The Strange Tales of Tokyo Monk

Hiramiya Chiye was not in a hurry about this. She and Horii Suzune strolled around the country roads, ridges, and river paths.

The relaxed posture is like going out for an outing on vacation.

"I quite like this kind of environment. It's much better than the depressing and cramped atmosphere in the city." Horii Suzune said with emotion.

“There’s still a lot of natural scenery around my temple.”

"I'm looking forward to visiting Hiramiya-san's home."

Horii Yuji, who was following behind the two, had an increasingly gloomy expression on his face, even though Chiya Hiramiya seemed to have saved him that night.

But there is only one daughter.

The more he looked at them, the more he felt that the two of them were gradually developing into a couple.

"Does the branded soul mentioned before really exist?"

Horii Yuji forcefully inserted himself between the two of them and brought up a topic that had been discussed before.

"Of course it does."

Pinggong Qianye moved a distance to the right to avoid being too crowded. "Have you heard of the story of the shadow remaining on the wall?"

Horii Suzune exclaimed, "I've heard this story before. It says there is a magical wall that can leave the shadows of passers-by inside the wall."

"Every night, when the moonlight illuminates the wall, the shadows left on the wall seem to come alive."

"They live a normal life in the world inside the walls like normal people."

Hiramiya Chiye smiled and nodded, acknowledging Horii Suzune's erudition.

In his opinion, the situation faced by Yuji Horii is similar to this.

The difference is that inside the wall where his shadow is left, there are only him and one other person.

Well, maybe not a human.

Influenced by this, Horii Yuji often feels that he should have a brother or sister who always stays by his side.

That is the influence from the broken soul.

Of course, leaving only a shadow on the wall is just a rough metaphor.

There are so many things that can hold the soul, such as a piece of paper, a painting, a mirror, or even a pool of water.

……

At night, the moon has not yet climbed out of the mountains.

There were not many pedestrians on the country roads, and it was very deserted and quiet.

Following the instructions of others, Hiramiya Chiye and the other two came to Mr. Suzuki's house.

He was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, with slightly gray hair on his temples, a thin body, but his eyes were still bright.

Yuji Horii specially brought two bottles of Japanese sake as a gift for their first meeting.

Using the school's folk culture activities as an excuse, they asked Suzuki Hideta about any supernatural events that had occurred or occurred in the village.

Suzuki Hideta did not resist. He opened a bottle of sake, took two wine cups, and brought a portion of fried peanuts and fried small yellow croaker from the kitchen as side dishes.

He first drank some wine with Horii Yuji, and chatted for a while about the people and events in the village's past, before gradually opening up.

He is indeed very talkative and his storytelling is rhythmic.

Let’s start with the ancient legends of this village, such as the mysterious disappearance of the bronze bull, the sudden fire at home, waking up to find yourself in the wild, unknown objects floating in the river, and encountering kappa while swimming in the river...

The night wind blew, gently fanning the doors and windows that were not yet closed, and even the lamp flowers were blown to sway slightly.

Although Horii Suzune was also attracted by the story, the cold and lonely atmosphere of the countryside coupled with the wonderful ghost story still made her a little timid.

She leaned towards where Pinggong Qianye was, their shoulders touching each other, and she smelled the faint incense coming from Pinggong Qianye, and her mood instantly calmed down a lot.

This is a kind of natural incense that is difficult to describe. It should be the smell that only people who live in temples all year round can have.

Maybe it's smoked?

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Horii Suzune's lips.

Horii Yuji, who was drinking and lost in memories of the past, did not notice this little action.

When Suzuki Hideta's story mentioned a lantern covered with blue paper, Hiramiya Chiya spoke and temporarily interrupted his narration.

"Mr. Suzuki, have you ever told ghost stories around lanterns covered with blue paper?"

The strange stories of Hyakumonogatari.

Horii Suzune beside her immediately thought of this legend.

Suzuki Hideta paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "This story has been passed down since the Showa era, and it has a history of more than 80 years.

I didn’t see it myself, but people at that time must have tried it and something happened, so there is such a legend passed down.”

"Of course, all of this may have been made up by adults to deceive children," Suzuki Hideta added.

Pinggong Qianye smiled and said, "Mr. Suzuki, do you think this story is true or false?"

"I'm just an ordinary person who likes to tell stories." Suzuki Hideta took a sip of wine, with some complicated emotions on his face, "But I think this story should be true."

At this time, Horii Yuji, who was sitting nearby, frowned and looked thoughtful.

"When I was a child, I seemed to have seen a lantern covered with green paper like this in my grandfather's study."

He had seen it before.

It was just forgotten in the corner of his memory.

Chapter 5 Have you ever seen a palm technique falling from the sky?

The bright moon finally slowly rose from the top of the mountain, casting patches of silver light.

The cold moonlight shines on the scattered houses, paths and rice fields in the countryside, adding a unique sense of tranquility.

Hiramiya Chiya and the other two have left Suzuki Hideta's house and are heading towards the abandoned house, Mr. Matsumoto's home.

According to Yuji Horii's recollection, he had seen the lantern covered with blue paper when he was a child, but he did not remember having any contact with the lantern.

The only thing they remembered was that old man Matsumoto liked the lantern very much, and he came to ask for it before they moved away.

So when they moved, they left the lantern and some unused items to Mr. Matsumoto.

Memories of the past always surface one after another.

After recalling the lantern, Horii Yuji gradually remembered that Mr. Matsumoto also came to ask for the lantern when his grandfather passed away.

At that time, his father did not give the lantern to Mr. Matsumoto on the grounds that it was a relic of a deceased person.

"Is there really a monster like Qingxuande?"

On the way, Horii Suzune couldn't help but ask.

"I haven't seen it myself either." Pinggong Qianye smiled and said, "But legends that can be passed down for a long time always have some intersection with reality."

He exorcised evil spirits in Tokyo, but he never encountered any real monsters.

I thought that all the monsters in this world had died out, leaving only some not-so-powerful evil spirits in the city.

The so-called Night Parade of One Hundred Demons is just a distant legend.

It turns out that I am still too young and the world I see is too small.

I don’t know how much merit and power I can gain by subduing a real monster.

The abandoned houses under the moonlight and the weeds seen during the day look like ghost hands reaching out from the ground.

The green vines look like black tentacles growing from the heart.

Yuji Horii is a policeman and is not afraid of such a scene. He walks in front with a flashlight, pushes open the half-open door of the abandoned house, and enters the overgrown yard.

There are two connected three-story houses here, each with a half-open door.

"Lingyin, come with me to search this side. I'll leave the other side to you."

Not wanting to give the two a chance to be alone together, Horii Yuji quickly allocated the direction of action.

Pinggong Chiye had no objection to this.

He still walked around the outside of the house before going in.

The entrance hall, living room, stairs, corridors... the wooden house that has been abandoned for many years makes creaking sounds due to footsteps.

Pinggong Qianye walked in the corridor on the second floor, listening to the occasional but subtle sounds coming from upstairs.

He knew that he could pray for the souls of the dead again tonight.

After a normal person dies, he does not enter the six realms of reincarnation, but leaves behind his existence in this world.

Normal people cannot see ordinary undead ghosts and will not be harmed by them. They even subconsciously avoid the approach of normal people to avoid being dispersed by the yang energy.

The risk value is 0.

Only those souls whose resentment and viciousness have become extreme will turn into evil spirits and vicious spirits that harm people.

Their danger levels generally fluctuate between 1 and 5.

There was no way, the strongest evil spirit he had encountered so far had a danger level of only 5.

"Ah, ah, samaha..."

Pinggong Qianye clasped his hands together and chanted the "Six Paths Vajra Mantra".

The magnificent and sacred chanting penetrates the barriers of floors and rooms, leading the souls still remaining in the world to salvation and reincarnation.

The most common mantra for saving the dead in literary works is the "Nirvana Mantra", which is a mantra commonly used by believers of the Pure Land Sect.

Pinggong Qianye himself prefers the "Six Paths Vajra Mantra", which only requires one to put one's palms together and chant the six-syllable mantra, which is relatively easy and simple.

While chanting the mantra, he opened the door and looked for an object that looked like a green lantern.

According to what happened to Horii Yuji, his lost soul should still remain in that lantern.

As the power of salvation generated by chanting the "Six Paths Vajra Mantra" many times became stronger, Pinggong Qianye's eyes lit up.

What an unexpected bonus!

He sensed that there was an evil spirit with a danger level of about 3 in the second house on the left on the third floor.

After sweeping all the rooms on the second floor, Pinggong Chiye went up the stairs.

Click.

There was a sudden sound from the wooden staircase that it could not bear the weight and was about to break.

Pinggong Qianye bent down and squatted, then jumped up from where he was, holding on to the railing on the third floor with both hands.

The stairs began to collapse under the force of his squat.

Whoosh, a gust of cold wind carrying the foul smell of blood rushed out from a room and came in front of Pinggong Qianye.

Looking up, I saw an old man with black air coming out of his body.

The old man's thin shoulders carried three heads, one was a woman's head as old as him, and the other was younger, with a face somewhat similar to his.

Probably the old man’s wife and son.

The old man's stomach was cut open, revealing a dark, empty cavity with large and small intestines hanging down and dragging on the ground.

"Amitabha."

Pinggong chanted the Buddha's name for thousands of nights.

Perhaps sensing the uneasy and resentful aura from Pinggong Qianye, the old man pounced towards Pinggong Qianye who was still hanging on the railing.

The other two heads flew off the shoulders, each leaving a trail of black smoke, as if they had transformed into two long black whips, which moved along the ground and coiled towards Pinggong Qianye.

"Have you ever seen a palm technique that falls from the sky?"

Pinggong Chiye bent his arms, pressed down with his ten fingers, and then jumped high into the air.

He changed the direction of his body on the ceiling, facing the old man below and the two heads outside. He placed his left palm in front of his chest in a single-palm salute, and slightly opened the five fingers of his right palm and pressed down.

An indescribable surging force turned into a golden palm and pressed down!

hum!