The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

"........."

After a moment of silence, Yagokoro Eirin turned and went into the room.

"Your Highness, you'll get used to it."

"Uh……"

...............................................................

In recent days, the five questions about Princess Kaguya have continued to circulate in Fujiwara Kyoto. The discussions about this matter have not decreased over time; on the contrary, the popularity has been increasing.

As for which of the five candidates would be the first to meet the requirements and win the heart of the beauty, everyone had their own ideas. Discussions and debates about this matter had almost become their daily pastime.

Therefore, under these circumstances, the disappearance of the once-famous fortune teller of Fujiwara Kyo did not cause much of a stir in Fujiwara Kyo. However, a few people vaguely gathered at the place where Yakumo Yukari used to stay, cursing and swearing.

—Those people were all Yakumo Yukari's experimental subjects.

After listening to someone's words, Yakumo Yukari began to try to understand humanity, which is why she became known as the fortune teller in Fujiwara Kyoto. But how can you find pearls in a garbage dump?

So over the course of several months, Yukari Yakumo did gain some understanding of humanity, but unfortunately, all of it was negative. Among Yukari's customers were those who wanted to oust their bosses and become their own, those who wanted to seize and inherit the entire family fortune, and those who wanted to rise above others and be high and mighty... Yukari fulfilled their requests.

However, since she helped them realize their wishes, she would naturally take something from them as well. What those people gave up was decades of their lifespan.

Yukari Yakumo had hoped to see something that would catch her eye, but all she saw was rotten, foul-smelling mud.

The former oppressed have become the new oppressors; the former abandoned children have abandoned the new abandoned children; the vows made to their fallen friends before they rose to prominence have vanished like smoke; and those who gained power now look down on others with disdain... It is extremely ironic.

It was precisely because she realized that what she was doing was pointless that Yakumo Yukari had been thinking of other ways to achieve her goal, and thought she had found a good opportunity... but she never expected to run into Yagokoro Eirin.

After receiving those shocking messages from Eirin Yagokoro, Yukari Yakumo confirmed the existence of the Lunar Capital one night through her own means.

After that, she quietly distanced herself from Fujiwara Kyo and began to work out her plans.

Yukari Yakumo knew perfectly well that even if all the youkai gathered together, they might not be able to defeat the city on the moon that had existed for who knows how many years. But winning would be great, as it would deepen her prestige among the youkai, and even if she lost, she could get rid of those unruly youkai who gave her headaches. No matter how you looked at it, it was a win-win situation.

So even though they knew in their hearts that Eirin Yagokoro's request was definitely not well-intentioned, it was ultimately just a mutual exploitation and nothing more.

She wants to unite all the yokai and establish a unified entity among them, but there are some obstacles she must overcome. If the tengu clan on Yokai Mountain were willing to help, her situation would be much easier, but if they didn't, it wouldn't matter; she had her own methods.

Bringing all those monsters to the moon might be difficult for others, but it was a simple matter for her. As long as she opened the boundary between illusion and reality on the lake reflecting the full moon on the night of the full moon, these monsters could arrive in the lunar capital without anyone noticing and catch their opponents off guard.

As for the so-called "elixir of immortality" mentioned by the other party...

Yukari Yakumo denied the possibility of such a terrible drug existing.

However, although she denied it, it didn't stop her from spreading the news among the monsters that the forbidden drug existed in the Moon Capital. After all, it would be impossible to get those monsters to suddenly attack the Moon Capital without a tempting lure.

—And the Penglai Elixir, which can make people immortal and eternally live forever, is the bait that tempts those monsters.

Compared to the fertile and lush land, how can the moon, which is all barren rocks, compare? Only a fool or someone who is too full of himself would want to attack it.

Monsters are not united, and it is difficult to persuade them to do something together. However, if the incentive is attractive enough, it is not difficult to achieve the goal.

The world is bustling, all for profit; the world is bustling, all for profit. When you get down to it, most things boil down to just one word: profit. Who doesn't yearn for immortality?

Yukari Yakumo also longed for it, but not to the same degree.

..............................................................................

"Deserved it."

Shi Bai glanced at the few gray-haired old people on the roadside who were crying their eyes out, wailing and cursing, and shook his head slightly before walking past them without looking at them.

It's impossible to get back the life force that Yukari Yakumo took from him. According to his estimate, those guys only have a few years left to live at most.

If they were willing, they could do good deeds in the last moments of their lives and perhaps receive a good outcome in the underworld. However, if they continue as before, given their sins, they probably won't even be able to board the ferry and will be thrown into the River of Three Crossings by the Grim Reaper to be punished in hell.

These people are not worthy of pity.

After walking for about half an hour around several streets, Shi Bai arrived at Fujiwara no Mokou's house—not the Fujiwara family home, but a small courtyard in a relatively quiet place in Fujiwara-kyo.

After Fujiwara no Mokou's mother finally let go of her obsessions, she moved out of the Fujiwara family mansion, which was devoid of any warmth, with Fujiwara no Mokou. Because Fujiwara no Fuhito was already obsessed with Houraisan Teru, he didn't care about such trivial matters at all.

Since Fujiwara no Mokou hadn't visited for almost a month, Tokihachi decided to come and see her.

He had just reached the door when a figure rushed out of the courtyard and bumped into him without even looking.

Shi Bai: "..."

I have to say, that guy's head is really hard... No wonder he was able to withstand so many of Huiyin's headbutt attacks later on...

ten minutes later.

"Buying medicine... Is your mother sick?"

Following behind Fujiwara no Mokou, Shi Bai saw her buy the medicinal herbs at the pharmacy and couldn't help but frown slightly.

"Well... my mother's health has never been very good, so I've been taking care of her these past few days."

Clutching the medicinal herbs in her arms, Fujiwara no Mokou followed someone under a bamboo umbrella, her head bowed, her voice low and somber.

"Even if you're in a hurry to go out to buy medicine, you don't bring an umbrella? What if your mother's illness hasn't gotten better, and you end up getting sick yourself?"

With a sigh, Shi Bai glanced at the other end of the bamboo umbrella as if he had a psychological trauma.

"Also, can't you tell us if something like this happens again? Kaguya and I are your friends, right?"

“...That man never came to see my mother, not even when she moved out of the mansion with me that day.”

Fujiwara no Mokou suddenly bit her lip hard.

"When my mother heard that the man had lost his appetite because of Kaguya and had been running around trying to solve those five problems, she suddenly fell ill. I know in my heart that although my mother has let go of the past, the image of that man still lingers in her heart..."

"Love arises without knowing its origin, and deepens with each passing moment. What is love in this world that makes people willing to die for it? In fact, it is very difficult to explain feelings."

Reaching out from under the bamboo umbrella, Shi Bai caught a drop of rain and watched it slide off his fingers, letting out a soft sigh.

“You’re still young, so naturally you wouldn’t understand these things, and you don’t need to understand them. But like I said, since your mother is sick, why didn’t you come to us? To be honest, my medical skills are actually quite good.”

"...I just suddenly felt really shameless."

After a moment of silence, Fujiwara no Mokou spoke in a low voice.

"It might sound ridiculous, but these things aren't Kaguya's fault at all, and they have nothing to do with her, yet I've suddenly started to hate her a little... Don't you feel the same way?"

"This is normal. You don't need to care so much. After all, Kaguya is your mother's rival in love and the 'culprit' who made your mother sick. It's only natural that you would feel dissatisfied and resentful."

Shi Bai smiled.

“No one is a saint. It would be strange if you didn’t harbor any resentment, after all, your mother is the most important person in your life. If the most important person in my life were to be hurt because of someone, directly or indirectly, I would also feel the same negative emotions, and I might even act more wickedly.”

“You don’t need to comfort me like this. I know in my heart what is right and what is wrong. I can distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong.”

Fujiwara no Mokou shook her head, her tone slightly complicated.

"My resentment towards Kaguya... is entirely a fabricated crime."

P.S.: Good morning! (((*°▽°*)八(*°▽°*)))?

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Mokou: I'm going to marry Kaguya!!

Some things cannot be ignored simply by saying so.

Take Fujiwara no Mokou for example. Even though she knew in her heart that it was wrong to take her anger out on others, the resentment in her heart still remained.

Perhaps at the beginning, this resentment was little, but after she consumed the Penglai Elixir and became a Penglai person, that resentment grew wildly like weeds.

According to Eirin Yagokoro, after consuming the Hourai Elixir, her soul and body were crushed and rebuilt together, and her body would no longer change; her muscles, bones, and physical strength would no longer grow.

Fujiwara no Mokou was just a human, and the fragility of the human body limited her growth. Becoming a Hourai person was just an endless curse for Fujiwara no Mokou.

For nearly 1400 long and lonely years after consuming the Elixir of Hourai, Fujiwara no Mokou walked the world alone as an anomaly, neither a demon nor a human. Because her body could not change, she trained her spirit through asceticism and also tried to find some more efficient training methods.

During her long and lonely journey, Fujiwara no Mokou witnessed the ugliness of both humans and yokai, and began to hate the world and her own immortality. She challenged every yokai she saw, trying to find meaning in her existence through killing, in order to maintain her fragile self as a human being.

...The thought of that kind of life is enough to send chills down your spine.

For a period of time, Shi Bai, like Fujiwara no Mokou, lost himself over a long period of time, taking killing as the meaning of his existence, and frantically slaughtering all living beings that appeared before him, thus giving birth to a chaotic personality that had no self-awareness and only a crazy killing intent—[Innocent Slaughter].

His ability to regain his senses from the killing was due to other factors, while Fujiwara no Mokou's ability to regain her senses from the killing was most likely due to Kamishirasawa Keine, according to Tokihaku's deduction.

Just as Saigyouji Yuyuko would change Yakumo Yukari's beliefs in the future, Kamishirasawa Keine would become Fujiwara no Mokou's salvation in the future.

In a sense, Shi Bai felt that he and Fujiwara no Mokou had many similarities, and could be said to be the most similar in their experiences after becoming immortals.

His goal was to destroy Gensokyo, while the belief that kept Fujiwara no Mokou going was to kill Kaguya Houraisan... that was the driving force that enabled her to persevere.

Although Kaguya Houraisan did nothing wrong, even though Fujiwara no Mokou had long known this in her heart, over the long passage of time, it had become an obsession in Fujiwara no Mokou's heart.

If there is no meaning or goal to keep one moving forward, then even if the body is immortal, the soul and mind will slowly decay and age over the long course of time.

Shi Bai did not want to see this tragedy happen again.

Although he really does find the white-haired, red-eyed Mokou Tanjiro very appealing...

Fujiwara no Mokou's mother's name was Hii. She was a very gentle and beautiful woman. When Shiro followed Fujiwara no Mokou into the house, she was sitting on the bed, carefully sewing something with a needle and thread. She looked quite energetic.

Upon seeing him, an outsider, the other person paused slightly, and after a moment of surprise, smiled at him. However, looking at the woman who seemed very energetic, Shi Bai couldn't help but frown.

"You're going to die."

After glancing at Fujiwara no Mokou, who was busy decocting and brewing medicine outside the courtyard, Shi Bai sat down at the table near the bed and gently tapped the table with his knuckles.

"Is it really worth it for you to do this?"

This was his first meeting with the other party, but he was already able to glean so much from that first encounter.

The other party had very little life force left, not due to a congenital defect like Hieda Rei, but rather due to some acquired reasons. In other words, the other party used their life force to make a deal with some being.

As for the details of the transaction, considering Fujiwara no Fuhito's attitude towards the mother and daughter, Shi Bai could roughly guess some of it.

“In my past life, I owed him a life. In this life, I have repaid it.”

Fei put down what she was weaving and sighed softly.

"My lord, are you here to take me to the Pure Land of the Underworld? Could you please give me a little more time? I still have some questions about Mokou..."

"You recognize me?"

Interrupting the other person's words, Shi Bai raised an eyebrow with a hint of curiosity.

"After seeing your painting, I remembered everything from my past life and my time in the underworld. I once saw you from afar in the underworld, which is why I was able to remember your appearance."

Fei's words carried a hint of bitterness.

"When the Yama, who was in charge of judging me, was judging my merits and demerits, I saw you, sir, sitting to the side with a teacup in hand, carefully flipping through ancient books."

"Uh……"

Shi Bai suddenly remembered the leisurely time he spent reading comics while working at Xiao Siji's place in the underworld when he was a death god... He still felt a little nostalgic when he thought about it now.

"Ahem... I've already resigned from the underworld. You probably have about half a month left to live. I'm not some soul-reaping messenger."

Someone coughed a few times, trying to appear dignified.

"Unless you are a spirit who is attached to the mortal world and does not want to go to the underworld, in most cases you will become a spirit yourself and go to the banks of the Sanzu River to wait for a ferry. The Grim Reaper is very busy, why would he come out of his way to pick you up?"

"Thank you for your leniency, Your Excellency."

After hearing what he said, even though he was bedridden and unable to move easily, the other person still bowed to him very respectfully from the bed.

Shi Bai: "..."

He rolled his eyes inwardly and decided to let the other party misunderstand.

"Tell me about your situation... and about Mokou."

"My affairs..."

She leaned back slowly against the headboard, as if the movement itself had taken a great deal of effort, and let out a soft sigh.

“In my past life, he died to save me, and I owed him my life. So in this life, I want to become his wife to repay this debt. But it wasn’t until I recalled my memories of my past life that I realized all my feelings were just wishful thinking on my part… But in the end, I still owe him.”

"When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out; dust to dust, ashes to ashes. If you are destined to meet, you will surely meet again in the next life. Forced relationships are never sweet, and forcing things is never beautiful. Don't do such things again."

Shi Bai shook his head, his expression noncommittal.

"This may be your love story, but what about Mokou's feelings? Have you considered her feelings?"

"........."

After a moment of silence, Fei spoke quietly.

"May I ask you for a favor, sir?"