My personal opinion on Gensokyo

Shang Yang, who had been living with love for thousands of years, naturally understood the original intention of love in an instant. He nodded slightly in understanding, and then the young man with gray and white hair seemed to speak casually.

"...However, if farmers from the mountains live alongside monsters in Gensokyo, then we should also consider the balance between these farmers and monsters."

"If they continue to be ruled by 'terrible' monsters, within a few generations, the small societies formed by these villages will collapse due to fear and anxiety, and many problems will arise."

"That's right, so there should be a shrine maiden in Gensokyo."

The Yokai Sage agreed in a calm tone.

"A miko who can defeat monsters and maintain the balance between humans and monsters in Gensokyo."

Speaking of this, Yakumo Yukari seemed to have thought of something. She looked at Shang Yang, who seemed nonchalant, with some surprise and asked thoughtfully.

"...That remote village in Musashi, that girl with great potential in spiritual power, and that half-demon controlled by the item of yin and yang power, are these the plans of Lord Shangjun?"

"...No, Lord Yakumo has misunderstood."

Hearing Yakumo Yukari's question, Shang Yang answered indifferently.

"That girl and that half-demon have nothing to do with the matter of Gensokyo we are discussing."

"However, I do have other considerations regarding that girl and that half-demon."

PS1: Is this the case? The last few chapters of this novel will definitely not be released...

PS2: The old chapter ends, and the new chapter will be on the shelves in early October.

Volume 6: Thoughts Across Time and Space: Chapter 353: The Shrine Maiden of Gensokyo

"I see."

After hearing this answer, the Yokai Sage didn't seem interested in asking any further questions and skipped the question.

"Then, as for the shrine maiden, we'll have to slowly search for her over the next few hundred years. The girl from Musashi's countryside has a talent for being a shrine maiden that is rare in the world, but even she can only deal with smaller monsters that are relatively powerful in this Warring States period. As for fighting against larger monsters, there's no way she can even think about it."

Having said that, the Youkai Sage sighed softly, feeling a little sorry.

"Mortals have no advantages in areas of uncommon sense, and at the same time, their lifespans are too short."

"Furthermore, if we can find a woman more talented than that girl from Musashigo to serve as Gensokyo's first shrine maiden, then when she passes away and returns to the Pure Land on the other side of the river, there's no guarantee that we'll be able to find another woman with the same extraordinary talent in time to take over as Gensokyo's second shrine maiden."

The Yokai Sage sighed.

"Rather than searching over and over again for a candidate shrine maiden with the same exceptional talent, a more feasible solution would be for the first shrine maiden to give birth to a daughter with the same exceptional talent, to take over the role. However, ensuring that the descendants of the first shrine maiden possess similar exceptional talent from generation to generation, in other words, ensuring that the bloodline talent left by the first shrine maiden is not affected by external factors, is a more difficult problem."

After finishing the above speech, the Yokai Sage smiled meaningfully.

"The possibility of a mortal being born who meets the requirements and possesses unparalleled talent as the 'First Shrine Maiden of Gensokyo' is almost impossible."

"We can consider having a god or a monster serve as the shrine maiden of Gensokyo."

Kaguya, who had been quietly listening and always maintaining the outstanding temperament of the Moon Princess, smiled playfully and was about to speak.

"It won't be affected by the passage of time. If you want to deceive mortals, you only need to change your appearance after a few decades."

"Although it's not impossible..."

Before Yakumo Yukari could say anything, Shana spoke seriously first.

"Even if we don't mind, and the ordinary humans living in Gensokyo won't notice, the gods and monsters living in Gensokyo will one day discover the inhuman nature of the Miko who protects humans. At that time, the balance between humans, gods, and monsters will no longer exist."

"Besides, it's difficult for us to choose gods or monsters to serve as the miko of Gensokyo."

Miss Jue added softly.

"If even the miko who maintains the balance between mortals and monsters is inhuman, then this balance has no meaning from the beginning."

"Gods and witches, monsters and witches..."

Although Komeiji Kaku and Shana from the Hot Spring Villa objected to Kaguya's proposal, after hearing Kaguya's proposal, the great youkai with beautiful golden hair seemed to repeat the number with some consideration. Then, in the puzzled gazes of Shang Yang and his own Shikigami (Yakumo Aoi), as well as Ai, Kaku, Shana and Kaguya, he suddenly seemed to think of something, smiled with satisfaction, looked at Shang Yang, who also felt very strange, with a meaningful look, and spoke slowly.

"I do have a plan."

"Oh? What's the plan?"

When Shang Yang heard Yakumo Yukari say that she had a solution, he was indeed very curious and asked casually.

Although he didn't know whether it was the later Hakurei shrine maiden of Gensokyo, even he was deeply interested in the Hakurei shrine maiden system, which had maintained the balance of Gensokyo for hundreds of years. After all, even in Shang Yang's records of Gensokyo, there were not many records of the Hakurei shrine maiden series and the original first generation of Hakurei shrine maidens.

As he asked, Shang Yang casually picked up the teacup. They talked for a long time and his throat became a little hoarse.

Hearing Shang Yang's question and noticing the curious glances of the girls from the hot spring villa and their own Shikigami, the sage of the monsters spoke slowly and leisurely.

"Since we can't allow gods or monsters to serve as shrine maidens in Gensokyo, and finding a shrine maiden with exceptional talent and then ensuring that the bloodline of this first generation of shrine maidens remains uncontaminated is difficult to achieve, then we don't need to consider the talents or bloodlines of mortal shrine maidens."

"We just need to choose a powerful enough inhuman being from the other side, and have it give birth to a 'first generation priestess' with the talent and potential we need, with a mortal woman."

"Compared to the weak genetic bloodlines of mortals, the power of monsters can almost be completely passed on to their offspring through bloodline inheritance, which is also known as half-monsters."

"The 'first generation of miko' we need must not have the appearance of a youkai that would be rejected by mortals, but must also possess the power to subdue powerful youkai."

"Then this matter becomes simple."

"Sir Shangyang, it is up to you to find a mortal woman you like and give birth to the 'first generation miko' of Gensokyo that our ancient great monsters need!"

“Poof! Cough cough cough…”

Shang Yang, who was drinking tea, suddenly heard these words and spat out the tea that was about to enter his throat. He couldn't catch his breath and kept coughing because of choking.

Even Miss Ai, who has a quiet and gentle personality, looked a little stunned, while Jue and Shana's expressions were even more interesting. They were not sure whether they should throw a certain monster sage and a certain Nine-tailed Strategist out of the hot spring villa now, or throw Shang Yang out first and then have a deep communication with the master and servant opposite.

As for a certain princess who loves to stir up trouble, although she was also very surprised, she was now trying very hard to hold back her laughter and barely managed to not laugh out loud.

Next to the girls in the hot spring villa, Shang Yang, who had completely lost his serious look but had finally sorted himself out, looked in disbelief at the monster sage who was sitting opposite him and drinking tea calmly.

"...Are you kidding me?"

"how come?"

Hearing Shang Yang's direct question, Yakumo Yukari still looked calm and unhurried, as if she didn't think there was anything wrong with the unscrupulous plan she proposed.

"Your Excellency Shang Yang's yin-yang abilities and profound magical powers are naturally self-evident. Moreover, you are a completely humanoid demon. Any offspring born from you and a mortal woman will not have any external demon characteristics."

"Even more commendable is that you are the only male among us ancient great monsters, who are at the pinnacle of the monster clan. There is no one more suitable than you, Lord Shangyang."

Having said that, a playful smile appeared on the Youkai Sage's beautiful face again, and he asked slowly.

"Is there something wrong?"

...This is not a question of right or wrong.

Although he intended to refute it like this, Shang Yang swallowed his words first, barely ignored the strange looks from the other girls sitting in the hot spring villa, and raised objections from other angles.

"Although the descendants of monsters and humans, or half-demons, have both inhuman and human aspects, if, as Lord Yakumo says, 'Gensokyo's first half-demon miko' is born, her identification with mortals and her willingness to bear the responsibility of protecting Gensokyo's balance become thorny issues."

"Also, as Shana said, while half-demon are neither mortal nor full-fledged monsters, their lifespans are often much longer than humans. If a half-demon woman were allowed to serve as a miko in Gensokyo for an extended period, even if she possessed no unusual traits, she would likely be alienated and questioned by mortals, and the balance between gods, monsters, and humans would become meaningless."

Having said that, Shang Yang shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his gray hair helplessly.

"...Besides, because of my own position, I would not agree to it."

PS1: Actually, judging from the current illustrations of Touhou works, Reimu and Marisa are already assumed to be immortal. (Tucao)

PS2: The passage of time in Gensokyo is similar to that in our world. Counting from the spell card rules, Reimu has been serving as the Hakurei shrine maiden for twenty years.

Volume 6: Thoughts Across Time and Space: Chapter 354: The Fate of the Witch

After saying this, Shang Yang naturally picked up the teacup to drink tea again and easily noticed that the strange looks of the girls sitting in the hot spring villa, especially Jue and Shana, gradually quieted down and turned to the monster sage who was also quietly listening to Shang Yang's answer.

"...That's it."

Hearing Shang Yang's response, the Monster Sage shook his head with some regret, but still maintained a meaningful smile and continued to speak slowly.

"I had intended to propose a solution to the first problem, but I didn't realize that Your Excellency Shang Jun had his own difficulties. What a pity."

After hearing what Yakumo Yukari said, Shang Yang asked again with some confusion.

"Oh? What do you say?"

In fact, the issue raised by Yakumo Yukari about the 'first shrine maiden of Gensokyo' who has the blood of Shangyang, in short, is only one problem, that is, the life of the 'first shrine maiden of Gensokyo' who has the blood of Shangyang is almost immortal, and a nearly immortal shrine maiden of Gensokyo who will be classified as a monster by ordinary humans will find it difficult to maintain the balance of Gensokyo.

"In fact, the shrine maidens of Gensokyo are still a lineage passed down from generation to generation within Gensokyo. After the first generation of shrine maidens has served as shrine maidens for decades, the next generation of shrine maidens will take over, and the previous generation of shrine maidens can then go into seclusion, disappearing from the sight of humans."

Having said that, Yakumo Yukari casually used her folding fan to cover up her meaningful smile, and did not give the serious Shana the opportunity to ask the question "How can the second generation of shrine maidens and subsequent generations of shrine maidens have the power to defeat the great monsters?" The wise and far-sighted sage gave the answer directly.

"As for the method of ensuring the power of the Miko of Gensokyo for generations to come, it will be even more difficult, Lord Shangyang."

"Please, together with each generation of Miko of Gensokyo, give birth to the next generation of Miko of Gensokyo, so that the successive Miko of Gensokyo will have the power to exterminate the great monsters."

"Poof!!!"*3

These words were too shocking, causing Shang Yang, who was drinking tea in confusion, and the girls from the hot spring villa who were also drinking tea but were just hiding their curiosity and wanting to hear the answer to burst out laughing. The expressions of all the people present turned into complete horror, and they all looked at a certain monster sage with beautiful long golden hair and a leisurely expression.

...As expected of the Monster Sage, only a very shameless and cruel person could come up with such a ridiculous plan!

"Zi, Master Zi!"

The big fox, who was also shocked by his master's shamelessness and insanity, blushed and objected to a certain leisurely-looking monster sage in shame and anger.

"Please respect yourself! Whether it's for Lord Shangyang or the future Miko of Gensokyo, this, this is wrong!!!"

"Even if Lord Shangyang might be happy, but, but! This is simply too much for the future miko-samas of Gensokyo!"

Although the originally quiet hot spring villa was disrupted by the shameless and insane speech of a certain monster sage, after hearing a certain ashamed and angry nine-tailed fox accusing its own master and unconsciously making a fuss about his Shangyang, it finally broke free from the difficult situation of being choked for the second time, coughing, and silently objecting with half-open eyes.

"Ahem! Miss Lan, wait a minute! What the hell do you mean I might be happy?! Such an idea... ahem, that's not right. I can't do such a crazy thing!"

"Eh? Ugh, ah! Sorry, sorry, Lord Shang Yang! I don't know why, but I subconsciously..."

Hearing the strong rebuttal from the coughing young man with gray hair, the nine-tailed fox was stunned for a moment, and then realized what he had just said. Yakumo Lan hurriedly turned sideways in panic to apologize to Shang Yang. At this moment, a girl sitting there could no longer bear it.

"Sage! What is your intention in proposing this shameless plan?!"

Unable to restrain herself from standing up, a petite girl, whose face had turned red due to shyness, drew out the Sword of Heavenly Fire. The flames of the red lotus ignited on the petite girl's body, and the girl's pure black hair instantly turned a fiery red like a flame. She asked loudly in shame and anger.

"You've put forward a condition that Shang Yang might agree to, but Jue and I would never agree to. Is Your Excellency the Sage trying to split up our Hot Spring Manor?!"

...Pfft! Shana! What kind of terrible image do you have of me?!

Although Shang Yang, whose knee was hit by an arrow because of Shana's angry shout, complained silently in his heart, he also stood up and hugged the soft waist of the flame-haired girl with a blushing face, full of shame and anger, and who was about to fight directly with a certain leisurely monster sage, and comforted her in a low voice.

"Okay, okay... Shana, sit back down first. It's not what you think..."

There was a commotion in the living room of the hot spring villa...

After a moment of confusion, Shang Yang finally dragged the flame-haired girl, who was very shy about certain topics and was ashamed and angry because of the overly shocking remarks made by a certain monster sage, back to sit down again. After the other girls from the hot spring villa who had temporarily lost their computers due to the shock of the terrible remarks came to their senses, Shang Yang sat back to his original position with a strange look on his face and returned to his expressionless negotiation mode.

The gray-haired master of the Cloud Court spoke lightly, looking at a certain demon sage with a playful smile in a very strange way, as if he was looking at something that should not exist in the human world.

"Sage, let's end this conversation here..."

Although she was also surprised by the weird remarks of a certain youkai sage that seemed to have some real intentions, but because she had lived in the Moon City in the past and witnessed her mother Tsukiyomi's completely indifferent and completely disregard for moral issues, all of her plans were very weird. The former Moon Princess Horaisan Kaguya was the first to adjust her mentality, still maintaining her outstanding princess temperament. She seemed to feel a little sorry and changed the previous topic, and made a soft suggestion.

"Since we're trying to maintain the balance of Gensokyo, it wouldn't be right if we didn't choose a human shrine maiden. Therefore, whether it's a monster shrine maiden or one with the bloodline of a god or monster, neither is a long-term solution."

"However, even for mortals, there shouldn't be a complete solution. For example, could we use the great barrier protecting Gensokyo to grant the future human Miko of Gensokyo spiritual powers that surpass those of humans?"

"By using the Great Barrier that protects Gensokyo, it grants the Miko of Gensokyo the spiritual power to exorcise monsters, or in other words, enables the Miko of Gensokyo to control the power of the Great Barrier of Gensokyo."

Upon hearing this, the Youkai Sage also lost his meaningful and playful smile, and casually ignored the mad method that had just brought a huge emotional shock to the girls sitting in the hot spring villa. Instead, he raised his hand to support his chin and considered Kaguya's proposal.

Although the method proposed by the 'First Shrine Maiden of Gensokyo' who had Shangyang bloodline was not aimless, the wise monsters also made some small attempts based on her suggestion which seemed too weird and crazy to ordinary people.

While thinking this, the sage with long golden hair seemed to glance at the girl with short lavender hair who was sitting dignifiedly with an expressionless face beside the young man with messy gray hair.

At the same time, Komeiji Kakui noticed Yakumo Yukari's gaze. Their eyes met briefly and then looked away.

...Although because Miss Gu Mingdi was there, it was just a small joke.

After retracting his gaze, the Monster Sage thought about Kaguya's proposal. Coincidentally, the idea of ​​using the power of Gensokyo's Great Barrier to enable Gensokyo's guardian shrine maiden to repel monsters was something that Yakumo Yukari had just considered. This method was indeed not impossible, but it required additional assistance, and this additional assistance was completely beyond Yakumo Yukari's control.

Although he was lost in thought because of Kaguya's proposal, what the Youkai Sage didn't understand was that Kaguya's proposal, which seemed to be a change of subject, was actually a deliberate "spoiler" given "in advance" by Kaguya.

Hundreds of years later, as far as Shang Yang and Kaguya know, part of the power of the generations of Hakurei shrine maidens who guarded the Hakurei Great Barrier and maintained the balance of Gensokyo must be related to the Hakurei Great Barrier.

After thinking for a while, Yakumo Yukari pondered for a moment, still with a leisurely expression, and spoke slowly.

"…While it's not impossible, there are two rather difficult problems."

"First, the barrier formed by the power of the realm of the virtual and the real. At present, I can't think of a way for an ordinary human witch to use the power of this barrier."

Although he said that he couldn't think of any method, the big monster in the realm turned his gaze to Shang Yang meaningfully.

This is the "extra assistance" to achieve this method, which comes from the assistance of the mysterious yin and yang ability of the master of the Cloud Courtyard.