"Now, Sakura, you're done with the questions, can you teach me swordsmanship?" There was silence for a moment, and Asa asked in a different direction. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Huh? Oh! Teach you how to swordsmanship...... Yes, but......" I hesitated, and I asked inexplicably, "but—but aren't you already strong, Asa?" Last time, little Luca was about to be defeated by you, said? Besides, didn't Mr. Nabar teach you too? ”

"What about Barr? Woo! That Grim Reaper only taught me how to get beaten," Asa shook his head with a wry smile, looking embarrassed, "...... who didn't teach me much swordsmanship"

Oh-yes.

I remember that Mr. Northridge Nabal once said to Asa that the sword is his own sword, and the magician with the sword is no match for the real swordsman, no matter how hard he tries, so he ...... So Mr. Nabal only taught Asa how to be beaten, and did not teach him swordsmanship.

"How?" Seeing that I didn't speak, Asa asked, "Sakura, is that okay?" ”

"Well......," I thought for a moment, "sister, I think what Mr. Nabal said makes sense!" - He is the strongest swordsman, he doesn't teach you swordsmanship, how do you ask people to teach you? ”

"But ......"

"And, Asa, you're really strong—remember the time you fought little Luca?" I comforted, "We swordsmen will never be able to attack with your Infinite Ice Sword!" - That must be what Mr. Nabal said, 'You belong to you as a magician, your own swordsmanship.' That's it - just keep working on your own terms! ”

"Alas!" Asa sighed, "The problem is that I don't know what to do next—"

Giggle! At this time, Asana frowned slightly, and looked unwilling and couldn't say why--it was really similar to Lacey's appearance before, and he was standing in the middle of the courtyard, all because he hadn't made much progress-alas......

"Alright, alright! Don't worry! Eventually, there will be a way! Listen to my sister, don't worry! Just go and sleep in peace—"

"Why do I think you're saying this to the red eye?" Asa frowned. muttered a grumbling sentence.

"Ugh!" I stuck out my tongue in embarrassment, "Hey! You guessed it, that's what people did say to Reis! ”

"Tell me why you've suddenly become so gentle—" Asa sighed helplessly. "Red-eyed again...... Alas! “

"What? Out of sorts?! "Although I feel a little embarrassed, I can't be too polite with this pervert." - Isn't it like you're standing where Reis stands, doing the same thing as Reis?! I deliberately grimaced.

"Nope! No! No! ”

"That's it! - Alright! I grinned, "Actually, when you practice swords, you will always encounter a time when you can't improve your strength!" Lacey used to be the same as you are now! ”

"The red-eyed ones too?"

"Yes! Look—" I said, pointing to the plaster statue in the corner of the courtyard, "have you seen the lion statue?" --If you look closely, you can see that the lion's head is missing-"

"See—that's what Red-Eye did?"

"Yes," I recalled, "it was when Les Xin learned the 'Meteor Sword * Disease', and his sword was either spinning straight or he didn't have the strength to even penetrate the plank—he had practiced for so long that he couldn't learn it!" ”

"But did he finally practice?" Asa didn't understand.

"Where did he practice?!" Reminiscing about the scene at that time. I couldn't help but smile, "Lacey has been practicing for a month, but he can't master the skills, and he hasn't slept for a few days and nights, and he's almost crazy!" ”

"And then?"

"Later? Then he stood there with his sword in his hand—where you are standing now—and fell asleep standing because he was so tired, and then began to have nightmares as he did every time he slept, and then he woke up violently—and at the moment he woke up, he saw the plaster cast statue as the cavalryman who had stabbed him with a spear and snatched Ogi. After that, he just threw it away - the Meteor Sword* was learned. ”

"Ugh! ――Red-eyed is too exaggerated, isn't it? Asa sighed in surprise, "What if he opened his eyes and saw Sakura?" Directly thrown at you?! ”

"This ...... No way? ”

Should...... No way?

Maybe......

Thinking back to the angry eyes of Lacey at that time...... Maybe he will!

Woo! Fortunately, people in the house said it at the time! (That day, because Lacey always disobeyed and went back to rest, he ended up angry that he had a room - he escaped!) ）

"That's where the red eyes break down?" Asa walked over. "......Statue, statue," he sighed, "Fortunately, the red-eyed didn't learn the sword, but he just knocked out some of your manes—if only you had lost some of them—if only you had lost them—if only you had lost some of them—" and he looked at me with ulterior motives.

"Go, go! What to see! I glared at him dissatisfied, "Even if someone was really killed by Lacey at that time, my sister and I will be happy!" ”

"......," Asa rubbed his nose with his other hand, "alas! Red-eyed...... I envy you so much! - Huh?! ”

Suddenly, he looked at his hand touching the lion statue in astonishment.

Kindness? What's wrong?

"Sakura! Come and see! Asa began to peel away the missing parts of the statue in amazement, "Look here! ”

"What's wrong?" I walked over inexplicably, "Isn't that where Reis broke down?" -- It's been so long. It's normal for the plaster statue to fall off a little and say-huh?! What is it? ”

I could see it without Asa explaining it - where the lion statue was missing. Running along Assa's hand, the already aged plaster peeled off like snowflakes. Revealing the contents of the white statue - a heavy yellow metallic sheen, large - brass?

How?

- This is a plaster statue I've seen since I was a child?!

How can there be copper in it?!

With this amazement, Asa and I scrambled to peel off the plaster piece by piece, and finally we were faced with a lion that was also a lion—a brass lion that was smaller than the original lion.

Brass lion statue?!

"I've never heard of a bronze statue hidden in a plaster statue," Asa asked, looking at the bronze lion in front of him, "Sakura." Do you know what's going on? ”

"I ...... I...... I do not know. I shook my head in the same confusion, "I've never heard my father mention it......"

"Well......" Asa knocked the bronze lion with his hand, "It's an ordinary copper lion, huh?" It doesn't look like something precious - why is it wrapped in plaster? Wouldn't it be nice to have a bronze lion directly in the yard! Why is it so troublesome?! ”

"Could it be...... Originally, a bronze lion was placed here...... "I'll look around." "And then feel like it doesn't match the view in the yard? And then ......"

"Yes! It's a possibility! Asa nodded in agreement, "But I think it's a bronze lion that looks good here......"

"Hey!" I laughed. "Asa, you won't forget my sister, my mother is from the East, right? I heard that the aesthetics of Oriental people are very different from those of us in the West! ――I heard from my father that the landscape of this garden was designed by my sister and my mother. ”

"Design it yourself?"

"Yes!" I pointed around, "Look, that's my mother's favorite white plum blossom that I planted with my own hands—the pond there, the ditch that my father and mother dug together!" Together, they brought the spring water from the back mountain to the yard - and there, the small mound with ordinary flowers and plants, which was also specially made by the mother?! "Speaking of which. I suddenly covered my mouth in surprise.

"What's wrong?" Asa looked at him strangely, "Sakura?!" What happened to the little mound? ”

"You—look—" A chill rose from the soles of my feet, and I looked at the courtyard that I had been accustomed to seeing since I was a child, and I couldn't even speak in shock, but kept gasping for breath and repeating "Look! Look here! Look there! See! See! ”

"What the hell are you asking me to see?!" Inexplicably, Asa jerked up his voice, "Calm down! Cherry! What the hell are you seeing?! ”

"Whew!" Asa's screaming calmed my panicked mood a lot, and I took a deep breath and tried to reach out my right hand, which was trembling slightly. "Look at Asa—white plum blossoms, pools, mounds of earth. And this bronze lion beside us—"

"What? What do they stand for? Asa didn't understand.

"For us Daoists, they represent the basic five elements - gold, wood, water, fire, and earth! You see! The white plum blossom is wood, the pool, the mound and the bronze statue are just water, earth, and gold! And, moreover...... And they are located in the direction of the Taoist pentagram! ”

"Huh? So coincidental?! Following my hand, Asa looked around in surprise, "Pentagram? The Five Elements - Ah! Isn't there still fire? Where is the fire?! ”。

"There—" I pointed to where the pentagram's fire should be—there. It's the most ordinary, and it's absolutely impossible to find without deliberately looking for it - the stove in the kitchen!

The stove in the kitchen - the white plum blossom - the sink - the bronze lion - the small mound of earth.

Fire-wood-water-earth-metal.

This happens to be the arrangement of the five elements of Taoism.

Accidentally? Coincidental?

No! No! I looked back and forth in amazement - it didn't look like a coincidence.

――Where could it be so coincidental?

Kindness...... When I was young, people thought that the courtyard at home was not very different from other people's homes, which were mostly round or square. The courtyard of my house alone is an irregular quadrilateral - now I see, where is this irregular quadrilateral? If you take the kitchen stove as the apex. If you connect it with the two corners of the courtyard where the white plum blossom and the small mound are located-

Regular Pentagon!

The courtyard and the corner of the kitchen form the pentagon - and the objects representing the five elements are exactly on the five corners, and if they are connected, the pentagram is formed.

The foundation of Taoism! Positive five-mang!

Moreover...... I hurriedly visualized the distance between them - almost all of them were equal!

It's no coincidence that they've been deliberately placed in those directions!

Who is it? Who is it?

This home was built by the mother and father with their own hands...... The style and decoration of the courtyard were all designed by the mother.

- Mother? Will it be the mother?

Will it be...... Mother?

Could it be that the mother is also ...... Daoist?

How can it be? How can it be? How can it be?!

"Sakura? Your mother is from the East—" Asa also thought of it at this time, and hesitantly, he glanced at me slightly, "Sakura, is it ...... Could it be that your mother, Lady Sakurayuki, is also a Taoist sorcerer?! ”

"I don't know......" shook his head in confusion. I wanted to try to convince myself, "Is it a coincidence?" My mother never said that she was a Taoist magician, and she never cast a Taoist technique in front of people's eyes.

"But this pentagram—" Asa still wondered, "is too coincidental." ”

"Mother is originally from the East!" I smiled hard. "Maybe that's how all the gardens in the East are designed?"

No way - that's the voice in my heart.

I don't know if it's because I'm too sensitive or because I'm a Taoist - I always feel that this courtyard at home is not as simple as it seems. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that there was some indescribable connection between the decoration of the courtyard and Taoism.

Kindness...... If this courtyard of my house is really related to Taoism,

Nervously walked to the center of the courtyard - no, it should be the center of the pentagram.

――If it's really related to Taoism. What should you feel when you stand here?

With the idea of giving it a try, I threw out the Dao rune paper crane.

No magic power was felt.

Although the cranes flew around happily, they found nothing.

"Huh! What a coincidence! Raising my hand to put away the paper crane, I turned to Asa with a smile and said, "It seems that people are too sensitive!" Also, this is the home where my sister and I grew up - where can there be any weirdness?! ”

"......" Asa didn't speak, just stared straight at my feet with surprised eyes.

"What's wrong?" I followed his gaze and looked down—

The stone slab beneath his feet glowed.

Although it is in bright daylight, it is not very clear to see. But the stone slab under his feet was clearly glowing with a pale green light!

And it's a pale green pentagram.

"Sakura ......"

"Shhhh Don't talk! Nervously interrupting Assa, he hurriedly leaned over to take a closer look at the slab, the one that together with the surrounding gravel slabs formed the courtyard path, the slab that shimmered with a pale green pentagram.

It looks very ordinary, but faintly, it seems that you can feel a faint magic power.

Does it really have something to do with Taoism?! My yard?

Surprised, he touched the slate, and by the way, he also pried it hard with his hand - the slate was close to the ground, and it was not easy to pry it up.

"Sakura! Look here! Asa on the side suddenly shouted, "Look at the edge of the slate!" ”

Edge?

Ying Sheng looked sideways—the edge of the slate, the edge of less than a centimeter exposed from the dirt, faintly. Some patterns can be seen, which are mostly obscured by the filling of earth between the cracks in the stones.

That's—

Brushing away the dirt from the cracks in the slate, the pattern also reveals its original appearance—a flower made up of five petals carved on the edge of the slate. It was a flower I knew so well, a cherry blossom that I inherited from my mother.

My name is Sakura, and my mother's name is Sakurayuki.

Cherry blossoms - they are small pink flowers that bloom on the branches of trees in my mother's hometown.

Mother...... Could it be that you are really a Taoist sorcerer?!

Woo! Have you been hiding it from your daughter?

"This ...... Is it cherry blossoms? Asa, who had never seen cherry blossoms, asked curiously.

"yes." I nodded and explained, "It's the cherry blossom in my mother's and my mother's names!" ”

"Oh......" Asa was still puzzled, "on this Dao Technique Stone Tablet - this Stone Tablet responds to Sakura's Dao Technique, it should be a Dao Skill Stone Tablet, right?" ――What does a cherry blossom engrave on it represent? ”

"I don't know!" I shook my head, "I can only feel some magic - but I don't know what to say!" ”

"Could it be that there is something buried under the slate?" Asa reached out and pried it hard—the slate didn't move.

"Maybe!" Nodding uncertainly, he sighed a little helplessly. "But this slate is too heavy to pry up!"

"Whew!" Asa pried for a moment. also gave up, "Do you want to summon the Ice Giant?" ”

"Uh...... It's better not to, right? ”

After all, this is my home! Let the ice giants of Asa come here and dig around? What should I do if I mess up the courtyard?!

Again. I don't know what this slab is used for---I don't know what kind of Taoist mechanism is attached to it like the mausoleum in Northridge.

Kindness......

Of course, I don't think this strange slate at home is a trap, but since my mother has deliberately hidden it here, there must be something very important, right?

A stone slab carved with cherry blossoms - does it mean that this is a message left by my mother? A secret that only I can discover? Only I can open ......

Yes! That's right! Mother didn't know her daughter would become a Taoist! If...... If the mother wants to leave any message, the opening method must not be related to Taoism.

That...... Cherry blossom petal ...... Cherry blossom petal ......

Belch...... No...... Would it?

Raising his head in disbelief, he glanced at Asa as if seeking support.

"Sakura? What's wrong? (To be continued)