How did I, an Onmyoji, become the Lord of Yokai?

While Ōtakemaru and his group made new discoveries, hundreds or thousands of miles away in Heian-kyo, Shimizu Mio, dressed in a plain long robe, came alone to the underground altar... Chapter 238, Section 241: Abandoning the plan against Suzuka Mountain, Yamata!

The underground altar was silent, with orange flames quietly illuminating the surroundings.

There was no life, no living beings here, except for an extremely eerie statue, and nothing else.

The oppressive atmosphere that permeated the air was extremely heavy...

But suddenly, a figure silently entered.

The sudden appearance of a dark shadow broke the spatial pressure, and its faint vitality swept away the surrounding silence.

—A twenty-year-old girl stepped into the altar area!

She had long, flowing black hair like a waterfall, kind black eyes like pearls, and a face that countless women envied... She was like the most perfect masterpiece of heaven and earth, as if all the brilliance of womanhood had fallen upon her.

Everyone would be captivated by it!

"Is this... the altar that the Genji built for you?"

The girl parted her red lips slightly, her black eyes scanning her surroundings, and her clear and melodious voice rang out instantly.

"Although it's a bit small, it's still pretty good!"

As if speaking to an old friend, the girl uttered simple words lightly, but no one responded to her voice; apart from the echoes that reverberated around her, there was no other sound.

"Did the evil god of yesteryear not even have the courage to face me?"

Half a minute later, the girl, who seemed to be getting a little impatient, revealed a cold smile. She looked at the altar, her dark eyes seeming to pierce through the barrier between the world and land on the white bone serpent in the endless emptiness.

There, there exists a pair of bewitching purple eyes...

Across different worlds, the evil god and the great god locked eyes.

The next moment, a bewitching yet chilling laugh came from the void, and a long, narrow crack appeared on the altar without warning, followed by... a howling wind!

An indescribable, terrifying aura swept out of the crack like a storm, and in an instant, the entire underground altar trembled...

"Hehehe... I was wondering why someone would come to a place like this. It turns out it's our Great God. I never thought we'd meet again."

A chilling, freezing laugh rose softly as the evil god returned from its seal.

He looked down at the young girl, his face, filled with a sinister aura, revealing a ruthless sneer.

You don't seem to welcome me very much.

Shimizu Mio quietly watched the evil god. No matter how powerful the aura that filled this space was, she remained as immovable as a mountain!

"Does Lord Omikami think I should welcome you?"

"No... should I call you Ōmikami now, or... Shimizu Mio?"

As if discovering something new, a cold glint flashed in the evil god's eyes...

"I prefer the name Shimizu Mio now, after all, the person standing in front of you is just an ordinary person."

“You should understand what I mean, Yamata.”

"An ordinary person?" The evil god narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the girl's expression for a moment before finally revealing an intrigued look.

"I never imagined that little fellow would be so infatuated with our Great God, that he would actually be willing to give up the title of Great God... Hahaha... Interesting, truly interesting!"

"I'm increasingly eager to see that little guy."

“Abandon? I’m only speaking to you now as Shimizu Mio… No, perhaps I should say that Omikami has become Shimizu Mio.”

The girl answered quietly, "The Great Goddess is Shimizu Mio, but Shimizu Mio may not be the Great Goddess."

"Is that so... Then I'll listen carefully to what you, as an ordinary human being, have to say to me!"

Hachimata seemed genuinely moved by Shimizu Mio's words. He dispersed the terrifying demonic power that swept across the area, and suppressed his undisguised cold smile, looking at the indifferent black-haired girl like a spectator.

"Actually, this matter should have been discussed with you by that guy. Just as you don't welcome me, I hate stepping into your snake pit. Besides, I haven't settled the score with you yet for those two things you did to Chaoyang!"

"However, just as he was about to come to you, I suddenly remembered something very important, so I came in person."

"Although I don't know how many plans you've prepared over the past millions of years, or how many backup plans you've made, it doesn't matter. If you're capable, just come and take your revenge on me."

"I will not apologize to you for what happened a thousand years ago, and you will not accept my apology."

"However, there is one plan you must abandon."

A coldness settled on her delicate face, and Shimizu Mio's gaze grew even deeper. Just as she had said, she was the Great Goddess, the one who ruled over the land of the gods. No matter how many plans Yamata had devised, she was fearless.

Even if the other party turns the world upside down, she doesn't believe she will be the loser.

However, for the sake of her younger brother, she had no choice but to make the trip.

And the request she made was...

"The Sea Country, Mount Suzuka..."

......

Meanwhile, in a distant sea kingdom, Ōtakemaru was leading his trusted subordinates to the withered grass.

Yun looked at the withered grass that had lost all its vitality, and a look of astonishment and panic appeared on her face.

"Young Master, look at this..."

"Completely withered, devoid of spiritual energy and life, like a dead forest."

Ōtakemaru calmly looked at the small grass. Without touching it, he could tell from his senses that it had lost all vitality.

"Come here. It was the right thing to look for clues in other places. I didn't expect that, apart from that area, there would be other places in Suzuka Mountain where this situation has occurred."

Hai Ming squinted and pondered for a while, then decisively stood up.

"Young Master, I'll go and look around the other areas!"

If this situation is not limited to that area of ​​dead trees, it means that similar phenomena exist in other parts of Suzuka Mountain, and these phenomena may very well become clues for them to find the cause!

Understanding Haiming's thoughts, Ootakemaru immediately nodded and said, "Okay, leave this to me. You take a good look at the other places. Yun, you come with me too!"

"Yes, young master!"

Upon receiving the order, Yun immediately nodded, and then left with Haiming.

After the two left, Ōtakemaru gently dug away the surrounding soil. The life force of flowers and plants comes from the earth, and their death symbolizes the death of the earth. This place is the source of death for this land.

He wants to find the root cause of Suzuka Mountain's illness here! Chapter 242: Is the murderer Hai Ming?

Once the soil was completely removed, Ōtakemaru pulled out the withered grass.

He carefully examined the appearance and condition of the grass, and after confirming that it had only lost its vitality due to the loss of spiritual energy and not due to any other reason, he gently wrapped it with his demonic power and placed it on the ground.

Then, he used his demonic power to spread the power within his body as far as possible into the depths of the earth.

The death of the earth will cause the death of flowers and plants, and the loss of spiritual energy will cause the death of the earth.

So, why does spiritual energy dissipate?

Ōtakemaru's intuition told him that the answer they had been searching for for more than a decade was right here!

In fact, Ōtakemaru and his group had considered the method of allowing demonic energy to spread deeper and using it to detect the loss of spiritual energy from the very beginning, as it was a very basic application. However, they failed to notice the anomalies at Suzuka Mountain more than a decade ago, missing the best opportunity to investigate. By the time they realized what was happening and prepared to take action, the anomalies at Suzuka Mountain had already exceeded their expectations.

Demonic power dies the moment it enters the earth; even Ōtakemaru cannot penetrate too deeply.

That area was like a bottomless pit, able to swallow up any amount of demonic power that poured in.

When demonic powers failed, Ōtakemaru thought of digging. If he could dig to the end, he could find out the reason.

However, they hollowed out Mount Suzuka, digging from the surface all the way to the bottom. In this distance of hundreds of meters, they didn't detect anything unusual, as if... it was always like this.

This discovery caused Ōtakemaru a great deal of trouble. In the end, they could only observe the situation by looking at the land, which was gradually being affected by the aura of death.

But the result was still unsatisfactory.

The expected anomaly did not occur; the necrotic land, like a poison, gradually spread in all directions.

They couldn't get any more information.

Therefore, Ōtakemaru could only decide to do his best to stop the loss of spiritual energy and the withering of the earth. With the Yasakani no Magatama in his hand, he was able to stop the spread of the 'poison'.

Ōtakemaru had already found out last night that the evil god was about to break free of its seal and attack Heian-kyo.

Although he really wanted to help Shimizu Asahi, there was nothing he could do. The Yasakani no Magatama was the island's last hope; once it was separated from the divine artifact, the island would die completely.

Therefore, he would absolutely not hand over the Yasakani no Magatama until the trouble on this island was resolved!

Taking a deep breath, Ōtakemaru's gaze became extremely firm.

"Let me see what's hidden deep within Mount Suzuka!"

His demonic power spread rapidly. Having already learned of the horrors of that dead land, he unleashed his full power in one breath. However, his outburst went very smoothly; there was nothing beneath the land to stop him.

In an instant, his demonic power permeated the entire island!

"What...what's going on!?"

The unexpected smoothness left Ōtakemaru stunned. His demonic power told him that there was nothing beneath this land!

"How could this be... This is impossible! If there's nothing there, why did this plant wither? This isn't right!"

His brows furrowed unconsciously, and Ōtakemaru gritted his teeth before carefully manipulating his demonic power to search.

There must be a reason for this. Even if there isn't, there must be clues. We must find them!

......

While Ōtakemaru made a significant discovery, Shimizu Asahi and his team were still searching for unlikely clues in the deadwood forest.

This deadwood forest is not very large, covering an area of ​​only tens of thousands of square meters (with a radius of about a few hundred meters). At their speed, they can explore it completely in a few minutes at most. Even if they search bit by bit, it won't take them much time.

About an hour later, the four arrived at the very center of the dead forest, the place where Ōtakemaru had made his move.

There used to be a very tall tree here, but because no one paid attention to it, it died silently.

In order to find out the reason for the loss of spiritual power, Ōtakemaru had no choice but to dig it out.

Now, there is only one trace of it being disturbed.

"Is this the source of the mutation that Ōtakemaru believes is most likely...? Asahi, what should we do next? Should we dig it up again?"

Ari glanced at Ibuki and Aonobo, who had come up empty-handed, and then turned her gaze to Shimizu Asahi.