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The trip to Triple Village concluded perfectly.
They had done everything there was to see and do.
The next day.
On the road to the Mountain Hot Spring Inn.
True to its name, the inn was built on a mountainside amidst a vast sea of trees, far from the noisy city and exhaust fumes, keeping company with wild Pokémon and sharing the natural hot springs and scenery.
The most direct evidence was that there wasn't even a trace of human habitation nearby. The only structure seen along the way was a ranger outpost.
This also meant that Li Xiang and the others had truly arrived in wilderness far from the city.
Of course, the inn itself was quite modern, equipped with internet, power outlets, and signal—everything one would expect.
For Li Xiang, besides the signature hot springs, the most important feature of this inn was a school located four kilometers away.
—Sakura Island Trainer University.
Abbreviated as Sakura University.
"Sakura University is in this kind of remote wilderness?"
Wang Dong, in the back seat, saw Li Xiang looking up information on Sakura University and leaned in to interject, "Junior Brother, are you planning to challenge the university? Take me with you!"
Lu Chengfeng beside him also leaned over, "Junior Brother is going to Sakura University? Count me in! I want to watch Junior Brother battle too!"
Both knew about Li Xiang's reputation as "number one in the National Youth Training Camp."
Although their ambitions didn't lie on the trainer path, they were still very curious about how strong their junior brother really was to have such a renowned reputation.
Moreover, joining in on the excitement and curiosity was human nature.
Not going to Sakura University to see for themselves would be against their characters.
"Challenge the university? Senior Brother, you overestimate me. I'm going to visit and learn. By the way, Senior Sister, was Sakura University in the top eight?"
Li Xiang asked Jiang Shangrong beside him.
The third senior sister was reading a book, sunlight from the window spilling over half her face like a gentle gauze, giving her a very literary young girl aura.
Hearing Li Xiang's voice, she shifted her attention slightly, thought for a second, and shook her head, "No. Besides the Big Six, the top eight were Yuzhou and Star Island."
Star Island was one of the thirteen major islands of Zhu Xia.
"Who did Sakura University lose to?" Li Xiang asked curiously.
In terms of land area, Sakura Island was the second largest island in Zhu Xia, so there should be plenty of talent.
"Star Island. They lost by three points."
Jiang Shangrong recalled and replied.
'Lost by three points!'
Li Xiang couldn't help but feel sorry for Sakura. Losing by three points and missing the top eight—if he were the team captain, he'd probably be furious.
Fortunately, there was still the second half of the regional level.
The regional phase of the Junior World Tournament wasn't an elimination system but a points-based system.
Being three points behind in the first half shouldn't be too hard to overcome with effort...
Of course, advancing to the global level was definitely out of the question for them.
Speaking of which, having only three spots per region was too few. Zhu Xia had so many strong schools, but because there were only three spots, they all ended up as cannon fodder.
What a pity.
The overall performance in the Junior World Tournament directly affected the rankings within the United/Alliance Universities.
Just as he was thinking this, they arrived at their destination.
Everyone got out of the car.
The first thing that greeted them was a familiar single-story vacation house.
The decor was excellent, the kind that looked expensive at first glance. At its entrance, there was also a huge, steaming hot spring pool constantly emitting a pungent sulfur smell.
"Sulfur spring."
Li Xiang reached out to touch it, feeling it was hotter than expected.
But it was definitely within the human tolerance range.
The key was whether Incineroar could handle this water. Sulfur springs weren't something every Pokémon could soak in.
He released Incineroar.
Upon seeing such a large pool of water right beside it, Incineroar immediately jumped back.
"Can you not overreact? I told you about it yesterday!"
Li Xiang slapped its waist; this silly tiger was making a fuss.
It could free-swim in rivers for half an hour in winter without any problem.
Just yesterday, it took a direct Water Pulse from a Wash Rotom and was completely fine.
Now it was acting scared of a little water.
Who was it trying to fool?
"Roar?"
Incineroar sniffed the pungent air, its expression instantly turning strange.
'Ah... this smells like my saliva. You're not going to soak in my saliva, are you? And such a huge pool of it?'
It looked at Li Xiang with a mix of disgust and pity.
Finally, Incineroar patted Li Xiang's shoulder with a "I give up on you" expression.
'Who told you're my trainer? It's fine. Even if you soak head to toe in saliva, Big Bro Incineroar won't dislike you.'
Li Xiang: "?"
Incineroar's expression was far too telling.
Even though Li Xiang couldn't read micro-expressions, he could tell it wasn't thinking anything good.
"Stop messing around! Get in!"
He grabbed Incineroar's paw and tried to push it into the hot spring.
"Roar!"
Incineroar absolutely refused to soak in something that smelled like its own saliva, frantically pulling its paw back!
But it was afraid of hurting Li Xiang, so it didn't dare use too much force, leaving its paw in a half-extended, half-retracted state.
Seriously, if it were its own saliva, that would be one thing—touching it would be fine. But this was "someone else's" saliva.
'Who would touch someone else's saliva?! Big Bro Incineroar's hard-earned reputation must not be ruined in this pool!'
Incineroar's muscles bulged, a vein throbbed on its forehead, and it gathered its strength—
Then it picked up Li Xiang and ran toward the inn!
"You—!"
Li Xiang was so angry he pounded Incineroar's back, but his fists were like tickles to it, utterly useless.
"Stop fooling around, Junior Brother. The master is here."
Bai Ji watched Li Xiang roughhousing with his Pokémon and said helplessly.
"You hear that!"
Li Xiang glared at Incineroar, then whispered, "Don't make the master angry!"
It wasn't just their group of senior siblings who had come today; Yan Hu's entire family was here, and Duan Tianxing was also present.
They had just arrived a bit earlier in their car. If the old master caught them messing around, who knew what would happen.
Hearing this, Incineroar, intimidated by Duan Tianxing's authority, had no choice but to put Li Xiang down.
Originally, it had planned to carry him on its shoulder all the way to the room before setting him down.
Li Xiang also hadn't ridden on its shoulders for a long time, finding it embarrassing.
'What's so embarrassing about it? When I was little, I used to perch on your backpack or shoulders all the time and never found it embarrassing.'
Incineroar was very puzzled.
....
The rooms had been booked long in advance.
They were large suites. The kind that allowed many Pokémon to move around freely.
Li Xiang was still sharing a room with his three senior brothers.
Inside.
Like the vast majority of hot spring inns, it had its own private hot spring pool, right outside the floor-to-ceiling window, separated from the neighboring pool by a large stone wall.
It was very spacious, big enough to easily fit Li Xiang, his three companions, and all their Pokémon.
The only downside was that it was semi-outdoor, so the sound insulation was poor. They could constantly hear the sounds of the three senior sisters next door laughing and playing noisily.
It was quite irritating.
Unable to stand it any longer, Li Xiang took his Pokémon to the fully outdoor public bath.
However, although it was called a public bath, hardly anyone actually came here, making it seem as empty as if he had booked the entire place.
Occasionally, a few wild Pokémon were soaking inside.
Yes. Wild Pokémon.
Common mountain forest species like Vigoroth, Furret, and Ursaring.
When they saw Li Xiang, they just lifted their eyelids slightly, completely unfazed. Clearly, they were used to it.
"A characteristic mixed bath," Li Xiang remarked.
He chose an unoccupied pool and sat down.
This inn's signature feature was mixed bathing with wild Pokémon.
Occasionally, if one was in the mood and you were brave enough, it might even give you a back rub or something.
This service was highly rated on forums, though it was relatively rare to experience.
Seizing the opportunity, a certain large tiger was still forced, with a grimace, into the hot spring pool.
There was definitely no harm done.
Li Xiang's main concern was whether the belt would cause the hot spring to ignite when submerged. The warning signs also explicitly prohibited open flames in the hot spring area.
Fortunately, that didn't happen.
He remembered in the Pokémon Adventures manga, the hot springs of Mt. Silver could aid combustion, even allowing Blastoise to melt Pryce's ice.
Incredibly impressive.
While this wasn't Mt. Silver, it was connected to this region's "Mt. Silver"—Furong Highlands.
The hot springs bubbling up from underground naturally came from the same source.
Incidentally, Li Xiang also figured out the reason for Incineroar's resistance to the hot spring.
"Are you an idiot? You've soaked in them before! At the training camp! At most, one was a salt spring, and this is a sulfur spring!"
He hammered Incineroar's chest in frustration.
Incineroar, half-submerged in the hot spring, curled its lip, looking utterly unconvinced.
No matter how eloquently Li Xiang tried to explain, this stuff was saliva. It was like chocolate that tasted like poop versus poop that tasted like chocolate—no difference.
Even if the composition was completely different from its saliva, and at most the smell was similar.
Incineroar still felt this wasn't a good thing. How could it compare to the pool back at the training camp?
But now that it was already in, there was nothing left to say.
Beside them, Riolu and Greninja wore expressions of pure bliss. They were probably the biggest fans of hot springs. Back at the training camp, whenever they had the chance, they would always soak for half an hour.
Corviknight was slightly less enthusiastic; it preferred the feeling of water pouring down on it.
'Soaking in a bath? No, thank you.'
Fortunately, this inn offered a flowing hot spring service.
The large raven used its enormous size to claim that spot. Crouching like a broody hen, eyes narrowed contentedly.
In contrast, Rotom lacked interest. As an electronic ghost, it rarely experienced this kind of physical pleasure.
Even when it transformed into a washing machine and soaked, it felt nothing.
As for Honedge and Metang…
They sank to the bottom.
"You guys won't drown, right?"
Li Xiang pulled Honedge up from the bottom of the pool. It wore an expression of extreme satisfaction.
It must have been a long time since it last soaked.
"Gurgle gurgle gurgle…"
"Speak up!"
Li Xiang kicked Metang beneath the surface. It slowly rose, broke the surface, shouted a vigorous "Metang!", and sank again.
"It says it feels amazing," the translator provided real-time interpretation.
'The heck it feels amazing.'
Li Xiang grabbed Honedge's tassel, pulled its scabbard off, and placed half its body in the water with its eye exposed above the surface.
"This is better," he nodded, satisfied, receiving a "are you insane?" look in return.
Honedge couldn't be bothered with Li Xiang. It sheathed itself and slowly sank back to the bottom.
When it came to soaking in hot springs, immersing oneself completely was naturally the most comfortable.
Seeing this, Li Xiang didn't insist and closed his eyes to enjoy himself.
Suddenly, someone tapped his shoulder.
"Hmm?" Li Xiang turned his head and saw Riolu holding a towel, its eyes shining as it looked at him.
He couldn't help but laugh. "Want to give me a scrub? Sure."
He slowly climbed onto the bank and lay down by the pool's edge, awaiting Riolu's ministrations.
Slap!
A sharp sound came from his rear.
"So, there was no need to learn this opening move from the senior brothers," Li Xiang's resigned voice emerged.
"Riolu~"