Chapter 122 The Underworld
Shoichi Shinomiyai was sitting cross-legged on his bedroom bed. Under the bright light, he was carefully examining a scripture on a small table on the bed.
His mature face was etched with fine lines, and his temples were slightly graying, making him appear much older than his nearly forty years.
He rubbed his temples, trying to alleviate the dizziness from attempting to read the scripture notes. He looked up at the bookshelves in the room, packed with books, and couldn’t help but sigh.
He stood up and stretched his body, then decided to turn off the lights and rest.
As the successor to his brother, Shoichi Shinomiyai, as the head divine officer of the shrine, Shoichi Masatsugu felt immense pressure. As the second son of the family, his weak talent in Onmyodo had already gradually pushed him out of the psychic circle.
His brother possessed exceptional talent and had supported the Shinomiyai family’s honor for many years. As the younger brother, he had been content to help manage the family’s business and live the life he wanted.
But accidents always happened so quickly. Shoichi Masatsugu, who had some experience with the psychic circle, had sensed a little of the world-ending disaster that day. Before he could proactively contact his family to inquire about the situation, the news of his brother’s death arrived first.
His niece, Mai Shinomiyai, had very high talent, even higher than Shoichi Shinomiyai in his prime. However, she was still too young to take on the position of shrine director. And among the Shinomiyai lineage, he was the only one left with the talent for Onmyodo who could step up.
Shoichi Masatsugu, hastily taking office, was forced to pick up the Onmyodo arts he had long since abandoned, while also managing the shrine’s normal operations and teaching Mai Shinomiyai.
But even though Shoichi Masatsugu spent all his time studying scriptures and researching his brother’s notes, his progress in cultivation was still unsatisfactory. Moreover, Mai Shinomiyai’s almost fanatical resistance to Onmyodo due to that incident made his life as the head divine officer truly difficult.
All he could do was use his authority as an elder to force Mai to recite those scriptures and incantations every day. But, as Mai had told him a while ago, she was of school age. She wanted to learn things other than these scriptures and incantations, to make friends her age, and not be confined to this shrine that brought her misfortune for her entire life.
Although Shoichi Masatsugu had sternly scolded the young girl at the time, he had almost tacitly agreed to his niece, whom he had watched grow up, leaving. His current state should be able to hold on for a while. The talent of his two disciples could only be described as passable, and they were qualified to inherit his legacy.
As for Mai, it was truly too cruel to bind her to this shrine for her entire life just because of her so-called talent. It was understandable that Mai was unwilling to learn about the power that indirectly caused the death of her parents.
Perhaps it was natural to reminisce about the past when one got older. Looking at the large pile of his brother’s notes that he still hadn’t finished, Shoichi Masatsugu felt a sense of helplessness, but there was nothing he could do. His brother was gone, and he was the only one left to support the Shinomiyai family. Even if it was a bit more tiring, as an uncle, he hoped to see his little niece escape the vortex of hatred and live the life she wanted.
Thinking of this, Shoichi Masatsugu shook his head. A faint blue energy brushed across his face and mouth, clearing away impurities. He reached for the nearby switch to turn off the lights and go to sleep.
But his hand, which had been reaching out, suddenly stopped in mid-air. A spark flashed in his tired eyes, and he turned his body to look towards the mountain.
“This!!”
In Shoichi Masatsugu’s perception, a figure carrying the power of a swift wind was rapidly approaching the shrine on the mountain. The faint, disgusting power contained within it made his white eyebrows furrow involuntarily.
“Is this the orthodox way of using Onmyodo, from the Tsuchimikado family, or the Taira no Kiyomori lineage? Why are they coming to us?”
Sensing the way the approaching person was using their energy, Shoichi Masatsugu couldn’t help but question it. Especially that faint, strange aura, which made the shrine’s head divine officer feel a hint of unease.
Placing a decree under his palm, Shoichi Masatsugu took out a fan surrounded by a faint blue glow from the back of the cabinet and held it in his hand. Shoichi Masatsugu pushed open the door and walked towards the shrine’s entrance.
…
Shoichi Masatsugu never expected that the person he waited for at the shrine entrance, the one who possessed a traditional Onmyodo user with a strange power, would turn out to be his niece?
The young girl’s face was flushed, and her chest, clad in casual clothes, heaved with her rapid breaths. The power of the swift wind on her body fluctuated continuously, but it was still controlled within a stable range. She was rushing up the stone steps towards the mountain at a speed that ordinary people could not achieve.
“Mai, you…”
Looking at the girl he knew all too well, and the Onmyodo power on her that was weak but not inferior to his own in purity, Shoichi Masatsugu didn’t know what to say for a moment.
“Huu… huu… Uncle Masatsugu.”
Stopping at the entrance of the shrine, no matter how high her talent was, or how precocious she was, fifteen-year-old Mai Shinomiyai was still a child. Having encountered clues of world-ending destruction again, the girl’s heart was still extremely flustered. Now that she had finally seen an adult, the feeling of unease in her heart had naturally subsided considerably.
“Mai, what’s wrong? Is there something important?”
Vibrant green phosphorescent grass rose from Mai’s feet, helping her regulate her breathing, which was a bit messy due to excessive physical exertion.
Shoichi Masatsugu didn’t have much time now to inquire about how the girl acquired her Onmyodo skills. The familiar aura emanating from the cloth bag covered in talismans that the girl tightly clutched made Shoichi Masatsugu’s pupils contract sharply, and a warning signal flashed in his heart.
“Uncle Masatsugu, it’s what you think it is. I encountered this near Aunt Mei’s house.”
Noticing that Shoichi Masatsugu had already noticed the item in her hand, Mai Shinomiyai nodded. She condensed the power in her hand, and the talismans that had sealed the cloth bag all spontaneously combusted. The special cloth bag slowly opened on its own, revealing a small corpse that was almost unrecognizable, and the strong foul smell that had been suppressed inside.
“This!!”
This completely familiar smell evoked Shoichi Masatsugu’s memories, and he couldn’t help but exclaim.
Seeing Shoichi Masatsugu’s surprised expression, Mai Shinomiyai’s last hope was dashed. Her pale lips trembled slightly as she said,
“Uncle Masatsugu, the Underworld is about to appear again…”
