The Hundred Stories of Miss Ghost

Chapter 25 Red Deer

I walked through the door and saw an old lady kneeling in the room. She was wrapping a Buddhist bead around her left hand, and she was moving it one by one. Talking to himself, he said: "I just saw it. Xiao Liang's appearance, even if he grows up, I will never forget it. He was taken away by gods and Buddhas, but he is still alive and well." What! At the Kurama Fire Festival last year and the year before, I saw him in the crowd holding the torches. It’s just that my old lady’s legs and feet are bad, so I can only stand there and watch, and I can’t keep up with the team in front of me. I saw them holding torches and following the miraculous sedans to parade down the mountain. Xiao Liang was in the parade team! I am afraid that he has become someone who serves the gods. Alas, when can I come back and take a look? ?”

The old man also sighed a long time, waved his hands and began to chase away people, "Okay, okay, let's go, the old lady is a little demented, and she talks about the hallucinations she saw every day. Let's go! Where should you go back, By the way, tell Xiao Chun, tell her to wake up from her dream too!"

After finishing speaking, the old man was about to close the door. Youxiang quickly locked the door with his hand and said quickly: "Wait! Ask the last two questions! Where did mother-in-law see that Xiaoliang?" ? What is the Kurama Fire Festival?!"

"Go to Yuki Shrine and see for yourself." The old man said impatiently, "You came at the wrong time. The Kurama Fire Festival is held by Yuki Shrine every October. It is the largest and most lively festival in the vicinity. Sigh... ...Xiao Chun was also hidden by the gods on the way to this festival..."

The old man shook his head regretfully, and then closed the door completely.

"Hmm... wait, let me check." Xiaotong searched for something on the phone, and then slowly read the key words——

"Kurama Fire Festival is a festival held by Qi Shrine on October 10 every year... During the event, local people will light bonfires together in front of each house, and people will follow the two mikoshi in Yuki Shrine with torches in their hands. The parade along the street lasted until the early morning. It is said that the entire Mount Kurama will be lit up red by the raging fire. Well, this festival seems to be one of the three strange festivals in Kyoto.

"Yuki Shrine!" Youxiang shouted with bright eyes, "Then what are you waiting for, let's go!"

This Yuki Shrine is actually not far from us, and it takes about 10 minutes to go up the stone steps.When we arrived, we found out that this is actually a rather small shrine, not even as big as the Tsukiyomi Shrine at Xiaotong’s house.There are offering boxes in the shape of red-faced tengus inside the shrine, and there are many tengu masks for sale hanging on the pavement.In addition, there is a super super tall giant tree standing straight, and the sign next to it says that this is a 800-meter-high cedar tree about 53 years old, and it is also the sacred tree of this shrine.

Xiaotong raised her head and looked at the giant tree that could hardly be seen from the top, and couldn't help whispering in the smallest voice: "Hey, senior sister, I feel like I have a feeling when I see this super tall god tree now." What about the urge to chop it off? Could it be Godwood PTSD?"

[What a coincidence, I seem to have a similar idea.But this tree should be relatively normal, and there is no dead person hanging on the tree. 】

"........."

While Xiaotong and I were secretly discussing this outrageous idea, Youxiang had already pulled out her phone and opened the Guaitan GO APP.

"Hey, Hitomi, I'm going to try this time to see if I can catch a dryad~"

Youxiang said so, and pointed the camera of her mobile phone at the top of the god tree, and then her mouth suddenly opened wide and her jaw almost fell to the ground and could not be retrieved.

"Hitomi! Look!! Tengu!!" Youxiang immediately yelled after reacting.

Xiaotong and I immediately approached her mobile phone. Indeed, in the picture displayed on the screen of her mobile phone, a tengu with a red face and long nose was standing high on the branch above the sacred tree, looking down with a merciless face. us.

And when I looked up at the real imperial tree, there was nothing on the branch.

"Quick, try throwing a Zhang Talisman?" Xiaotong urged immediately.

Needless to say, Xiaotong, Youxiang's hand was already on the spell.The 1000 highest-level charms she bought with krypton gold are already ready to go.

Throw the first talisman and fail.

The second talisman failed.

The third one failed.

…………

"I don't believe it yet." Youxiang gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. She confronted the dog, and she numbly threw the talisman at the dog, but the dog still looked at us expressionlessly. Nothing has changed.

It wasn't until Youxiang threw out one or two hundred talismans that the successful BGM sounded on the phone, indicating that the Tengu had been captured, and asked her to give her a name.

Youxiang entered a "red deer" a little angrily, then quickly turned her head to stare at Xiaotong and said, "Hitomi, hurry up, come and fight with me! I'm going to try to see if this red deer is worth losing so much!" symbol!"

"This captured shikigami still needs to be cultivated by himself..."

"Come on~!"

Xiaotong turned on the phone helplessly, and the only shikigami she had caught appeared on the screen—a fat tanuki [Fukuzawa Yukichi] wearing a bamboo hat and a bamboo knife in his waist. Prepare to be beaten.

After all, it is self-evident which one is stronger, the shikigami that can be caught easily with one shot into the soul, or the shikigami that can only be caught after spending hundreds of top-level talismans?

however--

I saw the fat civet cat's bamboo knife draw an arc-shaped trajectory in the air, and the fat figure appeared behind the tengu red deer, but the tall and mighty tengu fell to the ground immediately.

"So weak! The tengu is so weak!" Youxiang was stunned, "How can you be so weak! Red deer! Why can't you even beat a fat civet cat! You are really a red deer!"

"Good job, Yukichi." Although it was only a little bit of illusory victory, there was still a slight snicker on Xiaotong's face, seeing that there were more civet cats that I caught at random and didn't like too much. A little sense of identity.

"No, wait, I have to search." Youxiang immediately began to search for strategies on the Internet, and immediately she found the following comments——

[Is the balance of this game a bit rotten?The ultra-rare shikigami tengu that I managed to get can't beat the civet cat that can be caught by a novice? 】

[It is said that Tengu is a late-stage shikigami. It seems...as long as you cultivate it carefully and spend a lot of money and resources to cultivate it, probably...maybe...it will become stronger, right? 】

[Don't think it's possible, let's just say it, Tengu is a useless shikigami!It has always been a tradition that Tanuki is stronger in Tanuki Club's games, and the strength of other shikigami is at least normal to match the rarity. Tengu can't be played without strengthening it now!It’s embarrassing for those players who went to Mount Kurama to catch Tengu, why don’t you go to Wujo Bridge to catch the samurai spirit~ To be honest, when I catch the samurai spirit here, I really feel the chill in my back!I'm a little scared, come and accompany me...]

Chapter 26

After I was angry and complained about the too weak strength of the tengu shikigami in the game, it seems that there is nothing we can do in this shrine.

This shrine is really very small, so small that there is nothing to improve, and it has been circled around it after just two steps.After carefully observing the layout, placement, etc. of the shrine, I did not find what I was expecting, such as evil gods, cults, and blood sacrifices.Youxiang also opened the game of Guaitan GO all the way, and carefully scanned almost every corner of the shrine, ready to see if there was anything else to be found, but this time, it seemed that there was nothing to be found. up.

Xiaotong saw a cleric at the shrine, an old lady in her 60s and [-]s who was selling souvenirs. She walked up to her and asked her if she had heard of the Shenyin incident at the Kurama Fire Festival. As a result, the old lady But shook his head like a rattle.

"Nonsense, this is discrediting our shrine! Our shrine enshrines Okuni Lord God and Hachisho Daimyojin. How could such a great god take ordinary people away for no reason. The locals here will make many disappear There are quite a lot of such incidents, not only at festivals, but also at other times. The reason why such things often occur at festivals is mainly because There will be a lot of tourists from other places, and there will be a lot of people, and children will be easily scattered by the crowd, or even taken away by bad guys. Sigh... there is nothing we can do about this kind of thing..."

You Xiang came over and suddenly asked very sharply: "Then what can't the gods do?"

The old lady seemed to be at a loss for words for a while, so she shook her head and sighed: "You can't use such utilitarian thinking to speculate on God. The power of God is immeasurable. Modern people often use utilitarian, so-called scientific, and overly rational thinking. It is not correct to think about the operation of gods. Moreover, who can say that the gods really did nothing? What you see is not all. The so-called "ghost hidden" has become less and less in recent years Appeared, this is the blessing brought by the gods."

Well, got an answer that doesn't really make sense.

After we really couldn't find anything in this shrine, we planned to leave. When we walked out of the main entrance of the shrine, we met a few strange people on the stone steps in front of the gate.They looked quite young, wearing black suits in the summer, walking towards the shrine without turning their eyes.

Wearing a suit to visit a shrine?This is a little bit strange.

After passing them by and walking for a while, Lianjiang and Fengjiang, who have been following us as bodyguards, suddenly approached, and whispered to Youxiang: "Miss, the one who just entered the shrine A few people... may be the Amakusa group."

"Ah? The Amakusa group? That... the gangster group? How did you find out?"

"On the left chest of their suits, there is a family crest that looks like a fan made of pupa leaves. That... is the logo of the Amakusa Group. That logo... I will never forget it."

"People from the Amakusa group?" Youxiang asked in surprise, "Do people from the underworld also come to worship the gods?"

"What kind of strange prejudice do you have?" Xiaotong said speechlessly, "People of the yakuza also go to worship the shrine normally, but the guys of the yakuza usually prefer the kind of gods who bless the victory, such as King Nio and Fudo Myoko That kind of thing...just, I remember that the God of the Great Country seems to be in charge of farming, and the Eight Great Myojin... seems to be the God of Fertility?"

[The underworld people want to pray for a smooth delivery?That sounds weird. 】

"It's definitely not right!" You Xiang shouted, "I feel strange when I hear it!"

"There are so many strange things, hurry up and don't mess with those people. Isn't Lianjiang Fengjiang still having a festival with them?"

"Little Tong, you are too cowardly. They seem to be in a hurry. They don't have time to pay attention to us. You don't have to worry about small things at all!" Youxiang said with a wave of his hand, "Let's go to Guichuan Shrine next time. Turn it around! I heard that the water divination there is very effective!"

Guichuan Shrine is almost at the end of this climbing road, and the further you go, the harder it is to walk. The mountain road begins to become rugged and steep, and the surrounding sky gradually becomes darker, and the temperature rises rapidly as the sky darkens. As he descended, Xiaotong couldn't help hugging his shoulders for a moment when he was blown by the oncoming mountain wind.

"Hiss...it's cold..." Xiaotong let out a breath, but was surprised to find that the breath he let out turned into water mist that was visible to the naked eye in the air. It was already foggy and hazy, and the visibility was greatly reduced whether it was coming or going.

"Did the temperature drop so ridiculously?" Xiaotong wondered.

[No...it might be something worse than cooling down...Little Tong, don't you think...we've been to this place just now? 】

I pointed to Xiaotong at a huge rock in front and the trees next to it. I vaguely remembered that not long ago, we seemed to have passed by a place with exactly the same scenery as this one.

At the same time, Xiaotong quickly looked around. Although the sky is getting dark, there are still tourists coming to see the night scene. So just now, there are still scattered tourists around us, but at this moment, it is all alone. I can't see it anymore, even the lotus sauce and maple sauce that were not far from us just now disappeared.

There was no one in the foggy and secluded woods, but from the darkness between the trees, there seemed to be the sight of something.

"I think it's not very good...how about we go back the same way..." Youxiang also said a little timidly.

So, after a few minutes, we returned to the vicinity of the boulder again.

"I'm afraid... we have really run into Shenyin..." Xiaotong said anxiously, "we won't be unable to get out, and then we will be locked up here...or like Granny Tsubaki , How many years will it take to go out?"

【...Hey, look at that. 】

I pointed in one direction, and in the midair in that direction, there was a firefly blue flame floating. This flame danced in the air, but it didn't seem to bring any heat.

The light of the firefly blue flame dispelled the surrounding fog, but illuminated a path that didn't exist at all just now.

[Could this be... invite us to go over? ] I guessed and replied.

As soon as the words were finished, another blue will-o'-the-wisp lit up further down the path, and then another, and another.

Because there seemed to be no other way to go, out of curiosity, I drifted towards the path illuminated by the faint blue will-o'-the-wisp.

Xiaotong and Youxiang also followed me hesitantly. Whenever we crossed a will-o'-the-wisp, the flame would disappear behind us. When we looked back, we found that we couldn't see where we came from.

There is no return path, we have to walk down hard, and when we reach the last will-o-the-wisp, we can see clearly what is in front of us with the beating cold light.

It was a humanoid skeleton, "humanlike" because I noticed an anomaly in the skeleton.

Its nasal bone is very high, protruding forward, and even a little pointed, and a pair of huge wing bones can be seen at the shoulder blades on both sides of the skeleton.

Chapter 27 The Real Tengu

Seeing this skeleton, even Youxiang, who has always been bold, couldn't help shrinking behind Xiaotong, and said tremblingly: "Hey... this is not a human skeleton..."

【Obviously not. 】

I moved closer, poked the skeleton with my hand, and was able to touch it. Obviously, this skeleton must be a product of some kind of strange talk, and judging from the bird-shaped mouth protruding forward and the wing bones behind it, the answer seemed obvious.

[This should be the skeleton of a tengu, right?It looks like that kind of black dog. 】

Xiao Tong may have seen many things in the past, but his face did not change when he saw this skeleton, and he even stepped forward to observe it seriously, and said with doubts: "But, Tengu... how could it die in this place? Here? And... the skeleton looks very clean, and it doesn't look like it's been dead here for a long time. And the ghost fire just now... seems to have lured us here specially."

【To be honest, I have a slightly bad premonition...】

I don't know if it's my crow's mouth. As soon as I finished speaking, there seemed to be a sound of wind coming from my ears, accompanied by the sound of a large number of crows chirping.

I looked up at the sky, and saw a large number of crows flying out of the forest, densely packed in darkness, covering the sky and the sun, with ugly cries one after another.At the same time, the fog in the distance dissipated a little, and through the fog, I vaguely saw something in the distance.

It was a huge tree, a huge fir tree that stood upright and towered into the clouds.Its appearance and orientation are very similar to the 52-meter-high god tree with a lifespan of 800 years in the shrine we just visited when we visited Yuki Shrine, but the tree I see now is obviously older than me. The one I just saw at the shrine is much taller.

Then, I saw something like a big bird flying down from the giant tree. It looked like a crow from a distance, but as the thing flew closer and closer, I could see , that thing is obviously much bigger than a crow.

When it flew a little closer, I was able to see its whole picture clearly.

It has a red face, a long nose, and black wings like a crow on its back. It is dressed in a mountain ambush and has a long knife hanging from its waist. When it flies, it looks like shooting stars passing by, and the sound of its wings flutters like a drum.

That is the legend known to the world here, the real tengu who stands at the top of the youkai.

[It's not good, quickly hide! 】I quickly drove Xiaotong and Youxiang to hide in the nearby bushes.

The flying tengu brought me a lot of pressure.

I saw this very tall red-faced tengu landed steadily on the ground, stepping on the rotten leaves and soil with high wooden clogs, and walked step by step towards the tengu skeleton we just saw.

It (?) knelt down on one knee beside the skeleton, stretched out its hand to inspect the skeleton, and then suddenly raised its head to the sky and let out a long howl.

The wings on its back slammed downwards, setting off a wave of air, which made it fly into the air in an instant, flying to a height of tens of meters.Its torch-like eyes glanced down, as if prowling for enemies.

At the same time, more tengus flew down from the giant tree after hearing its roar just now.

【It’s not good, it’s not good, it’s not good, they are looking for the guy who killed their companion, if we are discovered, wouldn’t we be regarded as the murderer! 】

These day dogs are not easy to deal with. If they are discovered, they will be misunderstood as murderers. It is definitely not a wise choice for Xiaotong and Youxiang, who are more than one enemy and have little combat power. Oiling the soles of their feet is the way The best policy.

Xiaotong and Youxiang hid in the bushes while holding their breath, and I kept chanting [invisible] [invisible] silently in my heart. I don’t know if my prayers worked, the tengu on top of us moved toward the other The direction inspected the past.So I quickly signaled the two of them to flee in the opposite direction.

However, just now, we have lost our way in this fog.Now that I am in a panic, I don't know where to go, and I have to be careful not to be spotted by the tengu on my head... To be honest, I think it will be a matter of time before I get caught.

My attention was focused on the sky, but after I followed Xiaotong for a distance, I suddenly felt alert, and when I lowered my head, I saw a red-faced tengu appearing not far in front of us!

It's just that this tengu seems to be different from the ones flying in the sky. The ones just now are tall, maybe they can be more than two meters tall.And this one is obviously much smaller, and his height can be about the same as that of Xiao Tong?What breed of dog is this? ?

Also, this one seems less oppressive than the celestial ones.

He also seemed very surprised to see us.Before he could react, I made a decisive decision and rushed to his vicinity in one breath. At this moment, his body seemed to be firmly fixed by invisible hands, and at the same time, I was on the skin of his neck. The shape of a palm is recessed downward.

"Don't make a sound, or I'll break your neck." I threatened him.

The tengu seemed to know how to distinguish the situation, and nodded obediently.

Only then did I have time to observe this tengu seriously.Take a closer look, huh?He doesn't even have wings on his back. The so-called red face is actually just wearing a tengu mask with a red face and a high nose.Wait, this "Tengu" is probably not a human being, is it?

Xiaotong and Youxiang ran after me. After Xiaotong came, seeing the "Tengu" under my control, she suddenly showed some doubts, and said a little uncertainly: "Tengu?"

"This doesn't seem like a tengu." I corrected Xiaotong.

"No, no, I mean, I seem to know this person... Are you... the 'Tengu' I met last time?" Xiaotong confirmed to the "Tengu".

"Hmph, who are you? I don't know you very well." "Tengu" said in a somewhat unbeatable tone.

As a result, another handprint appeared on his neck, and the two handprints sank deeper.

"I'll give you another chance to reorganize the language." I said kindly to the "Tengu" who was a little out of breath.

"...Yes, I am the 'Tengu' you met last time." This "Tengu" was kind and kind, and under my persuasion, his tone suddenly improved a lot.

"Where is this place? How do we get out?!" For the time being, Xiaotong didn't dwell on why this "Tengu" appeared here, but directly asked what she cared about the most.