Although Reimu desperately wanted to return to drinking tea, gazing at the sky, and indulging in foolishness, there was this matter she absolutely had to clarify. The fact that Kazami Yuuka, Yakumo Yukari, and Yagokoro Eirin were gathered in one place felt entirely too discordant. After all, Yukari and Eirin had once been adversaries; even if they didn't interact much now, they certainly weren't friends. And Yukari and Yuuka frequently fought—nine times out of ten encounters resulted in a brawl. As for Yuuka and Eirin, they were worlds apart, completely unconnected.

Now, the three of them were teaming up to fight a monster. Was this normal? Reimu felt that even with her own dull mind, she could tell this monster incident was anything but ordinary... even if those three were pretending to be clueless.

"You must tell me everything clearly, or if this causes trouble, I will get serious and employ cruel methods to subdue demons and vanquish devils," Reimu warned, though her notorious lack of principle and laziness were already widely known throughout Gensokyo, making her declaration lack any real authority.

"So, you mean you aren't serious at any other time," Yakumo Yukari teased timely. "No wonder the Hakurei Shrine is in constant decline; your work ethic certainly needs some training, Reimu."

"First—" For some reason, Reimu felt patronized and couldn't help but fly into a rage. "Now is not the time for that! I'm asking about the process, the sequence of events!" It wasn't that she was eager to work; quite the opposite. If she could suppress this anomaly before it fully manifested, there would be no incident, and thus no need for hard work.

"There wasn't much of a process. I was suddenly provoked by a giant white tiger, and then I just taught it a lesson."

Yukari said it as lightly as air, but Reimu glanced at the surrounding ruins and couldn't believe that amounted to merely 'teaching a lesson.' Since Yukari wouldn't say more, Reimu reluctantly shifted her gaze to Kazami Yuuka. "What about you? Don't tell me you were provoked too."

"I've always said you're a dense and foolish shrine maiden, but it seems you're quite sharp now," Yuuka remarked with surprise.

"First—the first half is wrong, the second half is correct," Reimu muttered weakly, then asked, "So how exactly did that dragon provoke you?"

"While I was enjoying my flowers, that wretched four-legged reptile dared to destroy my flowerbed, and I’ve been chasing it ever since," Yuuka lamented slightly, "It’s a pity, it escaped quite fast."

This conversation was meaningless; as expected, yokai couldn't be trusted... Reimu grumbled internally and placed her last hope on the only 'human.'

Yagokoro Eirin, preempting any question, simply spread her hands. "While I was synthesizing medicine, I saw a tortoise with a long snake tail. Snakes and tortoises are excellent medicinal ingredients, you understand."

"Ugh..." Fine, Reimu understood. She shouldn't have asked at all. What a group of unscrupulous individuals.

"Oh my, oh my, how rare. Why is everyone gathered in one spot?"

Just as Reimu was feeling dejected, a frivolous voice drifted down from the sky. Looking up, she saw a girl, light and seemingly weightless, descending slowly and gracefully with a smile.

"What's going on? Even the dead have shown up," Reimu said, slightly annoyed, waving her hand dismissively at the girl like swatting a fly. "Hurry back to the Netherworld; you're not needed here."

This person was naturally Saigyouji Yuyuko.

"I just got out of the Netherworld," Yuyuko chuckled, covering her mouth, then asked the group, "Say, say, has anyone seen a very beautiful bird?"

"What bird?" Yakumo Yukari inquired, as the others looked on with curiosity.

Yuyuko covered half her face with her fan, floating in the air, her eyes holding an intriguing expression as she spoke. "It was a large red bird, shaped like a giant rooster. I saw it loitering near the entrance to the Netherworld just now, but when I chased after it, it was gone. What a shame; I bet it would have been delicious."

"..." A moment of silence fell over the group.

"We didn't see a bird, but we just had a tiger, a dragon, a tortoise, and a snake here," Yukari kindly reminded her, aware of the deep bond between them.

"Oh? Did I miss out on so much food?" Yuyuko exclaimed, clicking her tongue, practically drooling. "It's been a while since I ate dragon; I really want to try it again."

"Lady Yuyuko!" From the distance, a figure ran up, out of breath—it was Konpaku Youmu. "Lady Yuyuko, slow down! I... I can't keep up."

"How useless. It’s because you're so useless that people say you amount to nothing," Yuyuko said with a show of exasperation; in reality, only she ever called Youmu useless.

"Youmu, let's go catch a dragon. We're having dragon cuisine today." Before Youmu could reply, Yuyuko changed the subject, already drifting into the distance, muttering excitedly to herself, "We need to find them quickly before someone else gets them. And the tortoise and the snake, the tiger and the big bird... I hope the big bird doesn't have tiny little bones, right?"

"Lady Yuyuko, wait up!" Youmu stopped only to immediately start running again.

"How pitiful," Reimu shook her head, feigning sympathy as she watched Youmu struggle.

"Hehe, the sun is up; I should return to sleep now." At the same time, Yakumo Yukari let out a light laugh and opened a gap.

"Don't just go poking holes in the barrier casually, you hear?" Reimu managed to warn before Yukari vanished.

"Time to go back to flower viewing."

"And I still have medicine to prepare."

Kazami Yuuka and Yagokoro Eirin also departed in succession. Soon, Reimu was the only one left in the clearing.

"What the hell are these bastards!" Reimu cursed loudly, feeling this trip was completely pointless. "Ah, whatever, I'll go back to drinking tea too." Saying this, she flew back toward the shrine.

Thus, the place where several B-rank figures had assembled was now empty, as if nothing had ever happened. But was that truly the case? At least Reimu faintly sensed the stirrings of an anomaly, and as for what the others were thinking, perhaps only they knew.

Meanwhile, Lin Luo had already escorted Inaba Tei back to the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. She had woken up and wandered off to play by herself. Lin Luo had considered heading to the Scarlet Devil Mansion to look for Lily, but he had a vague feeling that something was about to happen—an intuition telling him that strengthening his own power was the priority right now.

So, he immediately returned to Youkai Mountain.

Upon meeting Kurenai and Tenshi again, their relationship seemed to have blossomed; they were chatting and laughing together. Upon learning that Kurenai and Lin Luo were heading to the Palace of the Earth Spirits, Hatate Hime felt a touch of reluctance but made no effort to keep them, bidding them farewell with a smile.

In Gensokyo, there are actually two distinct divisions of influence: the Surface World and the Underworld. The Surface World is what Lin Luo had encountered previously. The Underworld, also known as the Underground City, is where the oni, excluding Ibuki Suika, reside, along with various vengeful spirits and yokai. The master governing these spirits and yokai is Satori Komeiji, the mistress of the Palace of the Earth Spirits.

Originally, the Surface World and the Underworld were entirely cut off from each other. However, due to a certain incident, the two worlds established a minor channel of communication—and the origin of that incident was the deity of the Moriya Shrine.

Of course, even with this slight communication now existing between the two worlds, it remains very difficult for surface dwellers to enter the Underworld. Generally, they are obstructed by certain underworld yokai. For instance, Reimu and Marisa had to struggle immensely when they entered the Underworld to resolve that anomaly.

However, Lin Luo faced no such obstacles, as the person guiding him into the Underworld was Komeiji Koishi. Her status and strength placed her at the very top tier in the Underworld, comparable only to Satori Komeiji and the Four Heavenly Kings of the Oni.

The journey was completely smooth, and shortly after, Lin Luo arrived at the Palace of the Earth Spirits.

Lin Luo had never seen the Palace of the Earth Spirits before. He had assumed that since it was underground, it would be gloomy, but to his surprise, it was brightly lit and bustling, almost indistinguishable from the Surface World. The Palace itself was particularly magnificent, resembling a grand palace.

"I'll take you to see my older sister," Koishi said, sounding very happy, taking Lin Luo’s hand as they walked into the palace.

"...Okay," Lin Luo replied unenthusiastically. He had worried about this from the start: Satori Komeiji possessed mind-reading abilities. What if she read his thoughts? Although most mind-reading abilities were ineffective against him, Satori was the pinnacle of the Sixth Sense... Lin Luo felt significant pressure.

...Let's reiterate: Gensokyo is not an alternate dimension; it is merely isolated. If the inhabitants of Gensokyo wish, they can travel to the real world through certain means. Even if people from the real world do not wish to go, someone can use certain methods to send them to Gensokyo. The two worlds are separated by only a thin membrane.

Just as Lin Luo reached the Palace of the Earth Spirits, a young man, around twenty-five or twenty-six, looking refined and gentle, stood in a very spacious room in the real world.

"Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise... The Four Sacred Beasts are in position!"

The man extended his hand forward and pressed against the empty air. Instantly, a circular ring appeared before him, with the four beasts situated at the East, West, South, and North: a blue dragon, a white tiger, a red bird, and a tortoise with a snake tail.

These were the Four Sacred Beasts of myth, though their current sizes were significantly smaller than legend suggested.

After communicating with the four beasts for several minutes, the man suddenly laughed. "Is that so? Even using all your strength, you couldn't defeat those few people. They are strong... although it differs significantly from my estimates. However, the stronger they are, the more advantageous it is for me. My plan can also be realized..."

Saying this, he snapped his fingers lightly, and two playing cards drifted down from the air.

"The path has been scouted; next is the deployment... Evil King, I will have my revenge in this world."

As his voice faded, the cards fell to the ground: one depicted a King seated in a hall of light, and the other, a King standing atop a mountain of corpses. The two cards overlapped across each other!