Chapter 117 Ancient Asakusa Temple

　　Sulen and Chitiao were both seriously injured and originally planned to treat their wounds in the house before leaving the city.

　　But the death birds released discovered that ghosts were still wandering nearby, as if they hadn't given up searching for their traces. This also made the two of them feel alert.

　　The ruins of the battle were filled with their blood and aura. Although they had taken the Pill of Begging Gods to cover up their yang energy, Sulen was not sure if some monsters with unique perception abilities could find them.

　　Once discovered, they probably wouldn't be so lucky to have someone help them again.

　　It was not advisable to stay in the city for long, so the two simply bandaged their wounds and quickly left the house.

　　Coincidentally, not long after the two walked out, the fighting in the Onibi Night Market ceased.

　　The Ninth North Sea Fleet was completely annihilated.

　　Sulen guessed that the fleet commander, the seventh-tier Gluttonous General Pai Weng, was most likely not killed, but assimilated by the energies of the Yomi.

　　Although the previous battle was dangerous, it also allowed Sulen to roughly assess the combat power of the ghosts in this cursed space.

　　He estimated that the strongest boss in the city should be around the seventh-tier professional level.

　　Otherwise, if there was eighth-tier combat power, the battle on Pai Weng's side should not have been such a stalemate.

　　Of course, the Yomi Queen Izanami was another matter.

　　Sulen had previously stripped the soul fragments of those ghosts. In the hearts of all ghosts, this person was a very special existence.

　　...

　　After the battle subsided, the commotion in the city also calmed down.

　　In the streets and alleys, the ghosts were still fighting over the corpses of the living, and there were scenes of bloody devouring everywhere.

　　Sulen and Chitiao changed their clothes and mixed into the crowd of ghosts. Because they had no yang energy, they smoothly arrived at the South City wall. The two climbed over the wall and out.

　　Most of the population of Yamakakushi was concentrated in cities and villages, and almost all of the land outside the city was "wilderness". This was even more true in the Yomi Country, where hardly any ghosts could be seen outside the city.

　　Moreover, the roads here were not quite the same as in reality.

　　Even though Chitiao said she knew the location of Sensō-ji, the two of them still wandered around on the mountain road for a long time without finding it.

　　Finally, the two of them stopped when they reached a point in the dark mountains where there was no road at all.

　　Sulen asked, "Chitiao-jie, could we be going in the wrong direction?"

　　In the wilderness, there was tall cogon grass everywhere. This place was suitable for filming ghost movies, but it didn't look like the road to Sensō-ji at all.

　　Chitiao also rubbed her forehead, her face equally puzzled: "I shouldn't have remembered it wrong. The incense at Sensō-ji is very prosperous. I've been there once before. The temple area is very large, and half the mountain is that temple and Buddha sculpture. It's strange, how can we not find it? I remember it should be this mountain..."

　　"..."

　　Sulen frowned as he listened.

　　Not to mention the temple, there wasn't a single light to be seen, just mountain slopes and more mountain slopes.

　　He even felt that he was being blinded by some ghost, but the All-Knowing Eye didn't see anything unusual.

　　Chitiao pondered for a moment, and suggested: "Why don't we go further in and see? This place seems different from the real world. When I went to Sensō-ji before, there was a stone slab road all the way to the front of the temple. But there's no incense here, maybe no ghosts come?"

　　"Mm."

　　Sulen nodded, feeling that this was the only possibility.

　　The two didn't delay and found a direction to go into the grass, groping their way into the mountains.

　　Finally, the death birds flying in the sky saw traces of buildings in the mountains.

　　"Found it!"

　　Sulen also breathed a sigh of relief, finally not going in the wrong direction.

　　Chitiao also muttered, "I knew it, I shouldn't have remembered the direction wrong."

　　Before long, the two came out of the grass taller than a person and found a narrow path.

　　Following the path for half a mile, they finally saw a stone engraved with the three faded characters "Sensō-ji".

　　Looking up, several dilapidated houses were built against the mountain, the red walls had long since faded. The paper windows were full of holes, covered with spider webs, and there was snow on the tiled roof. There were no lights, and it looked like no one had been here for a long time.

　　Chitiao pointed to the stone-carved Buddha statue on the rock wall and said, "I've seen this Buddha statue in the Great Buddha Hall of Sensō-ji before. It's said to be the oldest Buddha statue in the temple..."

　　As she spoke, she also wondered, "It's strange, how is this Sensō-ji different from what I saw?"

　　Sulen wasn't too surprised, and smiled slightly: "I should have thought of it earlier. This is the Yomi Country, the world of ghosts, there shouldn't be any temples here. It's already good that these few dilapidated buildings have been left."

　　He looked at the Buddha sculpture, paused, and then said: "Moreover, if my guess is correct, this is 'Old Asakusa Temple'. Sensō-ji has been rebuilt many times, and the building area has been larger each time. It was also burned down later. It was rebuilt during the Heian period, which is how it got its scale outside Edo Castle."

　　"Oh, so that's how it is. I was wondering..."

　　When Chitiao heard this, she seemed to realize something, "How do you know so much?"

　　Sulen spread his hands and said, "I've read through most of the books in the Imperial Library of the Kamufuji Clan. I just paid more attention to this temple and have some impressions."

　　"Oh, not bad."

　　Hearing this, Chitiao's eyes showed a hint of appreciation, and she asked again, "But... why did Grandma Akiku advise us to come here? Is there something different about this temple?"

　　Sulen was also a little puzzled, squinted his eyes and thought, and said: "The history of Sensō-ji is even longer than Edo Castle. There are many mysterious legends about this temple. It is said that many eminent monks, some special youkai, and converted great thieves have emerged from it... It also sealed the legendary Yamata no Orochi."

　　When Chitiao heard this, she also felt that there might be something to it, and asked, "Then what did you see?"

　　Sulen's left eye flickered with light, and he shook his head, "Nothing."

　　No matter how he looked at it, there was nothing special about this dilapidated temple.

　　He also guessed, "Perhaps it's because ghosts instinctively avoid temples, so it's safer?"

　　Chitiao raised her eyebrows and said, "Shall we go in and take a look?"

　　Sulen nodded: "Mm."

　　...

　　The two stood in front of the temple gate for a moment.

　　The black crow went in for a stroll first and found nothing unusual.

　　Sulen held the black umbrella in his hand again, released his perception, and didn't find any soul fluctuations.

　　Only then did they walk in.

　　At first glance, it was gloomy and desolate.

　　Mm... no matter how you look at it, it's just an unremarkable, dilapidated temple.

　　There was snow and fallen leaves in the courtyard, several jujube trees were bare, and the stone steps were covered with moss.

　　Sulen also looked a little disappointed. He had originally thought that this was where Fujiwara Hayato had stayed, and it might be the key to breaking the cursed space.

　　But looking at the situation, it seemed that he was thinking too much?

　　He had come to an "Asakusa Temple" from an unknown timeline, and many things were different.

　　The two pushed open the dilapidated door of the temple hall, and there were only a few rays of moonlight shining down from the holes in the roof, and the visibility was very low.

　　Sulen's night vision was very strong, and he saw all kinds of fierce-looking wooden statues inside at a glance.

　　He immediately came to the conclusion, "These Buddha sculptures are newly carved in the last few years. Someone must have stayed here before."

　　"Mm."

　　Chitiao, who was beside him, seemed to have discovered something special about these statues.

　　She took out an alchemical magic lamp, and when she turned it on, the orange light dispelled the darkness.

　　The exquisite Buddha statues came into view, some with angry eyebrows, some fierce and contemptuous, some with solemn appearances...

　　The carving was exquisite, and the expressions were very vivid.

　　If he hadn't seen at a glance that they were wood carvings, Sulen would have even thought they were alive.

　　Chitiao put her face close and carefully looked at the carving, and immediately said, "This carving is by a master swordsman."

　　After pondering and observing for a moment, her tone was a little shocked, and she immediately changed her words, "No... his swordsmanship is very high, he may be a Kensei!"

　　"Kensei?"

　　Sulen looked at it carefully again.

　　He himself often carves rune golems, and he felt that he still couldn't carve such lifelike statues.

　　Listening to Chitiao's words, he also thought that it should be so.

　　There was sword intent remaining on the carvings of the statues.

　　But at the same time, he felt a hint of alertness.

　　This was a cursed space, and the ghosts didn't welcome the living.

　　The more skilled the master, the more dangerous it was.

　　Sulen glanced around, and apart from a futon and a bonfire in front of the Buddha statue, there was nothing else. He said in a deep voice: "There are no footprints on the snow in the courtyard, and the ashes of the bonfire in the main hall are cold. That person should have left three or four days ago."

　　Chitiao said more affirmatively: "To have such a peaceful carving skill, his temperament must be extraordinary. That 'Kensei' will never be a person who kills indiscriminately. It's a pity, it would be great to be able to ask him about kendo."

　　High-level swordsmen can indeed see the other person's temperament through sword intent.

　　When Sulen heard her words, the frown on his brow relaxed a little, and he said again: "Perhaps... that's why Grandma Akiku asked us to come here."

　　"Mm."

　　Chitiao also nodded and asked again: "Then shall we rest here tonight?"

　　"Okay."

　　Sulen also felt that there was no other choice. Both of their injuries had reached the point where it would be troublesome if they were not treated. Although the environment in this dilapidated temple was a bit poor, at least there were no ghosts to disturb them.

　　If they went somewhere else, they might encounter other youkai.

　　...

　　The two decided to stay for one night, and Chitiao hung the magic lamp on the beam, and the room was dim.

　　Sulen took out a marching tent and spread a mat.

　　The two began to treat their own wounds.

　　Now that they had a relatively safe environment, Sulen could also start to thoroughly treat his injuries. He had taken a hand knife to his abdomen, and when he opened the blood-stained gauze, he revealed a bloody wound. If it was an ordinary external wound, his physical healing ability would have healed it long ago, but there was Shuten-dōji's crimson demonic energy in the wound. That strange energy prevented the wound from healing and was still scurrying around in the veins.

　　However, Sulen had enough experience in dealing with these injuries and had also prepared advanced enough potions to prevent this situation.

　　He unlocked the Eight-Armed Spider Spear and threw out two Healing Dolls to continuously release healing auras. Then, he took out an alchemical potion to cleanse the alien energy and poured it on the wound, while starting to sew up the wound.

　　Besides the abdomen, there were some other wounds on his body, but they were all minor problems.

　　Because he had many hands and had Expert-level Medical Mastery, he was able to handle his own wounds with ease. Even surgeries that originally required multiple people to cooperate could be handled by the eight spider arms with ease.

　　But Chitiao on the side was not so smooth.

　　It's not that the higher the professional level, the more powerful the treatment methods.

　　At least this gambling-addicted older woman Chitiao was like this.

　　Her healing methods were limited to external ointments, internal medicines, and rough bandages... she didn't even know how to sew up wounds.

　　Oh... that's not right.

　　After knowing a certain fact, it didn't seem appropriate to describe her as an older woman.

　　Chitiao's injuries were no less serious than Sulen's. She removed the shoulder armor of the Iron Scarlet Scale Five-Piece Torso Armor before she could wipe off the five scale-shaped crimson chest armor. Only then did she see the next layer, untie the chain buckles of the chainmail, and reveal the cloth armor. Once the last layer of cloth armor was removed, only the gauze wrapped around her breasts remained.

　　Just in the effort of dismantling the armor, she couldn't help but spit out another mouthful of turbid blood.

　　Only then did Sulen see that her back was covered with flame-like burn marks, which were traces of contamination from demonic energy entering her body, which was already very dangerous. There were also some fine, fish scale-like wounds, which were injuries from sword energy. This made her originally smooth and jade-like skin full of wounds.

　　Sulen's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked, and he said, "It's not easy for you to treat the wounds on your back, let me do it for you."

　　"Oh?"

　　Chitiao turned her back to him, glanced behind her, "Okay."

　　Saying that, she raised her blue hair high and tied it with a red rope, revealing her entire beautiful back.

　　Because the wounds covered her entire back, she began to untie her chest wrap as usual.

　　But as soon as she untied it, not knowing what she was thinking, her hand paused in front of her chest for a moment.

　　A strange look flashed across Chitiao's face, but she immediately continued to move.

　　She unwrapped the blood-stained gauze circle by circle, until her upper body was completely exposed to the air.

　　The angle of the magic lamp happened to shine her shadow on the ground, the light and shadow were graceful, and her chest was towering and curvaceous.

　　Sulen was single-minded, freed up a few spider spears, first used potions to start cleaning the wounds on her back, and then began to sew them up in an orderly manner.

　　The higher the level of alien energy cleansing, the more painful the process, probably like sulfuric acid poured on the skin, heart-wrenching pain.

　　Chitiao, as a melee professional, was even more contaminated.

　　But she remained expressionless from beginning to end, and could still spare time to treat some of her own wounds.

　　The dense sweat on her forehead and pale face proved that her condition was not easy.

　　...

　　The effect of professional medical care was naturally much better than random bandaging. As long as the negative energy was cleaned up, and with the help of potions and healing alchemical arrays, small wounds could generally heal quickly unless there were some large wounds.

　　Sulen's superb medical skills and multi-tasking ability allowed him to handle it with ease.

　　Before long, he had almost finished treating the wound on his abdomen.

　　It was almost time to sew up the wounds on Chitiao's back...

　　Sulen was like he had finished his homework and was about to turn the page, and casually said, "Okay, Chitiao-jie, the back is done, turn around."

　　If it was before, Chitiao would probably have turned around without hesitation. She wouldn't have felt any awkwardness about being frank with each other.

　　Anyway, it's not like they haven't seen each other before.

　　But after being asked a idiotic question by someone before, she always felt that something had changed.

　　Chitiao squeaked a little lacking in confidence, "I've already treated the front pretty well..."

　　"With your level of treating wounds? It won't be good for ten days and a half months."

　　Sulen had a look of disgust on his face, interrupted her rudely, and said softly: "Turn around quickly."

　　"..."

　　For the first time, Chitiao felt that she had lost the upper hand in terms of momentum to Sulen.

　　However, she also turned around and faced him without reservation.

　　Sulen didn't look sideways, looked at the knife wound on her abdomen that was haphazardly bandaged, and frowned, "You still said you treated it yourself, is that it?"

　　"..."

　　Chitiao was trained to have no temper and no retort. But looking at that pure gaze, she rolled her eyes, and just let him do it.

　　Sulen began to treat the wound, cleaning, removing alien energy, sewing...

　　...

　　Because Sulen had learned a good set of life-saving skills, Rune Vajra also left him with few skin injuries. Except for the abdomen, the others were quickly treated.

　　But Chitiao's injuries were much more serious. After the upper limbs were treated, there were many wounds on the lower limbs.

　　Under Sulen's tough attitude, Chitiao also took off her lower limb armor.

　　Kusazuri, haidate, tateage, suneate... the armor plates were disassembled one by one.

　　In the end, even the close-fitting underwear could not be kept.

　　Chitiao's exquisite body was exposed to the air without any cover, and she stood there with a slightly helpless expression.

　　Emotions can be sensed.

　　If Sulen's gaze was completely unblinking before, then when he was almost finished, that gaze was a little annoying.

　　It just so happened that Chitiao could do nothing about this thick-skinned guy.

　　She wanted to close her eyes and pretend not to know, but that hateful guy still had to talk.

　　"Yo, Chitiao-jie, upon closer inspection, your figure is really good."

　　The important injuries had been treated, and it was the first time Sulen had admired Chitiao's figure so closely, and the key was that he could occasionally touch her legitimately.

　　Without any cover, tsk tsk... what a feast for the eyes.

　　"Focus on what you're doing, please don't peek, okay?"

　　"Oh."

　　"'Oh' what does that mean? Just said 'oh', shouldn't you restrain yourself a little? Also, you can use the spider spear for the butt, it tickles me with your hands..."

　　"..."

　　Oh is oh, but he still had to look when he should.

　　Chitiao couldn't do anything about this rogue behavior.

　　Although that gaze and hand were not very well-behaved, he was really treating her after all.

　　She couldn't really beat him, could she?

　　Moreover, Chitiao didn't actually mind, after all, they were already very familiar, it just felt really strange.

　　She had never thought she would be in this situation.

　　If it was someone else, they would have been cut down long ago for daring to look like this.

　　Fortunately, Sulen didn't let the atmosphere become very awkward. After treating all the wounds, he really restrained himself and cleaned the surgical instruments to the side.

　　Chitiao put on a loose, plain white cotton coat, and with the robe covering her, that strange feeling disappeared.

　　...

　　After the fierce battle just now, both of them were very tired.

　　Even Sulen, who was jokingly called a "learning maniac" by Loluota, didn't even want to meditate, he just wanted to have a good sleep.

　　This dilapidated temple was leaking wind everywhere, and snowflakes were falling from the dilapidated roof, always giving people a feeling of desolation and loneliness.

　　Sulen spread a soft mat in the tent, and the two lay down there.

　t was originally a normal way to get along.

　　They had been in the same room and slept in the same bed countless times.

　　But the fact proved that relationships were so wonderful. The more they got along, the more intimate they became over time.

　　When the two first met, they were also very formal. Later, they became familiar with each other and didn't pay attention to trivial matters. Then, after spending more time in the same room, they didn't even avoid undressing each other. Then, some intimate contact became commonplace...

　　They didn't feel anything wrong, as if after becoming familiar, it should be like this.

　　The two lay on their backs on the mat, each covering themselves with their own quilt, their thoughts flying.

　　They had walked on the line of life and death tonight, and looking back, both of them sighed.

　　Taking advantage of the fact that they hadn't fallen asleep yet, they started chatting.

　　"Sulen boy, do you think we can get out?"

　　"I don't know. The effect of the medicine lasts for a month, and we have enough time to think of a way."

　　"What if we can't get out?"

　　"If we can't get out, then we can't get out. However, I already have some ideas, and there may be an opportunity."

　　"Actually, it doesn't matter whether this place is the Yomi Country or not. It's really a great blessing in life to be able to meet the deceased masters of kendo. Ah... if I can step into the Kensei realm in this lifetime, I will have no regrets."

　　"Mm, I think so too. I wish I could know what kind of novel Fujiwara Hayato wrote. It's really getting more and more curious."

　　"..."

　　The two were in a good mood and didn't despair because of the current situation. They were very open-minded.

　　But as they chatted, Chitiao suddenly felt that the quilt was being lifted, and then she felt very crowded.

　　If it was normal, it must have been caused by her own unrestrained sleeping position. But now that she was still awake, she knew very well that she hadn't moved.

　　Chitiao muttered, "Hey, why are you squeezing over here? It's very crowded..."

　　In the darkness, Sulen's response came: "The cold wind is blowing in, it's a bit cold."

　　"Heh, is that so?"

　　Chitiao sneered, as if she had sensed something, "Then what do you mean by putting your hand up there?"

　　Sulen: "Ah, I have a wound, it's convenient to put my hand like this..."

　　Hearing this, Chitiao pursed her lips and retorted, "Yo, you're really welcome."

　t was getting thicker and thicker.

　　Last time at the Chanarumi Mountain hot spring, he would at least ask, but now he naturally just put his hand up?

　　However, even though she said that, she didn't slap the hand away.

　　Just in the effort of these few words, Sulen beside her seemed to have fallen asleep and didn't move around anymore. That feeling that made her feel awkward also quickly faded away.

　　"..."

　　In the darkness, Chitiao's face was full of helplessness. The nerve-wracking her seemed to not feel anything wrong. Then she moved her body, changed to a comfortable position for herself, and also lazily closed her eyes.

　　She let him go.

　　A good night's dream.