He changed Tiwat

Then overcome it with something else.

The five places of the spirit were established, and the procedures were carried out in sequence.

The purpose of a minor purification ritual is to purify oneself of impurities.

This will bring several years of peace.

In the period of great evil, one sins against heaven and the country.

According to the eyes, mouth, nose, hands and feet, take the five objects of purification and destroy the barrier of the minor exorcism.

Then, the defilement was cleansed with a powerful divine incantation.

The principle of a great purification ritual lies in cleansing away impurities so that sins may be dispersed.

After recording the "Shin-Sakura Great Exorcism Guide" and having it confirmed by Yuijin Harunosuke, Han Fulai circulated the notes to Lei Yingdian, Yingmei, and others.

Judging from this summary, the "Divine Cherry Blossom Great Purification" is not a ritual that can be performed all at once, but a continuous ritual with a cycle of "one Jiazi", that is, sixty years.

The ritual is divided into two types: "major purification" and "minor purification".

Every few years, "Xiao Fu" would come and take a branch of the sacred cherry tree from Narukami Taisha Shrine as a "talisman," set up a barrier at the five leyline nodes on Narukami Island, replace the "talisman," and collect the filth into the branch of the sacred cherry tree.

This is what is meant by "the miasma and malaria are hidden within the boundaries, and the roots and tumors are concealed to avoid the countryside."

The "Great Purification," which takes place once every sixty years, requires the destruction of the barriers of the "Small Purifications" to release the filth accumulated in the branches of the Divine Cherry Tree and cleanse it all at once.

In simple terms, the roots of the Divine Cherry Tree are used as a warehouse to store filth. This warehouse can hold about sixty years' worth of filth, and to prevent it from overflowing, it must be completely "emptied" every sixty years.

According to Harunosuke Yuugami, it should be the time for the "Great Purification" to "clear out" the warehouse. However, the warehouse manager, Yae no Miko, has disappeared. Since no one is cleaning up the filth, the filth has run away and turned into the "Beast Hounds" and "Constant Mechanical Array" that they saw.

Their next task is to take the place of the vanished Yae no Kami and perform the "Divine Cherry Blossom Great Purification".

Chapter 227 A beautiful woman boasts of her life in the morning, but by evening she is nothing but white bones in the desolate countryside. [4k5]

To perform the "Divine Cherry Blossom Purification," one must break the barriers at the five leyline nodes in sequence, according to the ritual's requirements, to purify the accumulated impurities within.

Han Fulai then pulled out the map of Narukami Island that he carried with him—a military map that he had used when discussing the route to attack Narukami Island with Su Ding and others, and it came in handy once again.

Fortunately, Harunosuke Yuugami had always planned to "study abroad" in Liyue and was very familiar with the Liyue script. There was no need for Han Fu to translate it, and he simply marked the locations of the five leyline nodes.

However, the five points that Kami Harunosuke marked on the map are all around the Shadow Mountain, namely "Konta Village", "Shōshō no Mori", "Kamisato Yashiki", "Arakawa", and the "Underground Palace" where they are now.

After looking at the locations on the map, Ying seemed to have thought of something: "Paimon, including Mr. Harunosuke this time, haven't we already encountered 'Legion Memories' four times along the way?"

"Yeah... what's wrong?" Paimon still seemed confused.

“Look, look—” Ying pointed to several points on the map, “The time we met Kitamura was near the ‘Kamisato-yashiki,’ the time we met Koyama was next to the ‘Forest of Guardians,’ then we encountered Ichito’s ancestor at the entrance to the ‘Wild Sea,’ and now we’ve met Mr. Harunosuke in this ‘Underground Palace’…”

“These places happen to be the leyline nodes for the ‘Great Purification of the Divine Cherry Blossom’… Ah, I get it! The Divine Child was already performing the ‘Great Purification of the Divine Cherry Blossom’ before we arrived!” Paimon clapped his hands. “Shadow said that only places that have been ‘purified’ will have leyline memories. These places are all leyline nodes that the Divine Child has already ‘purified’—and we haven’t seen the Divine Child in any of these places, only Konta Village!”

"So, after the Divine Child came here, she went to Konta Village and encountered unexpected trouble there...?"

Kage frowned. In her memory, Konta Village was just a peaceful little village; there shouldn't be any monsters that could pose a threat to the Divine Child. Even that "constant mechanical array" they had just destroyed—even if the Divine Child couldn't defeat it, she could definitely escape…

But now there is only one ley line node left that they haven't been to yet: Konta Village... Could there really be something even more powerful than the "Constant Mechanism Array" there?

Han Fulai shook his head: "No, I think we'll definitely come up empty-handed if we go to Konta Village. If I were to plan the exorcism route for the ceremony, it would definitely be from the nearest to the farthest, starting from the few points near Narukami Taisha and finally coming to this most remote underground shrine."

"Also, do you remember that the Divine Child left the lantern of Narukami Taisha Shrine at the entrance to the desolate sea, but did not take it with her—this was the last stop she came to."

“Oh right…” Ying then remembered the lantern they had found at the entrance. “So, the Divine Child came in here, but failed to return the way she came… But there’s nowhere to hide here, so where is she now?”

Shadow had previously stated that if the Divine Child were simply trapped in the underground palace, the "contractual connection" between Shadow and her would not be blocked. Based on this, they speculated that there was a problem beneath the Desolate Sea Palace, possibly a spatial tunnel connecting to the abyss, and that the Divine Child had entered that tunnel, causing her connection with Shadow to be blocked by the abyss's energy.

However, the "abyss passage" that was expected did not exist in this underground palace.

According to Harunosuke Yuugami's recollection, the real "refuge" was "Senmon no Kōshū," which had escaped from the underground palace five hundred years ago. Now, this underground palace was simply a "trap" used by the Fox Palace to seal away demons, and there was no place to hide at all.

The hall before them encompassed the entirety of the underground palace, but they found no trace of the Divine Child. Just now, Harunosuke had sent the shikigami to gather information about the palace, but they hadn't reported the Divine Child's location either.

In other words, the divine child seems to have mysteriously "vanished" in this underground palace.

Paimon recalled the legends that Ayaka had told them before: "Could it be... that 'disappearance'? Should we bang drums and gongs to summon her out?"

The Inatsumi people called the phenomenon of unexplained disappearances "kamikakushi" – meaning "hidden by gods or monsters".

According to the folk customs of Inatsume, whenever someone disappears without a trace, gongs and drums are struck, and names are called out in a search. People believe that the person who disappears without cause has been taken to their secret realm by a celestial dog or fox spirit, and the gongs and drums are meant to remind the celestial dog or fox spirit to release the person.

Yingmei glanced sideways: "Isn't the Divine Child herself a fox spirit? If anyone should be hiding someone, it should be her hiding someone else..."

Paimon shrugged: "Then how do we explain her disappearance?!"

At this moment, Han Fulai spoke up: "...Everyone, I roughly understand what's going on."

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes immediately focused on his face, including Harunosuke Yuugami, who also looked very interested.

Facing everyone's expectant gazes, Han Fulai held up the map in his hand and used a pen to connect the five nodes on the map one by one: "'Konta Village,' 'Kamisato Residence,' 'Forest of Guardians,' 'Wilderness Sea,' 'Underground Palace'... Connect these five points diagonally, and it will become this shape..."

“It’s a pentagram!” Paimon exclaimed.

Yes, a pentagram has appeared on the map once again.

"Before entering the underground palace, we saw a maze formed by five branching paths. The clues hidden in those 'earth fox' statues were also 'pentagrams.' Mr. Harunosuke, in 'Onmyoji,' the 'pentagram' should have a special meaning, right?" Han Fulai asked Harunosuke.

“That’s right.” Harunosuke Yugami nodded earnestly.

Although he did not establish his own school or create the "Only God Yin-Yang Technique" in his youth, the "Only God Yin-Yang Technique" was derived from the supernatural magic of the Inazuma clan and the Liyue Immortal Path, and many of its basic principles are the same.

"This pentagram is the foundation of all magic, representing the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. I heard that it is called the 'Yin-Yang Five Elements' in Liyue, while Inatsuki is called the 'Kikyo Crest' because its shape resembles a five-petaled bellflower."

"Whether it's the secret techniques of the Tengu or the rituals of Narukami Taisha, this 'Kikyo crest' is the most common way to construct an array. Although I have never personally performed the 'Divine Cherry Blossom Great Purification,' I imagine that Lord Saigu deliberately divided the ritual into five stages in order to use the power of the five elements in the earth's veins to construct a barrier."

"Yes, just as I suspected." Having received confirmation from the great Onmyoji Harunosuke, Han Fulai was basically certain of his guess: "The 'Shin-zakura Daifuyoku Yoroku' states, 'The Rai-zakura tree is a branch of the Shin-zakura. It is a branch of the Narukami main spirit, connected to a separate shrine of the Taisha Shrine.'"

"In other words, the 'suppressing objects' that absorb the filth in these five leyline nodes, namely the branches of the divine cherry trees planted there, are actually 'branch spirits' of the divine cherry trees, or 'branch shrines' of Narukami Taisha. The power of the 'Divine Cherry Blossom Great Purification' to suppress the filth ultimately comes from the divine cherry trees of Narukami Taisha."

"Furthermore, the description of the 'Great Purification' in that book is as follows: 'Take the five sacred objects and destroy the barrier of the Lesser Purification. Then use the Great Divine Incantation to cleanse the impurities.'"

"Therefore, even if these five leyline nodes are 'purified,' it does not mean that the 'Great Purification of the Divine Cherry Tree' is successful. There should be a final step, namely, 'purifying with the Great Divine Incantation.' In connection with the 'transplantation of the branches of the Divine Cherry Tree and the division of the spirit of the Naruto God' mentioned earlier, this step of 'purifying with the Great Divine Incantation' should be carried out at the location of the Divine Cherry Tree's original body."

"Think about it again, the scenes we witnessed along the way, such as the 'Beast Hounds' attacking the roots of the Divine Cherry Tree..."

As Han Fulai spoke, he used his pen to draw a circle on the belly of Yingxiang Mountain—this place was exactly the center point of the "pentagram" on the map.

“I am 90% certain that the final step of the ‘Great Purification of the Divine Cherry Tree’ is to purify the root system of the Divine Cherry Tree itself. Yae-no-miya must have returned to Shadow Mountain in some way to carry out the final task of the ‘Great Purification’. — I once saw Yae-no-miya use the ‘Heavenly Fox’ supernatural power to travel through space, and she has the ability to shrink the distance to an inch. Perhaps that’s how she left the underground palace.”

"And her 'disappearance' must have been due to a problem in this last step."

"According to the records of this 'Great Purification' ritual, if the ritual is successful, the filth contained in the roots of the Divine Cherry Tree will be 'purified' - but the 'constant mechanism array' that we saw earlier, which was transformed from the filth in the ley lines, actually means that the filth still exists."

"The same goes for those 'Beast Hounds' that attacked the roots of the Divine Cherry Tree. They didn't escape from the Desolate Sea Palace. The demons that were trapped in the palace five hundred years ago were actually sealed into the roots of the Divine Cherry Tree by the Fox Palace using the 'Divine Cherry Great Purification' technique."

"The reason they suddenly appeared is because the Divine Cherry Tree that originally sealed them had a problem, allowing the demons sealed within to escape—that's why all the demons appeared near the roots of the Divine Cherry Tree."

"Furthermore, General Shadow, you previously mentioned that the last place you sensed the Divine Child's appearance was near Shadow Mountain, right?"

He looked at the shadow.

Ying paused for a moment, then nodded.

When she mentioned "the disappearance of Yae no Miko," she did indeed say this:

“Yesterday afternoon, when the magistrate sent someone to the castle tower for help, I could still sense that the Divine Child was near Mount Kagehime. However, on my way to Mount Kagehime, the connection between us was suddenly cut off, and then it became very difficult to sense her… It was as if she had suddenly gone to a very far place…”

Han Fulai had no more hesitation at this moment.

"It seems that Yae no Tsukasa failed in the final 'purification'."

"If my guess is correct, she is currently within the root system of the Shadow Mountain God Cherry Tree, fighting against the filth and demons sealed within it—the root system of the God Cherry Tree, which seals a large amount of filth and abyssal demons, also falls within the scope of 'being able to shield the General's perception,' doesn't it?"

Ying's mouth was slightly open, but she couldn't speak for a moment.

Han Fulai's reasoning seems somewhat disjointed, but upon closer examination, it is meticulously logical. Every action of Yae no Miko, as well as her "disappearance," can be explained by this reasoning.

Moreover, there is indeed a secret hidden in the roots of the Divine Cherry Tree, a secret that she kept sealed away, a secret known only to her and the Divine Child...

If everything unfolds as Han Fulai predicted, then the Divine Child's current location is indeed there.

Uesugi Harunosuke seemed to recall something as well: "'Heavenly Fox Divine Power'...? Speaking of which, the formation that sent 'Thousand Gates Void Boat' out of the underground palace back then was indeed a teleportation technique based on spiritual veins, which the Saigu called 'Divine Foot Technique'. Although I don't have any memories of what happened after that, if we follow the construction rules of the technique, the teleportation point should be the largest spiritual vein node in this area, which is Shadow Mountain."

"If that Eightfold Divine Child also grows to the point where she can use the 'Divine Footwork' and use the Inazuma Spiritual Vein to travel through space, her destination will most likely also be Mount Kage... Hmm, it's exactly the same as Lord Han's prediction."

"To be able to meet you all five hundred years later is perhaps Heaven's way of telling me that I still have duties to fulfill."

As he spoke, he once again took out a talisman from the sleeve of his hunting robe, drew several talismans with his finger blood, and scattered them around the branches of the sacred cherry tree, forming a "bellflower pattern".

"Although I am no longer alive and cannot travel with you all, please allow me to do my best. Although my supernatural powers are not as great as yours and the Palace Master's, I can still do my best to save you from the hardships of the journey by relying on the spiritual connection of the Divine Cherry Tree."

As he said, a small portal opened up on the root system of the branch of the divine cherry tree, just big enough for a few people to pass side by side.

Han Fulai couldn't help but recall the "Mirror Return Secret Realm" he had once seen at the bottom of Qingce Lake.

This great Onmyoji of Inazuma already possessed such powerful Onmyodo skills in his youth; such abilities are worthy of being called a "human immortal."

Ying and Paimon were equally surprised. They had only ever seen "Abyssal Apostles" and Daines Reeb use such ley line portals before. They never expected that there were people in Inazuma who had mastered the technology of portals.

At this moment, Harunosuke once again pulled something out of his sleeve—a pipe.

The pipe has a simple design, appears to be made of brass, and looks unremarkable.

However, Harunosuke carefully handed the pipe to Kage with both hands.

"This is a replica of an item that Lady Zhaigong liked to use. It contains a shikigami talisman that I made. I originally intended to give it to her to scare her, but now it seems to be useless."

"Instead of letting it return to the earth's veins along with me, I would rather give it to the General. After all, the 'Divine Cherry Blossom Purification' was passed down by me. If the General encounters any barrier spells set up by me in the future, he can use this item to pass through without hindrance."

Ying solemnly accepted the tobacco pipe given to him by the Onmyoji.

Without saying another word, the group set off immediately.

Ying and Paimon took the lead, stepping into the portal first, followed by Han Fulai.

Shadow was the last one. Just as she was about to enter the portal, Harunosuke suddenly called out to her.

"Um... I have a small question, and I hope the General can answer it without hesitation."

The shadow looked at him.

A rare hint of embarrassment appeared on Harunosuke's face: "I heard from the General that I created a technique called 'Only God Yin-Yang Technique' after my birth—to my shame, I made a vow when I was young: 'If I ever take on a disciple, I must find a beautiful and cheerful older sister.' I would like to ask the General, did this wish come true?"

Ying paused for a moment, then replied, "Yes, it's done."

"Is that so? Then I have no regrets in this life. I wish the general and all the lords good fortune in battle." Shinobu smiled and bowed deeply.

Shadow nodded and stepped into the portal.

The portal closed completely after the shadow entered, and Harunosuke Yuugami's figure slowly became transparent.

The portal he just created had actually used up all his power.

Harunosuke took out the fox mask again and put it on.

"General, you are such a kind person. You were even willing to deceive me in the end..."

He knew in truth that he would never take on a disciple in his lifetime—because there were no longer any women like Huzhaigong in this world.

"In the morning, beauties boast of their glory on the world's path; by evening, they are nothing but white bones decaying in the wilderness..."

Harunosuke silently recited the waka poem someone had left for him, and slowly disappeared.

Chapter 228 The Secret Hidden Beneath Narukami Shrine [5K]

After passing through the portal, the group arrived in Shadow Mountain.

"So there's a place like this hidden beneath Narukami Taisha!"

Paimon immediately expressed his feelings.

They were positioned directly below Narukami Taisha Shrine. Looking back, they could see the famous pilgrimage path marked with "Senbon Torii" (thousands of torii gates). Climbing along this path for another ten minutes or so would take them into Narukami Taisha Shrine.

She had spent some time at Narukami Shrine and had flown back and forth along this mountain path several times, but she had never noticed that there was such a large cave next to the path.

Moreover, this cave does not appear to have been formed naturally.

Upon closer inspection, the edges of the cave entrance are extremely smooth, as if they were cut into the rock wall with an extremely sharp knife.

In Paimon's memory, this place was supposed to be a "dead end," originally surrounded by a railing made of "shimenawa" (sacred ropes). If you climbed over the railing and walked a few steps forward, you would see a cliff with nothing at all.

Such a dangerous place, where one wrong step could send you tumbling down the mountain, is only for people who can't fly.

Ying pointed ahead: "Paimon, this statue wasn't here before, was it?"

In the direction she pointed, there was a "Fox" statue that faintly emitted the light of lightning, standing like a "gatekeeper" blocking the entrance to the cave.

Paimon shook his head: "...This cave entrance, and this statue, both appeared today."

Han Fulai, who was also observing the cave, had by then figured out the whole story: "The 'Essentials of the Great Purification of Divine Cherry Trees' says: 'During the minor purification ritual, one sins against Heaven and the country, and a 'shimen rope' is used as a boundary, and the 'viiji' phrase is recited.' This place was probably a barrier hidden with 'shimen ropes' before, which required a special incantation to open."