Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 346 The Great Evil Spirit: Heroes Compete for Supremacy, Chaos Erupts in Yingzhou (4000)

Upon seeing this distinctive monkey—or rather, the top "salesman" in the international arms trade—Zhang Quan quickly stepped aside.

Even Chairman Wang Cheng would offer tea to such a top-performing employee, let alone him.

Zhang Quan, however, has serious doubts:
"The reason why this monkey is so irritable, tearing things down everywhere to settle accounts, is probably because there is really nothing to eat in this poor, remote place."

Not to mention the fine wines and delicacies of the Peach Banquet, even the vegetarian meals of a small landlord in the Great Zhao Dynasty were far inferior. Even eating rice soaked in tea was considered a delicacy.

It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. Anyone would get annoyed eating this junk every day!

The owner here, Nobunao Kumagai, disregarded everything else and exclaimed with delight:
"Where is my father? Where is he?"

Write this down for me quickly.

This table is an antique made of huanghuali wood, priced at one hundred and eighty taels!

An old man standing nearby, who had already taken out an account book and a calligraphy brush, beamed with joy and repeatedly agreed.

The monkey probably felt that the meal it got for free today was too shabby and beneath its dignity.

Not satisfied with kicking over the table, he then smashed the bookshelf containing documents against the wall with a single punch.

Kumagai Nobunao was overjoyed and wailed:

"Make a note of this! This bookshelf is a high-end item purchased from Da Zhao. Including shipping, it cost three hundred taels!"
There are also ten ancient books from the Tang and Song dynasties on it, worth at least a thousand taels!

Ouch, it hurts so much!

Lord Aki, I, your humble servant, am deeply sorry!

Boom——!
At this moment, the monkey probably felt they were too noisy, so it shook itself and its body suddenly swelled up like an inflating balloon into a monstrous ape that was ten and a half feet tall, directly pushing a large hole in the roof.

Upon witnessing this scene, Kumagai Nobunao couldn't help but burst into a strange, distorted laugh while crying.

"This house is a public house that has been passed down for five generations in Aki Province. Many important decisions were made here. It was almost the talisman that anchored the three entries into Takamatsu Castle."

Now it's all over, all over!

His retainers dragged him out of the collapsed house, wailing and sobbing along with him.

"It's all over, hehehe."

The monkey, transformed into a ferocious ape, showed a significant loss of rationality in its eyes. It pulled a "needle" from its ear and shouted several times:

"Long, long, long"

The embroidery needle first turned into a golden iron rod, and then suddenly expanded into a giant pillar like a battering ram, which blasted the entire house down.

Then, the ape, carrying a stick, charged forward and swept down two low, dilapidated houses inside the government building.

These two dilapidated houses look older than the original reception room and are more likely to have been transformed into a talismanic object.

This provoked a chorus of wails and howls from the retainers of the Kumagai family, as if they were more heartbroken than if their entire family had been killed.

Kumagai Nobunao lowered his voice and instructed a servant boy who was holding his sword:
"Quickly, take some men and lead him to the warehouse!"

The young man hurriedly took a step forward, then suddenly stopped, turned around, and asked another question:
"My lord, which storehouse should we lead him to? The one containing Yongle coins and silver, or the one containing grain, fodder, and armor?"

Kumagai Nobunao slapped his wooden head hard with his large, fan-like hand and cursed angrily:
"Fool, of course it's the one we've already secretly emptied out."

"Wait until the monkeys are gone before setting a fire; be careful what you do."

He gave the orders while weeping bitterly:
"Alas, all the wealth in this warehouse has been burned to ashes by that damned monkey!"
"My Kumagai family and this monkey demon are sworn enemies."

The servant quickly replied:

"Hi Yi!"

The previous "victims" had already summarized the taboos:

The Book of Horses says that keeping female monkeys in stables can prevent equine plague. They also have menstrual blood flowing onto the grass every month, and horses that eat this grass will never get sick.

When you encounter that monkey, be extremely careful not to accidentally bring the female monkey from the stable to him, or you'll face the consequences.

The young man went to the stable and retrieved a female monkey, then ran past the violent ape.

"squeak--!"

The monkey was indeed enraged and chased after him, blasting the emptied warehouse and him together into dust.

However, monkeys don't cause destruction aimlessly as others might think.

After smashing it, he blinked his golden, gleaming eyes and scanned the entire room, as if searching for something extremely important to him.

Finding nothing there, they turned and left without lingering.

Zhang Quan had already led his men far away, glancing at Kumagai Nobunao, who was shouting for help while simultaneously adding more firewood, and thought to himself:

"The ambition of the Eastern Sea Kingdom is to conquer the world."

If the customer defaults on the loan, the territory will automatically change hands according to the rules of the deed, and the "Heavenly Rules and Earthly Laws" of the East Sea Kingdom will descend upon them on the spot.

Turning the Mori clan's strategic location into the border of the Eastern Sea Kingdom would allow them to launch a decisive attack from the center at a crucial moment.

Kumagai Nobunao is quite lucky. Taking advantage of this opportunity to settle accounts, he might not only be able to pay off the arms purchases on time, but also make a small profit.

Of course! That is, if he survives the assassination attempt on his father's killer, Mori Motonari.

This kind of arms loan isn't like the debt being wiped out upon death; it's a loan that extends to one's descendants. If the descendants can't repay the loan and interest, their territory will still be seized.

Before Mori Takamoto, Mori Motonari's eldest son who had been stationed in this strategically important city, arrived, Zhang Quan quietly left with his men.

I also informed Wang Cheng about everything I saw here:
"Your Highness, I have just personally confirmed that the monkey we discussed before is a living person, not an evil spirit that acts according to the rules."

Now he's heading south. Be careful; following his route, he might very well cross the sea into the Eastern Sea Kingdom.

Wang Cheng hadn't expected that this Great Sage of Balanced Accounts would arrive so quickly.

But when he thought of Fuyao, the master of the Five Sacred Mountains Treasure, whom he had just contacted, and the Golden Hoop of Tranquility, he immediately had an idea.

"Okay, I'll go to the Guanmen Strait to wait for him right away."

Rumble.
The earth trembled, and the violent ape, carrying an iron rod, pushed it out of the government office.

The series of thunderous sounds gradually faded into the distance, and soon after, he tumbled out of the Three-Tiered Takamatsu Castle.

His imposing and fierce aura meant that no one below the third rank dared to stand in his way, nor could anyone withstand him.

This is because Wu Cheng'en's "Journey to the West: The Tale of Exorcising Calamities" is not entirely original.

Rather, it began with the publication of the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions in the 22nd year of the Zhenguan era (646 AD), which established a broad popular base.

After a thousand years of fermentation and the complete localization of Buddhism, the first draft of "Journey to the West: The Tale of Exorcising Calamities" had already gained immense power even before it was published.

It had long been connected to a vast world of gods and demons within the book, and even went so far as to reshape that world, re-evolving the path of "cultivating both body and spirit" with the resources accumulated over thousands of years. It was essentially standing on the shoulders of giants.

Although Wu Cheng'en, a novelist of the fourth rank, only possessed the ability to rival that of a third-rank novelist through the world he created in his book.

He left Takamatsu Castle three times and went straight ahead, crashing into Yoshida-Koriyama Castle, the main castle of Mori Motonari, not far away, and collapsing a large number of buildings.

The straight-line distance between the two castles is only 30 li. When the disturbance occurred in the former, Mori Motonari of Yoshida-Koriyama Castle had already noticed the commotion.

Seeing the monkey acting as if he belonged there, causing havoc in the Heavenly Palace, he couldn't help but roar in anger:

"You stinking monkey, how dare you cause trouble on my turf! I'm going to kill you!"

Perhaps those ambitious and powerful families were hoping that the monkey would come to settle their accounts.

But no daimyo, including Wang Cheng, wanted monkeys to inhabit their territory.

Most of the vassal state was their property, and all losses were reported to them. The essence of settling accounts was to cut flesh from them.

Almost every daimyo wanted to get rid of the monkey as soon as possible.

Mori Motonari's left hand, veins bulging, gripped tightly an empty, ancient scabbard at his waist.

He obtained one of the Five Great Swords of the Realm, representing the destiny of the samurai family, namely Onimaru Kunitsuna.

However, he left the blade in Wang Cheng's hands, leaving himself only with a scabbard to restrain the sword's power, making it impossible for either of them to use this treasure of the province that could kill in dreams.

Without this treasure that allowed him to kill others but prevented others from killing him, Mori Motonari dared not personally confront the rampaging monkey head-on.

Therefore, in his capacity as the guardian of Aki Province, he issued an imperial edict to Itsukushima Shrine, located in the mountains outside the castle:

"Please, Princess Ichikishima, take action and slay this villain!"

Nestled among the mountains outside the city, behind the torii gate of a shrine, a giant golden serpent's eye suddenly opened.

Woo woo woo.
The mountains and forests swayed, and a fierce wind blew.

The principal deity of Itsukushima Shrine, Ichikishima-hime, is regarded as a water goddess, a goddess of commerce and art, and a guardian deity of the Mori clan.

Legend has it that her true form was a snake demon who had lived for hundreds of years and followed the path of the Earth God. After being reincarnated as a human, she took up the job of a "shrine maiden" and worshipped herself. Eventually, she successfully broke through to the realm of living ghosts and gods.

Before the decisive Battle of Itsukushima, Mori Motonari prayed for victory at Itsukushima Shrine, and after the victory, he devoutly converted to Buddhism and made great offerings to the goddess in his territory.

The two sides reached a cooperative relationship, with the Mori family providing incense and prayers for the latter's spiritual practice, while the latter acted as a strategic deterrent and protector for the former.

"Leader!"

As an ethereal voice echoed through the mountains, a cool and aloof shrine maiden, around thirty years old, emerged from the shrine.

She was dressed in white robes, a short jacket and scarlet trousers, white tabi socks and red straw sandals, with a flower hairpin in her hair and a Kagura bell in her hand.

The two most common professions in the Shinto religion of Yingzhou are Onmyoji (yin-yang masters) and shrine maidens (miko).

Onmyoji originated from Taoism and Yin-Yang philosophy in China. They were male officials who were proficient in divination, feng shui, and sealing techniques.
Shrine maidens, on the other hand, originated from the indigenous Shinto religion and were female attendants who served the gods and communicated with spirits to pray for blessings. The highest rank was the third-rank "Saiō" like Ichikishima-hime.

This is also the potential limit for the official rank of a priestess. Unless one can enhance their potential through rank fusion like Wang Cheng and others, it is impossible to reach the second rank.

However, the supernatural powers awakened by this "King of the Fast" through his profound accumulation are extremely extraordinary.

call--!
The spirit's form left the body, transforming into a spirit with a human body, a snake's tail, and six arms, wearing women's armor.

Hold the bow in one hand, and pull the bowstring with the other five arms.

Behind him, the seven stars of the Big Dipper—Greedy Wolf, Giant Gate, Prosperity, Literary Star, Honest Star, Martial Star, and Broken Army—emerged one by one.

This is the Divine Power of the Big Dipper: [The Big Dipper Determines Death]!
It can draw upon the military energy, calamity energy, and death energy between heaven and earth, transforming them into an unparalleled offensive force.

It should be noted that the Warring States period on Yingzhou Island began a hundred years ago with the Onin Rebellion.

The chaotic warfare that had lasted for a century had brought the calamity and death energy between heaven and earth to an extremely high critical point.

In addition, during this period, Wang Cheng and his two arms companies have been using "offshore balancing" tactics to stir up trouble and add fuel to the fire. The atmosphere of impending doom in Yingzhou has become as thick as a powder keg, reaching a chilling level.

A storm could come at any time.

But before that, this chaotic world teeming with calamity was Ichikishima Hime's strongest domain.

collapse--!
The bowstring trembled, and hundreds of arrows, as dazzling as stars, shot out, surrounding the monkey from all directions.

Although the latter was not in his right mind, his fighting instincts were extremely advanced.

He plucked a monkey hair from behind his head and blew on it forcefully.

Suddenly, hundreds of monkeys appeared in the sky, all looking and alike.

Even the [Beidou Death Strike], which can automatically lock onto opponents, was interfered with, and like using a cannon to kill a mosquito, each strike killed a single monkey hair before disappearing one after another.

In the end, only a few arrows reached the monkey's true form.

"squeak"

He chuckled strangely, grabbed the giant club, and transformed it into a golden beam spanning the sea, somewhere between reality and illusion, before slamming it down hard towards the arrows and the direction of Ichikiri-jima-hime.

The golden monkey wields its mighty cudgel, clearing the jade sky of eternal dust.

Boom——! ! !
With a deafening roar, the novelist's illusory spiritual response collided violently with the extremely dense aura of calamity summoned by Ichikishima Hime.

The calamity energy in the sky, which was originally formless and intangible, seemed to break through the boundary between reality and illusion, and suddenly manifested as a vast expanse of crimson clouds, which swirled rapidly around the "Sea-Stabilizing Needle Iron".

This blow seemed to have punched a huge hole in the sky, drawing in the calamity energy from the four islands of Yingzhou like a funnel.

This scene surprised both Wu Cheng'en and Princess Ichikishima.

"what happened?"

It was obvious that the unintentional battle of supernatural powers between the two had triggered some unknown change, and the heavens and earth were humming and vibrating along with the great tide of calamity.

All officials of the third rank and above on Yingzhou Island noticed the commotion.

The various daimyo, noble clans, yokai, demons, and ordinary officials all used their various abilities to look in this direction. One sharp-eyed person suddenly exclaimed in surprise:
"Look, that white deer looks like the one described in ancient books!"

But then, a phantom deer emerged from the overwhelming aura of calamity and instantly landed on a white deer in the forest.

It was still the knowledgeable Ichikishima-hime, who had lived for hundreds of years, who decisively uttered a name that no one else was sure of:
"This is a great evil spirit symbolizing the impending climax of a chaotic world—[Zhu Lu]!"
It is also a symbol of the sacred artifacts of the state!

He then immediately sent a message to Mori Motonari:

"Guardian Hall of Aki, quick! Stop worrying about that monkey and send troops to capture this deer immediately!"

The one who seized the opportunity during the last period of chaos was none other than Ashikaga Takauji, the founder of the current Muromachi Shogunate!

(End of this chapter)