It was around five or six in the afternoon.
The sun was not so hot, but the leaves on the roadside were still wilted.
The dust on the ground was filled with heat.
In the path that I had to pass after school, an old man was sitting on the ground with some small objects in front of him. He looked very old and alone. There were not many people coming and going, but there were a few. But for some reason, no matter whether they were men or women, old people or children, they all turned a blind eye to him when they passed by.
The old man didn't care about these things, he just puffed on his pipe.
Suddenly,
a shadow fell on him.
Finally, there was a customer in front of his stall.
It was a monk, but there was no scar on his head. He wore a black monk's robe and wooden clogs. He looked at the old man in front of him with a smile, put his hands together and bowed slightly, saying in Japanese: "It's been a long time since we met, layman."
The old man stared at him with dim eyes, then retracted them and said:
"Why did the son of the Mogi family come here?"
The black monk sighed and replied:
"I didn't want to come here at first."
"But something happened to the Great Mountain Tsukimi God before. His daughter, the goddess of Mount Fuji, died. The Great Mountain Tsukimi God was very angry and summoned many mountain gods to pay homage to his shrine, but for some reason, they were Many of the mountain gods he had summoned were killed not long after. "
"Even some famous and historical shrines were slaughtered."
"Even the Yasukuni Shrine was burned by a mountain wind, and some of the military gods' souls enshrined there disappeared. They said it was just mismanagement, but in fact, I went to see it and it was deliberately destroyed. Many of the military gods' souls even had some of their hands and feet left, just thrown on the ground, almost like a demonstration and mockery."
"The shrine owner was found dead in the shrine, he died by disembowelment, his head was missing, the scene was bloody and horrible, to be honest, it was a bit disgusting."
"This is a big deal, so it alarmed the gods."
"Amaterasu Omikami predicted that the reason came from Shenzhou, so I took the opportunity to come here to find you."
The old man's eyes flickered, and he said slowly:
"Did Amaterasu Omikami fail to foresee why the killer took action in advance?"
The black-robed monk simply shook his head and said, "No, or there is no reason."
"No reason?"
The black-robed monk nodded, thought about it, stretched out his hand and casually picked a leaf, explaining: "It's like we stretch out our hands to pick leaves and flowers. This is very important to plants, but we don't care. I hate this plant and want to pick it. Its leaves? No, then am I doing this for profit? No. "
"I just picked it up casually, and I didn't think about it during this action."
"The person who did it is the same. He doesn't care about hatred or profit at all, nor does he weigh the pros and cons or come to a conclusion after careful consideration, so his killing is also extremely pure...even graceful, the kind of killing that does not require a reason, as if he would do it as long as he appears there. "
"This behavior is so natural that it does not need a reason. "
The old man couldn't help but say: "...Are there no survivors?"
"Yes, That is one of the reasons why I came to Shenzhou. "
The black monk said: "The only survivor is a six-year-old child with Shenzhou blood. He was separated from his parents and saw the murderer in the shrine, but she could not describe the man's appearance in detail. She just remembered that he seemed to help him take down the balloon that flew to the tree. "
The old man was silent for a long time and said: "So that's it."
He knocked his pipe on the stone slab and said:
"Shenzhou has indeed undergone a lot of changes during this period of time. You must be careful when you come here."
The black monk asked: "In fact, I don't understand why you have stayed here for decades?"
The old man's eyes were cloudy. He glanced at him and said lightly: "This is the only one of the four major divine systems in the Age of Gods that has been completely passed down. This land is full of treasures. The Buddhist sect found new possibilities here, and then invaded our hometown, giving Shintoism an opportunity."
"At that time, Buddhist temples had their own troops and were even more powerful and prestigious than ordinary daimyo."
"Now a new era has arrived. This is an opportunity, a great opportunity. We were born in this era, how can we let it go easily?"
The monk frowned and said: "But Shenzhou is too dangerous. Aren't you worried?"
The old man laughed and said: "It's dangerous. Shenzhou is indeed vast and has a profound foundation, but now is only the first stage of the spiritual energy recovery. It has only been a hundred years since the spiritual energy rose on a large scale. The number of true practitioners in this land is still limited. This may be the disadvantage of the land being too large."
"They can only maintain a general stability now, but it is a bit stretched to each city."
"I don't need to face the strongest practitioners in Shenzhou."
"I just need to be careful and don't let them find me."
"So I won't use our Sakurajima magic. I just find the artifacts buried in this land. Then disperse them and let the evil spirits breed on these objects, which will cause hidden "disasters". When the time comes, as long as the "disaster" is detonated, it will bring great trouble to Shenzhou. "
"That's what they said. A thousand-mile embankment is destroyed by an ant hole."
"Besides, I have the protection of the gods, so everything is safe."
The black-robed monk and the old man both looked at the exquisite geisha doll. The monk put one hand on his chest, bowed slightly, and said:
"Yes, with the protection of the gods, you will definitely be safe. The shrine is still waiting for you to go back and preside over it."
The old man did not answer.
He has been wandering in Shenzhou for more than fifty years and dared not think about leaving Shenzhou.
It's okay for him to hide these ancient artifacts and move quietly, but once he plans to transport these Shenzhou ancient artifacts, he will attract a direct search by the special operations team, and may even attract questioning by the Zhengyi Taoist monks who have been granted the Five Thunder Scrolls.
The old man changed the subject, looked at the gods, and said:
"There are eight million gods in our country, and we will surely be able to create glory in this era."
"All things are spirits. For ordinary people, they just deal with them with fabricated myths, but do you know why there are eight million gods in our country?"
The monk came from a famous family and knew a little about the truth hidden in history, but he didn't know much. He motioned the old man to tell him. The old man first respectfully worshipped the divinity entrusted to the doll, and then slowly began to tell him:
"This is the real myth and history."
"In the earliest times, there was no distinction between gods and spirits. All The gods were originally one, and their divinity gathered into a sacred tree that pierced the sky and the earth. The sacred tree was connected to Takama-ga-hara, and its roots went all the way to the underworld. It was extremely great, and all the gods were gestating and sleeping in this sacred tree, and they had never been to the earth. "
"Then one day, an extremely majestic eagle descended from a distant country."
"The gods in the sacred tree shouted loudly, commanding the eagle."
"They ordered the eagle to use its sharp claws to crack the roots of the sacred tree; ordered the eagle to tear open the tough bark, and ordered the eagle to break the towering branches. The sacred tree was too great, and the blood of the eagle was dripping. It fell down, but it was finally torn into cracks. "
"At this time, many gods worked together and finally emerged from the sacred tree, constantly pushing and running in all directions. The constantly emerging divinity fell on the country like light rain, falling on the bridge, falling on the trees, and falling on the wolf pack. Those who fell on the bridge turned into bridge girls, those who fell on the trees turned into wood spirits, and those who fell into the wolf pack turned into mountain gods. "
"The light rain lasted for three days and three nights, and eight million raindrops fell, so all things had spirituality and the foundation for becoming gods, and eight million gods were formed. "
"Wait until the end, because of this reason, I finally got freedom The gods danced with the eagle, but the eagle was reluctant to leave. So the gods used wisdom and bravery to finally make the eagle surrender. They ordered the eagle to leave quickly and never come back, otherwise they would kill it. "
The monk was thoughtful. He knew that the sacred tree in the legend should be the original divinity of the birth of the country. He asked curiously:
"Why didn't the eagle appear in mythology again?"
It was not the old man who answered, but the exquisite geisha doll and the divinity attached to it. The tone was ethereal and indifferent: "Because he died."
"Dead?"
"If you disobey the gods, you will naturally be punished by heaven. You died a long time ago."