Chapter 341

The mountains of Gunma Prefecture under the leaden sky appeared especially oppressive, the coniferous forests bent under the weight of snow, presenting a heavy, dark green and pallid white. The dead deciduous trees stood bare and twisted, their black branches like countless ghostly claws reaching for the sky. The forest was filled with a deathly cold, as if even the wind had frozen.

Passing through a sparse stand of dead trees, the entrance to Kurosawa Shinai came into view—or rather, was barely discernible. The massive torii gate, which should have been vermilion, now showed only mottled dark red and the natural color of rotting wood, with large patches of lacquer peeled away to reveal the gray-black wood beneath; snow piled on the lintel and pillars like a dirty shroud. At the base of the pillars, melted snow had refrozen into murky ice shells.

This place should have been deserted, yet Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai saw an off-road vehicle parked not far from the torii gate.

This was a very strange situation, and Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai exchanged glances, immediately dropping their relaxed expressions.

It was an entrenching tool.

Uesugi Muneyuki furrowed his brow, gesturing for Mai Xuejie to notice the entrenching tool hanging behind the off-road vehicle; naturally, an entrenching tool can be used for many tasks and proves very useful in outdoor activities.

But an entrenching tool is not only for earthwork; it can sometimes be used to dig… people.

Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai were both very patient; they had come mainly to retrieve the 《Diamond Dharma》 transmission from Kurosawa Shinai. Although Diamond Holding and Vajra Cutter were not very suitable for Uesugi Muneyuki's cultivation method, having something was better than nothing, and moreover, the transmission previously received by Ms. Kurosawa was incomplete, so perhaps there were other transmissions.

Shirakawa Mai also wanted to see what was inside Kurosawa Shinai, because the inner world of the previous Kantou alliance was similar to the Huashan Sword Sect Qi Sect fire merger, and the vast majority of inner world powerhouses had perished entirely; Mai Xuejie had also killed her own master, so her understanding of inner world matters was not complete either; perhaps Ms. Kurosawa's master had left something behind in the shrine.

But how could someone have come now?

Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai were still observing when suddenly two men and two women appeared nearby, all apparently under thirty years old, though January in Gunma was very cold, and all four were bundled up thickly and wearing masks, making accurate age judgment difficult.

"Hey? You can actually meet people in a place like this!" The leader spoke enthusiastically, his voice strong and sounding very reliable; he came over very enthusiastically to greet Uesugi Muneyuki: "Who are you? Why would you come back to a place like this?... Hey hey hey?? This isn't Uesugi Shougenshou and Mai-sama, is it???!?!?!? Hey, Misaki, Sato! Kobayashi! Come quick! We've met Uesugi Muneyuki-san and Mai-sama!!!"

Seeing that the other party recognized him, Uesugi Muneyuki narrowed his eyes slightly and exchanged a glance with Mai Xuejie, deciding to go along naturally: "May I ask who you are?"

"Ah, sorry we didn't introduce ourselves; we are students of Toyo University, I am Takahashi Kenta, this is Nakamura Misaki, Sato Kōsuke, and Kobayashi Ayako; we are all far-from-home boarding students, so we didn't go home for New Year, heard there was an abandoned village here, and came to play a courage-testing gathering!"

The university team leader struggled to show a smile in the freezing cold, and it was clear he was freezing enough to shiver.

Uesugi Muneyuki then assessed the remaining three people.

The woman named Nakamura Misaki was tall and slender, wrapped in a fashionable but obviously insufficiently warm down jacket, complaining about the cold.

Sato Kōsuke wore a thick assault jacket, like a small hill, carrying most of the shared equipment, appearing honest as he grinned broadly.

Kobayashi Ayako was petite like Mikoto, her height possibly under 155 cm, her eyes very sweet, wearing fluffy earmuffs, looking very harmless.

"Why would Toyo University come to Gunma?" Uesugi Muneyuki asked half-jokingly: "And why come for a courage-testing gathering in winter? Aren't those usually summer events?"

"You idiot Uesugi, Toyo University has a campus in Gunma Prefecture!" Mai Xuejie tapped Uesugi Muneyuki, then gestured: "So how did you guys find out about this place?"

Toyo University is one of the relatively better private universities in Japan, and indeed some of its campuses are established in Gunma Prefecture, which Uesugi Muneyuki did not know.

"Yes, Mai-sama is right; we are students of the Life Sciences Department at Toyo University, and because we live far from home, we didn't go back for New Year, so we decided to come out for a courage-testing gathering; we found that this place once had a village, but it was later abandoned, so we wanted to see what the village looked like in the seventies and eighties."

The two male university students also saw Mai Xuejie, the National Goddess; at this moment, in their eyes, Mai Xuejie was entirely enveloped in a halo of light reflected from the white snow, truly a Muse goddess descending upon the mountains, radiant and impossible to stare at directly; they unconsciously averted their gaze, blushing, as the leader Takahashi scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly: "Um, may I ask why Uesugi-san and Mai-sama are...?"

"Oh, I came with Mai-sama for an inspection; you forgot? Mai-sama is the Head of the Kantou Shinai Alliance, but nowadays many famous shrines have been abandoned, and she is currently reconsidering whether to rebuild part of them, so today we came to inspect this Kurosawa Shinai, which really looks like it has been abandoned for a long time!" Uesugi Muneyuki nodded and said.

"As expected of Uesugi-san and Mai-sama, famous people think differently from us." Takahashi said in a low voice.

"Uesugi-san, I really like you; I've always been your fan!" Female university student Nakamura suddenly said: "Wait, can I get your autograph?"

"Me too~""Me too!" The other two, Sato and Kobayashi, followed suit, their eyes shining, obviously very excited; one of them kept glancing at Shirakawa Mai's down jacket and Uesugi Muneyuki's pants, while the other used his eyes to search the surroundings, seemingly trying to figure out how they had arrived.

"This…… maybe we should forget it for now? This is a private activity." Uesugi Muneyuki refused.

"Then, would you like to join us for a tour?" Takahashi Kenta asked next.

Uesugi Muneyuki thought for a moment, then nodded: "Yes."

Thus the six-person group was formed, and under Takahashi's leadership, they formally entered Kurosawa Shinai.

Passing through the ruined torii, they stood on the snowy, muddy, deathly silent shrine approach path, facing the main building of Kurosawa Shinai in the twilight, resembling a haunted house. The cold wind blew residual snow across.

Gazing at the gloomy, ruined shrine before them, for a moment only the wind's whimper and the sound of dripping water could be heard, the atmosphere dropping below freezing.

Especially the dripping sound inside the shrine was abnormal; in January, Gunma Prefecture is below zero, so where was the dripping water coming from?

Takahashi rubbed his hands, his smile a bit stiff: "Wow…… the online photos already felt atmospheric, but the real thing is… uh… shocking! Right, Uesugi-san? You're from the peerage, this place…… from a professional perspective, is old enough, right?"

Uesugi Muneyuki nodded: "Hmm…… from the style of the torii and the remaining carvings on the bracket complexes, it indeed belongs to the mid-to-late Edo period style. However, Takahashi-san, the word 'shocking'…… is quite fitting. This degree of decay and…… 'unrepaired', in academic terms, is also…… hmm…… a very rare specimen."

Nakamura Misaki exaggeratedly stomped her feet, her voice shrill: "So cold! I'll freeze to death! This place is a hundred times more run-down than in the photos! Kenta, are you sure this ghostly place can 'test courage'? I don't even need ghosts to come out; we'll freeze into ice sculptures ourselves! Ah, Mai-sama, do your shrines also get this cold in winter?"

At this moment, Shirakawa Mai shrank back half a step toward Uesugi Muneyuki, her voice trembling with "effortful bravery": "My shrine is in… in Tokyo, it's not… this high… nor… this old. This place… feels… not quite the same, as if… especially quiet?"

"The dripping sound seems to come from the main hall; let's go check it out." Sato said muffled from behind, carrying a large pile of gear, silently falling to the rear.

The last, smallest-built Kobayashi let out a light laugh, her voice soft as down, but her eyes never left Mai Xuejie: "Kōsuke-kun really is something, always so strong; Mai-sama, don't be afraid, quiet is better, right, Mai-san, as Chief Priestess, where do you think we should start 'testing courage'? Should we… do a simple exorcism ritual? I'm really interested in these traditional things!"

"An exorcism ritual?" Shirakawa Mai looked as if she didn't quite understand.

"It's the thing you did for Fuji TV!" Takahashi followed up: "The one that suppressed the former anchor Hironaka Mariko! Mai-sama, you've done that before, right?"

"Ah, that thing is all a scam; no one really thinks they can suppress vengeful spirits just by doing an exorcism ritual, right? And nowadays, what era is this, who still believes in ghost stories and such?" Uesugi Muneyuki answered for Mai Xuejie, adding casually: "It's just for psychological comfort."

"Just sprinkle some water, chant some incantations, slap on some talismans, that's all." Mai Xuejie also agreed: "What's strange about that?"

"Oh, then that's fine, that's fine." Takahashi nodded: "Then we'll go…… look at the main hall?"

"The dripping sound seems to come from there."

Drip~drip~

The eerie dripping sound continuously came from somewhere deep in the main hall, drawing attention.

Uesugi Muneyuki felt a faint sense of unease in his heart.

Because his Qinghui Stone lit up.

But this time the light from the Qinghui Stone was different from all previous lights; previously, the light from the Dead Soul Contract lit up was blue, whereas this time the Qinghui Stone lit up with blood-red light.

What is inside? Why is this light different?

Thus Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai did not step into the main hall first, but stood at its entrance, hesitating, unsure whether they should go in.

And seeing this, Takahashi reacted instantly, grabbing and pulling down the shimenawa in the shrine!

Space twisted, the inner world descended!

And at the moment the shimenawa was pulled down, a tremendous torrential rain poured down from heaven to earth in an instant!

This was the source of the water sound!

(Chapter End)