This Japanese Monogatari Isn't Lame
Chapter 129 - 128. The Truth

Chapter 129: Chapter 128. The Truth

Reentering the Magong Family estate and then leaving it had taken Beichuan Si roughly half an hour.

As Magong Yongshi had said, the Magong estate was teeming with vengeful spirits, with one or two appearing every few steps Beichuan Si took.

Fortunately, these spirits were not very powerful, and with a flick and a swipe, Beichuan Si could dispatch one with his Jian Ding.

"What exactly happened for so many members of the Magong Family to have perished?"

Beichuan Si sheathed his Jian Ding, which glowed with a dull silver light, and looked back at the Magong estate.

He had conducted all the necessary investigations inside the Magong Family household; it was time to head to Shenzhu Mountain to search for any trace of Shenzhu Shrine.

Most shrines in Japan have a pilgrimage path, and a place as revered by villagers as Shenzhu Shrine should have one as well.

"But so much time has passed, I wonder if the path is still intact..."

Beichuan Si shook his head.

Ordinary mountain paths can become overgrown with resilient weeds and brambles within a year if no one treads on them, and now, after nine years, Beichuan Si did not hold out much hope for quickly finding the pilgrimage path to Shenzhu Shrine.

"A pilgrimage path? There’s no such thing for Shenzhu Shrine," said Magong Yongshi, her voice suddenly emerging from behind him, though her figure was nowhere to be seen.

Magong Yongshi hadn’t materialized because doing so would consume too much power, and her spirit had just suffered from a division injury, so naturally she couldn’t afford to deplete her energy further.

But Beichuan Si was unconcerned with that; he was more interested in understanding what Magong Yongshi had just said.

"Shenzhu Shrine has no pilgrimage path?"

"Yes, to prevent the villagers from intruding into the shrine, there are only two ways up Shenzhu Mountain. One is the big road used for ceremonies, the other a winding path through the mountain. However, it is said that the Evil Spirit lurks there, pulling people into the hidden world, hence it hasn’t been cleaned or maintained in many years."

"After all, the Shenzhu Family doesn’t need the villagers’ offerings, so there is no need for a pilgrimage path. As I’ve said before, the Magong branch family sends a sizable amount of money every year to sustain both the Shenzhu and Magong Main Families."

"And Mr. Sonokata has close ties with the politicians in Shimadu City..."

She stopped talking there.

But from what Magong Yongshi had said, Beichuan Si could roughly understand some things.

The reason the outside world had so few records of Shenzhu Village might be that the current Magong Family Head had pulled some strings with the authorities in Shimadu City.

Shenzhu Shrine was suppressing the God of Calamity, which was not only a good thing for the Shenzhu villagers but also for Shimadu City.

This also explained why there were only a few online search results about the landslide that occurred years ago; Shimadu City was partly to blame.

But then...

Beichuan Si walked step by step through Shenzhu Village.

As previously mentioned, he had hardly seen any signs of landslide damage in Shenzhu Village.

If there was no landslide damage, then why had the Shenzhu villagers all perished?

"What could be the reason behind this?"

Beichuan Si looked back at Shenzhu Mountain.

The distant and profound mountain ranges were shrouded in mist, and the dark green mountains were enveloped in blue.

From Beichuan Si’s perspective, the whole mountain seemed to be pressing down on him—its approaching sense of oppression and the weighty pressure felt as if they were pulling him into the mountain itself.

Within Shenzhu Mountain dwelled the God of Calamity.

The Soul Summoning Flower must bloom to suppress it.

...

Beichuan Si first went to Shenzhu River outside the village to fill his water bottle, then checked his flashlight again. Finding no major issues, he finally set off on the path into the mountain.

As Magong Yongshi had mentioned, there were two routes up Shenzhu Mountain. One was the often-traveled main road—you could get to it by crossing the big road that went through Shenzhu Village.

The other was the small mountain path she had talked about, rumored to be where the Evil Spirit dwelled.

At dusk, the Evil Spirit would come down from there and snatch away naughty children still at play.

Following the principle of "better safe than sorry," Beichuan Si naturally chose the main road.

Following Magong Yongshi’s instructions, it took him nearly twenty minutes to arrive at what she had referred to as the mountain entrance.

However—

"Is this what you call the mountain entrance?" Beichuan Si frowned.

The condition of the path before him was distressing to behold.

It seemed there had been landslides and massive mudslides here, and the so-called ascent route was long buried beneath debris and earth.

At a glance, it was impossible to make one’s way into the mountain here.

"Eh? But there used to be a main road here!" Magong Yongshi exclaimed in shock, clearly not expecting such a scene.

Beichuan Si did not waste time blaming Magong Yongshi.

He couldn’t help but stroke his temple hair, feeling somewhat perplexed.

Had there been other mudslides in Shenzhu Village a long time ago?

And this was the main ascent path... Logically, even if mudslides occurred, someone should have cleared them, or made an alternative path up the mountain.

Wait a minute—

"Mudslides?"

Beichuan Si’s eyes sparked with an inconceivable deduction that leapt to mind.

Under Magong Yongshi’s puzzled and surprised gaze, Beichuan Si found a flat rock and started to dig at the weed-covered earth.

"Mr. Temple...?"

Beichuan Si looked up and said without pausing, "Be quiet."

Uh—

Upon hearing this, Magong Yongshi hurriedly covered her mouth, her large eyes blinking as she watched Beichuan Si’s strange actions.

Beichuan Si kept digging through the layer of soil, excavating deeper.

He repeated this seemingly pointless task for about fifteen minutes—

Crack.

A strange sound came from the layer of soil.

Beichuan Si’s spirits lifted, and he scraped away that section of soil, revealing something that had been hidden beneath the earth for nine years.

It was the irregular skull of a human.

Stripped of flesh, only the bone-white remnants were left.

Beichuan Si cleared away the entire layer of soil.

A skeleton appeared within the layer of earth.

It lay silently in the pit Beichuan Si had dug, its form distorted.

The skull had a large hole, and the bones of the limbs were unnaturally twisted.

It seemed that the victim had been swept into the mudslide and subsequently struck on the head by flying boulders, resulting in death.

"This must be one of the villagers from Shenzhu Village," Beichuan Si stated as he stood up, his eyes flickering.

"...This is... from the village..." Magong Yongshi dumbly articulated.

Although much of the fabric had decomposed, one could still make out the familiar style.

This was indeed one of the Shenzhu villagers.

"To be precise... beneath where we stand, countless villagers from Shenzhu Village are buried."

"This is the true story behind the mudslide that wiped out Shenzhu Village."

Beichuan Si exhaled deeply, his eyes shimmering with intensity.