The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

"Yes, it's precisely because I was just a passerby in those worlds that I've never experienced any romance..."

With his hands supporting him on the ground, Shi Bai looked up at the sky, his face filled with melancholy as he recalled the past.

"Although I don't remember most of what happened in the past, there must have been quite a few girls pursuing me... But what good does it do? Because I couldn't give those girls the future they hoped for, nor could I give them happiness. So I might as well just be a passerby and leave quietly..."

Letting out a breath, Shi Bai looked at Hirain Hana and Kazami Yuuka in front of him.

"Liking and loving are not the same thing. I admit that I may have liked those girls before, but that doesn't mean I love them. I have my own principles."

"Tch... Since you've put it that way, I'll reluctantly believe you... But what about your feelings for us? Do you like us or love us?"

He muttered something under his breath, his words carrying a hint of reluctance.

"Liking is about possession, love is about protection. I like this world, so I want to try to protect it."

Looking at the two people in front of him, Shi Bai broke into a big smile.

"I love Gensokyo, so I want to protect Gensokyo. I love you all, but I also want to protect you."

"...Did you understand?"

After a moment of silence, Hirain Hana turned her head expressionlessly to look at Kazama Yuuka beside her.

"I understand."

Yuuka Kazami nodded expressionlessly.

"Because from the very beginning until now, all he has done is protect, and he has protected countless people so far, so his truest thought is that he wants them all."

Shi Bai: "..."

So how did you two come to this conclusion?

"Wait a minute, since you said you've never been in a relationship before, that means you..."

As if suddenly remembering something, her expression lingered on Shi Bai for a moment with a slightly strange look before she turned to look at Kazami Yuuka, who was sitting next to her, pretending to be nonchalantly looking at the scenery.

"...Hey, you knew about this, right?"

"Huh? What's the problem?"

Facing Hirain's murderous gaze, Kazami Yuuka blinked and looked completely innocent.

You fouled!

"How about this, let's apply this analogy to other situations. If you were in my shoes, what would you do?"

Faced with the murderous glare of the man who had been waiting for him to devour her, Kazami Yuuka thought for a moment and then proposed a hypothesis.

"Let's get married right now!!!"

Nichirain-bo looked completely undeterred.

"Well, so I just did what you would do."

"Hey...you two..."

Listening to the two people in front of him talking so casually, Shi Bai turned around and saw Ellie, who had wisely retreated hundreds of meters away with her bowl, all the way to the other side of the Blood Lake. Shi Bai rubbed his forehead with a headache.

"That was my fault. I overestimated my willpower. As the saying goes, food and sex are the source of all desires. I didn't even leave the house for three whole months... I won't let such absurd things happen again. I need to find some Buddhist scriptures to practice."

"...I don't care!! You're my fiancé, and I'm your fiancée. That won't change, and you can't deny it!!"

For some unknown reason, her face inexplicably flushed, and Hirain Hana began to speak with a slight stutter.

"Perfect, perfect timing. Anyway, the Dream Mansion is destroyed, destroyed. Didn't you say you were going to visit me? Tonight, you can spend the night at the Monster Mountain. Over there..."

"Ah, I almost forgot if you hadn't mentioned it. The Dream Pavilion definitely needs some work done."

As if he had just thought of this, Shi Bai turned around and looked at the completely destroyed ruins, then casually waved his hand.

In an instant, it was as if time had reversed in the area where the ruins were located. The outlines of the buildings reappeared, and in less than a few seconds, the Dream Pavilion, which had been completely destroyed, was restored to its original state, as if it had never been blown up at all.

"this is……"

Seeing the scene before him, Hirain Hana was completely dumbfounded.

"One of my abilities that works very well for repairing houses is called [Retrospection]. Its function is to restore all objects in an area to their state before they were recorded."

Seeing that the Dream Pavilion had been fully restored, Shi Bai snapped his fingers with great satisfaction.

"In Gensokyo, any building with 'mansion' in its name is prone to explosion. This is a basic, hidden fact of Gensokyo. So, when I returned to the Dream Manor before, to prevent multiple renovations from causing a financial deficit for the Dream Manor, I specifically deployed the [Retrospect] ability around the Dream Manor... I was indeed prescient!!"

"........."

After staring silently at the restored Dream Pavilion for a moment, Hiragin Hana turned to Yuuka Kazami and spoke quite earnestly.

"Let's have another match."

"I already said, if you want to fight, go to the dance studio. The way you're doing it, you won't kill anyone, and it's not entertaining at all..."

After briefly reminiscing about the spell card rules proposed by a certain shrine maiden, Shi Bai stood up from the ground.

"Do you still want dumplings? If not, let's go to the Monster Mountain now."

P.S. Good morning!

Chapter Five: Reunion with the Flower Fan

Mountain of Monsters.

After things finally came to an end at the Dream Pavilion, Shi Bai followed Ri Luoyuan to the Monster Mountain.

"Uh... why does it feel like nothing has changed at all?"

As they walked along, seeing that the Youkai Mountain seemed unchanged from before, Shi Bai couldn't help but ask Ri Luoyuan a question with some curiosity.

Previously, he brought the seeds of so-called technology to Monster Mountain. Logically speaking, after so many years of development, Monster Mountain should have developed a complete industrial process by now, but it seems that nothing has changed at all.

"Hmm? That's because the kappa discovered through research that the development of technology comes at the cost of the environment. If we continue to research the power of technology, it will seriously damage the environment of the Youkai Mountain and even further affect the 'spiritual veins' of the Youkai Mountain. Therefore, research on technology has been temporarily suspended."

As he spoke, Hirain Hana shrugged nonchalantly.

"On a smaller scale, continuing to research the power of science on Youkai Mountain will cause the 'spiritual veins' of Youkai Mountain to break, making Youkai Mountain degenerate and no longer suitable for the survival of youkai. On a larger scale, it may even lead to the destruction of the entire Gensokyo... I basically don't care about these things, and I mostly listen to Ōtengu's reports."

"Uh...right, I almost forgot about that..."

Shi Bai nodded thoughtfully.

"However, after those kappa discovered this, the monsters on the entire Monster Mountain split into four factions. At that time, the newspapers published more than a dozen articles about this, which was a major news story on Monster Mountain... Do you know which four factions they were?"

Instead, she turned around and walked backwards. Hirain asked Shibai a question. It seemed that she was busy dealing with the mess at the sunflower field. Kazami Yuuka did not come with her this time, so at this moment, there were only the two of them on this mountain path.

"Four factions... One is probably to ban any future research on scientific theories, another is to support research on scientific theories, and the third is to remain indifferent to both... Hmm? How come there's a fourth one?"

After thinking about it for a moment, Shi Bai couldn't help but feel a little strange.

"You guessed the first three correctly, but you couldn't have imagined the fourth one, because at the time there was only one faction that was proposed. To be honest, I didn't think of it at the very beginning either."

His mood inexplicably improved, and Hirain Hanako looked smug.

"The fourth faction wanted to combine science and mystical power, but when that kappa proposed this idea, it was ridiculed by almost everyone. So that kappa simply cut off contact with the entire kappa clan and moved to the Great Toad Pond to live alone."

"Oh? What's this kappa's name?"

A thought vaguely flashed through his mind, and Shi Bai raised an eyebrow.

"I have a deep impression of Kawashiro Nitori because the Great Tengu specifically reported this matter to me, and the newspapers at the time also reported it in detail."

With her hands behind her back, and walking backward along the mountain path, Hirain Hana replied, seemingly in a good mood.

"Later, with the departure of Asakura Rikako, the main force of the second faction, almost all the yokai on Yokai Mountain who supported the second faction followed that magician. So far, on the entire Yokai Mountain, only Kawashiro Nitori, who lives alone by the Great Toad Pond, is conducting scientific research."

"Has Rikako already left?"

After hearing what Riluoyuan said, Shi Bai couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

"I was originally planning to find her to see if we could figure out how to get the network working in Gensokyo first... Hmm? What's wrong?"

Seeing Riluoyuan Ban suddenly turn around angrily and stride forward with his head down, Shi Bai couldn't help but feel quite puzzled.

"It's nothing!! I have a headache!! I'll be leaving now!! You can tour the place by yourself!!!"

"Uh……"

Shi Bai felt like he had said something wrong again... Wait, why did I say "again"?

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

The area of ​​Yokai Mountain is quite vast. Even the Tengu clan, known for their speed, cannot control the entire Yokai Mountain, as it is simply too large.

Specifically, the Tengu clan members who patrol the Youkai Mountain on a daily basis patrol the designated areas of the mountain.

There aren't actually that many named areas on the Monster Mountain. In total, there are only a handful: the Black Tortoise Marsh, the Monster Tree Sea, the Untrodden Valley, the Giant Toad Pond, the Nine Heavens Waterfall, and the Tengu's Settlement.

Although only a few areas have been named, the sheer size of Yokai Mountain still means that daily patrols remain a significant challenge for the tengu.

Shi Bai wasn't actually very familiar with the Demon Mountain. After inexplicably getting angry and leaving Ri Luoyuan, who had been leading the way and even acting as his guide, Shi Bai tragically discovered that he was lost.

As the saying goes, "You can't see the true face of Mount Lu because you're in the mountain yourself." Shi Bai now felt that he couldn't see the true face of Mount Lu because he had angered Ri Luo Yuan...

Actually, it wouldn't have been so difficult to find a way around without someone to guide him. Shi Bai's idea was to just ask any patrolling Tengu for help, and maybe he could even run into an acquaintance like Inuzoki Kawara. But along the way, he didn't find a single Tengu.

—Regarding the strange incident that Shibai encountered, Riluoyuan said he was willing to take responsibility for it.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter if you don't have a guide; it's all about personal preference, so you can just go wherever you want.

After all, I spent three ridiculous months cooped up at home, so walking around in the mountains now will be good for my health...

So after a while, Shi Bai himself didn't know where he had gone. In any case, all he could see were trees and mountains, and he didn't see anything else.

As he walked through a grove of trees, a Taoist temple nestled in the mountains suddenly appeared before him.

"Hmm? This dojo..."

After a slight pause, Shi Bai stepped into the courtyard.

It's obvious that people live here. The courtyard is very clean, and there's a small pond in the northeast corner with a maple tree next to it. There's also a stone table and a few stone benches under the tree.

A gentle breeze swept by, and a few fallen leaves landed on the water, creating ripples for a moment. Fish even swam freely in the pond... a scene of poetic beauty.

"Whose training ground is this? Judging from the architectural style... hmm?"

As Shi Bai looked around at the tranquil dojo nestled deep in the mountains, he seemed to sense something and turned to look at the main gate of the dojo.

At the entrance of the dojo, a girl with short pink hair, buns on both sides, her right arm wrapped in layers of white bandages, and wearing a cheongsam-like dress stood there staring blankly at him, seemingly having just walked out of the dojo.

...Ibaraki Kasen? Has she returned? Why is her right arm still... Hmm, it seems she doesn't remember me?

Looking at the girl in front of him, a thousand thoughts flashed through Shi Bai's mind in an instant. He raised his eyebrows slightly, smiled, and stretched out his hand towards Ibaraki Kasen, jokingly saying something to her.

"Long time no... uh?"

Seeing Ibaraki Kasen rush straight into his arms, burying her face in his chest and hugging him tightly, Shi Bai was completely stunned.

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

"Sorry, I lost my composure just now."

Ibaraki Kasen, whose face was still flushed, placed a cup of tea in front of Shi Bai and sat down at the table.

"Personally, I don't really care, after all, that kind of thing... By the way, what happened to your hand?"

Shi Bai's lips twitched slightly, and realizing that the topic was getting out of hand, she decisively changed the subject.

After so many years, Ibaraki Kasen's appearance has changed dramatically compared to before.

Not only did her original long pink hair become short, but the horns on her head, a unique feature of the demon race, also turned into two buns. At the same time, her personality seemed to have become much gentler, completely losing the domineering aura she had as the demon king.

As for her breasts... well, it seems they haven't shrunk that much, but I remember her bust size used to be larger than the famous Rumachi...

Shi Bai glanced at the other person's chest without leaving a trace and nodded to himself. However, he only nodded halfway through when, as if he suddenly thought of something, the expression on Shi Bai's face inexplicably froze.

...When did I become so lecherous? Instead of worrying about her bust size shrinking, shouldn't I be more concerned about her arms...?

Shi Bai felt that there might be something wrong with him.

"To stop evil and cultivate goodness, I cut off my right arm."

Noticing the gaze that lingered on her chest, Ibaraki Kasen shifted uncomfortably, her face slightly flushed, and spoke softly.

"After severing my right arm, those inner demons that once represented my heart were also severed along with it. Now my right hand is wrapped in bandages, but it is actually hollow inside."

As she spoke, Ibaraki Kasen placed her right arm, which was wrapped in bandages, on the table.

Although this arm is simply formed by wrapping it with bandages, it functions no differently from a real arm.