【Wine Ci】Ksitigarbha Statue

When Ibaraki-douji caught up with Shuten-douji, the big red-haired ghost was standing by the river, looking obscurantly at the chaotic area across the river.

Autumn nights are a bit dry.The chirping of insects is much less, and the occasional chirping and chirping of chills comes over as if it is going to be hoarse, but it is not very real.On the contrary, the sound of the river flowing is more obvious, and the sporadic fishing fires on the other side seem to be scattered in the mist, and then put together again.

Ibaraki chased after him and shouted, "My friend!"

He chased a little hard.Shuten-douji left without saying goodbye—even missing an appointment.In this season of autumn, there is a rare bright moon in a year.They made an appointment to have a drink together tonight, and Ibaraki found good wine, and after waiting for a long time, Shuten-douji did disappear occasionally, but he almost never missed the appointment.

Fortunately, Jiu Tun did not hide his evil spirit.No matter how far away his demonic aura is, to Ibaraki it is like a bright light at night.Ibaraki followed the scent to catch up, and when he got closer, he realized that his best friend's evil spirit was shaking, as if he was thinking about some shocking and extremely important matter.

When Shuten heard Ibaraki's voice, he turned around.

The hazy moonlight just happened to penetrate through the clouds and drift down loosely through the fog.

Ibaraki was keenly aware that the turbulent vicious aura around Jiu Tun's side instantly calmed down like the surface of a lake after the wind stopped.

"Why is it you again?" Jiu Tun frowned impatiently, "I didn't ask you to follow me, did I?"

"—Because I made an appointment with my friend to drink today."

"Today? Did you remember wrongly? There are only two days left before the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Ibaraki's expression went blank in a daze.Jiu Tun looked at him and sighed: "Forget it, it's normal to not be able to remember the seasons used by humans - I can't drink today. Ibaraki, I have something to do, so I can come back in two days. We will meet again then drink."

"—How can that be done! Just leave it to me to teach other youkai a lesson! I can solve all difficulties for my friend!"

Jiu Tun was stunned, and he couldn't laugh or cry: "Where did you think, my uncle said that I was going to fight?"

Ibaraki-douji looked at him with some confusion—maybe it wasn't confusion.In the moonlight, the expression of this big monster was as uncertain as the mist.From Shuten's point of view, Ibaraki looks stupid and ignorant; I don't know how much subjective influence this impression has.Perhaps this expression looks indifferent and arrogant to other monsters, as fierce as an unsheathed knife and a wild beast that chooses to devour; Like a ball of soft cotton, a kitten baring its teeth, sticking out its tongue, softly licking something.

This is quite contradictory.Ibaraki is not harmless, on the contrary, his breath is dangerous, no one knows better than Shuten.Shuten had slayed other turf-fighting, sightless ghosts by his side; though that was far too long ago.It had been a long time since they had dealt with a dispute or battle together.

"I said—" Shuten-douji sorted out his mixed thoughts, "Ibaraki, do you know where the boundary is after crossing this river?"

"My friend wants to expand the territory to the other side of the river, so that the monsters on the other side can also accept my friend's great rule? What a perfect idea! I would like to drive my friend—"

Shuten interrupted him: "Settsu Ibaraki."

"……what?"

"My uncle said that Settsu is on the opposite side. If you walk a few dozen miles to the west, you will probably reach Ibaraki Prefecture. Hey, Ibaraki, you have never been back, have you?"

Ibaraki's reaction was colder than Shuten expected.He responded without emotion, and continued to plan passionately to conquer the territory that would belong to Shuten-douji on the other side and expand his power.Jiu Tun had to interrupt him again: "I'm not interested in controlling that side. I'm going for another matter."

Ibaraki paused, and quickly guessed the reason: "My friend went to see Abe Seimei?"

oh?After turning his attention, he really became smarter.

"Hey, let's say it's because of that guy. But the reason why my uncle came here is because of his words." Jiu Tun replied lazily, "This uncle has read a story from Tang Dynasty, It is said that a man went up to the mountain to cut firewood and saw two old men playing chess under a tree. He stopped to watch the chess game because it was too exciting. After the game was over, the man went down the mountain and returned home satisfied, only to find that his home had changed. People he knew had died. The son has become an old man with a stick facing him—it turns out that he only watched a game of chess on the mountain, and nearly a hundred years have passed on the mountain.”

Ibaraki went straight to the point: "My friend mentioned this, is it related to this incident?"

It's really smart all of a sudden.Jiu Tun thought to himself, how can I say that Ibaraki is good, sometimes he can't understand people's words to the point of nonsense, but sometimes his intuition is so keen that it's useless to change the subject.

"Yes." He replied flatly, looking straight into Ibaraki's eyes, "This kind of time disorder, Ibaraki, do you know what it means?"

"Tsk, Abe Seimei——"

Ibaraki's voice was low, and there seemed to be a flash of blood in his pupils.Shuten knew what Ibaraki was thinking ferociously, he just felt that his best friend didn't need to go back and forth for Abe Seimei's request; he probably felt resentful and dissatisfied.

Jiu Tun saw it, but didn't bother to stop it.Although the ghost king didn't regard the contract with the human onmyoji as a big deal, let alone any humiliation and grievance, he even complied with Qingming's request, but at the same time, he didn't have much sincerity in wanting to be with him. An Onmyoji is one who prospers and one loses.If Ibaraki can bring Seimei some trouble, Shuten would be very happy to see it come true.

"Time disorder—like the story my friend told, either the man turned into a monster without knowing it, or because the two old men who played chess were monsters. My friend didn't want me to come because I wanted to Are you going to Ibaraki Prefecture?"

Jiu Tun nodded slightly: "This kind of situation will most likely be affected by some powerful monster aura. After all, Ibaraki County is the place where you were born, and it is always connected with you. No matter whether you are ghosted or not. Admit it, it is protected by your reputation as Ibaraki Doji. Now that something happened there, it is most likely because of that eyeless monster. We can't sit idly by."

Ibaraki understood: "Since it's related to me, I'll go too."

"...Okay, it's my uncle's intention to avoid you this time. Let's go together."

Ibaraki glanced at him, showing a somewhat arrogant smile, but softened by the moonlight two or three points: "When you come back, there is still time to catch the Mid-Autumn Festival for drinking, right, my friend?"