Ethereal forms, ephemeral bodies. Universal concepts which transcended time and space. Such things were easy to say and yet so very difficult to comprehend.

It was definitely far easier to imagine a man and a woman lying together in the snow, a relieved look on both of their faces than to contemplate about a creature taking the visual form of a panda and of a reawakened goddess in the vast space.

And so it happened that Setsuko's sudden energy let out another wave that echoed across the entire continent. Somehow, this time, it didn't throw the man and the Priestess away, for it was more subtle.

Undetectable save for those with keener senses.

It wasn't even fair to call her a human at this point, demi-human, demi-fox.. demi-god? This Setsuko barely batted an eye. Unaware of everything happening around her, except for the fact that she was in the arms of a man she desired.historical

It was for this very fact that her chest thumped slightly at his words and actions..

"I thought you were in danger," Li Yang said with a sigh. His hand rested gently on her head as he relaxed in the snow.

Perhaps if another man had attempted to do something like it, she wouldn't have reacted the same way. Setsuko would have flung their hand away and then challenged them to a spar until the other guy had cried—and she had gotten away in Kin Hunters from accepting nasty new recruits through that method.

Setsuko brushed her hair back and snorted. "I'm fine, it was easy—we were just calling out to find you."

"We nearly lost our lives back there." Mitsuko said flatly.

If anyone had been so focused on the serene image of a couple lying together in snow, then they would have altogether forgotten that Priestess Mitsuko was still standing there and taking in the entirety of it like a distant observer.

Li Yang quickly sat up, gave a look at Setsuko questioningly—realized that her measurement of inherent danger was different—and then back at Mitsuko. "My apologies, I did not expect anyone to find me so quickly. Or rather, I did plan to return as soon as I could."

The pink-haired Priestess was not impressed. "What in the ninth temporal realms had come through your mind to come all the way up here? I doubt anybody has come here before—especially unprepared! Did you have a death wish?"

"No, I was.. collecting beast cores." He really didn't do well with lying, it was always a distasteful thing.

Mitsuko placed a hand on her hip. "I don't see any of them on you."

"I have it in my special storage," Li Yang said. He knew from the look on Mitsuko's face that he might end up needing to explain the entirety of his situation to her, but it was also easy to make her erase it from her memory through the use of a Blood Seal.

He still had found no use for it, after all.

"Well, you better have a good excuse." Mitsuko eyed him. "I had to deal with several other Priestesses all by myself and knock them out in order to continue this search—I allowed Setsuko to stay with us despite the fact that I know that High Priestess Rhelea might be tearing her hair out from the stress that Setsuko is gone. Albeit, she's probably trying to calm herself with tea."

"I did not know that you were that capable in defeating your fellow Priestesses or understood the High Priestess that much." Li Yang stood up and helped Setsuko in the snow. He didn't sound very apologetic, but he inclined his head. "Thank you for your help."

Gratitude always sounded better than apology.

Or it was far too easy to say than acknowledging the error in his ways.

Priestess Mitsuko crossed her arms. "Can you say that you are satisfied now? Please don't tell me that you're not yet done with looking for beast cores—there are too many unexplainable things happening in this mountain. A tree had grown out of nowhere, and its variety was unexplainable.. but I doubt someone like you had anything to do with it, have you?"

It was a question.

Li Yang wondered if this was included in their blood contract—answering her questions—but only shook his head. "Perhaps it is simply spring arriving at last in this mountain. I find it very odd that this place is frozen in ice whereas everywhere else is not."

Priestess Mitsuko fumed. She herself had never been here, so she didn't know. But she turned away and recounted something she once heard from the High Priestess, "There were certain traditions that in every fifty years, the designated High Priestess ought to ascend this mountain and offer tribute to the Sleeping Goddess."

"I see," Li Yang thought back to the frozen bier and was glad that he didn't touch it. He had no desire of digging himself into any further trouble by involving a Goddess into his own repertoire of things to take care of. The man squeezed Setsuko's hand. "Let us go then."

"What?" Mitsuko asked. She blinked and stared at him, befuddled at his sudden change in stance. "You want to leave now?"

Setsuko huddled only closer to him, but nodded. "If you feel a bit exhausted, it's also fine to rest here for a while, Yang. Descending a mountain is also quite terrible, you might end up getting dragged into a fall."

"No, let's leave now. I'm alright." Li Yang assured them that they were about to leave now. He couldn't sit still at the idea of the lady in the bier suddenly arising from her eternal slumber and going out of her way to give him a life of pain and suffering.

There was an unlucky nature that Li Yang had to acknowledge. If he had been chosen as the Heavens entertainment before, then what were the chances that this sleeping Goddess had her own ideas if she discovered him here?

Without any further ado, they descended the snowy peak.

The people here were intelligent and keen-eyed in their own way, and Priestess Mitsuko quickly connected the thoughts even prior to this. While her assumption that Li Yang was a reincarnation of the god was a bit of a wild guess, nobody else could say that she was wrong, either.

Records of the brother of Aurora were mostly torn and what was available was the great war that had burst forth and then the banishment. A god promising—No. Swearing of his return.

However, records also spoke of nine temporal realms beyond that of their own.. so, difficult it might be to admit that Goddess Aurora did not hold the complete reign over the entire universe.. She had to acknowledge that Li Yang was a man not part of this world.

Well, it wasn't like Mitsuko herself didn't harbor any secrets herself.

"Wake up. We have to leave now if you don't want to die from frostbite."

She roused the other Priestesses lying collapsed in the snow and made them stand on their feet, and even though they might have hated her for doing such an act that trivialized their strength and position, nobody else could say a word.

Mitsuko was the favored one of the High Priestess.

"Prin—Priestess Mitsuko." Another of the Priestesses rubbed her eyes, forced out of her unconsciousness, and stared up at the pink-haired lady, glancing down at her with a regal look.

"Do you need any help in awakening the others?" Li Yang asked.

"No, you'll give them a heart attack if you wake them." Mitsuko eyed him and then ordered the Priestess to wake the others. She cleared her throat and looked at the nine tails swaying behind Setsuko. "Same goes for you."

Setsuko agreed with Mitsuko for different reasons, but she nodded. She looked at him and patted his arm. "You can focus on resting and recovering. It must have been difficult getting here all by yourself."

"It was difficult, but I didn't attract too much attention," Li Yang said.

"That's a relief to hear."

And while the System's counting meter told him he had encountered about a hundred enemies now, it seemed like they had encountered far too many.

Did it happen because the creatures were naturally predispositioned to attack groups of women? Li Yang assessed the full number of women in the snow and frowned at the number of injuries inflicted on them. This wasn't all from Mitsuko, for sure.

That a larger group was attacked more than him made him feel guilty. Even until now, he disliked the idea that he inflicted an additional burden on people who might have done well without his appearance at all.

Mitsuko briefly glanced at the couple before she addressed the rest of the crowd. She clapped her hands. "Alright, everyone's awake and there are no more grievous injuries—we should get going now."

"Already? Haven't we just got here?"

"Don't complain." Setsuko shot one of the Priestesses a look. "Didn't you say earlier that you wanted to leave the mountain? Shouldn't you be happier now?"

Her newly changed appearance attracted attention, but most of them didn't say a word about it. A couple grumbles and complaints broke out, but much to Li Yang's assurance, they were all shepherded down from the mountain.

Not a single one of them dared to look back, each one focused on not getting blown by the rapid winds howling across the mountains.

.

.

.

.

Tremendous energies blown once across the entire continent and roused sleeping individuals awake. Now more subtle energies but coming from the same source dispersed once again, serving as a catalyst.

A sleeping beauty tore their fist through solid ice.

The crystal bier scattered around the precipitous slope.

"Fuckin—"

Well, it didn't wake in the most pleasant of circumstances.