Kujou Sara, all jumpy and easily startled, rinsed off in the shower together with Raiden Ei.
After she'd finished scrubbing Collei's back, Raiden Ei beside her suddenly spoke up.
"Sara, scrub my back for me too."
"Eh——!?"
Kujou Sara was taken aback, golden light flashing at once in her two solemn eyes.
She could hardly believe her own ears!
"Sara?"
"...I-I understand!"
Kujou Sara came around behind Raiden Ei, and gazing at the snow-white, glossy back before her, she couldn't help but swallow.
"P-Pardon my impudence..."
As she said this, she took up the sponge and began wiping over that soft, rosy skin.
Even through the thick sponge, Kujou Sara could still feel the smoothness of Raiden Ei's back.
It was this very delicate body whose owner possessed the power to cleave mountains and rivers!
Who could summon supreme lightning and slay the legendary great serpent!
This sacred body, right here before her own eyes!
Kujou Sara forced down the excitement in her heart, meticulously wiping Raiden Ei down.
Now and then, she would brush against that soft skin, sending her heart fluttering.
She felt as though this place were paradise itself!
She'd originally assumed that a blessed abode would be some great cavern, dim and damp.
Who'd have thought the surroundings here would be so lovely, and that she'd even get to meet the Raiden Shogun here!
For an instant, Kujou Sara found herself wishing that time would just stand still right then and there.
After blissfully scrubbing Raiden Ei's back, everyone soaked into the hot spring.
Seeing the state Kujou Sara was in, Yae Miko asked teasingly, "Sara, why is your face so red~?"
"Eh!? It's not..."
"Ahem!"
Catching the mocking note in Yae Miko's voice, Kujou Sara quickly calmed herself and said in a low, steady tone, "It's nothing—the water's just a bit too warm, that's all."
"Oh? Is that so? It doesn't look that way to me~"
"Hmph."
Kujou Sara crossed her arms and said in a hushed voice, "Guuji Yae, I no longer need to keep making deals with you now, so you'd best stop teasing me!"
As she spoke, Kujou Sara's little chin tilted upward.
Clearly, her relationship with Raiden Ei advancing by leaps and bounds had put her in a wonderful mood.
Seeing this little tengu getting all puffed up, Yae Miko lightly covered her mouth and said with a laugh, "Sara, don't you forget—this is Master Ye Xi's home."
"If Ye Xi is displeased, he just might throw you out."
"That..."
The smug look on Kujou Sara's face vanished in an instant, replaced by a wave of panic.
Because Yae Miko was right—no matter what, this was Ye Xi's turf!
Yae Miko went on, "And there's one more thing."
"That [Statue of the Almighty Mikoshi Narukami Ogosho]—it was my Yae Publishing House that commissioned the artisans to make it."
"Including the collector's edition, the deluxe edition, the limited edition....."
"Most importantly, even the wax oil used for upkeep is a Yae Publishing House product."
"Kujou Sara, you wouldn't want your [Statue of the Almighty Mikoshi Narukami Ogosho] to fall into ruin, now would you?"
With every edition the pink-furred fox named off, Kujou Sara's expression shifted again and again.
That last line in particular cut her to the quick.
No new releases was one thing, but the figures she'd already collected getting ruined too—Kujou Sara's heart went cold.
"I-I understand!"
"Guuji, I... I'll do whatever you say!"
At this, Kujou Sara wanted to weep but had no tears; she had no choice but to swallow her pride and prostrate herself before the great fox youkai.
Yae Miko let out a smug laugh—once again she had the little tengu right where she wanted her.
Off to the side, Kamisato Ayaka let out a helpless sigh.
What in the world was all this?
The dignified Guuji of the Grand Narukami Shrine, actually scheming back and forth with the General of the Tenryou Commission over one tiny figurine.
And with so many people watching, no less!
The girls all found it quite amusing.
Nearby, Dehya was warmly chatting away with Raiden Ei.
"Master said that you, Her Excellency the Shogun, aren't very good at socializing, but don't worry—you've got me!
"You can tell me anything; I'm an easygoing sort and don't fuss over little things."
Hearing this, Raiden Ei was rather moved, and hurriedly nodded, "I want to eat some snacks!"
"Uh... right now?"
Dehya was a little startled.
Raiden Ei thought for a moment, then added, "And if it's possible, it'd be best to bring along a light novel as well."
Dehya: .....
"Your Excellency the Shogun, dinner only just ended—you really mustn't eat snacks now!
"Not only will you gain weight, it'll also cause your stamina to drop!
"You're Inazuma's Raiden Shogun, after all—if your martial skills regress, won't everyone start to doubt you?"
Hearing Dehya's words, Raiden Ei shook her head and said, "A god's body need not worry about regressing from lack of practice."
"Uh...."
Dehya was defeated.
Hearing that said, she felt downright envious.
She and Alusha, in order to maintain their nimble physiques and reflexes, did morning training every single day.
And whenever they had spare time, they'd go seek out chances for combat.
Only by doing so could they avoid falling out of form.
But Raiden Ei didn't need to at all—even if she ate and slept, slept and ate, day in and day out, she'd never have to worry about her strength declining!
How could that even compare?
Dehya understood now.
Before, when she'd spent time with Dunyarzad and drawn her out from behind her walls of loneliness, that had worked because Dunyarzad was willing to cooperate.
But Raiden Ei was different—all she wanted was to hole up at home eating snacks and reading novels!
Now what was she supposed to do?
.....
Attended by the two Dendro Archons, Ye Xi enjoyed a blissful soak in the hot spring.
Each time he grew close with Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, it would increase the degree of fusion between him and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's consciousness space.
After several such occasions, the rate at which he absorbed the residual Forbidden Knowledge in that consciousness space had quickened a great deal more.
At the same time, the Abyss Power within his [Abyss Core] could build up quite a bit more in reserve.
He had to give some thought to how he was going to deal with the Dendro Dragonlord, Apep.
Using the same tactics he'd employed back when battling Azhdaha clearly wouldn't work.
As for the [Vine Binding] technique, against the Dendro Dragonlord it would be like showing off carpentry skills before a master craftsman.
No matter what tactics he used, the ultimate goal was not to finish Apep off, but to tame it.
He would use his [Taming] skill to subdue Apep.
Just as he was deep in thought, an ethereal notification tone suddenly sounded in his mind.
[Ding~]
[Quest [Branching] complete!]
[Body Enhancement +17]
[Electro Elemental Power...]
[.....]
Hearing these stat-boost notification tones, Ye Xi remembered.
That afternoon when he'd taken in Beidou, the system hadn't yet settled the rewards; now it had finally begun settling them.
He was rather looking forward to whether there might be some lavish skill reward!
Just as he was thinking this, he heard the prompt the system gave.
[Abyss Power +22]
[Notice: A new Abyss ability can be unlocked.]
The moment he heard this line, Ye Xi was overjoyed.
He could unlock a new Abyss ability again!
Last time he'd obtained the [Abyss Nail] ability, which hadn't been of much use.
He had no idea what this ability would be, or whether it could be used to deal with the Dendro Dragonlord, Apep!
At this thought, he immediately opened the system's panel window.
A prompt box popped up on it.
[Unlock new ability?]
[Yes?][No?]
He promptly selected [Yes].
Right after, that tree diagram symbolizing Abyss Power lit up its seventh branch!
[Congratulations on unlocking [Ability Lock]!]
[Ability Lock: Can detect all of a target's abilities, and select one to lock! While locked, the target can no longer use the locked power!]
Seeing this prompt, even Ye Xi himself couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.
Good grief.
This skill was simply far too absurdly strong!
Directly locking down a target's ability.
Even though it could only lock one of them, that did nothing to stop it from being invincible!
Once this kind of power was used on the Seven Archons, it would be nothing short of a dimensional-reduction strike.
However formidable Rex Lapis was, what he excelled at most was nothing more than the use of Geo Elemental Power.
If one were to directly lock Rex Lapis's Geo Elemental Power, it would be tantamount to crippling the Geo Archon outright.
The same went for Raiden Ei!
What the Raiden Shogun was mightiest at was that supreme lightning.
Without the awe-inspiring radiance of the thunder, could the Electro Archon still be called the Electro Archon?
Relying solely on the physical damage of blade and sword was nothing to fear at all.
This was truly far too strong!
If he were to face the Dendro Dragonlord Apep and directly lock its use of Dendro Elemental Power, then this Dendro Dragonlord would be left with nothing but its [Dragonlord] status from the start.
By then, wouldn't it be entirely at his mercy?
At this thought, Ye Xi couldn't help but break into a smile.
After obtaining the new Abyss ability, the system's rewards weren't yet over.
What surprised him was that the system seemed to have heard the wish he'd made that morning.
The rewards that followed were, of all things, all sorts of game discs, plus anime resource discs.
This instantly gave the girls at home a whole new set of entertainment options to enjoy.
He'd only been mulling this matter over during the day, and by night his wish had come true.
It was as if someone had handed him a pillow the moment he got drowsy.
After tallying up the system's rewards, he sent Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, and the Aggravate-transformed maiden form of Nahida, back to their bedrooms.
"Tomorrow we'll go find Apep; rest well tonight."
Nahida nodded.
After Ye Xi turned off the lights, he returned to his own room.
As it happened, Xiangling and Keqing had just finished their soak in the hot spring and came up together.
Xiangling stretched and sighed, "Mmh, soaking in the hot spring feels so good! If only I hadn't already brushed my teeth, I'd really love to gulp down a whole bottle of milk!
"But never mind—I ate so much tonight that I'm too full to drink it."
She rubbed her bulging little belly, her face full of a simple, contented grin.
Keqing nodded and suggested, "Xiangling, come to my room tonight—let's chat together~"
"Sure!"
Xiangling said with a laugh, "This is the perfect chance—you promised before that you'd tell me stories about Ye Xi, but you've kept me in suspense and never told them!
"I want to know what Ye Xi got up to in Sumeru and in Liyue, hehehe."
The two little beauties were chatting and laughing as they walked toward the bedroom when, all of a sudden, the door beside them opened.
Before they could even react, they were pulled into the room by Ye Xi.
This sudden turn of events gave Keqing and Xiangling quite a fright.
"Eh——!?"
"Ye Xi!? You're awful——!"
The lighting in the room was dim, but they could feel Ye Xi right beside them, and so they began to grumble.
Ye Xi said with a smile, "It's so late—why not come to my room? I'd like to hear Keqing's stories too!"
As he spoke, he scooped an arm around each of their slender waists and lifted them up.
"Yah! You—you actually ambushed us!"
"Hahaha, Ye Xi, stop pinching my waist, it tickles so much.... hehehe..."
At this point, both Keqing and Xiangling had guessed what Ye Xi had in mind, and couldn't help blushing.
They'd thought they'd escaped the ordeal yesterday, never expecting that the monk might run, but the temple can't.
At the thought of the two of them together, they felt utterly mortified.
But Ye Xi didn't care about any of that.
In truth, by rights tonight should have belonged to Dehya and Alusha.
Those two had been disobedient during the day, leading everyone to drink the [Drowsy Black Tea] ahead of time.
As punishment, they certainly had to be taught a lesson.
It was just that with Candace arriving today, Dehya naturally had to play host.
She couldn't very well leave a guest out in the cold.
And so, Ye Xi set his sights on Xiangling and Keqing instead.
Before long, sounds of laughing and playful tussling came drifting from the room.
....
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