He changed Tiwat

After a short while, Ying's voice came from underground: "I haven't seen any monsters down there yet. I saw the shrine's lantern on the wall, so the shrine maiden must have been here."

Is there any light down there? Han Fulai looked at the dark hole with some doubt.

It was still dusk, and there was still some light on the horizon, so the bottom of the cave should have been clearly visible. Plus, there were lights inside; it shouldn't have been completely dark...

However, it's also true that this underground palace already has a barrier that seals away demons, so it's quite normal that some spells isolate the inside from the outside.

"Okay, we're coming right now." Han Fulai replied to the people below, then gave Ying a look, signaling her to come down with him.

Ying nodded and extended her hand to Han Fulai, as if to ask him to hold it.

"?"

Han Fulai stared at the hand Ying had extended in front of him, his face filled with questions.

...Does General Lian Ying and Paimon's "You jump, I jump" also mean you want to replicate?

"Excuse me, could you help me? I'm actually not very mobile right now."

Ying said this with an air of complete nonchalance, showing absolutely no embarrassment.

Of course, she was telling the truth; the general had been vying with her for control of the body and was gradually gaining the upper hand.

Her current state is actually very similar to that of a "scattered soldier" in the state of "no self in all things," basically in a mode where her soul "possesses" the doll's body, and she cannot move freely.

...But if you're so weak that you need someone to help you, then you should go back to the castle tower and stay there!

Han Fulai barely suppressed his surging urge to complain, grabbed Lei Yingdian's hand, then opened the Jade Shield and jumped down with Lei Yingdian.

Because the jade shield absorbed the impact of the fall, the general didn't feel the shock of falling from a height. Instead, the experience of being protected by the jade shield was quite novel to her.

"This is Morax's 'Jade Shield'. Hmm, if I also possessed such a shield, wouldn't I have both the 'strongest spear' and the 'strongest shield' in one person?"

Although it's hard to say whether "Martial God's Spear" or "Unthinking Blade" is stronger, the general is clearly very confident in his martial arts skills.

Han Fulai didn't dare to criticize the general to his face, and pretended not to hear it.

Ying and Paimon have just completed their initial environmental reconnaissance and are now waiting ahead with lanterns in hand.

Seeing the two of them come down, Ying gestured with the paper lantern in her hand that was printed with "Shadow Towards the Cherry Blossom": "From here, it's a straight road, but at the end there's a fork in the road with several cave entrances... it's like a maze."

Ying nodded and said, "Yes, it does resemble a maze. I heard from the craftsmen back then that when the shelter was built, Fox Palace considered the possibility of enemies breaking in, so they deliberately designed the passages to be very complicated, and some of the side paths even had traps and mechanisms."

"Originally, the entrance to this shelter was concealed by magic, making it difficult for monsters to find. Unfortunately, along with the beast tide came a type of machine called 'Relic Mech' Kanria. That machine had an insect-like appearance and, like insects, it would burrow into the soil. The magic's illusion had no effect on the machine... so the shelter was still discovered by the enemy."

"And then what happened? How did the people in this shelter escape, and how did Fox Palace seal all those monsters underground?" Paimon asked curiously.

Ying was silent for a while, then shook her head and said, "I don't know much about what happened after that, because the soldiers and foxes who followed Fox Palace to protect the people all sacrificed themselves... I only know that Fox Palace used some method to safely transfer the people out, and then used a secret technique to set up the 'Divine Cherry Blossom Great Purification' barrier, trapping the enemies here."

Although Ying didn't know the details either, Han Fulai and the others could guess to some extent what method the Fox Palace had used—just like the Heavenly Master Boyang and the Yaksha Fushe back then, luring the enemy into the depths of the underground palace, then sealing the exit and perishing together with the enemy.

The heroes of that era always made the same choice at crucial moments.

Everyone felt a little heavy-hearted. Ying silently led the way with her lantern until she stopped at the fork in the road.

"Shadow, do you know which entrance to choose?"

There were five passageways in front of them, each looking almost identical. A small fox statue stood at the front of each passageway; this was probably the only decoration in the place.

However, the fox statues all look exactly the same and cannot be used as road signs to distinguish them.

Ying shook her head again.

No one has come down to the underground palace since it was sealed, and neither has she.

It's possible that apart from the Eightfold Divine Child who inherited the bloodline of the White Fox Clan, no one else could find a path here.

The only solution now is probably to use the most basic method and try each path one by one.

"Honestly, even the divine child didn't leave us a signpost..." Paimon complained angrily.

"Because she didn't expect us to come looking for her, right?" Han Fulai smiled and naturally walked to the front of the group, taking over the task of leading the way. "Let's go this way."

"Huh? You know the way?"

Paimon's eyes widened, and Ying had the same expression—at the bottom of the giant abyss of layered rocks, it was Han Fu who led the way... Why did he always know the way?

“Because there are road signs.” Han Fulai reached out and touched the little fox statue at the entrance of the passage. “Look at their tails. The tip of each little fox’s tail is slightly off-center. If we take the tips of these five little foxes’ tails as the vertices and their orientation as the direction of the extension line, we can draw a pentagram.”

"And the entrance we should choose is the longest point of that pentagram."

These little foxes are not actually "statues," but rather "Earth Foxes" of Bai Chen's bloodline, who guarded this place with the Fox Palace. Exhausted of their power, they turned into stone statues and went into slumber. The pentagram path indicated by these "Earth Foxes" is a puzzle mechanism in the game's quest.

Although the environment of this underground palace was not exactly the same as what he saw in the game, the principle was similar, so Han Fulai immediately figured out the mechanism.

Just as Han Fulai's hand touched the "Earth Fox" statue, a white light suddenly flashed.

Then, a burly man with red demon horns on his head appeared before them.

He carried a huge stone pestle on his shoulder, which made him look very strong.

The burly demon slammed his stone pestle and shouted towards one of the cave entrances:

"This time I will definitely break off the monster's horn and bring it back, to show you the power of Otogi Kongo Shishi-daiou. Even the great monster that crossed the sea is no match for me!"

"So just follow the fox's messenger and hide."

"...Hey, wait until I get back, then I'll wrestle with you guys."

Chapter 221 I Will Give Inazuma a Bright Future [4k]

Paimon stared in surprise at the suddenly appearing demon-like giant.

—Standing over two meters tall, with crimson "bull horns," messy white "mane," dressed like a sumo wrestler wearing only a loincloth, and carrying a "red horned mace" on his shoulder...

All the characteristics matched the person she knew perfectly; it was definitely him.

Paimon shouted, "It's the cowherd! Hey, cowherd, what are you doing here?"

The "cowherd" she mentioned was none other than the "mischievous devil of Hanamisaka," the first leader of the "Arataki School," Arataki Ichito. Because Ichito always had a pet calf named "Ugly" by his side, Paimon gave him that nickname—in addition, Ichito's nickname for Paimon was "Flying Dwarf Violet."

Araki Ichito is a descendant of the Inazuma Red Oni clan, a very rare oni clan that lives in human society.

Long ago, the Oni (demons) of Inazuma lived alongside humans in Inazuma Castle. According to Arataki Kazuto, the Inazuma Oni were divided into three major factions: the "White Fox," the "Tengu Party," and the "Oni Clan." Only the "Oni Clan" lived among humans—because apart from having horns and great strength, Oni and humans were not much different in appearance.

But five hundred years ago, after the Oni leader, Mikoto Chiyo, was corrupted by the abyss and betrayed the Thunder God, the entire Oni race suffered from human hatred and discrimination...

In the eyes of the Inatsume people at that time, if it weren't for Mikoto Chiyo's betrayal that led to the collapse of the Tamasuna front, the "Dark Calamity" should have been blocked west of Hachiyū Island, instead of affecting the main island of Narukami Island.

The survivors, especially those who lost loved ones and friends in the war, felt a particularly strong aversion to these "traitors"—the Oni.

In addition, the oni's fiery temper and tendency to cause trouble led to increasing conflicts with humans. As a result, people at that time regarded the oni as the "source of all evil," considering them unclean and throwing beans at them whenever they met them...

—Even now, the Inazuma people love to scatter beans during festivals, when moving, or when they are sick, while chanting, "Lucky beans fall, ghosts are defeated," and "Good fortune comes, good fortune comes, ghosts go away," which are customs left over from when they drove away the ghosts.

Of course, in today's view, humanity's aversion to the demon race is merely a misunderstanding.

The Oni are actually quite friendly to humans, and many Oni sacrificed themselves to protect human homes during the "Dark Calamity." Chiyo's betrayal was a tragic accident and not the responsibility of the Oni... However, the Oni have always been proud of their bravery and never bothered to argue with others. Faced with human misunderstandings, the Oni's choice is "If they don't want me here, there are plenty of other places that will."

From that time onward, the Oni clan of Inazuma almost disappeared from the human world.

The reason why Araki Ichito hangs out in Hanamizaka is mainly because he was actually raised by humans. Ichito's parents died when he was young, and he wandered to the countryside, starving to the point of death. He was then rescued by an old woman who took him in and raised him.

So strictly speaking, the people of Hanamizaka don't know Ichito as a "demon," but rather as "a big, goofy guy adopted by an old woman"...

Similarly, in Paimon's eyes, Araki Ichito didn't have any "demon" aura; he was just a big, silly guy who loved to brag.

But the big, dumb guy standing in front of Paimon now is different from the one she knows.

The burly ghost turned around and looked at Paimon with a puzzled expression: "Little brat, who are you calling 'cowherd'? I don't remember ever herding cows."

“Paimon… he doesn’t seem to be Ichito, does he?” Ying pointed to her face. “Look at his face, there are lots of patterns drawn on it, and his skin is redder than Ichito’s.”

Hearing Ying say that, Paimon also noticed the difference: "Hmm, and Ichito doesn't call me 'little one,' nor does he refer to himself as 'this great king'... So this person is just someone else who looks a lot like Ichito, right?"

Ying then reminded him, "Look again, isn't there a faint white light around the edges of his body?"

Paimon suddenly realized: "Ah, so he's also..."

The burly ghost was already quite annoyed by the sudden chatter from the strangers who appeared out of nowhere.

He stomped his foot hard, swinging the crimson mace he carried on his shoulder with tremendous force: "Hey, hey, don't point fingers at this great king! Who are you people? State your names!"

Ying and Paimon exchanged a glance and couldn't help but grin—when Ito first met them, his words and actions were almost exactly the same as this person's...

Han Fulai then withdrew his hand from the "Earth Fox" statue.

He also remembered that these little fox statues in the game actually contained some information that players could read.

To access this information in the game, a special item called the "Memorial Mirror" is needed—a treasure given to Hiiragi Hiroshi by the Fox Palace five hundred years ago. In the game, it's a quest item that players can obtain by completing quests. However, Han Fulai doesn't have a system to give him any quest items, so the "Memorial Mirror" is obviously not in his possession.

However, considering the connection between the Bai Chen Fox Clan and the Li Yue Immortals, the Fox Clan's things are probably also related to immortal arts, so he just tried to input a little immortal power into the statue, and it worked.

The ghost man before me is the one whose record is preserved in the "Earth Fox" statue. He is probably someone who was in this underground palace five hundred years ago.

This person should have the information he wants.

So he stepped forward and spoke to the burly ghost man on behalf of Ying and Paimon: "Hello. We are attendants of General Leidian. We are here to discuss something with Lord Huzhaigong. May I ask if Lord Huzhaigong is here?"

The oni man paused for a moment upon hearing the name Fox Monk: "So you're here to find the fox... Uh, wait, you say you're from the shogunate, so why are you dressed so strangely?"

"Hey, it's clearly your outfit that's weirder..." Paimon couldn't help but complain.

Although Ying's otherworldly outfit and Han Fulai's suit jacket were not Inazuma's style and did look strange to people from 500 years ago, a naked man wearing only a loincloth has no right to say that others are strange!

At this moment, Lei Yingdian, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up: "Otogi of the Great Hand Sect, it's been a long time. Was the last time we met at the Red Leaf Song Festival?"

"Thunder, thunder, thunder general!" Only then did the demon named Otogi notice Thunder Movie standing behind the group. He was startled and dropped the stone pestle in his hand, which then fell onto his foot.

Otogi jumped up with a "whoosh," hugging his feet and shouting and jumping.

Lei ignored Yujia's commotion and introduced this old friend to Han Fulai and the others—

"Arataki Otogi of the Arataki Otemon clan, who calls himself 'Otogi Kongo Shishi Daiō,' wields a stone pestle called 'Akagaku Ishimi Shiki Kokin-tsubo Kijima'..."

With each title announced by Lei Yingdian, Arataki Otogi's cries of pain weakened, and his face visibly turned red—redder than his original skin tone.

Yes, these titles were given to him by Arataki Otogi. It was certainly impressive when he told others, especially children, but it was embarrassing for Raiden-sama to say them out loud... Moreover, the person he least wanted to see was Raiden-sama.

The "Autumn Leaf Song Festival" mentioned by the shadow is the "dark history" that Arataki Otogi dares not face.

He boasted to the local children that his "Crimson Horned Pestle" was made from the broken horn of a demon-possessed Hannya, and that all demonic foxes, raccoon dogs, and evil spirits were beaten to their knees and begged for mercy. Even the famous Tengu, like the Shadow Spirit Hall of Mount Rinpoche, was afraid of the peppered pestle's eerie aura and dared not show himself before the King!

The children happened to hear that the Great Tengu of Kagemaki was holding a leaf-viewing and song festival, so they urged Otogi-sama to go and prove his bravery.

To avoid his boast being exposed, King Otogi led his children into the government's poetry gathering where they were drinking and admiring autumn leaves.

Ying Xiangshan, the Great Tengu, was not intimidated at all; he simply watched him with his wine glass as if he were watching a comedy.

Otogi could have easily made up an excuse and left, but at that song festival, there was also a woman in a purple kimono with a gentle and serene smile—Raiden-shogun—who was also invited to participate in the leaf-viewing song festival.

The autumn leaves were beautiful that day, and the moonlight was beautiful too, but what was even more beautiful than the moonlight was that general.

If you're a man, you can't just slink away with your tail between your legs at a time like this!

So Otogi-no-O winked at his clansmen beside the shogun and proposed a sumo wrestling match against Mikochiyo.

Mikoto Chiyo was his childhood playmate and always took good care of the "Arataki Otemon". She was also a very lively person and often accompanied him to practice martial arts under the guise of sumo wrestling.

At the time, Otogi-sama thought that Mikoto-chiyo would give him, a member of the same clan, some face in front of the children, and that he could also show off his martial prowess in front of the shogun.

Unexpectedly, Miyuki Chiyo got drunk that day, and in her drunken state, she didn't know what "holding back" meant.

The result of Mikoto Chiyo's lack of restraint was that Otogi-no-Ō was thrown into the sky, flying very, very high...

In the end, he did leave a deep impression on General Raiden, not only on Raiden Shin, whom he admired, but also on Raiden Movie, who was watching silently from the sidelines.

Not everyone gets to experience having their "dark history" told to their face by a woman they admire, but Otogi-sama experienced it this time—even though he was just a memory within the ley lines, his reaction was no different from that of a real person.

With a flushed face, Arataki Otogi hoisted his "Red Horned Pike" and bowed to Lei Yingdian, though his voice was noticeably softer: "General, so you have returned from your expedition. The fox you are looking for is inside. She borrowed a treasure from the Great Tengu, apparently to do something very important."

"The treasures of Ling Shan Fang..."

Lei frowned and thought for a while, but couldn't recall anything.

At this moment, Arataki Otogi, who had been keeping his head down, suddenly spoke up: "Shogun... I want to ask you for a favor."

Lei turned his head to look at him.

Arataki Otogi's voice sounded a little weak: "The fox said she wanted to save Inazuma, to perform some kind of great blessing... I didn't quite understand, but I felt that she might actually be able to save Inazuma..."

“I… I, Arataki Otogi, am not very capable, and I can only be proud of my strength. I know I am not as good as Tengu and the fox, and I can't compare to Chiyo… but there is still something I can do—to go out and fight, and buy some time for the fox and the others.”

"The only thing I can't let go of right now are the children who came to seek refuge with me. Many of them have lost their families, and I promised them that I would take care of them from now on. They even told me they wanted to join the Otemon sumo wrestlers... Ha, actually, 'Arataki Otemon' is just something I brag about. The sect only has me, and I don't have any reputation at all..."

"...So, um, I'd like to ask the General to look after those children for me in the future...that's all."

After saying that, he didn't care whether Lei Yingdian agreed or not, and turned to walk towards the exit of the underground palace.