116 Calamity Shifts to the East Sea

Days passed, and life in the Luo household remained calm and tranquil. Aside from their cultivation, the young couple would occasionally pack a gift bag of spiritual herbs to visit their martial uncle at the Xiu Bamboo Courtyard, taking the opportunity to spar with Gu Huo. Other times, they would head over to chat with Huang Xuan. Once, they even ran into the glib Emperor Beiyin there, which so infuriated Qin Yue that she dragged Luo Yu home on the spot.

Because Qin Yue insisted on dual cultivation, the gap in their cultivation levels grew smaller and smaller. Eventually, they progressed neck and neck, simultaneously entering the late stage of the Golden Core. By this time, Mao'er, with her Heaven-grade spiritual root, had reached the perfection of the Golden Core and began preparing to form her Nascent Soul.

When Mao'er reached the stage to form her Nascent Soul, Luo Yu and Qin Yue forged a "Golden Essence version of the Heaven-Stealer" artifact. Based on the design of the old Heaven-Stealer, they made minor adjustments, used higher-grade materials, and added a small amount of Nirvana Golden Essence. According to unofficial estimates, it was strong enough to withstand the lightning tribulation of the Void-Refining stage.

When Luo Li underwent her tribulation, the momentum was immense. She sucked in almost all the spiritual energy within the great array; had it not been for the limited capacity of a Nascent Soul, she would have drained the entire array dry.

After Luo Li formed her Nascent Soul, the spiritual energy in the array had thinned by half, regressing to the level it had been when they first discovered it.

Luo Yu and Qin Yue felt immense pressure at this result: if a mere Nascent Soul consumed so many resources, then those who reached the Integration or Mahayana stages were truly not dying in vain.

However, even if it drained spiritual energy, the Nascent Soul had to be formed. A Nascent Soul cultivator has a lifespan of one thousand years; entering the Nascent Soul stage early and growing stronger would make it easier to find a solution to the spiritual energy problem.

Thus, the location for the couple to form their Nascent Souls became an issue. If they did it in their own territory, setting aside the fact that the spiritual energy was only enough for one person, if they drained it all... this was their own turf! No matter how they looked at it, they couldn't bear to—they had better go and wreak havoc elsewhere!

But who should they target? Judging by Luo Li’s tribulation, the clouds had covered the entire array. Such a celestial phenomenon would inevitably be discovered by ordinary people anywhere else, which was far too sensational. If they chose a spot within the cultivation world, any decent place already had an owner, and there was no guarantee others wouldn't come to stop them or drive them away. Even in places where no one cared and the spiritual energy was sufficient, the powerful demonic beasts were terrifying—take, for instance, the boundless Kunlun Realm or the Sahara.

After much deliberation, Luo Yu proposed trying their luck at Penglai. Taishang Laojun had once mentioned that they had intended to go to Penglai, so it must have been a treasure land.

Considering they might encounter high-level survivors in Penglai, the couple prepared their supplies and brought along the newly minted Nascent Soul cultivator, Luo Li, to act as their guardian. On a bright and breezy spring day, the three siblings set off on their journey to the east.

After flying through the clouds all the way to Bohai Bay, they soared over the blue sky and turquoise sea for a week, visiting every small island, yet they failed to find a single suitable spot. Instead, they discovered the magical fluctuations of ruined arrays on several islands already occupied by humans. What did this mean? It could only mean that the legendary Three Immortal Islands had already been ravaged by those surviving cultivators; over thousands of years of changes, they had long since become ordinary human territories.

Luo Yu lay face-down on the clouds in a "big" shape, weeping silently. It was so disillusioning... how could things have turned out this way?

Luo Li’s spirits were entirely unaffected. She suggested with great enthusiasm, "Nihon is so close! Let's go wreak havoc on the Nihon people!"

Luo Yu’s eyes lit up. Japan was anciently known as Dongying, and since it shared a character with "Yingzhou" from the Three Immortal Islands, it surely wouldn't be too bad. He scrambled up and praised, "Good idea! Although the 11th District is a bit small... the yokai legends are quite rich. If there were no spiritual energy, where would all those yokai come from?"

Qin Yue said, "Fine. We'll change course to Japan."

Just then, a rumbling sound approached from afar. Luo Li shaded her eyes with her hand, scanned the sky for a moment, and quickly pointed at a small silver streak, shouting, "A plane! Follow it, follow it! It has Nihon characters on it!"

Qin Yue gave a soft command: "Hold on tight." With a surge of mana, the Kunlun Lan beneath their feet shot off like an arrow from a bow, dragging a long tail as it chased the plane, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

The plane was flying directly from the capital to Narita Airport. Once the three saw land, they stopped their pursuit and chose a relatively remote area to make an illegal landing.

They chose to land on the outskirts of a small town called Chonan in Chiba Prefecture. Even while still in mid-air, the three siblings noticed that Japan’s aura was very strange: the spiritual energy was quite good, generally two or three times higher than that in the mainland; however, this spiritual energy was mixed with yin energy, and the concentration was not much different from that of the Underworld. These two energies were intertwined like a web, inseparable and very unsuitable for leveling up.

Choosing a small, deserted grove, the three siblings put away the Kunlun Lan and stepped onto a quiet forest path.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, dappling the mossy stone path. Occasionally, strange stone carvings could be seen along the roadside, and "torii" gates stood like archways, adorned with fresh shimenawa ropes and paper streamers, with a few crows perched upon them. Behind them, stone steps led up to an unknown shrine, looking quite mysterious in the dim light.

Luo Li examined it curiously for a while and said, "What is worshipped in the shrine above? There are magical fluctuations on the door! Let's go take a look!" She was the first to bounce up the stone steps.

Luo Yu followed his sister, stomping his feet hard on the stone slabs to test the ground's sturdiness. "What is going on? Why is there so much yin energy? Could it be that because there are so many earthquakes, the yin energy of the Underworld is leaking out?"

Qin Yue’s face remained expressionless. "Judging by the territory of the Underworld, your conclusion has a ninety-nine percent accuracy rate."

Luo Yu muttered, "What is that lovesick fool doing? Rome wasn't built in a day, and he certainly never thought of taking measures to improve things, leaving me struggling to level up..."

Qin Yue remained indifferent, her tongue sharp: "A昏君 (dull ruler)."

Luo Li asked, "So what do we do now? Go home?"

Luo Yu was a bit reluctant. "The spiritual energy here is really quite good. Let's look around; what if there's a good spot? If we set up a great array to improve things... and seal out the yin energy, it should still be usable, though it might take a long time. I guess we'll have to find a place to stay for a while."

Thanks to frequently watching Nihon anime, Luo Li and Luo Yu’s Japanese was barely passable, and Qin Yue, through constant exposure, could basically remember anything she heard, so living in Japan for a while was no difficulty.

The three followed the long staircase to the shrine. At the entrance was a purification fountain with a stone water basin and a bamboo ladle resting on it. Beside the basin was a stone-carved wild boar spitting water into the basin with a bubbling sound. In the courtyard stood an ancient tree, also wrapped in shimenawa, with paper streamers stuck into a small patch of grass below; it looked like people came to worship frequently.

Luo Li ran to the worship hall and looked for a long time without figuring out what kind of shrine this was. Unwilling to give up, she reached out with her divine sense to investigate and finally concluded with certainty, "This is a wild boar shrine! There’s a giant wild boar made of tree branches inside!"

Luo Yu was speechless: the islanders really had somewhat heavy tastes!

Qin Yue said, "The host isn't home, but there are plenty of tenants."

Luo Yu nodded. "We also need to find a place to stay, and we need to exchange some yen to pay rent. We can't exchange it here; shall we go to Tokyo?"

Qin Yue replied coolly, "Why go to such trouble?" She then unhooked a bead from her bracelet and flicked it toward the nearby bushes. Strange scuffling sounds immediately erupted from the shadows. Before long, they saw their own fierce ghost baby clutching a paper umbrella in its left hand and dragging two small tanuki (raccoons) in its right, stumbling toward Qin Yue. It threw the "items" on the ground and, in a flash, transformed back into a bead that flew into Qin Yue’s hand.

"Ahhh!!!" The umbrella let out a panicked shriek as it hit the ground. The two little tanuki also dodged left and right, trying to escape, but they found themselves trapped within an invisible barrier. Finally, they had no choice but to tremble and huddle together, staring pitifully at the three.

Luo Yu said in embarrassment, "What are you doing? You scared them!"

Qin Yue wore a cool expression, speaking in broken Japanese: "Money, we... need money. You go... get us money. Otherwise, we will kill you."

As soon as she finished speaking, the crows hiding in the trees watching the scene all shuddered at once and immediately flapped their wings, scattering in all directions.

Luo Li opened her mouth and spat out a hand mirror inlaid with pink gemstones. It cut a brilliant streak of light through the air, flying straight into the sky. The silver magical light blooming from the mirror's face instantly covered the fleeing crows. Their figures halted, as if frozen, and they could no longer fly.

Luo Li gestured to retrieve the hand mirror, and the crows were dragged down as if by a net, fluttering weakly on the ground.

Luo Li was very happy. "Aha, the Reincarnation Mirror is so useful! Brother, don't bully the little tanuki; let these crows go! They like to steal human jewelry, let them take the stolen goods and exchange them for money!"

Qin Yue was stunned: she had forgotten that Mao'er loved watching "Pom Poko," and every time she watched it, she would shout slogans about protecting the tanuki...

Luo Li cast an illusion-based restriction on those crows that would make them "itch all over for three days" and fiercely threatened, "If you don't get money in two hours, you will face the punishment of the Goddess of Light!"

The crows nodded and flew away with tears in their eyes.

Consequently, that day, Japan added a piece of news: several cases of forced trade occurred in Chiba Prefecture. The perpetrators were a group of crows that snatched wallets on the street with jewelry in their beaks, leaving behind jewelry as an exchange afterwards. Citizens were warned to be cautious while shopping. This news led some curious people to hold their wallets out to the crows in the city, eagerly hoping to be robbed, but the crows acted as if nothing had happened, leaving the sensation-seekers very disappointed.

After the three siblings robbed the crows, they decided to learn about the local situation from the paper umbrella and the little tanuki.

Luo Yu asked the umbrella curiously, "Uh, don't be afraid, we won't hurt you... What kind of yokai are you? What is your name?"

The paper umbrella was extremely panicked. "My, my lord, I am a Karakasa. My na, name..." It stammered for a long time, eventually letting out a sob, and began bowing incessantly in a very human-like manner. "Please, my lord, spare me!"

Qin Yue said coldly, "What are you stalling for? Answer when asked."

The Karakasa was on the verge of tears, and the two little tanuki were also trembling with fear.

Luo Yu said awkwardly, "Don't cry, don't cry, I’m just asking for your name, I don't mean anything else~"

The Karakasa sobbed, "Please forgive me, the Karakasa is very stupid and not suitable to be a shikigami for a lord, nor have I ever caused trouble for humans. Please spare me... wuwuwu."

Luo Yu began to reflect: "Shikigami? Uh... I don't have the intention of catching you as a shikigami, don't misunderstand."

The Karakasa stopped crying and said indignantly, "Then... why must you force me to speak my true name?"

Luo Yu was curious. "Eh? Is a name really related to a shikigami? Why can't you say your name?"

The Karakasa was stunned and said blankly, "Aren't you lords Onmyoji here to capture shikigami?"

Luo Li interjected, "We’re just here for tourism, we’re foreigners! There are so many yokai here, and you even live among humans."

The Karakasa said timidly, "I am sorry, so you are foreigners. When Onmyoji catch yokai, they make them surrender their names and use the power of words to bind them as shikigami... I misunderstood you, please forgive me."

Luo Yu said, "It’s fine, this was a misunderstanding of our own making. Uh, where we come from, yokai usually tell each other their names when they first meet."

The Karakasa finally relaxed and said, "I am sorry. Actually, we also have common aliases. I am Sora-kasa, and they are Hanao-Jiro and Hanao-Shiro... We are very good friends."

Having finally cleared up the misunderstanding, Luo Yu asked Sora-kasa a multitude of questions. The two little tanuki were a bit xenophobic; one spoke very little, and the other kept secretly glaring at them without saying a word, likely holding a grudge over Qin Yue’s threat.