The next day, Kimura Kazuki and the others bid farewell to Bun Fukuyama who was the current head of the household of the Fukuyama family.
Sei Shigeru felt bad and said, “Patriarch Fukuyama, are you really not coming with us?”
Bun Fukuyama apologetically said, “I’m really sorry Master Shigeru. As the Fukuyama family has been entrusted with a matter by the Deity Rising Palace, I shall have to settle it immediately.”
Although Sei Shigeru was disappointed, he did not force him.
When they arrived at the Torii, Shironeko appeared again and bid farewell to everyone.
Seeing Kimura Kazuki and the group leave from a distance, Shironeko jumped and appeared next to Bun Fukuyama.
“Shodai-sama.”
He came over as he was being called by Bun Fukuyama. Shironeko nodded its head and its glass ball-like eyes were filled with curiosity. “What is the remuneration given by Kimura Kazuki?”
Upon hearing this, Bun Fukuyama took a deep breath. He took the mahogany box on the table and slowly opened it in excitement.
Shironeko was puzzled after having a look at it. “An enchanted talisman?”
What entered into Shironeko’s field of vision was an enchanted talisman. The entire enchanted talisman was bright yellow and was filled with unidentified red thin lines. Shironeko knew that it was most probably drawn with a talisman pen. However, no matter how it looked at it, it was still just an ordinary enchanted talisman.
“Shodai-sama, this is a Lightning Attracting Talisman.” Even though Bun Fukuyama was approaching 70 years of age, he was still excited. By just thinking of the power of the Lightning Attracting Talisman, blood rushed to his face and he was overwhelmed with excitement. “This Lightning Attracting Talisman can easily kill a Great Onmyoji!”
“Huh?” Shironeko could not help but wonder. The next second, his expression changed drastically and he stared at Bun Fukuyama. “Are you serious?”
In Japan, there was no clear hierarchical division of the Onmyoji. There were only two levels, which were the Onmyoji and the Great Onmyoji. As the head of the household of the Shigeru family, Sei Shigeru was a Great Onmyoji. Sei Shigeru’s ancestor was Ozuno and his full name was Kimi Ozuno Shigeru. Many people might not know who Kimi Ozuno Shigeru was, but they would definitely know of Abe no Seimei, the famous Onmyoji in Japan.
While Abe no Seimei’s master was Tadayuki Shigeru, Kimi Ozuno Shigeru was the ancestor of Tadayuki Shigeru. The Shigeru family had a history of more than 1,000 years. Sei Shigeru had a profound background and he had inherited the consanguineous Bright Eyes. Furthermore, the shikigami who was in his mastery was extremely powerful. Thus, he was given the title of the Great Onmyoji and his ability was recognized throughout Japan. Sei Shigeru was also known as the modern Abe no Seimei and he was well-known among the practitioners in Japan.
However, Bun Fukuyama was now telling him that the Lightning Attracting Talisman in front of him could easily kill a Great Onmyoji? Are you sure it’s not a joke?
Had it not been for Bun Fukuyama, the head of the household of the Fukuyama family, Shironeko would have given him a kick.
In modern Japan, there were only about seven Great Onmyoji. Certainly, besides the seven Great Onmyoji, there were also powerful shrine maidens and some of the shrine maidens were no worse than the Great Onmyoji.
“It’s true!” Bun Fukuyama was so agitated that he had even forgotten to address him respectfully. He picked up the Lightning Attracting Talisman in front of him with his trembling hands and said, “The first head of the household, you know that once a practitioner has reached the advanced realm, they will feel a sense of crisis when there’s an unstoppable attack. Shodai-sama… I’m going to use the Lightning Attracting Talisman on you!”
After he finished saying this, Bun Fukuyama held the Lightning Attracting Talisman in his hand and aimed his killing intent at Shironeko.
The moment Bun Fukuyama finished talking, all of Shironeko’s fur stood up in rage. A sense of life and death crisis creeped into his heart and fear filled his mind, making him not dared to move. His heart was pounding as a strong and dangerous feeling had locked on to him! Undoubtedly, he could appear anywhere in the Fukuyama Shrine as long as he wanted to. But, at that moment, he felt like he had no escape. Even if he appeared elsewhere, he would not be able to escape from the targeting of the Lightning Attracting Talisman.
Unless… he was able to dodge and evade the attack of the Lightning Attracting Talisman the moment it was released.
Upon seeing that Shodai-sama was acting strange, Bun Fukuyama gently put down the Lightning Attracting Talisman in front of him.
The next moment, Shironeko’s body swayed and he gasped slightly. He said in shock, “My current strength is only a little worse than that of the Great Onmyoji. But, when I was facing this Talisman, I was literally shuddering… This Talisman…”
Shironeko definitely knew that even though his strength was almost the same as the Great Onmyoji, he was of no match to them as the Great Onmyoji still had their shikigami. However, his strength was still considered as one of the top in Japan. If he worked together with Bun Fukuyama, even though their strength was still not up to the overall strength of the Great Onmyoji, he could still leave safely. Otherwise, Fukuyama Shrine would not have been so famous in Japan.
However, he had really felt a life and death crisis under such a Talisman.
“Can you draw this Talisman?”
Talisman was also a way of survival for the Onmyoji and shrine maidens. An Onmyoji should not be considered as an Onmyoji if they could not draw a Talisman.
However, Bun Fukuyama shook his head with a rueful smile, “I’m sorry, first head of the household, the Lightning Attracting Talisman is unfortunately something we can’t draw at the current stage. Indeed, no one in Japan can draw it out.”
Shironeko was puzzled. “That’s impossible.”
“Shodai-sama, you can feel it yourself.” Bun Fukuyama placed the Lightning Attracting Talisman in front of him.
Shironeko did not touch it, but the reiki in his body wandered around the inside of the Talisman. As if he had felt something, the expression on his cat face changed like an emoticon. He took a deep breath and said, “The energy… it’s not of the same level as us.” The next moment, he thought of something. “Can it be that Kimura-sama has broken through?”
Nobody knew whether there were higher realms above the Great Onmyoji. But now, all the Great Onmyoji in Japan felt that there must be higher realms above the Great Onmyoji. Otherwise, their struggle in becoming stronger would be completely useless.
Before this, Shironeko was unsure about it. However, the Lightning Attracting Talisman had led him to believe that there must be higher realms above the Great Onmyoji.
Thinking of this, Shironeko could not help getting excited.
Higher realms! This was being pursued by countless Onmyoji. There were many Onmyoji in Japan, but the highest realm achieved was the Great Onmyoji…
In the ancient times, many of the Great Onmyoji did not expect that there were still higher realms. Therefore, they used a different cultivation method to transform a specter into a shikigami in order to improve their combat power to defend the shrine and their families. Thus, such a thing called shikigami came into existence.
But, the Talisman had now revealed that there were higher realms.
“Let’s leave this Talisman in the hands of the Deity Rising Palace,” Shironeko said firmly after some thorough contemplation. “Even though our Fukuyama Shrine is powerful, it would have progressed very slowly if we study it by ourselves. The energy in this Lightning Attracting Talisman is related to the higher realms. We need to put our heads together to figure it out and there are many researchers in the Deity Rising Palace. Perhaps they can find the path to the higher realms.”
Bun Fukuyama pursed his lips. As the head of the household of the Fukuyama family, he was not altruistic. He felt that even if the Fukuyama family would take a long time to study the Talisman, they would still eventually figure it out in a few years, a dozen years, a hundred years or even after several generations. As long as they could figure it out, the Fukuyama family might truly arise.
However, Shironeko was the first head of the household. He was the one who established the Fukuyama family. Thus, he did not dare to disobey him.
“By offering this Talisman, the Fukuyama family may be able to turn into one of the core branches of the Deity Rising Palace.”
Upon hearing that, Bun Fukuyama was stunned. He came into the realization in a split second and saluted, “Yes!”
“Moreover, in the future, please do not antagonize Kimura-sama. Get close to him whenever possible.”
“Noted!”
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