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It was already late at night, but the hot spring hotel was still open. He led his people over, thinking of soaking in the hot spring and resting for a while.

Upon entering the hot spring inn, I saw the owner, an elderly man with a kind smile on his face.

Would you all like to soak in the hot springs?

The old man looked at the monsters of various shapes and sizes, but his eyes showed no fear. Instead, he asked in a very calm tone.

"Correct."

Qin Qi looked at the old man. He was very ordinary-looking, except for his eyes.

There is some spiritual power above his eyes; he must have been born with the ability to see ghosts or something similar.

"Then please come with me."

The owner led Qin and the others through a long corridor and then to the location of the hot springs, which consisted of two springs, one for men and one for women.

"There are changes of clothes inside, please get some rest."

The old man spoke.

"Okay, by the way, could you please get me some food and drinks?"

Qin Qi spoke.

"Should we take it to the hot springs, or outside?"

The old man asked.

"Let's take them to the hot spring."

Qin Qi spoke.

"Ok."

The old man nodded and then left.

"Meow, a hot spring! It's been so long since I've soaked in a hot spring."

The cat jumped off Qin Qi's shoulder, stretched its body, and then said, "Cat, let's go soak in the hot spring."

The cat then walked towards the women's bath. Xue glanced at Qin Qi and then followed behind the cat. The remaining female monsters also followed.

"It's just a hot bath, why are they all so excited? I just don't understand."

Qin Qi led his men into the men's bath, changed their clothes, wrapped themselves in towels, and then entered the hot spring.

It's so warm and cozy. Soaking in it makes me feel completely relaxed, and my mind feels like it's been cleansed!

"General, this hot spring is poisonous! I feel like I'm going to die!"

One of the vengeful spirits felt lightheaded and a sense of bliss washed over him after soaking in the hot spring.

It felt like I was about to become a Buddha.

"Hey you, Kappa, give him a couple of punches."

Qin Qi glanced at it and casually spoke.

"clear."

The kappa was ruthless and didn't talk much. He stood up, grabbed the vengeful spirit, and punched it twice, turning the spirit into a black eye.

"Thank you, Kappa-boss."

Although the vengeful spirit was beaten so badly that it had black eyes, the feeling of happiness and enlightenment it had been experiencing vanished instantly.

He expressed his gratitude.

"You're welcome. If you feel that way again later, just let me know and I'll hit you harder."

The kappa gave a thumbs up, indicating that they were all brothers and there was no need to thank him. He added that he would beat the kappa up again if needed!

"General, this hot spring, this inn, something seems off about them! Could they be some kind of trap?"

At this moment, a monster discovered the problem, whether it was the old man's attitude or the effect of the hot spring.

Something's off about everything!

"Whether it's a trap or not is unclear, but this hotel itself is actually a monster, a monster called the Lost Home."

"They usually appear in remote places in the form of houses, then lure people in and make it impossible for them to leave."

"That boss was just an ordinary human being, and he didn't have any bad aura about him."

"As for the hot spring, it is a very good hot spring that can calm the mind, remove distracting thoughts, accelerate the healing of injuries, and remove toxins from the body."

"Just now, the vengeful spirit was so calm that all the resentment in its heart disappeared. Without resentment, it can naturally become a Buddha."

"But it's easy to solve, just give him two punches."

It's strange that Qin Qi figured out the details of this hotel and hot spring in such a short time, but he posed no threat.

In a direct confrontation, he could crush someone with a single finger.

After a while, the owner brought in some snacks and liquor, placed them on a tray, and pushed them into the water.

"Guest, what would you like—food and drinks?"

The boss spoke up.

"Boss, don't rush off. We have some questions we'd like to ask you."

Qin Qi was leisurely soaking in the hot spring with his head tilted back when he called out to the owner who was about to leave. At the same time, the monster showering outside also stood up and blocked the owner's way.

What can I do for you?

The boss asked.

"I'd like to ask you, you run a hot spring here, and you open it so late at night. Are you waiting for monsters to come?"

Qin Qi asked.

"Ah."

The shopkeeper nodded and didn't hide anything: "This place is sparsely populated, but it's a good place for monsters."

"My shop never opens in the morning, it always opens at night, and the customers are not human, but monsters."

"Boss, you should know that monsters are dangerous, so why are you doing this?"

Qin Qi asked.

"Why? Well, it's not for any special reason."

“My grandfather did the same thing, and I’ve been helping out in the shop with him since I was a child.”

"I have met many monsters. Some of them are very dangerous, but some are very kind. I have become friends with many of them."

The old man sat down as he spoke. He hadn't talked to anyone like this in a long time, and once he started talking, he couldn't stop.

"But as you said, monsters are all troublesome beings, and occasionally some monsters will come to cause trouble."

"However, my grandfather's old friends or other guests would stop them, but I didn't really care."

"But my father was very concerned about this. He didn't like monsters, and he didn't like the relationship between my grandfather and monsters either."

“I remember that my father and grandfather had a fight that night, and then my father took me away and left, and we were gone for ten years.”

Qin Qi listened to the old man's words, picked up his wine glass and took a sip. Hmm, it didn't have much flavor, and it was very mild on the palate.

“I’ve been living away from home for a while, but I’m not happy because I (abff) can’t find any friends. I tell them stories about monsters.”

"But they laughed at me, mocked me, told me that monsters didn't exist, and said I was a freak."

"But I don't care, I know that monsters really exist."

"Since no one would be my friend, I went to befriend the monsters. I made many monster friends outside."

The old man laughed as he said this: "For others, monsters are scary, but for me, talking about monsters is very interesting."

"Later, my father passed away due to some accident, and I returned to my grandfather's place. I spent three years with my grandfather."

"At that time, I was all alone and really didn't know what to do until a guest came."

"I find it very interesting to see the satisfied expressions on the guests' faces after soaking in the hot spring and to hear them tell stories about the world of yokai."

"So I've kept going for decades, and now I'm old."

"Perhaps in a few years, this hot spring hotel will disappear."

The old man smiled. He hadn't seen so many guests in a long time, and he was happy to see them in his final days.

He felt satisfied with doing one last business deal and telling one last story.

"Hey! I remember now! I visited a hot spring inn that catered to yokai a hundred years ago."

At that moment, a kappa who was soaking in the hot spring suddenly remembered something: more than a hundred years ago, when he had drifted down the river.

They came across a hot spring inn, but the owner at that time was not the old man he was now, nor his grandfather, but his great-grandfather!

"Weren't you in the north? How did you end up in the south?"

The kappa didn't remember the exact location, but he did remember the general idea of ​​where he found it: follow the river south and you'll find it.

But they were in the south at that moment!

"Eh?"

The old man looked at the kappa and said, "I didn't expect you to be a regular customer."

“We originally opened a shop on the mountain to the north, but a great monster appeared there and wouldn’t allow humans to do that.”

"There's nothing we can do; we're no match for him, so we have no choice but to hide here."

The old man sighed. Luckily, their house was a Lost Home, a haunted house, and they could move at any time; otherwise, they would have been truly doomed.

"Humans soak in hot springs, and so do monsters. Humans get healthy from hot springs, and monsters feel refreshed from them."

"When a monster is in a good mood, its malevolence will decrease, and it will no longer attack humans indiscriminately."

"Although this method is not very effective, it is much better than the Onmyoji's constant extermination."

Qin Qi sighed, "Monsters have their ways of surviving, and humans have theirs."

Qin Qi chatted with the old man for a few more minutes, then, having soaked for a while, he got up and stepped out of the hot spring to rest.

………………

"By the way, monsters probably don't have much money, so how do you maintain your hot spring?"

Qin Qi suddenly thought of a question and asked it.

"Although no one gives money, they all give small things they find or help out with their own efforts."

"Use those small items to exchange for daily necessities and essential supplies for opening a shop in the small villages at the foot of the mountain."

"That's enough. We can grow the rest of the food ourselves on the mountain. With this special hot spring water, the plants grow very well."

The old man lived alone and had very low material needs, so even if the monster didn't give him money, he wouldn't have any problems.

"That's great. I'll come here often when I have time."

After saying this, Qin Qi walked into the hall with the old man. He prepared to take out some of his belongings as payment for the hot spring bath.

But before he could take it out, the front door was suddenly kicked open!

"I almost fell for your trick again!"

A monster carrying a scythe and resembling both a rat and a shark walked in, followed by many other monsters.

"If it weren't for the lively atmosphere here, I would have really been fooled by you."

Yuanxingji swung his scythe directly at the porch, smashing it to pieces. The monsters behind him also began to vandalize the house.

Yuanxing Temple stepped forward, his tall figure looking down at Qin Qi and the old man, the sickle in his hand held to the old man's neck.

"In the story of Yuanxing Temple, there is a monster that was buried in the temple after it died because of its evil deeds. At night, it becomes a monster to capture and eat young monks and children."

"If there are adults around the child, they will use tricks to lure the child away and then take the opportunity to kidnap and eat him."

"In the end, he's just a bully who picks on the weak and fears the strong. Is that why you've been avoiding him all this time?"

Qin Qi casually grabbed Yuanxing Temple's sickle and easily crushed it, then spoke.

"You bastard! Men, grab him!"

When Yuanxing Temple saw Qin Qi crush his scythe, his first reaction was fear, which was then masked by anger.