The group reached the peak of Mount Unto shortly. Upon arrival, the first thing they saw was a rundown shrine. The shrine was not big and could be classified as medium-sized.
Before entering a shrine, one must first go through the Torii. However, the Torii gate before them was already damaged from being severely weathered. The pale wood on the insides of the two red pillars meant for supporting the Torii could be seen through all the peeling and crumbling. The pillar on the right had also collapsed, and without its support, the Torii had fallen to the ground. From a bird’s-eye view, it formed the shape of a giant boomerang.
Sei Shigeru moved forward and looked at the Shimenawa on the floor. After he checked the Shimenawa, he sighed and shook his head. “The Shimenawa has been destroyed completely. Thus, the magical energy barrier of Unto Shrine has been broken.”
Most shrines that have Onmyojis would put up magical energy barriers. The core of these barriers would be the Shimenawa which was usually placed on top of the Torii. Apart from creating a magical energy barrier, it also served the purpose of shielding against calamity.
In this context, calamity referred to the supernatural which tarnished the sanctity of a place.
“From the extent of damage to the Torii, the seal of Unto Shrine should have been broken for almost half a year, don’t you think so?” Puzzled, Kimura Kazuki continued, “It’s been half a year, what if the Majin that was suppressed had already escaped?”
“If it escaped… We can only report it to the Deity Rising Palace,” said Sei Shigeru with a wry smile. “I’m afraid if that happens, we will need to set up a specialized team dedicated to manage this case.”
The Deity Rising Palace had requested for the Great Onmyoji, Sei Shigeru to pay a visit so that they can find out more about the situation at Unto Shrine. Even though Sei Shigeru was powerful, he was a vigilant person, which was why he invited others to investigate with him. Of course, if they gained anything, it would be split accordingly.
So even if they did not find any information, it would just be a mere waste of time.
Although Unto Shrine reported to the Deity Rising Palace, they always kept a distance from the Onmyoji community. It was only when a shrine maiden from the Deity Rising Palace came to visit a friend did they notice that Unto Shrine had been destroyed. At the time of finding out, the shrine maiden did not go in to investigate. She had immediately reported the situation to the Deity Rising Palace.
She did not try to seek death by entering the shrine because she knew that Unto Shrine was suppressing the Majin.
“If it is like what the Deity Rising Palace said, Unto Shrine should have been destroyed almost a year ago.” Sei Shigeru sighed. “It should have been reported sooner to the Deity Rising Palace, unfortunately…”
There was not a single soul in Unto Shrine now. It was apparent that the Onmyojis and shrine maidens in the shrine had met a bad end.
“Why are the people from Sakagami Village not reconstructing the shrine? According to Grandfather Shigeru, the Unto Shrine should be guarded and suppressed by the Sakagami family from generation to generation,” Harunaka said as she watched the devastating scene from the side.
“It is because the inheritance of the Sakagami family had come to an end when the Onmyojis and shrine maidens in Unto Shrine were annihilated.” It was Mei who had spoken while Sei Shigeru stayed silent. “The inheritance of Unto Shrine was done by having the Onmyoji and shrine maidens select gifted ones from Sakagami Village to be nurtured. The chosen ones would then take over the duty to suppress the Majin. That’s why the villagers in Sakagami Village have no idea what goes on in Unto Shrine, they only know that there is a Unto Shrine on Mount Unto, that’s all.” With a sullen expression on her petite face, Mei continued like a little adult.
“I see.” Realization hit Harunaka.
The villagers in Sakagami Village had no idea what went on in Unto Shrine, they thought that it was just a normal shrine. Moreover, the closed society of the village was so poor and backwards, all of the villagers would have to contribute if they wanted to reconstruct the shrine. Additionally, the road in Sakagami Village was made of gravel and not cement. No one would pay to rebuild Unto Shrine.
The first generation of people in Sakagami Village would have known the duties of Unto Shrine, but after more than 1,000 years, perhaps only the Onmyojis and shrine maidens in Unto Shrine would know about it.
They would not inform the villagers either as it would arouse their fear.
Kimura Kazuki looked ahead as he heard what was said. The shrine had collapsed completely. However, the scene felt sort of familiar to him.
Kimura Kazuki arrived before the shrine as he pondered. Even though the shrine before his eyes was completely destroyed, he could vaguely make out its form before it was ruined.
This scene further increased the sense of familiarity in his mind.
“Where is the location of the seal suppression in Unto Shrine?”
“We might need to search for a bit,” Sei Shigeru replied helplessly.
“Alright, let’s split up and look for it,” Kimura Kazuki said and pulled Harunaka’s hand. “Follow me,” he said.
“Okay!” Harunaka replied hastily. The corners of Furuhashi Sakurakyu’s mouth twitched when she saw her daughter being so excited.
Sei Shigeru had no objections, letting Mei and Asuka follow him. Even though it might delay the time to discover the seal, it was safer to do it this way.
As Unto Shrine was not that big, it was quite easy to search.
After half an hour, a paper crane flew over. As Harunaka stared curiously, the paper crane started to talk abruptly, “Master Kimura, we have found the location of the seal. Please follow me!”
It was Asuka’s voice.
Harunaka’s eyes lit up with glee, fascinated by the ability of communicating by using paper cranes.
Whereas Kimura Kazuki said nothing and followed the paper crane immediately.
Both of them arrived at a house in just a few minutes. Even though the house was made of masonry, it was totally different from Unto Shrine as it was standing perfectly fine, without a scratch on it.
They caught sight of Sei Shigeru and the others as they entered the house. The paper crane flew onto Asuka’s hand and turned into a yellow-colored Enchanted Talisman, which was carefully put away by Asuka. He chuckled as he noticed Harunaka staring and said boastfully, “This is a Paper Crane Talisman, used to deliver messages. But as you can see, its limitation is quite obvious as the distance of delivering a message is still too short. I’m still researching how to use them to send messages miles away.”
Paper Crane Talismans were obviously quite useless in modern times when a mobile phone could easily replace it, and it was much better too. However, Asuka loved showing off the Paper Crane Talisman as it was created by him.
Mei was speechless by Asuka’s act as she stood at the side.
“Where is this place?” Kimura Kazuki asked, having no interest with the Paper Crane Talisman. He had seen too many Enchantment Talismans with different kinds of functions and effects. Before him, Asuka was just like a small sorcerer in the presence of a great one.
“This is where the successive generations of Unto Shrine’s Onmyojis stay.” Sei Shigeru stood beside a table, his body slightly bent as he grasped a dusty wooden table lamp on the table. He turned it lightly.
The next moment, Kimura Kazuki could see that the table was sinking. Soon, a passage leading underground emerged.
Even though the mechanism was quite noticeable, Kimura Kazuki knew that the purpose of Unto Shrine’s Onmyojis staying here was to suppress the Majin at all times. On top of that, Onmyojis from the outside would not come in often, so outsiders would not know about the mechanism even though it was quite obvious.
Kimura Kazuki met Sei Shigeru’s gaze and took the initiative to say, “I’ll go first.”
Sei Shigeru nodded in agreement.
He was an Onmyoji and Kimura Kazuki was a swordsman.
According to the Japanese cultivator community, it was an unspoken rule for a swordsman to take the lead.
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