The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

There was a hint of resentment in Tatara Kogasa's words.

"And ever since you found out I'm a tsukumogami, you don't ask me to hold an umbrella for you on rainy days anymore. Have I become useless to you?"

"........."

After staring silently at the other person's beautiful blue and red heterochromatic eyes for a while, Shi Bai turned his head away expressionlessly.

"For no reason, it just feels weird."

"But I am a Tang Umbrella Demon. Isn't it normal for an umbrella to be used to shield from wind and rain?"

"No, this is not normal at all."

So what exactly is wrong with this?

"...Nothing is normal."

"But you've been using it for several years already."

"........."

Looking at the stern-faced Tadara Kosan in front of him, who was so certain that he was lying, Shi Bai suddenly felt that he couldn't talk about this kind of thing.

"...You're actually afraid of being abandoned again, right? Then you don't need to worry about that at all."

Slightly rubbing his forehead, Shi Bai got up from the floor and went to the table to pour himself a cup of tea.

"I was able to use that umbrella to shield myself from the wind and rain without any guilt before because I thought it was just an umbrella. Now that I know the truth, of course I can no longer use you as an umbrella."

"Since you don't intend to abandon me, then why don't you want to be my master?"

Following him to the table, holding an umbrella, Tatara Kogasa, who had relaxed slightly, asked him questions again, seemingly still harboring resentment about the matter.

"Because I still have integrity. The education I received doesn't allow me to accept this. I don't want to go from being a dragon slayer to becoming a dragon."

Shi Bai looked up and glanced at the other person.

“I hate the so-called hierarchy and superior-subordinate relationships, or you could say I have an extreme aversion to them, so naturally I cannot accept your request... You can just call me by my name.”

"But respect for the strong... is necessary, isn't it?"

Perhaps because it was the first time she had encountered such a concept, Kogasa Tatara looked visibly bewildered.

"Others are others, and I am me. I don't need that kind of thing."

He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and looked completely unconvinced.

"Pack your things, we're ready to go."

"Oh right, lend me your black box."

As if suddenly remembering something, Kogasa Tatara quickly reached out her hand to him.

"I haven't finished reading the story of Calabash Brothers yet. I don't know if the Snake Demon defeated the Calabash Brothers in the end, or if her plot to return my head will succeed."

"Next time, remember not to rummage through the videos inside... Wait, is there a character named 'Head' in Calabash Brothers?"

Rolling his eyes, Shi Bai took out his phone from his storage ring and handed it to the other person, but he suddenly paused halfway through.

"Give me back my grandpa's head from the Calabash Brothers inside!"

She gave him a strange look, then took the phone directly from him.

"Who told you to disappear so suddenly? I thought you'd abandoned me again..."

"Uh... how did you know the old man's name was 'Return My Head'?"

Hearing the other person's matter-of-fact tone, the person couldn't help but feel quite conflicted... By the way, did the old man in Calabash Brothers really have a name?

"Huh? Doesn't it say that inside?"

While expertly unlocking her phone, Tatara Kogasa answered quite matter-of-factly.

"First, because all the monsters call him 'Old Man,' his surname is 'Head.' Second, the Calabash Brothers all say 'Give me back my grandpa,' so his name is 'Give me back.' Putting it all together, the old man's name is 'Give me back my head.'"

Shi Bai: "???"

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

Perhaps dreams are always like a clock going in the opposite direction; the most painful thing is going clockwise.

Although Shibai has been searching for Yuuka Kazami ever since the end of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, he has ultimately found nothing after so many years of searching.

However, the other party waited for him for a full thousand years back then, while he has only been searching for them for a few years now? So, his mindset is actually not bad.

However, mindset is one thing, but gaining nothing is still gaining nothing.

On the contrary, due to his own genuine good fortune, he didn't find the person he was looking for, but he happened to find many treasures on the road.

Hmm... a certain tsukumogami who is currently following behind and watching Calabash Brothers can actually be considered one of them.

Since sunflower fields are unlikely to appear in places where humans gather, he mostly chose routes through remote, uninhabited areas, deep in the mountains or within the territory of monsters, and didn't have much contact with humans.

Over the past few years, Yukari Yakumo, who has become known as the Sage of Yokai among Yokai, has come to see him a few times, but almost every conversation ends unhappily.

He was powerless to interfere with Yukari Yakumo's thoughts, so he simply let her be. After all, if she didn't change her mindset, she would never succeed. The youkai society built on that kind of thinking would ultimately be nothing more than a mirage.

However, it is worth mentioning that after Eirin Yagokoro defected to the Lunar Capital with Kaguya Houraisan, and after the failed lunar war initiated by Yukari Yakumo, the previously hidden forces of the Lunar Capital began to be known by other factions.

Not only are there three parties involved: monsters, gods, and humans. In this era of surging spiritual energy, the hidden force of the Lunar Capital has also entered the fray. The Watatsuki sisters have become the leaders of the messengers traveling between the moon and the earth. The Lunar Capital has begun sending people to the ground to search for Eirin Yagokoro's whereabouts.

However, given Eirin Yagokoro's intelligence, the efforts made by the Lunar Capital were ultimately in vain.

The world's current powers can be roughly divided into the following categories.

At the very top is the celestial realm, which transcends the mundane world. Leaving aside the immortals and celestial beings who ascend to the celestial realm, the immortal beings from the mythical era who reside there are already enough to stand at the pinnacle of power. Not to mention that there is also Xiaoye, the dragon god who represents the world, among them.

Below the Heavenly Realm are the Underworld and Hell, which are originally a single entity, but generally speaking, they are in a neutral state, just like the Heavenly Realm.

Below these two levels, there are many forces that can be called factions.

For example, the Lunar Capital, which plundered a large amount of technological achievements from another world; the powerful demons located underground, which together with the Old Hell; the Demon Realm, created by Shinki, which is still in a period of rapid development; the Demon Mountain, led by Hirain; the Three Immortal Mountains of Penglai, which live overseas and are detached from worldly affairs; Takamagahara, a place where gods reside; the Heavenly Kingdom created by the Western God; the divine realm created by the Western gods... and so on.

Regardless of the distribution of power between them, Shi Bai believed that the most powerful force in the future would definitely be Gensokyo.

...Although we're still far from reaching Gensokyo.

According to Shi Bai's estimation, the true form of Gensokyo will likely only take shape when Yakumo Yukari's mindset undergoes a complete transformation, the dragon veins are severed, the connection between heaven and earth is broken, the power of youkai is compressed exponentially, and humanity rises.

As far as he knows, there are three sages who established Gensokyo: one is the youkai sage Yakumo Yukari, another is the ultimate absolute secret god Matara Okina, and the last is Ibaraki Kasen.

The reason he recommended Yakumo Yukari to Yagokoro Eirin was that if Yagokoro Eirin could help him establish Gensokyo, it would be much faster and easier.

Unfortunately, due to Yakumo Yukari's current mindset, Yagokoro Eirin completely rejected the proposal and made it clear that she would not help with the establishment of Gensokyo in the future.

Faced with this situation, Shi Bai could only sigh and say it was the inertia of fate.

P.S.: Good morning.

Chapter Five: The Journey

The sudden appearance of a possessed spirit by Shi Bai's side didn't have much of an impact. It simply changed his solo trip into a trip for two, adding only a little trouble to the itinerary.

After all, he was the one who took her away from that cemetery back then. In this day and age, leaving her alone, given Tatara Kogasa's innocent personality... Shi Bai was genuinely worried about her safety.

Despite being a yokai, his personality is as simple as a blank sheet of paper. Ever since he was rejected when he wanted to recognize him as his master, he has been sulking and trying to scare him every day. In the end, not only did he fail to scare him, but Tatara Kogasa was also frightened by him many times.

...Speaking of which, isn't that kind of scary behavior a form of malicious cuteness?

Shi Bai felt that this question was worth pondering.

In some respects, the current situation is quite chaotic.

Although Yukari Yakumo became the sage of the youkai she spoke of as she wished, her attempt to recruit youkai did not go smoothly due to the Lunar Capital's proactive entry into the Earth in order to retrieve Eirin Yagokoro.

It is obvious that people who come from the moon are mostly arrogant and look down on people on the ground, and will clash with the forces on the ground.

With Eirin Yagokoro's departure, the strength of Luna City has obviously decreased significantly. Not only did they fail to obtain any information or clues about the Elixir of Hourai, but even their own core Luna Mind betrayed them and left. For Luna City, this can be described as a huge loss that is crippling.

It would have been fine if they had said a few words before leaving, but the problem is that Yagokoro Eirin left without saying a word, clearly intending to sever ties with the Lunar Capital. This is something that Tsukiyomi and the others find quite unacceptable.

With the spiritual energy on Earth surging at the moment, the pervasive filth on Earth has had a much less impact on these gods. So, in addition to sending Watatsuki Yorihime and Watatsuki Toyohime to the ground to search for clues about Yagokoro Eirin and Houraisan Kaguya, many gods in the Lunar Capital, led by Tsukiyomi, have also set off for the ground.

Kaguya Houraisan's departure is actually not a big deal for the Lunar Capital; Eirin Yagokoro is the most important.

In their quest to find clues and locate Eirin Yagokoro, the Moon People have caused quite a stir on Earth. Not long ago, people from the Moon Capital even flew their warships over the Youkai Mountain, attempting to forcibly take over the Youkai Mountain and force the Youkai to help them find Eirin Yagokoro.

In the war initiated by the Lunar Capital, the Youkai Mountain forces were at a disadvantage. If it weren't for the strong support led by Riluoyuan, the Youkai Mountain forces would likely have been defeated. After all, in terms of raw strength, there was still a considerable gap between the Youkai Mountain and the Lunar Capital, not to mention the technological weapons developed by the Lunar Capital by stealing technology from another world.

Then, at that crucial moment, the Oni race entered the fray.

The old hell beneath the mountain of monsters has taken shape. It is inhabited by powerful, warlike monsters who refused to obey the rules of hell and chose to settle there with Hoshiguma Yuugi. These remnants of the previous era, led by the demon king Ibuki Shinka, have dealt a heavy blow to the forces of the Moon Capital.

When Bai learned about the war and its beginning and end from a monster who wanted to rob him, the war had already been going on for almost a year.

Chaos and war are the themes of this era.

Gods, monsters, humans, moon people, immortals... they all live on this stage of the era.

Apart from a very small number of people who know the truth about the dragon vein, everyone else wants to fight for a place for themselves in the new era. Even the God of the Western Heaven and those Western gods have frequently made their own moves. After all, in their eyes, the continuous surge of spiritual energy in heaven and earth during this period has already heralded the arrival of a new era. If you don't fight, you will lose; if you don't advance, you will retreat.

The Ten Divine Artifacts of Shenzhou, which Shi Bai had buried around the dragon vein to suppress it, perfectly fulfilled their duties. No one realized that the truth behind this cataclysmic change was related to the dragon vein, nor did anyone know that the red-haired girl who was always by the side of that famous evil immortal was the key to everything. Everything was running perfectly according to Shi Bai's original plan.

The current era is merely the final revelry before the storm. Once the dragon veins are severed, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is cut off, and the connection between heaven and earth is severed, humanity will develop rapidly and become the absolute ruler of this world in the shortest possible time.

How much potential does humanity truly possess?

Despite the mysterious or external interferences that have plagued humanity for thousands of years, it remains a weak and vulnerable society, still operating under feudalism.

Without those mysterious or external interferences, from 1500 AD to 2000 AD, a period of only five or six hundred years, the footprints of mankind, who could only barely survive under the hands of monsters, have even stepped into space.

Compared to the former, after the influence of mystery was severed, humanity experienced a complete leap in development.

This is why Shi Bai said that Yakumo Yukari, who held the idea of ​​the strong being respected, would never succeed. Looking at human history, the key reason why humanity was able to develop rapidly in the later stages and make technological progress every day was the liberation of human thought as a whole.

Currently, very few people know his entire plan. As the Dragon God, Sayo is naturally aware of it, but Heca, Shinki, and Matara Okina are also in the know. He has also told Hirain, and Yagokoro Eirin also knows about it.

Originally, Shibai had planned to tell Yakumo Yukari about this, but after witnessing her current attitude and mindset, he felt that telling her about it wouldn't be very meaningful.

After all, everyone needs to stumble and fall a few times to grow.

Those who know about his plan will naturally not be foolish enough to get involved, while those who don't know about the plan will continue to fight for such pointless things.

It was precisely for this reason that his journey to find Yuuka Kazami was not very peaceful; he was often inexplicably drawn into the battlefields of two opposing factions.

Actually, his original intention was to sit on a small stool and watch the show, but some damned person said something about attacking their boss who was leisurely watching from the sidelines... and then all the attacks from both sides came crashing down on him.

Fighting is exhausting, especially since you have to control the force of your blows so as not to accidentally kill your opponent. After all, he had promised Xiao Siji that he would not cause any more killings. So, after a fight, those reckless guys would all be lying dead on the ground, and he himself would be quite exhausted.

After this situation occurred many times and greatly delayed his trip, he eventually gave up on the pointless idea of ​​just watching and began to adopt a different approach.

Since I'm not very good at solving problems, I might as well just take care of the person who raised the problem. It's simple and straightforward.

So whenever he encountered such a situation on his journey, regardless of whether the other party had provoked him, Shi Bai would always take the initiative to knock them all unconscious. Wherever he went, "corpses lay everywhere."

Often, before either side could even get into a fight, a figure carrying a tattered Tang umbrella would casually stroll by, then indiscriminately beat both sides to a pulp, leaving no one else standing on the field. Only then would the opponent arrogantly swagger away, leaving behind a trail of "corpses."

Over time, as the person's bad reputation spread, all the monsters, moon people, and gods learned their lesson. Whenever they saw him approaching, whether a fight had already broken out or not, both sides would immediately reach a consensus and scatter like birds and beasts.

...Although the process seemed to have encountered some problems, the desired result was still achieved.

However, as his fame grew, all sorts of shady characters naturally took notice of him. After all, the sheer power he displayed was enough to earn him considerable fame.

"invite?"

Looking at the rather formal invitation placed in front of him, Shi Bai picked it up with a bit of curiosity and flipped through it. Then, he looked with great interest at the raccoon demon with animal ears on its head in front of him.

He never intended to conceal his whereabouts, so it wasn't surprising that the various yokai factions knew of his arrival. Furthermore, he already had the intention of using the yokai's methods to search for Yuuka Kazami's whereabouts, so he readily accepted invitations from all yokai factions. He treated friendly ones with courtesy, and dealt with the unfriendly ones directly with force.

"Your leader, would you like to invite me over for a drink?"

"That's right, we would be honored if you would grace us with your presence. We have prepared a grand ceremony to welcome you."

He knelt on the ground with unique etiquette, showing considerable respect to the raccoon demon before him.

Disrespect is not an option either, since everyone in the demon world knows that this guy in front of them is a ruthless character who has a record of tying up and beating more than a dozen powerful demons.

For such top-tier powerhouses, these lower-level demons must show their respect. In the world of demons, the strong are respected and power dominates everything.

"There's no need to be so reserved. I'm actually quite..."

He wanted to show some kindness by asking the other person to sit up straight so they could talk, since the other person was lying in front of him like that made him a little uncomfortable... but after seeing that the other person was already trembling with fear, Shi Bai could only helplessly choose to change the subject.

"...Hmm, your leader is also a tanuki demon, right?"