Why is my anime art style so weird?

On a tranquil, deserted island far from the mainland, listening to the rhythmic sound of the waves, enjoying the sea breeze on your face, with a campfire burning nearby, you can surf the internet freely on your phone...

It's an absolutely unique and extraordinary experience!

It was almost eleven o'clock when Xu Ming put away his phone.

As was customary, Haruyuki Arita was assigned to keep watch that night, and he immediately went to sleep.

"Xu Ming! Xu Ming, wake up! Something's wrong!"

Xu Ming was sleeping soundly until midnight when he suddenly felt someone shaking his shoulder vigorously.

Xu Ming opened his eyes abruptly and quickly sat up.

"What's going on, Haruyuki!?"

The little piglet knelt beside him and pointed to the well not far away, whispering:

"Look over there!"

Xu Ming quickly looked in the direction the pig's hoof was pointing.

It was late at night, and the moon hung high in the sky.

Under the pale moonlight, the black humanoid mark branded on the well suddenly emitted a large amount of black 'mist'.

Then a black humanoid shadow slowly rose from the mark.

It wasn't just the marks around the well that changed.

One by one, human figures emerged from every corner of Xuexia Village, like walking corpses, dragging their heavy, slow steps, and slowly gathered together.

"Xu, Xu Ming! What's going on!?"

The piglet's voice trembled, as if its tongue was tied in knots.

Xu Ming suddenly patted its shoulder.

"Calm down, Chunxue!"

Haruyuki Arita was a little better, but her body was still trembling slightly. She carefully hid at Xu Ming's feet and peeked over there.

Xu Ming ignored the terrified Haruyuki Arita.

He carefully observed the movements of these humanoid shadows.

Before long, the eerie shadows in the village quickly gathered together, forming a group of nearly a hundred people.

jingle!

A bell rang out from somewhere in the darkness, its clear and melodious sound reaching deep into the soul.

Immediately afterwards, a strange group emerged from the darkness.

Leading the group were three figures dressed in hunting robes, wearing tall crowns, and with their faces covered by white veils, resembling priests.

In the middle, a priest holds a bronze staff in both hands, and the bell is made by the striking of the bronze ring at the head of the staff.

The priests on either side each carried a paper lantern, from which emanated an eerie, ghostly blue light, making it difficult to discern the true nature of the light.

Eight disheveled, unkempt laborers, dressed in tattered clothes, carried a box about one meter square, following behind the three priests.

The box was covered with strange patterns painted with gold powder and other pigments, and the opening was sealed with a paper talisman. The talisman was covered with mysterious, blood-red characters, which looked as if they were written with blood as paint.

After this strange procession appeared, all the humanoid shadowy figures in the village spontaneously gathered behind it, forming an even larger procession.

This strange procession marched in a grand procession into the depths of the mountains and forests.

Erina and Asagami Fujino were also woken up by the noise.

Erina casually pinched a few fireballs, looking at Xu Ming with a hint of excitement in her eyes, as if she was ready to bombard this strange team with fireballs as soon as he gave the order.

Xu Ming did not order an attack, but instead activated his spiritual vision to observe carefully.

This team felt very strange to him.

Sure enough, under the spiritual vision, everything was clearly visible.

Whether they were human-shaped shadows, laborers carrying boxes, or priests, the negative energy emanating from them was not much, far from reaching the level of 'eerie'.

Xu Ming suddenly had a sudden realization.

This strange group is probably a remnant image left in the village of Yukihira.

Chapter 383 Crimson Flame Shrine, Clues (Bonus Chapter)

Perhaps because the disaster happened so suddenly, most of the villagers did not have time to react before they were burned to death by the flames of the abyss.

Their souls may not even be aware that their bodies have died.

It is likely that for nearly a century, at certain times, Xuexia Village has witnessed a scene reminiscent of the eve of a disaster.

Day after day, year after year.

It lasted so long it was chilling.

A ghostly blue light led the group gradually into the Lost Forest.

Soon after, Xu Ming vaguely saw the blue flames slowly ascending Yanluo Mountain, heading deeper into the mountains until they disappeared.

"Xu Ming, what should we do next?"

Seeing that the ghostly figures had disappeared, Haruyuki Arita's speech returned to its fluent form.

Xu Ming spread his hands with a smile on his face.

"What to do? Just deal with it!"

"Huh?"

The little piglet stretched out its hoof and scratched its head, looking completely bewildered.

"These guys are just remnants of the past. As long as you don't stupidly run into them, they're not much of a threat."

Xu Ming explained patiently.

"But……"

Haruyuki Arita looked into the distance, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopped himself.

It has to be said that putting on such a show late at night is indeed a bit creepy.

"Go back to sleep. There are more important things to do tomorrow, so you can't afford to be out of shape."

At Xu Ming's urging, everyone abandoned the idea of ​​digging deeper.

But before lying down to sleep again.

Xu Ming gazed thoughtfully at the massive, majestic mountain peak in the distance.

Even under the cover of night, the incredibly mysterious Yanluo Mountain still faintly emits an ominous red glow...

The next day, Xu Ming was already up as soon as the sun rose.

After finishing the breakfast prepared by Erina, Xu Ming put the shikigami into the Hyakki Yagyō Chō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons) and then set off alone towards Yanluo Mountain.

Under sunlight, the shikigami, like the 'weirdies', will have their fighting power greatly reduced.

At this point, it would actually be more convenient for him to act alone.

On the way to Yanluo Mountain, there is a large, dense forest called the 'Forest of Lost Souls'.

The name sounds very intimidating.

However, after entering the forest, Xu Ming found nothing particularly unique about it except that the trees were exceptionally dense and the forest was exceptionally quiet.

Moreover, the Yukinoshita clan frequently travels up and down the mountain from here, and they have long since marked the area in the forest.

Every ten meters or so, a copper rod is stuck into the ground.

A continuous stretch of copper rods forms a forest path, leading passersby towards Yanluo Mountain.

It only took Xu Ming about half an hour to walk out of the Lost Forest and arrive at the foot of Flamefall Mountain.

A narrow plank road paved with stone slabs appeared in front of Xu Ming.

This should be the boardwalk leading to the mountain shrine.

After hundreds of years of wind and rain, the edges of the stone slabs have been worn smooth, many have broken into pieces, and some have been washed away.

At this moment, the sun is high overhead, which is the 'strange' time when it is most lethargic, making it the perfect time to go up the mountain.

Xu Ming immediately started walking up the mountain.

Having weathered the elements, the stone slabs have become pitted and uneven, and many are covered with moss, making them very slippery.

At this moment, Xu Ming dared not be careless and carefully walked along the stone slabs towards Yanluo Mountain.

Two hours later, Xu Ming finally reached the halfway point of the mountain, panting heavily.

The terrain here suddenly becomes flat.

An ancient shrine stands quietly at the foot of the cliff.

This shrine was not much different in appearance from all the shrines Xu Ming had ever seen.

Compared to the thriving Suwa Taisha Shrine, the Akahama Shrine exudes an air of decline, like an old man nearing his end, or the setting sun.

The decorations on the top of the shrine are dilapidated, with some tiles missing or broken.

The red paint on the pillars has faded, and one of the pillars is broken into two pieces.

The bronze bell hanging under the eaves was covered with green patina, and the surface of the shimenawa rope was covered with burrs, with some gaps appearing as if it might break at any moment.

It's a miracle that the Akane Shrine, which has survived a century without maintenance and weathering countless storms, hasn't collapsed.

Xu Ming stood still, trying to calm his breathing, then pulled out a crowbar from his backpack, took out his phone, and then carefully walked towards the shrine.

The shrine was quiet, except for the jarring noise of Xu Ming's feet on the wooden floor.

Inside the shrine.

An unfamiliar statue of a goddess was enshrined on a pedestal deep within the temple.

What puzzled Xu Ming was that the statue had no head.

It's unclear whether it was deliberately sabotaged or if this deity was originally like this.

While headless gods are rare in China, in Japan, a country that boasts eight million gods, all sorts of strange and wonderful deities exist, so what's a mere headless god?