Chapter 16: The Result in the Crystal Ball

"Does this woman know how to use Bukujutsu too?" Tsuru watched the seer float ahead of them, guiding them through the village, while thinking to himself.

"I don't know anything about this Bukujutsu thing, kid who came with my little brother."

Tsuru suddenly stopped, surprised, and his expression grew serious. He was sure the seer had slightly turned her face toward him, wearing a smile full of malice.

"Can you hear what I'm thinking?!" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Just a guess." the seer replied casually, continuing to float ahead.

"Damn..." Tsuru muttered under his breath.

"The kid who came with Taro... Can i hear his thoughts? Hah! His mind is so loud and disorganized, it's like he's shouting right next to me. As for Taro... impressive. His mind is as calm and closed as a solid stone. Even I can't penetrate his thoughts. Funny, I used to think he was distracted and full of daydreams. I even asked our master to guide him to the Water of Eternal Life... in the end, the one who benefited was this annoying brat who's with him now."

The seer continued to float, leading the two while reflecting.

Years ago, Taro and Tsuru, while training on Mount Mutaito, had accidentally drunk from the Water of Eternal Life, a mystical liquid from the underworld. Those who consumed it gained a peculiar aura, one perceptible only to individuals with supernatural abilities like hers. From the moment she encountered Tsuru, she recognized the mark left by the water.

Soon, they arrived at the seer's house. It was a rustic mud structure with thick walls and small windows.

"You want me to read the future? No problem. But, Taro... why do you seem so different from the little brother I knew?" she said, floating and turning to face him. Her pale purple eyes fixed intensely on every reaction from Taro.

"That's natural, isn't it? You two were separated for over twenty years!" Tsuru interrupted with an impatient gesture. "Let's get on with it. We still need to get rid of this thing."

"Insolent brat... do you want me to send you to hell for a bath in the Waters of the Underworld?" The seer responded, narrowing her eyes. For a moment, both her eyes and her crystal ball glowed with a sinister light.

Tsuru felt an overwhelming pressure on his mind and took a step back.

"Tsuru, calm down." Taro stepped between the two, smiling but alert. "This woman is definitely not ordinary." He then said. "As Tsuru said, people change. Sister, you're not much different from twenty-five years ago, are you?"

Unlike Mutaito, whom Taro deeply respected and even felt obligated to maintain certain appearances with, he saw no need to fabricate lies or elaborate stories for his sister. After all, their bond had been fragile since childhood.

Luckily for him, the seer didn't press the issue. It seemed more like passing curiosity than a real question.

"Speaking of which... what about that priestess who took you away? She was your master, wasn't she?" Taro asked, looking around the small room. There wasn't even a bed. "Does this woman float all the time?" He thought.

"That old woman..." the seer replied with a disdainful sigh. "After teaching me everything she knew, she went off to Paradise with that other retired old man who lived up there in the sky..."

"Retired old man? Paradise? Could it be... the former Kami of Earth? Did he go to Paradise with the seer's master?" Taro thought, surprised.

Without saying anything else, the seer extended her hand, and her crystal ball floated toward her.

She positioned her hands slightly above the crystal ball and asked:

"So, what do you wish to discover?"

Taro placed the package he had been carrying on the floor with a thud, untying the bindings and revealing the object inside: a rice cooker.

"It's about this. Please, sister, see where would be the best place on Earth to keep it."

The seer cast a disinterested glance at the rice cooker and said:

"And what if I point to a place you can't reach?"

"There's no place on Earth we can't get to?" Tsuru retorted, frowning.

"Boy, with that attitude, I almost feel like showing you the direct path to the Underworld." The seer smiled coldly, closed her eyes, and placed her hands over the crystal ball. It began to emit an intense glow.

Tsuru merely scoffed, holding back his anger. He kept his eyes fixed on the crystal ball, which was glowing brighter and brighter.

Taro, on the other hand, furrowed his brows as he noticed that, despite the increasing glow, the ball remained empty, without forming any images.

The seer withdrew her hands, slightly arching her thin violet eyebrows, surprised, and looked thoughtfully at the still-glowing ball.

"Hey, do you know what you're doing or not?" Tsuru exploded, impatient.

"Is there a problem?" Taro, without changing his expression, felt something was off and decided to ask.

Without responding, the seer repositioned her hands over the ball. The glow intensified again, and this time, images began to appear.

But...

"What is this?" Tsuru asked, dissatisfied, pointing at the ball.

"It looks like a slideshow..." Taro thought, observing the images change slowly.

"Hmm..." The seer touched the ball, which immediately paused the images. She glanced at the rice cooker on the ground and explained indifferently:

"In words... in 300 years, this object will inevitably be opened, no matter where you hide it."

"What?! What does that mean?!" Tsuru didn't hide his irritation at the vague answer.

"The inevitable course of things..." Taro thought, pondering. He soon shook his head and dismissed the thought.

He then asked:

"In these 300 years, are these the most suitable places to store the object, correct?"

Taro pointed at the flickering images inside the crystal ball.

"Hmm..." The seer cast a glance at Taro and nodded. "Exactly. Let me see..."

She touched the ball, which paused on a specific image: a cave deep in a mountainous forest.

"Here. In this place, nothing unexpected will happen over the next 300 years. And, from what I see, you can pass by there on your way back."

"Understood. Then it will be here." Taro agreed.

"What the hell is this?! Are you telling me that, in 300 years, the Great Demon King will definitely escape from there?!" Tsuru asked, pointing at the rice cooker and alternating his gaze between Taro and the seer.

"Come on, Tsuru. 300 years... that's such a distant time, no one knows what the world will be like then. Even if he escapes, he won't be able to do whatever he wants." Taro gave Tsuru a pat on the shoulder and picked up the rice cooker from the ground.

Still skeptical, Tsuru left the house, followed by Taro.

Before leaving, Taro stopped at the door, looked back, and said:

"Actually, there's one more thing I'd like you to see."

"Hmm?" The seer raised her eyes to him.

---

The seer remained floating in front of her house, leaning on the crystal ball, watching Taro and Tsuru disappear into the sky. With her violet hair fluttering in the wind, she murmured thoughtfully:

"The locations of the seven orbs that can grant wishes... so that's what he wants to know... Taro, you sly boy..."

Shaking her head, she entered the house.

Objects that are beyond the comprehension of a master of magic, like the "Seven Dragon Balls," remain inaccessible to visions. They were beyond her understanding.