The Pirated Onmyoji of the Detective World

"Conan, are you okay?"

The group ran towards where Conan was, only to find him standing by the hot spring. Following the beam of his flashlight, they discovered a cave not far away.

However, because the hot springs flooded the road, there was no way to walk directly into the cave.

"I'm asking you, do you know?" Conan suddenly spoke up as the Junior Detective League members walked up behind him.

"Ok?"

Do you know where the Kusanagi Sword came from?

The children shook their heads.

Although they often saw the name of this artifact in games or stories, they never knew its origin.

“You’ve probably heard that story before,” Conan said slowly, observing his surroundings. “It’s the story of Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the younger brother of Amaterasu, who gave a monster a drink to save Kidomichi-hime and defeated it. The thing that came out of that tail was the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, also known as the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.”

"The monster you're talking about, is it the kind that's often seen in old stories...?" Mitsuhiko racked his brains and finally vaguely remembered where he had heard of this monster before.

"That's right, it's the one with eyes as red as a ghost lantern, a belly full of blood, and a body that, though only one, has eight heads and eight tails, from the legend..."

"Yama no Orochi!"

Ai Haibara, who caught up later, followed Conan's words and revealed the monster's name in one sentence.

"Look at where the waterfalls converge, doesn't it look a lot like this?"

Following Conan's suggestion, everyone looked in that direction and, sure enough, from that spot, the eight streams of bright red water converged, resembling a triumphant Yamata no Orochi.

"I see, the waterfall is the head of the serpent, and the tributaries are its tail, right!"

"So, the sword is in one of the tributaries?"

"That's right, the sword in the story came out of the tail right in the middle."

As the children analyzed the situation, the expression on the old woman that Kaito Kuroba was disguised as gradually turned ugly.

He knew that nothing good would come of meeting this brat!

Thinking of this, he subconsciously looked at Aragaki Yu.

But he found that Aragaki Yu, who had been standing on the other side, had not followed them. When he turned around, he found that Aragaki Yu was not standing in the same place either.

In that brief moment, that guy somehow disappeared somewhere.

hateful!

These kids were clearly brought by him, so why can't he keep a proper eye on them?

"Do you intend to dive to the other side of the hot spring?" Sudo Izumo asked, looking around with some concern.

The hot spring water was very deep, and the mist was very thick. Near the tributary, the water was extremely turbulent. No one could predict what kind of dangers they would encounter if they dived into the hot spring.

"Don't go over there, it's too dangerous. There's nothing there. What if it's the bottom of a valley?"

Left with no other choice, Kaito Kuroba, who did not want everyone to continue investigating the treasure further, could only helplessly try to dissuade them.

Unfortunately, at this point, how could the group, who were getting closer and closer to the treasure, give up so easily?

"Everyone's here now, so we really want to go over there and see what's going on!"

As expected, Genta, a member of the Boys' Freebies Group, was the first to want to run towards the hot spring.

He carefully hopped down a step along the edge of the hot spring.

"Oh, oh... Ouch..."

However, because the ground was too slippery, Yuan Tai lost his footing and began to stagger.

Fortunately, in his frantic attempt to catch himself, Genta managed to grab onto the stone wall beside him, preventing himself from falling into the hot spring.

However, before he could even breathe a sigh of relief...

He was holding onto the stone when suddenly he sank into the stone wall.

The next second, accompanied by a loud "boom" sound, the entire hot spring began to change.

Chapter 724 Yamata no Orochi (2)

"call--"

The sound of splashing water shattered the surface of the lake, and a figure suddenly burst out of the water, water droplets splashing down the figure's chin onto the bluestone slab.

Yuu Aragaki shook his wet hair that covered his eyes, and looked up to see fluorescent stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling. The blue light was dripping from the stalactite tip into the dark pool behind him, carving out fine silver patterns on the water's surface.

The pool water was so cold it made his body numb. He quickly crawled out of the pool, climbed up the stone ridge, and came to the shore.

I thought the flowing water from the same source should carry the residual heat of the hot spring, but in reality, the water temperature dropped from a scorching warmth to a bone-chilling ice cave just a hundred meters apart, as if there was an invisible dividing line that split the water from the same source into two worlds of yin and yang.

If it weren't for the spiritual energy protecting him, and Senhime guiding him, Aragaki Yuu really couldn't guarantee that he could safely pass through the narrow underwater cave and arrive at this hidden place.

Of course, the reason why Aragaki Yu suddenly appeared in this place is...

Naturally, this was because when he was observing the hot spring in the tunnel, after Senhime appeared and reminded him, Aragaki Yu unexpectedly discovered that several silver fish had suddenly swum across the bottom of the hot spring pool.

whitebait?

With the water temperature of this hot spring, let alone silverfish, even goldfish would probably turn into fish soup if they went in.

Thinking he was seeing things, Aragaki Yu subconsciously shone his flashlight into the depths of the pool, only to discover that there were indeed countless silver fish swimming at the bottom.

Under the beam of the flashlight, the reflections of the scales swept across the pool wall, illuminating the protruding rock on the west side of the pool bottom.

To his surprise, Aragaki Yu discovered a dark crevice beneath the rock, with water swirling around the crevice like a half-open giant eye.

There's a hidden passage at the bottom of this hot spring pool!?

Moreover, judging from Senhime's anxious urging, this secret passage must be extraordinary.

So, taking advantage of the fact that everyone's attention was drawn to Conan, Yuu Aragaki jumped into the hot spring without hesitation and, guided by Chihime, passed through the secret passage to reach the exit.

With the help of the firefly, Yuu Aragaki quickly dried his clothes and hair. Once he looked refreshed, Yuu began to observe the underground cave.

Inside the cave, countless stalactites shimmered with a lustrous sheen, and the sound of flowing water was constant. Although deep underground, the air was filled with an unusually fresh scent.

What surprised Aragaki Yu even more was that the spiritual energy in this place was extremely abundant, with a concentration far exceeding that of the outside world.

Could this be the legendary "blessed land"?

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation.

Although there was nothing unusual happening around him, just to be on the safe side, Aragaki Yuu still had Yaodao-hime run out of the Yin-Yang Domain to protect him.

Looking deeper into the cave, the stone walls are covered with spiderweb-like cracks, from which seeps a fluorescent blue liquid, like the pulsating veins of the earth. The deeper one goes, the more the spiritual energy in the slightly damp air almost condenses into white mist. Umbrella-shaped fluorescent fungi grow on the cave walls, their caps opening and closing to release pale purple spores that converge into flowing bands of light in the beams of light.

Looking at the somewhat eerie cave, Yuu Aragaki's expression couldn't help but become strange.

This isn't right...

I was clearly in the same incident as Conan, so why am I encountering such an illogical thing?

At this moment, the Snow Woman had already retreated back into the Yin-Yang Domain.

Unlike her, Yingcao looked around at her surroundings with an eager expression.

Although she still had a "whimpering" expression on her face, you could tell from the dandelion seeds she was constantly swaying up, down, left, and right that she was absolutely excited inside.

Sure enough, the next second, Yingcao volunteered to explore the depths of the cave.

Having already decided to dive into this cave, Yuu Aragaki naturally wouldn't give up on exploring this place.

Even if there are no treasures, we should at least figure out why this place is so rich in spiritual energy.

Led by Yingcao, Aragaki Yu carefully made his way forward, holding a flashlight in one hand and feeling his way along the stone wall with the other.

For a moment, apart from the gurgling sound of the flowing water, only the sound of Aragaki Yu's footsteps echoed in the cave.

"Master, be careful! The spiritual energy ahead is becoming volatile!"

After exploring about a hundred meters into the depths, the previously carefree Yaodao-hime's expression suddenly turned serious.

Of course, even without Yaodao-hime's reminder, Aragaki Yuuya had already noticed something was wrong, because Hotaru, who was just a few meters away, had just slowed down her pace.

The dandelion, which had been swaying gently, was pulled in front of the firefly and became wary.

Firefly Grass's wooden clogs made a soft, rustling sound as she cautiously turned past the rocky corner covered in fluorescent moss, only to be startled by the sight before her and stumble backward.

"This...how is this possible!"

Her cry of surprise shattered the deathly silence of the cave like the chirping of a startled bird.

In that instant, upon hearing Hotaru's exclamation, Yaodao-hime instinctively pulled Aragaki Yu behind her, pressed the hilt of her sword against her ribs, drew the blade three inches from its sheath, and leaped toward the corner.

The scene that appeared after turning the corner also caused Yaodaoji's expression to turn extremely surprised.

However, her actions also show that they were not facing any enemies.

"Owner……"

The next moment, Yaodao-hime turned around and looked at Aragaki Yu, opening her mouth with a strange expression, but she didn't know how to describe the situation before her.

Seeing that Yaodao-hime didn't seem to mind him going up, Aragaki Yu walked towards Yaodao-hime and Hotaru with a mixture of doubt and seriousness.

When he turned the corner and looked into the deeper part of the cave, he finally understood why the two women had such expressions.

Deep inside the cave, the space suddenly opens up, with rows of stone lampstands embedded in the rock walls. The oil in the lamps has long since dried up, but a faint green flame still flickers in the wicks.