The Legend of Tokyo Taoist

Chapter 48 On-the-job Training (7)

Qian Xiaoyi held the teacup in his hand and glanced at Inuyama Heita's clean bowl, wondering if this guy had a taste disorder? He actually drank this thing in one gulp?
After hearing Inuyama Heita's question, Qian Xiaoyi didn't keep him in suspense and told him the answer directly: "Different cultures have their own unique names for that kind of place. The West calls it Lingbo Prison or the Border of Hell. We call it Yin Yang Road, Ghost Covering Eyes, Ghost Wall, etc. Here, it's called Huangquan Hirasaka. I wonder if you've heard of it?"

"Yozen Hirasaka, the dividing line between life and death?" Inuyama Heita asked in surprise, "A place where you will die once you cross the line, so I almost died?"

“No.” Qian Xiaoyi rolled his eyes. “The worst consequence would be extreme shock and being unconscious in an empty alley for a few days. Unless you have a heart disease or are mentally fragile, as long as you are not too unlucky and no one finds you, you will basically be fine.”

"This is already serious!" Inuyama Heita said angrily.

Qian Xiaoyi smiled and said, "I'm still here. So, do you want to continue listening to me, or do you want to throw a tantrum like a little girl?"

Inuyama Heita sighed and said, "But it's really scary there... Can you tell me what exactly is that place? Why is there such a large area near Shibuya with no one? Could it be another dimension?"

"This question is more complicated to explain." Qian Xiaoyi took a sip of tea: "But if I were to give that place a name, I would prefer to call it 'Ghost Realm'."

"Ghost realm?" Inuyama Heita was a little confused. In Japanese culture, ghosts are giant men with red and blue skin, horns and fangs, and holding clubs. This image is related to the concept of hell introduced by Chinese Buddhism to Japan. Their definition of the word ghost is the image evolved from the green-faced and fanged hell demon, such as the one in the famous fairy tale Momotaro. Other shapeless ones are called ghosts, and those with shape are called monsters.

Qian Xiaoyi briefly explained the difference to him and continued, "I'm not a scientist, so I can't give an accurate description of that kind of place, but one thing is certain, that is, it is not an objectively existing place, just like the existence of ghosts. It is a place that can only be entered when a person's mental state is abnormal. There is a real case. A social animal's company and home are not far away, so he takes the same road home every day. One day, he was so busy at work that he went home very late. This time when he went home, he was walking on the same road, but it felt extremely strange. As he walked, he found himself in an unfamiliar place..."

"That's what I did just now!" Inuyama Heita was suddenly horrified.

Qian Xiaoyi said casually: "...But in fact, if we call up the road surveillance and let other people observe his condition, we will find that he just keeps circling around a certain place."

“Was I going in circles as well?” Inuyama Heita asked. “It felt so real.”

Qian Xiaoyi smiled and said, "Of course, it is possible that he was not circling. If someone saw him, he might just be standing in the alley stupidly. That's why we have the saying 'ghost covering the eyes'."

Inuyama Heita asked hurriedly: "So what is the reality?" Qian Xiaoyi said: "It's still a subjective and objective statement. To others, you have fallen into a strange mental state, and in your subjective mind, you have indeed gone to a place made up of your own cognition. The key to assessing this boundary lies in whether it is observed or not. If you are observed, then you have a mental problem. If you are not observed, then that world is more real. This is what I want to tell you, the second way of being affected by ghosts - the ghost realm."

"Oh right!" Inuyama Heita suddenly remembered something: "I once received a call from you, Brother Otoko, in that place. It was a guy pretending to be you... What was that? Could it be the legendary monster?"

Qian Xiaoyi shook his head: "That thing is nothing. It's just terror itself."

"Huh?" Inuyama Heita didn't understand.

Qian Xiaoyi explained: "If you enter the ghost realm without preparation, it is normal for you to encounter some strange things, just like you or ordinary people who have strayed into it. Because your inner fear will also affect that place. For example, when you were lost, did you think: What if Qian Xiaoyi came to save you? And then the phone rang? But when the phone really rang, you would have some doubts, thinking about things like 'Why is it such a coincidence? Is there something wrong?' Then you found that it was not me on the other end of the phone. And when you walked to an unfamiliar place, did you think, 'If I keep walking like this, will I go further and further and then not be able to go back?' So the more afraid you are, the more you run, and the more you run, the more unfamiliar places you run to..."

Inuyama Heita thought about it carefully, and then suddenly realized: "It's true! This means that everything that happened there was a chain reaction caused by my cognition? The more afraid I am, the more things I fear will appear. The more I feel lost, the more lost I will be?"

"That's basically it. You have a saying here that dusk is 'the time of the devil', which means that it's the time when yin and yang alternate and ghosts start to appear. It's easier to encounter strange things at dusk, so I took advantage of this common local cognition and sent you in." Qian Xiaoyi smiled: "There are too many people in Shibuya, and people's cognition is complex and changeable. It's not easy to form a fixed ghost area, and only sensitive psychics like you have the opportunity to enter. But relatively speaking, the ghost area there is very safe, it will only make people 'disappear', which is the so-called ghost wall. Apart from getting lost and encountering some supernatural events, there is no other harm, so I brought you here today to let you experience it a little bit and get a vaccination."

"Are there other ghost realms that are more terrifying and more dangerous?" Inuyama Heita shuddered.

"Yes." Qian Xiaoyi said mysteriously, "Haven't you always wanted to know whether monsters exist? Then, based on the course I taught you today and what happened just now, can you draw any conclusions from it?"

"Conclusion... monsters? Ghost realm... Ultraman... monsters..." Inuyama Heita pondered over it, and then a flash of inspiration came to him, and he blurted out: "So the so-called monsters... are actually monsters that appear in the ghost realm because of the cognition of a certain human group? And they can only exist in the ghost realm? And they can only harm people after dragging them into the ghost realm?"

"Oh~ Not bad." Qian Xiaoyi laughed: "Not bad, not bad, you are very insightful~ And not only monsters, many monsters and other things in urban legends are also produced in this way. The wider an urban legend spreads and the more deeply it is rooted in people's hearts, the more likely it is to appear in the ghost realm, or directly create a new ghost realm. Now congratulations, Heitaro, you have basically understood the principles of ghosts and monsters and completed the on-the-job training. In the next period of time, let's prepare for the next activity."

"—hunting urban legends."

(End of this chapter)