The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 687 Origin
"Are there really any immortals in this world? They are all just illusions. The Qin Emperor and Han Wudi were so powerful, but they all died. How could this thief Liu have the virtue and ability to truly ascend to heaven?"

The three generations of Shogun hated the Tatars to the core, and he knew Liu Zhaosun's background.

"Intelligence shows that Liu Ze, also known as Liu Zhaosun, was a master of pretending to be a ghost before he became famous. He would often summon spirits in the army. In fact, he is just a charlatan!"

"Can he become an immortal?"

Tokugawa Iemitsu was indignant. In the first year of Wuding, the Tatar Qi had been completely defeated and was on the verge of death. How could it be revived in just fifteen years?
Not only can he be resurrected, but he can also launch another Eastern Expedition and bring the war to Japan.

The Shogun did not believe in ghosts and gods at all. He thought it was just a trick of the Tatars to deceive the people. It was a common trick used by Liu Ze!
"General, I believe it's time to go to Kyoto and pay homage to His Majesty the Emperor! He is the incarnation of Amaterasu and should be able to deal with the evil god of Tartarus."

Master Chunshen returned the katana to Hattori Hanzo with a calm expression, looked up at the Shogun, and said word by word:

"Amaterasu is the god of all gods. His power comes from the depths of the earth. If the Emperor emerges, Tartarus will be reduced to ashes!"

~~~

When Shinsukeemon first noticed the noises in the walls, he thought they were caused by rats.

Later, he heard from his neighbors the stories about Amaterasu that were privately told by the wizards of Heijokyo.

No one now remembers what the Kamakura Witch looked like, but the horror legend spread throughout the capital like weeds growing in an abandoned cemetery.

It describes in disturbing detail the horrific sacrifices performed by a mysterious sorcerer to Amaterasu at the end of the Kamakura period.

A witch's offering to an ancient statuette of unknown origin, depicting a red sun and a relief depicting an octopus.

As for the old witch who offered sacrifices to Amaterasu, it was said that she was from Nagasaki. After drinking, she told the people of Kyoto that she was the high priestess of a terrifyingly powerful god who lived under the sea.

The witch also said that the reason why the Mongolian fleet was overturned by the divine wind in Hakata Port was because of her and the divine power she summoned.

This nonsense led to her public execution ordered by the Kamakura shogunate in 1276, the second year of Kublai Khan's third expedition to Japan.

To this day, no one dares to discuss the old witch's death casually, but occasionally a drunk wizard will accidentally reveal the old witch's abilities:

She is not afraid of fire and can walk on water.

So in the end, the adults in Edo tore her into pieces.

After the witch died, her old house in Kyoto, which was her base, was abandoned for a time. The old house's bad reputation was known to everyone in Kyoto, so no one dared to live there for a long time.

Occasionally, some newcomers would rent the old house and move out in a hurry.

Most of the explanations are vague and unsatisfying, but they generally involve octopuses.

~~~

It was a mouse that led Shinsukeemon to the "Witch Room".

He was a writer living in Kyoto, and wrote Noh plays for the entertainment of daimyo samurai, such as the famous "Koxinga Defeats Liu Zhaosun" and "The Shogun's Suppression of the Tartars", but these themes are already seriously outdated.

The life of a wandering writer involves hardship.

In order to have a better (cheaper) writing environment, he wandered from Edo to Kyoto and rented the old Kamakura witch's house at a very low price.

During the first few days after he moved in, he was disturbed more than once every evening by an incessant chattering, a muffled, high-pitched sound that came from the rotting walls.

Shinsukeemon has always refused to accept those random speculations about ghosts and gods. He believes that they are rumors deliberately spread by local dental dealers in order to raise the rent of the surrounding houses.

It wasn't until that night, when a lizard (or snake) scurried away from under his feet in the dark porch, that he began to change his mind.

The candlelight in the old house was dim. The huge black shadow of the lizard rushed five steps away, stopped in place, and stared at Shinsukeemon with its head tilted.

"A funny little animal, a sign of good fortune."

The down-and-out Noh playwright comforted himself in this way.

At any other time, Shinsukeemon might have thrown his shoe to scare the lizard away and then returned to writing.

However, that day was the Chosei Festival, the anniversary of the death of Gonteru Omikami Tokugawa Ieyasu. Masked warriors and ronin were parading through the streets, and the parading artists were playing music, so the streets were particularly noisy.

Shinsukeemon had a hard time concentrating on writing his story.

He had no money for next month's rent and no food for tomorrow, and the lizard standing out of his reach was watching him with a gloating look.

Shinsukeemon felt he was being seriously provoked, and he walked toward the lizard.

The lizard quickly crossed the entrance and ran towards the cellar door deep in the room.

Shinsukeemon was surprised to find that the cellar door was half open.

He must have left the door open when he last came in, but he was usually careful to do so because old houses are drafty. The lizard was waiting in the hallway.

Shinsukeemon suddenly felt inexplicably irritated, and at this moment, the lizard crawled into the stairs.

He lit a tinder and followed, and found the lizard hiding in a corner.

Its pair of red eyes stared at the down-and-out writer with burning passion.

Shinsukeemon couldn't help feeling fooled as he descended the stairs, but he was already extremely tired when the lizard dodged to the side and disappeared through a small hole in the cellar wall.

"I'm going to catch you." Shinsukeemon repeated as if possessed by a ghost.

The lizard's snake-like head cautiously stretched out from the hole, probed a little, hesitated for a moment, and then retracted.

Then it began to make strange, inexplicable movements - like it was drunk.

It moved forward hesitantly, then retreated, making a sudden lunge, pausing briefly before leaping back in panic, like a cat coiling in front of a burrow, blocking a lizard's escape.

Shinsukeemon was furious, so he drew his katana and probed into the hole.

At this moment, when he was very close to the wall, he noticed that there was something strange about a stone slab right above the lizard cave.

Another quick glance at the edge of the slab confirmed his suspicions.

The slabs are movable.

Thinking of the story of the witch told by the local people, Shinsukeemon was overjoyed. A wonderful story was right before his eyes. His old customers had long been disgusted with the Noh play about the battle against the Tatars. It was time for a change of taste.

He even had a name for the new story in mind:

Edogawa Shinsukeemon accidentally enters Kamakura Story

It sounds very attractive.

Shinsukeemon quickly noticed that there was a dent on the edge of the stone slab that could be used as a handhold.

"This should be the door handle switch."

His fingers found their way easily into the small indentation, and he tried to pull. The stone moved a little, then stopped. He tugged harder, and with a scattering of dry dust, the stone swung away from the wall as if on hinges.

A rectangular, shoulder-high black hole appeared in the wall.

A moldy, disgusting stench emerged from the cave, and Shinsukeemon unconsciously took a step back.

A long and narrow tunnel appeared in front of Shinsukeemon.

"Is this the secret tunnel of the Kamakura witch?"

The stone under his feet caught Shinsukeemon's attention.

The colors of the seabed are mainly red, blue and black, and thousands of small colorful stones form a pattern that Shinyouemon has never seen before.

Curves of red and azure blue mingle with diagonal lines of green and blue, weaving together into a wondrous seaweed-shaped pattern.

There are circles, triangles, a pentagram, and other less familiar shapes, all surrounding a complex figure resembling an elephant and an octopus.

The tunnel was very quiet. Apart from the noisy neighing of horses and the laughter of drunken wanderers outside, nothing could be heard.

The tunnel was filled with a faint salty smell of sea water, as if something was rotting.

Shinsukeemon Carson caught a glimpse of some markings on the inner wall of a shallow niche in the wall, and he slowly walked in that direction.

"Is this a text from the Kamakura period?"

Shinsukeemon didn't recognize those characters, but he was sure that they were painted on the wall a long time ago. They might not be Kamakura characters because Shinsukeemon couldn't understand them.

The fire starter suddenly went out, and Shinsukeemon was plunged into darkness.

At that moment, a strange idea came into Shinsukeemon's mind.

He imagined that he was at the bottom of a mine, and a column of water was pouring down from above and drowning him. The feeling was so strong that he even thought he heard the dull thunder and the roar of a great waterfall.

Shinsukeemon felt an inexplicable fear and immediately walked towards the tunnel entrance. The sweat on his forehead only subsided slightly when he walked out of the room.

Half an hour later, he went upstairs and made a cup of tea. Thinking about what he had seen and heard in the tunnel just now, he was still in shock.

~~~

Two days later, the local samurai Omura Tadashi came to visit.

It was said to be a visit, but in fact it was just extortion of money.

Although Omura Masa was a tall and thin man, with intense gray eyes and thick blue-gray eyebrows, he looked a little rebellious.

He was born as a foot soldier and belonged to the Choshu domain. Because he participated in the Kyushu War to expel the Tatars fifteen years ago, he successfully got a position as an assistant to the deputation official in Kyoto after the war. He was mainly responsible for collecting taxes and criminal investigations in the jurisdiction.

"Muramasa-sama's presence brings honor to our humble home."

Shinsukeemon forced a smile.

Omura rubbed his fingers and said, "You live in a witch's house from four hundred years ago. Don't you feel scared?"

Only then did Shinsukeemon realize that the other party wanted to collect his housewarming money.

"Muramasa-sama, please come in and talk. I discovered a tunnel behind the entrance yesterday. There seem to be some boxes hidden inside. I wonder if they belonged to the previous owner..."

(End of this chapter)