"This river is called the River of Memories," Mimi said, introducing the river to Shinji after they had reconciled.
"River of Memories?"
Shinji looked at the endlessly flowing river beneath his feet, stretching as far as the eye could see. This completely defied all laws, but then again, this place itself was floating above a sea of clouds in the sky. Worrying about whether its existence was logical was just asking for trouble.
Mimi stated the content of the second trial, "Yes, drink this river water, face your most painful memories, and accept them. If you do, you succeed."
"Conversely, those who break down turn into stone statues, forever drowning in the river."
"So I advise you, think carefully before you try."
Seeing the pale expression on Shinji's face, Mimi sighed inwardly, realizing he was still just an ordinary person.
Shinji asked, his expression conflicted and a little disbelieving, "You want me to drink this water?"
Mimi explained calmly, "Yes, that's the content of the second trial. You can also give up, after all, you only have one life."
Shinji repeated, his expression still incredulous, "Didn't you say that those who break down turn into stone statues, forever drowning in the river?"
"Ah, yes." Mimi nodded, looking very puzzled.
"Doesn't that mean this river is full of the corpses of those people from before?!" Shinji was so angry he wanted to slap Mimi.
This guy actually wanted him to drink corpse water!
"…"
Mimi looked at Shinji, who was on the verge of breaking down, speechless for a long time before saying, "Don't you think the first trial was too easy?"
"Wasn't it?" Shinji tilted his head.
"This is the ancestral land of my lineage! Do you think it's a park?! Come and go as you please?" Mimi instantly snarled, baring his teeth.
Shinji then pointed to the river and asked, "Oh, so it means I'm the first person to face the second trial so far?"
"That's right." Mimi closed his eyes and nodded, calming himself.
Gulp—
The sound of drinking water rang out, and Mimi, who had been closing his eyes, looked over in confusion. He saw Shinji hunched over by the river, drinking greedily.
"You idiot! Can't you think it through before drinking?!"
Mimi felt that Shinji was his nemesis, second only to Reiko. He had lost his composure several times during this period.
"Burp—"
Shinji stood up, wiped his mouth, and let out a satisfied burp. The river water tasted quite sweet.
"Why say that? I came here to learn Sage Mode. How could I not have thought this through?" Shinji disregarded Mimi's attempts to stop him.
It wasn't that he was careless about the trial, but rather that this was something he absolutely had to do. There was no reason for him to back down because of it.
Mimi was puzzled as to why Shinji was so insistent on learning Sage Mode.
After waiting for a while, he asked in confusion, "You… don't feel anything?"
Shinji stroked his chin, carefully sensed, then shook his head and said, "No."
Mimi looked at the river in confusion.
Why did Shinji feel nothing?
Shinji asked tentatively, "How about I drink another sip?"
"…"
Mimi was speechless upon hearing this. He stood up on all fours and swayed unsteadily in the direction they had come from.
"Let's go. I guess you must be immune to it."
"Your physique is very unique, not inferior to the physical bodies of great yokai."
"I'm talking about the energy present in your body, compared to the nature of spiritual power."
Shinji raised his eyebrows and glanced at the system panel. Mimi was probably referring to the Yang Chakra body.
He had been cleansing his body for more than half a year. Coupled with the progress the system had added when his disciples got stronger, it could be said that his Yang Chakra body was now more than fifty percent complete.
"The conflicting nature of equally powerful forces—this should be why the River of Memories' water is ineffective on you." Mimi said as he walked forward.
Shinji nodded.
Since he had already passed, there was no need to worry about it so much.
"Now, what are we going to do?" Shinji asked, coming to Mimi's side.
"The last step is up to me." Mimi looked up at Shinji and said slowly.
"You?" Shinji asked in confusion.
Mimi didn't respond, leading Shinji back to the Muku Shrine. With a push of his four paws, Mimi jumped onto a stone platform.
The shrine immediately glowed, and the next moment, a small soul bell appeared above Mimi.
Mimi turned to Shinji and said, "The soul bell. As long as it acknowledges you, you can learn Sage Mode."
Shinji took a few steps forward, extended his hand, and slowly touched it.
Ding-a-ling—
A crisp sound rang out, and the soul bell slowly dropped into Shinji's hand.
Just as Shinji was about to ask Mimi what to do next, the soul bell instantly transformed into a stream of light and shot towards his forehead.
Buzz—
Shinji felt a cool sensation on his forehead, and then he sensed fluctuations around him that were different from Chakra. Two forces entangled together, slowly entering his body.
"This is…"
"This is natural energy and the spiritual power of yokai. You can try to absorb it yourself."
"Once you reach your current saturation, you'll be able to use this symbiotic technique, what you call Sage Mode."
"And this form is called Oborozuki." Mimi scratched his neck while answering Shinji's questions.
Upon hearing Mimi's words, Shinji immediately sat cross-legged and began to absorb.
Mimi squatted beside Shinji, watching him in the center of the circle. He murmured, "Genius."
Mimi, who had information of this symbiotic technique, naturally knew how much talent was required to reach this stage. However, for Shinji, these energies seemed to merge with him with just a touch.
If this talent were to be converted into the aptitude of the Yokai race, that would be a Yokai born with a divine spark, directly stepping into the realm of Gods.
"Is this world really so abnormal? Can a single person's talent contend with a daiyōkai like this?" Mimi was very skeptical.
As a daiyōkai closest to the realm of gods, he felt that his own talent was nothing compared to Shinji. He was even starting to lose confidence.
"Hmm? Almost saturated?" Mimi sensed something and looked up in Shinji's direction.
"This feeling… is this Sage Mode?" Shinji stopped absorbing and said slowly.
As his voice fell, Shinji slowly opened his eyes, his irises showing cat-like patterns. Red demonic markings appeared at the corners of his eyes, his hair turned white, and the ends elongated slightly and became fluffy, transforming into a state similar to Mimi's true form after transformation, like a tail.
"Sage Mode, it feels unexpectedly easy?"