Courtyard House: Time Traveler Not Yet a Ghost

He stretched out his hand, his fingers long and slender, the tips slightly cool. He gently pressed it against the cold, rough wooden palace door.

hum-

His divine sense surged forth like a burst dam, penetrating layers of wooden structures, soil, and rock, reaching the core of the massive underground "barrier."

It was an extremely vast and complex sealing system—based on the architectural layout of the entire shrine, powered by the accumulated spiritual energy from years of sacrifices, and centered on the political and spiritual symbolism of the name "Yasukuni," forming a massive, invisible cage that relentlessly suppressed everything. At the core of the seal was a huge stone chamber buried deep underground, containing the "Spirit Seal Book" that recorded 2.46 million names.

As long as the roster exists, so too do these forcibly bound souls. As long as these souls exist, there will be no peace; imprisoned here, they will continue to serve that distorted "Yasukuni" ideology.

He Damin withdrew his hand from the door, a cold smile curving his lips.

"Good stuff," he muttered to himself, a hint of barely perceptible excitement in his voice.

A thought flashed through his mind—

Soul Refining Flag, come out!

A dark, inky light, like a bolt of inky lightning, shot from between his brows and rapidly unfolded in the night sky. It was an ancient, unadorned black banner, its surface made of an unknown material, slightly damaged at the edges. Countless souls floated and swirled within it, emitting low, suppressed wailing sounds, as if from the deepest hell. The Soul Refining Banner hovered above the worship hall, slowly rotating, emanating an increasingly powerful aura of the underworld. The surrounding air temperature plummeted, and even the moonlight seemed to grow colder.

He Damin's hands moved swiftly, forming hand seals, his fingertips tracing faint golden paths through the air. He chanted ancient and profound syllables: "Yin-Yang Chains, Break the Boundary!"

"Splash—"

As soon as the words left his mouth, two completely different chains shot out from the Soul Refining Banner! One was as black as ink, seemingly capable of devouring all light, with eerie, soul-corroding flames coiled around it, emanating an aura that corroded all life; the other was a dark, gleaming gold, as if forged from starlight, with crackling, evil-dispelling lightning leaping across it, filled with fierce and domineering power. The two chains intertwined and coiled together, like two ancient dragons awakening, letting out a silent roar, and fiercely pierced the ground in front of the worship hall!

"boom--!"

A deep, muffled roar came from underground, causing the entire ground to tremble slightly. The invisible barrier shook violently under the furious impact of the Yin-Yang chains, emitting a cracking sound like shattering glass. He Damin clearly sensed that the solid seal, constructed from a century of spiritual power and faith, was gradually cracking and crumbling!

Within the barrier, countless souls imprisoned for nearly a century seemed to sense the loosening of their restraints, and began to surge wildly like a flood unleashed. They let out silent roars, releasing the resentment, anger, and despair that had accumulated for too long, and frantically assaulted the remaining sealing barriers. The air throughout the shrine began to distort, and the chilling aura almost materialized, forming a visible black mist.

"break!"

A cold glint flashed in He Damin's eyes. He let out a low shout, and his true energy surged forth without reservation, pouring into the Yin-Yang chains. The two chains suddenly contracted and twisted inward, and then—

"Snap! Snap, snap—!"

With a crisp and complete cracking sound, the seal collapsed completely!

Overwhelming resentment and malevolent energy surged forth from the ground like a burst dam, carrying countless twisted soul shadows, instantly filling the entire shrine space! The sheer size and wickedness of that power were enough to drive any ordinary person to the brink of madness.

He Damin was prepared. The Soul Refining Banner suddenly expanded to its maximum extent, and countless soul shadows on the banner surface boiled and roared, and a huge domain power instantly spread out—the Netherworld Ghost Domain!

Within a radius of three hundred feet, a pure netherworld power instantly enveloped everything, forming its own realm. The once cool moonlight vanished, replaced by endless darkness and eerie green light like will-o'-the-wisps. The temperature plummeted below freezing, even the air became thick and icy, feeling like knives cutting into the lungs when inhaled. Countless illusory ghostly figures and severed limbs appeared and drifted within the realm, emitting mournful and desperate howls, as if hell itself had descended.

Those souls that had just escaped from the seal and were still in a state of chaos and rage were completely enveloped and imprisoned by this sudden Netherworld Ghost Realm before they could even scatter and flee.

He Damin's divine sense swept across this ghostly realm like an invisible net.

Too much.

Two million four hundred and sixty thousand souls, densely packed like a black tide, filled every corner. They were of various shapes and sizes; some retained the appearance of their military uniforms before death, some were incomplete, and some were even blurred, leaving only pure resentment.

But he doesn't need it all.

All he needs is the fiercest, the most wicked, the most resentful part.

"All ghosts are coming!"

He Damin shouted again, and the Soul Refining Banner trembled violently, emitting a buzzing sound. Countless illusory ghosts on the banner's surface, like wild beasts breaking free of their restraints, rushed out madly, pouncing on the souls that had just escaped their confinement!

This was not a simple massacre.

This is a brutal yet precise selection process.

The spectral demons, like hungry sharks, preemptively pounced on the souls with the deepest resentment, the strongest murderous intent, and the most distorted forms. They tore, devoured, and merged, extracting the most "essential" evil thoughts and soul power. Meanwhile, the relatively weaker souls with less resentment were driven aside by the spectral demons, trembling like lambs to the slaughter.

He Damin sat cross-legged, suspended in mid-air, his eyes slightly closed. His divine sense, like that of a supreme commander, enveloped the entire area, guiding this "selection." His face was expressionless, as if he were doing something utterly ordinary.

Time passed second by second.

The sky outside the shrine was beginning to lighten with a faint, pale white.

After an unknown amount of time, this brutal selection process finally came to an end.

The Soul Refining Banner swayed gently, and the soul shadows on its surface seemed to become more solid and violent. He Damin could clearly sense that three hundred new "residents" had appeared within the banner.

Each one is a crystallization of resentment and evil from that century-long sea of ​​sins—those executioners who killed without restraint in the war, those accomplices of war criminals who planned and carried out countless atrocities, those evil spirits who, even in death, remain obsessed and filled with a thirst for slaughter. In life, they were loyal henchmen of militarism; in death, they are vengeful souls trapped in the barrier, and now, they have become the best "nourishment" for the Soul Refining Banner.

He Damin did not exterminate the remaining souls.

He slowly rose to his feet, walked to the front of the worship hall, and gazed at the tightly closed doors, as if he could see through them into the now empty stone chamber beneath. He formed hand seals once more, this time drawing upon a deeper, more primal power—

The cycle of reincarnation begins. Behind him, six holes of light slowly crack open in the void.

The night was cool and still, with insects chirping softly outside the window. He Damin sat cross-legged beside the bamboo couch, a pale blue flame rising in his palm, wisps of soul power winding like silver threads around the Soul Refining Banner. The banner trembled warmly, every inch of its patterns glowing. The scent of soapberry from his wife's hair lingered in the air, and he looked down to see her eyelashes casting delicate shadows in the candlelight, the curve of her lips warmer than the glow on the banner.