Chapter 205: Assassination

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On January 25th, Koyasan.

Koyasan was not a single mountain, but a general term for a group of mountains. The terrain was like a blooming lotus flower.

On the peak surrounded by mountains, which was the stamen of the lotus flower, was the Kongobuji Temple, founded by Master Kobo, which had been around for more than 1200 years.

With Kongobuji Temple as the center, on the petals of the lotus flower, there were more than 120 temples scattered like stars.

In the past, no matter how many people there were, Kongobuji Temple always made people feel quiet and at ease. Today, it became noisy, and the air was filled with a secular and murderous atmosphere.

Thousands of monks in various robes gathered here.

“Manjaku Shojin, the agreed time is up. Are you going to hand it over or not?” Dogen of Mount Gomadan asked sternly.

Manjaku Shojin, who was surrounded by the monks of Koyasan, chanted a Buddhist name and said, “Everyone, I have already reported this matter to the Honshu Shinto Lord. Soon…”

“Don’t use the Honshu Shinto Lord to pressure us!”

“That’s right! Who doesn’t know that your Koyasan has a good relationship with him and let him preside over the ‘卍’ light wheel that is never passed on to outsiders!”

“Shojin,” Teikei of Mount Daifugen said, “that ‘Bodhi Leaf Sutra’, which received the Buddha’s light from the mountains, should belong to the mountains.”

“Teikei, I’ve already said that there is no Buddhist scripture on that leaf, only an evil spell,” Manjaku Shojin’s tone was helpless.

Just as the monks were about to scold him, Teikei stopped them and continued:
“Shojin, whether it’s an evil spell or not, you take it out for us to see, and there will naturally be a conclusion. Why waste time chanting scriptures and arguing here?”

“You still know how to chant scriptures?” a monk of the same generation from Koyasan sneered.

“Only your Koyasan knows how to chant scriptures, but you still occupy everyone’s things as your own?” Benjo of Mount Shaka returned with a sneer.

“I’ve already said it’s an evil spell…”

“So what if it’s an evil spell? So what if it’s a Buddhist scripture? Your Koyasan thinks too highly of itself. That’s the thing of the mountains, not yours. Hand it over!”

“Insolent! Koyasan is Master Kobo’s dharma field, bestowed by the Lord of Kyoto. What are you? How dare you insult Koyasan!”

“Master Kobo was rewarded by His Majesty because of his Buddhist dharma. But is it because of His Majesty’s reward that his Buddhist dharma is profound? Are you people worthy of mentioning Master Kobo?”

“You…”

“Enough!” Manjaku Shojin frowned…

The aura of a Kasen, like a strong wind, swept across, and the crowd quieted down.

“Shojin,” Eshi of Mount Kannonmine, a peaceful female monk, said, “how about this? You take out the ‘Bodhi Leaf Sutra’ and let me, Dogen, Teikei, and Benjo distinguish it. If it’s really an evil spell, then you can keep it.”

Manjaku Shojin was silent.

“What? Shojin, you don’t even trust us? Or do you want to take it all for yourself?” Dogen sneered.

Manjaku Shojin really didn’t trust them.

The “Hell and Paradise Sutra” was extremely tempting. The Buddhist dharma of Eshi, Dogen, Teikei, and Benjo was high, but Mount Kannonmine, Mount Daifugen, Mount Gomadan, and Mount Shaka had always been under Koyasan. Many people wanted to replace them.

No one knew if these four people would take the risk and be tempted by the evil spell.

As long as there was a slight possibility, Manjaku Shojin had to do his best to avoid it, both to avoid someone getting into trouble and to prevent Eshi, Dogen, Teikei, and Benjo from falling into the demonic path.

“Shojin, is this not okay?” Seeing that Manjaku Shojin was silent, Eshi was also dissatisfied.

“Don’t waste your breath on him. He’s stalling!” someone shouted.

“Hand over the ‘Bodhi Leaf Sutra’!”

“Hand over the ‘Bodhi Leaf Sutra’!”

The slogans became more and more fierce. Unconsciously, both sides had already gathered their divine power.

Countless birds fled from the forest. The squirrels, foxes, deer, and other animals that were usually not afraid of people hid.

“Manjaku! Today, whether you hand it over or not, you must take it out!” Dogen shouted and was about to act.

“The universe allows me to be quiet, and fame and fortune are for others to be busy with.”

Like a warm rain in spring, with two or three apricot blossoms, the already lit fuse was extinguished in this voice.

The sky was transparent and azure. Koyasan was full of evergreen trees, lush and green.

A handsome man in a magnificent black robe, wearing a golden crown, with his hands behind his back, walked down from the sky as if he had come from between the white clouds, without any worldly ties or worries.

“They say that the foolishness of the world, even Shakyamuni could not save. Today, I have seen it,” Minamoto Kiyomoto landed between the two sides.

No one spoke.

The birds returned to the mountain forest.

“Shojin, give me that leaf,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said to Manjaku Shojin.

“Namu Daishi Henjo Kongo,” Manjaku Shojin took out a golden leaf from his monk’s robe. It was covered with scriptures.

Minamoto Kiyomoto reached out and took it, glanced at it casually, and then threw it away.

The leaf began to burn in mid-air and was burned to ashes by the black flames.

“Lord Shinto!” Dogen couldn’t help but take a step forward.

“Hmm?” Minamoto Kiyomoto turned his head to look at him.

Dogen swallowed and took that foot back.

“Lord Shinto,” Teikei stood up, “I believe in your fairness. This Buddha leaf grew in the mountains and should belong to the mountains. Is that right?”

“Yes,” Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded. “But what Manjaku Shojin said is also right. It’s an evil spell.”

“I believe Manjaku Shojin,” Eshi said. “But no matter what, that belongs to the mountains. Naturally, we should be given an explanation. What’s wrong with letting me, Dogen, Teikei, and Benjo take a look?”

“Shojin?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked Manjaku Shojin.

Manjaku Shojin explained, “That evil spell is too tempting. I’m afraid that the four of you will have a moment of delusion and fall into the demonic path.”

“Shojin, do you mean that you won’t have a delusion, or do you look down on us?” Benjo said coldly.

“Namu Daishi Henjo Kongo,” although he didn’t look down on them, to a certain extent, he was right. Manjaku Shojin could only acquiesce.

Seeing him like this, if it were before, the monks would have started arguing long ago.

Whether the Bodhi leaf was a Buddhist scripture or an evil spell was no longer important. They wanted to use this opportunity to change Koyasan’s position in the mountains.

But Minamoto Kiyomoto was here…
“Lord Shinto, you’ve also seen and heard it. It was Manjaku Shojin who took the things that belonged to the mountains as his own, and he also thought his Buddhist dharma was profound and looked down on us. Today, Koyasan must give us an explanation!” Benjo said sternly.

“That’s right!” the monks replied in unison.

“Alright,” Minamoto Kiyomoto sighed.

He raised his hand, and a maple tree with only branches swayed slightly, spitting out a full tree of leaves. In the blink of an eye, it turned into a fire tree.

Five red maple leaves broke free from the branches and flew over like little birds.

Minamoto Kiyomoto gently brushed his hand over them, and black light carved words on the maple leaves.

“Let’s not call it a Buddha leaf. Let’s call it a ‘wood leaf sutra’,” he waved his sleeve again and distributed the leaves to Manjaku Shojin, Eshi, Dogen, Teikei, and Benjo.

“Exchange it once a year. You can decide the rest yourselves. How about we end this matter here?” he asked.

Eshi, Dogen, Teikei, and Benjo looked at the maple leaves. The name at the beginning of the scripture made them clasp their hands together, hold back their laughter, and say:
“Since Lord Shinto has spoken, we have no objection.”

“Life and death are tiring, and they arise from greed. With little desire and no action, the body and mind are at ease. As a monk, instead of snatching some Buddhist scripture, it’s better to cultivate your mind first.”

“Yes,” the crowd replied.

After settling the matter, Minamoto Kiyomoto was ready to leave.

Manjaku Shojin asked him to stay and wanted to show him around Koyasan and see the Okunoin.

Minamoto Kiyomoto smiled and politely refused, “I have something else to do. Next time.”

Koyasan, which bloomed like a lotus flower, he had seen it in his dream.

How could a scripture appear on a leaf for no reason?

---

Choshi City, northeastern Chiba Prefecture.

A giant hand reached out from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and opened its five fingers towards the sky, as if someone were asking for help.

Seawater climbed up the arm, winding like a snake. When it entered the palm, the seawater turned into various yokai holding saws.

Some had the head of a monkey, some had the body of a tanuki;

Some had the paws of a tiger, some had the claws of an eagle, some had no hands, and some had four arms;

Some had two feet, some had two snake tails, or were multi-legged like a centipede.

They were born in the palm and five fingers of the giant hand. They had strong attack power, fast movement speed, and also brought huge waves.

In just the first impact, the practitioners who had rushed over were shocked by the tragic scene in front of them.

The city roads were piled with rubble, like a pile of garbage.

Cars filled with seawater were overturned on the side of the road, and floating wood rushed into private houses.

A disaster victim climbed onto the roof. A yokai swooped down, and the cold light of the saw flashed past. In the disaster victim’s eyes, it was a huge wave that came head-on and washed him down.

Seawater poured into his throat, nose, eyes, and throat. When he fell, a piece of glass happened to cut his throat, and the wound was exactly the same as the one caused by the saw.

A couple was cowering in fear at home, holding each other’s hands, their eyes filled with fear, trembling as they looked at the window.

“Bang!” Water broke through the window.

“Ah!” the wife shrieked, and the husband held her tightly.

Shimano rushed over and cut the yokai in front of the couple with a single blow.

“Haven’t the reinforcements arrived yet?!” she roared, rushed out of the boat, and killed a disgusting monster that looked like a centipede or a maggot with wings.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Behind Shimano, inside the broken window, the husband comforted his wife, and also comforted himself.

The fierce wave that had broken through the window had wet the floor at their feet, only a step away from them.

“Not yet!” Hachimaki blocked a yokai’s saw and replied loudly to the teacher.

“They’re here!!” At this time, Adachi from the same group said in surprise.

In the direction of Tokyo, like an exploding firework, countless divine power meteors flew towards them.

In the blue divine power that was flying in front, a crescent moon flew out and dismembered a large snake that was wrapped around the teaching building of the Chiba University of Science into several pieces.

The sparks of the fireworks landed in Choshi City, like lighting straw. A large fire of divine power started everywhere in the city.

Looking at the fire, Shimano breathed a sigh of relief.

“Teacher Shimano, it’s the Suitengu Miko!” Hachimaki finally killed the yokai and came to the teacher’s side.

Shimano looked towards the horizon. There were still some sparks that had not yet landed, like colorful stars hanging on the horizon.

The water-colored divine power was the Suitengu Miko among the twelve shrine maidens.

On the day Minamoto Kiyomoto announced that a new era had arrived, the instruction that ‘the Suitengu Shrine does not need to participate in subjugation, but is only responsible for rescue’ was also conveyed to all the practitioners in Honshu in the afternoon.

Recently, the people around her were all discussing this matter.

Just as Shimano was thinking about her friends’ opinions, whether they supported or were dissatisfied, she suddenly saw the Suitengu Miko raise her right arm. In that hand, she was holding a black scepter.

‘She’s here!’ Not only her, but many people looked towards the Suitengu Miko on the horizon.

“Mountain Wind Cave!” a gentle and serious voice.

Within two or three seconds, nothing happened. Then, a black laser shot down from the sky, and a strong airflow pressed down on the entire Choshi City.

For a moment, the battle stopped.

When the airflow passed, a valley floated above Choshi City. Hundreds of ghosts flew out of the valley and pounced on Choshi City.

Some ghosts quickly returned to the valley, wrapped in injured people.

Lost in thought, the sound of surging waves suddenly came from behind. The speed was extremely fast, and Shimano’s breathing stopped.

She wanted to turn around, but it was too late. She could only do her best to summon her protective divine power.

The expected severe pain did not appear. She quickly turned her head and happened to see a ghostly figure disappear, and at the same time, let out a shriek.

The yokai that had attacked her, its crazy eyes, had a moment of daze.

Shimano instinctively swung her sword. The yokai’s head fell to the ground, and blood splashed on her face.

In the sky valley, another ghostly figure flew out.

“Great!” Shimano’s expression was excited, and her blood-stained smiling face was like a blooming flower.

“Long live Lord Shinto!” she shouted and rushed towards another yokai.

In the sky, behind the Suitengu Miko, a preparatory shrine maiden who was treating the injured, secretly crushed a spell talisman in her kimono sleeve.

---

For the past half a month, from morning to night, he had been in the Coral Hall, facing one document after another. It was a rare opportunity, and he wanted to take a walk in the mountains.

Minamoto Kiyomoto followed this natural mood, set up a auspicious cloud, and took a walk in the sky above the mountains.

Just as the Suitengu Miko summoned the ‘Mountain Wind Cave’, the moment the talisman was crushed…
As fast as the wind, a thunderous blow!
He devoted himself to the sword, like a moth to a flame, dying without regret. The stronger the opponent, the more his fighting spirit burned. This was the spirit of this sword!

If it weren’t for the fact that Minamoto Kiyomoto had known that someone was ambushing him, he would have been hit in the neck.

He raised his left arm and blocked a sword.

The protective divine power absorbed the sword qi, but it was still broken through. The sound of the sword and the arm colliding with a hard object was heard.

His arm was almost cut off.

In the next moment, the powerful self-healing power made the flesh and blood become like a clamp, tightly clamping the sword, as if to heal the sword together in the flesh and blood.

Silently, without a sound, another sword was already pointing at Minamoto Kiyomoto’s throat.

He raised his right hand, stretched out his index finger, and caught the tip of the sword with the pad of his finger.

Before the silent and shadowless sword could retreat, his right hand changed, and he pinched the body of the sword with his index finger and thumb, as if catching a mantis that was overestimating its own strength and swinging its blade at him.

At the same time, a torrent of spells rushed from the mountains, with a seal mixed in.

Minamoto Kiyomoto watched helplessly as the swordsman who had assassinated him turned to ashes in the torrent of spells, leaving only two sharp weapons without a master.

Minamoto Kiyomoto’s right hand released the body of the sword, and he also pulled out the other sword stuck in his left arm.

The wound did not heal. His body was disintegrating. In the powerful torrent of spells, his body was like a salt block thrown into the water.

The black divine power began to boil, and the coral-colored divine energy flowed at a crazy speed in his body.

The Laurel Crown on his head was dyed coral-colored and turned into a coral horn. Something was about to drill out of his back, and his figure was getting bigger…
A flute sound was heard. Through the dazzling torrent of spells, a bird-shaped purple firelight spread its wings and spewed flames.

“Humph!” Minamoto Kiyomoto couldn’t help but let out a painful grunt.

This flame almost melted him.

“Ah (Mmm)—” Half-human, half-yokai, he let out a roar that belonged neither to a human nor a yokai.

This sacred and solemn Sanskrit sound made the person who had ambushed him hold his head and wail. The purple firebird also couldn’t help but cry out in anger.

The torrent of spells dissipated, and the flames also gradually disappeared. The beautiful mountain scenery had become a valley of hell.

A mountain behind Minamoto Kiyomoto was pierced by the purple firebird’s flames.

The rocks that were directly hit had been vaporized and evaporated. The edges had become lava, flowing like a river of blood.

“I didn’t expect you to be able to do this. I was almost killed by you,” he panted and said with a laugh.

The group recovered from the Sanskrit sound and looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto. Their faces were solemn.

He was injured, very seriously. His right leg was growing out, and his severed left arm was held by his right hand and pressed against the severed surface.

“Suzaku?” he looked at the heavenly bird burning with purple flames. The Laurel Crown on his head still had the light of the burning flames.

“Impossible! How could you survive after being swallowed by Suzaku’s flames!” the person wearing the Suzaku mask said in an uncontrollable tone of horror.

“Don’t panic!” a person wearing a white tiger mask shouted. “Everyone, don’t be afraid! It’s just death!”

“Who are you?” Minamoto Kiyomoto released his right hand, and his left arm was already connected.

“The guardian of the Shinto sect,” the person wearing the Azure Dragon mask said.

“Hahahaha!” Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed.

Dozens of people were scared back by his laughter.

Minamoto Kiyomoto suddenly stopped laughing. His voice was leisurely and cold, full of killing intent, “Forget it. No matter who you are, you’re all going to die here today.”

His injury was already healed. The Coral Demon Moth’s divine energy began to flow again.

There was something, like the light reflected by a fine needle, that flashed.

‘Be careful! It’s the people’s energy!’

Minamoto Kiyomoto had already discovered it.

Everything was a cover.

Sword, spell, seal, Suzaku, all of these were a cover for this attack!
This inconspicuous flash, even if he turned into a Coral Demon Moth, would be shattered by the coral horns.

“Buzz—” the sound of a mirror buzzing.

He held the Yata no Kagami in his hand and fixed the flash that was coming towards his head. The flash struggled for a moment and then melted away.

‘Find it! It hasn’t gone far!’

Minamoto Kiyomoto let out a long cry, rushed into the sky, and stood on top of the clouds.

He suddenly turned the mirror body with his right hand, and the Yata no Kagami instantly became illusory and enlarged, becoming a two-meter-diameter transparent ring.

The mirror light, like a celestial pillar, enveloped the four fields and observed the heavens and the earth.

As long as the mirror light swept past, everything was fixed, and everything was still.

The mirror body turned again, and the illusory mirror body became as big as a small lake.

The entire Wakayama Prefecture, a land of 4726.28 square kilometers, was enveloped, fixed at this moment like a painting.

Finally, a small jade, at the edge of the mirror light, at the junction of Wakayama Prefecture and the Pacific Ocean, flashed past.

‘It’s a magatama,’ Tamahime’s face was ugly, and her tone was unprecedentedly gloomy.