【Light Cut】Playing hard to get

Seimei arrived alone at the courtyard where Patriarch Genji lived alone, and the cold sunlight flowed in his heart like the dusty past. "Dong Dong." He knocked on the door with his fingers, and pushed the sliding door open without waiting for the owner to reply, "Laiguang, put away the illusion, it's me."

The Great Onmyoji closed the door with his backhand, moving slowly.He heard a nasal chuckle from the owner of the room, and saw that the neat and bright room in front of him was suddenly withdrawn due to the illusion, and instantly turned into a horrible cage with blood splatters, blood clothes messy, and the smell of bitter medicine could not suppress the blood. The owner was leaning against an empty knife rack in the corner, his head was half-drowned, and his silver hair was sticky with blood.In the cold room in early spring, he sat on the floor with one leg bent, and didn't bother to wipe the blood still dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"You should lie down instead of moving around like this. Do you think the curse is not eroding fast enough?" Seimei lowered his voice, closed the sliding door completely, and tapped the door screen behind him with his fingertips. The room in the room has a triple barrier, which is used to hide the eyes and ears, and it is strong enough, "I heard that Onikiri is learning how to make wine, and I probably want to surprise you... Didn't you complain that you never received Onikiri's gift? At least Until then, it’s just a wish.”

But the old man who was looking up at Qingming hooked one corner of his mouth and showed a slightly mocking smile, "Great Onmyoji Qingming, although your appearance has changed little, you are still in the same age as me , Why, eyesight is worse than mine? Can't you see that I can sit up like this now?"

The old man's tone was sharp, full of habitual sarcasm towards Qingming, but also full of indifference to his own situation, "I'm running out of time, and I called you here to explain the funeral. There is something I want to entrust to you, Qingming." He turned his left hand He glanced at it, and then turned his gaze back to his old friend, "This is the wooden box, don't just stand there, come and get it."

Although in the darkest moment when the oil is exhausted and the lamps are dry, the old man still exudes a majestic majesty accumulated over the years, but Qingming, who has been his bad friend for many years, can't know that he doesn't even have the strength to pick up a wooden box, so he just Deliberately set the tone of order, and let the enemy "come and get it" by himself.

"As the saying goes, 'When a man is about to die, his words are good', but why do you still speak so badly? Minamoto Raimitsu, Minamoto Raimitsu, why did I have such a bastard friend like you." Qingming muttered as he walked towards The blood-stained old friend knelt down in front of him, stretched out his fingers and picked up the wooden box in his hand, opened it and fell into deep thought, silent.

Minamoto Raimitsu waited for him to speak first, coughed twice under the beating of his heart struggling to survive, and vomited out a mouthful of blood in his chest cavity. black.

"This eyeball is prepared for Onikiri, right? But are you old and dizzy? The pattern on the iris is not Genji's gentian pattern." Qingming weighed the wooden box, patiently waiting for Minamoto to spit out Xueshui replied word by word in a hoarse voice: "Cough...that's right. Onikiri is no longer the Genka's sword, he belongs to himself."

But Qingming frowned, unsatisfied with this answer, still full of disapproval, "This eyeball is condensed with your last clean power. If Onikiri encounters a difficult miasma again, this eyeball will last forever." Purify it until your remaining spiritual power is exhausted. However, you..."

"The old wounds from your youth have recurred and worsened. Years of killing have resulted in a double curse that erodes your spirit and body. You are already in a terrible state, and your spiritual power is exhausted. This miserable state - it's time like this, and you still have the time to worry about ghosts? That child is now a powerful monster, and ordinary miasma poison can't get close to him, with your insignificant spiritual power - " Qingming said The blame stopped abruptly when he saw the old man's eyes burning like red blood, and turned into a heavy sigh, "Laiguang... old friend. No matter how good you left the ghost, it is a 'relic'. I won’t like it. Why don’t you try to survive and hand it to him? You see, you even designed his own emblem for him, and he must be so happy that he jumped three feet high…”

But Minamoto Raikou listened to Seimei's good words and listened to him. His eyes shifted slightly, as if staring at someone standing behind Seimei, and nodded towards "it". "...Who did you see this time?" Qingming was not surprised by the slightly weird behavior of his old friend, "You are using illusions to influence Yuanjia, and at the same time, you are being affected by the hallucinations that constantly curse your death...you let What should I say about you? Laiguang."

The old man raised his eyebrows slightly indifferently, and still only replied with a strong personality: "I saw Ah Fen, a simple and honest man. I went to Dajiangshan, and I couldn’t go back home after the first battle. I killed him. He said to me just now, "Minato Raimitsu, why didn't we win the battle? I don't want to die. I want to go home and pay my life back." '."

The expression of the old man is still calm and thoughtful, but Qingming has already clenched his lower lip, and his heart is twisted. He is not only sad for "A Fen"'s untimely death, but also mourns the tortured loneliness of his old friend. the rest of my life.

"With a human body, seeking the power of ghosts and gods, I already know what price I should pay." Minamoto Raimitsu seemed to have guessed what Seimei was thinking, and comforted his old friend in a flat but arrogant tone, " If everything I've experienced is a punishment against the sky, hmph, then this day's punishment is too childish—it's all within my expectations. I just need to cancel the blood contract in advance, send Onikiri away, and Plant illusions in Genji Mansion. As for bearing the price, it is extremely simple for me."

Taking advantage of him not paying attention, Qingming quickly wiped the corners of his eyes with his fingertips, then smiled at him as if nothing happened: "Using illusions on your family members to maintain your image as the glorious patriarch is nothing more than driving you away with no sincerity." Is Onikiri easy? Don’t think I don’t know, that kid always sneaks out of the mountains, hides in a certain tree and looks at you, and sneaks into your bedroom every now and then like a thief, listening to your heartbeat Falling asleep——Onikiri's intuition is extremely keen, and he knows you very well, how did you hide it from him?"

Minamoto Raimitsu's answer was so concise that Seimei wanted to hit someone after hearing it: "It's just an illusion. Do you need me to teach you how to make others see only what you want them to see, Great Onmyoji?"

Seimei couldn't help but rolled his eyes again at the familiar mocking tone, "Hehe, I know where you used your remaining spiritual power, the closer Onikiri gets to you, the more you have to create enough Realistic false appearance, for example, cover up the smell, and fabricate the smell of blood as an 'old man' - you are such an asshole. If the ghost knows that his concern for you hastened your death, what do you think he will do think?"

Minamoto Raimitsu seemed to be rolling his eyes at Seimei's rhetorical question, "Why would Onikir know? After I die, as long as the Great Onmyoji keeps his mouth shut, he will never know. Besides, you think I gave you Things are only for purification?" He seems to have returned to his childhood, when Seimei and Seimei were always fighting against each other in Genji's family school, arguing endlessly, and disagreeing with each other for the title of "genius", "Unfortunately, purification is just this One of the functions of the eyeball, its biggest function is to serve as a container for sealing memories."

"With my current power, I can't erase all of Onikiri's memories about me, but Seimei—" "Wait!" The entrusted son of the white fox figured it out in an instant, his expression changed drastically, and he turned to his old friend who hadn't changed. Angrily said: "I refuse, I don't accept! The memory of you belongs to Onikiri himself, and how to deal with it is up to him. You and I have no right to intervene. What's more, with Onikiri's current strength, even I have to be afraid of it." , a monster like him, no one can force him to do anything against his heart."

Qingming was anxious and angry, but Minamoto Laiguang frowned slightly, and said disdainfully for his friend's anger: "Onikiri's biggest problem is that he loves to stick to the horns and doesn't change the established things. Let me tell you, after I die, he will Worry about what to do, he will only be angry that I lost to old age cowardly and incompetently, rather than dying gloriously and honestly by his hands. I can even foresee that he will lift up my grave in a fit of anger, chop every ashes of me with a knife, and then Cursing at my spirit seat, hmph...you always look like an uneducated person."

"But he is the 'Xeon Blade' that I recognize after all. As his past master, I have the obligation to push him back from the wrong path."

"'Extreme Blade' only needs to hold the heart of killing everything, be upright and unmatched. Concerned about a weak mayf who is dying and struggling, or crying bitterly over a corrupt corpse, it is not in line with Onikiri's actions'to Strong Blade' identity."

"If it's just because of my death that the noble brilliance of the famous sword 'Onikiri' is distorted in anger, 'I' must be eliminated." Minamoto Raimitsu raised his chin slightly, and his tone became impatient, "So you understand Is it, Seimei? As a great onmyoji, how hard can it be to erase a memory that is too short for a demon? This is the only request I make to you before I die, and it is nothing more than a simple effort for you—"

Minamoto Raikou suddenly stopped, as if he had been choked by something, he retched, and spit out a piece of black sticky matter - Seimei could tell at a glance that it was the fragments of his internal organs, from urging him to "quickly die" Cursed handwriting. "Cough..." Qingming could hear the sound of his organs under the skin being rapidly corroded by the venom, but he could even see that his body began to bleed everywhere, staining the last corner of his white clothes.It was as if he had been pierced by thousands of sharp blades at the same time, or by the same sharp blade thousands of times.

Seimei had seen him bleed like this before, he must have seen the night Onikiri betrayed him again.It's just that in the mirage before dying, the former puppet became himself. He was sliced ​​into pieces by the crazy laughing ghost, and he was reduced to pieces under the endless curse of the blade of love.

"Cough, it's really...a good knife...Even I, feel..." Yuan Laiguang couldn't support himself anymore, his eyelids fell together with the light in his eyes, "...it hurts a bit." He softly He fell forward softly, as if all the strength in his body had abandoned him. Even if Qingming caught his upper body, he could no longer straighten his back, and could only let his head rest on his friend's shoulder, as if he was in a harbor with the world. The last piece of boat rope connected.

"Stop talking, Laiguang," Qingming grabbed his back, trying to suppress the extreme fear of his friend's death, "You first breathe, breathe, take your time, don't worry, the pain will soon be gone... "As if to make the old friend feel better, or to force himself to calm down, Qingming suddenly smiled, and said inappropriately: "Haha, Laiguang, I remembered a funny thing, Yan Yanluo told me by accident Yes, about Onikiri, hair-eating ghosts, me, and you."

"It is said that one day, Guiqie met the hair-eating ghost somehow. The two of them had little contact, but somehow they talked about you and me. The hair-eating ghost said, 'Master Qingming is getting older, but With the blood of a fox demon, she is still an unparalleled beauty. Look at that pear-like white hair! It's not like some gloomy big man with wrinkled skin and an unpleasant smell on his body. No appetite.'"

"As a result, Onikiri became angry as soon as he heard it. His roar scared the little smoker directly back into the pipe in Yanyanluo's hand. At that time Onikiri roared, 'Even if Minamoto Raimitsu is old, he is still the prettiest. !Even if he is a stinky old man, he is still the best-looking stinky old man! Seimei is almost bald, how can his hair look good! Minamoto Raimitsu has long and long hair, he is the most beautiful!'”

Seimei's tone of Onikiri's exasperation was so vivid that Minamoto Raikou, who was drowsy in the pain, couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly, "Silly boy..." The old man's throat was clogged with blood clots , so that he could only speak a low voice like a butterfly fluttering its wings, but his friend tacitly picked up his words: "Raikori, sometimes I really feel that Onikiri is like your child, who is connected by blood because of a contract." , not flesh and blood, even close relatives. Thinking about it this way, you don’t have any regrets about not getting married or marrying to avoid the curse of killing evil and harming future generations. Anyway, you have already taught the 'Xeon Blade', surpassing you, Genji , and all the treasures of the past and present.”

Fearing that his friend would blurt out another burst of ridicule, the frightened Onmyoji hurriedly said: "Save your energy, don't rush to refute, and save some face for me."

Seimei paused for a moment, listening to his old friend's slowing heartbeat and counting the remaining time, he said, "The original 'Onikiri' was a pure knife with a black steel body and unparalleled sharpness. , was sealed in Genji Hyogo because no one dared to control it. But after all, it was the sword forged by Master Manzhong. Before passing away, any father would want to leave the best for his children. Lord Manzhong will' Onikiri' is left to you, Raiko."

"I envied you very much since I was a child, because you have a great father like Master Manzhong. 'Onikiri' protected you from the fire in Kyoto and helped you save the common people, not only because of its own sharpness and your perseverance, It is also out of a father's willingness to do everything for his son's protection."

"The Battle of Kyoto exhausted the spiritual power of Manchu-sama above Onikiri, but the inheritance between father and son has never ceased, because you met a monster—a villain you hate so much—but this monster saved you, Just like your father, your 'Onikiri' saved you."

"Fusing the sharp blade of your love with the monster you hate, even if it was an expedient measure to break out of the siege, but after all, you saved the dying monster. Can I understand that you are grateful for that monster's selfless dedication to you at the cost of sacrificing his life? Then Is this the first time you have learned that a demon has such a kind side?"

"In the process, I can only guess, and in the ending, you turned the monster into the Fusangshen of the sword, and gave the name of the sword to the monster. Your sword finally stood by your side in the form of a human, and you finally don't have to. Every day, I can only talk to myself in front of an iron tool, and be pointed at by other Gen clan members. The human-shaped ghosts can be touched and felt, which can be cried and laughed. And you do stupid things out of your wits, knocking the vinegar jar over a cat."

"As far as I know, in the past ten years, you have taught him sword skills, the way of yin and yang, tactics and even combination. You have taught Onikiri everything, and you have been inseparable from him. Is it really just to take advantage of Onikiri, Is he your knife and sheath? Your puppet and scapegoat?"

"You can fool other people, but you can't fool me, Raikou... You praised Onikiri as the 'Xeon Blade', you would rather erase Onikiri's memory, but also maintain the beauty of the 'Xeon Blade' Light, but the one who really wants to be the 'Xeon Blade' is not available, it is you, Minamoto. Just because you understand the fragility of human life and the price you have to pay for going against the sky, you will give your eternal The ideals that cannot be realized are all pinned on Onikiri.”

"Guide with 'noble, strong, and upright', and use deceit, betrayal, rupture, and new life as honed, you started to prepare long ago. You have long expected that you choose to kill and stop killing, absolutely unforgivable sin, You will be plunged into the abyss of murder, your body will be rotten, and the stench will be unbearable, but you understand better that Onikiri, who is reborn from the ashes, will only become more radiant and dazzling, and will be praised by all people and loved by all demons."

"From the moment he merged with the most hated ghost with the sharp blade of love, the general who slashed ghosts fell in love with ghosts. This is absurd, and you will never admit it, but you are like a father. The best things in life are left to your own children, including the freedom you failed to get, and the title of "Xeon Blade". You don't even want your children to come to see you for the last time, because you are more dead than dead. Are you more afraid of Onikiri's tears, Minamoto Raimitsu?"

"But you don't understand, as a child, his father's leaving without saying goodbye will be him—" Qingming, who was thinking about herself, had a thousand words to say, but stopped abruptly on the tip of her tongue.

Because he discovered that Minamoto Yorimitsu fell into the hallucinations brought by the curse again at some point. He saw Minamoto Yorimitsu dripping blood from between his teeth, and said with his mouth: I understand, Shouyi, but all this has nothing to do with ghosts. Nothing to do, I will repay everything to the Yuan family.

The knife in my hand, my hand holding the knife, my body, my name, my surname - I will repay the Yuan family for everything in this life, and the shortfall will be repaid by me in the next life. Pay for it with eternal life.

Yes, Shouyi, I swear...my afterlife also belongs to Genji.Onikiri is no longer Genji's heavy treasure, he is free, but I will always be Genji's weapon.

I will be used by people with the surname Yuan until no one from my clan uses me.Shouyi, Ah Fen, to all those who died for me, I swear to you.

"Raimiko?! Don't swear!" Seimei broke out in a cold sweat, and he shouted, "The curse will haunt your reincarnation! You—" But the moment he spoke, Minamoto's breathing and heartbeat stopped forever up.

At the same time, at that moment, Minamoto Raimitsu drew a small triangle on the floor with his blood-stained left hand, and those lacquered pupils stared at the small triangle until the brilliance faded away.

"Laiguang..." Qingming looked at the little triangle covered in blood with his unrepentant gaze, and said after a long, long time, "...you bastard, your drawing skills are too bad." He choked up several times, With red eyes, he smiled reluctantly and said, "There are not many people in the world who can associate triangles with triangle rice balls and then with Onikiri. Even if you draw a rice ball, Onikiri won't be able to see you for the last time... Don’t tell me you’re duplicity again, and actually hope that the child is here and can die for you?”

"Friend." He put his cheek close to his old friend's long and cold hair, and wanted to cry, but the tears blocked his nose, making it difficult for him to breathe, "Damn it, I would have brought Onikiri here if I knew it, I really believed it You are evil because you promised to help you hide everything... Seeing you die unwillingly, even I feel like I died once."

Qingming gritted her teeth heavily, and laid the corpse of her old friend in her arms on the ground.He took out a blue talisman from his sleeve and threw it at the paper door behind him. The blue talisman burned and smoked in mid-air, and the paper door slid open soundlessly, and a silent man carrying a huge coffin entered - the undertaker.

"Excuse me, please fix my old friend's appearance. He must maintain a decent image as the head of the family and a ghost-slaying general... These vomited black blood and peeled off skin must not be treated by anyone other than you and me. Others saw it." Seimei raised his hand, gently closed Minamoto's eyes, then got up and walked away, giving the place next to the corpse to the undertaker.

The vicissitudes of life man with long hair and short beard only glanced at Minamoto Laiguang, and said: "Under this skin, it has completely decayed... no, it melted. He must have been very painful before he died. The remaining layer of skin If you don't deal with it quickly, it will disintegrate within half a day." The mortician put down the coffin on his back, took out the tools for making up the deceased, and began to clean the blood on Yuan Laiguang's face. His movements were light and full of respect for the deceased. respect, but Seimei who stood behind him still choked, tears dripping down, "Yeah, he was cursed and injured from the bone marrow, and he has long been a broken blade beyond gold and jade. When he looked at the magnificent, noble and immortal Onikiri, besides being proud, he must have been very envious, and also hated his own decay. But after all, it was a pain that even he would complain about "a little pain"... If possible, He must have thought that he would have jumped into the furnace earlier, and died in the flames, rather than suffering through the years."

"But his life doesn't belong to him. He has a family, he has burdens to bear, and he has unfinished business. Countless people regard him as a belief. No matter how corrupt and painful he is, he can only choose to endure, pretending to be a noble and noble man. The Immortal Blade, otherwise countless people would have their faith collapsed because of his fall, which is a burden he cannot bear."

"Fortunately, there is a limit to the pain that humans can endure... Now that things have happened, he can finally rest."

Qingming wiped his tears with his cuff, and looked at his old friend who, under the exquisite make-up technique of the mortician, had faded away the blood stains and regained his human form, as if sleeping , "I'm not a samurai, I don't know how to forge swords, I can't reshape you like you reshape Onikiri, I'm sorry... I can't save you, I can only watch you break, I'm very sorry..."

"I'm sorry, old friend, I'm sorry. Even though I'm a 'big onmyoji' and you are a 'genius', there are too many things we can't do."

Qingming did not go to receive the handkerchief handed over by the mortician, but approached Yuan Laiguang's body, took out a purse from the inside skirt, opened it, and pulled out a clean silver thread, "I knew there was today, so I took advantage of the ghost Don't pay attention, I stole a piece of his hair." Seimei slowly wrapped the silver hair around Minamoto's silver sideburns, and whispered to the deceased friend: "Let it accompany you instead of Onikiri. At least You're not alone under the loess, old friend."

As soon as Seimei let go, the silver hair was completely mixed into Minamoto's long hair, as if it should be there, and there was no separation.

"Except for the memory that cannot be erased Onikiri, I will fulfill your other last wishes for you." Seimei stared at his friend's closed eyes, and said softly as if vowing: "Leave the mission of protecting Heiankyo and human beings to me. You Give me everything you want to hide. I will let the world believe that you passed away peacefully without pain, that you have neither regrets nor regrets, and that your coming and going are as bright and aboveboard as your name."

Qingming got up, shook his cuffs, and let the little paper people jump out, "Clean the room, burn the bloody clothes, wipe off all the blood, and don't leave any evidence of the suffering of Minamoto Raikou." He bowed, and immediately followed his words, shuttled through the room, and soon, even the small triangular rice ball that Minamoto Raimiko drew with blood was wiped clean, as if it had never existed.

When the little paper people slipped back into Qingming's sleeves one by one, the undertaker stopped the makeup brush in his hand and said in a low voice, "I'm done too, Mr. Onmyoji. But my makeup can only slightly delay the death of the deceased. The speed of disintegration, his remains will weather faster than ordinary bones. If someone deliberately opens the coffin, only left finger bones and a small amount of sternum fragments can be collected."

Qingming nodded, "That's enough, thank you, Your Excellency the Undertaker."

The mortician replied briefly: "No thanks." He put away his tools, carried the coffin, and left the room of the late Genji Patriarch silently.

Qingming also chose to leave shortly after the embalmer left.But before leaving, he opened all the windows in the room, allowing the early spring sunshine to pour down softly, allowing the man named after light to bathe in the light, so that he would not be found in the dark with his bones already cold.

He closed the sliding door with his backhand, and left Minamoto's courtyard without looking back.

When he ran into Boya and Kagura who were holding a gentian flower pot on the way home and said frankly that "I'm going to visit brother Laiguang", when his friends asked him, "What did you do alone?" : "Why are you crying? Are there sand in your eyes?" He just smiled slightly, and said in tears, "I'm back from an outing."

He wiped the corners of his eyes, and smiled again: "I just feel that the sun is a bit dazzling, that's all."