In order to become a Heroic Spirit, I had no choice but to cause trouble in history.

“That monster isn’t actually dead. When it gets dark tomorrow, everything will be back to normal.” The girl’s eyes dimmed. “Back to how it was when resentment truly engulfed Kurokawa Shimomura, this village that was already sinful.”

"As for that woman."

“Actually, that was me,” the girl said calmly.

The two had arrived at the foot of the mountain.

"That's...you?" Zuo Cun frowned.

"Yes, or rather, that was me driven by resentment, me who had become a monster."

"......Yeah."

Two faces appeared in Zuocun's mind, which he carefully compared.

Indeed, aside from age and hair and eye color, the black-haired woman bore many similarities to the white-haired girl.

"But she can't see me, and neither can the things she drives."

“She uses these villagers to hunt down people who pass through here. I want to stop this atrocity, but I can’t directly intervene in their affairs, so I’ve never been able to save people trapped in the illusion… until you arrived.”

“Utilize these villagers… that is to say.”

“Yes.” The girl nodded. “She used her own power to kill all the villagers—”

"Completely clean".

"Then, he kept the souls of the villagers by his side and commanded them."

The two arrived at the mountainside.

"What was her reason for doing these things?" Zuocun asked, rushing forward through the snow. "You just said that she killed the villagers out of resentment."

"And where does this resentment come from?"

"You and she are the same person, so what caused you to become two separate beings?"

"Furthermore, if you want to stop her violence, what are your reasons for stopping her as her other half?"

With Zuo Cun's question in mind, the two arrived at the mountaintop.

Lake Kurokawa also came into view.

"What's your name?" the girl asked.

"...Zomura Anno." Zuocun looked at the lake and felt...his heart and lungs stop.

"Let me tell you a story, Zuo Cun Anuo." The girl turned around and looked at Zuo Cun, who was covered in cold sweat.

"...Go ahead and tell me."

The surface of Lake Kurokawa is densely covered with them.

The place was filled with bloated corpses.

Zuocun finally understood why the lake was called Lake Kurokawa.

Apart from the Kurokawa family sitting nearby.

This is it, black floating corpses, covering the entire lake surface.

"In June of 1802, the Kurokawa family decided to establish a village at the foot of this unnamed mountain."

“And then,” the girl said, looking at Zuocun and emphasizing each word.

"Hideo Kurokawa, the village chief, captured a sixteen-year-old girl from another village."

"It was made into a human pillar and sunk into the lake."

------------

Chapter 308 The Story of a Girl Named Yukina

"Human pillar..." Zuo Cun felt as if a heavy hammer had struck his head.

He naturally knew what a human sacrifice was.

The limbs of young children or unmarried girls were cut off, sealed in mud, and then buried in the ground or sunk in the water, in order to ensure the long-term peace of the newly built village or building.

It is a custom that Zuocun strongly dislikes.

He understood what the girl in white meant.

Perhaps she and the black-haired woman were the girl who was used as a human sacrifice.

"The girl had no relatives and was raised by a bear on Mount Kurokawa. In order to capture the girl, Hideo Kurokawa and the villagers of Kurokawa killed the bear and forced the girl to become a human sacrifice."

"This is... an undeserved disaster."

"After we die, all our grievances, resentment, and sorrow—all these emotions—are concentrated in the soul of the girl who lingered in the lake, unwilling to leave."

The girl in white ignored Zuo Cun's reaction and continued telling her story as if she weren't the one in the story.

"The place where Kurokawa Mountain is located is a spiritual vein. The magic nurtured the vengeful spirit born from the girl's undeserved death, making the vengeful spirit... incredibly powerful, giving it a physical form, and turning it into a monster."

"At this point, the girl was completely unrecognizable from her former self. Her snow-white hair had turned jet black, and her gentle eyes were now filled with resentment and rage."

"The powerful demon girl left the lake and discovered that the bear who raised her had also been resurrected and turned into a demon because of his resentment."

"They want...revenge."

Zuo Cun suddenly felt a chill.

Because he saw a huge black object appear on the ridge.

The giant black shadow, its eyes flashing red, stood out conspicuously against the dark night sky.

The black figure was nearly ten meters tall, with all four limbs on the ground, exuding a sense of oppression.

"Roar......"

Zuo Cun's hand climbed onto the hilt of his sword, staring at the dark figure.

This is... a bear demon.

"Don't worry, she won't attack you," the white-haired girl reassured Zuo Cun.

The bear demon did not come in this direction; it merely watched from a distance.

"She is like my mother, and the reason she became a monster is only to continue protecting her daughter. If it weren't for my black body, she wouldn't have attacked you during the day."

"So it was her who ambushed me." Zuo Cun sighed.

The white-clad girl continued her narration: "I, in black, came to the village, wrapped all the sleeping villagers in my hair, and then returned to Lake Kurokawa, back to the lake water."

“And those villagers… that’s them.” The girl in white pointed to Lake Kurokawa below.

Samura remembered meeting Hideo Kurokawa in the village before.

"So, the reason that monster was swollen and had fish-like characteristics was because it drowned...?"

The girl in white nodded.

“They were guilty people, and their drowning was their just deserts.”

Her gaze was icy as she looked at the drowned corpse on Lake Kurokawa.

Zuocun did not respond.

His mind is in a mess right now.

"However, the pleasure of revenge did not make the girl a Buddha, but instead... distorted her will."

"She began to yearn for the lives of others, and so she sent the souls of the guilty villagers back to the village."

“During the day, she stays in the lake, and the souls of the villagers also hide and recuperate. But at night, all passersby who go through Kurokawa Shimo Village will be lured by the villagers and taken to Kurokawa Lake, where they will drown.”

“Day after day, over a period of more than fifty years, the girl killed a total of 210 villagers and... 359 innocent pedestrians.”

"And I was born when she killed the first innocent person."

"Perhaps it was a remnant of goodness that led me to be separated from her. My purpose, of course, was to find a way to stop her atrocities."

thump.

Zuocun sat on the ground, lost in thought.

"So that's how it is...?"

“However, she is invincible because she is blessed by the spiritual veins.” The girl in white sighed and squatted down next to Zuo Cun. “You have given me hope to stop the violence, Mr. Zuo Cun.”

"So, I will tell you her only weakness."

“…You tell me.” Zuo Cun covered his head.

He didn't understand why this was happening.

Who is at fault?

Is she a teenage girl?

Is he a passerby?

Why do such unwarranted calamities occur? And what were the villagers' feelings when they captured the girl, simply because they wanted to pray for peace?

Zuocun had no idea the answer to all of this.

But there was one thing he understood.

At this point, the girl may no longer be the victim.

Instead, they became perpetrators who turned their blades on the innocent, and thus became guilty beings.

Such an existence... should not exist.

But weren't the villagers the ones who turned the girl into this?

If you just want to kill the girl who has become a monster, does that mean you will also become a mob no different from those villagers?

Snapped.

Zuo Cun felt a tap on the shoulder.

Slowly raising his head, he saw the girl's flawless eyes.

"Are you... pitying me?" The girl smiled slightly.