In the back hills of St. Freya, within Yae Shrine.
Xu Yanwu sat in the shrine courtyard, cradling tea as he slowly rocked in a lounge chair, watching the cherry blossoms above him drift gently down. Thanks to Xu Yanwu's power, they bloomed year-round and never faded.
The Valkyries only ever admired how beautifully the cherry blossoms fell within Yae Shrine. Heaven knew how much time Yae Sakura and Yae Rin spent sweeping up the fallen petals every day.
Fortunately, Xu Yanwu could still trick—no, hire some Valkyrie trainees for part-time work. Otherwise, the cherry blossom petals in this courtyard would be at least half a person's height by now.
Today's tea tasted wonderful.
Xu Yanwu took a sip from his cup and sighed contentedly. Then, suddenly, his right eyelid began twitching.
"Hm?" Xu Yanwu covered his right eye and rubbed it, but the muscles around it continued to twitch.
What was going on?
Xu Yanwu frowned.
A twitching left eye brought wealth, a twitching right eye brought disaster... Screw that superstitious nonsense.
Xu Yanwu rubbed his eye again, and this time, his right eyelid finally stopped twitching.
Strange. My eyes usually don't twitch.
Xu Yanwu thought carefully and suddenly realized something.
His left eyelid seemed never to have twitched before.
Damn it, this was all feudal superstition. I am a vibrant, sunny young man of the new era. I absolutely will not believe in such feudal superstition!
Mr. Xu Yanwu, the head priest of Yae Shrine who also served as its Divine Lord and bore such mythological forms as Yinglong and Xingtian, looked up at the sky and declared, "We must believe in science!"
Still, despite saying that, Xu Yanwu somehow retained an uneasy premonition in his heart.
What exactly was it because of?
Xu Yanwu muttered to himself.