After utilizing the power of the Heaven Rank twice in succession, the Book of Contracts was drained of its energy; it could not perform such feats again, and even its own consciousness had to fall silent. Therefore, the wishes of other hosts would have to be seen to by him alone, and so... shortly thereafter, the Book of Contracts completely degraded into a mere mechanical tool!

Then, right up until the War of the Three Kings, the Book of Contracts was accumulating its energy. However, because it was teetering on the brink of death, it was forced to once again expend its not-yet-full power to save itself, and the price was that it could no longer even manage to become an item.

Furthermore, there was the Fourth Divine War, after his own death.

Normally, when the first Contractor dies, the Heart Codex randomly selects another person to possess. For example, the New Evil King and the New Dark King. But why is it that only he can be resurrected?

Kanade Tachibana told him that after he died, it was she who had been guarding the Book of Contracts. But... could Tachibana really manage to safeguard the Book of Contracts with her abilities? Wasn't it the Book of Contracts' own consciousness doing the guarding?

In the Afterlife, he was a dead man yet possessed immortality, but the moment he merged with the Book of Contracts, he instantly became a living person, losing that immortality. Wasn't this an equivalent exchange?

The first time he was possessed by the Book of Contracts and signed a pact with the host, he gained the host’s abilities. The second time, what he gained was not an ability, but a Mark of Constraint that allowed him to indirectly influence the world. What did this signify?

To draw an analogy, take the world of A Certain Magical Index. When it was linked with the Spiritual World, the two worlds became one. An increase in resources is also an increase in energy, just as the Sky Castle could advance by absorbing the faith power transmitted from the Magic City. If two worlds are linked by the Book of Contracts, could it also absorb world power from those connected worlds to accelerate its own recovery?

If so, this would explain why the Book of Contracts complained to him after he arrived in Gensokyo. Because it had absorbed enough World Power, the Book of Contracts finally awoke from its dormancy, not only regaining its consciousness but also becoming stronger—not just its awareness, but its emotions were restored as well.

Of course, all of the above were merely Lin Luo’s conjectures. Although he felt they were highly probable, he lacked absolute proof. But now… he possessed absolute evidence to prove that the Book of Contracts had its own consciousness: the fact that he was still alive!

His creation from nothingness could ignore the attacks of a First Realm Heaven Rank expert, but facing a Second Realm Heaven Rank expert or above meant certain death. And the Permanent Seal used by the Heavenly Dao back then was precisely capable of trapping him in eternal death. But why had he broken free from that seal now, while the Heavenly Dao had vanished?

To say the Heavenly Dao intentionally spared his life—he wouldn't believe it if he were beaten to death.

And judging by the Book of Contracts' current state, the answer was obvious. Even when he was a novice and the Book of Contracts only possessed rudimentary awareness, it could indirectly use Heaven Rank power through the Heart of the World. Now that he had reached Quasi-Heaven Rank, and it possessed emotions, it wasn't strange at all that it could directly wield Heaven Rank power.

The only thing that puzzled Lin Luo was: what exactly was this consciousness residing within the Book of Contracts?

“Whatever it is, I think we should meet someday,” Lin Luo murmured to himself, a faint smile touching his lips. If it were an ordinary person to know there was another consciousness inside them, they might be afraid, but he was not. This consciousness had saved him countless times, always at the most critical moments. He didn't believe the other party would harm him.

A moment later, Lin Luo left his room and went downstairs. He found two lolis bustling about in the kitchen, which they had turned into a smoky mess.

“What are you two doing?” Seeing this, Lin Luo couldn't help but ask.

“Ah!” The sudden sound startled the two lolis, making them exclaim instinctively. As they turned around and saw him, they quickly hid whatever they were holding behind their backs.

Although they hid things quickly, it didn't escape Lin Luo's notice. It was a fish, a chicken, and some greens. However, the fish was headless, half the chicken was black, and the greens were twisted into knots... He didn't know how they managed to achieve such masterful results.

Of course, Lin Luo didn't want to dampen their spirits, so he said lightly, “Forget it. If you want to use this high-tech kitchen, you need to properly read the manual first.” With that, he walked over to the nearby refrigerator, intending to find something to eat, as he was hungry after sleeping.

What Lin Luo failed to notice was the look of defiance on the faces of the two lolis after he finished speaking. In Koko’s view, she had managed to master the difficult room that was the bathroom, so how could she fail to conquer the territory of the kitchen? As for Youka, if even the naive idiot Koko could master one room, how could she possibly fail to master one as well?

However defiant they felt, they truly couldn't operate the kitchen. Didn't they see that the pristine kitchen now resembled a garbage heap?

“Huh? Why is the cake in the fridge gone?” Just as the two lolis were pondering how difficult and unuser-friendly the kitchen was, they suddenly heard Lin Luo’s voice. This made them freeze, and then both their faces instantly flushed red.

Seeing their complexions, Lin Luo knew why the cake had vanished. He abandoned his plan for sweets for the day, walked to the dining table, and took out several cooked dishes from his storage space, calling out to the two lolis, “Stop messing around, come and eat something first.”

“Ah!” Seeing the food suddenly appear on the table, the two lolis exclaimed. Koko was the first to run over, stared at it for a moment, then looked up and asked Lin Luo curiously, “Is this an illusion too?”

“It’s not an illusion, but you can call it magic,” Lin Luo replied with a slight smile.

“That’s amazing! I want to learn this magic too,” Koko said admiringly, with unmistakable envy in her tone.

Forget it, you can’t learn it now. But later on, even if you don’t try to learn, you’ll know how anyway... Lin Luo thought to himself.

At that moment, Youka also emerged from the kitchen. After busying herself for so long with no results, only making the kitchen a complete mess, Lin Luo could conjure delicious food with ease, which left her quite frustrated.

While eating, Lin Luo reintroduced himself. For the sake of convenience, he adopted the identity of an alien who had drifted here by accident. Although the two lolis were surprised by this, they didn't harbor much suspicion, as aliens were, to youkai, merely creatures from another dimension.

Then, Lin Luo subtly inquired and roughly grasped the background of this era... Simply put, this was an era dominated by youkai. Although humans still constituted a significant portion of society, their status was not high due to their weakness. Most lived in tribes or villages and were frequently attacked by youkai. However, there were some human powerhouses capable of matching youkai, which is why humanity hadn't been wiped out.

Since human society wasn't stabilized, Lin Luo didn't know the exact time period.

Next were the youkai. The strongest were the leaders of three races: the Oni King, the Vampire King, and the Wolf King. Slightly weaker than them were the Lord-level youkai. These youkai, save for a few particular lone wolves, often possessed their own territories and influence. Generally, Lord-level youkai would not engage in open warfare unless there was deep-seated hatred between them.

Although the exact number of Lord-level youkai was unknown at the moment, there were at least over a hundred. This wasn't actually that large a number when measured against the youkai of the entire world.

From this data, Lin Luo realized that if he wanted to leave with peace of mind, he needed to wait until Youka and Koko reached Lord-level strength. But they were currently light-years away from a Lord's power. Could this truly be achieved in four months?

Lin Luo was skeptical.

Moreover, even reaching Lord-level power didn't guarantee safety. Just recently, a powerful Lord-level youkai was annihilated by the elites of the Werewolf Clan.

This showed that one wasn't absolutely safe until they reached the very peak of strength.

Speaking of the Werewolf Clan, Lin Luo was somewhat curious. Among the countless youkai residing in Gensokyo, there were many species he had never even heard of, such as the Satori sisters, who were referred to as 'Awakened' youkai; he had no idea they existed before learning about Gensokyo.

But why were common youkai like werewolves absent in Gensokyo? What was the reason?

Lin Luo couldn't help but ask, and after Youka briefly introduced the Werewolf Clan, he began to understand. Because werewolves were inherently cruel and bloodthirsty, and they loved to act pretentious, they were resented by almost all other youkai. Even the Oni and the Vampires found their bullying of the weak somewhat distasteful.

However, the strength of the Werewolf Clan was undeniable, and they were remarkably united. Even the Oni Clan, while capable of defeating them, could not achieve their extermination without incurring significant costs themselves. Although their relationship with the Vampires was decent, as the two strongest factions, they clearly couldn't gang up to bully others.

With the Oni and Vampires remaining neutral, the other youkai naturally dared not voice their anger.

But as the saying goes, where there is oppression, there is resistance. Although resistance had not yet erupted, Lin Luo could foresee that at some point in the future, the youkai would surely rise up against the Werewolf Clan en masse. Like the leader of World War II, the werewolves were destined for annihilation.

That was why there were no werewolves in Gensokyo.

In contrast, the Oni Clan, despite being known for their destructive tendencies, had personalities that were quite popular among the youkai, which is why they consistently ranked among the top youkai. Even in Gensokyo, apart from a few like Yukari Yakumo and Yuuka Kazami, few youkai could truly suppress Suika Ibuki. Even Yuyuko was only on par with Suika.

Then there were the Vampires. Although the 'young lady' was a bit lackluster and didn't rank among the strongest in Gensokyo, the second sister made up for it... Oh no, he accidentally insulted the young lady again.

Lin Luo feared the young lady might suddenly appear and strike him with a Divine Spear, so he ceased his internal monologue. Just then, he noticed that Koko and Youka's expressions seemed off. One was glaring at him while the other was winking, as if trying to pass secret messages while appearing hesitant.

“Is there something you want to say?” Lin Luo couldn’t help but ask.

“That…” Hearing him ask directly, the two froze. After a moment of silence, Youka finally gathered her courage, abruptly stood up from her seat, and said with a blush, “Um, please… please take us as your disciples!”

“Huh?!”