Inner Destroyer

　"The villagers then regarded him as a deity, built a thatched hut to worship him, and burned incense to offer him sacrifices."

　"It is also said that Duchenzi taught a technique to people, saying: If you practice this technique, your blood and flesh will circulate endlessly and will be inexhaustible."

　"The villagers believed and followed the instructions, and they were able to continue to eat and drink meat, and they were no longer hungry."

　"We cannot sit idly by and watch such evil practices unfold. I will secretly investigate the matter and report it to you in detail later."

　"I suppose this spy never again 'reported' in detail?"

　Hearing this, Qi Xing couldn't help but hold his forehead and complain,

　"You know the locals are using strange and evil methods, and a grassroots investigator is missing, yet you, the Kyoto Onmyoji, are still not doing anything?"

　However, this time, before Gojo Yadao could explain, Elaine whispered, "Qi Xing, they were fighting at that time."

　Oh? Oh, indeed.

　From 1181 to 1182, Japan suffered a severe drought, compounded by civil war between the Minamoto and Taira clans. The Minamoto clan revolted, and the Taira clan dispatched troops to suppress the rebellion. The continued collection of military rations to suppress the rebellion led to widespread starvation and death. This famine is known in history as the Yowa Famine.

　This is not only a natural disaster, but also a man-made disaster.

　Although the Kyoto Onmyoji had received reports of strange phenomena occurring in the region, they were also caught up in the central government's civil war for power. How could they care about the cannibalism in the countryside? Moreover, the missing spy was not an internal employee of the Onmyoji, but a temporary one.

　To put it bluntly, even people in the city are starving and eating each other, so who cares about the various ways people in the small villages in the countryside eat each other!

　This civil war continued until 1185, when the Minamoto clan defeated the Heike clan and established the Kamakura shogunate, becoming the de facto political center of Japan. The Onmyoji were busy participating in the establishment of the new regime and had no time to care about the trivial matters in the Northeast.

　For hundreds of years afterwards, due to the frequent political turmoil in Japan, the Onmyoji Bureau was always busy and actually forgot about this little matter.

　The wonderful little village is hidden in the cracks of the times and continues to exist unknown to the public.

　The next time the Onmyoji noticed it was during the Edo period, hundreds of years later.

　During the Edo period, Japan was relatively peaceful and society began to regain some order. All folk magicians in Japan had to obtain a license from the Onmyoji Ryo in order to legally work.

　Because of this, the Onmyoji noticed that the "Sugizawa Village" on the outskirts of Hakkoda Mountain in the countryside of Mutsu Province was still alive and existed.

　Hundreds of years have passed, and it seems that cannibalism has never happened in that village.

　But there were other rumors in the village.

　I heard that there are only women in that village.

　In 1626, the Onmyoji Bureau's informants in the northeastern region sent a new report: "I recently heard that at the foot of Hakkoda Mountain in Mutsu Province, there is a village called Sugizawa. Surrounded by mountains and forests, it offers a tranquil and beautiful scenery. Wild vegetables and sweet potatoes abound year-round, the springs are sweet, the soil is fertile, the land is fertile, and the people are not suffering."

　"What's even more unusual is that there are only women in the village, no men at all. And they are all as beautiful as flowers, with skin as white as cream, beautiful figures, and neat clothes."

　"Whenever a man entered the village, before he had even had time to stay, he would be greeted by the village girls, chatting and laughing, entertaining him, serving him delicious food, offering him cups of wine, and caring for him attentively. It was like a dream in paradise. A man might be so captivated by the fragrance, the wind, and the beauty that he would still miss them after returning home, suspecting he had been bewitched by the illusion."

　“I also heard that the village leader is a white-haired, childlike witch, whose age is unknown.

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　"He was like a child with an extraordinary bearing, his eyes like gold, shining like the morning light. All the girls in the village revered him as a deity, treating him with respect like a mother and obeying him like a teacher. They bowed their heads and obeyed him, and none dared to disobey his orders."

　"It's quite unusual for a village of women to be able to support themselves. Perhaps there's some kind of sorcery going on. I'm going to go there in person and investigate the situation to see if there's any truth to it."

　"I suppose the spy hasn't come back either?"

　Qi Xing rubbed his forehead, his tone carrying a hint of weariness that came with being used to it. He had seen too many such awful things in this world in the past ten years.

　But this time,

　"Not at all, quite the opposite."

　Gojo Masamichi shook his head, with an inexplicable strangeness in his eyes.

　"The fortune teller later came back to report that he had been warmly entertained in Shanze Village. He enjoyed both the food and the evening entertainment, and every night he took turns having sex with the beautiful women of the village."

　"He said that this village might have been short of men for a long time, and the women were unable to work in the fields, so they had to rely on this method to make a living."

　"Though this kind of behavior in the Northeastern countryside is vulgar, it's difficult to control, and it doesn't involve any evil magic... The Yin-Yang Bureau just leaves it alone."

　Don't forget that in this absurd and lustful world, such things are still relatively "normal" after all.

　"For centuries, Sugizawa Village has gradually become a renowned destination for prostitutes, often whispered about by the people of Mutsu, and known exclusively as a place for seeking out beautiful women. Many men frequently visit for this very purpose, bringing with them various essential resources to the village."

　What are the essential resources for a village like this, nestled deep in the mountains? It's, of course, new culture, the knowledge developed over hundreds of years, information from the outside world, money... and, of course, blood.

　After all, a village consisting of only women cannot truly exist on its own. However, they have quietly continued to exist for hundreds of years in this way.

　For hundreds of years, the witch with white hair, childlike face and golden eyes has always been the person in charge of the village.

　A witch with white hair, a childlike face, and golden eyes? Haha.

　It turns out that person has been alive since at least the Edo period, and very likely since the Heian period, for nearly a thousand years. No wonder Amaterasu's power is even greater than Father Amos's.

　"Is that village still there?"

　Qi Xing asked with a sneer.

　Gojo Masamichi immediately shook his head: "As the saying goes, everything that prospers must decline. No matter how prosperous something is, it will eventually perish."

　"After the Meiji Restoration, with the implementation of new policies, local private prostitution was gradually suppressed, and the prosperity of Sugizawa Village gradually declined. Ultimately, it could not withstand the changes of the times. The attention of the locals in Mutsu began to turn to the outside world."

　"What's more serious is that since then, the spiritual veins in the Hakkoda Mountains have begun to become abnormal for some unknown reason. Filth has accumulated year by year, and the earth's energy has begun to become disordered."

　"The Onmyoji Bureau was originally planning to send someone to intervene, but before they could act, the accident happened."

　He paused, his eyes becoming more serious.

　In May 1938, a sixteen-year-old boy named Kyoya Suda, who was staying in Sugizawa Village, suddenly went berserk. Overnight, armed with a hunting rifle and a samurai sword, he massacred the entire village.

　"When the Onmyoji investigators arrived and entered the village disguised as wandering monks, they saw the young man, covered in blood, standing among the corpses, holding the severed head of the white-haired miko."

　"He only said one sentence."

　Gojo Yadao lowered his voice,

　“Run away.”

　"--Then,"

　He turned his head and looked out the window, with an indescribable vigilance in his eyes.

　"The entire village began to twist right before that investigator."

　"The thick fog rose silently, and in a moment, it swallowed the entire Shanze Village into a sea of ​​white fog."

　"The light in the fog is distorted, as if the land has been ripped from reality. The terrain is blurred, the smells are disordered, and the village houses, forest roads, streams... all structures become like reflections in a mirror."

　"Since then, the specific location of 'Sugizawa Village' has completely disappeared from the map."

　"The Onmyoji Bureau has used various methods, including divination, positioning, and spiritual vein tracking, including modern satellite imaging, but all have come to nothing."

　"On the contrary, ordinary people occasionally stray into the village while climbing the mountains or passing through the surrounding roads. Some people are able to return, but many others disappear."

　After saying that, Gojo Yadao took out an article from a folk forum and showed it to Qi Xing.

　-

　55.匿名：投稿日：2017/10/12（木），ID:ajim41aji

　This is all true. This is the experience of a senior I met at my part-time job.

　He likes climbing mountains very much.

　That day, the senior went to climb H Mountain.

　Mount H is very famous in our area. However, most hikers don't go there very often. My senior is a bit of a weirdo; he thinks that kind of place is the most romantic.

　At first, he climbed smoothly, but suddenly he was trapped in thick fog with visibility less than a few meters.

　56.匿名：投稿日：2017/10/12（木），ID:ajim41aji

　This situation is dangerous.

　The senior thought so too, but there was nothing he could do.

　Then something even stranger happened.

　He suddenly heard a woman's voice, which sounded a bit bitter.

　Not long after, a strong wind blew and the fog dispersed in an instant.

　The senior was about to take the opportunity to return along the same route, but at this moment he saw that after the wind blew... a village appeared in front of him.

　That Village

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　The house was in tatters everywhere, but there were hundreds of young girls in the village.

　They were all white-haired women, wearing white clothes that looked like both funeral clothes and wedding gowns, with smiling faces that looked exactly like them, and they told him to come quickly.

　57.匿名：投稿日：2017/10/12（木），ID:ajim41aji

　Their expressions were as if they were asking what there was to be afraid of.

　Their eyes...how should I put it, they were all golden, as if they were glowing.

　The senior screamed in fear.

　If you are lured by them, you will definitely not be able to return home alive.

　He was certain of this, so he immediately ran and ran...

　I don’t know how long I ran, but I finally fainted from exhaustion.

　After waking up, he found himself back on the familiar mountain road.

　58.匿名：投稿日：2017/10/12（木），ID:ajim41aji

　--saved.

　He had just thought of this when he suddenly heard a voice from behind.

　"Come again."

　-

　If you only look at this post, it feels like an urban legend that can be found everywhere.

　The problem is - in this world, these things are basically real.

　"It is not of this world—nor is it entirely of the eternal world."

　Gojo Yamichi said in a deep voice,

　"We suspect it has become a secluded 'hidden world', the so-called 'inner world'."

　"Even within the demon-exorcism industry, this is recognized as the highest level and most dangerous anomaly."

　The "inner world", a small world that is logically separated from the real world system, is definitely not something that can be provoked by just a few "first-class" exorcists.

　"From 1938 until now, we've never found the location of this 'Inner Realm'. This time, your Onmyoji Bureau was able to discover it from the direction of the earth veins. Have you found it?"

　Qi Xing frowned.

　Gojo Masamichi nodded: "That's right."

　After saying that, he marked the location of the "inner world" that the Onmyoji Bureau had found after tracing the earth veins on the map and showed it to Qi Xing.

　Even Qi Xing rarely handled "Inner Realm" cases, as they were extremely rare within his field. He'd heard of entire buildings and schools becoming "Inner Realms," and he'd also dealt with Professor Vanstra's cruise ship and the Romani ruins. Most of these cases involved confined spaces like this.

　This time, however, it was the entire village, and quite possibly at least half of the surrounding mountain. Such a vast area had been reduced to its "inner realm," a scale rarely heard of.

　Cruise ships, ruins—if pressed, the government could use missiles to blow them up. But what would you use to blow up the inner world of a mountain? Modern weapons simply can't penetrate such a vast space-time fault. Even if they did, it wouldn't be enough to destabilize it.

　No wonder the Onmyoji immediately came to "Lei Pu Zhenren" after discovering the location, pouring out all the information like a bamboo tube pouring beans. Because they were simply unable to handle such an incident on their own.

　Gojo previously said, "If you don't look back at the past, you can't understand today's enemies."

　The "Inner Realm" is the Heart Realm. To enter, outsiders must either understand its intentions or comprehend its principles. Qi Xing now knows its history and location, so he can at least enter and explore.

　But this person who calls himself Ise, who calls himself "Amaterasu," whose real name and identity remain unknown until now, now dares to reveal his location, most likely playing a trick.

　"alright."

　Qi Xing grinned and stood up.

　"Then I'll go and try my luck in this dangerous place."

　"But to prevent her from luring the tiger away from the mountain, Elaine, you, the Wolf Lord, and Miss Jinhu, all go to the Onmyoji branch in Aomori first. At least the defenses there are better, and don't forget to use the communication rune to stay in touch."