The mastermind behind this started by creating a strange story

Looking at Ueharano's expectant eyes, Miyaji didn't know how to start the conversation. When he was about to make up his mind to refuse, a ring suddenly rang.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to mute my phone."

Ueharano apologized and took out his cell phone from his pocket. When he was about to hang up, his eyes suddenly became stern. Instead of hanging up, he swiped to answer the call.

"Captain, there's another death here, and the way he died is like turning into dry bones, and the evil ghost has appeared again!"

"… As expected, I knew the evil ghost would not remain silent. I will come back and deal with it as soon as possible!"

After a moment, the call ended.

Ueharano hung up the call without saying anything, but stared at Gong Si.

Now, the priest didn't know how to refuse, as this was simply placing all hope on their shrine.

Although there is nothing wrong with this idea, after all, evil spirits have been the targets of elimination by priests and Onmyoji since ancient times. In today's declining situation of Onmyoji, it seems that the only option is to be a priest.

"Well...I'll find a way."

"It's getting late, please take a rest for the night. We will give you a satisfactory answer tomorrow morning."

The priest had to delay it temporarily. It seemed that he would have to stay up late again tonight. This was not something he could decide alone. He had to discuss it with all the priests before he could come to a conclusion.

"Then we won't disturb you. Our companions are still waiting at the edge of the forest. We won't rest in the shrine. Please forgive us!" Uehara stood up, bowed and explained.

"It doesn't matter!"

After seeing Uehara and the others completely leave, the chief priest then instructed everyone present: "Close the shrine again tonight. Alas, it really gave us a big problem."

Chapter 201 Suspicion

At midnight, the lights are on.

Sitting at the upper seat in the hall, the chief priest, as the leader of the shrine, naturally had the most say, but at this moment he frowned and remained silent for a long time.

The priest Terajima Yusuke saw that the atmosphere was a bit dull, so he broke the silence and said, "Since the police have come to ask for help, why don't we go and help?"

"How can we help? You know that although we have miracles here, we don't have divine magic." Another priest retorted.

"But..." Terajima Yusuke said thoughtfully, "The great god Asama has appeared. If we don't help, won't we be exposed?"

"If we directly tell the outside world that we don't have any magical powers, do you think they will believe us? It is because no one knows what we actually have that we can be safe."

"Otherwise, let alone the spies sent by other countries, even our own country would eat us up until not even a bone is left."

"If we don't even help with such a trivial matter as exorcising ghosts, and they see that we are just for show, the consequences will be much more serious than failing to exorcise ghosts!"

"..."

After these words were spoken, all the priests were speechless. They understood what Terajima Yusuke meant.

After all, they are all adults, so how can they not understand the rules for adults?

In the whole world, only in this place have miracles been performed and gods have appeared. Not to mention the leaders of other countries or religious forces, even the leaders of their own country have been extremely wary of them!

If they do not show that they are also chosen by God, if they completely show that they are just a group of mortals without any power to protect themselves, then the world will not treat them kindly.

When the outside world finds out that they are really just a facade, the first to take action against them will be the government. After all, since ancient times, the relationship between religion and the rulers in power has been very delicate.

Even if a real god appears in the world.

If religion is beneficial to the ruling power, then the ruler will naturally not do anything that will harm himself. After all, for the ruling class, religion is just a tool of rule.

But if religion threatens the status of the rulers, no matter how powerful it is, it will eventually disappear in the river of history.

Take the history of Europe from the Middle Ages to modern times. The continuous improvement of secular power and the corruption of religion itself have ultimately led to religion becoming a tool of secular power.

If there were no apparent deities or miracles at their Sengen Taisha Shrine, they would still maintain a friendly and cooperative relationship with the government, and would not interfere with each other's business.

Just like there is a saying in Europe, what belongs to God belongs to God, and what belongs to Caesar belongs to Caesar, which means that there should be a boundary between religion and the secular world, religion is religion, and the secular world is the secular world.

But... when the gods appear, the government will naturally doubt whether the divine right of kings will be implemented on their land. Even if the priests of Sengen Taisha Shrine do not have this idea, and even when the government came to draw up the agreement, they directly made a big concession, but suspicion will still inevitably arise.

So now, although the Sengen Taisha Shrine looks peaceful on the surface and there is even time to prepare for festivals, in fact, it has been closely watched by people in private, and no one has even taken their eyes off it.

Ever since Konohana Sakuyahime appeared, the following few days seemed to be completely peaceful, and it seemed that neither the domestic nor the foreign countries paid much attention to this place.

But how is this possible? A country cannot be like a piece of iron. No matter how powerful a country is, it always has many problems within it.

What's more, there are countless unstable factors, such as ambitious people, speculators, the attention of other countries, and unknown dark forces that will not remain silent.

All eyes are on the Sengen Taisha Shrine. On the surface, it seems that no department has taken any measures against the sacred tree. Only tourists come to the sacred tree to play.

But are those tourists really here to go and spend time and effort? Moreover, after three or four days, the number of foreign tourists has already exceeded that of domestic tourists.

Maybe some people really come here for fun, but in fact most of them have unspoken purposes.

Didn't Asama Daisha understand? No, in fact, a small number of high-ranking priests already knew about it, and as the overall leader, the chief priest could naturally see that this undercurrent was surging.

It’s not like they haven’t secretly communicated with the miraculous cherry tree, but the god, Hanasakuyahime, seemed to have no intention of communicating at all, and they couldn’t contact the god…

Therefore, the chief priest was in such a hurry to start the festival. Perhaps the original purpose was indeed to select a new chief priest, but as time went by, the old man had already tasted a different meaning in the air.

The world is watching this place, and they need to use the ceremony to prove that they have the power to protect themselves. As long as they can communicate with the gods at the ceremony, they can at least intimidate some of the people who are ready to make moves for a period of time.

It might be a bit of an exaggeration to say that the whole world is watching, but at least most countries are watching this place. Once they reveal a flaw before the ceremony, what awaits them is the despair that even the miracle may not be able to be preserved.

As for why they put all their hopes on festivals, it is because they have no choice. Ordinary prayers to the gods will ignore them, so the only option is to hold the festivals that have been used since ancient times to communicate with the gods!

But at this moment, an accident suddenly happened, and it happened so unexpectedly!

The damn ghost appeared. It didn’t appear earlier or later, but it appeared now.

Maybe Shang Yuanye was instructed by someone to test them. If they escape this time, there will definitely be more excessive tests next time, until they completely break through the covering paper and fully reveal their ambitions!

"This time, there is no way to avoid it."

After a long silence, the palace steward sitting at the top seat finally spoke softly.

They have no way to avoid it. The eyes of the government, other countries, and the secret eyes are all watching their current actions, and their attitude towards this matter shows their current capabilities.

"Perhaps we really do have the ability to exorcise ghosts?"

The priest then thought of other methods. Since gods are real, it is possible that items such as amulets, coins, and holy water that have been blessed by gods have the ability to exorcise evil spirits.

"Huh, this matter is absolutely a decisive point. It determines whether our shrine can continue to exist safely!"

"Everyone, you all understand the importance of this matter, right?" The priest looked at the people in front of him. These people were clergy who sincerely served the gods and were Shinto believers who could be trusted.

"Under such uncertain circumstances, who among you is willing to take on this matter?"

Although Furude Reimu, who was also present, was still inexperienced, she also understood the importance of this matter. However... she had no idea whether her blue energy could exorcise ghosts and demons.

At least in these few days of experiments, her cyan energy could only have simple effects such as promoting the growth of trees and eliminating human fatigue.

But... Furude Reimu looked around and realized that she was the only one with special abilities. She had originally wanted to show them during the festival, but now it seemed that she could no longer hide her abilities.

If she had the power but was selfish and didn't solve the crisis at the shrine, then she wasn't worthy of using this power.

Even though the source of this power is unknown, and although the bookstore owner who gave her the power said that it was bestowed by Konohana Sakuyahime, she is not a child, so how could she easily believe someone else's one-sided words?

However, no matter what this power is, it is enough that she can use it as if it were her own arm!

"I would like to go."

After some thought, Furude Reimu was about to raise her hand to answer, but a priest wearing purple clerical clothing beside her answered first, with determination and firmness on his face.

"Sakurai, are you willing?" The priest looked at Masato Sakurai who suddenly spoke. Sakurai, who was wearing purple clothes, was a powerful official and had a high status in the shrine. "This is a matter of life and death!"

"Phew, after thinking about it carefully, I am the most suitable person. You are the chief priest, you have to manage the entire shrine, and nothing can go wrong. The other priests either lack experience or have too high a position, so it is not suitable for them to leave the shrine suddenly!"

"I'm stuck in this position, which is just right for me to do this!"

"Besides." At this point, Masato Sakurai looked up at the wall in front of him. He seemed to be able to see the miraculous cherry blossom trees swaying in the wind outside through the wall. "I believe that the gods will not ignore our prayers."

"Really..." Miyaji looked at Sakurai Masato who had made up his mind, "Then it's up to you..."

"Wait, I'm going too!" At this moment, Furude Reimu interrupted. If she didn't speak, she would probably be ignored!

She thought so much before making up her mind, how could she just not go?

"Gu Shou, you are..."

When the priest saw the little witch suddenly interrupt him, he was about to scold her, but the green light that followed made his eyes gradually widen and he couldn't make a sound.

The green light seemed to have a spell that could freeze people in place. Everyone who saw this scene was dumbfounded and shocked!

At the same time, lush green grass suddenly grew out of the cracks in the floor tiles beneath everyone, and they grew more and more fresh under the green light.

"Please let me go. I'll come back and explain when it's over!"

Furude Reimu looked at the stunned crowd and spoke in a firm tone that did not allow for rebuttal.

Chapter 202 Coming Out

The next day, early in the morning.

At the gate of Sengen Taisha Shrine, Ueharano and others were waiting here early.

The exorcism team headed by Masato Sakurai has also assembled. The team members include the leading priest Sakurai, the Furute shrine maiden, and three clergymen who follow him.

In the middle of the night, after Reimu Furude self-destructed her ability and amid everyone's disbelief, Reimu Furude briefly explained the purpose of her ability.

By the way, we also let those who stayed up late to try it out themselves. When the cool energy entered the body, it swept away the fatigue of staying up late, and at the same time, green grass grew in the cracks of the floor.

Everyone was surprised and believed the reality of this scene.

The first thing that the priest thought of was whether this energy could destroy evil spirits. On this question, Furude Reimu lied a little and said that it could.

After hearing this, Gong Ji finally put down the burden in his heart. If he couldn't destroy the evil ghost, he would never let Furushe Reimu come out to destroy the ghost!

But since it can eliminate the evil spirits, it is a good opportunity to let those who are spying know that their shrine has the inheritance of the gods, and it is best not to set eyes on Sengen Taisha!

Of course, after Reimu Furude displayed her blue energy, she immediately stated that after resolving the incident, she carefully explained where this divine power came from.

In response, Miyagi waved his hand to show that he didn't care, and even said that if Furude Reimu didn't want to say it, she didn't have to, after all, it was her own secret.

After putting down the sudden heavy burden, Gong Si finally felt relaxed. After warning everyone at the scene, he asked everyone to go back and rest.

"Can we go now please?"

Uehara, who was standing nearby, suddenly interrupted Reimu Furude's trance and asked her.

Reimu Furude was startled and turned around to see that the people who went to prepare the exorcism items had returned and everyone was ready.

He nodded to Masato Sakurai who was standing beside him, indicating that they could set off.

"Let's go, Officer Uehara."

Masato Sakurai waved his hand, indicating that his side was ready.

Seeing this, Ueharano led this group of priests, who did not conceal their figures at all, towards the outside world without any hesitation.

At the same time, many hidden eyes were cast in this direction. The policeman who only had the idea of ​​getting rid of the evil spirit did not know that he had been marked with other symbols in the hearts of many people.

At the moment the police car started, a small number of tourists who came here to witness the miracles of Sengen Taisha Shrine suddenly left here openly.

However, due to the dense crowds, not many people noticed this scene.

It’s better to say that this scene is too common, so common that no one cares about it. After all, there are so many people coming and going in the past few days, and most of them just come to take a look and then turn around and leave.

Of course, whether they really left or hid themselves, only they themselves knew.

………………

It doesn't take too much time to drive from the shrine in Fujinomiya City to the police station in Shizuoka City. If the road conditions are good, it will take less than an hour.

"Here we are!"

The road conditions were better this time, so it didn't take too much time for Ueharano and his team to return to the Shizuoka City Police Station, which was temporarily serving as the case handling point.

The police who had been waiting outside the police station rushed forward to meet the shrine staff who came to help.

This group of policemen did not have any extra thoughts at all. They really just acted with the idea of ​​asking the priests to come and exorcise the spirits and ghosts.

"Captain Uehara, we have already investigated the information of the person who died yesterday."

Ueharano, who had just entered the police station with a team of priests, had not even had time to sit on the bench when his subordinates who stayed behind to investigate handed him the information.

This information was exactly about the new death that was discovered yesterday evening. With the police station working day and night again, they managed to investigate the information overnight.

"Okay, I understand." Uehara took the information, pulled an office chair over, sat down and started reading.

"The deceased's name is Fujii Koji..."