This Japanese Story Is Not Too Cold

Walking down the mountain road and crossing through a small bush, you can vaguely see the swaying lights through the gaps in the dense forest.

Through the wisps of swaying lights, you can see the outlines of various houses clearly visible in the night sky.

This is true

These houses look quite dated, with dilapidated eaves, and even the tiles on some roofs have disappeared, leaving only bare wooden thorns stained black by dirty water.

The ground was covered with fallen leaves accumulated over the years, and only one slope was clearly visible.

The slope first spread forward for a part, and then turned upwards.

It seems that only walking up this ramp is the official entrance to the village.

Beichuan Temple turned to look around.

The dense forest around him was full of darkness, and there was a wet smell in the air. The leaves under his feet were also soft, and there was no sound at all when he stepped on them.

Standing here and looking ahead, I can't see anyone.

The same goes for standing here and looking behind you.

Everything was quiet, except for the lights in front that were still swaying slightly.

Beichuanji breathed out a sigh of relief.

He didn't let Kamiya Mirai catch up.

Let him come up and explore alone first... This has been decided before.

"Let's go, Eternal, Makie, poor."

Kitagawaji looked at Kagura Suzu, then poked Nishikujo's poor face. He carried his backpack and held a flashlight in his hand, and stepped onto the slope that appeared with the appearance of the Mouchi family.

The slope under his feet was slippery and covered with moss. Beichuanji found a broken branch as a support and walked up steadily, observing the surroundings from time to time.

"Um?"

Beichuan Temple stopped and glanced at the pile of stones wrapped with vermilion strips of cloth around him.

These large or small stones are piled up and wrapped with scarlet cloth strips.

Under these stones, there are still traces of burning incense.

"This is an ancient means of warning...Tera-kun."

Asamiya Nagase's voice rang in her ears, and she explained for Kitagawaji:

"In the past, there would often be lost travelers who broke into this dense forest, and they would come near the village of this ancient family. But because there are some things in the village that are not convenient for outsiders to see, so at the entrance Stones were erected everywhere, with strips of scarlet cloth wrapped around them that stood out even in the dark.”

"It means that travelers and outsiders should stop. Those who violate this will be in danger of their lives."

"And this has been preserved as a custom or tradition over time. Travelers are reminded that this is an area that ordinary people cannot set foot on."

As expected, Asamiya Eisei, who especially likes to read, knows all about this unorthodox custom.

Beichuan Temple nodded, then lowered his body, picked up a small stone and took a look.

The stone was covered with wet moss and had a smooth surface. The faded color of the vermilion cloth stuck to it, looking like dried blood spots.

"Keep moving forward."

Beichuan Temple put down the stone and continued walking forward.

At the end of the ramp is a torii gate that has tilted.

Standing here at the torii gate, you can see old mansions scattered on both sides of the street.

"This is Mou Chi's family..."

A deathly aura flashed across Beichuan Temple's eyes.

For some reason, just looking at this seemingly peaceful mansion, he felt a vague sense of crisis.

The flashlight in his hand began to rotate to check the surrounding environment.

Because these wooden buildings have not been repaired for a long time, the surface of the wood is somewhat moist and oxidized, and is completely gray-black. There seem to be candlelight and human figures flashing behind the white paper windows, but if you look closely, there is nothing there.

Of course, the most important thing is not just these.

Beichuan Temple looked around thoughtfully.

You can discover it as soon as you step into the village.

The village of Mouchi's family is filled with gray mist.

"Is this the underworld miasma?"

Beichuanji glanced behind him.

The entrance torii has gradually been enveloped in thick fog, and you can't see it clearly if you don't look carefully.

No more words needed to be said.

Beichuan Temple continued to move forward.

But this time he didn't take two steps, and his footsteps stopped again.

"This is...?"

Beichuan Temple put the soft fallen leaves at his feet and was about to reach out and brush them away.

But the next second - a pale and deformed hand suddenly pinched Beichuanji's wrist from the side.

Um? !

Kitagawaji's eyes flashed, and thick black death energy surged out of his wrist. He broke free of it in an instant, and at the same time, the other wrist flipped over, and the shining silver Kanesada fell into his hand.

He didn't even look at it and just used Kanesada to cut it off!

Poof! ! !

The wrists fly! Black liquid flowed horizontally.

As Kitagawaji kicked the opponent away, he saw the appearance of the resentful spirit that suddenly grabbed his wrist.

It was a middle-aged man, with no expression on his gray and blurry face. The only thing that could be heard was his painful, broken voice:

"Where are you...Jinghua..."

"sorry Sorry..."

He scratched his scalp with both hands, and with a numbing tearing sound, the scalp fell softly, and at the same time, black and smelly liquid dripped.

The next moment, the other party raised his head.

Although he couldn't see the expression on his face, Beichuanji could still feel that the other party was glaring at him viciously.

The sharp sound of violent tearing exploded instantly.

“Where did you take Jinghua—?!”

Bang! ! ! !

The sharp sound was extinguished like a candle. Beichuan Temple withdrew the black sledgehammer. Looking at the male grudge whose head had been completely smashed and exploded, he calmly said: "You have found the wrong person."

Jinghua...? Who is that?

Beichuanji didn't bother to care about the other party, and took three steps at a time to reach the place where he was standing just now.

The dead leaves have been brushed aside, revealing what was hidden underneath.

That's a photo.

Photograph with glue backing.

Beichuan Temple picked up the photo and looked at it carefully.

The photo shows a family of three.

A relatively young-looking man and another woman hold the hands of their young daughter and are looking at the camera with a smile.

This is undoubtedly a happy family.

but--

"Zhu Zhiyin?" Beichuan Temple looked at the men and women in the photo.

A bright red mark can be clearly seen on the wrists of these two people.

Thinking about it, Beichuanji turned his wrist and wanted to see if there was anything recorded on the back of the photo.

But just when he wanted to flip the photo—

Click... click... click...

The wraith male, who had completely lost his head...with only an empty spine left, grabbed Kitagawaji's ankle.

"Jinghua...I'm sorry...Jinghua..."

No one could hear the broken syllables except Beichuan Temple.

But even so, this male resentful spirit still said one sentence after another.

Until his spirit body drifted away, and his regretful voice remained in the air.

"..." Beichuan Temple.

Seeing the dark resentment dissipate, Beichuanji also came back to his senses and looked at the back of the photo again.

On the back of the photo, what remains are neat handwriting.

‘Jinghua, Zhenshi, I will always love you. ’

"Jing Hua... Zhen Shi?"

Beichuan Temple's eyes flashed.

Soon he thought of what Mou Chi Zhenshi said.

Her parents had organized the Mou Chi family to come and explore this year.

Could it be that the male resentful spirit just now was Mou Chi Zhenshi's father? And Mou Chi Jinghua is Mou Chi Zhenshi’s mother? They originally came to this place to explore, but in the end they encountered a resentful spirit that they could not solve and died in this place.

And Mou Chi Zhenshi's father also felt remorse for not protecting Mou Chi Zhenshi's mother, and could only leave a series of deep apologies...

"..." Beichuanji shook his head.

Does that mean that he just accidentally got rid of Mou Chi Zhenshi's father?

But there is nothing that can be done about it.

Mouchi Zhenshi's father continued to wander around Mouchi's family, which was also a pain for him.

Sending him away from this world...maybe this is also an excellent thing for Mou Chi Zhenshi's father.

Just think of it as a favor to Mushi Mouchi for telling him about Miko Mouchi.

Beichuan Temple silently made up his mind.

If you encounter the resentful spirit of Mou Chi Zhenshi’s mother during this period, let’s get rid of it together.

He put the photo in his arms and planned to give the photo to Mou Chi Zhenshi when he had the opportunity in the future.

"Tera-kun, at your feet... there seemed to be something left behind when the resentful spirit just passed away."

Asamiya Yongse reminded.

"Oh?" Beichuan Temple turned his head and immediately saw the note left on the ground.

Beichuanji picked it up from the ground, spread it out and looked at it.

What was left on the smooth paper was a neat map.

The distribution of various areas of the village is smoothly drawn on it.

In addition to the exit that Beichuan Temple entered just now, there are two other village entrances and exits, about one or two hundred meters away from here in a straight line.

It can be seen that this map should have been drawn by Mou Chi Zhenshi's father from memory. Many of the contents on it are not that specific. For example, the residential area is just a rough drawing of a few irregular squares, and then the residential area is written, and the wild area is I simply wrote about the wilderness.

But even so...it's enough reference.

Because past the residential area and the water intake point, all the way forward... we reach the family's mansion.

"If this is the standard..."

Beichuan Temple raised his head, looked at the road in front of him that was obscured by fog, and murmured to himself:

"It takes about twenty minutes to walk further ahead..."

After all, this village is only built around the family's mansion, and the overall area is not too large.

But apart from these, what Beichuan Temple cares about the most is the vast open space behind the family's mansion.

What exactly is there...? What is hidden?

Even Mou Chi Zhenshi's father doesn't know this.

But we can probably know just by making a rough guess.

Places that are prohibited from entry by unrelated persons...are nothing more than places where sacrifices or ceremonies are held.

And in that clearing... there is the entrance to Huangquan.

Beichuanji folded up the map and put it away, and continued walking inside with a flashlight.

The surrounding fog became thicker as he continued to move forward. At the same time, strange sounds came from the surrounding houses from time to time.

Beichuanji turned a deaf ear to these things. He just continued walking forward with a flashlight.

The miasma in the underworld is getting thicker and thicker...the road ahead is also a little blurry.

There were also bursts of gloomy nursery rhymes in my ears.

"The man-eating kid, the slobbering kid, is coming quietly, quietly."

"Luo Ying, Luo Ying, there are corpses buried underneath."

"Mouchi, Mouchi, life is as light as thin paper."

"Colorful, colorful fallen cherry blossoms, with corpses hidden underneath."

"Gululu, Gululu... shake and shake, it's a corpse that can never speak."

"Blood too——"

"Flow! Fuck! La!"

The ethereal and gloomy sound came from far to near, as if it was not far ahead, but also seemed to be close to my ears.

This simple and old nursery rhyme makes people feel chilly just listening to it.

But Beichuan Temple has an impression of this nursery rhyme.

Isn't this the nursery rhyme Kamiya heard after using the Miko Miko's Certificate in the future?

Beichuan Temple subconsciously raised his head.

In front of him was this scene.

They were dancing a simple dance, holding hands... The children, whose faces were blurred by the miasma, were dancing around a girl wearing a pale white yukata.

Long sleeves fluttering and fluttering.

A simple dance that keeps looping.

Innocent...yet extremely cruel child's voice——

"Um...afterimage?"

Beichuan Temple came to his senses in a trance.

In front of him was still the road shrouded in the miasma of the underworld.

But there seemed to be something extra on the road, it was a small piece of cloth.

Beichuan Temple walked over in two or three steps, lowered his body and picked up the cloth without hesitation.

There are slanted writing on the white cloth strip.

‘The nursery rhyme about the falling cherry blossoms. ’

‘There is a forest of thousand cherry blossoms behind the mountain of Mouchi’s family, and beautiful cherry blossoms bloom every year. Going up are steps of stone lanterns and bluestone paths, but our family never allows anyone to step into them. ’

‘Legend has it that there are man-eating imps hiding in it, and in order to suppress them, people are killed and buried under the cherry blossom trees. ’

‘And these mute corpses were buried under the cherry blossom trees and used as nutrients to nourish the cherry blossoms so that they would bloom more vividly in the coming year. ’

A nursery rhyme about falling cherry blossoms?

But what does this have to do with Kamiya’s future evidence of Michi Miko?

Kitagawaji frowned in thought.

The only thing I have to say... is that Witch Mou Chi often heard this nursery rhyme before, so she had a particularly deep impression of it.

But how could Michi Miko be used as a sacrifice to sacrifice to the cherry blossom tree?

and--

"The Forest of Thousand Sakuras?"

Beichuan Temple couldn't help but raise his head.

But his sight had long been blocked by the thick fog, so he couldn't see what was behind the fog at all.

"At least the way forward shouldn't be wrong."

Beichuan Temple took out the note and glanced at the route on it.

Yes, at least the direction of progress is not wrong. The miasma of the underworld is getting thicker and thicker, which means that it is getting closer to the residence of Mou Chi's family.

Thinking of this...

Beichuan Temple continued to walk forward.

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