【Good Leaf】Eclipse of the Crimson Moon

【eight quarters】

Even through the thick wooden door, the ominous sound at this moment cannot be completely sealed.

The sound of hurried and chaotic footsteps quickly gathered outside the door, but because the chief priest was inside, no one dared to rush in.They pondered for a while and finally knocked on the door twice tremblingly and asked:

"Excuse me...Master Priest, what happened? Is there a need for us..."

"No need." Ma Canghao coldly interrupted the inquiries of his subordinates, and continued to focus on the people under him.

In my anxiety, I had no choice but to order the waiters outside the door to call for a doctor immediately, and then immediately ran to the iron bars of the stone prison to try to stop the out-of-control situation.

"Okay! Stop it! Do you want to kill him?"

Hao chuckled and let go of the tight chain, but the strength under his feet still did not relax: "Why, he is my important brother, and..."

"Ye is going to participate in the next dark sacrifice, right? So, you will live until then, intact." Hao slightly bent down, as if speaking in Ye's direction, but he stepped on his head The boy who was face down on the bluestone floor couldn't answer at all.

"You...!" Facing his unreasonable statement, the anger that I had suppressed for a long time finally surged up: "What you said and what you did are totally different! Ma Cangye's current physical condition cannot be compared with Four years ago, you should know!"

He finally turned his face slightly and still didn't look at me, but for the first time in a few years, I saw that face that was almost identical to Ye's.An elegant but cold smile emerged from the corner of his mouth, and the bloody vine-like scars around his left eye that spread all the way to his forehead were shocking. From this side, he looked like another person, strange, strange, and ominous.

"I should thank you on behalf of the Yuwu family and the people of Yuejian, Anna. There are not many priests who are so concerned about the Tsukiyue Festival. Even among the five families, there are many people with various thoughts. .” He paused meaningfully, and said softly, as if talking to himself: “Maybe that’s it, everything is predestined.”

He slowly loosened the restraint, and the boy below him who was finally able to raise his head slightly coughed and panted continuously, but he was obviously too weak to even turn over.Judging from the horrible cracking sound heard earlier, his shoulder blade or something was probably broken.

"There is still half a year left, just take it easy, don't be so nervous. And this is the last time I come here as an elder brother." Hao stood up without paying attention to the folds of his sleeves, put on his mask and prepared to leave .

"……etc…"

A faint voice came from the darkness behind Hao, and he stopped and looked back.Ye Zheng tremblingly relied on the strength of his knees and head to arch his body with difficulty. He half-kneeled and looked at Hao, his messy hair sticking to his face distorted by pain.

"What else is there? I should have answered what you want to know."

"...I... can't accept it..." There was still some stubbornness in the darkened brown eyes, the boy hesitated for a moment and finally said the last question:

"The night 'Masumi' broke into Tsukiyomi Shrine, do you still remember what you said to me?"

Wait, what's going on here?I've never heard that Hokkaido knows Nishikujo Masumi?Although the matter about Nishi Kujo had indeed been reported to him, it was impossible for him to care about the existence of such a young man before the dark sacrifice...

...If you say, Asakura leaf means "it is good that I said something to my brother Ye who has been sleeping for four years at that time", no... that is completely illogical!If that were true, the facts would be completely reversed!

I suddenly stared at Hao Hao's side face, but his voice didn't fluctuate at all: "What are you referring to? I just remember that you were handed over to your subordinates for detention."

"...No...you did tell me..." Ye's eyes suddenly became flustered, and it could be seen that he made a lot of determination to ask this matter, but he was immediately denied.

"Your memory seems to be a bit confused, my brother. At that time, I was just surprised when I saw the face that looked like a falcon. I didn't know about your return earlier than the priests of the Kurosawa family, otherwise you thought you Can I still stay here safe and sound?"

Hao turned around and left the stone prison, without looking at the young man who was left frozen in place behind him.

Soon after the doctor came, I also quit the dark abyss.When I walked out of the stone prison, I heard someone asking about his injuries, but I didn't get any response from him.

★★★

When we got back to the dormitory of the Asakang family, the drizzle and snow that had been falling for a long time finally stopped, but the sky was still piled up with dark clouds, as if they were about to overturn at any moment.

The few hours spent in the Abyss of Darkness is like a long night, almost making people forget the time in this world.Thinking of the unsettled future that will be faced in less than half a year from now, I feel extremely depressed.Originally, he stayed here in accordance with the agreement with Grandma Mu Nai, but now it has become a little different.

The conversation between the Ma Cang brothers this time can only illustrate one problem: Ma Canghao confessed his brother’s crimes face to face, so that no matter what Ma Cangye said, no one would believe his claims. It has been determined that everything was done by him.

But why the originally gentle and kind boy would do this is still unclear.It is impossible to understand the reason in that place with many restrictions.The investigation into the inside story of the whole incident should be basically over after the chief priest confirms it. Even if the other four patriarchs have any objections, they can't keep entangled, so the interrogation of Ye should be considered as over.However, everything in that depth is still covered by thick darkness.

For a period of time after that, it was best not to go to the previous side hall.He seemed to have completely forgotten the fact that he still had a younger brother, and continued his unchanging life as an officiant priest, passing the time in the worship hall, sleeping hall, and audience room.Sometimes I admire his patience. Is it really not boring to live in the shrine for several years?Even with the burn of the miasma of the underworld, the range of the Forbidden Forest is wide enough, but I have never seen him go out of the range of the outer torii.

The five families began to prepare for the main sacrifice. In short, this is a tradition that has lasted for thousands of years. Although it is trivial and complicated, it is progressing in an orderly manner.

Ye's waking up and the facts that were revealed afterwards were spread in private among the priests, causing a little turmoil, and then some people who thought they were very insightful continued to say that he had long thought that there was something wrong with Ma Cang Ye and so on.Of course, these words are not dared to say in front of the chief priest and the other family heads, after all they still remember that the current chief priest is Ma Cangye's twin brother.Even if he personally condemned his younger brother, there are many people who don't believe that they can clean things up.In fact, after seeing the scene in the Abyss of Darkness myself, I also understood that the entanglement between the two brothers was far deeper than imagined.

Yuxu's mental state is still not good.In addition to mental stress, long hours of work are also the main reason.

Ye's old injury has not healed, and his scapula has been severely file and fractured, and he will be unable to move freely for a long time.In order to treat and care for his daily life, Yuxu often cannot rest for several days in a row, but she has no complaints about it.I know that she often cried secretly, just because she couldn't help him more.

The priest's affairs are complicated, and I can't visit Ye's situation often. Yuxu will report every few days, although I didn't ask for it.I went there again later, and he was still not doing well.

The teenager lying on the bed because of his back injury was awake, but he didn't react much to my arrival.The reluctant optimism he had maintained during our first meeting had faded, and he greeted me with a vague greeting, then fell silent.

What I want to know is more information about the forbidden technique. It is quickest to ask Ma Cangye directly. It would be better if he could recall some clues.

"Yao Falcon?"

"The name of the puppet I made. If 'Nishikujo Masumi' stays in Tsukimi, it will probably become like it in the end, with white hair and red eyes."

Probably because the spell has been affected by something and the disguise has faded?

I still can't imagine such a wonderful art exists.Although I have heard that a bhikkhuni (note) performed the technique of reviving the dead, using the powder of mermaid (note) gallbladder mixed with chinchilla flowers and osmanthus leaves, and covering the bones coated with arsenic to create a realistic body, but It is a dead body that has no vitality, cannot grow, and will not age.

And Ye's technique sounds like it is to fuse the puppet as a medium with the body as a container for the soul, and then endow it with a soul to make it move, which can be said to be as complicated as it is.

The real Xikujo should have died at that time, right?To make a dead body gain vitality and soul again, what a headwind it must endure, just imagining it makes people shudder.Asakura leaf how he can do it...

"Yao Falcon... Did you choose the name? I can't see that you are so elegant."

"Don't make fun of me, I'm not good...that's just a name obtained from divination based on the azimuth armor technique."

"..."

Although there are many things I want to know, I suddenly feel like I don't know how to ask them.And he himself didn't see any emotional change after being announced that he would be sacrificed in the next dark sacrifice, he just accepted everything silently.

The pale face was entwined with tangled hair, like a ruin covered with vines, and the boy's once clear amber eyes were now like the windows of the ruins, empty and empty.Although he has awakened as Asakura leaf now, it makes people feel that something is gradually missing from the boy.

The body is awake, but the soul gradually sinks into the bottomless abyss of darkness, turning into a puppet that can only dance with the controller.At this moment, he really gave me this feeling.

What Hao said "live to that time intact" is just like the literal meaning, the seal that dedicated the leaves to Huang Quan as a sacrifice for the dark sacrifice.

The sacrifice offered to the gods must not be an incomplete human being, so he was able to avoid the death penalty of maiming. The damage caused by Ma Canghao that day was already the limit.

The time of the priest who accepts the first instrument in the mezzanine world will be slowed down, so the reaction and recovery speed of the physical injury will be extremely slow.It is said that it will slow down to the point that "you will not die instantly if you penetrate the heart with a sword", and based on this element, a sacrificial ceremony specially designed to punish sinful priests is constructed.The more severe the pain caused to the sinner, the more the effect of appeasing the wrath of the gods will be.The more specific method is a secret that cannot be passed on orally, and will only be known during the ceremony.

Probably, Ye's fate will be like that.

Maybe that teenager really committed an unforgivable sin and had to face the final verdict, but at least I hope that it will be done when everything is clear and without regret, not like it is now!

Until then, only by unraveling the fog of all these can the souls of the dead rest in peace.

★★★

In the end, I got only one useful clue from Ma Cang Yekou, and that was the origin of the forbidden technique.

This extremely uncommon spell is currently only mastered by this young man in Yue Jian, which is also known as the most direct evidence that everyone points him as the perpetrator, and even he himself has no way to refute it.

So, is it true that only Ma Cangye can use this forbidden technique in Yuejian?Who taught Ye's technique?Could it be that no outsider can come to Yuejian to use that forbidden technique?

I threw out all the questions, but they were quickly rejected by him one by one.

The answer was completely unexpected to me, but completely logical.

Yue Jian is the only one who is a puppeteer, and everyone knows that.

The boy said that again, with an unquestionable tone.

"Because that was not taught by my teacher, but an 'inherited secret technique'."

"Inheritance? Could it be..."

"It is a spell that only certain people can master, and the candidates are chosen by the spell itself."

"The spell itself...?"

"It's not that it has its own consciousness like shikigami (note) and chooses its master, but that the art itself has set certain conditions since its creation, and I just happened to meet those conditions."

"Conditions? So it means that the technique itself restricts the holder?"

"Yes. There will only be one puppet master in a period of time. After he dies, the art will be inherited by the new art master. I can't explain it to you more specifically... That is already an entity that touches the forbidden art itself..."

"The last question, what is the carrier of the spell?"

"...Because you are the head priest of the Asakura family, I think I can tell you. The ancient book that records the spell is a secret volume passed down from the ancestors of the five families of the five families. Only recognized spell candidates can read it, and there are many forbidden spells that few people can control, and we usually only use a very shallow part. The name of the volume is—”

"Super? Occupy a little decision."

I have never heard of an ancient scroll, and I still have no clues after checking all the materials at hand.So I have no way of knowing what kind of volume this is, and the information that Ye can tell me is only a very small and superficial part, and the most important sources, authors, etc. are unknown.

Even if you ask Asakura Hiroshi or other priests such questions, you probably won't get an answer.

★★★

The mountains in the deep winter are extremely cold. Although the climate here is more or less affected by the ocean and should be relatively mild, the temperature in Dafeng Mountain is relatively low due to the gathering of spirits.At this time, most of the islanders have stopped working in the fields and are entering the end of the year renovation, and the town looks extremely deserted.

It's time to leave school, walking on the path of scattered cherry blossoms, slowing down because of constant thinking.Young people in school uniforms passed by in twos and threes, with a few ups and downs of laughter.

I don't get caught up in these thoughts or throw myself out of my rhythm because I never felt like I should be living the same life as them.

No matter how busy I am, I still try to spare time to go to school, and I just responded to my mother-in-law's request at the time, "Go to school and try, and you should be able to experience a different kind of happiness when you are with your peers."But Granny Munai, your words are not correct this time.I still can't feel good about those people.But it doesn't matter, does it?

Successful or not, the day I leave here is when the ceremony is over.For me, everything I see in the moon will eventually come to an end one day.

The alternate priests in the school will report their daily reports as usual, but there is nothing worthy of special attention.

There is nothing unusual about Nishi Kujo's class, except that there is a student who has not been transferred for a long time, and no one will bother about it.He just quietly disappeared from people without leaving a trace.

The Xijiutiao home on the old street was sorted out by a special person, and then handed over to the relevant person in charge to handle the follow-up matters. "Shenyin" is the best reason as usual.

An orange earphone was found in Masumi's personal belongings, and I handed it and a few CDs to Asakuraha, which was a small request from the boy to me.

It would be troublesome to listen to, but it's good to just keep it by your side.He said so.It seems that it is a means for him to comfort his soul.

So, time came to the end of the early Heisei year without knowing it.

At that time, Kokubun Shrine began to prepare for the usual New Year's festival, and the shrine, which had been quiet for a while, began to be lively again.The ordinary citizens who came to help were as enthusiastic as usual, busy with the priests.As usual, I go there once a day to inspect the progress of the preparations.

And one day, when I just arrived at the gate of the shrine, I heard a messy noise coming from the shrine from a distance.

Is there any confusion?

The priest on duty hovering near the gate saw me coming, and immediately rushed over to complain:

"Master Anna! It's a good thing you're here. Take a quick look, those people are really scoundrels, and they can't be driven away. I'm planning to notify the inspection team of Wujia..."

I looked into the shrine in the direction he was pointing, and among the crowd, I could vaguely see a few strange people dressed in discord with the shrine, entangled with the priests in black uniforms.

Note: Shikigami are spiritual bodies or gods and monsters that are enslaved under the orders of onmyojis. They are not puppets or magic spells, they belong to another world.There are also many types, and mana is also divided into high and low, but whether it can be controlled depends on the ability of the caster itself.

Note: Bhikkhuni, Sanskrit, commonly known as a nun, a woman who is ordained as a monk.

Note: Mermaids, the mermaids in Japanese legends, immortal monsters, it is said that eating their meat will also turn into immortal bodies, but in fact, mermaid meat is highly poisonous, and most people who eat mermaid meat will be poisoned and die Death, only a very small number of people can become immortal.

Part Three [Eclipse of the Crimson Moon - Chapter of the Knot]