【Good Leaf】Eclipse of the Crimson Moon

【Yuezhi】

The village that disappeared from the map was originally a closed place similar to Tsukimi.

Due to the protection of the gate of the underworld for generations, the small villages and towns in the mountains are isolated from the world, and the villagers live a very difficult life.Even so, the families who serve as priests in the village still have to hold secret ceremonies regularly to maintain the effectiveness of the seal and prevent disasters from befalling the world.

Most of the children born in several families with priestly blood are twins, so the shrine maiden or imperial child chosen as the son of God are all twins.According to the ancient literature circulated in the village, "Twins were originally one person, but they became two people at birth, and their power was divided into two halves. Therefore, in the sacrificial ceremony, their powers should be united to form a complete body. Only the ceremony can be successful.” The way to unite the power is for the older ones to kill the younger ones, and if all goes well, their powers will become a powerful one, enough to calm the rattling door.

Every once in a while, the village will hold a zhi sacrifice, and it has continued like this for an unknown number of years.In order to commemorate the gods who offered sacrifices, every time the ceremony is over, the villagers will build a twin Jizo in the village (note). Over the years, there have been countless twin Jizo in the village, but the wheel of fortune is still moving silently. to the end of tragedy.

Although the sacrificial ceremony of the twin priests possesses great power enough to close the door, it also hides unpredictable risks.The last three sacrifices were not completely successful, and finally the gate of the underworld was opened. The evil spirits and evil thoughts that swarmed out from another world engulfed the entire village in an instant, and all the villagers died and lingered. The vengeful spirits were bound in the village with a barrier (Note), and the village completely disappeared from the map because it was involved in the distorted space of the underworld and the present world.

A long time later, by accident, an outsider with spiritual power inadvertently broke into the enchantment, and finally escaped from the village in the interlayer world after a narrow escape, which made the outside world understand what happened there. What a tragedy.

In the materials that the elders of the five families worked hard to verify, they recorded the whole story of the last Zhi sacrifice.They thought this was the correct way to use the twin priests to sacrifice at the gate of the underworld, and asked Ye and I to complete the ceremony according to the process of offering sacrifices.

Staring blankly at the rolls that grandpa put in front of us, I couldn't accept this result anyway.Ye Mo'er's expression was much more gloomy than usual, probably he didn't include all the things required in this volume in his well-prepared awareness.

In the sacrifice of the twins, the power required for the seal is gathered on one son of God by strangling the other, and then the door sealing ceremony is performed.For the Ma Cang family, the two heirs will be lost at the same time; for Ye, the previous agreement cannot be fulfilled; for me, I will have to face the fate of ending Ye's life with my own hands.

"Maybe it's hard to accept, but there's nothing you can do about it. The situation in Lingdao is more unstable than ever before, plus the results of the selection...all of this is God's will..." Grandpa finished these words slowly, and then There was a long pause.

None of us answered.Ye tried very hard to smile a little, but after all, he couldn't say "there will always be a way" as calmly as in the past.

Suddenly, a dull sound broke the suffocating silence.Grandpa actually bowed down to the two of us, buried his forehead deeply, and knocked on the ground in front of him:

"...Sorry...I'm sorry...Okay...Grandpa Ye...I don't know what to say...I dare not ask for your understanding...Even if you hate us..."

"grandfather!"

We cried out almost at the same time, and when we wanted to step forward to help him, we remembered the etiquette and our own responsibilities that should be kept at this moment. prostrate.

"Please get up! Grandpa. The selection cannot be controlled by anyone's will...Ye and I will never hate you..."

"...Even if you can forgive me, I...can't accept this kind of result, but...I can't do anything about it...I can't give you any help..."

Grandpa, who has always been stern and stern, would actually speak to us in such a sad tone, but at this moment, he seems to have forgotten the phrase he always said, "As a priest of Yuejian, I should do my best to cleanse my body and mind. Preparations for dedicating to the gods", forgetting his identity as one of the great priests of Yuejian and the head of the Ma Cang family.This hunched old man with gray beard and hair is just our grandfather Asakura Yeming at the moment.Looking at his trembling shoulders, I think I can understand how heartbroken he is for this result.

"If... Grandpa can go instead of you... that would be great... why..."

Yes, I also hope that I can replace Ye as the officiant.He must have thought so too.In order to accept the fate of separation, we have spent half a year.However, the final result was unexpected.what is this?

"Does this have to be done?" Although reason prevented me from saying this, I finally asked.

The germ of delusion and rebellion against fate may be that from that moment on, the depths of my heart began to agitate and grow up, which could not be suppressed——

Ye raised his head and looked at me in surprise, he must not know what I was thinking at the moment.Yes, if I don’t want to be noticed by Ye and Grandpa and everyone else... I don’t want them to know my inner sway, I have to stop the topic now!

"You mean... Zhi Sacrifice?" Grandpa thought for a moment and replied: "There is no better way at present... We have no experience in holding Gemini Sacrifice at all... So based on the opinions of the great priests, we will follow the Zhi Sacrifice with the highest success rate. Unless there is a change in the apocalypse, the ceremony must still be held according to this decision."

"…Yes."

"...There is still half a year left..." Grandpa sighed: "Become a competent priest, okay, and Ye... you, are the hope of seeing each other."

Hope to see you in the moon?

We are here to fulfill the expectations of the people of the moon...but who will fulfill our expectations?

The grief and helplessness I feel at this moment is part of Yuejian's cursed fate, right?When will the tragic fate that has lasted for nearly a thousand years come to an end?

★★★

Although there were as many questions in my heart as high as a mountain, I still didn't ask any more.

Grandpa can answer me very little, and the other four great priests don't know more about Zhiji than he does, because the clues left by Gemini Sacrifice in history are too few, and the only thing that can confirm that kind of ceremony was held The village of the guardian clan has also been annihilated, and there is no way to inquire.

In other words, right now in Tsukimi, no, no one can answer my question, even in all of Japan.

No one knows how likely it is to be successful in pacifying Yue Jian's Gate of the Underworld by offering sacrifices.

If the main sacrifice is carried out in the usual way, it is ignoring the apocalypse that the sacrificer is the twin prince.What kind of consequences will there be if such a ceremony is held, no one can answer.

Either way, the future is unpredictable. The great priests are determined to follow the enlightenment of the two selections and use the process of offering sacrifices to conduct the official sacrifice. It is understandable, but I cannot agree with their decision.

They may not know that I, who is eager to obtain more powerful power for some reason, have never stopped looking for it.The ancient documents I have read have already exceeded the collections of the Asakura Family Library and the Tsukimi Library. Taking the opportunity to leave Oki several times, I searched for clues from wider channels. My goal is Tsukimi who is hidden in the darkness. in history.In the process of searching, I accidentally read about the content of Zhiji, and even the little-known last three times of Zhiji were also recorded in it. The most important reason for accepting zhi sacrifice.

In one of the three sacrifices, although the power-unifying ceremony was completed, the surviving priest lost all his feelings because he strangled his sister.Afterwards, although Zhi Sacrifice was completed, the effectiveness of the seal was not as good as before.In the following ceremony, the priest who killed his younger brother was hit hard and fell into self-blame. He couldn't maintain a peaceful sacrifice mentality and the follow-up ceremony failed.On the eve of the last ceremony, one of the twin witches died unexpectedly. Although the priests took various remedial measures, hoping to appease the furious gate of the underworld, in the end they used the wrong method to perform the ceremony, which led to the opening of the underworld. , So the whole village was swallowed by death from the abyss overnight.

Can't stop thinking about...

The other self who can't come back...

All of these are considered "wrong" by the gods and will not be accepted.

For this "mistake" he sent down punishment and reduced everything to nothing.Even if the "mistake" was made by a family that obeyed the will of God and served the gods for hundreds of years, the gods would not mercilessly erase them.

In a trance, I seem to be able to see the countless small Jizo standing beside the road in the village, and the faces etched by the years and full of vicissitudes are gradually blurred and distorted... The crimson overflowing down is their shoulders shivering in the cold wind. I can't figure out the ragged shawl shaking, or the blood and tears oozing from the cold eyes.

I stood by the torii gate in the imperial garden, staring at the huge thousand stones lying quietly in the crimson luster.

From below it came a rhythm like breathing, slow and heavy.Leaning against the side of the stone, one can feel the endless breathing of Huang Quan, close at hand, the rushing spiritual waves are agitating wildly, as if they will break through the barrier at any time, gushing out.

Caressing the cold and hard stone surface of the huge torii gate, the coolness is transmitted along the fingertips, reaching the heart.

There should be countless Jizo left in the disappeared village to commemorate the lost god son, so after the spiritual path is opened, the enchantment can still be maintained to trap the evil spirits in it.In Yuejian, there is no practice of building Jizo or enshrining relics for the chief priest.After the last drop of blood was sprinkled on the shimenawa ropes in the four torii gates, the body and soul were swallowed up by nothingness. In the end, the only thing that can prove their existence is a paragraph of text recorded in the annals of the Five Households.

Paid such a heavy price, but got out of proportion to it.People living in the sealed land are not guaranteed to enjoy eternal peace and tranquility, but are always immersed in the pain of being cursed.What's more, they were destroyed because of the wrong ritual.

The seal is getting weaker and weaker, and the clues can be seen only from the gradual dilapidation of the Tsukiyomi Shrine, not to mention the alien cracks that appear in this world from time to time... Tsukimi is approaching the end that will come at an unknown time, and that is not too far away, priest We should all be aware of it.At this time, the abnormal results in the selection that made everyone helpless seemed to become less incomprehensible.

Years of belief in exchange for complete destruction one day.Clearly aware of this, but no one raises objections, just because no one can contend with the cruel fate.Living in a false peace, humbly offering living sacrifices according to the arrangement, just to continue this sad fate.

If our sacrifice is worthwhile, I'll do my best to convince myself to give it a try.But in the present situation, it is a wild gamble to ask us to follow the example of the village that has disappeared from the world, and no wreck remains.

No, it is simply impossible for me to kill Ye with a calm and indifferent attitude!No matter how much time I spend practicing...it's impossible to do it...

He couldn't help laughing silently at Feiyue who was well versed in the void.

Only this... no matter how hard Ma Canghao tried, he would never be able to do it.

The wind from the abyss passed through the forbidden forest in the dark night, and the rustling sounds of the dancing branches and leaves surrounded me from all directions like a cold mockery.

It is a labyrinth without an exit, a trap to the sky...a carefully woven, unbreakable net, and we struggle in it without knowing it...without realizing that we are bound and unable to breathe, as if we were bound Like a puppet at the mercy of people, it is drawn by silk threads and dances by itself.

What is it for, to maintain such an absurd fate year after year?For whom are we going to destroy our loved ones?Who is it that sets the rules of this cruel game?

If longing is also a mistake, if fetters are also a sin, I would rather jump into hell and become the most sinful villain!

I will never admit to...such a god!Such faith!

From now on, I swear to cut off the shackles that have bound Yuejian for nearly a thousand years!If you can't, let it all end there!

★★★

"I've made up my mind, and I'll do what grandpa said." Ye's voice was as calm as a lake, and his eyes had returned to their usual indifference, and the panic he saw back then was long gone. "Our duty is to complete the ceremony and re-seal the gate of the underworld. If we don't do it, who else can?"

"I've said so much, don't you understand? No one can guarantee that the seal of Yuejian can be repaired by holding a sacrifice! Why should I watch you make such a meaningless sacrifice?" I can no longer pretend to be calm , Ye's reaction was worse than expected, the point is that he is still an extremely stubborn guy.If I can't convince him, my plan is likely to be destroyed by him, because he attaches more importance to the success or failure of the ceremony than anyone else.

"Brother, you can't guarantee that you will succeed with your method, can you?" He stared at me solemnly, and every sentence hit my vital point: "It is true that Zhiji's success is not very sure, but if you follow what you said It’s fine to hold the main ceremony in the previous way, why are the two of us the result of the two selections? Obviously, the situation this time is different from the past.”

"Well, even if what you said is right, let's think about it together, how can we seal the gate of the underworld!" I sat down impatiently by the wooden porch near the atrium, and stopped looking at him: " That sacrificial method handed down from the extinct village...I will not admit it!"

Ye was stunned for a moment, and looked a little helpless when he spoke again: "If there is another way, Grandpa and the others should have thought of it a long time ago..."

I turned my head and stared at him: "Have you given up thinking? It's really not like you."

He shook his head slightly, walked over to me and sat down, sighing quietly: "I have to admit, with the power we two have now, we are powerless to change the situation. We can't predict the consequences of changing the ritual process without authorization. ...So, I can only do what I can do. Forcing myself to do things that I am not sure of will only drag everyone down. I am the priest of Tsukimi, I can't take that kind of risk, I can only choose to succeed the most efficient way.”

"...Yeah, I don't know what else to do... At least, if I can find the 'root', I won't be so powerless..." This lament is not only for the helpless self, but also for Yue Jian.

The abnormality of the spiritual path and the gathering of resentful spirits often have their "roots" at the beginning.If one can start from there and perform the postscript removal ceremony, it may be possible to completely seal the distorted spiritual path and make the disaster disappear from this land.The sad thing is that there is no record about the "root" in Yuejian's ancient documents, as if someone deliberately erased it.To this day, the Yuwu family still has no way to deal with the gradually expanding spiritual path, and can only continue to seal the door with rituals.

Even if I am determined to cut off the shackles of this cruel fate, I don't know where to swing my sword. All I do is wander back and forth in the dark night, unable to move forward.

I don't know when, Ye gently leaned his head on my shoulder, with a faint pale smile on the corner of his mouth.

"Don't be sad, okay? If we are together, we won't be alone."

"You clearly know...I hope, at least you can survive." My smile was as cold as ice.Ye always gives up on himself easily, even if he made an agreement with him to "never do anything reckless to hurt himself", he would always forget about it.

"If I can die at your hands, it will be the highest happiness for me."

I was startled suddenly, and even Ye who was leaning beside me stood up and looked at me in fright.The widened amber eyes were filled with two contradictory meanings of surprise and understanding at the same time.And I saw my own expression in those clear eyes, completely unbelievable surprise and vague anger were brewing, and I exhausted all my restraint to not blurt out the resentment hidden in my heart.

Yes, Ye is ready for the moment of the end, so indifferent because he really regards it as happiness; and those little surprises are due to my reaction, maybe he thought I would be shocked by his words Touch, and then give up the psychology of resistance.

However he was wrong.

How could I consider it happiness to end the life of a loved one?

Ye, do you really think that I can face this result with a smile like you?

Do you... really think so?

Do you really... want me to do this?

Note: Ksitigarbha, the name of a Buddhist Bodhisattva, here specifically refers to the Dao ancestor god in Japanese mythology. It often appears in various film and television animation works. It stands on the side of the road in the form of a small stone statue, protecting this area from demon disasters. infringement.

Note: Enchantment, the boundary drawn by the magician, here refers to the boundary determined by countless dizang and priests casting spells.Wraiths cannot go from "inside" to outside the village.