The Pirated Onmyoji of the Detective World

Looking deeper into the stone lantern, Aragaki Yu's pupils suddenly contracted.

On the stone wall beneath the lampstand, countless eye-like seals are carved, each eye staring in the same direction.

"Brother, there's a very ominous spiritual energy reaction ahead!" Hotaru's voice seeped from beside Aragaki Yu, trembling unusually.

By the time Aragaki Yu noticed the source of all this unease, a chill suddenly ran up his spine to the back of his neck—

Yamata no Orochi!

There, a statue of the eight-headed serpent sat cross-legged on a high platform at the end of the cave, each of its eight heads holding a different ritual implement.

The Kusanagi sword had a rusty tassel hanging down, black blood seeped from the cracks in the Yasakani no Magatama, and the surface of the Yata no Kagami was covered with spiderweb-like curse patterns.

Most horrifyingly, each snake's body was wrapped around a skeleton, with ribs twisting into the cracks in the rocks like vines, and ghostly purple flames flickering in the empty eye sockets of the skulls.

Sorry, another leave request.

I've been on the car the whole time and I'm feeling carsick, so I need to take a day off.

Chapter 725 Yamata no Orochi (3)

"How come there's a stone statue of Yamata no Orochi here!?"

Looking at the scene before him, Aragaki Yu was startled.

The atmosphere inside the stone cave hall was eerie and heavy.

A cold wind blew by, and Aragaki Yu felt his temples throbbing, and his vision seemed to suddenly ripple with fine waves.

The next second, the stone statue of Yamata no Orochi twisted and deformed in the swaying vision, and the rightmost snake head actually grinned, revealing a hoarse and mocking chuckle between its stone fangs. The airflow brought by the snake's tongue flicking in and out swirled sand and dust onto his face.

Faced with the sudden change, Aragaki Yu subconsciously staggered a step. The malice emanating from the Yamata no Orochi statue seemed to freeze his entire body and mind.

Before he could react, the skeletons wrapped around the snakes suddenly blinked the will-o'-the-wisps in their eye sockets.

The tassel of the Kusanagi Sword moved without wind, its rust transforming into a swarm of black insects that fell and coalesced on the ground into a distorted humanoid silhouette, shaking its head at him. The black blood seeping from the cracks in the Yasakani no Magatama was no longer liquid, but had transformed into countless tiny eyes, each pupil reflecting his terrified expression, its eyelashes still trembling eerily. Most terrifying of all was the Yata Mirror—the incantations on its surface moved like living creatures to its edges, and in the blank space that appeared, the cold-blooded eyes of the Yamata no Orochi gradually materialized. The corners of its mouth, pieced together from snake scales, curled into a mocking arc, and a sinister purple light flowed from the depths of its eye sockets.

What terrified Aragaki Yu even more was that inside the once silent cave...

Heavy, thumping vibrations began to appear.

He looked toward the source of the sound and seemed to see a heartbeat coming from the belly of the stone statue.

The stone statue is deep and profound.

Yuu Aragaki stared intently at the stone statue of Yamata no Orochi, and subconsciously took a step towards it.

"Owner!"

"elder brother!"

It wasn't until Aragaki Yu suddenly heard an anxious cry in his ear that he snapped to attention and realized what had happened to him.

The next second, amidst a surge of intense unease, Aragaki Yu suddenly bit his tongue, the taste of rust mixed with the smell of blood exploding outwards.

With his eyes finally clearing, Aragaki Yu realized that he had unknowingly walked up to the Yamata no Orochi statue.

But when the gaze refocused, the statue remained standing in the same spot, as if everything before had been an illusion.

Only the water droplets dripping from the cave ceiling hit his face, and the water ripples that spread out resembled the smile that the Yamata no Orochi had just suppressed.

"Master, are you alright!" Yaodao-hime and Hotaru, who were protecting Aragaki Yu, asked anxiously.

They didn't know what was going on, but just now, Aragaki Yu seemed to be possessed, walking blankly step by step toward the Yamata no Orochi statue, and no matter how they called out to stop him, it was of no use.

Fortunately, at the last moment, Aragaki Yuu finally regained his senses.

If it weren't for this, Hotaru would have already picked up Dandelion, ready to knock Aragaki Yuu out and take him away from this eerie place.

"I, I'm fine..."

Although he didn't know what Hotaru was planning, Aragaki Yuu, feeling a strong sense of unease, instinctively broke out in a cold sweat and took a few steps back, warily looking at the stone statue in front of him.

"This Yamata no Orochi statue... something's very strange... I don't know why it's here."

The Demon Sword Princess's blade sliced ​​through the damp air, the sharp glint of the blade reflecting her furrowed brows.

She slowly stepped forward, holding her sword horizontally in front of Aragaki Yu, the runes wrapped around the hilt of the sword flashing faintly.

"Hundreds of years ago, when the Genji defeated Orochi, all the ritual objects should have been sealed and sunk into the Sanzu River along with the great serpent, and all the evil serpent statues should have been destroyed."

The demon sword trembled slightly, and facing the stone statue of the eight-headed serpent, it emitted a low hum like a buzzing in the silence.

From the legends of Onmyoji left by his parents, Aragaki Yu naturally understood what the Yamata no Orochi statue before him meant.

The Yamata no Orochi represents a giant monster in Japanese mythology that symbolizes disaster. Its eight heads and eight tails are often associated with calamities such as floods and plagues. The stone statue itself may be a container for sealing evil power, or a medium used by some evil people to summon or resurrect monsters.

The combination of various magical artifacts such as the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi and the Yasakani no Magatama on this stone statue, along with the skeleton and incantations, also suggests that the stone statue in front of us was used for evil rituals and became a vessel for dark power.

"Could someone be performing a ritual to an evil god?!"

Aragaki Yu was startled, suddenly realizing that both the stone statue in front of him and the hallucination that had just appeared before him had made this incident extremely unscientific.

"Destroy it!"

Yaodao-hime's expression was solemn.

Just as Aragaki Yu said, although he didn't know who had set up such an evil stone statue here, or what their purpose was.

However, the person who would set up such a ritual is definitely not a good person.

"Sever the connection between the stone statue and the ritual implements!"

After receiving permission from Aragaki Yu, Yaodao Hime glanced at Hotaru beside her and took the lead in dragging her sword towards the Ame no Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi in the mouth of the stone statue.

Firefly Grass, without hesitation, waved her dandelions and threw them at the Eight-Foot Magatama.

However, destroying the ritual implements used as offerings in this ceremony should have some effect.

However, before Yaodao-hime and Yingcao could even touch the offering.

The eight-headed serpent statue inside the cave seemed to have seen through their intentions.

"careful!"

The next second, under Aragaki Yu's wide-eyed gaze, a strange black light instantly appeared on the stone statue of Yamata no Orochi.

"boom--"

Two dull thuds followed.

The attacks from Yaodao-hime and Yingcao not only failed to destroy the magical artifacts on the stone statue, but they were instead violently thrown away.

At the same time, sensing something was wrong, Aragaki Yu quickly took a few steps back, maintaining a safe distance from the inexplicably changed stone statue in front of him.

As for Yaodao-hime and Hotaru, who had barely managed to stabilize themselves in mid-air, they did not rush forward again, but instead cautiously protected Aragaki Yu.

Suddenly, the Yamata no Orochi statue emitted a black glow. Amidst an eerie heartbeat, the statue's blood-red eyes snapped open, and a giant serpent phantom suddenly appeared above it. Its scales gleamed with a faint purple light, and its eight heads hissed simultaneously. The bones coiled around the statue trembled violently, ghostly flames surged several feet, stalactites on the cave ceiling crumbled, and magical artifacts such as the Kusanagi Sword resonated. The air was filled with a stench of decay and rust.

"A malevolent projection!"

Upon seeing this scene, Yaodaoji's expression changed drastically, and even the demon sword in her hand began to tremble uneasily.

Even the usually bold Yingcao's breathing became heavy. She gripped the dandelion tightly in her hand, trying hard to control her weak legs.

Chapter 726 Fierce Battle Against the Illusory Serpent

Although it was just a projection of an evil spirit, the stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling shattered into dust under the intense pressure of the Yamata no Orochi's aura.

The next moment, facing the unexpected visitor who wanted to break his ritual, the phantom of Yamata no Orochi angrily opened its blood-red maw, and wherever the putrid black saliva dripped, the rocks instantly turned into boiling pus.

"Evil spirit, get out of my way!"

With a light touch of her toes, Yaodaoji leaped into the air, her blade slicing through the air and blooming with crimson flowers. Crimson light flowed across the blade as she cleaved the oncoming phantom snake's tongue in two.

However, the next second, countless human-shaped black mists seeped out from the broken edge, emitting childlike shrill laughter.

The humanoid black mist swirled eerily in mid-air, suddenly transforming into thousands of bats. The stench of rotting flesh surged between their wings, and like a black wave, accompanied by shrieks, it fiercely pounced on the Demon Blade Princess, engulfing the unsuspecting princess in darkness.

"Go away!"

"Those are... the obsessions of the sacrifices!"

Upon seeing this, Yingcao's expression turned solemn. With a flick of her finger, the dandelion in her hand began to gather the light of life, which then enveloped the Yaodaoji who was engulfed by the black mist.

The moment the black mist touched the green light, it emitted a piercing shriek, writhing wildly like a swarm of insects being scorched by fire. Cold sweat beaded on Yingcao's forehead. She could feel hundreds of dying obsessions entwined within the black mist—the remnant souls of sacrifices devoured by the Yamata no Orochi, now twisted by evil power into soul-devouring monsters.

Taking this opportunity, Yaodaoji broke free from the black mist. Although she appeared to be unharmed, her tattered clothes revealed a hint of dishevelment.

In just that one glance, Aragaki Yu and the other shikigami, including Yaodao Hime, already knew that the giant serpent phantom before them was a troublesome existence.

At the same time, the illusory image of the Eight-Headed Serpent, enraged by the dissipation of the black mist, suddenly let out a deafening roar, and its eight heads simultaneously swallowed the sacrificial artifacts in their mouths.

In the blink of an eye, the rust on the Kusanagi Sword transformed into a rain of poisonous needles, the black blood from the Yasakani no Magatama condensed into soul-eating worms, and the cursed runes on the Yata no Kagami split into countless mirror images.

"I am the moon of eternal night, shining brightly in the night. My body is forged from the moon's radiance, how can I allow evil spirits to defile me!"

Princess Kaguya, who flew out of the Yin-Yang Realm, stood still like the moon. She slowly unfurled her five-stringed lute from her sleeve. As she gently plucked the strings, ukiyo-e prints of the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter appeared on the cave walls, engulfing all the attacks that came toward them.

"Well done, Princess Kaguya!"

Under Aragaki Yu's praise, Princess Kaguya blushed and shyly retreated into her bamboo joint, completely unrecognizable from her previous aloof and independent demeanor.