Chapter 202: The Game

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“When are you going to propose to me?”

“Miss Himegami Izayoi, please marry me.”

“Too perfunctory, no.”

“You see,” Minamoto Kiyomoto was helpless, not with Himegami Izayoi, but with himself. “I can’t think of a good way to propose.”

“How can you not think of one? You’re so smart, you should be able to think of one,” Himegami Izayoi lay on his chest, poking his cheek like a roly-poly toy.

Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t speak, stroking her smooth back, looking at the wood on the ceiling, thinking about how to propose.

Himegami Izayoi looked at him, feeling both amused and happy. This man was worrying about marrying her and satisfying her.

“If you can’t, then forget it.”

“Hmm?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at her with confusion.

“Actually, proposing or whatever, it’s all fine. If you have time to think about these things, you might as well think of a good name for our child,” Himegami Izayoi said softly.

“Then we’ll get married. No, let me think again,” saying that, Minamoto Kiyomoto fell into deep thought again…

“Don’t think about it, brother, continue~” Himegami Izayoi’s soft and delicate voice made one’s back itch.

After it was over again, Himegami Izayoi closed her eyes and snuggled in his arms, as if she were about to fall asleep.

After resting for a while, she opened her eyes and saw him in deep thought. She couldn’t help but hug his neck and said with a smile, “Still thinking?”

“Hmm?” Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t come back to his senses for a moment. “No, I was thinking about other things.”

“Subduing the yokai?”

“I plan to form a practitioner army.”

“An army?” Himegami Izayoi asked curiously.

“The battle between humans and yokai is a war. Since it’s a war, an army is naturally needed,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“Some people already don’t like you. If you form an army again, be careful when you walk at night,” Himegami Izayoi said with a laugh.

Minamoto Kiyomoto also laughed, his hand unconsciously rubbing her waist.

Himegami Izayoi’s skin was brighter than before, crystal clear, making one unable to put it down.

“The army is not urgent. I’ll talk about it after I subdue the yokai. The resistance will be smaller then.”

“Any progress recently?”

A week had passed since the mountain wind cave.

The yokai did not self-destruct. This news spread and attracted the attention of the entire practitioner world, but Minamoto Kiyomoto’s goal was never ‘not to self-destruct’.

“There’s progress, but not much.”

Himegami Izayoi looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto’s calm expression and said with a smile, “Not much progress, but there’s always progress?”

Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed twice and pinched her butt.

Himegami Izayoi patted his shoulder with a bad temper. It was very firm and felt good.

Besides dealing with the proposal, the yokai, the army, and the duties of the Shinto Lord, Minamoto Kiyomoto did not slack off in his cultivation. Tamahime also helped to study and modify some spells.

She had a unique environment. In the sea of capacity, even if the spell experiment failed, it would not cause any backlash.

If he had her from the beginning, Minamoto Kiyomoto would have had a much smoother time developing the “Demon Body Spell.”

On January 11th, it snowed lightly in Tokyo.

A group of people, holding umbrellas, set off from Hakusan Shrine and walked to the Tokyo Daijingu.

“Why have you been saying I look good recently?” Himegami Izayoi asked the Hokkaido Miko curiously.

“Your complexion hasn’t changed.”

“What do you mean?” Shirako was not holding an umbrella, but wearing a primary school student’s raincoat. She thought it was fun and cute.

“Her complexion has always been good,” the Hokkaido Miko said.

Kamibayashi Miko glanced at Minamoto Kiyomoto. Minamoto Kiyomoto coughed twice. With the snow scene, he looked like a weak ancient scholar.

After the washing machine incident on Shodoshima Island, Himegami Izayoi’s sense of shame had grown a lot, especially in front of the few people in front of her. She would not be shy because of her matter with Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“What about Miko’s complexion?” she asked the Hokkaido Miko.

“Average.”

Himegami Izayoi poked Minamoto Kiyomoto with her elbow, with a teasing look of ‘you’re not good enough’.

“Soon!” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with certainty.

“What’s soon?” Shirako asked. “By the way, why doesn’t Lady Miko have a baby yet? Are you doing your job for me?”

“What do you mean doing my job for you?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was not happy.

Kamibayashi Miko turned her umbrella, and the snowflakes rushed towards them along the umbrella surface.

“Cough, cough!” Shirako, who had opened her mouth wide to scold Minamoto Kiyomoto, had a few flakes rush into her throat and choked.

“This is the disadvantage of being short!” Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed. He only had some snowflakes on his chest.

Shirako lifted her short legs in rain boots and stepped on his foot.

Minamoto Kiyomoto also lifted his foot and dodged.

“Don’t run!”

“If you don’t chase me, I won’t run!”

“No, you laughed at me. You must let me step on you!”

“No, if you want to step on me, I must run!”

The two of them were playing in front. Little Butterfly was shrunk in Shirako’s raincoat, cheering for her.

Himegami Izayoi put away her umbrella and moved closer to Kamibayashi Miko.

“What are you doing?” Kamibayashi Miko moved the umbrella to the other side.

Himegami Izayoi took the umbrella handle and held it between the two of them.

“I’ll be pregnant soon. I won’t be able to… look good for a while,” she said.

“What does that have to do with me?”

Himegami Izayoi turned her head to look at Kamibayashi Miko and gave her a suggestive smile, “Don’t say you don’t know what I mean.”

Kamibayashi Miko didn’t speak. She knew.

“If you don’t sleep with him then, you’ll give the Itomi sisters a chance, and the Suitengu Miko. She has to come here in person for things like applying for funds. By the way, the Izumo Miko, that female Bodhisattva, can’t be underestimated either.”

“Kiyomoto won’t do that,” Kamibayashi Miko was very confident about this, but she couldn’t help but start planning in her mind.

“Leave it to me,” it wasn’t Kamibayashi Miko who said it, but the Hokkaido Miko, who was almost fused with the snowflakes.

The two people under the same umbrella turned back at the same time and looked at the Senso Miko, who had come up behind them at some point.

“During this time, I’ll sleep with him,” Rikka said.

The two people under the same umbrella looked at each other.

“Leave it to you,” Himegami Izayoi handed the umbrella to Kamibayashi Miko.

Kamibayashi Miko hesitated for a moment, then stretched out her fair left hand and held the umbrella handle.

After completing the umbrella handle handover ceremony, Himegami Izayoi teased her again, “Don’t be afraid. I’ll guide you then.”

Kamibayashi Miko walked away with the umbrella. Snowflakes fell on Himegami Izayoi’s shiny black hair.

“You’re not shy,” Himegami Izayoi laughed at her back.

The Hokkaido Miko took a step forward and held an umbrella for her.

Himegami Izayoi looked at her snow-like pure eyes.

“I know how to sleep. I don’t need your guidance,” Rikka obviously misunderstood the meaning of her eyes.

Himegami Izayoi took her umbrella and also left.

The Hokkaido Miko stood in place, tilted her head and thought for a while. She had learned a lot during this time, so she ran to Minamoto Kiyomoto’s side and squeezed under the same umbrella.

“…What are you doing?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was so scared he didn’t dare to move.

“Izayoi snatched my umbrella,” Rikka said faintly. “She’s bullying us, making me sleep with you during her pregnancy.”

“Nonsense!” Himegami Izayoi put away her umbrella and raised her hand to give him a “sword.”

“Isn’t that what you mean?” Rikka dodged and asked seriously.

“Do you think it’s possible?”

The Ise Miko and the Hokkaido Miko started a chase in the snowy streets of Tokyo.

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at the two of them in a daze, not knowing what was going on. At this time, Shirako stepped on his foot hard.

“Ah—” Minamoto Kiyomoto let out a suppressed groan.

He staggered and approached Kamibayashi Miko, pretending not to be able to walk and hugging her shoulder.

Kamibayashi Miko’s expression was expressionless, but she just poked his side.

Minamoto Kiyomoto gave her a brilliant smile and said in her ear, “Miko, I like you.”

“Are you coaxing me to sleep with you?” Kamibayashi Miko turned her head to look at him.

“If you’re not willing, I can sleep with you, in your room,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

Seeing that he was ready to be beaten, Kamibayashi Miko couldn’t do anything about him and could only show a helpless and bad-tempered expression.

“Miss Kamibayashi, may I ask you a question: what kind of proposal do girls want?”

“You’re asking me?”

“I treat you as my own family.”

Kamibayashi Miko finally couldn’t bear it and stepped on his foot like Shirako.

It wasn’t because he asked her how to propose to Himegami Izayoi, but because of his glib tongue.

At the Tokyo Daijingu, Kamibayashi Miko, Himegami Izayoi, and the Hokkaido Miko went to the quiet room to cultivate. Shirako and Little Butterfly went to find Noi, who was sleeping here.

Minamoto Kiyomoto was in the main hall, approving documents.

“Read.”

“Send this document down, organize experts to discuss it, and give me their opinions and suggestions.”

Just as he was reviewing the next document, he waited for footsteps. His writing style changed.

“Everything should be considered in terms of its urgency and its pros and cons. How can one be rigid and fixed!”

“I’m here,” it was Itomi Sayaka.

“It’s you. You scared me,” Minamoto Kiyomoto added after “How can one be rigid and fixed!”, “Nonsense! Do you think I’m a twenty-year-old university student who doesn’t know anything?”

“Scared? Who can scare you?” Itomi Sayaka walked over curiously.

“What about your sister? School has started?” Minamoto Kiyomoto changed the subject.

The person who could scare him, of course he didn’t dare to speak ill of her behind her back.

“You really like my sister more,” Itomi Sayaka became a sad sister who was left out.

“I have something to ask you,” Minamoto Kiyomoto changed the subject again. “Go to Yamanashi Prefecture. There are two peaks over three thousand meters high that are showing signs of absorbing divine energy. According to the latest intelligence, the yokai will probably appear today or tomorrow.”

“Didn’t I complete this month’s mission?” Itomi Sayaka asked.

In order to atone for her crime, she needed to participate in a subjugation once a month for three years.

“I’m not asking you to go to war. You pass on an instruction for me: let everyone, including the Kasen, do their best to trap the yokai, and then you stick this sword into the yokai’s body.”

The sword Minamoto Kiyomoto was talking about was the sword that Kamibayashi Miko had used as a clothesline and later gave to him, named “North Star.”

Itomi Sayaka took the sword, looked at it, and said:

“Two peaks over three thousand meters high have turned into yokai. They are very powerful among the town-level. What’s the use of this sword?”

“The sword has my divine power. It can let me know where the yokai is.”

“Know where the yokai is? What’s the use of that?” Itomi Sayaka was puzzled.

“You’ll know then,” Minamoto Kiyomoto picked up his red pen and continued to approve.

Itomi Sayaka took the “North Star” and the document with the Honshu Shinto Lord’s seal, left the Tokyo Daijingu, and flew towards Yamanashi Prefecture.

Just as Itomi Sayaka left, Yoko came to report that someone from Hokkaido had come to see him.

It was to send Minamoto Kiyomoto an invitation to the February Ice Lantern Festival.

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Yamanashi Prefecture, Akaishi Mountains.

The Akaishi Mountains were composed of many mountain ranges. With Lake Suwa as the apex, it extended east to the Kamanashi River and the Fuji River, and west to the mountainous area of the Tenryu River.

In the mountains, there were nine peaks over three thousand meters high; there were also many mountains of two thousand and one thousand meters.

This time, two three-thousand-meter-high peaks absorbed divine energy. According to the Onmyoryo’s prediction, the yokai was at the top of the town level.

Yamanashi Prefecture was located in the central part of Honshu and belonged to Kanto, but after Minamoto Kiyomoto took office, he deliberately abandoned the regional distinction between Kansai and Kanto.

Other places needed to be taken slowly, but the central part of Honshu was used by him as an experimental site.

The practitioners in this subjugation were half from Kansai and half from Kanto.

“This yokai is so powerful. Why did you let so many people from Kansai come!” The practitioners from Kansai were camping on the bank of the Tenryu River.

Sitting at the head of the table were Ashiya Doman, the Minamoto clan leader, Minamoto Kiyohiro, the Izumo Miko, Minamoto Nagatoku, the Fujiwara clan leader, and the Taira clan leader, who were drinking.

This list of personnel was very interesting. There were Minamoto Kiyomoto’s confidants, and also Minamoto Kiyomoto’s “enemies.”

The people below complained about this mission. The few people sitting at the head of the table were pondering the purpose of Minamoto Kiyomoto’s arrangement this time.

“Lord Izumo Miko, Brother Fujiwara,” Minamoto Nagatoku raised his wine cup.

The Izumo Miko and the Fujiwara clan leader also raised their wine cups, and the three of them drank a cup with a smile.

The Minamoto clan leader glanced at Minamoto Nagatoku, and a trace of coldness flashed in his eyes.

In the family, besides the clan leader, there were also three elders and six middle elders.

Minamoto Nagatoku had just been promoted to elder before he went to Tokyo, and now he was the chief elder, known as the “Great Elder.”

All of this was not because he had made great contributions, but because of the influence of the almost deified Minamoto Kiyomoto.

The Minamoto clan leader turned his gaze to the Fujiwara clan leader.

This person, who should have become his father-in-law, suddenly postponed the wedding on the grounds that Fujiwara Shino needed to go into seclusion to cultivate.

Minamoto Kiyohiro gulped down a cup of wine. He couldn’t stay in the room any longer and went straight out.

It was winter. He was wearing thin clothes, but he didn’t want to use his divine power.

Standing by the quietly flowing Tenryu River, he took out the Suzaku flute and looked at it as if he were looking at a person.

“Lord Kiyohiro,” a voice came from behind. He put the Suzaku flute into his sleeve.

The person who came was a well-known sealing master.

Minamoto Kiyohiro didn’t know his name and just nodded.

“Lord Kiyohiro, are you troubled by something?” the sealing master asked.

“Who isn’t troubled?” Minamoto Kiyohiro said faintly.

The sealing master smiled, looked around, and saw crows in the forest, sometimes flying past in the sky.

Minamoto Kiyohiro frowned at his sneaky appearance.

“Lord Kiyohiro,” the sealing master confirmed that the crows could not hear the voice here, and still subconsciously lowered his voice, “we have a way to solve your troubles.”

“For me?” Minamoto Kiyohiro’s words fell, and he reacted to another word, “We?”

“Lord Kiyohiro, have you heard of pacifism?”

“What do you want to say?” Knowing that the other party was approaching him with a purpose, Minamoto Kiyohiro did not maintain his etiquette and questioned.

“A county-level yokai is enough to destroy several cities in an instant. Ordinary practitioners can laugh it off and even treat it as a savior, but we, pacifists, cannot be optimistic, especially since this power is in the hands of a human with selfish desires.”

As if he felt that the winter sun was dazzling, Minamoto Kiyohiro narrowed his eyes.

The sealing master took a step forward and lowered his voice even more.

“Lord Kiyohiro, the world has changed. I can violate the organization’s decision and tell you a secret.”

“A secret?”

“Minamoto Kiyomoto has become the Honshu Shinto Lord and has mastered the Yatagarasu. He can see everything the crows see. We, you, have no secrets under these eyes.”

Minamoto Kiyohiro’s narrowed eyes suddenly widened.

“Are you serious?” After he finished, he found that he had unconsciously lowered his voice.

Am I afraid?

I don’t even dare to let that person hear me say a few bad words?

The sealing master looked at him without changing his expression and said, “Lord Kiyohiro, it’s not just you. We’re also afraid.”

A trace of displeasure flashed across Minamoto Kiyohiro’s face, both for his own cowardice and for the other party’s ability to read his mind.

“Then you still dare to come to me?” he said sharply.

“By the time we don’t dare to come to you, it will be too late. Minamoto Kiyomoto, what is this person if not a yokai? It’s just that he doesn’t kill humans, but only imprisons them.”

Minamoto Kiyohiro’s gaze subconsciously wanted to look for the crows to verify what this person had said, and then he withdrew his gaze.

“Lord Kiyohiro,” seeing that the groundwork was almost done, the sealing master took out his trump card, “we have a way to let you master the Suzaku flute.”

Minamoto Kiyohiro’s breathing changed for the first time.

He looked at the person in front of him and was about to speak when the earth suddenly trembled, and the pebbles on the river beach trembled as if they had been electrocuted.

In the temporary camp, the group rushed out and flew into the air.

In the winding Akaishi Mountains, a giant woke up, supported its knees, and slowly stood up.

By visual inspection, it was about three thousand meters tall. Its body was wrapped in vines, and a river hung on it like a waterfall.

“The yokai has appeared! The yokai has appeared!”

“Repair department! Watch the earth spirit!”

On the other side of the Oi River, the practitioners from Kanto also flew up.

A bombardment of spells filled the sky. The giant did not block or dodge, but took slow and huge steps and walked towards the nearest city.

Ashiya Doman threw away his wine pot, held a spell seal, and blood water appeared in the sky, pouring down on the giant.

“Ah—” the stone giant roared. The place corroded by the blood water emitted a large amount of white smoke.

In the blink of an eye, the Akaishi Mountains were filled with mist. The sun was hazy, and it became a humid morning.

“Boom!” The white mist was pierced by divine power again, like a burning newspaper, and slowly disappeared.

The fierce battle was in a stalemate. At this time, a female voice came from the east.

“The Honshu Shinto Lord has an order. Everyone, do your best to trap the yokai!” A blue divine power rushed to the front. It was Itomi Sayaka, the woman from the Shinto sect.

The group was stunned when they heard the order.

“Since Lord Shinto has an order, let’s do it,” Minamoto Nagatoku was the first to recover.

Minamoto Kiyohiro glanced at him, and Minamoto Nagatoku looked at Ashiya Doman. This was where his cultivation was the highest.

Ashiya Doman laughed indifferently. The blood water turned into chains and bound the giant’s head.

The others also acted. Minamoto Kiyohiro had no choice but to help.

After a struggle, the giant finally stopped. The group was struggling to pull it.

Itomi Sayaka took out the North Star and threw it at the yokai. The three-thousand-meter-tall body did not need to be aimed.

The sword was extremely sharp and went straight into the giant’s back.

The giant did not feel anything. It pulled its right arm hard. The people responsible for the right arm staggered, and those with less than twenty subjugations all vomited blood.

“What’s going on?!” the Taira clan leader asked Itomi Sayaka loudly.

The group also looked at her. The yokai, not to mention dead, did not even have a trace of injury.

“I don’t know either,” Itomi Sayaka spread her hands.

“You—” Minamoto Kiyohiro was about to speak when he suddenly looked up.

In the distant east, a three-colored divine light, like a rainbow bridge, flew over.

“Boom!” The rainbow bridge was like a waterfall, pouring down on the giant, making a deafening roar.

Looking from afar, it was as if the giant were taking a bath with a waterfall in the Akaishi Mountains.

“Ah—” the giant roared and struggled madly.

The group quickly came back to their senses and stabilized the seal.

Gradually, the giant’s roar turned into a whimper, until there was no sound.

The rainbow waterfall slowly shrank. When it turned into a beam of light and disappeared, the giant, with a “bang,” like glass falling on the ground, shattered.

A few remnants, and the black long sword, floated in the sky that had just been crowded.

The group stared blankly at the scene in front of them, unable to believe it.

Minamoto Kiyomoto, the Honshu Shinto Lord, had killed the yokai in Yamanashi Prefecture with a single blow from Tokyo.