This Japanese Monogatari Isn't Lame
Chapter 130 - 129. The Cage Mesh Oh The Cage Mesh

Chapter 130: Chapter 129. The Cage Mesh Oh The Cage Mesh

"The truth...?" Magong Yongshi stood behind Beichuan Si, her face full of astonishment.

Beichuan Si didn’t answer but just surveyed the surroundings.

He looked up and could clearly see the marks left by the massive landslide that had occurred before.

The landslide had hurtled down the steep slopes of the mountain, tumbling and sliding, its tremendous kinetic and potential energy enough to tear and shatter anything that stood in its path. The road leading up the mountain had also been covered and flattened because of it.

At least from Beichuan Si’s angle, the path that Magong Yongshi had talked about was completely buried. Further up was the dark and somber Shenzhu Mountain.

This area, serving as the spiritual realm for rituals and offerings, was where all the legends about Shenzhu Village originated.

Verdant mountainsides, bizarre rocks, and swirling mists with waterfalls cascading down.

In terms of scenery alone, Shenzhu Mountain was indeed beautiful, exuding a quiet serenity that was hard to define.

But the strangeness lay exactly here—

Shenzhu Mountain was too quiet.

So quiet that not a single sound could be heard.

Standing there, Beichuan Si could only hear the howling of the cold wind blowing through the ravines, making an inexplicably eerie ’whooshing’ noise.

It stood silently in front of Beichuan Si, making him feel an indescribable discomfort throughout his body.

Beichuan Si squatted down again, his gaze fixed on the skeletal remains in the soil for a long time before he suddenly spoke, "Yongshi, does Shenzhu Village have any collective ceremonies? The kind where all the villagers must participate?"

"Huh? That... I can’t quite remember... Just this vague notion..." Magong Yongshi said, a bit embarrassed.

"Is that so?" Beichuan Si’s mind stirred.

Why would the villagers of Shenzhu have come out in full force to the side of the road up the mountain?

The only conclusion Beichuan Si could draw was a ceremony.

His inference was not unfounded.

The experiences of Hirasaka Hikari and Dubian Qiansui, who had disappeared earlier, along with the few records Dubian Qiansui had told him afterward, were enough to explain everything.

Someone was guiding the villagers, a priest was guiding them—what exactly did they want to do going up the mountain?

That was something Beichuan Si did not know.

"Take a look at this, and see if you can remember anything?"

Beichuan Si took out his notebook from his backpack and flipped to a page.

"Okay." Magong Yongshi floated over from behind and her delicate eyes scanned over the notebook.

Beichuan Si’s notebook was quite concise, and its clean layout made it easy for her to read.

These were the fragmented records he had obtained from Hirasaka Hikari.

’The ceremony is going to be conducted again.’

’Every time we hold a ceremony, I feel uneasy inside.’

’But it shouldn’t be like this, I am a priest. A priest of Shenzhu Shrine.’

’Granny Pinv said to me that the holy fire would guide us to the spring abyss...’

’Ah... but that mountain... that profound mountain... is going to merge with me.’

"The holy fire will guide us to the spring abyss..." Magong Yongshi read this sentence, her slender eyebrows knitting and then relaxing as she said uncertainly, "This... must be referring to the ritual of the mountain’s shape. I remember now."

"Whenever the Soul Summoning Flower blooms, the gates of the spring abyss will also open, and from there the water of purification will flow. Drinking the water of purification can also avert disaster, ensure safety, and the ritual of the mountain’s shape requires holding the holy fire and ascending, with the holy fire illuminating the path ahead, dispelling evil spirits."

"The holy fire illuminating the path ahead?"

Holy fire...

This was yet another novel concept.

Seeing the doubtful look on Beichuan Si’s face, Magong Yongshi explained with her fragmented memories, "The so-called holy fire is the flame nurtured in the Shrine, cultivated over a year; the holy fire has the function of dispelling evil spirits."

"Is the holy fire a kind of pale blue flame?"

"The color... I can’t remember very well." Magong Yongshi seemed somewhat pained.

Beichuan Si saw her condition and thus did not forcefully compel her to continue thinking.

From the current clues, it is highly likely that the Shenzhu villagers were performing the "Mountain Shape" ritual and were buried by the landslide.

This is also the main reason why the Shenzhu villagers were decimated overnight.

"Regardless, it’s impossible to get up here now," Beichuan Si stood up from where he was and looked up.

A mountain wind blew fiercely from behind.

As if a giant hand

pushed him towards the center of the mountain—

Since the main path was unpassable, Beichuan Si naturally took the road rumored to be haunted by the Evil Spirit.

It was a small mountain path, easy to overlook if one were not careful.

The path was not too rugged; it seemed as if someone had modified it, with small bluestones layered like steps upon one another.

"From here, you can see the spring abyss. This path should lead directly to the Shenzhu Mountain’s mid-slope just below the spring abyss, where the height shouldn’t have been cut off by the landslide, allowing us to pass straight through."

"Okay," Beichuan Si nodded, focusing on his steps and not responding much to Magong Yongshi’s question.

He ascended one step at a time.

But for some reason, his field of vision inexplicably took on a faint tinge of blood.

Gradually, an antiquated nursery rhyme started echoing in Beichuan Si’s ears.

Beichuan Si couldn’t help but raise his head.

Before his eyes lay an indescribable, ghastly scene.

There were several children, dressed in red, green, and pale yellow, stepping to an unknown rhythm.

What made one’s flesh crawl was that these children were headless!

With their exposed lower jaws and empty heads, they swung their long sleeves, dancing a strange one-legged dance.

The crisp children’s voices rose, resembling curses, even-toned—

They sang and chanted, line by line.

"Bars, bars. Cage, cage."

"The bird in the cage, oh."

"When will it come out?"

"On the evening of dawn, when the crane and turtle slipped—"

The voices were ethereal and deep, drawing closer from afar...

"Right behind—who is it?"

Upon hearing this nursery rhyme, Beichuan Si instinctively looked back.

It wasn’t that the sound was getting closer, but that the headless children’s bodies had somehow clasped hands and started circling around Beichuan Si.

It was dusk, with shadows around him growing longer, and the tiny bodies kept dancing.

The weird one-legged dance seemed to continue endlessly. From those headless children’s bodies, Beichuan Si could oddly perceive a gaze filled with deep malice.

"Brother Temple!"

Nishijou Kurenai’s voice suddenly exploded in his ear!

Beichuan Si came to his senses; Jian Ding leapt into his hand, and with a flip, he bisected all the children’s bodies!

The dusky scene vanished, the lengthening shadows vanished.

When Beichuan Si looked up again, he found himself unwittingly at the edge of a cliff, one step away from falling off.

This surreal encounter caused even Beichuan Si’s typically unflappable expression to change slightly.

What on earth had just happened?