The main hall of Nissho Temple was brightly lit. Dozens of ever-burning lamps and candles illuminated the solemn Buddhist hall until it was almost as bright as day. The gilded Buddha statues looked even more solemn and compassionate amid the flickering halos of light. Wisps of pale smoke coiled upward from the incense burner, turning into shifting cloud patterns in the shadows of the coffered ceiling. On either side, sutra banners stirred slightly in the draft crossing the hall, giving off faint rustling sounds.
Everyone sat there, discussing what Sagami Kengyo had done and how to handle matters from here.
"We have already investigated this incident clearly. This was negligence on the temple's part. Thanks to all of you, we have the chance to remove this stain, instead of remaining in the dark forever."
Faced with Monk Jogan's thanks, Keitaro Gentoga and Eiko Hozuki did not dare speak at all. It was not because this was all Xu Fu's achievement, but because the burly old man before them, built like a Nio guardian, put far too much pressure on them.
He carried authority without anger, as though he were a true Buddha or Vajra protector.
Monk Jogan folded his arms across his chest, and when he spoke, his voice was like the tolling of a great bell.
"I also understand your objective now. Because you discovered that there is a problem with the seal here, you want to undo the seal and completely destroy the suppressed malignant entity. Is that correct?"
"However, there is no need to go that far."
Monk Jogan changed tack and rejected Xu Fu's proposal.
All four of them froze at once.
"There is no need to take it that far. Although Nissho Temple's current seal is incomplete, it can still hold for some time. As long as we find a suitable monk to become a sokushinbutsu before the seal reaches its limit, nothing will happen."
"What is this! Why are you so stubborn~?" Xu Fu could not listen any longer and bared her teeth. "I already told you there's a problem with this sealing ritual. A problem. Why are you insisting on it? Every fifty years, you need an eminent monk to become a sokushinbutsu and suppress a vengeful spirit? Even the West has gotten with the times and started reforming, so why are there still people clinging to outdated dregs like this~? Human sacrifice was abolished where I'm from back in the Warring States period~!"
Monk Jogan simply took it as Xu Fu being unable to bear the cruelty of creating a sokushinbutsu, and his impression of her improved slightly. However, his words remained merciless as he explained.
"This is the most reliable method. Forcefully undoing the seal carries too great a risk. That thing is a terrifying calamity our ancestors could barely handle even after staking their lives. No one can be certain what consequences releasing it would bring. We might lose, or we might win only after paying an enormous price. We cannot gamble on that."
Yayoi Hozuki suddenly cut in expressionlessly, "Grandpa, are you scared?"
"Little girl, a provocation of that level will not work on me," Monk Jogan said, his tone as still as an old well.
"Yes, I am afraid. I am afraid that my actions may cause horrifying consequences that cannot be undone. Compared to countless lives being plunged into misery, the price of sacrificing one eminent monk as a sokushinbutsu every fifty years is already light enough. This is the mission our ancestors entrusted to those who came after them."
Monk Jogan believed from the bottom of his heart that this was the most reliable method.
"We never counted on your strength in the first place," Yayoi Hozuki said, refusing to back down. "The malignant entity that breaks free can be handled by the few of us. You only need to support us from the side."
"Such a young child, yet such a bold tone. Where does your confidence come from? The spirit in your arms?" Monk Jogan looked deeply at the doll in Yayoi Hozuki's arms, his eyes narrowing slightly. "That thing is indeed dangerous. I do not know where you found it or what means you used to subdue it, but... it is still not enough."
"That's fine. Even if this child isn't enough, we still have Xu Fu."
"Xu Fu?"
Upon hearing that name, Monk Jogan naturally first thought of the fangshi who had crossed east from China to Japan in history—the Xu Fu who, in Japan, bore titles such as god of agriculture, god of sericulture, and god of medicine. Yet just as surprise appeared on his face, he saw Xu Fu raise her hand high.
"Hi~ hi~! Everyone, eyes on me~! I'm the cutest Xu Fu-chan in the whole world~!"
"..."
"What's with those looks~? Why does it seem like you don't really believe me~?"
Faced with all those strange gazes, Xu Fu shook her hand in dissatisfaction, as if she had suffered some great injustice.
A childlike temperament, an unserious tone—there were simply too many reasons not to trust her. Or rather, they could not find a single reliable thing about her at all. In Monk Jogan and the others' eyes, Xu Fu had probably already been labeled "unreliable."
"Fine, fine~ Looks like Xu Fu can't keep slacking off this time. I'll get serious for once, since it's been so long~ Remember to bring eye drops. If you get scared stupid later and stare too wide, your eyes will dry out very easily~!"
Xu Fu stood, smiled, and waved at Monk Jogan and the others.
"I'll head to the seal first~! See you in a bit~!"
"Wai—!"
Monk Jogan only managed to utter one word before Xu Fu vanished from before them.
At that, the monks completely lost their composure.
"Move! We absolutely cannot let her damage the seal! Zenjin, Kakucho, go to the rear hall! Saijo! You come with me to the abandoned house!"
The abandoned house Monk Jogan referred to was an empty private residence near Nissho Temple that had been uninhabited for years. In truth, the main body of the seal lay beneath that house, where there was a hidden staircase leading underground.
Monk Jogan, Monk Saijo, and several Nissho Temple monks aside from Sagami Kengyo rushed there as quickly as they could. Yayoi Hozuki, Keitaro Gentoga, and Eiko Hozuki were with them as well.
Because they were companions who had come with Xu Fu, Monk Jogan did not dare let the three of them get too far from him. Keitaro Gentoga and Eiko Hozuki felt like crying but had no tears. They had clearly been having a proper conversation at first, so how had things developed into this all of a sudden? Today's Xu Fu-chan seemed even more willful and impulsive than usual.
"You finally came. I waited so long the flowers withered~."
Sure enough, Xu Fu was there. Yayoi Hozuki and the other two had only found this place because Monk Jogan led the way, but Xu Fu seemed to have known where it was from the start.
Behind Xu Fu was the main body of the seal.
It was a wooden prison. Inside the cage sat a sokushinbutsu bound with rope, and talismans had been pasted all over the rope. In the sokushinbutsu's arms was a box, its surface likewise covered in talismans.
"Save me..."
A pleading voice came from inside that sokushinbutsu.
Sagami Kengyo's wife, who had become a sokushinbutsu in his place, had her soul trapped inside this body and could not reincarnate. Ten years of loneliness and despair had left her instinctively begging the outside world for help.
Even Eiko Hozuki, an ordinary person who could neither see nor sense supernatural phenomena, could hear her plea.
"You should all be able to hear that, right? The innocent soul inside is asking us for help."
"We are grieved that such a thing happened as well. But in battle against a vengeful spirit, sacrifices are inevitable. All the more when the opponent is a terrifying malignant entity that even our ancestors could only seal after giving their lives." Monk Saijo looked straight at Xu Fu with an ugly expression and said in a low voice, "If we allow you to recklessly undo the seal, the casualties will only be worse."
"That's exactly why I have to undo this seal here." Xu Fu met his gaze without backing down. "No one can guarantee that a situation like that old monk's won't happen again. This seal will be undone one day sooner or later. And when that time comes, there won't just happen to be an outstanding Taoist like me nearby... Or rather, there won't be another spiritualist in this world as outstanding as me~!"
Anyone who heard those words would probably think the speaker was arrogant and conceited.
Seeing that words could not make Xu Fu change her mind, several monks immediately threw out golden ropes covered in talismans, intending to bind her movements first.
The spiritual golden ropes moved like spirit snakes, rushing nimbly toward Xu Fu under the monks' control. Then, beside Xu Fu, they came to a strangely abrupt stop.
Xu Fu was clearly standing right there, yet she seemed to be at the far end of the world. That tiny distance appeared to have been stretched countless times over. At first glance, she was within arm's reach, but in truth, she was far beyond the horizon.
"What...?!"
The monks who had acted all paled in shock. None of them could understand what Xu Fu had done.
Monk Jogan had not acted just now because Xu Fu was standing too close to the seal. He was worried that if he made a move, he would affect the already incomplete seal. And now, even if he wanted to act, it was already too late.
Xu Fu merely flicked her hand casually, and the wooden prison directly shattered into a pile of splinters. The curses meant to protect the seal and deal with intruders were also pinched out by Xu Fu with a wave of her hand. The entire process looked effortless and carefree.
"Now then~! The good part is about to begin~!"
With slightly exaggerated gestures, Xu Fu turned to face Monk Jogan and the others, smiling like a performer about to step onstage.
"Sorry, Yayoi-chan~! This time, it's Xu Fu-chan's solo performance. But Xu Fu-chan has prepared the be~~st audience seats for everyone!"
As she said those strange words, Xu Fu formed a hand seal.
Everyone felt the scenery before their eyes switch rapidly. When they came back to themselves, they were all astonished to discover that they were standing on National Route 1.
One second, they had been in the underground space where the seal was located. The next, they were on National Route 1. Xu Fu had shocked them senseless with just a simple display.
"Don't be surprised too soon. It's just the Earth Travel Art from Immortal Arts. Have you read Investiture of the Gods? It's the one Tu Xingsun and Zhang Kui use."
The voice suddenly sounded from extremely close by. Xu Fu's figure had silently appeared behind everyone.
"The numbers aren't quite right..." Xu Fu's gaze swept over the people present, and she muttered to herself, "Are some of them still left in the temple? Honestly. If they leave Xu Fu-chan's line of sight, then I won't be able to protect them, will I?"
Xu Fu formed another hand seal and disappeared from everyone's sight again. This time, however, she was gone for less than two seconds before returning. And she did not return alone; several more figures had appeared behind her.
They were Monk Zenjin, Monk Kakucho, and the remaining Nissho Temple monks whom Monk Jogan had previously sent to the rear hall.
However, Sagami Kengyo was not there.
"The person most likely to be targeted isn't here?" Xu Fu murmured to herself.
Nissho Temple's records described that bizarre evil thing, and the village it had annihilated in a single night.
In an age so distant that no accurate records remained, a "thing" of unknown origin attacked the villagers here.
It whispered something beside their ears, and then those villagers became extremely strange.
They lost the ability to speak, lost the ability to think, lost their reason.
Obeying their lust, they violated women. Obeying their appetite, they devoured livestock.
Chaos engulfed everyone, as though a painting of hell had come to life.
After a brief span of wailing and screams, the villagers' bodies began shrinking into the forms of tiny people.
Before long, those villagers returned to the side of that "thing" of unknown origin and became just like it.
In the end, everyone in the village disappeared, leaving behind only an ominous and sacred "beast."
This "beast" seemed extremely sensitive to humanity's evil desires. The abbot of Nissho Temple, Sagami Kengyo, was both greedy for life and afraid of death, and also loved money. On top of that, he was a suitable candidate to become a sokushinbutsu. After being suppressed for so long, once the "beast" broke free, who else would it seek out if not him? Yet the person most likely to be in danger had actually gone off on his own at this critical moment. Wasn't that just increasing Xu Fu's workload?
Where had Sagami Kengyo gone? As it turned out, although Monk Jogan had told him to head to the rear hall with Monk Zenjin and Monk Kakucho, he had secretly slipped away midway. He returned to his room, hurriedly packed up all kinds of valuables along with the compensation money he had embezzled over the years, and fled directly.
He knew his senior brother Monk Jogan's personality. He had made such a serious mistake, and the only reason the other man had not dealt with him yet was because Xu Fu and the seal had left him overwhelmed. Once the incident ended, Jogan would have the time to come settle accounts with him.
Moreover, he knew better than anyone that if the suppressed vengeful spirit truly broke free of the seal, he would likely be the first person it targeted. That was why he planned to take all his important belongings and flee overnight before it could target him. Monk Jogan's group would be busy fighting the evil spirit, and neither side would have time to care about him. Wasn't this the perfect chance to escape?
Sagami Kengyo, who was running for his life, suddenly felt the world spin. Then he fell flat on his face, hard enough to eat dirt. Xu Fu's voice came from above.
"For the sake of your own life, don't move."
Xu Fu's words immediately robbed Sagami Kengyo of all courage, and he dropped into a perfectly standard dogeza.
"I... I won't run! I don't want the money either! I know I was wrong! Please don't kill me!"
"Mm-hmm~! You seem to have misunderstood something." Xu Fu smiled. "I'm not here to kill you. Quite the opposite. I'm here to save you~! Remember to be properly grateful once you're saved~!"
"Save me? Ngh...!"
"Ah, it's starting, it's starting. The timing is perfect. Better to arrive at the right moment than to arrive early, after all~!"
Sagami Kengyo suddenly collapsed to the ground without warning. His body began convulsing uncontrollably, his eyes rolled back, and his mouth hung half-open unconsciously as drool spilled from the corner of his lips.
A black vortex appeared before his eyes. At first, it only pulled in the scenery his eyes could capture. Then his memories, his consciousness, and everything he possessed as "Sagami Kengyo" were swept into that vortex, as though he was about to cease being "Sagami Kengyo" and become some other kind of thing.
"Though this old monk was fated to suffer this tribulation, well since I'm watching right here, if he dies in front of me, Master might question cute little Xu Fu-chan's abilities~"
Xu Fu formed a hand seal with one hand, and gilded Taoist patterns emerged in the void, surrounding the convulsing, white-eyed Sagami Kengyo layer by layer.