There is nothing wrong with the training method of the Justice Messenger

"Even if that's true, you're still courting disaster. By getting in touch with Fujiki, you're connected to the entire Yuyuko faction behind him. If you're not careful, you'll fall into a quagmire from which you'll have difficulty extricating yourself. By then, you may not be able to do anything you want."

"I know, but I don't care, as long as the Taishan Lord Festival can be successfully carried out."

Suzuka answered without hesitation. It was obvious that she was not unaware of the risks, but had considered them carefully before making the decision.

Li Nian thought about it and raised a new question: "...You once said that the current disorder of spiritual veins across Japan is caused by Tsuchimikado Yekou's Taishan Fujun Festival."

"Are you worried that I will do the same as Ye Guang did and disrupt the spiritual veins of the entire country? Then you really overestimate my ability. The Taishan Mansion Lord Festival is a system. The magic that Ye Guang performed at that time is different from the magic that I want to perform."

"Do you know what the Night Light spell is? Didn't you say that there was no record left?"

"No records were left, but I am sure that what Ye Guang did with the Taishan Lord Sacrifice was definitely not what I wanted to do with the Taishan Lord Sacrifice."

"So what exactly do you want to do with the Taishan Palace Festival?"

At this time, the two of them had already walked through the corridor connecting the teaching building, and just as they passed the stairs, they saw a pair of male and female students walking down side by side, playing around.

——"The luxurious pudding in the refrigerator is mine, brother, you are not allowed to take it!"

——"If you hadn't told me, how could I not know about this good thing? It must be first come first served! Pudding is only for the strong. Come on, my stupid sister! You can only blame yourself for your slip of the tongue!"

——"Ah?! Wait...! He actually ran away. Damn it!"

Suzuka stopped and watched the brother and sister run away, listening to their not-so-harmonious bickering, but showing an envious expression.

Then she answered Li Nian and said.

"I want to resurrect the dead."

Li Nian was startled at first, then he looked in the direction of her gaze. After thinking about it, he suddenly understood what Suzuka meant.

"You want to revive your brother?"

"Yes."

In an instant, Li Nian understood why Dalian Temple Suzuka was so obsessed with the Taishan Fujun Festival.

The Taishan Lord Ceremony is a sacrificial ceremony to inform heaven and earth and communicate with the Lord of Mount Tai. The Lord of Mount Tai is the god who is in charge of the dead - or the god who is in charge of the soul.

"...So you want to communicate with the Lord of Mount Tai and bring back your brother's soul from the underworld."

"As expected of an excellent mage, you understand everything at once."

Dalianji Suzuka once said that she had a brother who was killed by Dalianji Zhidao's experiment. It turned out that she had never accepted this fact and was still thinking about bringing that brother's soul back from the underworld.

After a moment of silence, Li Nian thought of a lot of things.

The existence of the soul, the concrete existence of a higher [God], the possibility of bringing the soul back to resurrect the dead... Li Nian was actually quite convinced by this, because he himself was a typical example.

"Are you concerned about the Yin-Yang Hall?"

Looking at Li Nian's expression, Suzuka thought that what Li Nian was thinking about at this moment was the possibility of being regarded as an accomplice who helped to perform forbidden techniques and being wanted by the Onmyoji Bureau.

Dalian Temple Suzuka knew that the implementation of the Taishan Fujun Festival was indeed a matter of great risk. Although she and Li Nian had said that the more advanced the research on magic was, the more unavoidable it would be to the realm of the soul, and she felt that with Li Nian's level, he should be someone who had studied this aspect, but after all, having research was one thing, and studying the Taishan Fujun Festival system and actually implementing it was another thing.

This was a ritual that was explicitly listed as a forbidden technique by the Onmyoji Bureau, and it was also a ritual system that had actually caused spiritual disasters across the country.

If you do this, you will be wanted.

After hearing what Suzuka said, Li Nian stopped his wild thoughts and started talking about the real problem.

"Of course I have to be cautious. I understand your thoughts and obsessions, but this is a crime anyway. If the forbidden technique is exposed, you will definitely be defined as a third-class spiritual disaster by the Yin Yang Bureau's Curse Search Department. The one who will come to kill you is probably the head of the Curse Search Department, Tian Ruo Qingxian himself. And you want me to protect you for such a thing? Become an accomplice?"

That would completely overturn Li Nian's normal life. Daliansi Suzuka had thought of this from the beginning, and of course she did not intend to let Li Nian do this, so she said to Li Nian.

"Of course, I won't let you become an accomplice - I won't let you really participate in the implementation of the Taishan Fujun Festival. I just hope that you can protect me during the ceremony... I say protection, but in fact, I want you to help ensure the smooth implementation of the ceremony. Fundamentally, it is to prevent two problems. One is that Fujiki and his people may interfere with some malicious intentions. They will definitely ask to participate and watch as they provide the information, so there is a possibility of tampering. The second is..."

"Second, the spiritual disaster that may be caused if the suppression ritual fails?"

"……Yes."

"...You really can't guarantee the success of the ceremony."

"…After all, it was Tsuchimikado Yoko who developed and perfected this technique, and even he himself failed in it."

"It seems very likely that this will turn into an explosion now that you mention it."

Chapter 322 Results of Negotiations

"The possibility of an explosion is certainly not non-existent... to be honest, it's quite high."

"What?" Li Nian frowned. It was just a joke. He didn't really think he would explode. The reason was that he had learned about rituals before. Although those contents were not related to the Taishan Lord Festival, all kinds of rituals in the world have the same goal. To put it bluntly, rituals to communicate with divinity and the arrangement of formations have similar processes. In essence, they are the unfolding of rituals that have been prepared with many external objects.

Because it is pre-arranged, the power of the ritual that requires a lot of effort is generally much greater. However, since there is ample time to prepare, it should be much safer than performing a ritual on the spur of the moment.

The preset unfolding framework can allow spiritual power to flow freely in the desired form. In addition, safety-related arrangements can be made. An excellent wizard should also be prepared to stop the ceremony in case of any emergency. In this case, there is a high probability of an explosion, which means that the wizard who arranges the ceremony cannot grasp the entire ceremony or does not have the ability to perform the ceremony.

He originally thought that a Yin-Yang master like Suzuka would not make such a low-level mistake...

Li Nian asked, "Even if I helped you stop Teng Qi and the others from interfering and gave you an opportunity to do your best to perform the ritual, the possibility of failure is still high?"

"correct."

"Does that mean you don't even have the ability to control the entire ceremony?"

"Don't underestimate me." Suzuka frowned unhappily: "I am one of the Twelve Divine Generals after all. How can I not even have the ability to control the ceremony?"

Li Nian did not underestimate Suzuka. Since she said that she had the ability to control the ceremony, Li Nian would not doubt that she could not do it.

"So what's the problem? A ritual that can be controlled still has a high chance of failure?"

"The problem is that the ritual itself may be missing. I've already said that since Tohno Yorozuya's failure in performing the Taishan Fujun Festival, the relevant information has been banned and destroyed. Over the years, I have been secretly looking for this information and conducting research, trying to reproduce a banned ritual. You know, there is a possibility that there are mistakes in the steps, not because I am not capable enough."

"Oh." Li Nian suddenly realized. "As a result, you are going to hold an incomplete ceremony. That's even worse than your incompetence. It would be strange if there is no explosion if the steps go wrong."

"…That's why I need Fujiki's information. Dalian Temple Zhidao's research is definitely deeper and more detailed than mine."

The implementation of the Taishan Fujun Festival is something that Dalian Temple Suzuka has always been thinking about. If the conditions for its implementation had already been met, she would have done it herself long ago. The fact that she didn't do it means that she has not been sure about it until now. The reason why she agreed to Fujiki is that she wanted to get Dalian Temple Zhidao's research to improve the Taishan Fujun Festival to a state where it can be implemented. Fujiki's conditions really hit Suzuka's soft spot.

"To what extent can their information make the entire ceremony complete?"

"The data has not been delivered to me yet. If what Fujiki said is true, then they probably don't want to see a failed ritual. Of course, I will wait until I get the data, verify it with my existing knowledge about the Taishan Fujun Festival, and confirm that the ritual can be performed before I do this, but..."

“But you’re still not guaranteed success.”

"…Yes, in the final analysis, Tsuchimikado Yoko, who performed the entire ritual, also failed."

It's just a ceremony to worship the Lord of Mount Tai. Is it so dangerous?

We shouldn't have started such a dangerous ritual... Even if I told Dalianji Suzuka this, she definitely wouldn't listen.

"So, assuming the worst-case scenario, the ritual fails and causes an explosion..."

"That's just one of the possibilities. The Taishan Mansion Lord Festival relies on the spiritual veins. Failure of the ritual will cause the spiritual veins to become disordered, and it will turn into a spiritual disaster. It is possible that it will turn into anything. However, this is a situation that exorcists like you and I have dealt with many times. I can guarantee that it will be under control. Let me say it again, if you are worried that I will cause a nationwide spiritual disaster like Tsuchimikado Yomiuri, then you can rest assured that I don't have Tsuchimikado Yomiuri's ability. I am sure that the purpose of his ritual is not as simple as reincarnation, and my purpose is simply to retrieve a person's soul. In any case, it will not turn into a nationwide spiritual disaster like Tsuchimikado Yomiuri did at that time."

"..." Li Nian also felt that if the disorder of spiritual veins across Japan was the result of the failure of the Taishan Mansion Festival, then the ritual held at the time should at least have mobilized a corresponding degree of spiritual power in the spiritual veins across the country, and it should not have been such a simple purpose of "recovering the soul of an ordinary human being."

Li Nian nodded: "I understand. The worst case scenario is that the ritual fails, the spiritual veins become disordered, and the first or second type of spiritual disaster occurs. I am good at this. I can flatten it with one foot and that's it."

“…” Dalian Temple Suzuka understood this sentence as Li Nian would simply deal with that level of spiritual disaster in his own way, and did not think much about it. She did not doubt Li Nian’s ability at all, and it was for this reason that she asked him to be her protector: “Then I have already told you my purpose, my means, my level of preparation, and the impact and problems that failure may cause.”

"...To be honest, this isn't even like the Suzuka I knew."

Yes, Dalian Temple Suzuka answered all of Li Nian’s questions and told him the pros and cons in great detail.

The questions Li Nian asked were also intended to confirm the extent of Dalian Temple Suzuka's preparations, what impact the Taishan Fujun Festival would have if it really began, and what risks he would have to take if he got involved.

Dalian Temple could have used all kinds of rhetoric to deceive Li Nian, and could have concealed all kinds of information, such as not telling Li Nian that he was not 100% sure of successfully carrying out the Taishan Fujun Festival, and he could have even not told Li Nian about his involvement with Dalian Temple Suzuka and Fujiki, and only said that he was going to carry out the Taishan Fujun Festival, so as not to give Li Nian more concerns.

But she didn't.

As Li Nian said, Suzuka is very frank.

"Anyway, I can't lie to you. I'm not good at lying, and you're a perceptive guy. You can definitely tell whether I'm telling the truth or not. You're also an excellent wizard. Even if you don't have the knowledge of the Taishan Mansion Lord Festival, you can see what I want to do when you get to the scene. Rather than lying to you and making you angry, and ending up with a falling out, I might as well explain everything to you right from the start..."

This was an open and frank negotiation, and Dalian Temple Suzuka had already informed Li Nian of all the information that should have been told - even the parts that did not need to be told to Li Nian.

Li Nian nodded: "I almost know what I want to know."

"So your answer is..."

"..."

Li Nian did not rush to reply, but silently looked at Daliansi Suzuka, who neither avoided nor allowed him to look into her eyes. In addition to honesty, frankness, and hope... there was also an unconcealable fear in her eyes.

Suzuka was trying her best to stay calm.

Li Nian was wondering what she was afraid of. Was she still afraid of him, Li Nian? No, he had already expressed that he had not harmed her and was willing to treat her as a friend. When they were talking and laughing before, Dalian Temple Suzuka was indeed in a relaxed state.

So what she is afraid of now is... her own rejection?

She asked Li Nian to be her guardian, not because she needed Li Nian's help in the ritual, but because she needed Li Nian's protection... If Li Nian rejected Suzuka, she would definitely not stop the Taishan Fujun Festival. Even without Li Nian's protection, she would most likely go alone to negotiate with Fujiki and obtain the knowledge of Dalian Temple's supreme way...

That's right, Dairenji Zhidao, Suzuka is going to meet the madman who killed her brother and did many experiments on her. Is this what she is afraid of, all alone...

Li Nian thought, no matter how much she was exposed to more things, learned more knowledge, completed more work, and appeared mature, Dalian Temple Suzuka was still just a teenager after all, and could not have experience beyond her age, so she did not know how to lie, and was not good at covering up. Being frank with him, Li Nian, was the best way she could think of. Even adults found it difficult to face their own psychological shadows, let alone such a child...

Misunderstanding Li Nian's silence at this time, Dalian Si gradually became flustered. She was indeed afraid of Li Nian's rejection, and she was trying hard to think about what went wrong - she actually thought of it, and suddenly said.

"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you the most important thing."

“…What?” Li Nian was stunned. Is there still information that he doesn’t know?

"Rewards. I forgot to promise them benefits before asking them for help." Suzuka felt very regretful: "Doesn't this mean that I am just trying to get something for nothing? Sorry, I was stupid."

So this is what she was talking about. If she hadn't said it, Li Nian hadn't even thought of it herself. She was too busy trying to guess what Suzuka was thinking at the moment.

When you ask for help, you must prepare a reward. This is a matter of righteousness. Li Nian asked curiously, "Then what have you prepared to ask me, a powerful exorcist who defeated the earth spider, to be your protector?"

"...Oh, you don't call yourself a new exorcist anymore?" Suzuka felt that she had found the key, so she explained why Li Nian was unwilling to agree. She felt more at ease and said sarcastically, "A powerful exorcist like you still cares about money?"

"Of course, now is the time for bargaining, don't blame me for trying my best to fight for myself." Li Nian rubbed his hands excitedly: "For the sake of profit, adults can become Shura! Laozi Ye knows this very well. I have to tell you first that my personal appearance fee is very expensive. Specifically..."

Li Nian cleared his throat and wanted to make his own offer. He had no intention of being polite and wanted to make some money from this rich woman.

Who is Dalian Temple Suzuka? This is a national first-class exorcist and a national idol established by the Yin-Yang Bureau. His income must be ten blocks higher than that of a new exorcist like him. If Li Nian really participated in it, he would be considered to be assisting criminals to perform forbidden techniques and be listed as an accomplice by the Curse Search Department. What's wrong with making a little money?

But before Li Nian could say anything, Suzuka impatiently quoted a price.

"So, is 86,730,000 enough?"

"..." Li Nian was stunned on the spot.

Suzuka thought this was not enough to impress Li Nian, so she became nervous and asked, "Not enough?"

Li Nian's psychological expectations were indeed broken by this price - but it was not low, but high. The price he wanted to offer was only two million.

Wow, the rich woman raised the price by more than forty times right after she opened her mouth. Is this how rich people bargain?

Li Nian worked so hard that he could only earn 3 million a month, but the price offered by Suzuka was enough for him to work for two years without eating or drinking. Is this the world of the rich? Did the rich get their money from the wind?

Li Nian couldn't help wondering if it was because he had been a newbie for so long that he couldn't imagine the bosses' view of money. Was it really like in YY novels that the bosses could easily earn tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yen for doing something? Was 80 million really a small amount for Suzuka? Out of curiosity, he asked, "If I say it's not enough."

Suzuka looked gloomy.

"Then I have no choice. This is all my assets. If you are not satisfied with this price, I can't give you more."

Upon hearing that it was the kid's entire fortune, Li Nian frowned. No wonder Daliansi Suzuka reported such an exaggerated number with a strange sense of accuracy. He was afraid that he had directly reported the deposit amount.

This actually made him feel strange.

"Do you really want to revive your brother? Why are you so eager to perform the Taishan Palace Lord Ceremony?"

"Of course. I'm willing to give everything for it." Suzuka answered firmly.

"...You are willing to spend all your savings to hire me as your guardian, how can I not believe it?" Li Nian sighed. In fact, after roughly understanding the pros and cons of participating in this matter, he no longer wanted to refuse, and he didn't want to keep Suzuka on suspense. He said directly: "Okay, okay, don't raise the stakes. I agree. The reward is not as high as you said. Two million is enough."

"...Is there anyone who bargains like you?" Suzuka was stunned.

"I was just about to ask if anyone raises the price like you do?" Li Nian rolled his eyes.

Suzuka hesitated, but still said, "No, 80 million is enough."

"???" Li Nian began to feel something was wrong: "Are you mentally ill? The kind that makes you uncomfortable if you don't spend money?"

"...I never thought that I would be told this by a psychopathic battle maniac in my lifetime." Suzuka shook her head: "Eighty million is worth it in exchange for your dedication."

"Do you think that if you don't pay me enough, I won't work hard?" Li Nian felt that his personality was insulted and his moral integrity was questioned: "I have made it clear that I am not helping you because of the money. I would help you even if you didn't pay me, because you came when I asked you to help, so I will remember that favor."

Suzuka didn't expect Li Nian to say that. After thinking for a while, she couldn't remember when she had ever made Li Nian owe her a favor. "What did I do for you?"

"Didn't you come over when I was fighting Tsuchigumo?"