This Japanese Story Is Not Too Cold

What exactly does Shifang Kaguya want to express? Why does she, as the daughter of the head of the Shifang family, want to convey a message to an outsider like Kitagawaji...?

The only thing Kitagawa Temple can be sure of now is that the news that Shifang Kaguya wants to convey must be news that threatens her. Otherwise, she would not be able to tell herself what her family is hiding.

But what exactly is it?

Could it be that there is a huge threat to the Sifang Altar? Or does Shifang Kaguya herself have to be sacrificed in order to restart the Shifang Altar?

If you think about it carefully, there are too many doubts in it.

If we really want to go in the direction of conspiracy theories, maybe even Kitagawaji, Haneda, and Onodera have been classified as living sacrifices.

To be honest, if mind reading hadn't required too many skill points, Kitagawa Temple would definitely have illuminated this practical skill.

But no matter what, this trip to the Sifang Family Shrine will definitely be risky.

With these questions in mind, Kitagawaji took a vehicle with Kaguya Shigata beside him and headed towards the Tozawa Mountain area in Tenkawa Village, Nara Prefecture.

...

When it comes to what Nara Prefecture is most famous for, anyone with common sense will tell you an easy-to-understand answer.

That is the ‘deer’.

In Nara, deer are famous as messengers of the gods. There are many legends and anecdotes about them, but to save space, there is no need to go into details here.

It took Beichuan Temple and the others almost seven hours of driving before they settled in a B\u0026B near Tianchuan Village.

The Sifang family booked a room and ordered food.

As the daughter of the head of the Sifang family, Sifang Kaguya also said apologetically at the dinner table:

"Since the Sifang family is hidden in the mountains, cars cannot go to that place...so from now on, we have to walk to our destination. Everyone, I'm really sorry."

Master Haneda took a sip of tea and asked, "I wonder how far we are from our destination?"

"In terms of time, we can reach the ruins of the family shrine in about an hour. We should be able to arrive before the time of encounter."

Shifang Kaguya replied.

The reason why they choose to go to their family shrine at dusk when they encounter demons is because when they encounter demons, the distance between the real world and the hidden world is the closest. In other words, at dusk, this world is closest to that world.

Using the Moonlight Mirror at that time can also save some of the good thoughts and save them for emergencies.

After a simple meal, everyone naturally set off.

Master Haneda and Master Onodera counted their props, packed them in small cloth bags, and tied them around their bodies.

Beichuan Temple, on the other hand, looked thoughtfully at the vast mountains and rivers in front of him.

Tozawa Mountain area cannot be compared with the prosperity of Tokyo.

The sea of ​​green trees overlaps.

From Beichuan Temple, there is no way to go deep into the mountains.

Everything has been blocked by the diffuse sea of ​​trees. The deep sea of ​​trees stretches silently in front of you, making people feel an inexplicable chill in their hearts just by looking at it.

"Let's go." Sifang Kaguya gave the order.

Under her guidance, the bodyguards and drivers who had been considered useless by Master Haneda and others stood up.

These bodyguards and drivers walked silently in front to explore the way for Beichuan Temple and the others.

After all, the mountain road is steep, and some places look like solid ground, but if you step on it, you will fall into the Naraku Abyss, so they are needed here.

What Beichuan Temple didn't expect was that these bodyguards and drivers responded with a degree of restraint, as if they were very familiar with the situation in the area.

"These people are all members of the Sifang family. They were specially sent by the family to protect me. Although they are not as powerful as your kindness, they are also able helpers of the Sifang family. They can still do things like looking at spiritual bodies. Arrived."

Sifang Kaguya explained in a low voice that the Yuehui Mirror she had been holding in both hands was now hung on her chest, which was also helpful for movement.

Everyone continued to move forward.

As they walked, Shifang Kaguya did not forget to educate them about the current situation of the Shifang Family Shrine.

"This time your main task is to restart the Sifang Altar. But before restarting the Sifang Altar, there is one more thing that must be completed."

"I have said before that the Shifang family closed the Shifang shrine before leaving Tozawa Mountain, and used the last moonlight that escaped to form a barrier to completely isolate the Shifang family shrine from the real world. Therefore, the four altars of Shuo, Shangxian, Wang and Xiaxian have actually sunk to the ground."

Sifang Kaguya further explained:

"The reason why these four altars were sunk into the ground was to protect them from the fear that the altars would be destroyed by the evil spirits and unspeakable things wandering outside."

"Let the altar that has sunk into the ground rise again, and then activate the altar. This is the general process."

Everyone looked at each other, and Master Onodera asked: "So how can we make the altar rise?"

After listening to Master Onodera's question, Kaguya Shifang also calmly gave an explanation: "This brings up another spiritual tool handed down from the Shifang family, the moon telescope."

Sifang Kaguya stroked the Yuehui Mirror in his hand and added carefully:

"If the Yue Hui Mirror is a spiritual tool passed down to deal with the 'Gloomy Moon Time', then the Moon Observation Mirror is a spiritual tool that was preserved to rekindle the hope of the family. Both of these spiritual tools can only be used by us shrine maidens. ..”

As she spoke, she sighed: "It's just that the last 'Dark Moon Time' came too quickly and with a fierce momentum, so the moon telescope was left in the family shrine. It has not been recovered until now."

Sifang Kaguya asked solemnly:

"Therefore, before restarting the Four Directions Altar, we must first find the moon telescope."

After her explanation, Beichuanji quickly clarified his thoughts.

First of all, the altar has sunk to the ground. In order for the altar to rise from the ground, it is necessary to use the moon telescope left in the shrine. After finding the moon telescope and calling out the altar, Shifang Kaguya can use Yue Hui. Mirror restarts the altar.

"The time is too tight. It is basically impossible to complete these things in one night. And we also need to rest. It is simply impossible to complete all these things in one night."

After thinking about it, Kitagawa Temple spoke bluntly.

Yes, time is really running out. The location where the moongauge was left is unknown, and I heard Shifang Kaguya say before that the Shifang family's shrine is definitely not small.

Under such circumstances, it would be a blessing to find the Moon Observing Mirror in one night, not to mention having to ask Sifang Kaguya to use the Moon Dark Mirror to restart the altar.

If you don't have two or three days of exploration time, you won't be able to get it.

"Yes. I also know Master Beichuan's concerns."

Sifang Kaguya nodded, and then explained: "It is basically impossible to complete these requirements in one night, so I want to save the good thoughts in Yuehui Mirror and free up more time for you to find them. Moonglass. If it doesn’t work in one night, then two nights. If it doesn’t work in two nights, then three nights.”

Her words also reassured Master Haneda and Master Onodera.

In fact, the two of them had just planned to euphemistically suggest to Shifang Kaguya that "there may not be enough time", but what they didn't expect was that Kitagawa Temple was faster than them. Seeing him just thinking about it, he didn't hesitate. spoke.

Kitagawaji didn't pay attention to the looks of the two of them. After receiving Shifang Kaguya's assurance, he simply nodded and said:

"Then I have no problem."

"In that case, let's move forward -" Shifang Kaguya nodded and was about to continue speaking.

But soon her expression changed, she staggered, and a trace of cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

But Shifang Kaguya quickly stabilized her figure. She stretched out her hand to stop Master Onodera and Master Haneda who wanted to come to support her: "I have no problem...just keep going. Everyone."

"..."

Kaguya Shifang's expression didn't look like she was fine. Her face turned pale in an instant, cold sweat broke out on her forehead, and her movements became extraordinarily frivolous. Looking at her like this, she seemed to have suffered some invisible heavy trauma. Same.

But since it was Kaguya Shifang who requested it, everyone continued to move forward.

Of course, due to Kaguya Sifang's situation, no one in the entire team had the intention to continue talking.

They walked in silence like this for more than thirty minutes, and everyone stopped in front of an area.

"That's... the Sifang family...?" Master Haneda stopped and looked towards the gentle valley hidden in the dusk forest.

What was displayed in front of everyone was clearly a small dilapidated village.

Some houses were burned down, while others were directly destroyed by landslides.

In some places, only the pillar frame remains, and the former appearance of the house cannot be discerned.

The creek winding around the village has dried up, and everything looks deserted and dilapidated.

"According to family records, this area is where the Sifang family mainly lives... but our destination is not here."

Kaguya Shifang stretched out her hand and pointed to the mountain behind this small village.

Everyone turned their attention.

Bypassing the dried up pond, go all the way up...

The long stone steps of the shrine continue up the mountain step by step. Continuing these stone steps, there are thousands of torii gates erected layer by layer.

The shrine at the end of the torii is looming under the dusk, as if it is in the real world, but also seems to be in a hidden world...

"Sifang Shrine."

Shifang Kaguya murmured to himself, a ray of sadness flashed in his eyes.

.....

Everyone went down the mountain and came to the dilapidated and deserted Sifang Village.

Xia Chan shouted, the roof of the house covered with grass and the broken wooden door.

Some furniture and even some rotten linen clothes can be seen in some well-preserved houses.

This also shows how quickly the people of the Sifang Family evacuated.

Shifang Kaguya lowered her head towards these dilapidated houses and was silent for two or three seconds before saying, "We will rest here for ten minutes."

Her proposal was approved by everyone, even Beichuan Temple nodded.

Indeed, we have been walking for an hour now, and we still have to climb the ridiculously long shrine next, so we might as well take a break.

"I wonder how you feel now? Master Beichuan?" Sifang Kaguya replenished water and glanced sideways at Beichuan Temple.

Regarding her excessive concern, Kitagawa Temple took a sip from the water bottle and replied calmly: "I don't feel anything. If you are really worried, I think you should care about your current body."

"Are you talking about what happened just now?" Sifang Kaguya waved her hand: "It's just my first time walking on a mountain road for such a long time, so my breathing rhythm has not been adjusted properly, and I am suffering from heat stroke."

"Really?" Kitagawa Temple responded casually, disapproving of Shifang Kaguya's words.

At the moment when Sifang Kaguya was in trouble, Kitagawa Temple had already mobilized his death energy to check her status.

Something happened that made Beichuan Temple concerned.

Kaguya Shifang, who originally had no kind thoughts, slowly began to have kind thoughts on her body. The center of this kind thought is radiated from the Yuehui Mirror on her chest.

But now the wave of good thoughts has been completely suppressed by Sifang Kaguya.

That's why she can speak so naturally.

But...the thing that Kitagawa Temple cannot understand the most is...why the kind thoughts lingering in Shifang Kaguya's body will cause harm to her?

If you want to say that it was Yue Hui Mirror's own kind thoughts that had an impact on Sifang Kaguya, it is unlikely. After all, she has always carried Yue Hui Mirror close to her body. In addition, this kind of family spiritual tool should not generally be used. It will hurt people in this family.

Beichuan Temple thought and looked sideways at the mountains around him.

The name of this mountain is Yueyou Mountain. It is precisely because this mountain is close to Huangquan that the people of the Sifang family spend a lot of money to suppress it every year.

But... why do the people of the Sifang family insist on suppressing the underworld under the mountain?

To be irresponsible, the people of the Sifang family can leave this land and live in other livable places. There is no need to take such huge risks.

After all, they are not like the villagers who are cursed by the gods, nor are they like the people of Yihui Island who will die if they stay away from Yihui Island.

There's no reason for them to stay here.

And this... is something that Shifang Kaguya has never told Beichuan Temple and his party.

What's the reason for this?

Intuition told Beichuan Temple that this was most directly related to the Sifang family hiring them to come here to restart the Sifang Shrine. And this connection is what they seek.

but--

It's useless to think about it now.

Beichuan Temple shook his head.

Yes. Thinking so much before officially entering the Sifang Shrine is just looking for something to do for yourself.

After entering the shrine, Kitagawa Temple believed that there must be some of the main reasons why the Sifang family suppressed Huangquan.

And before the investigation comes out...

Let’s find the necessary prop, the moonscope, first.

Kitagawaji looked at Shifang Kaguya thoughtfully and determined his goal.

Thanks to Bing Ling Tianyu and Kong Qingyuhou for their rewards! Thank you so much!