Why can't humans do it too?

“Ah, that’s right… we should go and see that monster empire that guy built,” Su’er was still pondering. “But before that, we need to find someone to get something from.”

"uh-huh?"

Chapter 121 Time

He sought out Yakumo Yukari so that the female youkai would send him back to that pie-shaped fake moon. Although Sull wanted to make a quick and decisive trip straight to Takamagahara, after trying it himself, he found that he could not cross the Milky Way from Ashihara no Nakatsukuni. It was as if there was an invisible air wall there... uh, it seems to be an air wall?

In short, it's still the same situation where no matter how long you fly, the distance never gets shorter. Clearly, Yukari Yakumo's ability has broken through this box-like world and connected the Ashihara no Naka de inside the box with the moon outside.

Another reason is that Sull hasn't forgotten the yokai legends, and even human legends, that Nurarihyon mentioned, which were compiled and recorded by Yukari Yakumo. There are even shrines dedicated to these yokai with two souls in one body, and people pray for them to find a partner... Sull hasn't been to Nara to see his own shrine yet, but just thinking about it makes him feel ashamed.

Following the direction pointed out by Eirin, Sue is heading to the kingdom established by Yukari Yakumo, a kingdom inhabited only by youkai. Although Sue promised Yukari Yakumo that he would attend the ceremony when her kingdom was established, it is clear that Sue has failed to keep his promise due to unforeseen circumstances. Yukari Yakumo, who had not seen Sue since sending him to the moon, did not wait long. A few years later, she achieved her ambition amidst the calls of the youkai.

“I suddenly have a question,” Su’er said, her thoughts wandering. “You said that Yukari Yakumo has no idea that she will not be called the Youkai King, but the Youkai Sage, and that the kingdom she created has not been passed down, nor has she created the legend of the Youkai of Marriage.”

"Are you going to tell her?" Xin Ke asked, neither praising nor criticizing.

“I’m debating whether or not to bring up the matter of the marriage-related spirit. She didn’t originally have this idea, but because of what I said, she learned about this story and recorded it in the future… In reality, we learned about what she did in the future… Time is truly amazing,” Suer said with a bit of a laugh.

"A closed time loop?" Xin Ke nodded thoughtfully, recalling the famous time loop stories she had seen in modern society. "We can try making some slight modifications."

"How so?" Suer suddenly became interested.

“Make up our origins. Didn’t that old rascal say we were two souls in one body? When we meet Yukari Yakumo this time, we can casually mention our birth... and say that we were originally two hostile youkai, but after a fierce battle, we were both seriously injured and on the verge of death.”

Xin Ke seemed to become more and more interested as she talked, and even enthusiastically began to tailor up a past for herself and Su Er.

"In short, in that situation, neither of our two broken bodies could sustain life anymore, but neither of us wanted to die there. In the end, we could only reluctantly accept the future of merging our last bodies with each other and then eke out a living... How about this?"

"...It seems like there's nothing wrong, but it feels strangely similar to what we went through back then..." Su Er pondered for a moment, "Then let's do it this way. When we get back to modern society, we'll go ask Nurarihyon to see if anything has changed."

Suer was also curious whether the future would change because of their actions, and looked forward to the moment when the mystery would be revealed.

Of course, these are just seasonings.

The city, built of piled stones, is like a fortress, exuding a rugged atmosphere from the inside out. Most of the houses are more like dens of wild beasts than houses; they are simple but not haphazard, and can only be described as exquisitely designed in a grotesque style.

Both the building height and the overall proportion of the city are much larger than Izumo Castle. Those ceilings that are over ten meters high are obviously not designed for humans. Yakumo Yukari obviously does not intend to require youkai to transform into human height and size in order to enter the city. Without thinking, Suer can guess what Yakumo Yukari is looking forward to - a city that does not need to imitate humans, but is simply built according to the preferences of youkai.

This is why, when Sue and Hinco walked through the city, they felt as if they were wandering through the land of giants in Gulliver's Travels. The various features, which could not even be described as exotic, fully satisfied a person's curiosity as a tourist.

"That guy did a pretty good job, at least the hygiene is much better than I expected," Suer couldn't help but exclaim.

He would never forget the excrement produced by the mixed human and yokai army of Izumo on the plains where they were stationed. It was a nightmare for any modern person. But perhaps due to the female yokai's love of beauty or hygiene, the sanitation of this yokai city was much better than Suer had expected.

That's great, really great.

Regardless of what methods Yukari Yakumo used to gather those youkai with their various motives, she was at least serious about building a better city.

"You like this city very much, don't you?"

The one who answered Suer's question was not Xin Ke, but the blonde, purple-robed female demon. Suer knew that with the special and secretive nature of this guy's abilities, it was absolutely impossible that he hadn't been monitoring the various movements in his city all year round. In other words, he and Xin Ke had probably already been discovered by Yakumo Yukari as soon as they appeared. The reason she chose to show herself and talk to him was because she had confirmed that Suer was probably not there to cause trouble or cause problems.

In this sense, this kind of demonic camera is truly terrifying.

Suer sighed at the monsters' right to privacy.

“It’s very good. Also, it’s been a long time… Just like last time, I’ve come here again to ask you for help with something,” Sur said frankly as he turned around.

He had mastered the way yokai communicated, saying things like, "Speak your mind, and if you disagree, go out and have a go..." Clearly, Yukari Yakumo was convinced.

“Of course, but please come to my place first. This isn’t a good place to talk,” Yakumo Yukari said with a smile, not showing any awkwardness despite not having seen each other for several years. She turned to the side and casually made a slit in the air, creating a gap as she invited them to meet.

"...Where is your palace?" Without taking a step, Suer remained silent for a moment before pointing to the highest building in the city, which was half-standing on the mountainside. Given the succubus's temperament, only a place that could overlook all the monsters was worthy of her attention.

“That’s right,” Yakumo Yukari said, still somewhat puzzled.

"Then I'll head straight there. See you there," Sue said, turning and leaving without giving Yukari a chance to object.

Chapter 122 City of Monsters

No matter how many times, Yukari Yakumo always appeared to be incredibly respectful and submissive, but Suer never let his guard down around this female demon. Not to mention now that he has discovered that his own power is limited, while Yukari Yakumo can do things that he cannot, Suer has become even more wary.

Sull had no intention of going into the black chasm filled with eyes, even though Yakumo Yukari had no reason to attack him. As the saying goes, a wise man does not stand under a crumbling wall, and Sull had no desire to enter the female demon's power except for some necessary means.

So let's forget about gaps and such.

That's pretty dangerous.

Yukari Yakumo could naturally see what Suer was worried about. She didn't seem angry at all. She simply calmed down some of the youkai who were excited to see her in the city before going back into the gap and leaving.

"What does it feel like to become the Lord of Demons and Monsters?" Su'er asked curiously, taking a sip of the tea in front of him.

Although the old fox Nurarihyon from modern society was once revered by yokai as the lord of demons, Sora, or rather even Nurarihyon himself, frankly admitted that his title of lord of demons was exaggerated.

After the great demons disappeared from the world and their whereabouts became unknown, with the development of mankind and the increasing strength of technology and military, the title of "Lord of Demons and Monsters" became more of an honorific title for the leader of those lesser demons who had nowhere to go and who lived in modern society.

However, Yakumo Yukari's title of "Lord of Demons and Monsters" was earned by her own strength and overwhelming slaughter in this era of demons vying for power. Just the various huge skulls that Suer saw on both sides of the corridor before entering this palace were enough to show her power. Those were all the spoils of war that Yakumo Yukari collected after defeating her enemies.

If a timid demon were to come to this palace to pay homage to the city's master, it would probably be enough to crush their will simply by walking through the corridor in front of the palace, since the remains of those corpses still retain the ferocious and powerful demonic energy of their original owners.

Even the most audacious demons would calm down after witnessing those corpses and show due respect to Yakumo Yukari.

In this era, demons do not value benevolence, kindness, or forgiveness. Strength, ferocity, and ruthlessness are what they follow—except for the jade-colored nine-tailed fox before its fall from grace.

However, although Su's exclamation of "Lord of Demons and Monsters" was a rare one that was not laced with sarcasm or perfunctoriness, Yakumo Yukari did not understand it.

"魑魅魍魉?" Not even knowing how to write the specific characters, Yakumo Yukari just repeated the pronunciation of Su'er in confusion.

“It means Lord of Demons,” Xin Ke rolled her eyes and filled in the gap for Su Er.

“Oh, I see,” Yakumo Yukari said with a sudden realization, then shook her head with a smile. “To say it’s boring would be too shameless, but since the founding of the nation two years ago, I haven’t had that feeling of longing and anticipation that I had before the founding of the nation.”

"I feel a little nostalgic... especially the night before the founding of the nation was announced, I was so excited that I couldn't sleep," Yukari Yakumo suddenly sighed nostalgically. "Now I just feel tired."

"What you can't have is always more alluring," a lyric suddenly popped into Su'er's head, and she took another sip of tea.

Incidentally, he completely disregarded the claim that Yukari Yakumo was currently feeling exhausted; based on the details he observed, the female youkai was clearly enjoying herself.

"Haha, hahahahahaha," amused by Su'er's words, Yakumo Yukari threw her head back and laughed heartily, displaying a boldness completely different from that of a female youkai. "Is it only those who can't get things that cause a stir? Hahaha, then what about those who already have them?"

“Those who have obtained it are fearless,” Suer added.

"Hahahahahaha."

"Indeed, that's true," Yakumo Yukari wiped away the tears welling up in her eyes, laughing so hard she could barely stand up straight. "So you're fearless? How apt!"

"So you two have already completed what you were supposed to do on the moon?" It took her a while to compose herself. Yakumo Yukari covered her mouth and nose with regret and said, "I was thinking of inviting you two to admire the scenery of this kingdom that belongs only to youkai when it was established, but I have been searching for you since that night and have not been able to find any trace of you."

"Well, Yashiki-dō has already told us. Anyway, congratulations on finally realizing your dream," Su'er said casually while congratulating him. "I wanted to see what this unique country looked like when it was established, but because of our physical condition, we were delayed on the moon for too long, so we had to miss it... This is a gift."

Suer waved and placed the prepared item on the table. It was an ornament made of pink coral, which did not possess any real power. It was just for looking at and was a token of his appreciation.

“Thank you very much, I like it very much… The other two bodies?” Yakumo Yukari seemed to misunderstand. “Are they injured? If there is anything I can do to help you, please tell me, I will not refuse.”

"There's nothing wrong with it, just a few minor aftereffects, which have now been taken care of," Su Er said, taking a relaxed sip of tea and casually recounting the story of his and Xin Ke's origins that he and Xin Ke had made up before coming to this city.

"...I never expected that the two of you would have such a background? After going through so many years, you have actually developed feelings for each other? That's wonderful..." Yukari Yakumo wiped away her tears of emotion. Regardless of whether the tears were real or not, at least she was in the right mood for the moment.

“It’s all in the past, it doesn’t matter anymore,” Su’er shrugged and stood up, walking to the window of the room. From there, he could see all the monsters, big and small, below the mountain, as well as the entire city. “By the way, I haven’t asked you yet, what’s the name of this city—what do you call it?”

“Ten Thousand Bones City, Demon Gathering City… these are the names that monsters or gods outside call this place.” Su Er stood up, and Yakumo Yukari walked to his side. This place, which also overlooks everything below, is the result of her hard work. “And I call it—Fallen God.”

Yukari Yakumo smiled with satisfaction and mystery. She liked to look down at everything from this angle, and even when she was disturbed by ordinary people, she would sit here for a long time to savor this feeling.

"The City of Fallen Gods".

She repeated it again and again, her words as resolute as steel, encapsulating what Yukari Yakumo ultimately wanted to see.

Fallen god... never mind.

Chapter 123 Doubt

"Not made public?"

"It hasn't been made public yet."

Yukari Yakumo affirmed.

This also resolved the doubt that had just arisen in Suer's mind—if it was called by this name, why hadn't the gods in Izumo Castle sent troops to attack this place yet? It seemed that this was just another ambition that Yakumo Yukari had developed after successfully achieving her previous ambition.

From this perspective, this female monster truly lives up to her origins... the embodiment of desire, never satisfied.

Will such monsters disappear from modern society in the future?

Suer found it hard to imagine why Yakumo Yukari would hide herself... Could it be that she was hit by an iron fist at some point in the future?

"Then I wish you all the best. Actually, Xin Ke and I won't be staying too long this time. Just like last time, you can send us back to the moon on the night of the full moon," Su Er said directly, not wanting to get entangled in any complicated matters.

Before actually arriving in this city inhabited only by yokai, Sull was worried that he would encounter something that would infuriate or be unacceptable to him—after all, there are always man-eating yokai among them. However, perhaps because Sull had judged his bottom line from his past attitude, Yukari Yakumo had already explicitly forbidden her subordinates from eating humans.

Suer's favorability increases.

The youkai in this city who obeyed Yakumo Yukari were baffled by the order, but since the human population was not large, there were too many bones and not enough meat, so they did not disobey. In any case, there was plenty of food in Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, so the order was carried out.

So Suer had even less to worry about. She simply offered her blessings to Yakumo Yukari, who had helped her repeatedly, hoping that she could stay in her position for a long time and not be overthrown by any youkai.

You should know that monsters always have a competitive spirit and a desire to overthrow their superiors, and Yukari Yakumo's abilities are more about the art of trickery, so she is not particularly strong when she puts her true strength into practice.

"Are we going to the moon again?" This request wasn't surprising, but Yukari Yakumo, whose relationship with Sue had grown closer, still asked curiously, "What's up there? Is it dangerous?"

"It's not exactly dangerous, but it's certainly incredibly desolate," Su Er thought for a moment before deciding to be frank. "I don't recommend you go up there, because there might be some unknown dangers lurking around. Besides, if you actually go up, you'll probably be speechless with shock... or you might even break down from discovering an unacceptable reality?"