This Japanese Monogatari Isn't Lame
Chapter 353 - 252: Alignment of Interests (8000-word goal achieved!)_2

Chapter 353: Chapter 252: Alignment of Interests (8000-word goal achieved!)_2

Next came a tone laced with vicious excitement and frenzied agitation.

"You who have read up to here must have realized by now."

"Hahahahaha!!!!"

"You are the resilient soul I have chosen! A sacrifice for the resurrection of Hiname! Did you think I hadn’t noticed the map hidden beneath the homework assignment?!"

"Did you think I hadn’t found those damned brats’ farewell letters? I know everything! I understand everything! But I haven’t said it! To be precise, I haven’t written it down! You have already been tainted by the curse I have set!"

"Look at your chest! No matter where you run, your soul will eventually return to Rain Hall! Your flesh and blood will serve as Hiname’s flesh and blood! Your soul will be exchanged for Hiname’s soul! Hahaha—to have persisted up to this page, you must possess a soul more resilient than ordinary people, and that soul will also be able to withstand the erosion of the Sanzu River and bring Hiname back."

"Only by killing me can you completely remove the curse! But I have already been reborn as the most terrifying vengeful spirit! Could you possibly kill me?"

Sanzu River.

This is a legend from Japan about the underworld.

It is said that after death, people cross a river whose speed varies depending on the good deeds one performed in life. For those laden with sins, it’s a raging torrent that sweeps them away in an instant; for ordinary people, the river flows normally, sometimes fast, sometimes slow; for the virtuous, the river gently carries them without a ripple. This is the origin of ’Sanzu’ in Sanzu River.

But Beichuan Si paid no mind to such legends of the underworld, merely flicking his finger, his mind stirring.

Surely a trick.

Since Beiyeliang felt no remorse while killing Matsubara Kudayu and the others, Beichuan Si didn’t believe the other was the type to honestly shed crocodile tears.

He had anticipated such an event might occur, and thus had had Nishijou Kurenai protect his entire body with her good intentions early on.

Now, there were no markings on his chest, nor was there the slightest discomfort.

It seems that under the protection of Nishijou Kurenai, the other’s curse had no effect whatsoever.

And—

Beichuan Si’s hand flickered with a fire that burned furiously, incinerating the diary filled with horrific malice.

Regardless of whether or not he was cursed, Beichuan Si was also unwilling to give up on the other’s Skill Points.

Under Beichuan Si’s wrist, Jian Ding’s cold light flickered ominously, his gaze somber as he walked step by step toward the courtyard.

At the same time, a system notification rang in his ears—

"Mission completion condition (one) achieved."

"Please choose your reward after exiting the spiritual realm."

Beichuan Si paused in his footsteps and glanced once more at the continually ringing Shinra Bell.

Outside the corridor, stood over twenty vengeful spirits on both sides, their venomous gazes fiercely fixed on Beichuan Si.

Among them were not only those deceased children but also some staff members who had turned into vengeful spirits.

It seemed these staff members had been sweet-talked into working here by Beiyeliang’s flattering words or under his supernatural abilities.

Human desires are endless, and thus they too had died here, transformed into vengeful spirits.

Beichuan Si took a slight breath, then with a swivel of his foot—

Jian Ding’s cold light flickered, and the piercing screams of the vengeful spirits followed.

...

The process of clearing out the minor spirits need not be detailed, after killing the remaining vengeful spirits, Beichuan Si pushed open the grand gate leading to the courtyard.

From the children’s farewell letters, Beichuan Si had learned that the hidden passage was in a corner.

He searched around and indeed found a patch of grassland where footsteps sounded different.

This was likely where the secret door resided.

Beichuan Si reached out his hand fumbling, and then felt something resembling a handle.

He grasped it with both hands and fiercely flipped open the patch of ground!

Seemingly because it hadn’t been opened for a long time, the door of the hidden passage also brought a series of harsh, ’clack clack clack’ sounds as it was lifted.

Before him was a familiar underground passage; Beichuan Si did not hesitate to head downward.

The hidden passage was seeping water everywhere, with slippery moss left on the staircase.

Beichuan Si stroked his chin.

With such a water-seeping secret passage, could the bottom also be submerged by accumulated water?

But his worries in the end did not come to pass.

Although the staircase surface was slippery, there was no accumulated water, suggesting that drainage maintenance had likely been conducted here.

Beichuan Si continued downward with his flashlight in hand, hearing the rumbling sound of the secret passage closing above him.

He was quite satisfied with the other party’s sensible action and did not mind the closing of the secret passage entrance.

He continued downward.

As he went deeper, he could smell an increasing stench of rotting corpses and the disgusting scent of blood.

Finally,

Beichuan Si reached the end.

In front of him was an underground chamber styled like a bathroom.

At the center of the basement lay a blood-stained long table with iron shackles sized for children.

Black blood, fierce knife marks, and the bloody knives hanging on another wall all told of the tragedy that had occurred here.

This place, oddly powered, was brightly lit and entirely different from the Rain Hall above that had completely fallen into ruin.

Beichuan Si walked into this underground chamber.

There was a small room at the back of this chamber.

Presumably, a body pieced together from Matsubara Kudayu’s head, Fujiwara Nagachika’s hands, Katori Yuzhu’s legs, Nakai Jushi’s viscera, and various children’s organs and body parts was hidden in there.

Thinking about this, Beichuan Si slowly drew out Jian Ding and walked towards that room.

But—

Beichuan Si suddenly stopped, turned his head to look behind at the dramatically changed scene.

The scene phantom appeared again.

A boy dressed plainly was kneeling before a benevolent middle-aged man, continuously crying and begging for his life.

From such a close view, Beichuan Si could even see a surge of murderous intent flickering across the middle-aged man’s face.

But in the end, the middle-aged man did not kill the boy; instead, he helped him up, leaned close to his ear with a sinister smile, and slowly spoke words that caused the boy’s face to drastically change.

Beichuan Si could hear it.

He could also see the little boy crazily nodding in agreement to save himself.

The little boy was...

Beichuan Si’s eyes flickered.

The phantom vanished—

The scene returned to the present.

Dim yellow light, the empty long table, and—

A twisted figure with a pale face—a middle-aged vengeful spirit.

Beiyeliang appeared.

In his hand, he was holding a terrifying, fierce meat cleaver, still adorned with fragments of human skin tissue and hair.

Seeing Beiyeliang, Beichuan Si wasn’t surprised.

He took out Jian Ding, and with his other hand, dark energy twisted, quickly forming a black mallet.

It seemed due to the curse written on his body, Beichuan Si could even feel occasional sparks of human intelligence flash through Beiyeliang’s eyes.

Could it mean after exorcising the spirit from him, a Skill Book might burst forth?

Beichuan Si’s expression changed slightly, feeling a bit excited.

He had an indescribable fervor for Skill Books, for the skills discovered in those books were undoubtedly more polished and natural compared to those lit up by skill points...

Plus, Beiyeliang was likely either a mid-level Advanced Vengeful Spirit or a mid-level upper-tier Vengeful Spirit. If defeated, it would definitely yield good body enhancements and skill points.

And perhaps he might possess the curse book that Beichuan Si had always coveted.

Just to eliminate him—

This deal seemed worth it.

The Jian Ding in Beichuan Si’s hand felt his mood, as its blood-free tip sparkled with a crystalline gleam.

One side needed the other’s soul.

One side needed the other’s skill points and Skill Book.

Their interests aligned!