stopped..."
Hearing this, Yuuko fell silent. Then, he walked towards the damaged part of the thunder sakura tree's roots.
This action made Yae Miko very surprised: "Mr. Yellow Fox, are you..."
Yuuko didn't respond but continued walking until he reached the damaged part of the thunder sakura tree's roots, looking at the torn opening.
He closed his eyes, reached out, and touched the opening.
Yuuko made this move because he had an inexplicable feeling that he could do so.
A faint light slowly emanated from where Yuuko's palm met the thunder sakura tree's roots.
At the same time, waves of memories that did not originally belong to Yuuko slowly flooded into his mind.
Those memories were very chaotic, not from one person or a specific individual.
Instead, they were fragments of memories from countless things on Narukami Island over countless years.
Of course, because Yuuko's contact with the thunder sakura tree wasn't deep enough, not many memories flooded into his mind.
So these memories wouldn't have any impact on Yuuko.
At most, he just gained some memories of unknown origin and time.
Then, the light at the junction of Yuuko's palm and the thunder sakura tree's roots slowly faded.
And the damaged opening on the thunder sakura tree was also slowly stitching itself up and repairing!
This scene utterly astonished Yae Miko.
She widened her eyes, watching in disbelief as the opening on the thunder sakura tree slowly repaired itself, her eyes filled with shock.
Yae Miko murmured in disbelief:
"Actively repairing the thunder sakura tree, how is this possible...?"
"The thunder sakura tree is connected to the Ley Line..."
Murmuring to this point, Yae Miko suddenly looked as if she had thought of something, and trembled in surprise:
"Could it be...?"
Thinking of this, Yae Miko rested her chin on her hand, her face filled with deep thought.
On the other side, after repairing the wound on the thunder sakura tree's roots, Yuuko gently exhaled and whispered:
"Sure enough, I can promote the self-repair of trees connected to the Ley Line, can't I?"
Afterward, Yuuko shook his head, turned around, and walked towards Yae Miko:
"The thunder sakura tree has been repaired, we can proceed with the cleansing... Hmm? What's that expression on your face?"
Before he could finish speaking, Yuuko noticed the strange expression on Yae Miko's face.
"Nothing." Yae Miko shook her head. "I just realized that Mr. Yellow Fox has so many aspects I don't know about, so I'm just a little emotional."
"Is that so?" Yuuko said:
"Without further ado, let's proceed with the cleansing ritual quickly. If we don't hurry, the thunder sakura tree roots in other places might also be attacked by monsters. You can focus on presiding over the ritual, and I'll keep watch to prevent any monsters from disturbing you."
However, Yae Miko remained silent for a long time, finally showing a meaningful expression and saying:
"Mr. Yellow Fox, although I know this might not be ideal, and I shouldn't entrust shrine matters to outsiders, I still want... to ask Mr. Yellow Fox to perform the cleansing ritual."
"Me?" Yuuko raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Yae Miko smiled and explained:
"Because I believe Mr. Yellow Fox should also be able to complete the cleansing ritual independently, and time is of the essence right now."
"The other thunder sakura tree roots might be under attack by monsters. If we can split up and perform the cleansing ritual simultaneously, it would be relatively better."
Hearing this, Yuuko pondered for a while, feeling that there was nothing wrong with her reasoning, so he nodded:
"Then I'll try."
Yae Miko regained her serious expression and said, "Then follow my instructions, Mr. Yellow Fox."
Afterward, under Yae Miko's guidance, Yuuko placed the subjugation object required for the cleansing ritual.
He then solved an extremely boring puzzle.
And successfully unlocked the barrier of the thunder sakura tree's roots.
Once the barrier was unlocked, just like last time, the thunder sakura tree's roots emitted a strong black aura.
These black auras then condensed into an armored samurai.
Yae Miko explained:
"This is a body formed by the defiled memories accumulated by the thunder sakura tree's roots over the years. Disperse him, and the cleansing will be complete."
Yuuko nodded, looking at the samurai condensed from the black aura.
He could also sense that it was a very special form, not the form of a complete living creature, but something condensed from various evil memories.
The next instant, Yuuko transformed into a swift shadow, directly flashing past the samurai!
And the samurai's body immediately exploded and dissipated.
An enemy of this caliber couldn't last even half a second against Yuuko!
In the distance, watching Yuuko eliminate the samurai, Yae Miko murmured again:
"Touching that defiled memory entity without suffering any negative effects... Could it be that he can control Ley Line power to some extent...?"
Generally speaking, close contact with such a defiled memory entity.
Would more or less be affected by the evil memories on it, and some defiled memories might even flood into one's mind, influencing them for life.
But Yuuko, clearly, would not be affected by such things.
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