Chapter Eighteen

-Yu Shaohan-

"Ugh, I'm so angry! I should have known better than to apply to come to Kyoto myself! This is so annoying!"

I walked at the back, arms crossed, muttering to myself, "Why? Why am I the only one here? Isn't Kyoto good enough?"

I kicked at the pebbles on the ground, utterly bored. It was so annoying, incredibly annoying. Everything today was particularly frustrating. First and foremost, I was all alone in Kyoto, and then… who was that crazy old man next to me? Why was he staring at me like that?

"He doesn't look like a good person!" I glared at him one last time, then lowered my head and continued kicking the pebbles.

Ah, what's Xiao Lan doing over there now? He must be having a great time with everyone in Tokyo. I wish I hadn't come here. There's no one to talk to here, and I hate being alone... so much loneliness...

I can't stand the loneliness anymore.

My inner turmoil subsided unconsciously, and my gaze involuntarily settled on the familiar figure before me.

Oh dear, what a stroke of luck! After losing Xiao Lan, I never expected to meet such a wonderful person here!

I let out two sly laughs—I was absolutely certain I wasn't mistaken. Although the other person had dyed their hair again, that figure, that furtive figure…

"Where are you going?" Behind me, a white-haired woman with an unusual hairstyle noticed me quicken my pace and asked, "Have you seen the cursed spirit?"

I replied casually, "No, no, just an acquaintance I haven't seen in a long time!"

"An acquaintance?" The other person continued to probe naturally, "Is he also a sorcerer?"

"How could that be?" Of course I noticed that she was trying to trick me into revealing information, but what harm was there in giving her such trivial details? I shrugged. "She's not a sorcerer, and she probably doesn't even know what a sorcerer is... like that."

The white-haired young lady was slightly taken aback: "...A stool?"

"It's a nickname! Her surname is Deng, and in our area, Deng and Stool sound the same, so sometimes we call her Stool. By the way, sometimes we also call her Old Deng or Old Deng—but these nicknames are usually just something Xiao Lan and I call her in private. She has a lot of nicknames, too many to list in a short time."

Okay, okay, that's all I'll reveal! I pursed my lips, quickened my pace, and walked ahead of him, heading straight for that familiar figure. I didn't forget to greet the sorcerers I had left behind: "I ran into someone I know! Excuse me for a moment, I'll go say hello and be back in a bit!"

Everyone should know why I said this.

Yes! My purpose was to tell those sorcerers behind me—this is someone I know, I need to greet and chat with my acquaintance, don't interrupt, all of you turn your attention away, don't eavesdrop on the ladies' conversation! Especially you! That suspicious-looking, withered old man! Take your eyes off me!

In my imagination, after I finished speaking, all the sorcerers—especially the old man—very politely looked away and took several steps back, creating a comfortable environment for me to chat with the stool.

In reality, after I said that, everyone remained frozen in place, as if what I had just said was a complete waste of breath. Even if they weren't staring openly like before, they were still secretly glancing in our direction out of the corner of their eyes. I blinked, realizing for the first time the enormous difference between imagination and reality.

...What is this? Beautiful imagination? Reality is harsh? Do you really want me to point it out? Fine, I'm going to talk to a long-lost friend about some private matters now, and outsiders should step aside. Yes, especially you, that wretched old man, go cool off somewhere else and stop staring at me! Your burning gaze is practically piercing my skin!

I have another very unfortunate thing to tell you all. Perhaps the commotion we made was a bit too loud, because it quickly attracted the attention of the stool. The stool suddenly turned around, glanced at me from a distance, then its pupils dilated, and the next second it immediately turned and ran away.

"...?"

What do you mean? Am I some kind of monster? Why did you turn and run away when you saw me? Pretending you didn't see me?

"Fine, fine." I gritted my teeth angrily—just you wait! Once I find my storage bag, I'll immediately draw a dozen or twenty fire and lightning talismans and slap them all over your face. Didn't you turn and run away as soon as you saw me? Didn't you want to avoid me? Come on, I'll send you on a transmigration, I'll send you into a new, otherworldly realm!

However, in the end, it was the fault of those annoying sorcerers behind us who had such burning gazes! The old man with the withered tree branch was the biggest culprit, no arguments allowed!

I started kicking pebbles again in a huff—after all, with dozens of people staring at me from behind, I couldn't just ignore them and chase after them, could I?

I've only heard some of the bizarre practices in the jutsu world from Etotsu Maki and the others. I have to say, the jutsu world is even more feudal than our cultivation world—which one is the modern society? I'm sure if I dared to chase after them today, I'd be summoned to the higher-ups of the jutsu world for a chat tomorrow!

Well, I'm truly impressed.

I continued following behind the group of sorcerers, my mind finally calming down a bit, and I realized a serious problem—

Wait a minute, how did the stool get here?

I frowned, trying to recall her expression when I bumped into the stool, as well as all the clues around me.

I'm not Xiao Lan, I don't have her amazing nose. But I can still sense whether there are other ghosts around the ghost bride or not—I can only sense them vaguely, because if they are too weak, unless the stool wants us to see them, neither I nor Xiao Lan can see them.

The stool's expression... well, let's just say it's rather arrogant? Hands on hips, an exaggerated smile on its face, laughing loudly at the wall... wait, this should be considered rather arrogant, right?! Why on earth is it having such an arrogant expression?!

And... facing the wall?

I was completely baffled. It seemed that to solve this mystery, I would have to find a stool for her to explain it properly.

It seems good things will happen after coming to Kyoto! I hummed a song as my fingers flew across the phone screen, typing out a series of messages to Xiao Lan.

Call me back if you see this!!!

I even added three exclamation marks to indicate how urgent the matter was.

The message about meeting Deng Xiqi on the streets of Kyoto had been successfully conveyed to Xiao Lan, but she hadn't shown "read" in the chat box yet—she was probably busy right now. I turned off my phone screen, put it back in my pocket, and carefully zipped up my pants pocket.

Just kidding, this is the latest model phone! What if it breaks? What if it breaks again and Gojo Satoru gets angry and decides to buy me an old-fashioned phone that can only make calls and send messages?

Besides, even someone as shameless as me would feel embarrassed to constantly ask the other party for help with purchasing.

"A cursed spirit is here," the strangely-haired lady who had just tricked me into revealing information warned me.

"Oh," I responded instinctively. But when I looked up, I couldn't find the cursed spirit the other person was talking about for a long time.

Perhaps sensing my distrust of the white-haired girl, the boy who had been following her glared at me... Well, should I call that glaring?

“My sister’s spell is Blackbird Manipulation.” He pointed to the crows circling overhead. “It allows her to share the same view as the crows.”

"Wow—" I exclaimed, my mouth agape in disbelief. "That's amazing!"

Shared view! Shared view! I'm sure if those beast-taming fanatics from our sect came, they would kneel around the white-haired lady, hug her legs, and whine and beg her to tell them how they could share their view with their pets (?).

Because my storage bag was taken away, I didn't have many tools for drawing talismans, so I had very few usable ones on me. Especially when facing so many cursed spirits, I chose…

Of the thirty-six stratagems, running away is the best! First, lure all the cursed spirits together, then use a Fire Thunder Talisman—oh, I can't use the Fire Thunder Talisman—then use a Fire Burst Talisman. A Fire Burst Talisman smashes down on the heads of a group of cursed spirits, hehe, game over in no time.

But I'm just thinking about it for now. After all, our forces are still quite strong, and we haven't reached the point where we need a substitute like me. The skinny old man who'd been staring at me just moments ago suddenly pulled out an electric guitar… Holy crap, so trendy!

"Is this also a form of sorcery?"

I incredulously placed my hand on the shoulder of the boy next to the white-haired girl—I now know his name is Youyou: "There are such trendy spells?"

“Of course,” Youyou said. “There are all sorts of spells.”

"No, that's too..." A dry, old man playing an electric guitar? The shock I felt was so great that I'm now stammering and can't even express myself clearly.

Wait a minute! Could this be... the "contrast" that Xiao Lan mentioned to me when we were reading the novel last time?

Youyou's expression gradually became strange as she looked at me.

With the number of cursed spirits increasing, I finally had no time to consider whether the old man's magic was a good match for his charlatanry. Miss Mingming—the one I had been calling the white-haired lady—wielded a large axe and, with fluid, effortless movements, sliced ​​through the cursed spirits before her like watermelons, felling them all to the ground. Her braided pigtails swayed with her movements, revealing a face of unparalleled beauty.

Me: "...Wow."

I have to admit, there are so many beautiful girls here. A lady like Miss Mingming, who is both beautiful and cool, is exactly my type.

I hope that when I grow up, I can become someone like Miss Mingming.