Chapter 230: The Pink-Haired Fox
What is life?
Life is the foundation—life is the root of everything.
Once dead, all is empty, and yet it's sorrowful we cannot witness our land united.
To be alive is the basis for all activity.
Only by being alive can one act, and only through action can miracles be born.
"Then... what's the point of being alive?"
Perched on the edge of the cliff next to the Tenshukaku, Bai Luo posed the question casually as he deftly descaled and gutted a fish.
"Yeah, that's real deep and all, but what's it got to do with killing fish?" Arataki Itto asked, puzzled. "Didn't we agree we were gonna let them go?"
"Which brings us to the next question," Bai Luo said, lifting a finger. "What is 'let them go'?"
"Uh… tossing them back in the water?"
Itto pointed toward the sea below, offering his answer with hesitation. It wasn't like he hadn't done similar things before.
But Bai Luo just smiled and shook his head.
"Putting fish into the ocean is just trading one prison for a slightly larger one. What we're freeing... isn't their bodies." He paused. "It's their souls."
"Their souls?" Itto blinked.
"Yes, their souls."
Bai Luo placed the skewered fish above the fire and turned his gaze skyward.
"When a fish is in a bowl, it's the bowl that binds its freedom. In a pond, it's the pond. In the ocean, it's the ocean. Even within its body, it's still bound—by time, by life itself. What we're doing… is releasing it from all of that. We're setting its soul free, freeing it even from the chains of fate and the laws of the heavens. Only then can we call it true liberation."
By now, his speech was rising with passion, his fist raised toward the heavens as if declaring war on destiny itself.
"…Bai bro, I…"
After a long silence, Arataki Itto lowered his head, expression solemn.
"You've awakened to the truth?"
"…Nah, I'm just hungry."
"..."
So that's why you were looking down—you were eyeing the grilled fish!?
The sun dipped below the horizon, casting warm gold across the cliffside. The two men no longer debated the meaning of life and soul.
After all, before a good meal, all philosophy becomes meaningless.
That evening, Itto learned one important truth:
Bai Luo's grilled fish is ridiculously good.
"Ahahaha! You keep eating—I'll head back real quick," Bai Luo said, wiping the oil from his lips and rising to his feet.
"Going to set more souls free?"
Itto glanced up, still munching.
He no longer tried to correct Bai Luo's weird laughter habits.
"Nah, just grilling fish is getting a bit boring. I'm gonna grab a pot."
For Bai Luo, what was the most unforgettable part of Liyue?
That would be Bubu Pharmacy.
Not because of Qiqi, but because of the medicinal stew made with koi and frogs simmered in herbal broth.
The rich aroma of herbs… the soft lotus root slices… that broth simmered to perfection—
It made a man want to swallow his tongue.
While the Tenshukaku probably didn't have something as high-class as a Bubu cauldron, a regular cooking pot wouldn't be hard to find.
And once he had that, and some seasonings… oh, it would be glorious.
Without Itto tailing him like a noisy drum, sneaking into the Tenshukaku again was no challenge.
Especially with his quantum phase-shifting ability—even the Musou Isshin of the Raiden Shogun couldn't stop him.
Cloaking himself in invisibility, Bai Luo originally planned to sweep the place room by room—after all, the Tenshukaku was huge, and he had no idea where the kitchen was.
But then, he saw them.
A few people dressed like farmers, hauling baskets under pale lavender cloths.
Curious, he crept closer and lifted the corner of one basket.
Inside were plants—some he didn't recognize, but one caught his eye immediately.
Mint.
Perfect. These were ingredient suppliers.
All he had to do was follow them to the kitchen and save himself the trouble of searching.
As he watched the group led by a kimono-clad woman into a nearby building, Bai Luo chose not to follow directly.
Instead, he circled around to the side.
There, he found what looked like a drainage outlet.
The water flowing out wasn't wastewater—it was steaming, fragrant, and clean.
But… for some reason, floating within it were strands of what looked like… pink fur?
"…Yeah, this'll do."
After gauging the wall's thickness, Bai Luo activated quantum phase-shift and slipped through.
The moment his head emerged on the other side, he was enveloped in thick steam.
Smoke and mist swirled around him…
A sweet, faint scent tickled his nose.
That scent…
It was sweeter than any flower in the natural world—sweeter even than the famed Sweet Flower, known far and wide for its honeyed fragrance.
Once fully inside, Bai Luo re-materialized and stepped onto the edge of what looked like a stone ledge. He glanced around, puzzled.
Did I just phase into a steamer pot?
Whatever was cooking in here... it smelled divine.
Instinctively, he looked down, and then froze.
What he saw was a cascade of long, pink hair, flowing like silk through the warm water.
And beneath that surface, only barely obscured by the steam—
A pair of soft, rounded—
Slimes? Definitely not slimes.
Sensing his gaze, the woman half-soaking by the edge of the hot spring slowly raised her head.
Their eyes met.
Bai Luo: "…"
Yae Miko: "…"
For several seconds, they simply stared at each other, silent as stone.
Then, perhaps in a futile attempt to ease the rapidly snowballing awkwardness, Bai Luo raised a hand and gave a casual wave.
"Yo. Enjoying your bath?"
Run? Of course he wanted to run.
But the problem was—Quantumization had a five-second cooldown.
If he used invisibility now and followed up too quickly with another phase jump, he'd get forcibly de-cloaked. Both abilities would be on cooldown, leaving him completely exposed—in the Tenshukaku, no less.
Right now, all he could do was stall and pray she didn't fry him instantly.
"…Want to join?"
Yae Miko didn't scream, didn't shout, didn't even raise her voice.
Instead, she sank further into the hot spring, leaving only her head visible above the waterline, a smile that was not quite a smile dancing on her lips.
But within the seemingly calm waters…
Faint flickers of purple lightning began to dance.
Join her?
Bai Luo had a creeping suspicion that the moment his foot touched the water, he'd be electrocuted into a well-seasoned piece of grilled fish.
"…Sorry to disturb you."
Feeling the tingling sensation of static already prickling at his skin, Bai Luo glanced at the now-ready cooldown timer—
And phased straight through the wall.
The moment he vanished, Yae Miko slowly sank completely beneath the surface.
A moment later, a thoroughly soaked pink-furred fox burst out of the spring.
Shaking the droplets from her fur, she leapt onto a small window sill that had been built just for her convenience, slipping through it effortlessly.
But outside, Bai Luo was already gone.
As if… the whole thing had been a fleeting illusion.
The pink-furred fox closed her eyes and took a soft sniff.
A new scent drifted up from below the cliff.
Grilled fish.
Her ears twitched.
With a graceful bound, she sprang onto the high wall of the Tenshukaku. Petals from the cherry blossoms stirred in her wake as she slipped past the trees—leaving behind a fluttering trail of soft pink—and descended toward the cliffs below.
There, by a crackling fire, an oni sat with legs crossed, happily munching on a freshly grilled fish.
"Mm?"
The fox's arrival naturally caught Itto's attention.
But he didn't shoo her away.
Instead, he waved cheerfully with the same energy one would use to greet a friend.
"Yo, little fox! Want some fish? It's really good!"
. . . . .
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