The forbidden techniques were terrifying.
Everyone else could toss theirs around freely.
Only Hu Tao's was off limits.
"Why? I worked so hard to develop it," she protested. "If you're worried my body will get hurt, I can leave one flame spirit behind to guard it. As long as my flesh is protected, I can fight however I want.
"Every time I see the others showing off, I want to show a little too…"
Seeing that Su Han wouldn't let her use it as she pleased, Hu Tao puffed out her cheeks in indignation.
Ganyu walked over. "You… really don't get how much he cares, do you? Even if your body breaks, there are still ways to save you. Lady Yae said herself—you can anchor a soul into a puppet body if needed.
"But if your soul is damaged, that's another matter entirely. Forget healing—if something goes wrong there, we might not even know how to save you."
"She's right," Su Han added. "In the shinobi world, Spiritification is powerful. It's strong because that world barely has any techniques that target souls.
"Teyvat is different. Here, there are ways to harm a spirit. You need to listen."
Hearing them all say the same thing, Hu Tao slowly deflated.
She had wanted too much.
"Fine… if that's how it is, I'll leave it alone for now," she sighed. "Such a fun move, and I can't even use it whenever I want…"
"It's not that you can never use it," Su Han said gently. "If we can find something that protects your soul, then you'll be free to go wild."
There were soul‑type treasures scattered across the multiverse. Rare, yes, but not nonexistent.
Hu Tao's eyes lit up a bit. "Then we'll wait for a chance later. At least it's one more card to hold. If my body ever gets wrecked, I can still bet everything on this."
Flesh and soul were separate.
In battle, the body was usually what took the hits.
The soul was often untouched.
That was what made Spiritification so terrifyingly practical.
After that, everyone took a look at the other forbidden techniques. Most of the ninjutsu on the scroll couldn't actually be used here.
But one thing proved very easy to pick up: the technique of forming orbs.
The Rasengan itself was straightforward. As long as you had enough control, you could condense elemental energy into a spinning mass.
It quickly became the close‑combat move of choice.
Worth noting: Electro users couldn't manage it at all, and Pyro was too volatile. The element boiled over the instant you tried to compress it, leading straight to explosions.
Cryo, on the other hand, worked nicely.
At least it gave everyone one more skill to slot into their repertoire.
Ningguang turned to Ayaka with a smile. "You've really worked hard this time. Take the next few days to relax and enjoy yourself."
"No… I'm planning to return to Inazuma tomorrow afternoon," Ayaka replied. "I've already gained more than enough from these two days. Once the country opens, I'll come back and pay a proper visit."
What she'd seen and learned on this trip had already filled her heart.
She was happy—but she couldn't completely put home out of her mind.
Thanks to Su Han's guidance, Ayaka understood that she needed to cultivate capable lieutenants within the Kamisato clan. Only then would she have the free time to enjoy peaceful days abroad.
For now, a brief farewell was the price for a better reunion later.
Besides, it wasn't just her ideals that had been stirred. Ningguang had also lectured her on administration, step by step.
From a higher vantage point, Ningguang had laid out Inazuma's current situation.
It had been like opening a window.
Ayaka was itching to go back and put what she'd learned into practice.
When Hu Tao heard she was leaving, her face fell. "I was going to drag you to Qingce Village. Looks like it'll have to wait until next time…
"You know, it's really fun there. Lots of bamboo shoots, lots of cute animals."
"Thank you for the invitation, Hu Tao. Next time I come, I'll definitely go with you. And of course… you're always welcome in Inazuma," Ayaka said with a gentle smile.
At that moment, Xiangling finished tidying up the battered training ground and walked over slowly.
"Brother Su Han, I think we need Granny Ping to reinforce the arena again," she said. "If we keep training like this, the place is going to fall apart."
Those moves from earlier might have looked like they were just splitting rock.
But this was inside a Serenitea Pot.
The grounds had been constructed by Granny Ping specifically to withstand punishment.
Even so, with everyone's strength shooting up day by day, the arena was starting to fall behind.
Su Han frowned. "We just had Granny Ping reinforce it half a month ago. Let's not trouble her again so soon. Better to ask Zhongli this time."
Ping was getting on in years.
Her immortal power wasn't what it used to be.
With the group hammering the grounds every day, her seals simply couldn't keep up.
But Zhongli was another story.
If he handled the reinforcement, there'd be no need to worry about the seals failing.
"Oh, right… how could I forget him?" Hu Tao said, clapping her hands. "Wait here. I'll go drag him back. All he does is slack off every day. That won't do at all…"
As she stormed off, Mona chuckled. "She really can't sit still, can she?"
"Miss Hu Tao is so lively. I'm a bit jealous," Ayaka admitted.
If she had even half that energy, she thought, Yae Miko's "assignment" would probably be done already.
As it was, she was about to go home without once finding a good chance to close the distance between them.
Such a waste.
Once she returned, she could already hear Lady Guuji's voice in her head—tapping her forehead and calling her a silly melon again.
The thought made her eyes dim for a moment.
Still, matters like that were… hard to bring herself to act on.
About half an hour later, Zhongli finally strolled in.
For him, reinforcing the training ground was child's play. He lifted a hand—and six stone pillars slammed down, anchoring the field.
"Should that prove insufficient, you can always call on me again," he said. "Though I am curious: where is Su Han? What has he gone off to do?"
It wasn't often he came over in person.
Naturally, he wanted to talk a little.
But Su Han was nowhere in sight.
"He went out hunting," Ganyu explained. "He said he wanted to test something."
"Oh?" Zhongli said. "Then we'll talk next time. I'll be off to hear the storyteller. Iron Tongue Tian's skill has improved again lately. If I hurry, I can still catch the end of today's tale."
Hu Tao rolled her eyes. "You're still listening to that story about the Geo Lord's expeditions? How many times have you heard it? Don't you ever get tired of it?"
She had gone looking for him earlier, expecting to find him at home.
Instead, she'd tracked him down at the storyteller's stall.
And of course, the story was the same old epic about the Geo Archon going to war. She'd heard it at least ten times herself.
Yet Zhongli came back to it every so often, insisting on "remembering the old days."
She found it unbearably dull.
…
On Dragonspine, Su Han gripped Tenseiga and went about reaping the souls of monsters.
The blade couldn't kill directly.
But it could collect souls.
So he used Haki to cut things down, then let Tenseiga harvest what remained.
Hilichurls and Abyss creatures fell in droves.
Each time one died, motes of soul‑light rose from the corpse and streamed into the dark blade.
After he'd cut down over a thousand monsters, Su Han finally turned back.
By then, the sky had gone fully black.
Back at the Jade Chamber, he walked straight to the locust‑wood soul box.
He drew Tenseiga.
"Can you use the soul power you've gathered to nourish the spirit inside?" he asked softly.
"I can, master," came the reply.
Drinking deep of those scattered fragments had clearly strengthened the sword's own consciousness.
A pale blue glow rose from the blade and flowed into the box.
Within, the sleeping Yaksha Bosacius felt his damaged soul being knit back together.
He woke at once.
"Mm… what is this? My body… feels comfortable for once…" he murmured.
"Is it you again, boy? Thank you… for helping me," he added, voice low and warm.
Hearing him speak, Su Han smiled. "Does this power help? Bosacius."
"It does. A great deal," Bosacius said. "But… don't hurt yourself for my sake."
Even as a weakened soul, he was the same as ever.
No matter how much pain he was in, he didn't want Su Han to be harmed because of him.
"It's fine," Su Han replied. "These soul‑fragments all came from monsters—and they've already been purified. Use them with a clear mind."
Hearing that, Bosacius stopped resisting and let the energy sink in.
Roughly half an hour later, a hazy figure slowly took shape in the room.
"I never thought I'd see the light again," he said quietly. "If only Brother Boyang could see this. But… he was only ever a mortal."
Even with a body of soul‑light, Bosacius couldn't help sighing.
Su Han sent a quick message to Ganyu, asking her to bring the Vigilant Yaksha over.
And told her there was happy news.
Twenty minutes later, a clear green wind swept in from the Chasm.
"Su Han. Why have you called me? If it's about those treasures, you can keep— I… Bosacius? Your soul…" Xiao's voice broke off.
"Hehe… Golden‑Winged King," Bosacius said with a grin. "Surprised? Thanks to this young man, I've recovered. I can only hold this form for a little while, but it's enough."
"Big brother… This is… this is truly wonderful," Xiao managed.
Seeing the two brothers reunited, Su Han slipped quietly out.
He left the rare moment to the two of them.
This little experiment had told him something crucial.
As long as there was enough soul‑power, a spirit could be maintained.
Even if it couldn't be stored in the locust‑wood box forever, it could still linger.
"Looks like I really do need to bring the Inazuma trip forward," he thought. "Otherwise, Raiden Makoto's soul might run into trouble."
By the original flow of history, she would only fully disperse in about a year.
But with so many butterflies already flapping—the early awakening of Ying among them—who could say the timing hadn't shifted?
If he couldn't defeat the Raiden Shogun, then reviving Raiden Makoto's soul would be the next best thing.
Either way, one of those paths would pry Inazuma's gates open.
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