Tokyo Gods Only Want Beautiful Priestesses

"Aren't you human? Are you a monster?"

The old man dodged, his mind filled with doubt. He clearly perceived the other party as just a human.

"It's a human! Of course it is! A genuine, indestructible human!"

The girl, engulfed in flames, raged wildly, the rising flames soaring like the wings of a firebird, burning the entire enclosed room.

“The three realms are without peace, like a burning house, filled with all kinds of suffering, which is extremely frightening.”

The old monk muttered a sutra in a low voice, then passed through the door and left.

"Don't run away! You bastard!"

The burst of flames blasted open the door, and the girl gave chase.

Meanwhile, the shrine maiden, who was taking a short rest in the courtyard, felt a slight itch in her nose.

"Ah sneeze!"

"what?"

When the shrine opened its eyes, it was filled with the color of cherry blossoms.

Chapter 71 Wandering in the Underworld

"You're awake? I thought you'd never wake up again."

A girl dressed in a cherry-purple kimono was squatting in front of the shrine. When the shrine opened its eyes, it was surrounded by a huge expanse of cherry blossoms.

Ok?

While it's great that he opened his eyes to a huge treasure chest, why did it turn out like this after just a short nap?

The pitch-black sky descended, and if it weren't for the complete absence of starlight, the shrine would have thought it had slept until the dead of night, and that it was no longer lying on the wooden bench in the courtyard.

It's still in the courtyard, but it doesn't seem to be the same courtyard as before, and...

The towering cherry blossom trees before me are in full bloom, their branches laden with blossoms in shades of pink, purple, and white, with countless white specks of light floating among them.

There seem to be a lot of problems, but it doesn't matter. Let's just look at the beautiful girl in front of us.

"you are?"

Jingu looked the person in front of her up and down. The person had short pink hair that was just shoulder-length, and wore a blue-purple kimono with lots of cherry blossoms and spring flowers painted on it. It was trimmed with a lot of pure white lotus flowers and tied with a ribbon. She was holding a small fan in her hand.

A person with great ambitions cannot conceal their potential.

"Are you more concerned with who I am than where I am now?"

The young girl smiled gently, unfolding a small fan that covered half of her face. The fan was decorated with beautiful patterns, various flowers, and carriages.

"That kind of thing is not important at all. Ignoring the beautiful girl in front of you would make you cry."

Since breaking the rules, Shen Gong felt that his moral standards had dropped another level, or rather, he had grown even more.

Before, when he saw a beautiful girl, he only thought she was pretty, and he couldn't imagine the details at all. But now, Jingu can guess what it's like based on these external appearances.

Those who have tasted it and those who have only seen the packaging are in completely different states; in short, they are even more tempted.

The girl, who meant to politely decline, was amused by the shrine's somewhat shameless behavior and reached out to pull something from the back of her head to her forehead.

"My daughter is merely an ordinary spirit, why should you care?"

The triangular talisman worn by the girl on her forehead is called "Heavenly Crown" in Yingzhou, and is one of the symbols of ghosts.

"Then tell me first, where is this place? And why am I here?"

After being politely refused several times, Jingu stopped pressing the issue and changed the subject, thinking that as long as they could keep talking, there would definitely be a breakthrough.

"This is the Eternal World. As for why you are here, I have no idea." The girl looked at the shrine with a smile.

The mortal realm? Is that the place that someone mentioned to him before, the place where gods usually exist, corresponding to the mortal realm?

As if she could read the shrine's mind, the girl smiled and explained, "There is only one mortal world, but there are many eternal worlds. Any place that is far from the mortal world is considered part of the eternal world. If we were to use a more accurate term, it would probably be the underworld."

The underworld... then why would he suddenly go to the underworld? That's really strange.

"So who are you? If you don't tell the truth, I'll take you back as a vengeful spirit obstructing my work and interrogate you properly!"

Jingu touched the rope and found that the one he had cut at the beginning was still there. If the girl didn't give him a reason, he would...

The rope was used to tie the other person back, and upon hearing Jingu's words, the girl's smile became even brighter.

"The underworld is boundless. If you try to walk it on foot, you'll find it difficult to even leave. You'll probably need my help to get back, so how can you expect me to take you back for questioning?"

Jingu got excited when he heard this. You look down on me, don't you? It's just a matter of overlapping inner and outer worlds. How can you be so sure that he can only walk if you don't understand the trick?

The girl was still calculating how to return to the mortal world, escape the boundless underworld, pass through the eight cold and eight hot hells, escape from Yama's grasp, and cross the Sanzu River.

He didn't listen to the winding path of the shrine, but looked around with his head down. Then he picked up a small stone with his toe and shot it through the air.

The strong wind lifted the skirt of the girl's kimono, making the layers of lotus petals look like blooming flowers. However, the girl had no time to worry about the possible exposure and looked up in astonishment at the shooting star that was rising in reverse.

Like rising fireworks, it shot straight into the dark sky of the underworld, then exploded and burst open within it. There were no dazzling sparks, only the turbulence caused by pure power.

The sky was shattered, revealing the real world as if it were the other side of a mirror.

"How about it?"

Jingu waved his hand, waking the dazed girl, still clutching another stone in his hand.

"So, are you going to confess or not? Otherwise, I'll take you back and torture you severely."

Seeing the stone in the shrine's hand and his threatening expression, the girl immediately closed her small fan, stumbled and fell to the ground, revealing a tearful expression.

"My lord, I really don't know anything. I'm just waiting here for my father to return. I have absolutely no idea why you suddenly appeared here."

Very pragmatic, but it's a bit fake. Who falls down and lands with their legs crossed like that?

"Your father? Who is your father?"

Jingu asked in surprise, "Does a ghost have a father?"

The girl pretended to cry, showing a delicate and fragile expression, and said, "My father was sent to the mortal world by someone a few days ago, and I don't know when he will return. That's why I'm waiting here."

"After all that talk, you still haven't said who your father is, or who you are?"

“My father’s name was Sato Yoshikiyo, and he was known to the world as Saigyō Hoshi.”

"Ah la la la la! Why are you hiding? Come and fight me head-on!"

Chiyo chased after the old monk, weaving through the complex manor, her fiery wings flapping and blowing out countless sparks that constantly ignited the surrounding objects.

"Isn't this a bit worrying?"

The two people waiting outside watched the black smoke gradually rising from the manor, and Xiangzi asked with some uncertainty.

"Um...it should be fine, right?"

Hanayama Haru felt a little guilty, but it should be fine. After all, some losses are inevitable during exorcisms, and it's not some antique manor anyway.

Inside the manor, the fire was gradually spreading.

"What are you always running away from? Weren't you so fierce just now? Weren't you going to hang me?"

Chiyo was spewing trash talk, but due to her good manners, she was temporarily at a loss for words. Apart from a few sarcastic remarks, she couldn't come up with any particularly offensive or offensive swear words.

"Ugly, utterly ugly. Such a struggle to survive is the very essence of human depravity."

In the old monk's eyes, Chiyo's burning body, constantly repeating the cycle of burning and rebirth, her bloody and mangled appearance, was a symbol of humanity's ugly will to survive.

"Enough with the nonsense! What does all this talk about life and death have to do with me!"

Unable to catch up, Chiyo simply burned herself to ashes, transforming into a pure firebird that took flight.

"Wandering souls, the living must perish, those who meet must part, step into death with me, and sleep eternally beneath the butterflies of this eternal night."

The old monk stopped dodging and planted his staff in the ground. Countless souls emerged from the earth, swirling around him before transforming into fluttering fluorescent butterflies, which, like moths to a flame, were swept into the engulfing firebirds.

That is death, leading people to eternal sleep, taking the living to death, and seizing the power of all life.

Chapter 72 The End of Immortality

Die! ...

What is the meaning of living such a painful life?

Hunger can drive one to turn their own internal organs into a soup of scraps, because at least it won't look like a human body and can barely fill their stomach.

If you feel cold, then burn yourself, burning your blood and flesh to ashes, and you will no longer feel cold.

Pain must be endured. Feet constantly undergo wear and tear and regeneration. A punctured body can also recover quickly. Pain will be relieved as long as the affected area is cut off. There is a burning sensation inside the body all the time, and you will gradually get used to it over time.

Loneliness, loneliness...loneliness

Die! ...

Death makes everything irrelevant; eternal sleep is perpetual silence. The living must perish, joy turns to sorrow, and even celestial beings face the five signs of decay.

From the old monk's perspective, the firebird gradually withered, revealing a burning human form, with the ghostly butterflies constantly disappearing into it, each one easily luring mortals onto the path to the underworld.

Everything that seems indestructible is destroyed from within; nothing can save a person who wants to die.

She seemed to be dying too; when the flames died down, the girl before her would find peace, emerging from this ugly life and stepping into a beautiful death. But...

“They cannot die. The dead who forget to become Buddhas cannot be born into new life, and humans who cannot die cannot know the noisy underworld.”

Chiyo murmured softly, though she kept calling out "Eternal Sleep, Eternal Sleep," but it was the other who was always wandering in the world, unable to attain Buddhahood and reach the other shore to become a new life.

[Note: In Japanese Buddhism, "becoming a Buddha" also refers to a ghost fulfilling its wishes and going into the cycle of reincarnation contentedly.]

As for Chiyo herself? A person who cannot die, even if she wanted to give up and sink herself into the sea, would only fall endlessly, never reaching the end, never going to the underworld, and declaring the end of her life.

All that is alive must perish. If death is proof of being alive, then has she, who cannot die, already ceased to be alive?

To the old monk's bewildered gaze, Chiyo, engulfed in flames, set the entire manor ablaze, and a soaring firebird swept the old monk into its midst.

"Life begins in the darkness, death ends in the darkness."

This was originally a Chinese poem written by the Buddhist monk Kūkai, expressing his confusion about the cycle of birth and death. Now, it comes out of the mouth of an immortal being, and one wonders what kind of interpretation it will have.

The firebird's cry was melodious and long, and the entire manor was set ablaze by its tail feathers. The two people outside the manor stared in disbelief at the scene before them as the firebird rose up, scattering fiery feathers.

"The Phoenix Child, it's you! It's you! I've seen you before! I've seen you before! The Phoenix Child of the Temple of Extinction! Fujiwara!"