Great, now we are dead!

"Of course, and you should know that as well."

Ye Shou glanced back, and one of the priests, perhaps understanding what he meant, immediately and his companions carefully lifted the box down.

Qianhua stepped forward and said, "Liuli, please open the lid for me, hehe, let me see inside—huh?"

The two girls moved closer, but just as Ruri was about to touch her, the priest stopped her, much to the surprise of the two high school girls.

"Did we do something wrong?"

"No, it's just... women can't be touched; it's a rule passed down through generations of the shrine."

"...Is that so? Then there's nothing we can do."

Chika scratched her head sheepishly, and Ruri also showed a look of disappointment on her face.

Although curious, the two were not so assertive as to challenge "tradition," and everyone present felt it was only natural—after all, this was Japan, where feudal traditions were openly and naturally accepted in many places.

Hearing this, Ye Shou spoke up: "Of course we should respect their rules—if it's genuine."

"Ugh?"

"Ok?"

Everyone, including the priest, was taken aback.

"But this one is a fake, so there's no need to worry about it."

Ye Shou walked over and smiled slightly: "Open it."

Liuli's eyes flashed, and she placed her hand on it without hesitation. She always carried out Ye Shou's orders to the letter without any discount.

The priest glanced at the maid's hand, hesitated, and then looked up, just in time to meet Ye Shou's sharp gaze, even in the darkness.

"Isn't it a fake?"

"Yes, the original is of utmost importance and of course cannot leave the shrine... This is just an Edo-era replica."

The priests bowed their heads deeply and lifted the box upwards.

Qianhua opened her mouth slightly, then turned to look at Ye Shou with a hint of unease: "This..."

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing...hehe!"

Qianhua paused for a moment, then grinned foolishly at Ye Shou: "Thank you, Xiao Shou. Then I won't be polite!"

She and Liuli slowly lifted the lid from either side. Under the streetlights, inside was a long, thin, and rusty iron blank. Although it was shaped like a sword, it looked as plain and unremarkable as construction waste. Yet, it was nestled in a luxurious silk cushion, creating an extremely incongruous scene.

The only unusual thing is its length.

It's a full two and a half meters tall, a level that is definitely not something a human could handle!

"This is……"

"This is a replica of a treasure passed down through generations at Kashima Shrine."

The priest spoke slowly and reverently: "His name is Golden Bronze, and he is a man of great virtue and wisdom."

"Wu Wengchui... isn't that Takemikazuchi? The divine body of the Heian period?"

The girls were all stunned, and Chika recoiled as if she'd been burned: "This...this isn't a national treasure?!"

“The genuine article is a national treasure, but this is a fake.”

Liuli remained calm and closed the box again.

She had no doubt about whether the thing was real or fake—if Ye Shou said it was fake, then it could only be fake.

"Hey... Mamoru, aren't you going a bit too far? I was just looking for an excuse to go out and have some fun... Sukuna and all that doesn't matter to me!"

"When playing tabletop role-playing games, you need to feel fully immersed to have a good time, right?"

"You just wanted to create a festive atmosphere, so you gave away national treasures..."

At this moment, Chika realized once again just how outrageous her childhood friend's power was.

Compared to their shock, Ye Shou didn't find it particularly remarkable.

It is said to be an ancient sword with a history of thousands of years, but it is actually a straight sword from the mid-to-late Tang Dynasty. It was either a gift or a trade item that was passed down to Japan. At most, it is just that the style is quite unique.

This thing would be valuable in mainland China, but it might not be considered a "national treasure."

"It's getting late, let's get started."

Ye Shou glanced at his watch.

As the initiator of the event, Qianhua first rolled her eyes at Ye Shou, then shook her head vigorously to calm down.

"Alright! Let's begin!"

There are no wild animals in these mountains. I had already placed glow sticks as markers on the road during the day. We split into two small teams and went up the mountain to meet at Nishikina Shrine.

As for the priests... we hadn't considered this possibility... so we'll leave it to you to secretly vanquish demons and monsters for us!"

The priests looked at each other, feeling somewhat like they were being bossed around, but none of them complained.

Who told their shrine master to lose everything in real estate speculation, and now even the shrine's land has fallen into the hands of the Jiushi Group?

Even if it's just borrowing their treasures, or even turning the shrine into the Kuze family shrine, they'd have no choice but to accept their fate!

"Holy priests, please go ahead first. After all, there are girls involved, so it's better to be safe. Thank you for your trouble."

"We understand, please rest assured, Lord Kuze."

The white-robed priests were divided into three teams. The first team carried the palanquin ahead, followed by those holding various magical implements, and finally, the ancient sword guarded the divine body to bring up the rear.

It's not far from here to the shrine. With three priest processions going on tour, there's no need to worry about any wandering spirits.

The high school teams were quickly divided into groups by drawing lots, and Ye Shou and Yotsuya Miko were put in the same group.

Chika chuckled, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend time alone with a beautiful girl late at night, Mamoru!"

"Don't say that. Can't you see how bothered they are?"

Ye Shoudai, a childhood friend, apologized to the somewhat nervous Jianzi, "Don't worry, we'll encounter priests frequently along the way, so there won't be any danger. Even if any unexpected situations arise, I'll try my best to handle them properly."

"Thank you, thank you..."

Seeing Zi blink, her expression relaxed considerably.

Ye Shou spoke in a serious and even somewhat formulaic manner, but surprisingly, it was very reassuring. Perhaps it was because when he spoke, there was no professional smile on his face to appease people; instead, he looked serious as if he were making a vow.

"Yotsuya-kun must be feeling uneasy, right? Well, there's nothing we can do about it, since you're alone with a guy you just met... How about we switch?"

Ruri thoughtfully offered suggestions to Miko, but to everyone's surprise, the high school girl shook her head and refused!

"There's no need for that. I think Senior Ye Shou is quite trustworthy... Please take good care of me tonight, Senior."

—Liuli glanced at Zi meaningfully.

……

Yay! ...

The giant mudskipper-like monster emitted a shrill scream that ordinary people couldn't hear, as if it were placed on a red-hot iron plate, its whole body convulsing and emitting wisps of black smoke, before it completely dissipated in a short while.

"..."

"Yotani-san?"

"what?"

Hearing the call, Jianzi came to her senses and saw Ye Shouzheng looking at her with concern.

Her face flushed slightly, and the girl couldn't help but take a half step back: "W-what's wrong?"

"You seem to be daydreaming the whole time. Watch your step."

"Feel sorry."

Seeing that Zi smiled sheepishly, she said, "I haven't been getting enough sleep these past few days."

"It must be really tough on you guys to keep up with Chika's nonsense like this, making girls her age stay up all night... Lack of sleep is a major enemy of beauty."

Ye Shou walked ahead and waved his hand: "Then let's speed things up. I'll have someone take you home after this is over."

"Thank you, Kuze-senpai."

Seeing Zi following closely behind, even though she should be careful to watch where she's going, she couldn't help but glance at Ye Shou.

Of course, this wasn't based on mutual attraction between a man and a woman. Although Ye Shou was very charming, to Jian Zi, whom she had just met, he was still a "legendary figure," and it was not advisable for an ordinary person like her to get too involved with him.

Her main reason for choosing to team up with Ye Shou was her curiosity about the strange shadow behind him, and also, based on a woman's intuition, the closer she was to Jin Ye Shou, the more inexplicable a sense of security she felt.

Since she suddenly gained the ability to see ghosts two years ago, she has seen disgusting or grotesque spirits almost every day, living in constant fear. This has also helped her develop several special skills, such as forcibly overcoming her fear and maintaining a calm poker face when necessary, or controlling her gaze from being drawn to anything else.

It's all to pretend "I can't see" in order to escape the attention of spirits.

Another important skill is danger perception, which is as sensitive as that of a small animal.

Occasionally, different species form a wonderful symbiotic relationship, with the weak relying on the strong to avoid attacks from predators. Jianzi's behavior also unintentionally follows this law.

For example, just now, a small evil spirit tried to absorb Ye Shou's "vitality," but was burned to death by the excessively vigorous and scorching life force... Jianzi has a good best friend who is this type of person full of vitality.

However, Ye Shou's performance was even more exaggerated.

Moreover, Jianzi noticed that after the evil spirit was destroyed, a very faint mist remained, as if it were being drawn around Ye Shou, eventually disappearing into the shadows behind him.

Is it just my imagination? I feel like that ghostly presence is getting clearer and clearer...

Jianzi has become quite knowledgeable in the past two years, knowing that there are some psychics in human society, but to be honest, most of them can only barely see spirits, and are not even as good as her.

As for someone like Ye Shou who seems to have special abilities, this is the first time she has ever seen one!

Ye Shou appeared casual, but he had actually noticed Jian Zi's unusually eager gaze long ago.

From this angle... is that the back?

Such a striking sight can only be described as "ghost back".

However, [Ghost Back] is undoubtedly a pure melee ability, and there shouldn't be anything that would be noticed by the "Yin Yang Eyes".

【A ghost of extremely high purity】does involve the realm of the supernatural... but if a powerful evil spirit were attached to me, I would definitely not stare at it directly out of fear.

strange

Ye Shou thought for a long time but still couldn't figure out what was going on. He could only walk along the dark road without making a sound, planning to investigate it properly later.

The beam of light from the flashlight swept across the mountain path. Although few people walked there, causing weeds to grow taller than ankle-deep, the path was fortunately not rugged. Occasionally, the beam would catch some "blurry" objects, which Ye Shou ignored entirely.

Whether it was due to the influence of the ghosts or because of his encounter with Miko, he discovered that he seemed to possess a talent for clairvoyance. Currently, he could only see shadowy, almost pixelated, evil spirits, but as time passed, he could see them more and more clearly.

I could also faintly hear some static that sounded like radio interference, but I couldn't understand its meaning at all.

Yay! ...

Without batting an eye, Ye Shou stepped over a "lizard," ignoring its cries and attempts to dissipate. He didn't even glance down. Jianzi, following behind, felt a jolt of fear but forced herself to remain calm as she walked along the path.

Seeing that Zi was quite uneasy, Ye Shouxin tried to find a topic to ease the awkwardness. He stroked his chin and casually asked, "Does this shrine have a name?"

"Yes, Nishikida Shrine."

Seeing that Zi had replied quickly.

"Nishikida Shrine? I don't remember it."

"That's normal, after all, it's a small shrine that has been abandoned for a long time."

Jianzi seemed to know the background very well: "It is said that it was built by the locals to commemorate the ancient warriors who sealed Su Nuo, but it has not been worshipped for a long time and is now in a state of disrepair."

"The warrior who sealed away Sukuna?"

Ye Shou asked with a chuckle, "Should it be called Gotiao or Tiger Rod?"

"Gojo? What's that? It's called Nishikida Shrine, so it must be named after Nishikida."

Kenko tilted his head: "But the names of ancient samurai are indeed quite troublesome... something like dragon... I think his full name is Nishikita Kojuro Keiryu."

"Oh, Nishikita Keiryu, sounds like a very imposing warrior... wait?"

Ye Shou was stunned for a moment: "Kim Tin Gyeongryong? Kim Tin Gyeongryong!"

He immediately stopped laughing.

—What the hell is this Su Nuo?!

Chapter 17 A New Storm Has Appeared?