Chapter 1 Suren and Miko

Suren didn't know how Miko had suddenly descended into the cursed space.

But her current situation wasn't optimistic.

Just like when Suren and the others had first arrived, the aura of a living person attracted a large number of ghosts and monsters, and she was being besieged.

Moreover, it seemed because she was a miko, some aura particularly attracted the monsters' frenzy.

"Miko is inside!"

Suren told Chitiao what the black crow had seen.

Hearing this, Chitiao's expression turned stern, and she asked, "Are there any troublesome monsters?"

As soon as she said that, it was clear she intended to save her.

Miko was their friend; they couldn't abandon her.

Suren had the same idea, and said seriously, "There is a ghost-type monster that's quite troublesome... It's good at fighting, but you can't get into a prolonged battle."

When he was gathering information in Ghost City, he knew that there was only one ghost king called [Red Youkai] nearby. This kind of monster liked to hide in abandoned shrines, belonged to the ghost family, and its tricky technique was manipulating wind and rain.

But even among ghost kings, there were superiors and inferiors. The monsters in the city were usually much more powerful than those in the wilderness.

This [Red Youkai] was much weaker than the [Shuten-doji] they had encountered before. Suren estimated that the difference in combat power between the two was about half a major level.

Not too troublesome.

"Mm."

Chitiao nodded, her eyes narrowed, and she placed her hand on her demon sword, saying, "Perfect. I'll try out the secret sword I just mastered."

This wasn't the city, and there weren't endless hordes of ghosts and monsters. There was no need for them to be timid.

Besides, they had arrived in time, and not too many powerful monsters had been attracted yet.

A quick battle would ensure they could save her.

.......

At this moment, inside the dilapidated shrine.

Miko, in her shrine maiden robes, was being besieged by several large youkai, her face filled with despair.

Am I going to die?

As a miko serving Shinto, as soon as she entered this world filled with imperial aura, she immediately realized that this was the Yomi, the land of the dead in legend.

Then, what confused her even more was that, judging from certain physical characteristics, it seemed she wasn't dead after all?

She didn't know how she had come to the land of the dead,

But in the current situation,

She was probably really going to die.

Originally, dealing with even one of those large youkai was difficult for Miko, let alone being besieged by five or six of them who were acting like madmen.

If she were in the real world, she could use Amaterasu's divine power to inflict huge damage on these ghosts and monsters.

But she couldn't do it here.

In this land of the dead, there was no sunlight at all, and Amaterasu's power couldn't be replenished, nor could it be borrowed.

She also discovered that every time she cast a spell and breathed, the aura of Yomi was eroding her own divine power.

Although the ruler of Yomi, Izanami, was also a "mother goddess," she was actually a supreme deity of a higher level than Amaterasu. Moreover, Amaterasu originated from the Izanagi lineage, and the two systems were somewhat "yin and yang" opposed to each other.

Now, she was barely holding on with the magical power in her body and the few treasures inherited from her miko lineage, but it was only a matter of time before she died.

"Puff!"

Just then, Miko was struck in the abdomen by the one-eyed, blue-skinned monk youkai [Ao Bozu]'s staff. A mouthful of scarlet blood spurted out, staining her plain white juban robe red. The magic robes on her body had also dimmed because they had been contaminated by ghostly aura.

And on the side, the grimacing [Red Youkai] was also scraping at her protective golden light with foul-smelling, fishy rain, eroding it bit by bit.

Miko's face was as pale as gold paper, but she barely managed to stand up.

Because she had already exhausted her magical power in the previous "Black Sun Great Ritual" duel, she was now at the end of her rope.

Moreover, a miko who couldn't get a response from the gods had her combat power reduced by seventy percent.

As soon as she stood up, she was sprayed in the face by a mouthful of filthy aura from an old [Jouin] youkai whose age was unknown. She couldn't dodge in time and flew backward, breaking a stone pillar before crashing heavily to the ground.

Because she had received heavy blows one after another, her body had reached its limit.

Miko already knew that she couldn't escape her fate, and the light in her once bright black eyes had also dimmed.

She stood up again, her figure already staggering.

There was no way to turn the situation around.

At the last moment before death came, she glanced at the sky and murmured in her heart, "The sky of the land of the dead is indeed eternally dark..."

But just then, a familiar black crow suddenly entered her field of vision.

"I remember, Mr. Suren also raised such a black crow. I wonder if he and Miss Chitiao have been affected by the war..."

Miko suddenly felt a little melancholy.

She thought that people would probably have these thoughts when they were about to die.

But it was just this moment of eye contact, she vaguely felt that the black crow was also looking at her. The two, human and bird, stared at each other.

"This is Suren's black crow!?"

Miko immediately realized something, and her eyes trembled with intense surprise.

Before she could figure out what was going on,

She suddenly saw two figures rushing in from outside.

They weren't affected by the Amaterasu barrier at all, and in the blink of an eye, they were fighting with several youkai.

Are they here to help me?

Not ghosts?

After being beaten badly, someone inexplicably came to save her?

Before Miko could understand what had happened, she saw one of them had already appeared a meter away. That person was extremely fierce, and with one slash, he cut the [Red Youkai], which was like a blood-colored mist, into two pieces.

Although the Red Youkai recovered in the blink of an eye, it let out a shrill screech when it was hit by this slash.

Just one slash, and it injured a ghost-type youkai?

Miko's eyes widened, and she looked incredulously at the heroic face of the swordsman in front of her, exclaiming, "Miss Chitiao?"

"Mm."

Chitiao responded with a glance. She didn't have time to say much. She struck out with her blade again, blocking an incoming monk's staff.

With a "clang" of metal colliding, sparks flew.

In an instant, six arms, six blades, and a Rakshasa phantom appeared. When she drew her sword, it was as if she had opened the gates of hell, and a terrifying aura swept through the entire area. She alone was entangled with those large youkai. Surprisingly, she wasn't at a disadvantage at all!

Miko's eyes trembled with excitement, and she was too excited to speak. She muttered to herself, "It's really Miss Chitiao..."

Those who hadn't experienced desperation could never understand the excitement she felt now when she saw the light of hope.

And in the next second, she discovered that the space around her was fluctuating, and another person had walked out of the spatial rift.

Miko looked at him. Wasn't it Suren?

......

Different places, the same desperate situation.

Just like they had met in the bamboo forest in Akaina, Suren said, "Miss Miko, can you still walk?"

"I can..."

Miko wanted to speak, but couldn't help feeling a fishy, spicy sensation in her throat. She quickly covered her mouth, but blood still overflowed from the corners of her lips.

Seeing her state, Suren shook his head. "We'll talk about the details later. We must leave here now."

He didn't stand on ceremony, walked over, put his arm around Miko's slender waist, and then rushed out of the shrine.

Miko herself thought it was very rude, but before she could react, she was running lightly towards the outside.

She leaned on Suren's shoulder. For some reason, the sense of despair she had felt when facing death suddenly disappeared. At this time, watching the ghosts and monsters swarm after her, she finally had the time to think about other things. This scene was familiar, as if in the bamboo forest of Akaina, during the desperate chase, he had also come to her rescue.

Miko felt it was incredible.

But she was also puzzled as to why Suren and Chitiao would also appear in the Yomi.

A moment later, she felt guilty.

Because she guessed that she had dragged them down. There was also some complex emotion in those beautiful eyes.

Suren carried Miko and ran all the way.

It wasn't that he couldn't beat them, but the commotion here had already attracted the ghosts and monsters from Ghost City. If they dragged on, it would become more and more troublesome.

The large youkai on the mountaintop were being held back by Chitiao, and the small ghosts at the foot of the mountain couldn't stop Suren.

In the communicator, hearing that Chitiao had also begun to retreat safely, Suren continued to run towards Sensō-ji Temple.

This wasn't Ghost City, and there weren't endless ghosts and monsters to kill. Although those wandering spirits looked at Miko as if they had seen "Tang Sanzang's flesh" and drooled, they didn't have much combat power at all. They scattered as soon as they charged. Many even instinctively feared the phantom of the god of death that appeared behind Suren.

Before long, the two had completely shaken off those small ghosts and stopped in a mountain stream.

Suren put down Miko, finally breathed a sigh of relief, and asked, "Miss Miko, are you alright?"

Miko's expression was a little complicated. "I'm fine."

After a moment, the two of them spoke at the same time: "You..."

Suren smiled, looked at Miko waiting for him to speak first, and asked directly, "Miss Miko, how did you end up here?"

"I was in the Black Sun Great Ritual, and I was taken by Tsukuyomi..."

Miko paused, as if she felt it was meaningless to go into detail, but instead asked in confusion, "Mr. Suren, did you and Miss Chitiao also die?"

"Died?"

Suren was puzzled for a moment, then realized that she thought this was Yomi, and shook his head, "No, we're not dead. This is not the Land of the Dead."

Miko was obviously stunned when she heard this, "Ah, this...?"

The ghosts and monsters here, the aura of Yomi, the gray moon in the sky, the lifeless scene... it was clearly Yomi!

Suren knew it was incredible and explained directly, "This is a cursed space."

Many people in Hidden Mountain didn't know about the alchemy system, but Miko, as a princess, was very clear about it.

Hearing this, her face was filled with disbelief, and she asked in surprise, "A cursed space?"

"Mm."

Suren nodded, knowing that it was difficult for others to accept it for a while, and explained, "This is a novel world, more precisely, it's a novel in which the great writer Fujiwara Hayato wrote about his experiences in Yomi. Then, somehow, it became a cursed space. Then, when the Black Sun phenomenon descended, someone polluted the sunlight and used this method to suck in all the people in Hidden Mountain who didn't have faith in the gods. We happened to see the phenomenon and rushed over, and saw you being besieged by youkai..."

He looked at Miko's face, originally wanting to see if she knew anything about it, but judging from her expression, she didn't know either.

Hearing this, Miko finally understood where she was.

She looked around again. Although she found it incredible, she didn't doubt Suren's words at all. She also understood why she would see the two of them here.

Although they didn't come because they died, they were obviously implicated by her.

Suren said here, and then asked, "By the way, Miss Miko, how did you get in?"

"I..."

Miko's expression seemed a little complicated, as if she had encountered something that couldn't be explained in a few words.

She organized her words and then said, "When the Black Sun descended, I was praying and worshiping in the shrine, but I couldn't welcome back the Great God Amaterasu. Instead, the will of the 'Great God Tsukuyomi' descended, and I lost my divine power..."

"Just now?"

Suren captured a key word and asked, "How long after the Black Sun descended did you come in?"

Miko didn't know why he asked this question, and replied, "At most, a quarter of an hour."

"A quarter of an hour?"

Suren's eyes flashed with a hint of seriousness when he heard this.

They had been here for half a month, but only a quarter of an hour had passed outside?

Could it be a problem with the time flow of the cursed space?

After thinking about it, he wasn't too surprised. It might be some characteristic of this cursed space.

After all, the speed at which the story in the book developed depended entirely on the reader's reading speed?

He then asked, "What happened then?"

When Miko said this, her face became a little ugly. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "Later, the Great God Tsukuyomi bestowed new power and announced that Takeda Nobunaga was the 'Moon Emperor.' I asked some inappropriate questions, and then offended the god, and was banished here by divine power..."

There was a lot of information in this passage.

Hearing this, Suren finally understood why Miko was a little embarrassed to speak.

Their Shinzo clan's Huangquan was divinely conferred. Now, suddenly, the Great God Tsukuyomi conferred a new imperial family, so what would happen to their Shinzo clan?

Suren also instantly understood the brilliance of this move by the Takeda shogunate.

It was justified, and the residents of Hidden Mountain wouldn't mind at all.

After all, it wasn't another god. Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, and Susanoo were all the three great gods of Hidden Mountain, so there was nothing to be wary of.

Since it had always been promoted that the imperial power was divinely granted, did the Shinzo clan acknowledge this "Moon Emperor"?

Suren frowned slightly and asked, "Are you sure that the will of the Great God Tsukuyomi personally came?"

"I'm sure."

Miko nodded solemnly: "I am a miko who serves the gods and has some special means to communicate directly with the gods. What descended was indeed Lord Tsukuyomi."

"..."

Hearing this, Suren smelled a choking conspiracy in the air.

Because he knew that Takeda Nobunaga was a runic mage who had defected from Ruhig, and there was also an alchemical artificial human "Mite Yoru Hime" hiding behind the scenes. The alchemy system was rejected by the gods. Would they be recognized by the Great God Tsukuyomi and become the "Moon Emperor"?

Obviously impossible.

He proposed a hypothesis and said, "Suppose... I mean suppose there is another possibility that someone deceived your perception by other means?"

No matter what the reason, questioning the faith of a god's believers was an offensive and rude act, and Suren's wording was very cautious.

But at least he knew that alchemists were good at using various scientific methods to simulate theological phenomena.

For example, this Yomi in front of him.

Miko also instantly understood what he meant, wanted to shake her head to deny it, but thought of something again. The words were swallowed in her mouth, and her expression seemed very conflicted.

"..."

Hearing this, Suren didn't ask any more questions.

As a princess, Miko must have some abilities that he didn't know about.

He originally thought that he could hear some clues from Miko and find a way to leave this cursed space, but now it seemed that things were getting more and more complicated.

.......

However, now was not the time to care about this issue.

The black crow hovering in the sky was constantly sharing its vision. Suren saw that some ghosts and monsters were approaching, undoubtedly attracted by Miko's aura.

Now they needed to move to a safer place.

But Chitiao hadn't arrived yet.

Quite a bit of time had passed, and this was a bit abnormal.

Suren directly dialed the communicator and asked, "Sister Chitiao, haven't you shaken off those ghosts and monsters yet?"

Chitiao immediately responded, her tone a little depressed: "No, I've shaken them off. But something went wrong."

After hesitating for a moment, she added, "My sword is gone, and I'm looking for it."

Suren was also extremely surprised when he heard this and asked, "Ah... your sword is gone, what happened?"

Chitiao obviously didn't understand either, and said in a puzzled tone, "I don't know what happened. I got rid of those youkai, and then hung the 'Demon Sword Sozheng' on my waist, but while I was running, it suddenly disappeared. It seemed like it was stolen, because I sensed very subtle spatial fluctuations..."

"..."

Suren instantly felt that his face was very strange.

This situation surprised him even more than Chitiao being in danger, because for a swordsman, the sword was his life. It was impossible to lose the thing he depended on for a living.

What's more, they were still fighting just now, and someone was able to steal the sword?

Chitiao's perception was so strong, and someone was able to take the sword without her reacting. This method was very clever.

This Yomi had no living people, only ghosts and monsters.

Listening to her description, Suren immediately excluded all kinds of possibilities from the knowledge reserve in his mind.

He said, "Sister Chitiao, I think I know what youkai stole your sword. Don't look for it anymore. You won't be able to find it. Where are you? Let's meet up first."

Chitiao responded eagerly, "Okay!"

.......

Suren and Miko didn't dare to stay in place and moved all the way.

Before long, they met Chitiao who had arrived.

This gambling-addicted woman had lost her sword, and her face was full of anger. She was even more annoyed than when she was almost killed before.

As soon as she came, she didn't have time to reminisce with Miko, and asked, "Suren, do you know which damn ghost and monster stole my sword?"

Suren met her inquiry, nodded, and said, "We may have encountered Hakuzosu."

Miko, who was on the side, obviously knew this youkai when she heard this, and said in surprise, "Ah? If it's that kind of youkai... it will be difficult to get the lost treasure back."

Obviously, she had experienced it and added, "Our royal family's treasure house has lost things several times. Later, we investigated and found out that it was Hakuzosu who did it. That kind of youkai is very cunning and is also good at space magic. You can't catch it at all..."

[Hakuzosu] was a youkai that made people love and hate. It was the top treasure collector and the most famous thief. Legend has it that it carried a bag full of treasures, containing many rare treasures. Its talent was being able to smell the scent of treasures. Once it appeared, you had to be careful that the most important treasure around you would be stolen.

After a long while, Chitiao listened to the two of them explain the details and said with black lines all over her eyes, "So... the two of you have been explaining this to me for so long just to tell me that I can't get my sword back?"

As she spoke, she looked like she was beating her chest and stomping her feet in grief: "Oh, my god... I must cut that damn thief into mincemeat if I catch it! Mincemeat! Mincemeat!"

Suren also felt that Chitiao's angry appearance was very interesting, shook his head with a smile, and said, "It's not that there's no chance. If the legend is correct, [Hakuzosu] carries a bag full of treasures with it. Although it will make people lose things, as long as you can catch it, it will use treasures to pay ransom and beg for mercy. You will also get a 'treasure' whose value is no less than the lost treasure!"

"Oh?"

When Chitiao heard this, the tacit understanding between the two of them instantly made her understand that Suren had a way.

Miko on the side blinked her eyes and even left the complex emotions she had when she first came in behind. She was very curious, but also reminded, "But no one has ever caught that legendary youkai. It can escape into the void."

Suren shook his head and smiled mysteriously: "That's spatial displacement ability. It's indeed very tricky, but it's not completely impossible."

To be able to do it without Chitiao noticing in advance, that spatial displacement method was at least many times higher than Suren.

But... if strength was not enough, treasures could make up for it!

Because Suren had a [Chronos Space Glove] in his hand, which was specifically designed to restrain spatial displacement!

When Chitiao heard this, the face that was just as bitter as a bitter gourd immediately perked up, "What do we need to do?"

Suren's eyes narrowed slightly and said, "It's impossible for us to find it blindly. That youkai is very cautious and will escape immediately once it succeeds. But its talent is treasure hunting, and it's very greedy. It will instinctively approach treasures like a moth flying into a flame."

When Chitiao heard this, her crystalline eyes sparkled.

She already understood this plan!

Suren's eyes narrowed slightly: "As long as there are enough treasures, we're not afraid that it won't take the bait."

Chitiao's sword must be retrieved.

But this time,

It was rare to encounter this legendary youkai.

Suren not only wanted to get the sword back, but also planned to make a big profit!

.......

Chitiao only lost the [Demon Sword Sozheng], while the other twelve-work famous sword [Chrysanthemum Crest Shrine Protection] was not lost. This showed that the monster's vision for choosing treasures was still very vicious.

But correspondingly, if it was really as the legend said, the better the "ransom" he got after catching it!

Suren was also very curious about what could be better than a famous sword with a value comparable to a [Sealed Object].

He had been specializing in reading all of Fujiwara Hayato's novels these days, and he knew almost everything about the monsters described in them.

He knew the personality of this [Hakuzosu] all too well.

If it was somewhere else, he might not be sure. He would also worry about whether he would end up drawing water with a bamboo basket and lose even the "bait" because of some unknown situation while fishing.

But this was the novel world of Fujiwara Hayato!

Although it was a bit risky, it was also worth it.

If there were too few treasures, he was afraid he couldn't attract it...

That kind of low-end thing wouldn't be seen by youkai...

Thinking of this, Suren took out a pile of his treasures, [Hypnos's Night Black Scythe], [Oz the Ice Man's Shroud], [Rune Human Skin Umbrella], [Tartarus's Soul Lamp Iron Chain], [Stanitz's Chessboard], [Annis D'or's Poisonous Incense Burner], [Robert's Monocle], [Hundred-Armed Giant King's Arm], [Sand of Time], [Giant Crown]...

Various sealed objects, cursed objects, materials, special treasures... dazzling to the eye.

In order to be complete and let the youkai have a choice, Suren took them out of the space seal and carried them on his back.

Seeing this pile of treasures, even Miko, as a princess, was stunned and shocked beyond belief.

She seemed to see the royal treasure house being carried on someone's back.

Moreover, in terms of preciousness, the royal family didn't necessarily have a few things that could compare to these things in front of them.

Although Chitiao knew Suren's background, she couldn't help but sigh when she saw so many treasures: "Yo, you have quite a few good things, kid..."