The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

Lying on his side atop the palace roof, supporting his head with one hand, Shi Bai felt inexplicably cheerful.

In the end, the City of the Moon is really just that. Although it failed in its war of aggression against other worlds, it still gained a lot. The various items and knowledge brought from those worlds are the best proof of that.

However, although there were gains, understanding was still difficult. After all, the civilization systems were different. If you asked a great magician from another world to study physics and chemistry, he would be completely clueless.

—The Lunar Capital took the easiest approach.

Before being completely defeated in the war with that world, the Lunar Capital not only plundered those technological achievements and knowledge, but also plundered the humans of that world.

That's right, there are indeed humans in the Lunar Capital; they live in the residential area.

...This is the biggest secret in the entire City of the Moon.

The Lunar Capital has done a very good job of controlling the flow of information. A thousand years is an incredibly long time for humans, enough for the Lunar Capital to assimilate them. Now, those humans already consider themselves citizens of the Moon.

In reality, however, there is not much difference anymore. In the Moon Capital, there is no longer a distinction between gods and humans. They all have a unified title: the high and mighty Moon People.

To be honest, when Eirin Yagokoro finished recounting the biggest secret hidden in the City of the Moon, Shi Bai was quite shocked.

But after the initial shock... it was nothing.

Because if you really want to say something, there's not much to say. At most, it'll just give him a better understanding of the Moon Capital, which he thought was very mysterious. What else is there to say?

A thousand years—this isn't simply jumping from the early 19th century to the late 20th century, but rather starting from the 10th century AD. The United States itself has only about 250 years of history; a thousand years is enough time to create four Americas…

The secrets of the Lunar Capital are deep, but Shi Bai has no intention of investigating too much. After all, Yagokoro Eirin is planning to leave the Lunar Capital, so why should he bother with her?

Even if the Lunar Capital had been actively preparing for war for a long time and was ready to go back and invade that world again to avenge its previous defeat, that would be a very, very long time from now.

Even before that, Professor Okazaki Yumemi from that world had already come to this world... However, it's likely that Okazaki Yumemi didn't know about such an extremely secretive matter, since most of the resources in that world were controlled by the "Society".

However, upon closer examination, Okazaki Yumemi's act of coming to this world in pursuit of the possibility of magic has a subtly unsettling undertone.

Previously, it was the Lunar Capital that invaded Okazaki Yumemi's world. Perhaps in the future, that world, under the organization of the Academy, will use the information brought back by Professor Ichigo Okazaki Yumemi to invade this world in return...

These kinds of things are often hard to explain clearly.

Thinking about it that way, I'll probably have to go to that world with Okazaki Yumemi around that time. Maybe we can even foster friendly cooperation between the two worlds... Hmm, I definitely need to set up the internet in Gensokyo first...

With this thought in mind, under the inexplicable gaze of Yagokoro Eirin, Shi Bai lay down on the operating table with unusual decisiveness.

He still trusted his students a lot.

However, he had no concept of the surgery itself; he just thought it was like his eyes were closed and opened, and then the surgery was over.

Unlike the sophisticated room that had been filled with medical equipment he couldn't understand, he was now clearly in a hospital room.

As he squinted, getting used to the changes in his body, Yagokoro Eirin pushed open the door. Her tired face lit up noticeably when she saw that he was awake.

"Teacher, how are you feeling right now?"

Her words carried a faint hint of eager anticipation.

"It's great, I feel much more relaxed."

Shi Bai looked up and smiled at the other person.

"I haven't felt this relaxed in a long time. Thank you so much this time."

"How much more relaxed do you mean exactly?"

Holding a notepad in her hand, Eirin Yagokoro frowned slightly.

"Patients should not hide anything from doctors; this is something you taught me a long time ago."

"Um... tell me first, was the surgery successful or a failure?"

Sitting up in his hospital bed, Shi Bai raised an eyebrow with a hint of curiosity.

"……do not know."

After a moment of silence, Eirin Yagokoro replied.

"But I can say with certainty that I have not been able to completely solve the problem you had, teacher."

"Don't worry, the surgery was a success. There are some things I still need to solve myself. You've already taken care of the most troublesome things for me, which is already very good. My condition is several times better than before."

Shi Bai got out of bed and stretched, a little languidly, with his hands behind his back.

"As for the burdens on my shoulders... they've probably been reduced by more than 90 percent. The remaining 10 percent can't be solved by external forces alone; I have to take action myself... By the way, what about those things?"

As if suddenly remembering something, Shi Bai turned his head to look at Yagokoro Eirin in front of him.

"Give me those things; they're not something you can handle."

What he was referring to now were the strange objects that had been stripped from his soul, which could be called "original sin." Originally, his soul was as if it were constantly wrapped in a thick, heavy shell, which was unbearable. However, the situation was much better now than before.

—The shackles on the soul are broken!

If it weren't for those shackles binding his soul, his desires and emotions wouldn't have been worn away over the long years. And now, those shackles on his soul? Not completely gone, but at least ninety percent of them have been removed.

It's hard to describe his feelings at that moment in words.

The feeling of being freed from the shackles that have bound one's soul for so long is like a swordsman who has mastered unparalleled swordsmanship suddenly obtaining an unparalleled divine weapon, or like a Superman who only has three minutes of superpowers a day and is suddenly told that he can use his abilities indefinitely.

Excitement, relief, or perhaps... thrill?

To be honest, Shi Bai himself couldn't quite describe what he was feeling, but he actually had a pretty good composure; he just didn't show it on his face.

Importantly, with the release of the shackles on his soul, the system, whose functions had been largely sealed, was finally restored to a usable state.

Since he was awakened by Eirin Yagokoro, he has never used the system. It's not that he didn't want to use it, but with most of the system's functions sealed, its usefulness is actually quite limited.

However, with the shackles being removed, the system that he himself had sealed away was finally unsealed once again.

What is the essence of the system? It is a legacy created by the Eastern God Clan during the ancient mythological era, using the combined power of the entire clan.

This so-called heirloom was originally meant to be inherited by Xiaoye, who was the Dragon God, but due to a series of unforeseen events, it was inexplicably bound to him, causing Xiaoye and the system to almost completely sever their relationship, leaving only a very vague connection.

In the long span of time from that ancient era to the present, he had thoroughly grasped the essence of the system, and he had even personally made subtle modifications to the system itself. Unfortunately, some underlying rules were beyond his control; otherwise, he would have liked to cheat and inherit all the talents left behind by the Eastern God Clan in one go…

【Retrospection】, 【God of Food】, 【Enhancement】, 【Heavenly Craftsmanship】, 【Healing Bag】, 【God of Wind】, 【Immortal】, 【Farewell】—these are the eight talents he has unlocked and inherited so far. Adding his 【True Luck】 and 【Immortal Body】, he has a total of ten talents, perfect in every way.

The main reason he chose to personally seal most of the system's functions was because of the dangers that were suppressed deep within his heart.

After all, even the likes of Evil God Shi Bai and Calamity Shi Bai are essentially the same person; in other words, they can also use the system...

Even if just one of those creatures manages to escape, it takes him a tremendous amount of effort and countless brain cells to recapture it. If he doesn't seal off the system's functions, and those creatures were to use the system's power to escape en masse and stage a mass prison break... just imagine the terrifying consequences.

When he first sealed the system's functions, the condition he set for unlocking it was that he could completely suppress those unruly prisoners. Now that the shackles on his soul have been removed, he has naturally achieved this requirement.

For Shi Bai, the significance of the system's unblocking is profound.

...Because he can finally spend money on gacha pulls!!!

Do you know how meaningful this is?! Only spending a lot of money can make you happy!!!

It wasn't that he didn't want to play games when he was bored, but his collection didn't include any game consoles. Even if he wanted to summon them through the system's gacha function, he had sealed that function himself. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to the trouble of stealing Kaguya Houraisan's treasures to pass the time...

Why do you think this summoning function was sealed? There was once a very clever guy named Hei Shi Bai, or Shi Hei for short. He used himself as a bargaining chip and stuffed himself into the summoning mouth to successfully escape. Afterwards, Shi Bai spent a lot of effort to recapture Shi Hei.

Now, the gacha system is back! With his incredible luck, he can get anything from PSP4, 5, 6, and 7 to who-knows-what, and maybe even a Saber! What an exciting thing this is!!

However, although he is now eager to spend money to draw cards to get Saber, he cannot lose his teacher's dignity in front of his students.

"...I've already taken care of those things."

After a moment of silence, Yagokoro Eirin turned her head slightly.

"Teacher, you've just woken up. You need to have a thorough physical examination first. I'll arrange it right now."

"You disposed of it?"

Shi Bai unconsciously frowned.

“Those things are dangerous, and you probably don’t realize how dangerous they are. Perhaps because they’ve been on me for so long, they might even have been contaminated by some immortal beings…”

Shi Bai suddenly froze.

P.S.: Good morning... no, I mean good morning... yes, good morning...

Chapter Twelve: The Medicine of Penglai and Kaguya of Penglai Mountain

"Just tell me, how many days have I actually slept?"

Shi Bai leaned back onto the hospital bed and rubbed his forehead with a headache.

"Don't even think about lying, because you simply don't know how to lie."

"...half a month."

After a moment of silence, Eirin Yagokoro gave a speechless reply.

"And then? What did you do during those two weeks of free time?"

"...pharmaceutical manufacturing".

"What medicine?"

"The medicine of Penglai".

"...Who gave you the inspiration?"

"You, teacher."

"Nonsense, when did I give you any inspiration?!"

"........."

"...Never mind those questions for now. How many Penglai Elixir pills did you actually make?"

Seven.

"...Do you know what the consequences of taking it are?"

"It imbues the user with infinite filth, thus granting them immortality, even if only a single hair remains, they can be resurrected."

"...What about the elixir of immortality?"

“It’s gone.”

"Who did you give them to?"

"Princess Kaguya secretly kept one, I ate one myself, and gave the rest to Junko."

"...Is this the deal between you and Chunhu?"

"Yes."

"...Do you really want an immortal life that badly?"

“I didn’t want to, but Chunhu told me that this would dissuade me from committing suicide, so I did it.”

"........."

Eirin Yagokoro was met with a long silence.

After a full half hour of silence, Shi Bai let out a heavy sigh.

"Alright, I've finally figured out who's behind this. I mean, how did Chunhu appear out of nowhere and possess such terrifying power? I should have figured out who's behind Chunhu a long time ago... Most of the materials were provided by Chunhu, right?"

"........."

Eirin Yagokoro didn't reply, but nodded silently.

"Tsk, it's all thanks to Xiaoye for being able to plan so many years in advance... Was it really necessary for her to distrust me so much?"

Rolling his eyes, Shi Bai leaned back on the hospital bed.

"Alright, I don't blame you for this. To be honest, even I didn't expect that I could be made to have something to worry about in this way... So, what do you want to know?"

"...Teacher, have you really thought about suicide?"

After a moment of silence, Yagokoro Eirin spoke calmly.

"To be honest, I don't understand this kind of thing."

"Yes, I have, and I've tried many times, but I've never succeeded. I've been searching for a way to truly kill myself, but I've never found one... You wouldn't understand something like this now."

Shi Bai turned his gaze to Yagokoro Eirin, and seemed to chuckle silently.

"Actually, Xiaoye doesn't quite understand either. Unless I truly have no more attachments, I won't choose to die... Does this mean she's given me several more reasons to live?"

"The...belief to live?"