People in Xumi: I am really not the Dragon King

Chapter 570 Lin Feng: Take out my weapon? No need, I think your naginata is quite good.

Two days later, in front of the castle tower, at the Narukami Taisha headquarters, people came and went.

In front of the torii gate, erected as a symbol of the separation between humans and gods, because of the upcoming festival.
Two uniquely dressed figures, seemingly ignored by the crowd, silently gazed at the shrine ahead with eyes that were completely different from those of ordinary worshippers.

Or perhaps, they were actually looking at the "eye of God" carried by a certain shrine maiden inside the shrine.

"."

"Tsk, old man, you've noticed it too, haven't you?"

"Although it's not the first time we've seen this, our friend always manages to surprise us."

"He clearly didn't project his fate onto the 'sky' at all, yet not only was he unaffected, but even the rules themselves seemed to be cooperating with him."

Standing under the cherry blossom tree by the roadside, I took a sip of the sake I had recently gotten from an izakaya.

Although he was aware of his friend's special status, the drunkard still suspected that those in the sky might have already defected to the enemy long ago after seeing this treatment.
"Heh, when it comes to knowing secrets, you're no less knowledgeable than I am, and you should have some idea why."

“Power is just the most obvious reason. But even if we only look at power itself, his current attention is far more in line with the world’s description of this gift than ours.”

Looking up at the sky, one can sense elements from outside the island slowly but steadily gathering here.

The laws of the world are rediscovering their core, and to receive such a glimpse from such beings is a blessing in itself.

"Ultimately, it's just a formality. You should be able to see that losing that 'Eye of God' has no impact whatsoever."

"His blessing is given to the individual; rather than the law conforming to him, it is the law striving to make everything conform to the norm."

This world has many established "rules," and it also has guardians of these rules.

Most people have no choice but to obey or exploit these rules, but in the case of my little friend, everything is actually the opposite.
When the rules themselves cannot restrict others, trying to make it appear as if there are no problems on the surface is probably the limit.
"Hey, I'm just looking for a nice place to drink. I don't know as much as you, old man."

"However, my friend's request was, as always, excellent value for money. The number of worshippers at the shrine has increased so quickly, even though very few people used to visit shrines."

Scratching his head, Wendy brushed off the previous question, knowing that the street wasn't the place to discuss such matters.

Through the story told by "the wind," we witnessed firsthand the dramatic increase in the number of worshippers visiting the shrine.

Looking at the shrine ahead, bustling with people, so much so that it was almost impossible to squeeze in.

Although there are quite a few people visiting Mondstadt Cathedral, Wendy still wanted to give her friend another request so that so many people would offer wine to her idol every day.
"You should know that before everything changed, the 'eternity' here was closest to the natural order, and therefore, in some qualities, it was the same."

"In relation to the 'eternity' of a nation, there is no individual existence. If the gods don't care about the identity of the person making the prayer, then worship is naturally meaningless."

It is very clear that a fundamental change has taken place in the country, a shift in the role of the divine from the outside to the inside.

The gods, who no longer pay attention to humans, begin to busy themselves with all sorts of trivial matters.
Even if it wasn't done well enough at the beginning, it was already a very thorough change for the people.

"Sigh, I just wanted to have a drink, I didn't want to make it this complicated."

"Speaking of which, old man, your previous method of working only one day a year seemed pretty good. I wonder if it would be possible to have Dvalin also appear once a year?"

?

As he was speaking, he paused, and saw two familiar white-haired figures ahead.

I temporarily paused my thinking about how to persuade Dvalin to work for me.
It was clear that these members of Sumeru usually appeared together. Wendy looked left and right and suddenly realized with a puzzlement that Lin Feng seemed to be absent today.

"."

"Good morning, both of you."

"In that case, I guess you're looking for the little guy's sage?"

“He has some things to do today. If there’s anything you need to tell him, I can help you with it later.”

Nodding, as if to say hello to these two acquaintances, Tree King explained Lin Feng's whereabouts before they even began to ask questions.

"Huh? Something to do? But my friend said he didn't have any work until the festival ended."

My investigation was completely ineffective against Lin Feng.

Or, to put it another way, if they were to try to find their friend by gathering other information, these wind elements would not hesitate to betray them.
"It's probably because this isn't really an important task; it's just that the God of Thunder wanted to take him somewhere, and it won't take too long."

The white-haired little guy smiled slightly, not intending to reveal anything more.

"Hmm? You didn't tell me about this at all? Maybe I should ask you."

I felt inexplicably curious, and I had a feeling that things weren't so simple.

Wendy scratched his head and chose to inform the surrounding wind elementals to find his friends, taking advantage of the wind elementals' tendency to betray him by reporting his location to them.
"."

The moment the thought crossed my mind, I felt the surrounding wind elements spiral out of control.
After a short while, Wendy also heard her friend's voice in her ear:

"Don't try to contact me like this. I don't want to see what you're doing. The smell of alcohol is wafting from you."

"If there's nothing urgent, you can accompany the old man for a stroll. I'm going to see the consciousness space left behind by the previous Thunder God."

"At most, I'll just deal with a challenge from a certain doll on the side, and I should be back soon."

Wendy:? ? ?
A challenge? Challenging whom? Would anyone be so foolish as to think that way?
Before I could ask any more questions, the other end disconnected.

Wendy blinked, her head full of question marks, never imagining that there could be such a stubborn person in the world.

"Alright, continue. So this is the consciousness space that was truly left behind? What you want to ask is what force is keeping it from dissipating, right?"

On the other side, the shadow falls into the cave in the center of the mountain.

Lin Feng stood in front of a vermilion torii gate that served as a seal and asked the shadow beside him a question.

After dealing with the drunkard's attempt to stage an accident, he turned his attention back to the current situation.

This space of consciousness felt very unique to him; rather than being maintained by anyone's power, it was as if it had been "frozen" at a certain moment.
"Yes, this is a question I've never been able to understand, and something I've tried to avoid thinking about before."

"Hundreds of years ago, when I arrived in Kanria, it was too late. I only had time to leave behind her sword and this remaining space of consciousness."

“My connection with Shin is much closer than that of ordinary demons, therefore, I am absolutely certain that Shin truly perished at that time, leaving no possibility of resurrection.”

"But this space of consciousness, which has lost its master, is unexpectedly stable; even the power at the level of a god probably cannot destroy it."

A purple glow emanates from the center of the torii gate, within which lies the space of consciousness belonging to "truth."

She also has a place of consciousness called "Pure Land of the Heart," but if she were to pass away, that space should also collapse. Why?
"I know what you mean."

"But unfortunately, what's maintaining this place isn't real power, and there's no trace of your sister's consciousness here."

"Simply put, the current situation is possible because of some higher-level force outside of this."

Sensing the expectation in Ying's eyes, Lin Feng shook his head and gave a frank response.

"."

He fell silent for a moment, knowing that things were indeed not that simple.
Ying composed herself and revealed everything she knew at that moment:
"Atop the shrine grows a sacred cherry tree. The main reason the shrine was located here was to protect this sacred tree that could absorb the impurities from the earth's veins."

“Five hundred years ago, I left Inazuma to try and save Shin in Kanria. Before I returned, the Divine Cherry Tree absorbed a huge amount of abyssal pollution, which allowed it to survive until I returned from Kanria.” “—But even though this tree played a crucial role in Inazuma's defense against the abyss, and everyone says the Divine Cherry Tree existed a long time ago, in my memory, it suddenly appeared sometime after I left five hundred years ago.”

There are extremely obvious discrepancies between my own memories and other people's accounts.
In Ying's view, the huge cherry blossom tree had undoubtedly appeared suddenly on the mountaintop of Yingxiang.

Considering some of the things Zhen said to her before she passed away, she could only conclude that this was a miracle left behind by Zhen's consciousness.
"The Divine Child has been tending to the Divine Cherry Tree for hundreds of years. She once said that this space of consciousness is the foundation of the Divine Cherry Tree, but she has been unable to actually prove a connection between the Divine Cherry Tree and 'Truth'."

"Who helped preserve the 'true' space of consciousness, and why was only this empty void left behind? This has always been my biggest question."

It's clear that other forces must be involved, but if they can do this, why can't we even find a trace of their consciousness?
"It's very simple. Because 'life and death' are not within the power of 'time,' and faced with a predetermined outcome, she can only do what's at hand."

"The destruction of a human kingdom is enough to give 'Time' a reason to intervene in human affairs, but having learned from past mistakes, she won't do too much extra work on her own, like one of her colleagues did."

One colleague who gets scolded to the point of giving up is enough; few working people want to do this kind of work where they have to work overtime and get yelled at.

Ensuring that Inazuma does not perish in the abyss is the most basic objective.
With a keen sensitivity to timing, once the main objective is achieved, she tries to interfere as little as possible with other matters. This is probably the most basic habit that Istaru has developed in her work.

"."

The Power of Time

He fell silent for a moment, then lowered his head thoughtfully.

It is clear that the realm above "eternity" is higher than oneself, and true "eternity" is inherently a blurring of time.

Her true origins were different from those of ordinary demon gods, which was already a suspicion. After receiving Lin Feng's explanation, Ying also showed a somewhat hesitant expression.

"But what if the fragment of consciousness doesn't actually exist here? If I want to see her again..."

The voice has not fallen,

His movements suddenly froze, and that mechanical stiffness returned to Ying's body.

"."

Lightning flashed, and a chaotic aura of authority emanated from it.

Looking at Ying, who was clearly on the verge of giving up, Lin Feng shook his head, realizing that this job was indeed inescapable.

"I know that this space of consciousness in front of me is probably the battlefield you prepared for yourself and the general. Its stability is enough to make it the best battlefield."

"It's not the right time to talk about your sister yet, and you're not ready to fight this battle right now either."

"The general's agreement is something you can handle yourself. It's a clash of beliefs between you, and I won't interfere."

“But since she is so confident that she can perform better than you, you can temporarily release the suppression and let the general take over this body.”

The post-war celebration is the best opportunity to understand the people's wishes, and Lin Feng does not intend to let Ying drag out the rest of the time in this state.

He sensed that Ying was gradually losing ground in the struggle for physical strength.

Lin Feng shook his head as he watched the puppet in front of him gradually change its aura, feeling that it was about time for him to fulfill his promise.

"Boom——!"

Off the coast of Inazuma, thunder roared.
Having broken through countless suppressions, the general finally gained the opportunity to act and went all out from the start.

I am utterly disappointed with my own recent performance.

Even though she had never actually fought anyone, she didn't think that the reason "my intuition tells me I can't win" was an excuse for a martial artist to be subservient to others.

"boom--!"

Lightning flashed and thunder roared, and thick, dark clouds churned the sea, creating the appearance of an impending storm.

Having reclaimed all the power previously used to block the inside from the outside, the general, though unable to utilize the power of will, is undoubtedly stronger in pure strength than the shadow he faced when confronting the abyss.

"."

"—Draw your weapon; I will not win this unfair contest."

"For a martial artist, only defeating a powerful enemy is something to celebrate."

"He dares not wield his sword against a stronger opponent; it is impossible for him to defeat me in a confrontation."

It continued to draw in the lightning from the sky, but did not directly swing its sword to attack.

Even if he didn't agree with Ying's attitude and ideology, the general was still aware that the person in front of him was not an enemy.

She could tell that the person in front of her had been empty-handed the whole time, and that Wu Xiang's attack was all-out, so she didn't want to be unable to stop herself later.

"No need."

Lin Feng shook his head:

"I don't have a habit of using weapons. Just attack directly. Most weapons are meaningless to me."

"."

The general on the other side remained motionless, clearly not wanting to win unfairly.

"."

"Alright, if you really insist on that."

It can detect the other party's obsession with fair competition.

He raised his head, then paused in his speech.

Meeting the general's slightly suspicious and wary gaze, Lin Feng looked at the purple naginata held in the general's hand, which was gathering dazzling lightning.

His figure vanished from the spot, catching the lightning-infused blade with his bare hands, and left a final message beside the purple-haired otaku girl:

"I think the opponent's weapons should be just as good."

？ ！！

His whole body stiffened.
The general, his body tense, instinctively swung his weapon, only to find that no matter how much force he exerted, the naginata in his hand remained motionless.

"."

He looked at Lin Feng, who had suddenly appeared in front of him, with an extremely incredulous expression.

They had no idea how the other person got there, and they couldn't imagine that someone would actually grab the blade.

He watched helplessly as the power he had gathered over the past half day was casually tossed to the Treasure-Stealing Weasel on his shoulder, like some kind of dessert after a meal.

Then, his weapon was forcibly taken away by an irresistible, pure force.

"."

So far, I haven't sensed any elemental fluctuations, and even the white treasure-stealing weasel was completely unharmed after absorbing my power.
The general, who had wondered before the battle why the enemy had brought a small animal, froze.
Looking down at his empty hands and the naginata in the other person's hand, he suddenly realized that the situation seemed to be somewhat different from what he had imagined.

(End of this chapter)