What is life?
Life is the foundation, the fundamental.
To be alive is the basis of all of an individual's activities. Only by being alive can one create activity, can one create miracles.
"Then... what is the purpose of being alive?"
Sitting on the cliff beside the Tenshukaku, Bai Luo skillfully scaled and gutted the fish while asking Arataki Itto beside him.
"I understand the reasoning, but what does this have to do with killing fish? Didn't you say we were releasing them?"
"Then let's move on to the second question. What is 'releasing'?"
"Throwing them into the water?"
Arataki Itto pointed to the sea below and asked tentatively.
He had done similar things before.
However, Bai Luo smiled and shook his head.
"The so-called 'releasing fish into the sea' is merely moving them from one cage to another, larger cage. What we want to release is not their bodies, but their souls."
"Souls?"
"That's right, souls."
Placing the skewered fish over the fire, Bai Luo looked up at the sky.
"When a fish is in a basin, it is the basin that restricts its freedom. In a pond, it is the pond that restricts its freedom. In the sea, it is the sea that restricts its freedom. Even within this physical body, it is also restricted by time and life. What we need to do is to break its shackles, to completely liberate its soul, so that it is not even bound by this fate and the Heavenly Principles, to achieve freedom in the truest sense."
As Bai Luo spoke with excitement, he even raised his fist towards the sky.
It was as if he had already raised the great banner of rebellion against the Heavenly Principles and fate.
"Brother Bai, I..."
After a long silence, Arataki Itto lowered his head in shame.
"Have you attained enlightenment?"
"No, I'm hungry."
"..."
So you were looking down at the grilled fish all along?!
As the sun gradually set in the west, the two on the cliff no longer argued about the meaning of life and soul.
After all, in the face of food, everything else is just empty talk.
On this day, Arataki Itto remembered one thing: Bai Luo's grilled fish was delicious.
"Hahahaha, you eat first. I'll go over there again."
After wiping the grease from the corner of his mouth, Bai Luo put down the grilled fish in his hand and stood up.
"Still releasing them?"
Arataki Itto, who was eating heartily, raised his head and asked.
He had given up on correcting him about the name "Hahahaha."
"No, I just feel that simply grilling them is not exciting enough. I'm going to get a pot."
Where was the place in Liyue that left Bai Luo with the fondest memories?
Of course, it was Bubu Pharmacy.
However, he wasn't referring to Qiqi, but to the medicinal pot stewed with brocade carp and the medicinal pot stewed with frogs.
The fresh fragrance of the medicinal herbs, coupled with a little lotus root, once stewed in a pot, made one wish they could swallow their own tongue.
He might not be able to find a medicinal pot of that caliber in this Tenshukaku, but finding some ordinary pots wouldn't be difficult.
At that time, if he could also grab some seasonings, it would be simply wonderful.
Without Arataki Itto following him, it was much easier for Bai Luo to sneak into the Tenshukaku again.
After all, with his "Quantumization," he could even pass through the Raiden Shogun's Musou no Hitotachi with ease.
Concealing his figure, Bai Luo had originally intended to search room by room. After all, the Tenshukaku was so large, and he didn't know where the kitchen was.
But a few men dressed as farmers made him change his mind.
He moved closer and quietly lifted the light purple cloth covering their shoulder poles, only to find that they were filled with things that looked like plants.
Besides a few plants he didn't recognize at all, he did recognize one of them.
Mint.
'Alright, it seems these are the vegetable deliveries for the kitchen.'
As long as he followed them in, he would definitely be able to find the kitchen, which would save him a lot of trouble.
After watching them being led into a building by a woman in a kimono, Bai Luo did not follow, but instead went around to the side.
There was a place here that looked like a drainage outlet. The water flowing out of it was not sewage, but some kind of fragrant hot water.
He just didn't know why, but there seemed to be something like pink hair in the water.
"This should be it."
After feeling the thickness of the wall, Bai Luo used his Quantumization and phased through it.
The moment his head went in, he was greeted by a cloud of steam.
At the same time, a faint fragrance tickled his nose.
That fragrance was several times more fragrant than any flower in nature. Even the Sweet Flower, famous for its sweetness, was not even a third as sweet as this scent.
After completely entering, Bai Luo returned to his solid form, standing on the edge of something like a step, and looked around in confusion.
Did I enter a steamer?
What is being steamed here? It smells so good.
He subconsciously looked down, and then he fell silent.
Because he saw a cascade of long pink hair, and in the hot spring, a faintly visible... slime.
As if sensing Bai Luo's gaze, Yae Miko, who was leaning against the edge of the hot spring pool, also raised her head.
Bai Luo: "..."
Yae Miko: "..."
Gently waking a slumbering heart... (A/N: It's a reference for those who will get it. This essentially means a hilarious awkward moment.)
Their eyes met, and they were speechless.
A moment later, as if to ease his own embarrassment, Bai Luo raised his hand and gave a greeting.
"Yo, taking a dip?"
Run? Of course he had to run. But the problem was that Quantumization had a five-second cooldown.
The cooldown wasn't over yet. If he rashly used invisibility, he would become visible again when he used Quantumization later.
At that time, both Quantumization and invisibility would be on cooldown, which would put him in a very passive position in the Tenshukaku.
Right now, he could only try to buy as much time as possible before the other party reacted.
"Join me?"
Yae Miko didn't scream like an ordinary woman, but instead sank her body down, leaving only her head above the water.
She even extended an invitation to Bai Luo.
[A/N: AHHHH!!! Why Can't it be me!!!]
However, in the seemingly peaceful hot spring pool, faint purple flashes of lightning had started to appear at some unknown point.
Take a dip together? Bai Luo felt that the moment he touched the water, he would probably be zapped into a pile of charcoal.
"Pardon the intrusion."
Feeling the tingling sensation on the surface of his skin, Bai Luo looked at his now-ready Quantumization and decisively phased out through the wall.
After Bai Luo left, Yae Miko also completely submerged herself in the hot spring water.
In the next instant, a drenched pink-furred fox leaped out of the pool, jumped onto the small window specially reserved for her, and squeezed out.
But outside, there was already no sign of Bai Luo, as if what had just happened was entirely her imagination.
The pink-furred fox closed its eyes and sniffed lightly.
The aroma of grilled fish drifting up from the cliff below caught her attention.
She agilely leaped onto the high wall of the Tenshukaku, passed through the cherry blossom trees outside the wall, creating a shower of pink petals, and landed at the foot of the cliff.
There, a red Oni was sitting brazenly by the fire, holding a freshly grilled fish in his hand and feasting on it.
"Hmm?"
The pink-furred fox that had jumped down from the cliff naturally also caught Arataki Itto's attention.
He didn't shoo her away, but instead waved at her.
"Little fox, want some fish? It's delicious."
[A/N: I wonder what Itto's reaction would be, if he knew who the fox really is?]
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