He changed Tiwat

"The Divine Cherry Tree has undergone an anomaly this time, and Yae no Kami opened this cave in order to hold the 'Divine Cherry Tree Great Purification.' Moreover, only Yae no Kami herself should know about this place, otherwise Narukami Daisha would have sent people here to look for her... I think she is very likely trapped in this cave right now."

"Anyway, we'll be able to see the Divine Child once we go in, right?"

Upon hearing Han Fulai's words, the impatient little Paimon immediately flew into the cave, and then—

"I feel...I feel...my whole body is numb and tingly..."

"I can't take it anymore..."

When Shadow arrived at the scene through the portal, what he saw was a certain emergency food being roasted by lightning elements until it smelled delicious.

Ying whipped up a small tornado and pulled Paimon, who was sizzling from the electric shocks, back to safety. She secretly rejoiced that little Paimon had cleared the way for her, otherwise she would have been the one getting electrocuted...

Han Fulai also went up to help Paimeng soothe his fur, feeling somewhat embarrassed—he had just wanted to remind Paimeng that the fox statue definitely had a hidden mechanism and not to run so fast… but unfortunately, he didn’t have time.

It's not unusual for the entrance to such a secret realm to have a barrier or enchantment, but typical lightning element barriers, like those of the Lightning Cherry Tree, are easily noticeable as purple light screens. This kind of lightning element barrier, which offers absolutely no warning, is far too insidious; even seasoned adventurers would fall for it.

The person who designed this barrier was definitely trying to sabotage us...

At this moment, the fox statue that resembled a "gatekeeper" suddenly spoke: "The spirit has four souls, and the shikigami has three. Based on this, I have left behind three 'words of power.' Although adding another layer of lock is of little use, it should be more than enough to stop weak thieves. If my successor needs to break the seal, please speak the correct 'word of power' to the guardian spirit."

"Damn it, this is the work of that Onmyoji!"

Paimon, his body steaming, raised his fist, looking like he wanted to go back and settle scores with Harunosuke, but the portal had already closed...

The fox statue continued to repeat Harunosuke's message: "...Although I hope the seal will never be broken, and although I haven't heard from you for many years, if the seal must be broken and a great exorcism performed, then the one who wants to break the seal is you. The third incantation is something you used to say often."

That concludes the clues left by Harunosuke.

Upon hearing that they needed to solve the mystery, Ying and Paimon instinctively looked towards Han Fulai—after all, this guy knows everything, so they could just leave it to him.

Han Fulai was rapidly flipping through the book "Shin-Sakura Great Exorcism Essentials" dictated by Harunosuke.

The three phrases of "word of power seal" left by Harunosuke are actually similar to "open sesame" in terms of passwords, and are not difficult to understand in themselves.

But you can't guess by guessing. Even if Han Fulai is good at solving puzzles, you have to give him enough clues to deduce the answer.

In Harunosuke's message, he mentioned, "The third word of power is something you used to say often."

The "you" in this context likely refers to Fox Palace. Han Fulai can only hope that the "Essentials of the Great Exorcism of Divine Cherry Blossoms" left behind by Fox Palace contains relevant clues.

He flipped through the book for a short while, then slammed it shut and put it back into his storage space.

Ying and Paimon both looked at him with hopeful eyes.

Facing their expectant gazes, Han Fulai... pulled out the Salt Sorrow Spear.

Let's use 'brute force' to crack it.

Well, he gave up on solving the mystery.

There are indeed clues in the "Shin-Sakura Great Exorcism Manual".

The outline begins by stating: "First, offend the gods of Heaven, then offend the sea gods of the land. Then offer prayers to appease the gods' anger. These are the established rules, and are recorded before all sacrificial rites, purification rites, prayers, and incantations."

According to the explanation left by the Fox Palace, the "words of power" in the "Great Purification of Divine Cherry Blossoms" are all based on a set pattern, namely, "First, offend the gods of heaven, then offend the sea gods of the country. Then, use the words of the White Guardian to quell the gods' anger." This is a three-part structure.

"First, I apologize to the Narukami of Heaven," literally translated, means to apologize to the Narukami in heaven. In essence, it means that the first incantation should borrow the power of the deity to praise the deity's name. According to Han Fulai's understanding, this is similar to the phrase "The majesty of the Yellow Heaven, the gods of the five directions" that Boyang and Fushe recited when performing the sealing technique... The Inatsume people believe in Narukami, so naturally they are praising Narukami's honorable name.

"The Sea God of the Kingdom of Retribution" refers to the second line of the incantation, which requires the caster to reveal their identity, origin, and lineage, similar to what Boyang and Fushe recited when casting their spells: "Yaksha people, together holding the celestial scales..."

As for the "suppressing words" mentioned in the third sentence, these are the incantations personally drafted by the caster when performing the spell, which means they come up with a sentence on the spot and fill it in.

This passage in the outline is just an example, similar to specifying that passwords should be in a format of letters, numbers, and underscores. When the actual "Great Purification" is performed, only the person setting the seal truly knows how they combine the passwords.

Currently, besides Harunosuke himself, the only people who know about these three sentences, especially the third one related to the Fox Temple's "word of power," are probably Yae no Miko, the Fox Temple's direct disciple.

"Brute force" is certainly not the best solution, and it may cause some trouble in the future, but at present, Han Fulai has no other choice but to force his way in.

But just because he couldn't do anything about it doesn't mean others can't.

Ying silently took out the pipe that Harunosuke had given her, and with a flick of her wrist, presented it to the fox statue guarding the gate.

Strangely enough, when the fox statue saw the pipe, it actually moved—it opened its mouth, grabbed the pipe with a smack, and even took a satisfying puff.

General Thunder personally offered a cigarette to Brother Fox, so he had no choice but to smoke... Han Fulai inexplicably recalled the scene at the company's annual meeting in the past.

There was clearly no spark in the pipe, yet the fox still managed to blow out a smoke ring.

Then, the smoke ring transformed into a man wearing a fox mask, who was none other than Harunobu Yuugami.

However, this time, Shinobu Shinobu's hair was completely white.

The aged Harunosuke muttered to himself before the fox statue: "Following precedent, the first line is 'Narukami's Imperial Envoy,' and the second line... ha, let's set it to 'White Dragon Bloodline.' Since this is her territory, it's the land of the White Dragon lineage. And the third line... ah, right, this one's good—"

He spoke with a smile, then said something completely nonsensical.

"Fried tofu, come quick!"

A smile also appeared on Ying's face—this was a phrase that Fox Palace used to say when teasing the young Yae no Miko.

All it takes is a shout of "Fried tofu, come quick!" and Little Goddess will always appear, eagerly waiting for the elder sister of the Imperial Palace to feed her...

After the three phrases of "Word of Power" were recited, the seal on the cave was released.

To prevent any hidden traps in the cave, Han Fulai put the jade shields on everyone again before entering the cave.

Contrary to his expectations, there seemed to be no new seals in the cave, nor did he see anything resembling the roots of the Divine Cherry Tree.

The cave itself is indeed very large, as if part of the entire belly of Yingxiang Mountain had been hollowed out, and it could easily accommodate several thousand people.

According to Harunosuke, this place was once home to "Senmon no Kōshū" (a legendary figure known for his elusive boats). One can imagine that five hundred years ago, Kosai-gū hollowed out the interior of Kagekō-yama and used this place as another "refuge"...

Han Fulai, Ying, and Paimeng searched around and found only a shrine at the deepest part of the cave.

Next to the shrine, there is also a "Earth Fox" statue.

This may be the only remaining "mechanism" in the cave.

Han Fulai channeled his immortal power into the statue, but all he received was a message from a woman: "In the end, it still came to this. Little one, when I come back, remind me—if I return safely, I must sincerely apologize to Wu Baizang. And then, be nicer to him from now on."

“That’s Zhaigong’s voice.” Lei Yingdong said nostalgically. “Wu Baizang…hehe, he should still be in the ‘Forest of Guardians’, waiting for you to come back and play ‘hide-and-seek’ with him, right?”

The five hundred zo she mentioned is the leader of the Inazuma Tanuki clan.

The Tanuki clan are native to Inazuma and were established on this land long before the Hakushū clan arrived. They were the original rulers of this land. It is said that the Tanuki clan and the Fox clan once fought a long and fierce war over territory—well, that's just the Tanuki clan's way of making themselves look good.

According to Huzhaigong, the "war" was roughly the same as children fighting over a patch of land in a park.

The foxes lived in the "White Fox Fields," and the tanuki lived in the "Guardian Forest," so there was nothing to argue about. The tanuki wanted to befriend the visiting fox ladies, but were too shy to say so directly, so they resorted to pulling their braids to get their attention…

In short, the two sides agreed to a contest of magic, with the one who successfully outwitted the other winning, and the loser having to obey the winner's orders—and the tanuki have never won since, three thousand years ago.

The current leader of the demon tanuki clan, Gobaizang, was not originally a famous demon. Compared with the Tengu and Oni clans, he was not outstanding in either supernatural power or martial arts. His only strength was his sharp tongue.

So, Kosai-no-miya made a bet with him, betting that he couldn't steal the Singing Grass growing in the Imperial Garden. The stubborn Ichizo actually went to the Shogun's garden to steal the Singing Grass, and the result... he almost got sliced ​​into a "Musou-no-Jin" (a type of Japanese swordplay) by a ridiculously bad movie.

In the end, it was only after Huzhaigong appeared and pleaded with Ying that Ying spared his life.

Of course, all of this was a "trap" that Fox Palace had designed long ago: Fox Palace made the leader of the Tanuki clan owe a life-saving favor, and asked the shogun to specially grant Wu Baizang the official position of "Hidden God Protector of Life", and to confer the title of the Tanuki clan to guard the water and soil spiritual veins of the "Guardian Forest" for generations, thus officially bringing the Tanuki clan under the rule of the shogunate.

After the "Dark Calamity," Kage also went to the "Guardian Forest" to look for Ichizoku, but Ichizoku, like these "Earth Foxes," turned into a stone statue, waiting for the return of the Fox Palace...

After recounting this story, Ying clapped her hands twice, then put her palms together and bowed to the shrine.

"What is Shadow doing...?"

Both Ying and Paimon looked at Ying with puzzled expressions.

This gesture is the standard posture for Inatsume when worshipping a deity's statue, but it's strange that Thor himself would worship his own idol—although Zhongli and Wendy have done this kind of thing quite a few times to hide their identities when they wander around, Thor's movie isn't about them...

Han Fulai, however, took it for granted and did the same thing as Ying.

He had already noticed something amiss.

Since entering the cave, Ying had remained calm, seemingly in no hurry to find the Divine Child. Although she didn't say it directly, Han Fu could tell from her demeanor that she seemed quite familiar with the cave.

When Ying recounted the past to them, it seemed more like she was organizing her thoughts through memories.

Considering the "Dark Calamity" of 500 years ago, and the actions of this film...

"This is... the shrine of the previous general, isn't it?" Han Fulai asked softly.

"Hmm." Shadow remained in a worshipful posture, head bowed. "Just now I told you some stories about the Fox Palace, and now, I want to tell you about my sister, Raiden Shin..."

"The disaster five hundred years ago not only took away my friend, Fox Palace, from my side... but also made me part ways with Shin forever."

“She really is my twin sister, with the same face and figure as me. But unlike me, she is not skilled in martial arts and does not like to use violence... In the past, every time there was danger, I, the ‘shadow warrior,’ would step in on her behalf, including during the ‘Demon God War.’”

"But that time, she went to Kanria alone without telling me."

"Why did she keep it from you?" Paimon asked the question that everyone wanted to know.

Everyone already knows that Zhen died from the "Dark Calamity" five hundred years ago, but why Ying, whose sister is not good at martial arts, would go to the dangerous battlefield alone without telling Ying has always been a mystery.

To this, Ying could only shake her head: "She said that situation was unavoidable, and she had no choice but to leave me behind. No, in my opinion, it should be... that she went alone to face the risk that would kill the 'Seven Rulers of the Mortal World,' deliberately hiding her younger sister behind her..."

“When I arrived in Kanria, it was too late. I only found her barely alive. She was in a deep coma and unable to speak. In order to wake her up, I entered her ‘consciousness space’—a place that is like ‘pure land’ to you.”

“There, we said our final goodbyes. I cried very hard, and even then I still didn’t understand what she was thinking.”

"Why was she the one who arrived in Kanria first, not me? Why did she keep it from me? Is this what they call 'protection'? She protected me like this, so I should protect Inazuma, whom she cherishes, in the same way. —Thinking this, I made up my mind to pursue eternity."

"And to bear witness to this determination..."

Lei slowly raised his head and looked at the shrine.

"...I preserved her collapsing consciousness and brought it back to Inazuma."

P.S.: Since these things won't be mentioned in the main text, I'm providing a special explanation here.

Due to the needs of the plot, I actually made a slight modification to the interpretation of the incantation for the Divine Cherry Blossom Great Exorcism.

The prototype of the Shin-oka Great Exorcism is the Japanese June Exorcism (Nakatomi Exorcism). The "Ame no Narukami" and "Kuni no Umi-gami" mentioned in the "Shin-oka Great Exorcism Essentials" correspond to "Amatsukami" (god from heaven) and "Kunizukami" (native god), which are derived from the "Amatsukami sin" and "Kunizukami" that are exorcised during the Great Exorcism.

The phrase "Ama no Narukami, Koku no Umi-gi" means Narukami, who came from the heavens, and Omikami, the native Umi-gi of Inazuma Province.

The Great Purification Ritual of Divine Cherry Blossoms states, "First, we ask the Heavenly God of Appeal for forgiveness, then we ask the Sea God of the Nation for forgiveness, and finally we recite the sage's words to appease the gods' anger."

"The above regulations are set forth before all rituals, purification rites, blessings, and incantations." This means that not only during the Great Purification Ritual, but also during all the religious activities of Inazuma, the worship of Orobas is performed in order to appease the lingering anger of the "evil spirit."

Even after the Dark Calamity, cultural exchanges between Umijima and Narukamima did not cease.

According to the Easter egg text "The Legacy of the Guilty Seeker" from the 3.8 Island event, Kitain Hideie's mother will go to the Misaki Shrine on Umijima Island to pray for her son, who is serving as the Eighth Governor of the Shogunate.

The "in" in Kitain's name means a religious person, so someone in his family became a shrine maiden. As for whether his mother was a rural official sent to Umi-no-Shrine by Narukami Island, or a Umi-no-Shrine native who married into the Umi-no-Shrine in Hachiyū, in any case, Umi-no-Shrine and Narukami Island had a fairly harmonious relationship 500 years ago in the game. Then the Tenryō-bōgyō and Kanjō-bōgyō started causing trouble, which led to the current situation...

Chapter 229 The Time Paradox [4k]

Upon hearing Ying's words, Ying immediately thought of something: "...Could it be that your creation of 'Pure Land of One Mind' is also related to the consciousness space of lightning?"

“Yes.” Ying nodded gently. “My ‘Pure Land of One Mind’ was created with reference to my sister’s consciousness space.”

"I see..." Ying felt like she understood.

But Paimon shook his head vigorously: "No, no, it's not like that! This is... something even more amazing! Ying, didn't you listen to Grandma Ping's lessons before? That's a consciousness space, how can it be separated from people?"

Although Paimon, the "best guide in Teyvat," didn't actually know much, she had just heard about the consciousness space.

During her travels in Liyue with Ying, she interacted with many Liyue cultivators, including the magical "Dust Song Pot" belonging to Granny Ping.

Back then, the curious little Paimeng pestered Grandma Ping, begging her to teach him how to make a "Chenge Pot".

The creation of the "Dust Song Pot" involves "Outer Landscapes," one of the three closely guarded secrets of the Liyue Clan, so it's not so easy to pass it on to others.

However, since Ying and Paimon were of special status, Grandma Ping specially satisfied little Paimon's curiosity and taught her the making principle of the "Dust Song Pot"—whether she could learn it or not was another matter...

In short, in Grandma Ping's words, the grotto in the "Dust Song Pot" is called the "external scene," which means "the internal scene is revealed externally."

Since the "external scenery" is the "external manifestation of the internal scenery," there is naturally a corresponding "internal scenery"—that is, the "landscape within a person's heart," or in other words, the "space of consciousness."

For example, in Ying's "Pure Land of the Heart," sometimes it is a barren landscape, sometimes a bright red moon hangs high, and sometimes udumbara flowers bloom everywhere... These are all so-called "inner landscapes."

The essence of "Exterior Landscape Cave" is to manifest the "inner landscape" in people's consciousness to the outside, that is, to "materialize the imagined landscape". Then, rare materials such as "Sparkling Gold Mud" and "Emerald Jade Rock" are added to create a container for this landscape, fixing and preserving this "inner landscape" that has been manifested to the outside.

As for the various magnificent and enchanting fairyland scenes within the grotto-heaven, and the various wonders of containing Mount Sumeru within a mustard seed, those depend on the immortal's own cultivation level when performing the "external scenery" ritual.

However, even the Liyue Asgardians' "Dust Song Jar" merely "copies" their consciousness space to the outside world; it doesn't mean that the Asgardian's own consciousness space is independently cut off, put into the jar, and then carried around everywhere...

That's impossible.

Because the "consciousness" in the consciousness space is the "soul consciousness," which is what is referred to as the "heart" in literary rhetoric.

Kage said she preserved Raiden's consciousness space and brought it back to Inazuma—doesn't that mean she preserved a part of Raiden's soul and brought it back to Inazuma?

Paimon didn't know how to describe this "amazing thing," but she knew it was a much, much more serious matter than Shadow had described in such a nonchalant tone.

Han Fulai was even more shocked than Paimon at this moment.