I'm a thankful fox in Tokyo

Chapter 372 I Can't Count on You
The Da Guangming Temple on Jushan Mountain was a newly built temple, but now there were no morning bells and evening drums, or Buddhist chants. Monks and demon hunters were lying dead in groups of three or four all over the temple. There was no light in the open main hall, and the solemn Buddha statue was hidden in the shadows, like an evil ghost.

There is a large open space in front of the temple, paved with plain floor tiles. It is a place for tourists to burn incense, worship Buddha, rest and tour. There are trees, flowers and plants planted in the garden, and the rockery is also arranged quite exquisitely. If the weather is fine, it should be a good place to visit. However, at this time there are gusts of wind, and ghosts are howling.

A person-high brass incense burner collapsed to the ground, with incense ashes scattered all over the ground. Next to it was a luxurious and strange eight-wheeled carriage.

This carriage was as big as a room. Its roof was like an octagonal canopy with more than ten dim green lanterns hanging above the canopy, illuminating the carriage brightly.

You can clearly see that each carriage is painted with pictures of evil spirits eating people. Looking more closely, you will find that these Ukiyo-e are actually lines of human faces with painful expressions, appearing and disappearing from time to time.

A graceful figure sat in the carriage. Through the fluttering curtains, one could see that he was dressed in gorgeous clothes and had a beautiful face. He was holding a pipa, and sounds like jade beads falling on a plate flowed out. His sweet and soft voice chanted the tune of the Heian period.

"The Emperor of Han was obsessed with beauty and wanted to conquer the country, but he could not get it after ruling the country for many years."

The surrounding demon hunters were all on high alert when faced with this scene that looked like a geisha performance - this female ghost had slaughtered dozens of demon hunters, including some powerful demon hunters who had been famous in Tokyo for a long time.

“Please hold on for a little longer. This demon’s magic is amazing, but it is still a ghost after all. Once our Star-Moon Four Symbols Reincarnation Formation is formed, we will make it return to the underworld!”

Jinguji Nobuyoshi stood at the center of the formation, observing the situation calmly, with a jade-like cicada shell floating in front of him. Seven Jinguji family exorcists held bronze mirrors and stood in special positions, vaguely surrounding the carriage.

As Jinguji Nobuyoshi continued to input magical power and chant special incantations, the bronze mirror actually drew silver light from the sky with rolling leaden clouds.

"Bind!"

The demon hunters holding bronze mirrors moved with mysterious steps, and as they changed their positions, the bronze mirrors in their arms projected ropes of light.

These light ropes bound the carriage, and the originally silver-white bronze mirror rippled like water waves, quickly reflecting the changing images.

Looking closely, it seems to be some people's memories, some are successful, some are frustrated and painful, just like the seven bronze mirrors seem to reflect all kinds of life.

At this moment, an exorcist accidentally fell into an illusion and seemed to have lost his mind. Before the other exorcists around him could react, his soul was pulled into the wall of the carriage and became part of the human face in the Ukiyo-e.

Compared to the painful and confused faces on the outer walls of the carriage, the newly joined demon hunters appear more vivid.

Because their souls are stronger than those of ordinary people, they can still maintain some self-awareness. Some of them kept wailing in despair, while others begged the demon hunters in front of them to rescue them.

"Sugawara! Save him!"

"It's useless unless you purify this evil spirit."

The demon hunters at the front were getting anxious. Just a short while later, another demon hunter was tricked. If they delayed any longer, the entire army would probably be wiped out.

"Mr. Jinguji, we can't hold on any longer!"

Jinguji Xinyi quickly looked through the bronze mirrors, his expression gradually becoming serious: "This demon has devoured too many souls, and the bronze mirrors can't reflect her memories before she died. The only solution now is to exorcise all these souls."

When these words came out, not only the demon exorcists were stunned, but even the demon exorcist of Jinguji family was stunned: "Master, Ah Xiu, Guangyou and others are also in that carriage!"

"There is no other way."

Jinguji Nobuyoshi said in a deep voice, and he made a seal very decisively, waving his sleeves and throwing out dozens of golden and purple demon-killing talismans towards the carriage.

"We demon hunters should have known that this day would come from the day we started practicing. Not to mention Ah Xiu and the others, even I myself have already prepared for my own death."

Under the expectant gazes of the demon exorcists, demon-exorcising talismans with powerful auras hit the carriages one after another, but people's expressions changed drastically afterwards.

laugh!
The demon-exorcising talisman turned into smoke and dissipated as soon as it touched the carriage. It was completely ineffective.

“How heartless!”

The music played by the woman gradually slowed down, like flowing water. She sat upright in the carriage and said softly, "Jinguji, I have met your ancestors several times before. Jinguji Qingxuan even ran away from me back then. How dare you come here to seek death?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the green lantern suspended on the canopy of the carriage shone brightly. The demon hunters, including Jinguji Nobuyoshi, had no time to react before they were illuminated by the light and were stunned where they were.

When the green light faded, the faces of these demon hunters had lost their spirits, and they fell to the ground one by one like puppets without their strings. Dozens of faces appeared in the carriage, and the face of Jinguji Nobuyoshi was among them.

The woman sighed: "Love may end someday, but this hatred will last forever."

Puff puff!
A crow wearing a bamboo hat flew over in a hurry, stood on a stone lantern not far away and shouted, "Please show mercy, Princess Oboroguruma. These demon hunters, Ibaraki Douji-sama, will be of use for the time being."

"I know it."

The woman called Oboroguruma-hime nodded slightly, and the expressions of the new faces in the carriage immediately relaxed. Many of them regained consciousness. Some demon hunters collapsed after discovering their situation, while some were able to maintain their sanity and began to discuss countermeasures with other demon hunters who could communicate, but most of them looked desperate.

Even Jinguji Nobuyoshi only lamented: "The demon is the butcher and I am the meat."

"Noisy."

Princess Oboroguma felt unhappy when she heard the last poems of these demon hunters. The demon hunters all looked terrified and dared not say anything.

Seeing this, Princess Oboroguruma turned her head and looked towards the mountain path outside the temple.

"So, will the monster come?"

The crow standing on the treetop not far away answered in a deep voice: "Ibaraki Douji-sama said, 'Yes, he is more human than many humans.'"

"Shuten-douji-sama said before that we should not act rashly. Does Ibaraki-douji-sama's action constitute disobedience to the lord?"

The crow was stunned for a moment, then used its mouth to dig out the brocade bag hanging on its feet and took out a page of letter. Ink began to appear on the originally blank letter paper, as if an invisible pen was writing on it. The ink outlined into beautiful hairpin-shaped small regular script, and soon it formed a sentence.

The crow took a look and replied, "Ibaraki-douji said, 'Shuten-douji is very interested in him and invites him to Mount Oe for a chat.'"

"Let's talk?" the woman murmured. Could it be that Lord Shuten-doji admired him so much that he wanted to invite him to join Oeyama?

But thinking of that adult's unpredictable character, the fact that this fox demon killed the demon of Mount Oeyama and was hostile, it was obviously impossible to just brush it off as if nothing had happened.

What's more, if it's just a chat, wouldn't it be enough to just send an invitation to the door?

At this time, the purpose of luring and capturing the demon hunter related to the monster is very clear.

When Princess Oboroguruma thought of this, she revealed an understanding expression: "Let's see if he can get past me."

"Please wait here and follow the staff's instructions. Do not move around without clear orders." Members of the Special Counter-Mobile Unit of the Ministry of Religion, Culture, Science and Technology, armed with live ammunition, guided tourists evacuated from various camping areas to the Ministry of Religion, Culture, Science and Technology's temporary base in the parking lot on the mountainside.

"Can't we just go down the mountain?" some tourists asked in surprise.

"Sorry, not at the moment." The maneuver class member answered seriously.

"Didn't they say there was a danger of landslide? Why didn't they let us go down the mountain?"

The tourists were a little suspicious, and some of them saw a number of people who looked like Self-Defense Force soldiers in the camp.

There were even heavy weapons such as self-propelled artillery parked at a viewing stop not far away, with several black gun barrels facing the top of the mountain. The electric snakes flashing from time to time in the layers of clouds illuminated the hideous corners of these weapons of war, and it seemed that they could launch a fierce attack on the top of the mountain at any time.

At this time, a young woman in work clothes nodded to the mobile team members, walked over to lead the tourists, and patiently explained: "The mountain road is temporarily blocked by fallen rocks, and it takes time to clear it. It is very dangerous to go down the mountain now. Please follow me here and wait for a while. There are hot water, emergency food and other supplies in the camp."

Perhaps it was because the female staff member looked sweet and more friendly, so the tourists followed her into the camp with doubt. Even though some of them occasionally looked back at those hideous weapons of war, they temporarily suppressed their concerns.

Takigawa Tadahiro looked at the tourists passing by, coordinating various departments with a gloomy face on the walkie-talkie, and sighed in his heart. Recently, the frequency of demons causing trouble around Tokyo has been increasing.

At this time, a steady and heavy voice came from behind.

“Have all the tourists been evacuated?”

Takigawa Tadahiro was startled and turned around quickly, only to find that it was his section chief, Sasahara Shinichiro.

He bowed quickly and said, "Section Chief, we haven't evacuated all of them yet, but there shouldn't be many left. I heard from some tourists that a mountaineering team has gone further into the camping area. These people are really going to cause trouble."

Saw Mountain is about 500 meters above sea level, which is considered a medium-sized mountain for an island country. It has beautiful scenery and is connected to the mountains in the northeast. If you look down from a high place, you can see a sense of overlapping mountains.

Chiba has the idea of ​​turning it into a natural scenic spot and has put a lot of effort into its development, including rebuilding the ring road around the mountain, renovating the shrine, paving mountain roads, guardrails, and building some rest areas for travelers to rest.

After such renovations, it has indeed attracted many tourists from both inside and outside the island. Of course, the main reason is its good location - close to Tokyo. During holidays, many workers come here to climb mountains and relax.

This also brought great problems to the evacuation work of the Ministry of Religion, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the local government. Many tourists camped directly in the mountains, and it was impossible to find anyone at this time.

Shinichiro Sasahara didn't say anything, but just glanced at the soldier standing next to the armored command vehicle not far away and observing the top of the mountain with a telescope. He looked to be in his fifties, with a golden cherry blossom star with two vertical bars on his shoulder.

This is the rank of a land general - brigadier general.

"Hurry up." He patted Takigawa Tadahiro on the shoulder.

Takigawa Tadahiro was silent for a few seconds, "But those demon hunters on the mountain..."

"That demon is too powerful. We can't help. We can only evacuate as many people as possible and trust them."

"What if they can't defeat him?"

Sasahara Shinichiro was silent for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "As a demon hunter, you should be prepared to risk your life every time you kill a demon—"

As soon as he finished speaking, a clear voice came from not far away.

"But this is not for you to decide."

Shinichiro Sasahara frowned when he heard the voice, and turned around to see a tall and handsome young man walking towards him quickly. He immediately shouted in a deep voice: "Who are you? This is a sealed military stronghold, no outsiders are allowed to approach!"

"Hitsuno-kun? Why are you here?"

Takigawa Tadahiro looked a little surprised.

"Takigawa, do you know him?" Sasahara Shinichiro immediately looked at his subordinates.

Takigawa Tadahiro quickly introduced him: "Section Chief, this is Higashino-kun. Although he is still in the first year of high school, he is already a very powerful demon hunter. Last time we carried out the plan to capture the crow monster at Ayasezaka, it was this little brother who helped us."

Sasahara Shinichiro's face looked a little better after hearing this, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to continue discussing the previous topic with him. He just asked, "Did you accept the call from the Ministry of Religion, Culture, and Science?"

Before Dong Yeyu could answer, he waved at him.

"The demon on the top of the mountain is no small matter. It is probably dead now. It will be useless for you to go there. Go back. Although demon hunters must always be prepared to die in battle, it is not to the point of sacrificing a minor like you."

As he said this, he turned his head and looked at the soldiers who had already started loading and unloading shells at the viewing parking lot. "And the military is already preparing to resolve the issue with artillery fire."

When Dong Yeyu saw the self-propelled artillery that had entered combat status, his eyebrows twitched. You are really incapable of doing anything helpful and always cause trouble.

We are trying to get rid of demons, why bring in cannons to cause trouble?

Demons can turn into evil wind and escape, but can humans do that?

By that time, not a single demon will be killed, but all the demon hunters will be blown to death. You are really screwed.

Higashino Yu was too lazy to argue with these people and asked Sasahara Shinichiro, "Are you the commander here?"

This tone made Sasahara Shinichiro frown. What a rude boy!

Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Takigawa Tadahiro whispered, "This is Section Chief Sasahara, the commander of our Special Countermeasures Unit. Over there is Lieutenant General Nangong Riku, the commander of the Self-Defense Forces."

Dong Yeyu nodded, took a look, and said with his hand on the hilt of the knife: "Hold them for a while, I will go up to rescue them."

"You? Alone?"

Sasahara Shinichiro was stunned, looking at Higashino Yu as if he was looking at a fool: "Do you know how many demon hunters there are on the mountain at this time?"

"There are a total of 45 of them, including not only the elites of various demon-hunting families, but also the pillar of the Kanto demon-hunting world, such as the Patriarch of the Jinguji family. Even they could barely deal with the demon. What can you do alone?"

Dong Yeyu nodded slightly after hearing this: "It seems that I can't count on you."

After saying this, in front of the astonished gazes of Sasahara Shinichiro and Takigawa Tadahiro, he suddenly drew his sword towards the self-propelled artillery that had arrived at the designated bombardment positions. As the silver-like blade rubbed against the scabbard, red-gold flames splashed.

(End of this chapter)