Truth is everywhere within range

"?"

Arai Takashi was still listening to Qiao Qiao's words, but when he saw him suddenly stand up, he also looked towards the abandoned village where the spirits were removed and martial arts were performed.

I saw that the village had completely changed its appearance. The style, layout, and location of the houses were all very different from before.

The trees that appeared earlier flashed past, quickly turned into shadows, and disappeared into the night wind.

At the same time, the shrine maidens of Riki Shrine disappeared.

The camera showing the first-person perspective of the five shrine maidens lost its signal. In the sixth screen, the camera cut through several shots, but the shrine maidens of the Riki Shrine could not be found at all.

The village was empty.

"W-what's going on?"

"I don't know, Higashino-san."

The two commentators were still in a state of confusion and didn't know what to do.

"It's a kidnapping."

There were not many spiritual masters present, Qiao Qiao said quickly.

"Kidnapping? Qiao Sang, what does kidnapping mean?"

Arai Takashi repeated Qiao Qiao's words without really understanding the meaning.

No, no matter who it is, they can’t understand it.

In full view of the public, under the watchful eyes of many spirit exorcists, during the spirit exorcism performance on Mount Hiei, the shrine maidens of Riki Shrine were kidnapped? ? ?

There must be something wrong with this kidnapper's mind.

If nothing else, this is Kyoto.

Yasaka Shrine, Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, Heian Shrine, Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, and countless shrines and temples are located in the period. It can be called the capital of spiritual slayers.

Dare to cause trouble in Kyoto.

Whether it's a human or a monster, it will definitely not end well.

What's more, Limu Shrine has always been independent of the world, and it is not a big shrine that holds sacred weapons. Why choose Limu Shrine? Is it just because it is the last day?

"As the name suggests, this was a planned kidnapping that started months ago just for this moment."

Qiao Qiao replied.

"Why?"

Arai Takashi still couldn't understand the current situation. At this time, five minutes had passed since the shrine maidens of Limu Shrine disappeared.

No matter how slow the spirit exterminators at the scene were, they already understood the seriousness of the problem and started making phone calls.

"Notified the headquarters of the Kyoto Spiritual Exterminator Association. It will take twenty minutes to get there."

"Because today is the fireworks festival, the last day of Bon Festival, when the yin energy is at its strongest, many spirit slayers are scattered in the city, and it is difficult to gather them together at the moment."

"The person at Tokyo Onnyōryō sent the divination results, and the shrine maidens from Riki Shrine are still on Mount Hiei."

"Mountain Hiei is so big, even if we call all the spirit exterminators from Kyoto, it won't be enough."

"Don't the Riki Shrine have corresponding tracking methods?"

"I tried it, but the area can only be limited to this mountainous area. Damn it."

"The tree I saw just now seems familiar."

"It was an illusion created using those trees, and we were fooled from the beginning."

Various discussions came up.

Qiao Qiao thought for a while.

"Arai-san, you can ask someone to go to the Tatsuno Forest of Shimogamo Shrine, find the tanukis living there, and ask them to help find traces of those trees just now. I think the location of the trees is where the shrine maidens of Rimu Shrine are now. location."

"What?"

Arai Takashi subconsciously spoke with a Kyoto accent.

"Sasaki-san, let's help start the search as soon as possible. I think this matter is more than just a kidnapping."

Seeing that the other spiritual exterminators present were setting off one after another to enter Mount Hiei to search for the whereabouts of the witches of the Rimu Shrine, only Qiao Qiao and others were left at the scene.

"Miko Asano, stay here and watch this."

Qiao Qiao took a black box from Hayami Nanase's hand, with antennas sticking out around the box.

Ariko Asano looked at the rather heavy box in her hand and nodded silently.

In this case, if I force myself to follow the teacher, I will only be a burden.

Ariko Asano still has this level of consciousness.

Qiao Qiao and others left the venue and got directly into the van.

Although this is the mountainous area of ​​Mount Hiei, there are roads connecting various villages. Although it is only a simple road, the minivan from Shimogamo Shrine is still driving quite smoothly on it.

After adjusting the radio channel in the car, Qiao Qiao was able to hear the exchanges between the search teams organized by the Soul Exterminator Association.

They formed a group of four and prepared to search more than 200 small villages in the Mount Hiei Mountains.

Of course, the number of spiritual masters is far from enough.

Qiao Qiao looked at the exorcists driving in front of them and said hello.

"How should we find it?"

Asked Maki Araki who was driving.

"The weirdness of trees"

Qiao Qiao thought for a moment.

Then he took out his mobile phone and opened the app of the Tokyo Spiritual Exorcist Association.

After some searching, I quickly got the answer.

I don’t know the forest of Hachiman.

A thousand years ago, there was a rebel named Taira Shomon. He originally captured the eight states of Kanto and prepared to proclaim himself emperor and become the new emperor. However, he was shot to death in the Hachiman Forest by an arrow from behind.

Later, six of his generals also committed seppuku in the forest. The resentment of the seven people occupied an entire forest, which is the forest of Shikiman Hachiman.

Legend has it that anyone who steps into this forest will never come out alive. It is a forbidden area that cannot be entered.

The real Forest of Ignorant Hachiman is located in Chiba Prefecture. It has been completely purified by the spirit exterminators many years ago.

But later, due to legend, Hachiman's Forest also became a weird thing.

It's just that it has been weakened a lot. The current Forest of Ignorant Hachiman can only make intruders get lost in it, that's all.

However, the shrine maidens who trapped Riki Shrine were not the only ones trapped in the Forest of Ignorant Hachiman.

"Mijia."

Of course Qiao Qiao was not talking about the name of some obscure animation.

But another kind of weirdness.

Originated from Tono, Iwate Prefecture.

Mijia will confuse people who are lost in the mountains, use splendid decorations and delicious meals to lure them, and finally devour them completely.

The mysterious house made up of an abandoned village, and the forest of unknown hachiman made up of trees with spiritual power transplanted from the Tatsu no Mori. It is the strange fusion of these two that can be used to destroy people under the eyes of many spiritual exterminators. The shrine maiden of Riki Shrine was kidnapped and taken away without a trace.

Maybe there's some information-control weirdness involved.

This was not a spur-of-the-moment crime.

But it was premeditated.

In this case, it is not that simple to find the witches of Limu Shrine.

Although the civet cats in the Zino Forest can identify the scent of those trees, the presence of Mijia may interfere with this detection.

While thinking about it, the car had already driven deep into Mount Hiei.

The mist in the mountains shrouded the surroundings, and it was easy to get lost if you were not driving along the road.

Even if it's not weird, it's still deep here.

There is no trace of other spiritual masters anymore.

Just when he confirmed this, Qiao Qiao saw it.

Ahead, covered by towering trees, was a dilapidated city.