Kapitel 47: Chasing the Reincarnator (1)
"That's the fifth bandit group getting decimated this week! Have they found the perpetrator?"
"Do you think the mayor gonna hire some shinobi to investigate?"
"And who's gonna pay for all that crap? There are fewer bandits prowling the road now, so all's good for me."
"I'm afraid that the biggest group, Genjuro's gang, will be forced to move. It'll be chaotic..."
"I got some words when I went to check on my relative. The perpetrators are two guys wearing these weird porcelain masks..."
Not too far from them, said 'perpetrators' continued eating dango, feigning ignorance.
Hikari and Youen were taking a break in a quiet town along the southern highway, enjoying the evening wind with the company of good tea and plump, delicious dango.
A white-furred puppy with drooping ears, an exact duplicate of Akamaru, was perching on Hikari's lap. Unlike the original, this fake puppy had sharp-angled eyes with dark-blue pupils. It was none other than the Five-Tails, Kokuo, who had materialized to the physical world through the use of Transformation Technique.
The 'wise' and 'venerable' Tailed Beast was pouring down Dango down its mystical stomach, losing himself to gluttony.
"You seem to like it, Venerable One."
"The taste is lacking compared to your people's cuisine, but it's acceptable."
Kokuo replied in a more fluent form of her native tongue. While it wasn't perfect, any person from the Yang Dynasty should be able to understand without a problem. More importantly, it could understand what they were saying now. It would no longer feel neglected whenever the reincarnators started talking among themselves.
It definitely didn't labor so hard to learn their language just because it felt lonely, alright!
"By the way, big brother..."
Youen waved his stick of dango at Hikari.
"It's been bugging me for a while now. Why are you so unwilling to learn jutsu?"
"..."
She continued gobbling her dango instead of replying.
"I don't get it. You're able to refine qi through chakra, so manipulating chakra to perform jutsu should be a walk in the park already. You have an affinity to fire element, right? I can teach you Fire Release-"
"Younger sister Mei-"
"Don't call me 'younger sister'!"
"-Little Mei, just leave it at that."
"..."
He stood his ground, keeping a firm gaze at the girl.
Hikari sighed. With how stubborn this woman was, he wouldn't let go until she gave him an answer.
"Little Mei, did you drink the Five-Fragrance Tea before you fell into the pool of reincarnation?"
"Nope."
"...I did."
"You don't sound like someone whose memories got erased though."
"It's a bit complicated. Lady Meng had my portion split into three parts due to the amount if my accumulated karma. I had barely finished the first cup when Tianyou attacked the underworld."
"...What did it take from you?"
Hikari flashed him a gentle smile.
"Take a guess."
Youen frowned. His big brother still retained her previous life's memories. Nothing seemed wrong with her knowledge either. He couldn't see what that single cup of Five-Fragrance Tea had done to her to the point that she would refuse to learn new techniques-
New... techniques... could it be...?
"Big brother... are you starting to forget?"
She gave him a weak nod.
Through their arduous training, cultivators strengthen not only their physical strength but also their mental capabilities. One of the most valuable rewards of a cultivator's hard work is their formidable memory.
Starting from Foundation Establishment stage, a cultivator's memory would grow sharper with each rank. At Nascent Soul stage, they could memorize an entire page worth of text with a single glance. When they have reached immortality, their mental space was equivalent to a vast, eternal library containing eons of accumulated knowledge and experience.
Yao Huang's soul, which had been partially purified by the Five-Fragrance Tea, was gradually losing this superior retention ability.
The memories turned hazy if she didn't refresh them in her mind. Even now, she was frantically flipping through the innumerable books within her mental library, trying her hardest to preserve them for yet another day.
"..."
Youen didn't know what to say.
"What's with the long face? As long as I manage to reach the Foundation Establishment stage, I should have enough mental strength to spare for these 'jutsu' thing. Unfortunately, this isn't a good time. More importantly..."
Hikari jumped off her seat, finishing her dango in one gulp.
"...Is your information accurate? It's been three days and we still haven't found that guy."
They just found bandits.
It was actually funny. Every time they reached a village, the bandits would soon attack. Since they were too lazy to reason with uncultured brats, they let their swords and fists to do the talking instead.
Unbeknownst to them, the myth about the porcelain-masked heroes was starting to spread among the southern populace...
"I told you that it's just a rumor. I can't really say for sure if it's real or not."
Youen had gotten intel about a certain person who was traveling throughout the land to heal the poor. He was described as a kind young man dressed in a white shirt and pants. Apparently, he was very passionate about the art of medicine and desired to use his knowledge to improve the lives of people regardless of wealth and background.
While it was a rather common feel-good story, one detail in particular was of interest.
Apparently, this young man would sometimes make a strange gesture when greeting people. He would place his left palm on top of his right fist before slightly bowing down. Everyone treated it as a mere quirk, but Hikari and Youen knew better.
That was the cupped fist salute from their previous lives!
"Traveling the world to heal people... is he emulating Venerable Sun, the King of Medicine?" Hikari murmured.
"Big brother, there's a high chance that we might be able to catch up to him if we go to the neighboring village. I heard that they had a breakout of food poisoning this morning."
"Let's go then. He should be busy treating the villagers."
The neighboring village that Youen mentioned was a half day's travel from their current location. By the time that they could see the smoke rising from the houses, the sun had already crept down the horizon.
Unfortunately, they were a bit late.
"The miracle doctor? He had already left..."
After asking the villagers, they found out that the doctor had stayed until dusk. He had just finished treating the last patient before he departed once again, taking the road further west.
"He shouldn't have gone too far. Let's give chase."
Ignoring the villagers' suggestion to stay for the night, they pressed on down the main road. They would stop to check on the ground from time to time, looking for the miracle doctor's footprints.
Unfortunately, their pursuit had to be abruptly terminated.
The footprints had ended all of the sudden, as if their owner had disappeared into thin air at that exact position.
"Can that miracle doctor fly...?"
"You have to be at least at the Immortal Ascension stage to fly, big brother..."
They weren't ones to brag, but if even ex-immortals like them weren't able to cultivate beyond Qi Condensation stage with this world's resources, then they couldn't imagine anyone else who could do better.
He must have used a certain trick.
The part of the main road they were traversing on was hugged by a dense congregation of trees on both sides. Most likely, their guy had climbed up the trees in order to shake off potential pursuers.
Hikari squinted her eyes. The blanket of the night had obscured the details of the treetops. They wouldn't be able to find his trail from the ground.
"...Do we have to get up there and inspect every single branch?"
As they were pondering their next step, Kokuo deliberately coughed out loud to catch their attention.
"Let This One try."
Kokuo took a sniff at the nearest footprint, and then it wandered around while turning its nose up in the air until it finally stopped.
Hikari and Youen stared blankly at the beast.
"...Venerable One, aren't you supposed to be a horse? Why are you able to smell-"
"Follow This One."
The further they went into the forest, the deeper they plunged into the darkness. It didn't take long before the main road disappeared from sight. Their only source of light was the lantern that Youen had lit up.
The forest at night was like a daunting maze, swallowing foolish prey who had dared to step in. For their miracle doctor to be able to move around so skillfully, it seemed that he wasn't a simple person.
Suddenly, they heard a faint sound of crunching leaves coming from their left.
"Who is it?!"
Youen shone his lantern toward the sound while Hikari readied her hand on the hilt of her sword, ready to strike at moment's notice.
"W-waaah..."
""...""
The voice coming from the shadow sounded like someone crying...
"Come closer!"
The Anbu ordered. Just to be on the safe side, they also put their masks on.
As they waited with bated breath, what came out from the darkness was a young girl around the age of seven.
"..."
It was really a little kid...
The two eased their stance, although their hands never left their weapon. If this kid was innocent, keeping their bloodlust in the open would just scare her off.
"...What are you doing here?"
Hikari stepped forward to take a better look at the girl. Her features were a bit plump, with fat cheeks and a pair of small eyes. Her black hair was braided into a pigtail. Combined with the rough, simple robe she was wearing, she looked just like any other kids that one could see in a backwater village.
"I... I'm on m-my way h-home..."
"Home? Are you lost?"
They already veered so far off the main road. Why was the girl here so deep in the forest?
"N-no... I've just finished gathering herbs for the doctor, so he can c-cure my mother..."
Doctor. Could it be?
"That doctor you're talking about... is he the miracle doctor?" Hikari inquired.
"Miracle...? I-I don't know. The doctor came to our village not too long ago to help us. The village healer already gave up on my mother, but the doctor said that she can be cured if he has the necessary ingredients, so I..."
The girl lifted the basket on her hands, which was filled to the brim with various wild plants.
"What do you think?" Hikari stole a glance at Youen. At the same time, she switched back to their native language.
"It could be him. At least, we finally got a lead. What about the girl?"
"I just took a cursory check, but I don't think that she has any weapon."
Even if the kid had hidden weapons inside that basket, it would take too long for her to pull them out. By that time, Hikari's sword would have cut her head off, twice.
The little girl fidgeted her legs as she watched the strangers chatting incomprehensibly. She was about to run away when Hikari called out to her once again.
"Child, we got lost in the forest. Can you lead us to your village? We'll keep you safe in return."
"U-umm..."
Their face was concealed behind porcelain masks. Definitely suspicious. However, it was true that the forest was dangerous at night, and there was still quite a distance to cover before she could reach home.
In the end, the child lost to her own naivety and nodded her compliance.
With the little girl as the lead, the group continued their journey. She seemed to be quite knowledgeable with the topology of the land, seeing that she could tell which way to go even without lanterns.
"So your name is Suzuna? That's a nice name."
"Hehe... Thank you, onii-chan!"
Although Youen's imposing figure had scared her at first, the two quickly hit it off. Seeing that the basket she was carrying was quite heavy for the little girl, the Anbu even offered to carry it on her behalf. They were chatting merrily in the front while Hikari lagged a bit behind.
"Suzuna... that's quite fitting for a name," Kokuo whispered as it hopped onto Hikari's shoulder.
"Hmm? What do you mean, Venerable One?"
"The character is different, but it can also mean 'turnip'."
She stared at the little girl's figure.
Oh.
"Your friend is quite good with kids," Kokuo noted.
"Mei Mei always treat younger girls like her own little sisters. That's just how she is."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
Hikari just gave the beast a melancholic smile.
"There's nothing I can do about it. The wounds of the past can't be erased with mere words. She'll have to deal with it on her own."
Perhaps that was also one of the reasons why she had decided to reincarnate...
"Onii-chan, onee-san, we're here!"
Suzuna pointed at the light ahead of them. Judging from how it swayed alongside the wind, it seemed to be the light of torches. They could also see the outlines of simple huts against the dark backdrop.
"Here you go, Suzuna. Take this to your mother-"
They had just reached the entrance to the village. Youen was about to hand the basket back to Suzuna when he realized that the little girl had suddenly disappeared.
"Big brother, where's Suzuna?"
"...Wasn't she right behind you just now?"
"..."
Before they could make sense of what had just happened, a loud horn was blown from the direction of the village, followed by the frantic noise of numerous footsteps converging at their spot.
"Intruders! Intruders!
"Wake everyone up! We got company!"
Before long, they were surrounded by a bunch of rowdy-looking men.
It didn't take a genius to realize that these men were bandits. However, unlike the ruffians that they had encountered before, the men didn't bullishly strike without a concrete plan. Instead, they maintained their distance while readying their swords, keeping the three trapped in the middle.
The situation didn't look good, but Hikari and Youen were in a foul mood because of a different reason.
"...Hey, big brother..."
"...I know. You don't need to say it."
Goddamnit.
They got duped by a little girl!
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
RanixAurus
RanixAurus Apologies for the delay. I caught a flu and got knocked out by nature's sleeping pill.
My characters refer to each other as their previous identities, so Youen keep referring to Hikari as 'big brother', even though he's older than her, and she's not a 'he' anymore. Hikari also still refers to Youen like her little sister, even though he's not a 'she' anymore.
Man, what a mess, amirite? HAHAHA...
As promised, the serialization continues! I had actually finished halfway through this chapter before getting into hiatus.
I'll take a bit of time off until the next update. I want to edit the previous chapters first to make a few changes to better portray the characters in my mind, as well as erasing... I mean, fixing mistakes that happened during my writings. The next chapter will come up after I finished the edits.
As usual, your comments are always appreciated. It keeps me interested in continuing haha.
Until then.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein