My personal opinion on Gensokyo

"what?!"

Hearing this, the middle-aged village chief was suddenly shocked and angry, and asked in disbelief.

"Why is this happening?! What on earth happened?!"

"The current situation is simply incomprehensible!"

The villagers, who had prepared for battle, looked increasingly anxious.

"Just now, almost all the monsters in the nearby mountains launched a fearless attack on our village! Several of our people have been seriously injured!"

"To think, there is such a thing..."

The middle-aged village chief felt dizzy and couldn't believe it.

The monsters in the nearby mountains, though numerous, were at best beasts driven only by greed and instinct. It was hard to believe that they would all attack the monster-hunting village that had existed there for centuries...

Thinking of this, the middle-aged village chief really couldn't feel at ease.

Could the Four Souls Jade fragments be so horrifying a temptation to the nearby monsters?

Volume 6: Thoughts Across Time and Space: Chapter 449: Trust

"I'm sorry, Miko-sama, Onmyoji-sama, the situation is critical. I need to go and resist the monsters' attack immediately."

The situation was urgent. The middle-aged village chief, who was extremely worried about the current situation of the village, did not hesitate and sincerely asked Kikyo and Shangyang beside him.

"Could you please lend a hand to our village..."

Faced with the middle-aged village chief's request, Shang Yang agreed calmly.

"That's fine. Exterminating monsters is also our responsibility."

On the sturdy wooden wall that protects the Yokai Extermination Village.

Countless greedy and ferocious monsters of various shapes emerged one after another from the nearby mountains and forests, hissing and crawling towards the village built against the mountainside.

A large number of monsters climbed up the rocks like a black tide, continuously crashing into and attacking the solid wooden walls built by the Monster Extermination Village to protect itself.

On the solid wooden walls, this village has made a living by exterminating monsters for generations, and the monster exorcists are still mortals. Even though some villagers are already worried and uneasy about the attacks of many monsters, they are under the command of several battle-hardened monster extermination teams in this monster extermination village. They rely on fortifications and try to use swords, guns, bows and arrows made of monster skeletons to resist the climbing monsters, and have repelled the monsters' chaotic and disorderly attacks several times.

The shining light streaked across the sky.

The evil-destroying arrows pierced through the bodies of dozens of monsters, and the evil-destroying power attached to the arrows burst out violently!

boom! ! !

In an instant, hundreds of greedy and ferocious monsters nearby were purified and destroyed by the holy and pure evil-destroying spiritual power.

"Oh!!!"

Seeing such a spectacular scene, the villagers who relied on the solid wooden walls of the fortifications to resist the monsters also shouted proudly and majestically in high spirits, fighting harder to resist the monsters' black tide-like attack.

"There are too many monsters... Perhaps all the monsters in the surrounding area have flocked to the Monster Extermination Village, which has made a living from monster extermination in this generation."

Ignoring the admiring and respectful gazes of the villagers from the nearby Monster Extermination Village, the cold and noble shrine maiden lowered her raised ancient bow, frowned slightly, and looked at the gray-haired young man who was visiting her with a slightly inquiring look.

"...Can you buy me some time? I need to set up a protective barrier to fend off these numerous monsters."

However, Shang Yang slowly shook his head at the response method proposed by Kikyo.

"No, there's no need to set up a barrier now. It's not enough to just defend this village from the monsters' attacks."

"This is because you and I touched the fragments of the Four Souls Jade, which were contaminated by evil spirits. The fate of history has reacted in advance, and these nearby monsters have come to attack this village. Simply resisting their attacks is not enough."

"If you and I defend this village from this attack by the monsters, the backlash from the change of cause and effect, the collapse of the trajectory of fate, will instantly erase all traces of these people in the world."

Hearing this, the witch hesitated for a moment and asked softly.

"...So, what are your plans?"

In response to the witch's soft question, the young man with gray hair, the master of the Cloud Courtyard, smiled gently.

"Kikyo, I know that since I gave you my memory, you've probably compared a lot of details. By now, you should have some reservations about that memory and have some trust in it, right?"

"So, now, do you think you can choose to trust me for once?"

trust……

The witch hesitated, and her cold face became a little complicated.

The remaining illusions of the past still hindered her.

Hesitation, confusion, and... resistance.

The estrangement still remains deep in the witch's heart.

It was a mixture of fear, shrinking and escape.

That is a solid defense to protect your heart from betrayal and hurt again.

Trusting him again was a difficult step for her to take.

but……

The clear eyes of the witch met the eyes of the young man with gray hair, which were pure and without a trace of impurities. The cold and noble witch opened her cherry lips slightly and spoke in a soft voice.

"……it is good."

Platycodon's gentle voice fell into Shang Yang's ears, and the smile on his face became even warmer.

"……Do not worry."

...Crack.

The owner of the Cloud Courtyard raised his hand and shook it casually.

Built on the outskirts of the village, relying on the slope of the mountain, it has protected this village for hundreds of years, where generations have made a living by exterminating monsters. It has withstood countless attacks by monsters, and the tall and sturdy wooden walls were instantly covered with cracks and fissures.

Countless trees were cut down, and the solid wooden wall built by connecting countless tree trunks together slowly collapsed.

Click, click, click...

A slow collapse began. The fortifications built by the villagers around the village for many years gradually collapsed...

The people who had been deployed on the wooden walls to resist the monsters' attacks retreated in panic...

Inside the village, people who witnessed all this screamed in fear, evacuated and fled in panic...

Greedy and vicious monsters poured in like a tide from outside the collapsed and cracked fortifications...

Within the range of sight, people who have lost their support and protection and fallen into chaos are about to face the suffering of being wantonly slaughtered by these greedy and vicious monsters who hate them to the core.

The kindhearted witch, stunned and pale, subconsciously grasped the Zigong, intending to do her best to protect all the elderly, weak, women and children in the village, but the young man beside her firmly grasped her snow-white hand...

The witch, unable to break free for a moment, watched helplessly as the greedy, vicious, and evil monsters pounced ferociously on the frightened old people, children, and women...

...No screams.

As the witch's clear, stunned eyes watched, the monsters' sharp limbs and mouthparts attacked the terrified mortals, and then...

...went straight through.

It seemed as if the frightened people who had lived in this village for generations were nothing more than illusions created by the interaction of atmosphere and light.

Mirage.

It was thought that the massacre that was about to happen did not happen.

The "illusions" of the villagers seemed to have come to their senses, and they also stared blankly at the terrible monsters that rushed into the village, attacked and bit them.

Even though, they were not actually attacked by the monsters.

They are greedy and vicious, and resent this monster-hunting village that has hunted monsters and made a living by exterminating monsters for generations. They hate these terrible monsters to the bones of mortals, but they seem unaware, as if they don't realize that what they are biting are illusions that don't exist. They are still excitedly and fanatically tearing apart those people who are impossible for them to reach.

It seemed as if the mortals in this monster-extermination village had already become the flesh and food for them to chew on.

Even though, no one was hurt by them.

Volume 6: Thoughts Across Time and Space: Chapter 450: The World and the Otherworld

"Is this... the place of the other world?"

Witnessing this incomprehensible scene before her, Kikyo turned her cold face to the side and asked softly, seeming a little unsure.

In the witch's spiritual perception, the land where she and Shang Yang are currently located has been filled with the breath of the other world since she knows when.

"Indeed, the land where this village is located has become 'the other world'."

Hearing Kikyo's somewhat uncertain soft question, Shang Yang nodded slightly, confirming her question, and also asked casually while turning his head.

"Since you returned to the human world, since you're inhabiting a clay body and your remaining soul isn't a living being, I'm sure you've been able to vaguely sense the location of the 'other world,' right?"

"……Um."

Hearing Shang Yang's question, the witch also nodded slightly.

"Only a remnant of my soul remains. After inhabiting the clay, I can sense 'that world'... and, to a lesser extent, draw upon the power of that world."

"……Uh?"

Hearing the witch's soft statement, the master of the Cloud Courtyard, the chief monster commander of the human world, twitched his mouth and didn't know what to say.

I thought recognizing the aura of the "other world" and opening the path to the underworld and hell was your limit... Now you can even use the power of the other world?

Your talent is too high...

In the original work, Kikyo possesses the power to open the gates of the underworld. This power does not seem to be the power she possessed "before her death", but rather the power of the underworld that she mastered after returning to the world with her residual soul.

Even though Kikyo, who lives in clay and can only move with the dead souls filling it, is not a ghost contaminated by the breath of the other world, she is already dead, not alive. She will always be attracted by the "other world" and needs to use part of her spiritual power to resist the pull of the "other world" on her own residual soul.

Since one can sense the state of the "other world" at this moment, it is natural for Kikyo, with her talent, to learn how to open the way to the other world.

Shang Yang originally thought that this was Platycodon's current limit.

However, at this moment, the witch clearly told him that she had reached a higher level and was familiar with using the power of "the other world"...

Shang Yang didn't know what to say about Platycodon's extraordinary talent.

Blurring the boundaries between the human world and the other world, and using the power of other realms, this is also a very high level of realm for the immortal species who are non-human beings.

She didn't know these things when she was "alive"...

Shang Yang, who lived with her for several years fifty years ago, was very sure of this.

However, this does not seem surprising. In the historical trajectory of the original work, Kikyo, who was inhabiting a clay body, had an example of temporarily invading the body of a living person with her own soul. With her enviable extraordinary talent, it is not surprising that she learned to use the power of her own soul and borrow the power of the other world.

It seems that after the witch sheds the clay body that houses the residual soul and transforms into an immortal non-human creature and returns to the human world, she will quickly master the power of non-human beings.

With some concerns, "Will I be beaten by Kikyo with her own strength in a few hundred years?" Shang Yang explained in detail to Kikyo.

"It's not enough to just defend this monster-repelling village from monster attacks. In the 'script,' all the people in this village will die from monster attacks, sooner or later."

"Here, there's room for modification."

The owner of the Cloud Courtyard spoke in a calm tone.

This is a terrifying force that distorts the essence of the human world and the other world, turning the human world into the other world.

The yin-yang technique that transcends the "principles of this world" - the yin-yang "the other world is here".

This is something that can only be achieved by the power of yin and yang that distorts the balance of all things in the world.

This is something only Shang Yang can do.

Under the power of the Yin-Yang Chess (Six), whose essence far surpasses the objective rules of human affairs, the land where the monster extermination village is located is instantly transformed into "the other world".

The accumulated corpse energy of "the other world" assimilated all the living mortals on this land within a few breaths.

The living in the human world, under the erosion and assimilation of the accumulated corpse qi, turned into residents of the "other world", the dead in hell.

This is also the reason why the monsters that invaded the village later could no longer harm the villagers.

Because the people who lived in the monster extermination area are already dead.

The existence of this world cannot harm the existence of the other world.

This is a rule that is difficult to violate for those who are born into this world.

The same is true for the monsters in the human world.

Only those terrifying beings that are not governed by the "laws of this world" can ignore these objective rules that govern everything.

"As long as the mortals of this monster extermination village transform themselves from the living into the dead according to the definition of 'the principles of this world' and become residents of the other world, then the original cause and effect of this world will also dissipate."