The night before that.

After Furufu left Shu's "room", Soto and Uncle Yayoi walked around the corner, and only after confirming that Furufu had been away for some distance did they push open the door.

A few minutes later.

Sitting on the stone bench, he looked nervous as if he were an elementary school student reporting to the homeroom teacher.

"Uncle Soto, Uncle Yayoi, is there anything wrong with the two of you?"

Uncle Yayoi opened his mouth, looking ready to be generous, but he didn't say a word for a long time.

Then he stabbed Uncle Soto who was standing side by side with his elbow, and the stabbed Uncle Soto raised his eyebrows and glared at Uncle Yayoi fiercely with a look of "If it weren't for the occasion, I'd kill you now".

"Uncle Soto, is it convenient to talk about the situation?"

Of course, Shu knew that the two of them didn't come here to play treasure, and she also knew that relatively speaking, Uncle Soto was more reliable.

"Forehead ......"

The corners of Uncle Soto's mouth twitched, and he glared at Yayoi who was shrinking his head, and he couldn't help it......

"Yayoi, this guy found that Mr. Gu Feng's weapon was damaged, if he doesn't deal with it, I'm afraid that Mr. Gu Feng's weapon will be completely damaged in tomorrow night's competition, and considering the intensity of the game, Mr. Gu Feng's life may even be in danger because of this."

"Therefore, we feel that Mr. Gufeng's weapon should be repaired before it becomes like that, and at least the most basic maintenance should be carried out."

Before Furufu could pick up the black stick from the ground, Soto and Yayoi discovered that the weapon had been badly damaged and cracked after withstanding two attacks from Araya head-on, but it was only inconspicuous due to the color and the seal carvings on it.

No matter what, Gu Feng is also the future master of the horse, these two people can't see Gu Feng to death without saving him, so he also has to ask the eldest lady, so there is this scene.

"Don't worry about ......"

Hearing the unexpected words, the two looked at the eldest lady in confusion, waiting for her next words.

Shu got up from the stone chair and walked to the lake.

"We don't have the ability to do that kind of thing, because that's the weapon of the Gu clan, and the only one who has the ability to deal with it is the Gu clan, and it's ......"

"For Mr. Gu Feng, it's more like a seal than a weapon."

……

The dust that obstructed the view gradually cleared, revealing a hidden scene.

The ground in that place shattered as if it had been hit by a huge claw, and the area that had been destroyed so that it could no longer see the original staircase was in the shape of a crescent, and a giant sword stood unwaveringly in the recess of the crescent.

Araya stood in front of the greatsword, his back resting on the blade, his hands staggered in front of him, black and some kind of white shards scattered under his feet and on the ground nearby, and even a few fragments of blades embedded in the marble surface that had not been completely shattered.

In front of him are two straight tracks, starting from the position of the "crescent moon" and continuing to the feet of Araya.

Tick –

Tick –

The sound of the liquid dripping is not loud, but it is very clear.

Click-click-

The white armor on Araya's hand began to crack along the cracks, turning into shards and falling, and the red blood on the white armor was extremely dazzling.

Release your hands in front of you, and then hang naturally to your sides, letting the blood drip from the wound down your fingertips.

Click-click-

The mask covering Araya's face shattered into several petals and fell, revealing his face hidden under the mask.

Indifference, that is the coldness that can easily take the lives of others, the emotion that should not appear on the face of Araya, but it does appear at this moment, so cold that it seems to freeze all the expressions that look at this face.

The armor was almost completely shattered, but at this time, Ayaya gave people an extremely uneasy feeling, and his pupils were glowing with a fierce light, like a poisonous snake that had been touched against the scales, and the aura of danger was overflowing.

Black and white shards floated from the ground, encircling the desolation, and even the greatsword was gently swaying, apparently a sign before some kind of change began.

"Gu Feng" obviously also noticed the abnormality of Araya, and after a slight pause, he put down his right hand, and seemed to be watching the changes in Araya with "interest".

"Araya."

The gentle, transparent voice was very quiet and steady, and it clearly reached Araya's ears, and Shu slowly walked out from behind the giant sword, as if comforting such Araya, and said, "It's okay. ”

As he looked at Shu who had already walked to his side, the fragments of armor surrounding him froze significantly, and then, along with the giant sword, shattered again, turning into a spirit son and returning to Araya's body.

In this short moment, the aura of danger and the emotion all disappeared, but, although only the slightest, the look in Araya's eyes dimmed slightly, and he nodded towards Shu.

Shu, who got the response, smiled softly at Huang Ye, then turned around and walked towards the audience, in the direction where the "ancient style" was.

Looking at Shu's actions, Hachime frowned and clenched his fists, wanting to speak and stopping, but after all, he still didn't stop the words and movements.

Just like that, like a leisurely stroll, walking towards the "ancient style", it is not very long in terms of time, it should not be a minute, but it is subtle and makes people feel very long.

As if inadvertently, Arayana kept following the girl's gaze and staggered away.

The girl came to "Gu Feng", and in contrast to "Gu Feng's" slightly downward gaze, the girl raised her gaze slightly to meet that gaze.

Clean, incomprehensibly clear eyes, scarlet, blood-colored eyes, two completely different eyes, two eyes that should not intersect, are indeed looking at each other at this time.

Under the night sky, the breeze after the rain blew gently through the girl's hair, bringing a nice smell.

The girl raised her hand and stroked it towards the "face" of "Gu Feng", and just before the girl's hand was about to touch the surface of the black armor, "Gu Feng" took two steps back, avoiding the girl's hand.

After Gu Feng distanced himself from the girl, he was slightly stunned as if he had just come back to his senses, looked around as if he was sure of something, and then looked at the girl who had withdrawn his hand.

Raising his left hand, "Gu Feng" lowered his gaze and looked at his claw-like hand because it was covered by armor, as if he was stunned, maintaining this movement.

"Mr. Oldwind......"

The girl's voice made Gu Feng's movements stiffen slightly, and then looked towards the girl.

The girl folded her hands behind her back, leaned forward slightly, and smiled for the first time on her face.

The girl immersed in the cold moonlight, with a gorgeous face that does not eat the fireworks of the world, her long black soft hair is swept by the breeze, and she shines with fluorescent brilliance in the moonlight, her black and white eyes are very clear, and her slender eyelashes tremble slightly.

“…… Welcome back. ”

Gu Feng lowered his head slightly, making a sound that was obviously sighing, and then, the pitch-black armor began to turn into black smoke, slowly dissipating, and gradually revealing the posture under the armor.

In the clear light of the moonlight, Gu Feng in black hunting clothes and Shu in white hunting clothes stood opposite each other, at this time Gu Feng had no wounds on his body, and the black hunting clothes were not damaged, as if time was going back, it was the same ancient style as always.

opened his mouth and faced Shu, Gu Feng couldn't think of what he should say in this kind of scene for a while, and he was silent for a while before he hesitated to speak:

"Good evening......

Stunned for a moment, Shu quickly chuckled and replied, "Well, good evening." ”

……

The early morning sun shone through the gap between the bamboo leaves, casting a spot of light, and Gu Feng walked on the winding gravel path, perhaps because his body was shrouded in shadows, his eyes were a little dim at this time.

Walking out of the bamboo forest, I came to the stone bench before after passing the ancient wind of the stone bridge, but I didn't see the person I expected.

After looking around, Gu Feng saw the figure of the man looking up at the cherry blossom branches not far from the cherry blossom path in front of him.

As if noticing Gu Feng's gaze, the man turned around and responded to Gu Feng's gaze.

The wind passing through the cherry blossom path blew past her, and her long, bright black hair fluttered with the dancing cherry petals, and she gently smoothed her hair, and her clear, cherry petal-like pupils reflected the figure of Gu Feng, just like the scene when Gu Feng first met her.

"Good morning, Mr. Oldwind."

Looking at the approaching Gu Feng, Shu said first.

"Well, good morning." For some reason, I always feel that Gu Feng's expression is a little different from what he has always been.

"What's that...... I was just going to look for Yame...... Uncle came, but I searched the entire Yinyang Juku and couldn't find it. In the process, I met ......" Gu Feng felt that he still had to explain the reason why he ran over, but he was relieved before he finished speaking.

"Uncle Soto told you that it's the same when you come to me, right?"

"Hmm...... That's pretty much what it means. ”

Gu Feng, who was interrupted, hesitated for a moment, but still did not deny it.

"Well...... That's pretty much the case. ”

I don't know if it's intentional, so I replied in a tone similar to the ancient style.

The reason why Gu Feng didn't sleep early in the morning to find Hachime is obvious, he went to ask for the "champion reward", but it didn't seem to go too well. When he ran to Hachime's room, it was already "empty".

It's a little different from the truth, but it doesn't seem bad to this guy.

"Here you go, it's 'pay'."

As he spoke, he held a wooden box in front of Gu Feng with both hands, the wooden box looked about the same size as the kind of wooden box for wine, very delicate, in short, this box could be sold for a lot of money......

Gu Feng suddenly felt that this scene was a little familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere, and there was a feeling called a sense of déjà vu.

Paying attention to not touching Shu's hand, Gu Feng took the box, did not open it to confirm but directly put it away, what was inside, he knew.

"And then ......"

"The prize for winning the tournament has indeed been handed over to you, Mr. Grace."

Gu Feng's words were interrupted again before he could finish speaking, and he looked at Gu Feng and continued, "By the way, 'that' itself is information related to that person. ”

It seems that he knows what Gu Feng once said, so he deliberately used "that person" to refer to him.

“……”

After being silent for a while, Gu Feng looked at Shu in front of him, not knowing what to say, he didn't intend to doubt the authenticity of what Shu said, but he should say goodbye to her when the purpose had been accomplished.

Shu is the fiancée of the ancient style, and the ancient style does not know how to change it, and for the pursuit of the correct ancient style, this relationship should not exist.

There is an absolute reason that as long as the object is archaic, the ending of that relationship will not have anything to do with the definition of "good".

So to end it.

"Mr. Gu Feng, as a gift of separation, I can answer you a question."

Looking directly into the eyes of Gu Feng, he announced so.

Looking at Shu with a wry smile, with the helplessness that seemed to be easily seen through all his thoughts, Gu Feng sighed.

"Can I think about it?"

"Uh-huh." Shu nodded and replied.

Gu Feng raised his right hand to cover half of his face below his nose and thought for a few seconds.

"That man...... Not ......"

Halfway through speaking, Gu Feng, who didn't know what he had in mind, stopped, and then changed his words, "Why did you do that last night?" ”

"What do you mean by 'doing that'?"

Looking at Gu Feng, there was no puzzled look on his face when he asked like this.

"Why did you approach me at that time? Can't you see the ugly ...... Is black crow-like color dangerous? ”

There was a strange emotion in Gu Feng's tone, which made his voice seem low, or rather...... Sentimental.

"Hmm...... How can I say it......"

With a deep groan, he turned around, took a few steps forward with the ancient wind on his back, stopped, and raised his gaze slightly, as if he was thinking about something.

And then......

In the view of the falling cherry petals, she made the hem of her hunting clothes flutter and turned briskly, closed her hands behind her back, and suddenly stopped.

"Mr. Oldwind's color is like the night sky......"

"I love ......"

She was looking straight at the old style.

“…… I like it. ”

As she repeated that sentence, sadness quietly oozed from the corners of her eyes.

Unconsciously dumbfounded, Gu Feng looked at her like that, and felt that there was some kind of emotion in his chest that he shouldn't understand, and then ...... A little...... It's a little painful......

……

In one room, Abe Hachime was sitting on a cushion, and in front of him was an old man in an old-fashioned white hunting suit.

The old man closed his eyes tightly at this time, as if he was asleep, but Yamu just sat quietly and waited, this state had lasted for quite some time, and even so, he did not show the slightest rudeness.

What is the identity of the person who can make the head of the family treat him like this?

It was nearly an hour later that the old man woke up, and then, not unsurprisingly, his gaze fell to Hachime, who was sitting in front of him.

"How?"

It was a voice that was far older than the old man's appearance.

"The abilities of the descendants of the Gu clan have awakened."

Hachime replied respectfully, and then described in detail what he had seen after the black mist appeared, as well as the performance of the ancient wind before and after the appearance of the black mist, and then waited for the old man's response.

"Did he use his weapon or take it out in that state?"

Urging Hachime to confirm that there was no omission in the description, the words came out of the old man's mouth.

"Nope."

After thinking about it carefully, Hachime replied affirmatively.

"That's enough." After hearing the answer, the old man said lightly.

"Yes."

Hachime said respectfully, "Retire first, Lord Harumi." ”

If Gu Feng was in this room now, then his expression might be a little exciting, although he had thought about the possibility that this person was still alive when he first came before, but Gu Feng didn't think that this person would really be alive at all.

After all, the family founded by this founder has a history of a full thousand years, which means that the actual age of this person is more than a thousand years old, which is almost impossible even for the special group of Onmyoji.

After Hachime slowly exited the room, Abe Harumi whispered to himself, "Will he be the one who bears that heavy responsibility?" ”