While Jiang Xiao had transformed into Jiang Ghost Wolf and joined Wu HaoYang in tricking the wolf pack, at the same time, on Iyo Island in Neon, it was early April—the season when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.
In the gradually sinking twilight, three masked figures stood silently in the middle of an abandoned ancient city, gazing from afar at the strange phenomenon in the distance.
Twenty meters away stood a gigantic cherry tree. Amid the devastation and ruins of broken walls, it looked incredibly out of place.
Beneath that towering cherry tree, a tall yet slightly slender woman was singing and dancing.
Standing over three meters tall, she was definitely not human, but she could still be called a woman.
Her appearance, facial features, limbs, and even the white clothes she wore and the "Fly Whisk" in her hand were all indistinguishable from human objects.
She was a star beast unique to Neon—the "Shrine Maiden." Her name was straightforward enough. However, unlike the thin and small Shrine Maidens of the Lower Dimension, the Shrine Maiden before them from the Other Earth had an astonishing aura.
Jiang Xiao (Cui Keli) licked his lips. From behind the stone Ringed Mask, his eyes quietly watched the Shrine Maiden dance beneath the cherry tree.
Beside the Shrine Maiden was a round ball pieced together from cherry blossoms, slowly circling around her.
Calling it "singing and dancing" was no exaggeration. At that moment, the Shrine Maiden held a Gohei in her hand, the string of white cherry blossoms attached to its long wooden staff swaying back and forth.
She murmured something under her breath in a clear, ethereal voice, speaking words humans could not understand.
Translated, it might have been something like, "Goat kicks the jade rabbit; may the household remain peaceful."