"Has this little guy become attached to you?"

Aoandon gently landed in front of the fox spirit. Menreiki retreated in fear, wrapping her small hands around the fox spirit's waist for comfort.

"Stop fooling around, let's begin."

The Hair-Eating Demon called Aoandon back, and Aoandon obediently returned to her original position, and another round of battle against Orochi began.

...

After defeating the giant snake, everyone returned home laden with spoils.

Walking along the road, Tamamo-no-Mae walked steadily beside the fox spirit, using two fingers to pick up the menreiki hidden in his arms.

He sighed softly, "A tsukumogami?"

Menreiki struggled in mid-air, using both her hands and feet to cry out, "Waaaah!!"

Aoandon landed in front of them with a smile, and gently told the little guy's story.

"Speaking of Menreiki, we have to mention one person—Qin Chuansheng. The little guy should have an impression of this person, no, he should be firmly engraved in his memory."

As she spoke, she glanced at Mian Lingqi.

"Katsunobu Hata was a retainer of Prince Shotoku and became famous for building Kōryū-ji Temple. According to Volume 4 of the 'Fūshikaden', Prince Shotoku ordered Hata to imitate sixty-six kinds of objects, and Prince Shotoku himself also made sixty-six kinds of masks. The masks they made were so lifelike that they were given a spiritual quality and thus became tsukumogami."

Seven masks slowly descended from the sky around Qingxingdeng. Qingxingdeng raised her hand, picked up one, placed it on her face, and stood still for a while before saying:

"These masks have now become incredibly terrifying. Those two people probably never imagined this would happen."

Menreiki saw that Aoandon had put her mask on her face and was anxious to take it back, waving her hand in the air.

The hair-eating demon slapped her hand away, and the spirit glared at him with displeasure. The hair-eating demon sighed softly:

"Both were artifact spirits, yet one became a tsukumogami. What can one say? Monsters appear endlessly, while human life is but a fleeting moment. Fate is truly cruel..."

He spoke sadly, then seemed to have thought of something and let out a long sigh.

"Gui Gui, are you scared?"

Ichimokuren asked gently.

The hair-eating demon paled. "Originally, a mere little demon wouldn't have been afraid, but after becoming my father's shikigami, I'm afraid she'll leave us, afraid she'll be bullied in some unknown world. Tell me, where is this place? Who are we?"

He looked up at the azure sky. Everything here was so beautiful. How could it all be fake, as the fox demon said?

"Don't have these unfounded worries. If Sister Yuki-onna were here, she would definitely scold you."

Ichimokuren patted the Hair-Eating Demon on the shoulder.

"It feels like Yuki-onna hasn't been in battle for a long time~" Yamausagi said cutely.

"I just can't stand that Great Tengu!"

The hair-eating demon snorted coldly.

"If only he had two wings," Aoandon said regretfully.

The little spirit was still struggling in the air when Tamamo-no-Mae put her down and gently placed her in the fox spirit's arms.

"Lady Tamamo-no-Mae, your master hasn't come to see you in a long time."

The hair-eating demon frowned.

“I’ll go back and ask my father; he must know something.”

Tamamo-no-Mae smiled and said, "I know they are all doing well."

Ibaraki-doji didn't know anyone and silently followed behind. A second Onmyoji passed by them, leading his shikigami towards the Orochi Swamp.

Ibaraki-dōji glanced at them and saw a Rikuo pass by.

"I want new clothes."

He said expectantly.

“I have some of Rikuo’s clothes at home. Why don’t you ask Kosode to alter them for you?” the Hair-Eating Demon said as he walked up to him.

Will Father agree?

Ibaraki-dōji asked hesitantly.

“We have clothes, but we don’t have a Rikuo at home that can wear them. We wish we had a Rikuo like that one.”

The hair-eating demon curled its lip.

"But...my dearest friend!"

The group walked up the back slope, and Ibaraki-dōji spotted the red-haired man behind a boulder. He quickly ran over.

"So you've been here, my friend."

The adult Shuten-dōji looked up, leaning against the giant gourd, and said, "You've found me again."

"Here's a six-star critical damage Soul. Here you go." Ibaraki took out a glittering golden Soul from his pocket.

Shuten-dōji glanced at the Soul Shard but didn't take it. "What's the use without critical hits?"

"It will happen."

Ibaraki-dōji said with great conviction.

"You have the only critical hit attribute Soul in the entire guild. If there's another one, it should belong to that guy Ara."

Shuten-dōji lowered his head and poured the wine from the gourd into a shallow bowl.

"Where were you just now?" he asked.

"We should have come out earlier; the battles with Orochi and Kirin would have been over by then. But we got held up by some minor matters along the way... But why are you drinking here alone, my friend?"

A hint of intoxication appeared in Shuten-dōji's eyes.

"Don't you think the scenery here is beautiful? Those guys in the dormitory are so annoying, especially that big tengu, he keeps playing his flute on the roof, it's so irritating!"

He took a sip of his drink and continued:

"That guy was a real nuisance back then, that guy from Atago Mountain, always openly getting in our way. If we weren't worried about the trouble, we would have taken care of him long ago!"

Ibaraki-dōji smiled.

Looking back now, it's quite interesting. How could he have imagined that they would have the chance to sit together and enjoy a drink together again?

"That guy Gui Shi Hei just contacted you. He was talking incoherently and seemed to be in a lot of pain. I don't know what's wrong with him."

After drinking, Shuten-dōji's tongue would become like it was on stimulants, and he would talk incessantly.

"I just saw Hongye, and I think she's even more beautiful now. I wanted to buy her a box of those pretty rouges from the market, but I don't have any money..."

"I do!"

Ibaraki-dōji took out a handful of shiny gold coins and placed them in front of him.

"No way. I overheard Yuki-onna and Hotaru talking. They said they were going to give Momiji away... Damn it! They're just two little monsters, and I couldn't even put up a fight. If only that woman had trained me..."

After mumbling these words, Shuten-dōji drifted off to sleep. Ibaraki-dōji glanced at him silently and picked up the scattered gourds on the ground for him.

Will Lord Qiushui give my friend an important position?

He asked himself.

There's Menreiki in the guild now, along with new shikigami that's about to appear, and many old shikigami that couldn't get a turn before are complaining.

Logically, the next flower to appear after the desolation should be the other shore flower, and Lord Qiushui should have nurtured her. However, Lord Qiushui did not nurture her, but instead skipped the other shore flower and devoted all his resources to her.

Now, when the other shore flower sees him in the dormitory, she still feels uncomfortable and scolds him a few times. As for who the adults should mentor, he has the least right to raise objections.

"My friend, I will protect you!"

"Ibaraki-dōji clenched his fist and said."

In his dream, Shuten-dōji muttered something, and the leaves on the tree fell to the ground.