The Great Arcanist Who Traveled Through the World of American Variety Shows.

Chapter 407 Ghost Kyoto

"Are you a wizard from the Tang Kingdom?" the little fox asked curiously.

"You can say that." Richard said, looking around.

In the courtyard, some maids wearing masks came out from the corner. The masks were the pure white masks typical of Japan, painted dark red, with exaggeratedly small lips, and only a few black dots on their eyebrows, and they had their hair tied in a Japanese-style bun.

The maids came up in wooden clogs, carrying some fruit plates and snacks, and one of them brought a pot of wine.

"Please sit down." The fox girl leaned lazily on the couch, supporting her head with her right hand, holding a round fan in her left hand, and her long legs spread across the couch. The golden bell swayed slightly, and her eyes were like autumn water, captivating.

Although she did not use her charm ability, her every move was full of natural charm.

"What era is it in Japan now?" Richard asked.

"I don't really care about the news about humans, but I recently heard that there's a famous Onmyoji named Abe Haruaki."

When Richard heard the name Abe Haruaki, he immediately realized that it should be the end of the Heian period, which in China is the period from the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms to the early Northern Song Dynasty.

"Abe Haruaki, is he famous now?"

"I heard that he is just thirty years old this year, but he is already stronger than many Onmyojis of the older generation." said the fox girl.

"I don't know how the guests call you?" The fox girl waved her fan gently, and three singers wearing the same mask appeared in front of them. They were wearing gorgeous clothes and dancing with round fans in their hands. However, Richard didn't like the sad music very much.

"Richard!" Richard said, "What's your name?"

"My name is Qinghe." said the fox girl.

Qing He? Richard recalled in his mind that he had never heard of this name among the Japanese monsters he knew. In his previous life, the most famous fox monster in Japan should be Tamamonomae, the nine-tailed fox.

But the Qinghe in front of him should not be the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Next, Qing He asked Richard about the situation in the Central Plains, and Richard told him what he knew. Although he didn't know much, Qing He was very interested.

"It's a pity that I can't go to Tang Kingdom, otherwise I really want to go and see it for myself." Qinghe murmured.

Richard discovered that the Tang Kingdom seemed to be a forbidden area for these monsters, and the monsters from Japan did not dare to go there.

"It's getting late, and daybreak is almost approaching. It's time for you to leave here," Qinghe said.

Richard looked up at the sky. The moon was about to set. There was no sun in the underworld. The Ghost Kyoto would appear at night and disappear again during the day.

The ghosts that had gone out have also returned and entered the rooms in Ghost Kyoto. Unlike in the human world, ghosts hide during the day and come out at night.

"I'm glad to meet you today. This is my token of trust. If you want to find me, take out this jade token and it will lead you there." Qinghe handed a jade token to Richard.

Richard nodded, took the jade token and put it away, then stood up and said, "Thank you for the hospitality, it's getting late, goodbye!"

Richard waved his hand and flew towards the gate of Ghost Kyoto. There were many ghosts in Ghost Kyoto, but there was no such blind guy blocking Richard.

There was still Qinghe's demonic aura lingering on Richard's body. Many monsters sensed it and immediately avoided him. It was obvious that this little fox had a high status in Ghost Kyoto and should be very powerful as well.

Soon, Richard arrived at the gate of Ghost Kyoto and finally stopped in front of a gate. This gate looked like a city gate, and then he saw two figures with a bull's head and a horse's head. Behind these two figures, a chain connected a large number of ghosts and was about to pass through the city gate.

Ox-headed and horse-faced monster?

Richard was slightly stunned. This should be a ghost messenger from Japan. The two Ox-Headed and Horse-Faced Demons were dressed like Japanese people. One held a soul-catching sickle, the other held a soul-calling banner, and the other held a chain.

At the other end of the chain are all kinds of strange ghosts.

After passing the gate, the two sides met directly.

"Why is a living person coming to the underworld?" Niu Tou was slightly stunned and immediately raised the weapon in his hand.

"Don't blame me, I accidentally came here last night and was about to leave." Richard said.

"There is a difference between yin and yang, and there is an order between life and death. Living people should not come here!" The horse-faced man beside him glanced at Richard and said in an inexplicable tone: "Go through this door to the world of the living, let's go!"

After expressing his thanks, Richard headed straight for the city gate.

After seeing Richard leave, Niutou said, "He violated the ban."

"Don't you feel the demonic power in him?" Horse-Faced Man interrupted directly, "We are just ghost messengers. If we really piss him off, can we withstand it?"

"That Yama place"

"Just pretend you don't know." The two of them quickly discussed it, then pretended they knew nothing and left with the ghosts.

Richard went out of the city gate, then crossed the bridge, passed through a space crack, and left the underworld directly. At this time, a golden light just rose in the eastern sky, the night faded away, and the light enveloped the earth again.

At the same time, the ghost gate behind him closed, and the space crack disappeared. The underworld and the world of the living are in the same time and space, and are parallel to each other under normal circumstances. They are only connected in very rare cases.

Richard looked around. There were only weeds all around him. Not far away there was a broken stone tablet with a large number of symbols carved on it. There were many ropes tied to the tablet, and a red cloth with talismans drawn on it. There were also some traces of burning incense and candles underneath, but it was a long time ago.

This should be a town monument. In the era when demons were rampant, almost every village would have such a thing. It can resist some weak demons. Of course, if there are land gods or mountain gods in the village, they will worship them.

In the country of Japan, gods and ghosts were not distinguished until later generations. Some great monsters had their own shrines in the mortal world. The Qinghe I met last night wanted to build a shrine in the human world.

However, she was ambitious and did not plan to build in villages or other cities first, but headed directly to Kyoto. Kyoto was the most prosperous place in Japan, and if she wanted to build a shrine here, she would probably have to fight with the original shrine here.

Richard identified the direction and found a small path to walk along.

"Oh, and there's the Phoenix." Richard suddenly remembered that he had put the Phoenix into his private space when he teleported, and forgot to release it last night. He quickly opened the private space, and the Phoenix, which had been impatient for a long time, flew out immediately. The Phoenix Qingxuan, which left the private space, flew directly into the air, circled in the sky, and then landed on Richard's shoulder.

Then she kept chirping at Richard. It was obvious that the little girl was very unhappy that Richard didn't let her out last night, and she kept accusing him.

"Okay, okay, I know. I will let you out the next time." Richard comforted the little girl and took out some lotus seeds for her, which calmed the little girl down.

The little fellow stood obediently on Richard's shoulder and combed its feathers. It must be said that the Phoenix was still very good-looking, even though it was not yet an adult.

Soon, after walking out of the forest, Richard saw a small village not far away. The village was not big, with only dozens of households. At this time, all the people in the village gathered at the entrance of the village and were burning something for worship.

Richard took a quick look and saw a small shrine with a crudely carved statue inside. However, the statue was not a human and looked more like a dog.

Japan does not have a complete Shinto system now, and the beliefs are chaotic. Many villages worship some mountain spirits and wild monsters. This belief is a matter of luck. If you encounter some kind mountain spirits and wild monsters, they will ask people to worship them and protect these villages. If you are unlucky, they will ask for blood offerings.

Richard took a look at a dog demon that had entered the forest. It should be the deity worshipped by this village. There was no bloody aura on it, so it should be a relatively well-behaved demon.

Seeing Richard appear at the entrance of the village, the people in the village panicked. Most of these people were between 1.4 and 1.5 meters tall, with tattered clothes and thin bodies.

Richard's 1.80-meter height made him look like a giant to them, and coupled with his gorgeous clothes, they were afraid of him from the bottom of their hearts.

After a while, the leading farmer stepped forward timidly.

Richard asked casually, "Where is the nearest city from here?"

"Yes, it's Kyoto." The farmer said tremblingly.

"Which way should I go to Kyoto?"

"Just go west along this road," said the farmer.

Richard snapped his fingers, and a bag of rice appeared out of thin air and landed in front of him.

"This is your reward." After saying that, Richard walked west along the road.

This place is not far from Kyoto. Richard was very fast and in just half an hour, the outline of an ancient city appeared in his sight.

The city looked quite prosperous, after all, it was the capital of Japan, and the city's structure imitated the Tang Dynasty capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang, but the scale was reduced several times.

The city looks very similar to Ghost Kyoto, except that it is more prosperous.

Richard's arrival attracted a lot of people's attention. After all, among a group of dwarfs who were only 1.4 or 1.5 meters tall, a 1.8-meter-tall man suddenly appeared, and many people were directly scared.

The people here don't seem to be living well. Most of them are thin and small with dark skin. There are only a few strong warriors and nobles.

Seeing Richard, a warrior and a group of soldiers soon stopped Richard.

"Where are you from? What is your purpose in coming to Kyoto?" the leading samurai asked with a serious expression.

"I'm from Tang, traveling here. I heard that Kyoto is a country from Japan, so I wanted to come and see it." Richard said.

"Tang people?" The warrior was very surprised when he heard Richard's words, and his expression became very respectful.

"It is indeed the customs of the upper country, extraordinary."

The warrior in front of him politely invited Richard into the city and also invited him to be his guest, but Richard refused.

The warrior left two soldiers to lead the way for Richard, and hurried back to report to his master. In this era, China was the Celestial Empire for the countries surrounding the Central Plains Dynasty, and they admired the Central Plains culture very much.

Then the two soldiers took Richard to stroll around the city. This Kyoto city covers an area of ​​about 20 square kilometers and has a large population. It is in the Heian period, which sounds like a peaceful and prosperous time, but in fact the lower-class people here live in poverty.

Moreover, Richard had sensed demonic and yin energy in more than one place along the way. If there were demons and ghosts living in the capital of a country, it was conceivable that other places would be even more chaotic. Obviously, this Heian era was not peaceful at all.

Richard came to a tavern where several merchants were talking about monsters and ghosts. Some people encountered mountain ghosts and several were eaten by them, while another person said that a wine-drinking boy came to Mt. Tanba.

It eats the flesh and blood of women and children every day, and likes to seduce virgins. It is very cruel, and it has many monsters gathered under its command. Another merchant said that he met a woman in green clothes holding a lantern. The woman was beautiful and powerful. She stopped their caravan and asked them to tell a story she had never heard of.

If the story satisfies her, she will let them go. If the story does not satisfy her, there will be no ifs.

"Mountain ghosts, wine-drinking boys, green lanterns, this is really a world full of demons." After hearing this, Richard had roughly understood this world. This should be the world of the Japanese Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.

Especially Aoandon, who is writing a ghost book called "Hyakumonogatari". Once she collects a hundred ghost stories, the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons will begin.

After meeting her, the best thing to do is to tell a story. Of course, if you are unlucky and the story you tell happens to be the 100th, then after the story ends, all kinds of ghosts will appear.

Of course, you can also tell a long story and directly delay the time to daytime. During the day, Qingxuande will return to the underworld, and the crisis can be overcome.

In addition to these big monsters, there are also some small monsters. Richard even heard news about Abe Haruaki. At this time, Abe Haruaki was conquering monsters in various places.

At this moment, several people dressed in Yin-Yang Ji costumes hurried past on the street. Richard's mental power could clearly sense the power of these people.

These Yin-Yang masters not only have energy, but are also deeply entangled with demonic energy and ghost energy. Such energy can hardly prolong life or make people immortal, let alone live a long life.

Obviously, in order to become more powerful, these people have integrated all kinds of energy into their bodies. Those demonic and ghostly energies should be their shikigami.

Richard got some information about Shikigami from the fox demon Qinghe. Shikigami is a contract signed between the Onmyoji and the Shikigami. The Onmyoji provides for the Shikigami and then can use the power of the Shikigami or control the Shikigami.

Onmyoji feeds monsters and ghosts with his own body, and at the same time integrates their power into himself. Although this method can quickly form combat effectiveness, the Onmyoji will be eroded by the demonic and ghost energy, so there is basically no hope of achieving enlightenment.

(End of this chapter)