Witch Special

"Ha, that's awesome!" Reimu Marufumi clapped his hands and said, "Like I said, I'm the fastest person in the Garden of Departure, so naturally I'm very concerned about other fast people. I saw you flying on this broom, and your speed is pretty good, but that shouldn't be your full strength, right?"

"My request is simple. Race me at full speed. Win or lose, I'll tell you everything you want to know. Of course, if you win, I'll tell you everything you ask. But if you lose, I'm afraid the answers you get won't be complete."

"How about it? Do you accept this challenge?"

After saying that, Reimu Marufumi continued to look at Lin Zhenxi with a smile, not worrying at all that Lin Zhenxi would not agree.

After all, this is a challenge, not a direct sacrifice. This is also a clever way to ask questions, just like when you are in a milk tea shop, the waiter usually asks if you want one or two cups, but never asks if you want milk tea. By providing guiding options, it is easier to get the ideal answer.

Lin Zhenxi really fell for this trick, because although she didn't know how fast Reimu Marufumi was, she knew how fast her magic broom was.

Simply put, this courtyard of the dead simply wasn't big enough for her to fly freely. And even if Reimu Marufumi was faster, he was still limited to the inhabitants of this small world. If they were to compete in speed, the outcome would be uncertain.

Of course, if it was a speed contest, some limitations would have to be imposed. After all, Hayashi Maki's magic broom had significant performance flaws. Aside from its commendable straight-line speed, its other performance attributes were abysmal. If Reimu Marufumi wanted to show off her flying skills against her, the match wouldn't even need to begin.

Therefore, only by competing in speed on the straight road can Lin Zhenxi have a chance of winning.

Of course, she thought she had a chance of winning. As for reality... she had clearly forgotten that in the Garden of the Dead, nothing could be reasoned with. For example, if she felt her broom was faster than a missile, she would think she could outrun the fastest Wind Goddess in the Garden of the Dead.

Lin Zhenxi agreed, but also requested that they only compete in the straight line. Reimu Marufumi had no objection at all; she was simply eager to see just how fast Lin Zhenxi could run.

As for the problem raised by Lin Zhenxi that the courtyard of death was too small and there was no way to use her fists and feet, Reimu Marufumi patted her chest and said that Lin Zhenxi didn't need to worry about it, she could solve it, and Lin Zhenxi just needed to follow her.

Lin Zhenxi was not afraid of being kidnapped. She had the ability to teleport and the authority to operate in space. Unless it was a very advanced barrier, it would be impossible to trap Lin Zhenxi.

Moreover, even if she was trapped, there was no way to stop her from escaping into her own exclusive space. At worst, Lin Zhenxi would just hide in her exclusive space and not come out. She believed that Teacher Patchouli would definitely come to rescue her.

However, although the Garden of Death is quite dangerous in the wild, and a big cutie might jump out from the bushes at any time, the people there are still quite simple and honest. If people want something, they usually say it openly and don't bother to do dirty things, as they think it's cheap.

So Lin Zhenxi rode on her magic broom and followed Reimu Maru all the way to the Monster Mountain.

Thanks to the celebration game, although this was Lin Zhenxi's first time visiting this place in reality, she had already visited this place thoroughly in the celebration world.

Previously, Hayashi Maki's activities were almost entirely confined to the path from the shrine to the Scarlet Devil Mansion, never even exploring the forest beside the path or the human village not far from the Mist Lake. And now, suddenly, being brought to Youkai Mountain by Reimu Marufumi, a place with a danger rating of at least three stars, it's unrealistic to say she wasn't frightened.

after all--

There are no stars in the human world, which means there is basically no danger and even ordinary people can live freely there.

The Beast Path has one star, meaning that ordinary people might encounter attacks from goblins and fur balls while traveling, but they're unlikely to lose their lives. After all, the Beast Path ends at the Hakurei Shrine, and to encourage visitors from the human world to visit, the lazy shrine maidens regularly clear the area of ​​monsters and beasts.

The Enchanted Forest and the Lake of Mist receive two stars. These two areas are extremely dangerous for ordinary people due to the presence of ferocious demonic beasts and various goblins. If you must visit, please arrange for a professional escort.

As for Monster Mountain, its danger index is definitely three stars, because it is a gathering place for monsters, and ordinary people are an ingredient in the monsters' recipes. If ordinary people mistakenly enter the area of ​​Monster Mountain, they basically cannot get out.

Incidentally, Lost in the Bamboo Forest gets two stars, because while you can get lost inside, you'll usually be helped out by Inaba Rabbit and led out. Scarlet Devil Mansion, on the other hand, gets five stars, and the story of the terrifying vampires that inhabit it still soothes children's nightmarish cries.

This was basically the situation for the landmarks around Human World. As for the landmarks further away, Lin Zhenxi knew about them in the Festival World. She only knew their names through the Festival Game, so she naturally had no idea what those places were like.

But she knew about Youkai Mountain, a gathering place for monsters. Although there might not be many big monsters, there were more ordinary monsters. But that was precisely why it was troublesome. The big monsters were careful about their reputation and would not bother Lin Zhenxi after knowing that she was Patchouli's apprentice. But ordinary monsters didn't care about that.

It is easy to meet the King of Hell, but it is difficult to deal with the little ghosts. This proverb is very appropriate here.

However, Lin Zhenxi was obviously overthinking this time, because she came with Yumei Marufumi. It was obvious that Yumei Marufumi had a high social status in Youkai Mountain. Although all kinds of strange-looking monsters began to appear around them as soon as they entered Youkai Mountain, they immediately turned around and left after seeing Yumei Marufumi, without even looking at Lin Zhenxi.

They all seem to be afraid of Reimu Marufumi. Could it be that the wind goddess girl next to her is an important figure?

Anyway, Lin Zhenxi did not encounter any danger along the way, and he entered the heart of the Monster Mountain smoothly, just like he was here for sightseeing. This greatly satisfied Lin Zhenxi's curiosity.

Monster Mountain is indeed the gathering place for monsters. Relying on the mountain terrain, many residences have been built here, which are not only strange in shape but also in magical locations.

Similar to tree houses and bird nests, many wooden houses are placed between the treetops and branches. These wooden houses are connected by spiral staircases and suspension bridges. Whether in the trees or on the ground, there are many strange-looking monsters.

However, judging from these tree houses alone, the level of civilization in Monster Mountain seems to be still at the tribal stage. Monsters of one type live together in groups, and are not divided into classes based on factors such as social status and income level like humans, and then only interact with people of the same level.

After flying over the forest at the foot of Youkai Mountain, Lin Zhenxi finally saw a proper town. The monsters living here were highly anthropomorphic, basically the same as Reimu Maru. Apart from the few monster features that were deliberately retained, they were almost indistinguishable from humans.

This is quite interesting. Youkai clearly feed on humans, but the stronger ones all choose to transform into human form instead of remaining in their demon form. Furthermore, the stronger ones seem to start eating more like normal humans and stop attacking them.

Now that they had entered the interior of Youkai Mountain, Lin Zhenxi also saw that among the monster residents below, many were of the same clan as Reimu Marufumi, who was standing beside her. This was because the clothing markings and monster features on them were very similar to Reimu Marufumi's.

These should all be Tengu, right? Apparently, the rulers of Youkai Mountain are the Tengu clan.

Having said that, big monsters usually live alone. Big monsters like Daitengu, who allow their own kind to live around them in the form of settlements, are actually rare.

With their strong strength and strong sense of family, it doesn't seem surprising that the Tengu clan, headed by Daitengu, would become the leaders of Youkai Mountain.

Once they reached the inner city, Reimu Maru's intimidation began to plummet. The most obvious proof of this was her acceleration, as if she was avoiding someone and trying to reach her destination as quickly as possible.

But what you fear will come to pass. The person who could make Reimu Maru escape would obviously not be fooled so easily. Before Reimu Maru could fly far, a big white dog... ahem, I mean a white-haired girl with wolf ears rushed up from below.

Lin Zhenxi was frustrated. Why were everyone else flying faster than the other? Her flying was like an old lady crossing the street, so slow it was maddening. What was wrong?

As the distance got closer, Lin Zhenxi could see the person's appearance clearly. She had short white hair that reached her shoulders, and wore a small red hexagonal hat (headband). Like Reimu Maru, the hat had three pompoms on each side.

There is a pair of white wolf ears on the top of the head, this is the key point.

The pupils are red.

Her attire was somewhat unusual: a white top with two white pompoms on the front, and a black top and red bottom hakama with a maple leaf pattern.

She wore white socks and high-heeled geisha clogs that were different from Reimu Hakurei's, and the shoelaces were tied with red bows.

A large, fluffy, white tail that looked and felt very good hung behind her.

Despite her cute appearance, she held two deadly weapons in her hands. In her left hand was a shield with a maple leaf pattern on it, and in her right hand was a long sword that shone with a cold light.

"Wen, you're causing trouble again!" Before she even flew over, the Tengu girl in white started shouting at Reimu Maru Wen in an unpleasant manner.