The infinite sword system has been mastered, and you say this is the dragon clan?

Chapter 169 Eri: Oh my god, this is exactly me!

When Emiya said this, Xia Mi couldn't help but gasp.

Who told you to mix and match like this? This kind of thinking of treating historical legends as jigsaw puzzles is simply...beetroot!
"At first, she was born as the child of Minamoto no Mitsunaka, the god-given son of the Bull-Headed King. Due to the abnormal phenomena caused by her demon seed, she was regarded as an unlucky child and was secretly raised in Sensoji Temple. When she was fifteen years old, the unlucky child called herself 'Ugly Gozen' and established her own demon kingdom in the Suzu Forest of Shinagawa. She was eventually defeated by Minamoto no Raikou."

Emiya's voice echoed in the quiet room.

"But now, Minamoto no Raikou and Uzumaki are two sides of the same coin, so the real situation is that although Uzumaki was raised in the temple from the beginning, Minamoto no Manchu didn't want her talent to be wasted, so he called her back to educate her."

"But Ugly Gozen is a monster after all, so Minamoto Manchu never treated her as a human being, nor did he ever call her his own child. Instead, he treated her as an alien with inhuman powers, a living sword."

"In other words, Ugly Gozen, or Raikou as a young girl, was only required to be a 'weapon' without emotions. The 'Eradication of Ugly Gozen' incident was actually a process of confrontation between the two personalities in her body. Minamoto no Raikou represents an upright heroic general, while Ugly Gozen is her other side as a terrifying demon."

Xia Mi rubbed her chin thoughtfully, finding this statement very interesting. In order to prepare for the Holy Grail War and guard against Odin's layout, she has been secretly investigating the mixed-blood forces in Tokyo recently. Among them is the Minamoto family, which really reminds her of the Minamoto clan thousands of years ago.

What is more worrying is that the bloodlines of these White King's descendants are not as stable as those of other Black King's mixed-bloods. The deadpools who have degenerated into these unstable bloodlines are just called "ghosts".

From this point of view, it is not enough to just design a positive heroic image for a heroic spirit, but also to design his corrupted negative side. Just like Minamoto no Raikou, not only do we need to design the heroic side that will be praised for thousands of years, but we also need to add the image of the demon that represents the corrupt and dark past... But is this still a hero? Or should we just call it an "anti-hero"?
Eri, who was standing by, was also listening with great interest. Her pen rustled on the paper as she wrote in beautiful handwriting, her eyes fixed on Emiya:

"So, Minamoto no Raikou finally defeated the monster in his body, right?"

Emiya noticed that the girl was very persistent in asking this question, and she wanted to ask it over and over again to confirm a certain answer. Her fingers holding the pen trembled slightly, as if she was expecting something, but also afraid of something.

"Yes, Minamoto no Raikou finally defeated his monster self."

"Although she has been living as the demon monster 'Ugly Gozen' for more than a decade, she finally met someone who changed her life. For this, she was determined to fight against herself and reshape herself."

"In the end, Ushigozen's personality chose to give in and seal himself, and Minamoto no Raikou eventually grew into a world-famous heroic general."

Eri's handwriting became crooked as if she was touched. "So... even if you are born a monster, you can still become a hero?"

She chewed on this story over and over again. The same monster origin, the same secret weapon of the family being hidden and secretly cultivated... She seemed to see her own shadow in Minamoto no Raikou's experience.

Eri is struggling fiercely in her heart, because she has always believed that she is the most terrifying monster, and the fate of monsters is to be destroyed.

But Emiya told her that monsters can also say goodbye to the past, and monsters can also grow into great heroes admired by thousands of people!
Emiya's heart was shocked. He thought of Eri's past experiences and suddenly realized that this story actually fits Eri's predicament in a very clever way!

Eri has been raised since she was a child, or trapped in the cage of her family. She is the vessel of "God" and also the prison of "God". She always lives in the fear of losing control, afraid that one day she will become a monster that destroys everything.

"Yeah, it's okay," he ruffled Eri's hair gently, "It doesn't matter if you are born a monster. As long as you keep a righteous heart, one day you will be able to defeat your past self and embrace your future as a hero."

After a period of comfort, Eri's lips finally curled up, and the darkness in her heart seemed to be defeated, and it disappeared with a faint sneer. Then the haze in her eyes gradually dissipated, replaced by a bright smile.

"..."

Xia Mi, who was watching the whole process, frowned more and more.

She always felt that there was something wrong with the atmosphere between the two of them, and the air was filled with a familiar sour smell of love - just like when Emiya and Nono were together. Xia Mi realized that she was inevitably becoming a light bulb, and she was really unwilling to accept this unfair fate. She spoke up and forcibly interrupted the sour atmosphere that continued to brew.

"Wait! Brother Emiya, there's a question I don't understand. At the beginning of your version of the legend, it mentions that Ushigozen was 'born as the son of the Bull-Headed Heavenly King.' Does this connect the Ushi-Oni to the Buddhist god Bull-Headed Heavenly King?"

"That's right. Actually, the '丑' in Ugly Gozen is the zodiac sign that corresponds to the '牛' in the Chinese zodiac. The correct name is '牛御前'. At the end of the story, Ugly Gozen turned into a giant ox-shaped monster. This monster was the great messenger of the god Bull-Headed Heavenly King."

He paused, "And the Bull-Headed Heavenly King is Indra, or the incarnation of Indra."

"what?"

Xia Mi's eyes widened, and the information in her hand almost fell to the ground. The first half of the story about the relationship between the Bull Ghost and the Bull-Headed Heavenly King was acceptable, but the Bull-Headed Heavenly King was equal to the incarnation of Emperor Shitian? What kind of weird logic was this!

"This is a bit complicated. It involves the local manifestations of the Japanese religious gods and Buddhas. I'll look for it..."

Emiya spewed out a bunch of academic terms that sounded very profound, and at the same time he searched for records in the classics on the table.

Xia Mi really wanted to complain about Emiya - this guy obviously wasn't like her who studied these things all day, how could he know so much? ... In the end, she forcibly held back the time-wasting part of complaining, and stood up to search in the sea of books with Emiya.

"Found it! Lord Seimei's "Golden Crow and Jade Rabbit Collection" records that the Bull-Headed Heavenly King is the Northern Heavenly King Mahada, the reincarnation of the star Tianxing who once served Indra. This means that the relationship between the Bull-Headed Heavenly King and Indra is that of a subordinate and a superior."

"The Golden Crow and Jade Rabbit Collection also mentions that the Bull-Headed Heavenly King has a story frame that is basically the same as the Northern Buta God in Shintoism (who is regarded as the same god as Susanoo)."

He flipped open another copy of the Gion Shrine Record, "Coincidentally, the Gion Shrine Record records that the Bull-Headed Deva is the son of the Goddess of the Tower, and is the incarnation of the Medicine Buddha. This means that the Bull-Headed Deva is the son of Susanoo here."

Here, Yakushi Tathagata is obviously equated with Susanoo.

This is the "synthesis of Shintoism and Buddhism", a system formed by the fusion of Japanese Shintoism and foreign Buddhist beliefs. There is also a theory in the synthesis of Shintoism and Buddhism called "local manifestation", which believes that the eight million gods are all incarnations (powerful manifestations) of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and heavenly beings.

For example, Izanagi is Sakyamuni and Amitabha; Izanami is Thousand-armed Avalokitesvara; Amaterasu is Mahavairocana and Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara; Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto is Amitabha; Okuninushi is Mahakala; Nirge-no-Mikoto is Sakyamuni; Inari Daimyojin is Chasiniden; Ebisu is Bishamonten and Acala…

In short, with this one-to-one correspondence, Susanoo became the incarnation of Medicine Buddha.

"Gyuto-no-Devana is also known as the 'guardian deity of Gion-no-Vihara', and the shrine dedicated to him is also called 'Gion-no-Vihara'. In the view of the integration of gods and Buddhas, Gyuto-no-Devana is the incarnation of Indra, and Gyuto-no-Devana himself is integrated with Susanoo by gods and Buddhas."

And as we all know, Indra and Indra can also be equated, so the Bull-Headed Heaven King is equivalent to the incarnation of Indra.

Of course, "Indra = Indra" is not a combination of Japanese gods and Buddhas, but the result of the mutual influence of Hinduism and Buddhism...

"Later, during the Meiji period, there was a movement to 'abolish Buddhism and destroy Buddhism', and these Gion shrines were changed to worship Susanoo, but this policy failed to change the public's mindset, and the folk belief in the combination of gods and Buddhas has not completely disappeared to this day."

Xia Mi, who had listened to everything, was already dumbfounded. According to this theory, as long as the heroic spirits of Japan were related to mythology, they could be extended all the way to Buddhism and Hinduism. The more aliases there were, the more endless it would be!
Emiya closed the book. "Anyway, after all this, the final conclusion is that Ushigozen, who turned into a cow-demon, was given a son by the Bull-Headed Heavenly King, and the corresponding relationship behind it is Bull-Headed Heavenly King → Susanoo → Indra (Shakra Indra)!"

Xia Mi opened her mouth, not knowing what to say for a moment. She suddenly realized that if she followed this line of thought, could the heroes from other regions also forcibly establish various mythological relationships? This vest game is endless, right?
Emiya expressed his approval of Xia Mi's "learning by analogy, that's right, that's the idea!

(End of this chapter)