Late at night, inside the Atlantis Hotel.
In the Maybach GLS600, Great Tengu gripped the steering wheel and turned to report, "Lord Youjing, Xue Ji and the others have arrived safely in Kyoto. Liuli Shrine Maiden has been taken back by Madam Gūji and is under house arrest at the Yugong Tower."
"Um."
Yugong Youjing wiped his bamboo sword with a tissue, not even lifting his eyelids. "Tell Xue Ji to strengthen security at the building, raise the surveillance level to the highest level, S, and strictly prohibit anyone from approaching the top floor where Liuli is being held!"
"OK."
After a while, Great Tengu put down his phone and asked, puzzled, "Lord Youjing, the mission to bring back the Liuli Shrine Maiden is complete. Why aren't we going to Kyoto with Xue Ji and the others?"
I'm going to see an old friend.
Yugong Youjing opened the car door. "Wait for me in the car."
"Clear."
Watching Yugong Youjing's departing figure, Great Tengu asked with a look of surprise, "Lord Youjing has old friends in Huaxia?"
"It was due to negligence."
Yugong Youjing, carrying a bamboo sword, gazed at the western beach. "I only agreed on a meeting place with His Majesty the Imperial Emperor, but he didn't specify what to wear. Which one is His Majesty the Imperial Emperor?"
Although it was already 11 p. m., there were still quite a few tourists on the beach, so the only option was to use the most basic method: asking each male tourist individually.
Excuse me, are you the Imperial Emperor?
" Imperial Emperor? I don't know!"
Excuse me, are you the Imperial Emperor?
"Go away, can't you see I'm flirting with a girl!"
Excuse me, are you the Imperial Emperor?
" Imperial Emperor? What's that?"
After asking around the area, Yugong Youjing found that not a single male tourist on the west side of the beach was Imperial Emperor.
"We've finished asking around the west beach; now it's just the east beach."
Yugong Youjing glanced at the time; it was 11:30 PM, only 30 minutes until his appointment with the Imperial Emperor. A sense of urgency rose within him. "I need to hurry; being late isn't a swordsman's style!"
"Hello, are you Shura?"
"I don't know! I don't know!"
"Hello, are you Shura?"
"Holy crap! Dude, you're kind of handsome."
"Hello, are you Shura?"
"What do you think, bro?"
Su Hang sighed softly. He had arranged a time and place to meet with Shura, but he had forgotten the most crucial detail: appearance. He could only search for a needle in a haystack, asking each male tourist on the beach one by one.
"The east side of the beach has been searched thoroughly, so only the west side remains."
Su Hang lifted his foot and headed towards the west side of the beach.
A figure in a red sword-wielding robe crashed straight into them. "I'm so sorry, sir, I was thinking about something and didn't notice. I apologize profusely."
The figure in red, carrying a sword, bowed slightly.
"It doesn't matter."
Su Hang waved his hand, brushed past the figure in red robes and sword, and went to the west side of the beach to start a new round of searching for someone. Little did he know that after asking all the male tourists on the beach, not a single one of them was Shura.
The clock struck midnight.
Su Hang frowned and said, "Could it be that Shura is—"
"Woman?"
On the eastern beach, after a fruitless search, Yugong Youjing suddenly realized, "If Her Majesty the Imperial Emperor is a woman, then everything makes sense."
"It's time to meet. There are more female tourists on the west beach, let's go there first!"
Yugong Youjing's pace quickened.
He ended up running, and accidentally bumped into the golden figure in front of him on the shoulder. "This feels like the person I bumped into on the shoulder last time, but there's no time to apologize, finding His Imperial Emperor is more important."
"Excuse me, I have an urgent matter to attend to."
Upon arriving at the western beach, Yugong Youjing immediately began asking female tourists, "Excuse me, are you the Imperial Emperor?"
Ask any of the female tourists on the west side of the beach, and not a single one of them is Imperial Emperor.
You're half an hour late.
Yugong Youjing's eyes showed despair. As a master of swordsmanship, upholding integrity was one of the principles he had to adhere to. But right now, in every sense of the word, he had broken his promise to the Imperial Emperor and stood him up.
"Perhaps Her Imperial Emperor is still waiting for me on the east beach; she must be among the female tourists on the east beach."
"While the probability of Shura being a woman is very small, it's not impossible. Given her dark and evil nature, she would likely stay in a less crowded area. Searching the eastern beach first is the right approach, but we haven't found her."
Su Hang frowned deeply. "We can't do it on the west beach where female tourists make up a large proportion, can we? But we're already half an hour overtime; Shura might have already left."
"Fine, let's try anything, even if it's a long shot."
Su Hang set off for the western beach.
Just as I reached the middle of the beach, a familiar figure in red robes and a sword appeared in front of me.
"The same spot, hit three times by the same person!"
Even the usually good-tempered Su Hang was getting annoyed. "Hey buddy, are you in such a hurry to be reincarnated? Can't you watch where you're going?"
To everyone's surprise, this time, the figure in red robes and sword didn't even apologize, and simply flew away.
"This guy is infuriating!"
Su Hang took a deep breath to calm himself down. His top priority was to find Shura, as there were still many old stories he needed to ask him.
"Hello ma'am, are you Shura?"
Upon arriving at the western beach, Su Hang quickly launched a new round of questioning, but as with the previous three times, not a single female tourist was identified as Shura.
"It seems Shura has left."
Su Hang checked the time; it was 1 a. m., more than an hour past the agreed meeting time with Shura.
Male and female tourists on both the east and west sides of the beach left in twos and threes.
Soon, the beach was deserted.
"I was already mentally prepared to be toyed with by Shura, but I'm still a little annoyed that I can't actually see him. After all, the one-on-one duel with ten wins on the field hasn't been decided yet."
Su Hang put his hands in his pockets and walked towards the beach on the east side.
Whether intentional or unintentional, the fact remains that His Imperial Emperor stood me up. He already disliked me, and now his feelings for me have turned completely negative!
Dejected, Yugong Youjing slung his sword over his shoulder and walked toward the western beach.
The golden figure and the red-clad, sword-wielding figure brushed past each other.
The two gradually drifted apart.
Sudden!
The golden figure and the figure in red robes and swords stopped in their tracks.
"Speaking of which, this man who bumped into my shoulder three times, acting all flustered, seemed to be looking for someone important on the beach," Su Hang's pupils contracted, "Could it be... that he's Shura?"
"I did ask every tourist on the beach, but I didn't ask the man who bumped into me three times." Yugong Youjing dilated in shock. "Masaka... is he His Majesty the Imperial Emperor?"
On the silent beach, two hearts pounded wildly.
The golden figure turned around, looked at the dark figure to the west, and called out, "Hey, brother, haven't we met somewhere before?"
The figure in red robes turned around, looked at the dark figure to the east, and shouted, suppressing his excitement, "Sir, it's me too."
The golden figure and the red-clad, sword-wielding figure walked towards each other.
Emerging from the darkness, they all exclaimed in unison, "Your name is—"