He changed Tiwat

Han Fulai looked directly into her eyes, his expression utterly serious: "I want to know everything about you. To save you."

Chapter 241 There's No Going Back [4k]

"You...haven't given up yet?"

As the goddess looked at the person before her, countless indescribable emotions flashed through her eyes.

Han Fulai simply nodded calmly: "I have said that I will always keep my promises to others."

The goddess paused for a moment, then bit her lower lip.

"Yes... I almost forgot, it was Ying who sent you to rescue me..."

For some reason, when she heard him say "I promised someone else," she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest, as if a hand had gripped her heart tightly...

Is this feeling—jealousy?

But she was already a dying woman, so what was there to be jealous of?

Rather, she should be grateful for Shadow's kindness, and even more grateful to him for being willing to take her place as an incompetent servant of Thor and assist her god...

She forced a smile: "Then please tell Aying that now that I have taken on the responsibility of the palace guard, I should dedicate myself to Inazuma. This is a choice I made with my own will."

"Though my life has lasted only a few hundred years, I have witnessed countless beautiful scenes in this world. To be able to dedicate my life to protecting all that I cherish is enough; I have no regrets..."

Han Fulai interrupted her without any politeness: "Stop lying."

He pointed to the bustling Shinshincho Street outside the main gate of the public bathhouse.

"A person without regrets will not have so many memories that are hard to let go of. A person who is determined to die will not let past memories shake their will."

"You clearly still want to live, you still want to have more memories, don't you?"

Faced with Han Fulai's questioning, the Divine Child simply shook his head slightly: "You...don't understand..."

Han Fulai interrupted the divine child once again: "No, I understand. I have seen the memories of the ancient mountain."

"Faced with the dark tide of beasts, the blind tea master did not follow the crowd to seek refuge, but stayed in the tea room to quietly await death..."

This is what Gu Shan said to them back then—

Compared to the heavens and earth, man is but a tiny thing. Looking across the world, within the sea and sky, is there anything that can live forever? Since this is the case, even if death is imminent, how can one disturb the tranquility of the heart?

"Running away is for survival. The desire to survive stems from unfinished business in life. But I, an old man, simply didn't have that thought, nor did I leave any regrets."

Of all the people Han Fulai has met so far, the old man from Gushan can be considered one of the most open-minded about life and death.

"...But even Koyama, after seeing the shadow, felt a longing for life and regrets about his existence. He said he was very sorry that he would not be able to see Inazuma, which was rebuilt by the general after this catastrophe."

"And what about you? You clearly went through so much trouble to pull Kage out of 'Pure Land of One Heart'; you clearly spent so much effort to prevent your god from going astray; you clearly made so many efforts to make Inazuma a better person..."

"—Then why don't you come with us to see the newborn Inazuma? Come see the Inazuma that you've changed with your own hands?"

"Regret...?" The goddess repeated the word blankly.

The usually eloquent and quick-witted chief priest was now unable to find a single word to refute him.

Han Fulai reached out and grabbed her sleeve.

"Come with me, there's a place I want to go."

The goddess felt like a lost little girl at a festival, letting Han Fulai lead her to the other end of the town and into the "Nisshinbei" ramen shop once again.

The crow shopkeeper remained busy behind the counter, not even greeting anyone who came in—if the divine child didn't actively interact with these figures in the dream, they were merely "setup" and wouldn't have any interaction with the outside world.

"Boss, could I borrow your stove for a moment?" Even though there was no way to get a response, Han Fulai still greeted the shop owner politely.

The goddess watched blankly as he lifted the counter shelf and went into the kitchen, then took an apron from the kitchen wall, tied it solemnly, picked up the dough from the cutting board, and began to knead it...

"What are you going to do?" the priest asked, puzzled.

Han Fulai turned around and smiled: "I'm quite good at cooking, especially pastries—guest, please wait a moment."

He deftly flipped his wrists up and down, flattening the dough in just a few minutes. Then he picked up a cleaver and began to carefully cut the udon dough.

The goddess was astonished to discover that Han Fulai's knife skills were simply unparalleled in her life—every angle of his cuts was incredibly precise, and the force was just right, producing noodles of uniform thickness, comparable to machine-made craftsmanship…

This is Han Fulai using the "Wind-Slaying Sword" training method. In the eyes of onlookers, his swordsmanship can already be described as "art." Well, although the swordsmanship he learned from Jiang Xue can only be used to practice knife skills in the kitchen at present, it is really impressive.

Add the udon noodles, mushrooms, chikuwa (Japanese fried dough sticks), and chopped green onions to the broth. Now comes the main event.

"When the oil is about 80% hot, add the tofu along the edge of the pan..."

Han Fulai carefully picked up a piece of fried tofu.

The divine child saw the water droplets condensed on the tips of the bamboo chopsticks fall into the hot oil, blooming into fine golden flowers, and the blue smoke drifting along the edge of the pot like a fox's tail... Then, the piece of yellow jade covered with a thin layer of paste slid into the oil.

"Zi-"

The yellow jade shattered the boiling oil, startling the wind chimes on the eaves outside the house, causing them to tremble.

She couldn't help but imagine—the fried tofu stretching and wrinkling in the heat, its amber skin revealing fine, net-like patterns, tiny bubbles rising from its edges…

Oh no, my mouth is about to water.

The priest licked his lips, his eyes fixed on the flames at the bottom of the pot, and began to count in his mind: "3, 2, 1..."

Han Fulai dipped the bamboo chopsticks in his hand into the pot.

The time to flip it over is now.

"...Turn the heat down to low again, and fry until golden brown before taking it out..."

Han Fulai muttered incantations to control the heat, while silently calculating the time in his mind.

The moment the fried tofu skin turned golden brown, his bamboo chopsticks shot out like nimble snakes, and in the next second, the steaming hot fried tofu was laid on top of the prepared udon noodles.

The goddess stared blankly at the bowl of "Fox Udon" that Chef Han had placed in front of her, especially the fried tofu that was specially made according to the cooking method she had described—the former yellow jade had turned into gold leaf, and the translucent crispy skin shimmered with a beeswax-like halo, a beautiful sight that could only be seen in a dream.

By the way, is she dreaming right now?

It took her a while to realize what was happening, and she began to savor the dish that Chef Han had specially prepared for her.

Han Fulai looked at Shenzi with a smile: "How's the taste? Are the guests satisfied?"

The divine child did not answer.

...To be honest, it was so delicious that she didn't want to stop eating to answer the question.

Although she didn't answer, her satisfied expression betrayed her feelings to Han Fulai.

Han Fulai smiled again: "If you like it, I can make it for you again when we get back. You can eat as much as you want."

The god's hand stopped.

When she looked up again, her face had returned to its usual calm: "You know what? Mizuki said the same thing to you."

Every time she left Master Crow's ramen shop, the shrine maiden would complain to Mizuki about the food at the shrine—no meat, no alcohol, the main dish was cherry blossom mochi made of flower petals, the drink was flower tea, and only during festivals could one drink a little sweet sake…

The little fox was so shiny and smooth before going to the shrine, but after becoming a shrine maiden, she's practically been marinated in cherry blossoms. It's so pitiful, waaaaah!

At times like these, Mizuki would always gently comfort her, take her back to her home in "White Fox Field," personally fry the fried tofu, wrap it in oil paper, and let her take it back to the mountain.

Mizuki always says that she'll make as many as she can for the goddess, as long as she likes it...

Unfortunately, that kind of life is gone forever.

On that day, a dark calamity crashed down like a collapsing mountain wall. Demons and mortals were no different in the face of this evil force, and desperate cries echoed throughout the islands.

The Dream Eater clan, unskilled in warfare, could only flee in panic and hide in a corner that the calamity disdained.

When the general finally vanquished the last evil spirit, and Rachel and her people returned in shock, their once prosperous settlement was now in ruins.

Mizuki, worried about her best friend's safety, searched everywhere for the Divine Child, and finally reunited with her in front of the nearly withered Divine Cherry Tree on the summit of Mount Kage.

At that time, the shrine maiden had already taken over the position of priest of Narukami Taisha Shrine. She was exhausted both physically and mentally from the work of postwar reconstruction. Her brief conversation with Mizuki was also perfunctory and businesslike. She asked Mizuki's Baku clan to take over her commission.

At that time, Inazuma was a land ravaged by war, filled with demons and mortals, both physically and mentally scarred. The calamity was temporarily repelled, but the terrifying memories it left behind lingered in the hearts of the demons and humans, deeply rooted in their dreams, evoking endless fear every night and crushing the will of the victims.

From the perspective of the "White Star Fox King," it was perfectly acceptable for the Divine Child to issue the "Devour Nightmare" request to his childhood friend. However, the weak Dream Eater clan was actually unable to truly resist the lingering effects of the calamity; even the "calamity" within a nightmare was nothing short of poison to the Dream Eaters...

The elder Baku's body could not withstand the lingering effects of the calamity. After dispelling the nightmares of several Shogunate samurai, he collapsed and lay unconscious for several months, struggling in his sleep. Upon waking, he retired due to overexertion. Some of the weaker Baku even died from consuming nightmares.

The previously unknown Mizuki Yume unexpectedly revealed her talent at that time.

She is the only dream-eating tapir capable of withstanding the nightmare of "calamity" without falling into a deep sleep.

Thus, Mizuki became the only savior who rescued the victims from the nightmare—and at the same time, became the only victim of the nightmare.

Looking back now, those days must have been torture for Mizuki, right?

Whether it's day or night, she empathizes with the victims every minute of every day. Her life is filled with only a dark, purplish-black color, flowing and permeating like blood overflowing from a wound.

While dispelling nightmares from mortals might only require temporary suffering, the lifespan of demons who survived the calamity is often over a century. Consequently, dispelling their nightmares would take much longer…

From the moment the divine child issued the request to Mizuki, to the moment Mizuki finally completed the request and dragged her weary body back to Mount Kage to report to her, more than a hundred years had passed.

A century later, a silent estrangement has grown between the once inseparable friends.

They each fulfilled their duties diligently, and over the course of a century, they have each become different people.

The goddess knew that she was no longer the little fox who ate fried tofu, and Mizuki was no longer the little girl who stole konpeito at the "Hyakumonogatari Conference".

If someone you know well becomes your emotional anchor, and you hope that she will forever remain as you remember her, it will undoubtedly be a shackle for both of you.

They can never go back.

After that meeting, the Divine Child never saw Mizuki Yumezuki again.

"I really miss those days... Back then, we had just learned to transform into human form, so innocent and naive. Every day I would go to Mizuki and let her taste what my dream of the day tasted like."

"Hehe, I remember her telling me that in my dreams there were cherry blossoms, paper, ink, tricolor dumplings, and fried tofu. Every time she told me that, I would grab her and run to the city to find something that matched the taste in my dream, grab it, and run—well, without paying, of course. If we were discovered, we would instantly turn back into our original forms. Mizuki was chubby and couldn't run as fast as me, so she always almost got caught..."

"And now, even if I were to invite her to experience my dreams again, she would probably refuse."

"The last time I heard from her was many years ago. She left Inazuma and never came back."

"Inazuma Castle is still Inazuma Castle, but the person who used to accompany me to steal flowers, admire the moon, and eat fried tofu is no longer here."

She looked at Han Fulai, her smile tinged with a touch of melancholy: "You said you wanted me to go back... but I can't go back."

"No matter what, we can never go back to the past."

"Those carefree, playful years, those joyful laughs that rang like bells, have finally vanished quietly into countless cold dreams, like the warm mist that permeates the bathhouse."

"Perhaps the ups and downs are just a dream of a hot spring, and the so-called awakening is nothing more than a languid sleep after a sunny day."

"So...why not let me depart in my sweet, peaceful dream?"

Her meaning was very clear.

kill her.

Kill her now, while she is still able to bask in the warmth of her beautiful dream.

Life in the realm of consciousness is no different from a dream; she is essentially just a soul consciousness now.

Killing her in a dream will also cause her to perish in the realm of consciousness.

The Divine Child invited Han Fu into the dream so that he would take action within the dream.

—At least, there will be no pain in my dreams.

Han Fulai's response was to shake his head.

I won't kill you.

"Why...?" The goddess could not understand.

Last time, when she begged him to kill her, he did.

Shouldn't it be the same this time?

Why did he refuse this time?

Han Fulai continued to shake his head: "Because you told me that you don't want to die at all."

Chapter 242 Who wants to die?! Idiot! [4k]

"...When did I ever say such a thing to you?" the goddess asked expressionlessly.

“You didn’t say it aloud, but I could hear your inner voice—you were crying out to me for help. These beautiful memories, the people and things you cherish, are desperately telling me that you still want to live, that you still want to experience more beauty…”

Han Fulai leaned down, his hands braced against the wooden countertop, staring at the shaman in front of the counter with an extremely imposing posture.

His shirt front brushed against the wooden panel where water droplets had condensed, and was only a hand's width away from the priest's elbow, which was curled up on the table.

They were now at eye level, their eyes locked, and they could hear each other breathing.