Chapter 173: Unification

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“…Koyako is angry. I feel very sorry for her in my heart, but I have no choice. I can’t give up on any of them.”

After listening to Minamoto Kiyomoto’s nine months of stories, Tamahime was silent.

The “Coral Demon Moth” was in a corner of the sky, recovering its broken body, and staring at the two of them coldly.

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at Tamahime’s face, which was eighty percent similar to Kamibayashi Miko’s, and felt a little anxious in his heart.

“Aunt Tamahime,” he tried to control his emotions, and his voice became particularly gentle. “Have I passed your test?”

“You want Miko to be the second wife?” Tamahime came back to her senses and asked.

Minamoto Kiyomoto took a deep breath and replied, “First or second is just a superficial form. In my heart, they are equally important.”

After saying this, he added another sentence:
“Let’s talk about these things after I get out. Your daughter, and many other people, are waiting outside.”

Tamahime saw his anxiety and smiled.

“How much time does it take for consciousness to communicate?” she tilted her head playfully, and her golden crown almost slipped off. A wisp of hair came out and fell on the corner of her mouth.

“We were just talking… didn’t it take time?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was stunned.

“Talking almost doesn’t require it. The essence is not talking, but consciousness communication. The pause in the middle is needed. According to my sixteen years of experience, about a minute has passed,” Tamahime straightened her golden crown and tucked the wisp of hair behind her ear.

Minamoto Kiyomoto was even more surprised, “Sixteen years, Aunt Tamahime, how long have you been here? Hundreds of years? Or thousands?”

“I said I wouldn’t talk. The flow of time is the same as the outside world. I’m still twenty-four years old.”

“…”

“Do you have any questions?”

“No.”

Tamahime glanced at him and said, “How long you can get out depends on how long it takes you to master the control of this body.”

“Then let’s start now?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

“I have a few more words to say to you.”

Tamahime fell silent. After Minamoto Kiyomoto knew that talking didn’t waste time, he didn’t urge her.

No one knew if Tamahime would disappear after the fusion. What followed might be her last words.

“I hope you can relay a message to Miko for me,” Tamahime said softly.

“Please speak.”

“Men are not to be trusted.”

“…”

Tamahime laughed heartily. The sixteen years had indeed not left any traces on her.

“I was teasing you!”

“You’re very similar to Miko,” Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed. “If she had grown up in a normal environment, she might have been as… cheerful as you.”

“You mean mischievous, right?” Tamahime was a little dissatisfied. Suddenly, she sighed again, “Tell her not to trust her father.”

“What’s wrong with the Ogosho?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was puzzled.

“Has he become the Ogosho? Yes, sixteen years have passed,” Tamahime’s eyes dimmed.

After a moment of silence, she continued:
“He’s a complete liar. He pursued me and married me to inherit the Ogosho. In his heart, there’s only himself—that’s not wrong, but it’s disappointing, and for me, it’s a deception.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto became more and more puzzled.

“He has a photo of you on his desk. Although what he did to Miko was a bit cruel, what he said doesn’t sound like a lie,” he said.

“That’s why I said he’s a complete liar. He even lies to himself,” Tamahime sneered. “The Divine Medium is very sensitive to people’s feelings. He knew that false feelings couldn’t deceive me, so he cast a spell on himself to make himself fall in love with me.”

“…To this extent?”

“The Buddhist school has a conversion spell. I also know a spell that can restrain oneself, which is very similar to the spell he used.”

“I’m not surprised by the spell. I’m surprised that he would change his will for the sake of power.”

“The Ogosho represents not only power, but also strength. These two things are more maddening than love,” Tamahime said coldly.

At this moment, in terms of temperament, she also began to resemble an angry Kamibayashi Miko.

‘What is Miko doing now? Is Izayoi still angry?’

Thinking of this, Minamoto Kiyomoto suddenly remembered that only a minute had passed. What could have changed outside?
Tamahime only thought he was pondering her words and continued in a cold tone:

“The previous generation’s Ogosho had three sons. He was the least liked, but he was ruthless and persistent enough. In order to make himself fall in love with me, he sacrificed family, friendship, pity, and fear, turning it into a fiery love. That’s what moved me.

“Not long after we got married, after I got pregnant, because he had married the Divine Medium and had a Divine Medium’s descendant, he slowly gained the favor of the previous generation’s Ogosho.

“It was at this time that I discovered his secret—I had never seen a person with such a strong desire for power. Even the love he had exchanged for family, friendship, pity, and fear was far from comparable.

“When I was alive, because he loved me, he was also good to Miko. After I died, in order to avenge me, and also because he had no family affection, he left Miko alone at Hakusan Shrine and told you that it was for Miko’s good.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto silently pondered her words.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked her.

“When I was alive, for Miko’s sake, I could still deceive myself. It didn’t matter if this love was real or fake, as long as it was good for us. But in these sixteen years, I’ve already figured it out—”

Tamahime’s clear and dignified eyes released a murderous aura that had been accumulated over years of battle.

“—Kill him,” she said. “He deceived me and ruined Miko’s life. I will never let him go.”

“This… when I get out, I’ll relay your words to Miko and see what she thinks.”

Tamahime smiled, looking even more like Kamibayashi Miko, because she showed the gratified smile of a young mother.

“If you can think like that, I can also rest assured to hand Miko over to you. What you two decide to do in the future is up to you, as long as she can be happy. Phew, let’s begin.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at her one last time.

“Don’t be sad for me,” Tamahime said freely. “In these sixteen years, I’ve been sleeping at the bottom of the sea with Little Moth every day. Only when I fly out of the sea and hunt yokai can I see the sky. That’s enough. There’s nothing to regret.”

“You are a great mother, and also an amazing Divine Medium.”

“Thank you,” Tamahime smiled brightly.

After saying her last words, Minamoto Kiyomoto no longer distracted himself and asked, “What should I do?”

“Let go of your body and mind, and devour me with your capacity. Remember, once you start, when you’re not talking, time will be synchronized with the outside world. After that, you still have to deal with Little Moth. My one-tenth here must be finished as quickly as possible. To do this, we can’t have any defenses against each other.”

“Okay!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto once again scattered the “Coral Demon Moth” that had not yet recovered, and while it was reviving, he began to fuse Tamahime’s power.

The two of them sat opposite each other. The black divine power rose like smoke and covered Tamahime.

“Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss!” A golden light shot out, blocking the black divine power. The two collided, and sparks flew.

“Hmm?” Minamoto Kiyomoto did not force it down, but opened his eyes and looked at Tamahime with confusion.

“…I told you to let Miko come,” Tamahime turned her face away, her fingers twirling the wisp of hair that had just fallen.

“…”

It seemed that it was not a problem with the spell.

Tamahime took a deep breath and said in a serious voice, “Alright, come on!”

That determined look was a bit like a little girl preparing for an injection.

Minamoto Kiyomoto also took a deep breath.

Originally, he was fine, but being interrupted by Tamahime like this, some thoughts that shouldn’t have been there uncontrollably appeared.

This had nothing to do with his own will. It was like telling a person not to think of a certain line of a song, and that person would immediately think of it. It had nothing to do with whether he wanted to or not.

Holding his breath and concentrating, he dispelled the distracting thoughts. From the top of Tamahime’s head, the black divine power suddenly pressed down.

Tamahime’s whole body trembled, and she suppressed the instinct to resist.

Minamoto Kiyomoto saw the continuous plum rain, the green plums dripping with water. Tamahime crawled out of the tatami room, wanting to use her hand to catch the rainwater, but was picked up by someone.

“Tamahime, Tamahime,” before her, was a young woman who looked very much like Tamahime.

“Wah, wah,” Tamahime, like a cat, went to scratch the woman’s face.

He saw the practitioner’s academy, where Tamahime sat in the first row, concentrating on taking notes;
He saw Jiyugaoka, the door of a boutique selling mugs opened, and Tamahime, wearing gorgeous clothes, was surrounded by a group of friends, laughing on the Western-style street;

He saw her soaring into the clouds, diving into the deep sea, and flying through the mountains;
He saw her holding a baby, happily teasing her with her fingers, and saying, “Miko, Miko.”

“Wah, wah,” just like back then, Miko, like a cat, wanted to scratch her face.

She brought her face closer. When Miko touched her face, she immediately giggled, and she also laughed.

He saw the desolate Miyagi Prefecture, where the “Coral Demon Moth” covered the sky and the sun, its divine might majestic. Tamahime turned into a golden light, like an arrow that would not return, and rushed towards this giant beast.

Tamahime’s eyelashes trembled. She also saw Minamoto Kiyomoto’s life.

Born in a seaside inn, besides the mother and son, there was no third person.

After his mother had beaten him until he cried, she held him and fell asleep tiredly. He scanned his surroundings with his eyes and yawned out of boredom.

A year later, he became more and more like a child, skateboarding on the seaside road, and liked to throw paper airplanes from the fifth floor to the seaside.

The paper airplane flew very far, as if with a little carelessness, it would fly into the azure sky, drawing a contrail;

When he was learning to draw, he drew the sun, the grass, the sea, and the inn. At the entrance of the inn, there were stick figures like him and his mother, holding hands.

After dinner, at dusk, he walked with his mother on the beach, picked up stones, and competed to see who could throw them further;
One afternoon, the sea breeze blew the white curtains. He sat on the tatami, his hands supporting him from behind, his small feet resting on his mother’s lap. His mother held a nail clipper in her hand and was cutting his toenails;

He heard the cries of the seagulls, tourists surfing on the beach, and a cat squatting on the breakwater, looking at the other side of the sea;
He saw him being confessed to by girls again and again, practicing judo, and beating up senior students;

He saw him being punished by kneeling, he saw him helping his mother clean, and when he was wiping the glass, his mother reminded him, “Susu, be careful.”

“I know,” he breathed on the glass.

The picture Tamahime saw became as blurry as that piece of glass.

Her consciousness began to blur, and only occasional fragments flashed by.

On the way to Tokyo on a night bus alone, he lifted the curtain and saw the sparkling Seto Inland Sea;

Writing letters, reading, attending classes, being attacked by crows;
While learning Spanish in the library, he saw a pure and fairy-like girl walking towards him. He thought to himself: the mother of his unborn wife must look like this.

The white magnolia flowers on her sleeves.

Tamahime suddenly woke up.

The boundless sea of capacity, the black capacity was like a multi-faceted crystal.

The black before her did not have any sense of depression, confinement, or gloom.

That black was not like the black of a crow, which gave people an ominous feeling; it was not a superficial pigment black; nor was it a simple darkness. There was no evil, no bad in the divine power.

It was a black close to the starry sky, which made people feel refreshed and small.

Tamahime looked at her hands. They had not disappeared.

She had been transferred from the “Coral Demon Moth’s” sea of capacity to Minamoto Kiyomoto’s sea of capacity.

She “saw” Minamoto Kiyomoto open his eyes. In his dark, gem-like eyes, a golden light and a blood-red color flashed.

He let out a long cry, stood up proudly, turned into a black light, and rushed towards the “Coral Demon Moth.”

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The pillars of heaven supported the sky. In the dimness, the divine power of the crowd was like clusters of candlelight.

The water waves occasionally rippled, and the three-colored divine power floating on the sea surface also flew up.

A practitioner hurriedly dodged, as if it were hot oil splashing from a hellish oil pan.

“I didn’t expect a yokai to know spells. It’s so troublesome,” the Kyushu Shinto Lord frowned.

“It’s not that it knows spells. It’s like Lord Tsukushi-no-Kimi, proficient in many great spells, and its combat awareness is also very good,” Minamoto Nagatoku said.

“At a time like this, you still have time to flatter,” the Taira clan sneered.

“It’s been more than half an hour. I believe Lord Tsukushi-no-Kimi will soon be victorious and turn the Coral Demon Moth into a demon body,” Amatsumara’s tone was weak, and his face was still pale.

“We can only wait now,” the Ichijo clan leader sighed.

The crowd fell silent. The unrestrained yokai also quieted down nervously.

The Shinto sect gathered together and whispered.

“Sanae, we can’t go on like this,” the leader of Group Two was an old man, quite majestic.

“Regardless of whether Minamoto Kiyomoto fails or succeeds, if we continue to wait, we will all die here!” the leader of Group Three said in a deep voice.

His usually shining golden armor was also dim before the “heaven’s collapse.”

A gloomy wind blew, blowing open Sanae Sara’s skirt. She thought for a moment and said, “Then let’s control the demon dragon nails and see if we can make the giant turtle turn over.”

“It’s carrying so many mountains. I’m afraid it can’t,” Spider said with worry.

“If it can’t turn over, then let it feel pain, so much pain that it goes crazy. As long as we knock off a few mountains and a gap appears, we’ll escape immediately,” the leader of Group Five said coldly.

“Let’s do it!”

The thousand or so Shinto sect experts who had come, at this time, only six hundred or so were left. These people joined forces and began to control the demon dragon nails.

Above their heads, a painful and strange howl instantly came from the “sky,” like a series of muffled thunder.

As the strange howl became more and more sharp, the “sky” began to shake.

A strong wind blew, and the sea boiled.

“Shinto sect, what are you doing?” the Kyushu Shinto Lord’s face was grim as he scolded.

The Shinto sect maintained their spell seals, silently chanting the incantation, and did not explain.

The crowd had no divine artifacts and could not use their divine power. They could do nothing about them.

Himegami Izayoi glanced at this side, sneered, and did not make a move.

Even she, who was independently supporting a pillar of heaven, the remaining power was not enough to deal with these people.

Kamibayashi Miko also used most of her divine power to support the Divine Medium’s Aya and did not have a second divine artifact.

As for the Hokkaido Miko, she didn’t even look at the Shinto sect.

The strange howl became louder and more ear-piercing. The crowd covered their ears and watched the “sky” sway non-stop.

Soon, they heard a “rumble.” The huge waves churned, and it seemed that a mountain at the “horizon” had crashed into the sea.

“It’s lighter, it’s really lighter!” a practitioner shouted.

The people from the government no longer glared at the Shinto sect, but instead looked forward to them continuing.

At this moment, Sanae Sara gave the crowd a look, and the Shinto sect tacitly retracted all their divine artifacts.

The pressure that had just been lightened instantly returned to its original level.

The people from the government first felt a stuffiness in their chests, then they reacted and cursed.

The Shinto sect ignored them, chanting the incantation to control the demon dragon nails while sticking close to the “horizon.” They would escape the moment a gap appeared.

The Kyushu Shinto Lord and the others saw their plan and wanted to follow, but the divine artifacts that had been fused into the “earth pillar,” without their support, would instantly collapse.

Once it collapsed, the sky would fall.

“Is there anyone willing to join us?” at this time, the leader of Group Three laughed loudly.

“Staying here is just waiting for death. Do you really think Minamoto Kiyomoto can conquer the Coral Demon Moth? He doesn’t even dare to fuse the remains of a county-level yokai!” Spider said.

“Wait for death here, or take out your divine artifacts and leave with us?” they heard the leader of Group Five say again.

“A person should stand tall even in death! Only rats will drill through cracks!” Minamoto Nagatoku cursed angrily.

“I, the Taira clan, a direct descendant of the imperial family, a natural king, join your Shinto sect?” the Taira clan laughed in anger.

The others all spoke up and followed suit.

The leader of Group Three ignored these curses and looked at Amatsumara, “Your Excellency, Amatsumara, what about you?”

“Do you think I’m a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death?” Amatsumara said coldly.

“Don’t you forget,” the leader of Group Six reminded him, “it was you who helped us refine the demon dragon nails that led to this situation.”

The crowd turned their heads and looked at Amatsumara with both shock and anger.

Back then, when he had brought the Shinto sect to Yomijima Island, the reason he had given to the outside world was: to cooperate with Minamoto Kiyomoto in a play.

“What is life, what is death,” Amatsumara said faintly. “Lord Tsukushi-no-Kimi has already promised me that he will protect my mind even after death. When I get to the Yellow Springs, I will continue to forge my iron, pump my bellows, and add fuel to the furnace. Without the interference of the secular world, it has instead fulfilled me.”

“Hahahaha!” the Shinto sect laughed heartily.

Sanae Sara giggled and said, “What’s this about going to the Yellow Springs and keeping your mind clear? Amatsumara, I didn’t expect you to believe such nonsense!”

The giant turtle wailed, and the Shinto sect laughed even more wantonly.

Even some of the people from the government looked at Amatsumara with strange eyes.

“There aren’t many people in the world who keep their word. I happen to be one of them. What, you don’t believe me?”

The heavens and the earth buzzed. A clear and pleasant voice, with a hint of laughter, drifted between the heavens and the earth, like a spring breeze.

Everyone’s face changed, and their hearts pounded.