Traveler of the River of Time and Space-Chapter 493 - 13: Cyan Residence
They are essentially similar to the Animal Spirits of the Druids. If there’s any stroke of luck, they might fortuitously transform into a benevolent Nekomata, which is quite a formidable demon.
"The gap between the two planes is indeed vast," Su Ziyu mused to himself.
As he withdrew the effect of his Spiritual Vision, the black and white cat spirits gradually faded away.
In the plane of the Hundred Tales, even having entered the modern civilized society, supernatural entities are still abundant. Some ordinary people might have such Spirit Bodies accompanying them.
This taxi driver was rather talkative, chatting with Inoshita Shouta about many things along the way.
He even talked about some paranormal events he encountered while driving.
Because she drives the night shift.
Su Ziyu listened in silence all the way, giving a little extra tip when getting off. The other party accepted without ceremony, just lightly expressing thanks.
A woman in her thirties driving a night shift taxi surely has her own story.
"Master."
"Master Aobanshita lives just ahead," Inoshita Shouta said cautiously.
In front was a high-end residential compound.
In Su Ziyu’s sight was a delicately decorated little western-style building, with some flowers, plants, and trees planted outside, indicating that Aobanshita quite enjoys life.
"Mm," Su Ziyu nodded: "You can leave now."
Upon hearing this, Inoshita Shouta took it as a great relief and hurriedly turned to scamper off.
Neither of these two was someone he could afford to offend. Better to make a swift exit.
—— "Cyan Residence."
When Su Ziyu arrived at this little western-style house, he saw a small plaque at the entrance, with a trace of Mana left by Aobanshita. If any ordinary demon approached, they would naturally be scared away.
"Array?"
As soon as Su Ziyu pushed the door and entered, the scene before his eyes automatically transformed, and the original small western-style building became a Cyan Bamboo Forest, with an emerald bamboo house in front resembling a world of painting and calligraphy.
Illusion?
No!
It seemed more like a world within a painting.
"It seems that Aobanshita’s strength has indeed increased quite a bit over the past millennium," Su Ziyu’s eyes flashed with a trace of Spiritual Light as he closed his eyes to perceive the illusion space before him.
—— "Spiritual Transmission."
Su Ziyu couldn’t be bothered with the things inside the illusion and, with a single step, returned to the real world.
At this moment.
He was already standing in the outer courtyard.
"Stop right there!"
"This is the residence of Master Aobanshita. No entry without the master’s permission!"
The lanterns, originally just decorative on both sides of the courtyard, suddenly lit up, and a wisp of mist appeared, revealing two maids wearing white ghost face masks in Su Ziyu’s sight.
Master Aobanshita has many such maids under her service.
"Don’t you recognize me?" Su Ziyu slightly frowned. It seemed these ghost-faced maids were subdued within the last thousand years.
The two maids wearing white ghost face masks exchanged a glance and directly blocked Su Ziyu’s path, saying sternly, "No entry! Leave at once!"
"Isn’t Aobanshita at home?" Su Ziyu knitted his brows.
It seemed she wasn’t.
Otherwise, for sure, she wouldn’t just leave two ghost-faced maids to show themselves.
—— "Mental Suggestion!"
Su Ziyu’s eyes gazed at the two ghost girls in front, a trace of Spiritual Light flashed through his eyes, and he slowly said, "I am a friend of Master Aobanshita."
"Let me in."
As the words fell.
The two maids wearing white ghost face masks appeared dazed for a moment, then withdrew into the light, respectfully saying before disappearing, "Master, please enter."
Su Ziyu smiled slightly and directly pushed the door open to enter.
Aobanshita’s residence was the kind of ordinary small villa style, with a spiral gilded staircase in the middle of the hall, a large row of soft sofas upfront, covered with pillows, and various snacks and fruits littering the area. There was one room on either side, one with a piano and the other with a zither, both seemingly untouched for a long time.
Some paintings and calligraphy hung on the walls, mostly of pavilions and towers, mountains and water, with the most prominent being a poem, surprisingly Bai Juyi’s "Song of Everlasting Regret."
"Such a pile of snacks," Su Ziyu casually picked up a pack of shrimp chips, inspecting it, then tore it open and tasted one.
A bit salty.
He got up and went to the second floor; the right side should be Aobanshita’s boudoir, but Su Ziyu didn’t enter, heading directly to the second room on the left.
This was the study.
When Su Ziyu pushed the door open, he saw numerous sketches and a heap of discarded paper in the trash can.
He casually picked up a sketch to look at it. Sure enough, it depicted the outline of Qing Ji, but without clothing; the sketch was only roughly a third complete, Aobanshita seemingly having to abandon her work hastily due to some matter.
"Eh?"
"It’s locked?" Su Ziyu glanced at the locked drawer before him.
With a flick.
The drawer in front of him was forced open, and inside, Su Ziyu took out a stack of original drawings, the majority featuring the Guhuo Bird, seemingly nearing completion. With minimal clothing, their slender and graceful postures resembled a style of artistic nudes. Su Ziyu turned to the bottom and even found an original of the Snow Woman, but those were trivial compared to the most shocking was the drawing at the very bottom.
"This!..."
"Is this Yama?..." Su Ziyu clicked his tongue, examining the original of Yama.
Aobanshita still desires her artwork; Yama’s original was dressed scantily, intriguingly but not indecently, with only this one sketch at the bottom, indicating she dared not be too audacious.
Planning to keep it or not?
A spark flickered at Su Ziyu’s fingertip, directly burning these sketches.
Aobanshita wasn’t here.
She should have been out for some time now.
Su Ziyu wandered in the study, spotting a sketch of Ghost Girl Momiji, seemingly among her planned future subjects.
The adjacent room held a wardrobe and shoe cabinet.
Su Ziyu gently waved a hand, opening them. The left wardrobe contained kimonos, the right had modern clothing, the shoe cabinet mostly high heels, she seemed to favor cyan-blue, with many clothes of that similar hue.
The third floor was rather special.
Decorated in a classical Japanese style, there were many wooden cabinets with a pool in the center, containing two pieces of jade, one black and one white, surrounded by odd and curious items.
"This should be the array eye."
Su Ziyu casually inspected it without destroying anything inside.
The "Hundred Tales" wasn’t here.
Aobanshita likely carried it with her. Su Ziyu was curious about her plans.
Returning to the first floor.
Su Ziyu lay on the sofa with ease, beckoning an orange over, then picked up the remote to turn on the TV.
But as he idly flipped through channels.
Suddenly.
A soft scoff sounded from outside, followed by a cool, icy female voice: "I’ve only been gone a few days, and already there’s a rat daring to come into my house?"
Su Ziyu’s lips curled slightly, and he stood up, saying, "A rat wouldn’t dare."
"You should say, a friend has come from afar, how delightful."
Eh?
A puzzled female voice came from outside, followed by ghost flames appearing, glowing blue, it took her a moment to recognize the voice’s owner, given a thousand years had passed.
Then, her tone turned gleefully mischievous.
"Qing Ji~!" Aobanshita’s voice dripped with concealed amusement, teasingly elongating the final syllable, laughing, "The man you’ve been waiting over a thousand years for!"
"He seems to be in there oh!..."
In that instant.
Su Ziyu felt a bit flustered, biting his lip and bracing himself, he eventually stepped out.
"I can explain, Qing Ji..." Su Ziyu hesitated as he exited, then furrowed his brow, staring wide-eyed at the seemingly pleased beauty in the kimono sitting on the ghostly blue lamp—not far away, with an expression full of mischief.
"You mean there’s no Qing Ji out here."
"It’s just a beautiful kimono-clad girl sitting atop a blue glowing lamp, watching the whole scene with a face that seems to be enjoying the show."
Snap crackle.
A spark of faint golden arcs flickered, and Su Ziyu’s figure vanished instantly from the spot. The next moment, Aobanshita’s voice turned gleeful.
"Aha! ... How could you do this to an old friend," she teased mischievously.
"What?..."
"I’m just kidding! ..."
"Ah! ..."
.........
