After being chosen by the Ice Queen

Liuli landed steadily, one knee slightly bent, the short sword in her hand already completely embedded in the Smiling Buddha's head, piercing straight down. Her movements were swift and decisive; she drew her sword, turned to the side, and avoided the splatter of red and white substances that followed.

The Smiling Buddha's face still held a faint, eerie smile, a mixture of mockery and understanding, but his eyes had completely dimmed. He stood frozen for a moment, leaning on his cane, then collapsed forward with a thud, crashing onto the damp ground, and fell silent.

A strong, pungent smell of blood quickly filled the fresh air after the rain.

Liuli flicked the little blood off her short sword and sheathed it. Without even glancing at the corpse on the ground, she turned to the panting Gu Yan and calmly said, "Mission complete. He had something in his sleeve, probably for Gui Touhao, or... someone else."

Gu Yan composed himself, walked to the corpse, and carefully used his broken sword to pry open the left sleeve of the Smiling Buddha. Inside, as expected, was a flat object wrapped in oiled paper. He didn't open it immediately, but instead put it in his pocket.

Liuli had reached the shadows at the alley entrance and whispered, "It's time to go. Someone will come to 'discover' the body soon."

Chiba Rin has accomplished what he asked for, and Gu Yan's pledge of allegiance within the Chiba Group is now stained with blood.

Gu Yan was so calm that even he was a little surprised. He recalled Qianye's words. How strange, was this all part of her plan?

The night air after the rain was exceptionally chilly, dispelling the last trace of warmth in the short alley. Gu Yan followed behind Liu Li, the two of them like ghosts wandering in the night, silently passing through the alley and finally returning to the secluded house arranged by Chiba Rin.

He closed the door, shutting out the outside world. The only sound inside was Gu Yan's own breathing, which had quickly calmed. He didn't immediately examine his spoils, but instead walked to the center of the quiet room and slowly sat down.

The system has been updated:

Side Quest (Chiba Rin's Request): Eliminate "Smiling Buddha" Hotta Masazō (1/1) - Completed.

[Mission Evaluation: Precise (The assassination objective was successfully achieved without causing a large-scale disturbance)]

[Mission Rewards: Chiba Rin's trust level slightly increased; Chiba Group's "Advisor Assistant" status officially activated; Source Points +300.]

His identity has been confirmed, which is the most important achievement so far. It means that he has initially established himself within the Chiba Group.

He looked at the specialization section of his personal panel.

Swordsmanship Specialization: 42/100 (Proficient → Master)

[Note: After experiencing intense life-or-death combat, a breakthrough has been achieved in understanding and applying the sword, breaking through previous limitations. Key combat maneuvers were completed under unfavorable weapon conditions, and the initial essence of "the sword lies in the mind, residing in the heart" has been grasped. Power transmission efficiency and adaptability have slightly improved.]

He'd broken through! From 39 to 42, although it was only a 3-level increase, he had crossed the first small hurdle. Gu Yan could clearly feel that his understanding of swordsmanship was no longer just about rigid moves and power techniques, but also included more intuition about rhythm and timing.

When fighting the Smiling Buddha, the final horizontal slash that lured the enemy in seemed to subtly reflect this newfound understanding.

This is probably one of the most tangible gains of the night.

Examining his body, the Yin Qi, which had grown stronger by absorbing the remnants of Orochi, now resembled a savage, lurking serpent, quietly coiled deep within his dantian, its eerie purple light faintly visible.

It was quiet, but beneath the calm, a deeper, darker power was gathering. And the sealed core of Orochi's resentment, like a poisonous insect encased in amber of time, remained motionless for the time being.

This silence only made the unease in Gu Yan's heart become clearer.

He looked at the system interface again and clicked "Request Return".

it's time.

He took out the oiled paper package from the Smiling Buddha's sleeve. Inside was an old-fashioned brass key and a folded piece of imitation leather paper with a special texture.

The paper was drawn with extremely fine lines that resembled both terrain and some kind of ritual, with several words marked next to it. Two of them caught Gu Yan's attention: "Yuneng Qilu Island" and "Shenli".

Onokiro Island. Is it the floating island where Izanagi and Izanami first created the Japanese archipelago in Japanese mythology? Kagero is the place where deities descend and reside during rituals… This image seems to point to a secret location related to ancient mythology.

Gu Yan carefully put the key and the imitation leather paper into his imprint space. This might be related to clues about the Kusanagi Sword.

Shuangyue Teahouse

Chiba Rin seemed to have known the outcome all along. When she saw him, there was no surprise on her face; she simply nodded slightly.

"Well done, very clean. Ghost Head Hao's side is already infighting; at least for the time being, he won't have time to cause trouble again." She pushed a document in front of Gu Yan. "This is your identification document and a communicator. You can use this identity in certain situations and through certain channels within the group. Keep a low profile otherwise."

Gu Yan took it without looking at it for long and said, "Miss Qianye, I have some personal matters that need to be dealt with urgently for the next period of time, so I may be away for a while."

Chiba Rin raised his eyes, his dark eyes revealing no emotion: "Leave? For how long?"

"It's uncertain. It could take a few days, or... some time. But I promise I'll come back after I've finished dealing with it," Gu said firmly.

He needs to return to the real world to find Lin Xue and resolve the hidden dangers of the Candlelight Breath, which is more important than continuing to participate in gang warfare here.

Moreover, based on what he learned from his casual conversation with Lei Kun, as well as his own vague perception, the flow of time between different fruit worlds is not constant.

Sometimes the differences are huge, and sometimes they are relatively close, which seems to be related to the state of the world, the energy level, and the distance from the source.

The Council of Order maintains certain stable passages or safe houses, which can regulate this flow rate difference to some extent and provide a buffer for travelers.

His return this time was through a system application, returning to the relatively benchmarked real world in order to deal with the problem in a shorter time and return to this world before too much time has passed.

Of course, there's no need to explain these things to Chiba Rin.

Chiba Rin remained silent for a moment, her fingers unconsciously stroking the chrysanthemum pattern on the short sword at her waist.

"Can."

"Remember your promise. The identity and resources I gave you weren't unconditional. When you return, there will be much more to do. Your duty goes beyond simply killing."

"I see."

After leaving the Frostmoon Tea House, Gu Yan returned to the Japanese-style house. Once he confirmed that no one was watching him, he activated the system.

[Request to return (Current World: Yi-Si-7743)]

[The initial completion of the "Establishment" task has been detected, meeting the minimum regression criteria.]

[WARNING: There are ongoing related side quests in this world ('The Promise of the Sword' and Chiba Rin's Request). Forced return may result in a lower mission evaluation or unpredictable subsequent developments. Confirm?]

"confirm."

[Regression instructions confirmed. Establishing a stable channel...]

[Teleportation established. Initiating teleportation.]