This Japanese Monogatari Isn't Lame
Chapter 535 - 343: The Scam (8000-word target achieved!)_2

Chapter 535: Chapter 343: The Scam (8000-word target achieved!)_2

He was actually quite curious as well, why was Ihui Nai Luo so obsessed with mastering the Divine Tree? She even went to the extreme of severing her own Spiritual Body apart.

"Perhaps... it has something to do with the previous Great Heavenly Person," Ihui Ju Xu sighed faintly and continued to answer, "The previous Great Heavenly Person wanted to transform all the islanders into celestial beings, so that they wouldn’t need to worry about food, shelter, or clothing..."

Under the explanation of Ihui Ju Xu, Beichuan Si came to understand the beginning and the end of the matter.

The previous Great Heavenly Person had tried to use the methods of mastering the Divine Tree to transform all the islanders into celestial beings, but this Great Heavenly Person ultimately failed. Their Spiritual Bodies were devoured by the vicious creatures that surged from beneath the earth, and the celestial beings suffered heavy losses.

"Under such circumstances, Lord Nailuo, serving as the living sacrifice maiden, was offered to the Divine Tree and successfully became a celestial being... but this was just the beginning of sorrow and terror, because Lord Nailuo’s teacher was the previous Great Heavenly Person..."

The glory of Izumi Shrine, the transformation into celestial beings, mastery of the Divine Tree, the teacher’s departure... these painted pure good intentions of Ihui Nai Luo with an obsessive attachment.

She became paranoid and mad, always pondering how to master the Divine Tree.

Yet the Divine Tree’s legacy had been passed down for so many years, and there were not a few who shared Ihui Nai Luo’s thoughts.

And the end for those people was also failure—

Ihui Nai Luo was not spared.

She wanted to use the maiden’s blood as a channel, her Spiritual Body to enter the Divine Tree, to fully master it and turn all the islanders into celestial beings.

But Ihui Nai Luo utterly failed.

This led to the tragedy of Ihui Day twenty years ago.

"And the source of that tragedy was blamed by Lord Nailuo on the maiden who fled Ihui Island at that time..."

Ihui Ju Xu’s voice paused, just as he was about to continue, he was interrupted by Beichuan Si.

"Ihui Shenzi?"

"That’s right... Beichuan Master, you had your celestial beings visit between forms to see the state of Lady Shenzi, right? The punishment of the Water Prison Box made her Spiritual Body disordered, to the extent that she couldn’t even remember who she was."

Ihui Nai Luo had pushed her own failure onto the maiden who left the island, Ihui Shenzi, claiming that it was because of her departure that the ritual was not successful.

This maintained her prestige as the Great Celestial Being of the island and at the same time, punished Ihui Shenzi who had obstructed her plans.

To this day, Ihui Shenzi still suffers a cruel punishment.

Beichuan Si subconsciously touched his Shinra Bell, his gaze deep.

The current Ihui Nai Luo was merely a ghost bound by the remnants of the previous Great Heavenly Person.

Obsession, madness, although she wanted all islanders to become celestial beings, to let them all be happy, these thoughts originated from her own good intentions, but that goodwill had completely deteriorated.

Because goodwill imposed on others is no longer goodwill but naked malice.

Not every islander wants to become a celestial being, to abandon their own body.

But Ihui Nai Luo didn’t think so.

Alive or dead, it was not for the islanders to choose, but in her own obsessive and mad ideas.

Thinking this, Beichuan Si lifted his head.

Not far ahead, Earth Spirits appeared.

...

The journey through the Waist Gate, the Chamber of Eyes, need not be expounded upon.

It was just a continuous process of encountering Earth Spirits and resolving them.

After absorbing these Earth Spirits, Jian Ding under Beichuan Si’s command became increasingly restless.

The black surface of the blood was nearly completely shed.

"Our pace is very fast. Maybe we can really reach the Divine Tree before Lord Nailuo!"

Ihui Ju Xu, walking in the narrow corridor, was full of hopeful expression.

She truly had not expected that Beichuan Si’s efficiency would be so high, taking only an hour to lead her out of the Waist Gate and the Chamber of Eyes.

Now only the final Cranial Chamber remained, and once through there, their journey would be smooth sailing.

"According to the records, the Cranial Chamber is just around the corner to the right ahead, and if we can pass through smoothly, we will reach the Divine Tree directly."

Ihui Ju Xu explained the directions to Beichuan Si.

And under her explanation, Beichuan Si took steps forward.

About a minute later, Ihui Ju Xu and Beichuan Si stopped in front of the door to the Cranial Chamber.

This... was the Cranial Chamber.

It was unknown what was hidden inside.

Beichuan Si and Ihui Ju Xu exchanged a glance and then stepped in together.

There was no scene as imagined with skulls hanging from the ceiling, nor were there Earth Spirits attacking from all over.

The empty room contained only a faintly glowing figure.

The familiar semi-transparent figure stirred emotions within Beichuan Si.

"What is this...?" Ihui Ju Xu had just taken two steps when she was stopped by Beichuan Si.

Beichuan Si signaled her not to move around at will.

Under such circumstances, Ihui Ju Xu obediently complied.

Seeing that she didn’t behave rashly anymore, Beichuan Si then took the initiative to walk forward and stretched out his hand to touch the faintly glowing figure.

A dizzying sense of the world spinning overwhelmed him, and the surroundings seemed to stretch.

The figure from just a moment ago was an afterimage.

Something formed from intense lingering thoughts.

So this place was...

"Izumi Shrine’s Skull Room?"

On both sides of the Skull Room, lampstands were placed, with faint lights hanging above.

And beside these faint lights sat an old man dressed in white hunting clothes, a heavenly being.

It seemed like he was waiting for someone who had passed through the five trials to arrive.

The wait wasn’t long; Beichuan Si had only stood for about ten seconds when the door behind them opened.

A semi-transparent youthful Spiritual Body floated out from behind the door.

Under the gaze of Beichuan Si, the old man in hunting clothes approached.

He looked at the Spiritual Body who had finally passed the five trials, bent down, and whispered something.

But Beichuan Si, despite getting closer, couldn’t hear a word, as if something was blocking the sound.

However, after hearing what the old man had said, the youthful Spiritual Body couldn’t help but murmur:

"...So it’s like that... Heavenly being... For the islanders? ... It’s all a deception. So everything was a sham!"

The youthful Spiritual Body let out a frantic, miserable low moan.

Heavenly beings? For the islanders? A deception?

These cryptic words somehow made Beichuan Si’s frown ease.

It really was like that.

As he had nearly figured out the situation, the surroundings flipped again, and everything returned to the way it was.

"Beichuan Mage, are you alright?" Ihui Ju Xu looked worriedly at Beichuan Si, who had come back to his senses.

Beichuan Si was now her only straw to clutch at for saving her sister; if something happened to him, then being left to face Ihui Nai Luo would mean nothing but a futile death for her.

"I’m fine." Beichuan Si took another look at his Shinra Bell and breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw the Shinra Bell was still properly inserted in the water pouch of his backpack: "Let’s leave this place."

"Alright."

Ihui Ju Xu couldn’t wait to leave the Skull Room quickly.

She didn’t want to know what had happened to Beichuan Si.

She just wanted to see her sister, Ihui Guangjiu, as soon as possible.

They quickly exited through a side door of the Skull Room.

The side door led to a long corridor; the chilly aura around it had already been entirely driven away, suggesting that they would no longer be attacked by Earth Spirits.

Since that was the case, they didn’t have to worry about their speed and simply ran.

After about fifteen minutes, they finally left the long corridor behind and arrived at the Shrine’s main hall.

The ancient Shrine was square and built into a neat grid

In the very center stood a gigantic tree, towering above—

The Divine Tree.

Upon closer inspection, at the base of the Divine Tree, there were layered effigies placed one upon another.

And behind these effigies, there was another entrance, a Sando Gate.

That must be the sole entrance for Ihui Nai Luo to enter the main hall.

It was very quiet around; no ghostly shadows could be seen under the Divine Tree.

It seemed that Beichuan Si and Ihui Ju Xu had indeed arrived near the Divine Tree before Ihui Nai Luo.

With this thought, Beichuan Si led Ihui Ju Xu into hiding in the shadows.

The next course of action was simple—

Wait in ambush.