【Good Leaf】Eclipse of the Crimson Moon

【Growing up 1】

It was already the afternoon of the second day (note) by the time the accident that occurred during the dark sacrifice was dealt with and everyone was dismissed.Although the elders had dissatisfaction in their eyes, they did not express any further objections to my decision. That was also because the seal strengthening ceremony of Shimenawawa had been completed, and the subsequent intruders did not cause much damage.However, according to Tsukimi's regulations, those who trespass in forbidden places must be executed or made "forbidden people", and asking people to "investigate" first is just a way to delay the attack.

I dismissed all the servants and locked myself in the bedroom. The priests just thought that I was overworked and needed to rest.But how can I rest in peace now?The unprecedented panic occupied all my thoughts, and I almost couldn't maintain my proud normality. Fortunately, I still wore a mask to cover the scars on my face, otherwise, my expression would reveal everything the moment I saw him .

Although I tried my best to suppress my emotions, I still blurted out an exclamation, which was asked to "Ye", but he obviously couldn't answer me.Just this one sentence makes me uneasy.I don't know if the priest next to me heard it, and I don't know what the boy will think.He should have been someone who had nothing to do with me!How could I have made such a mistake?

At that time, the strange mood swings I felt behind a dark bush turned out to be the boy who I had worked so hard to send out of Oki Island. Regret is no longer enough to describe my mood. I only hate myself for not being able to pass time Going backwards, it is impossible to correct the mistakes made at this time.It has been more than three years since I got the power to perceive the voices of others. I have endured no matter what kind of depression and depression I feel when evil thoughts flood into my mind, but I have never cursed this ability like I do now...

—Don't blame yourself too much, my lord.What you did was not wrong, if you let outsiders destroy the ceremony, it will endanger the safety of Yuejian.It's just that that kid shouldn't be in that place at that time...

Quanzong suddenly spoke out from the darkness, comforting me with his usual sophisticated and slightly sad tone.But in this dead and lonely space, I yelled at it as if I had found an object to vent:

"What that child! That's my only younger brother! Why? I've already sent him away and sealed his memory, so why can he come back?"

——Please calm down...Although you have opened a barrier to prevent prying eyes, it is still dangerous for you to be so excited...If someone sees you...

"Why on earth... What went wrong? I did hint to his parents not to go back to Yuejian... Is there something wrong with my spells?" I sat down on the ground in a daze, I hardly listened to Maoyou's words .

At this moment, the brain is like a mess, with thousands of threads.The current situation is the worst that I have never imagined.Being able to face Ye Wang so calmly is also because Ye He has left and can give it a go without worrying about it. For this reason, I have already taken the action of breaking the boat.And now, what am I supposed to do?If Ye is killed, it's all my fault...what's the point of everything I've done?

I already... don't know what to do...!

- It's not your fault.

At some point, Quanzong had come to me, squatted down and stared at me, repeating what he said before.

——Xiaosheng has always felt that spiritual vision is a force that makes people unhappy.Knowing more, but not being happy.Please stop beating yourself up, you shouldn't have known he was going to be there.

I was stunned for a moment.Even though I knew it was just words of consolation, I couldn't help agreeing with certain parts.

The things glimpsed by the power of spiritual vision are forbidden areas that should not be seen by others.The complexity and vagaries of the human heart are beyond the comprehension of any practitioner.All that is wholly his own is the heart, which is the only characteristic that distinguishes him from the outside world.Becoming a secret domain that only belongs to oneself is not only a barrier between people, but also a way to maintain oneself.And once you step into a field that doesn't belong to you without authorization, you will definitely not be able to retreat completely.

What Ye Wang saw made him fall into endless darkness, and will I also walk on the same path as him?

"Is this also his curse? Even if Ye has become another person, he still cannot escape the fate of being bound here..."

The cat lowered its head again and didn't answer. The answer was that it didn't know or it couldn't be said that it wasn't important anymore.For whatever reason, Ye has returned to Yuejian, once again bound by this prison-like island.And his current situation can be said to be more dangerous than four years ago.

I don't know how much she can understand Anna's hint?In that case all I can do is leave it to others to investigate.

No, she will understand, right?My hope... No matter what, I will find a suitable excuse to exonerate him and send him off the island safely.

However, there was a voice in my heart that murmured mockingly: Will it be so smooth?Can a bird that has been caught so easily return to the sky?If that's the case, why do you have to work so hard...

Noisy!

Violently waved away the whispers that disturbed my heart, and the countless fiery heats bred by restlessness and boredom gradually turned cold, while despair crept forward silently and spread.

What if Ye could have been left at the Reading Shrine and handled by me?Or how about hinting at the relevant people?No matter how you think about it, you can't find a way to avoid the eyes and ears of the other four elders.Why can't I personally send him away?It would be easier to act as the Priest than Ana...but I can't do anything about it.

The price that was not paid when the taboo was broken four years ago has to be paid back now, and that is beyond my ability, and I don't even have a chance to regret it.

Half a month ago, Anna brought back the last secret volume I know from Izumo, which is the puzzle I have been looking forward to for a long time.Maybe this secret volume contains the answer I need, maybe I can find a way to cut off the curse.I have great doubts about why it was preserved in Izumo Taisha (Note), but the clues shown in the previous dossiers do point to Izumo.It is a pity that this dossier was disguised as another form, and it was damaged more seriously than the parts I have seen before. It will take a long time to repair and analyze those incomplete words. I have spent a long time on it, and now it is Seeing results soon.But just at this time, a huge change happened, which completely disrupted my pace.

Waiting anxiously, unable to think about anything else.

At the end of November, the monthly temperature has dropped to an extremely low level. It is said that the rare and continuous heavy rain has blocked the way out of the mountain, and the communication has also failed.In the days after that, all the bad news came.When I heard that the boy who was imprisoned in the underground prison suffered from acute pneumonia and was sent to the hospital, I locked myself in the dormitory, anxiously wandering back and forth.The ominous premonition in my mind became more and more clear, and I vaguely understood that Anna could no longer control the situation.That's not her fault, but that I overlooked one important thing, which is the leaf itself.

What I did to him ignored his own thoughts and obliterated his will.I did not expect his forgiveness, but I also underestimated his power.He is my younger brother, one of the heirs of the Asakura family, and was also the chief priest of Tsukimi.Even if all power and memory were gone, it was impossible for him to be at the mercy of fate.The more he wants to restrain him, the harder he will fight, especially after seeing the scene of the dark sacrifice, I can probably guess what thoughts and actions he will have.

It is already difficult to control Ye and prevent him from doing more outrageous things, let alone being under the surveillance of the other four families.If they act recklessly and they discover the relationship between "Nishi Kujo Masumi" and Asakura Yoshimi, everything will be irreversible.

Then, the thing that worried me the most finally happened.

That day, I was meditating in the hall of worship, and I felt a strange fluctuation of spiritual power, and there was a change in the enchantment in the side hall where Ye was.When he rushed there, there was indeed a weak life reaction in the body that had been sleeping for nearly four years.

With his fingers resting on the side of his nose that was still cold, he already had a weak breath.

I was stunned beside Ye.

Can't go wrong.

"Masumi" has died, and Ye's soul will come back here, just before the upcoming festival.If he doesn't act quickly, he will definitely be...

However, at this moment, noisy voices sounded outside the hall, and chaotic footsteps came from far to near.

★★★

"Master Priest, she has a dispute with the priest on duty, I'm afraid we can't stop her, please..."

The voice outside the door trembled.I don't need him to tell me, I already know that Anna loses her temper and makes a lot of noise, and it's not something ordinary people can stop.

Sure enough, after a burst of hurried footsteps, there were chaotic shouts from outside:

"Please...wait a moment, Osoreyama-sama! The chief priest is resting..."

"Go away! What's happening right now doesn't allow people to rest slowly, can you afford to delay the ceremony!" A female voice was not loud but full of courage from outside.Lost her former coldness and composure, now there was anger in her voice.Because I have been shutting out people from the future for three days, including her.

When I opened the paper door, Anna was taking her feet off the back of the shivering priest on duty, and she probably planned to break in the door next.That's for sure, just look at her expression.

Although I have usually given her too much authority and freedom as an outsider, she is also a sensible person and will not openly do things that violate her identity.But this time, she clearly planned to take me to the Abyss of Darkness even if she broke the rules.In addition to Ye's matter, Mu Nai's sudden admission to the hospital also made her lose her patience and calmness.

I offered to see Yeh and she was taken aback.Not only her, but the entire Asakang family was immersed in the terrible news that "one of the chief priests became a sinner who put Yuejian into a dangerous situation", and panicked.My attitude confuses them even more, especially those who have long known that the relationship between Ye and I is extraordinary has several guesses in their minds.

It's time for them to know "what I think" and that's the only answer I've gotten after sleepless nights agonizing over it.

The girl following me didn't say a word, but she was struggling fiercely in her heart.I could feel strong unease entrenched in her heart, even mixed with a little regret, which is a very rare emotion in Anna.She is very keen and has already sensed that the direction of the incident is not optimistic.

From the perspective of others, what kind of position should I be in today?Everyone has already answered in their hearts.

I am "the only surviving member of the Asakura family who was abandoned by Asakura leaves", and I am "the son of the demon who survived the failed festival".The fate of Tsukimi has come to the brink of danger. I am the chief priest of this ceremony, Asakura Yoshi, and I am shouldering the mission of making the ceremony a success.

Therefore, for the sinner who "abandoned his elder brother and family, and turned his back on the land where he was born", there is no need for others to question him, his crime must be determined by me personally!

Ma Cangye will pay the price for the crimes he committed, and the evil consequences that cannot be remedied even with his life can only calm the anger of the public by offering him as a dark sacrifice.I will tell him this decision personally, otherwise he will not realize how serious his sin is, nor will he understand how critical Yuejian's situation is.

★★★

When I saw the young man imprisoned in the stone prison, my heart convulsed violently. I almost forgot the rhetoric I had rehearsed countless times in my heart. From that heavy confinement——

Quanzong's figure suddenly appeared in front of me, making my confused thoughts freeze for a moment.The fiery brain cooled instantly, and the scattered pace finally returned to stability.

The scars on his body were even more shocking when he came close, but what worried him the most was his expression.A few days ago, I gazed at his peaceful and beautiful sleeping face, but now he has become haggard and sad, his waist-length hair hangs messily from his face and chest, and many of them are sticky with blood and sweat. Repeatedly, it sticks to the cheek, so that the sunken pupils are completely buried in the shadow, so weird and gloomy that I can't believe that it is Ye.

"Hey, Ye, long time no see." My tone was still steady.After seeing him like that, he felt relieved about everything he was about to face. This feeling was really subtle.

He responded unsurprisingly to my arrival.When he threw himself into my arms and wept bitterly, the emotions I had been deliberately suppressing gradually faded away.When the other person needs comfort, you can't be weak.We have always been like this.

I have never been more grateful for that shabby ghost mask than I am now, because when I took off the mask at Ye's request, I had completely returned to the cold and unruly Ma Canghao.

I don't know if he was shocked by my expression, or because he saw the scar next to my right eye, Ye looked very frightened.He hadn't experienced that failed ritual, so he must have no real sense of the hellish catastrophe and the fact that his family died.He still holds a glimmer of hope in his heart, hoping to hear a different answer from me, hoping that none of that is true, but he is obviously going to be disappointed.

I grabbed his thin shoulders, made him look into my eyes, and then told him the answers he needed lightly:

"The ceremony failed. Everyone died, but us."

He really became desperate and in a trance.

"Why do you do this kind of thing? Haven't you thought about the consequences now?"

He shook his head blankly, because in his memory there was no motive or process for "escape".But he nodded shyly after seeing my cold eyes, yes, he is the only puppeteer in Yuejian, only he can do this kind of thing, this is his inescapable responsibility, even though he can't understand himself at all why.

But I want him to understand, he must understand, and everyone will understand.He can only hopelessly wait for God's punishment. He is a sinner rejected by God, his family, and the world!

Ma Cangye, you have already been branded as a sinner who is worse than a beast, don't have any more delusions.No one will forgive your sins, neither will I.You can never escape from your destiny again.

When I stomped him hard, there was only one thing I wanted to convey to him:

I hate you, traitor!

Note: The dark offering starts the night before and is held together with the table offering.

Note: Izumo Taisha, located in Izumo City, Shimane Prefecture, is one of the oldest shrines in Japan.It is said that every year during the Kanna month, there will be 800 million (really enough) gods gathered here from all over the world. For Izumo, it is "Kamizai Moon", so a grand Kamizai Festival will be held.