The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

If he releases that monster, Mount Fuji will become a living hell. Facing a terrifying being that is absolutely impossible to kill and will grow infinitely stronger, no matter who is here, they will definitely not be able to escape.

At the same time, since the person using the [Treasure Hammer] is not him but Saint Lotus, he doesn't need to worry about losing anything for no reason. More than ten years ago, after discovering Saint Lotus on that snowy night, he has been preparing for today.

This included guiding the other party onto the path of Buddhism, planting the image of Buddha in their heart and instilling faith in themselves, as well as continuously enhancing the other party's strength... everything was within his plan.

Saint Lotus is indeed a genius among geniuses, but without his secret help, she could never have reached such a high level at such a young age.

—He manipulated the other person's life and destiny, just so that Saint Lotus would be qualified to wield this hammer today.

Just as Saint Lotus swung down the [Treasure Hammer], the sky suddenly darkened, large swaths of dark clouds gathered, a gale swept across the land, and wisps of almost tangible darkness detached from the [Treasure Hammer], forming a chaotic mass in mid-air.

"So it really is too late after all..."

Looking at the pillars of light that stretched from the sky to the earth around Mount Fuji in the distance, and the black mist that kept evolving in mid-air in front of him, Tsukiyo's expression turned rather grim.

The other side had been preparing for decades, all for this moment. It could be said that from beginning to end, all of our actions were within their plan.

Just then, a sharp, piercing sound suddenly came from the summit of Mount Fuji overhead. A crimson, eerie light burst forth from the mountain's belly, spinning and swirling in mid-air.

Before Tsukiyo could react, a violent, earth-shattering roar exploded atop Mount Fuji, making her ears ring and her nose feel warm as if blood was flowing out. She almost couldn't even stand up.

The ground above shook violently, as if the entire Mount Fuji was about to collapse.

A fierce wind howled across the land, sending rocks flying through the mountains. Amidst the deafening roar, a burst of purplish-red light exploded, swirling and transforming in the air into a gigantic and ferocious eight-headed serpent phantom that roared downwards, radiating an aura of extreme violence and madness.

The ferocious beast Yamata no Orochi, once sealed away by Shinki in Mount Fuji, has finally revealed its ferocity once more after countless years!

"The seal on Yamata no Orochi has also been broken..."

Looking up at the enormous phantom that occupied almost half the sky, Tsukiyo couldn't help but appear somewhat lost in thought.

A fierce wind howled, and the heat was scorching. Mount Fuji is one of the world's largest active volcanoes. The reason it had been calm for so many years was because the Yamata no Orochi was sealed inside. With the seal being broken, the volcano has begun to show signs of eruption.

As if vaguely sensing something, one of the heads in the enormous, sky-covering figure in the air slowly lowered its head. When it saw the twisted darkness below that was still growing and deforming, a sharp red light shot out from the Yamata no Orochi's crimson eyes.

Almost instantly, the enormous snake head suddenly opened its terrifying maw, roaring wildly, and a huge purplish-red fireball shot out from between its fangs, hurtling downwards!

The fireball shot out with a roar, a fierce wind raged, and thunder roared. Feeling the intense heat wave rushing towards her, Yueyejian subconsciously took a step back. She was already on a steep slope, and with this step, she immediately lost her balance and fell backward.

"No way, you can't even stand up straight now?"

As a speechless voice rang out, a hand promptly caught her.

Turning her head in a daze, Yueye realized that Shi Bai had gotten up and carried the unconscious Shengminglian back at some point, and had also retrieved the [Treasure Hammer] that had fallen to the ground. He was now looking at her helplessly from behind.

"boom--!!!"

Just then, the enormous purple fireball crashed down, and in an instant, the area surrounding them, a meter away from where they were, was transformed into a blazing inferno.

A faint golden light rose from a circle that someone had drawn around them at some unknown time, firmly blocking the flames from the outside.

"You should know that I am just an ordinary person now. If you have the ability, then break the seal on me."

She glared at Shi Bai, and even though her head was throbbing with pain, Yue Ye Jian still forced herself to stand up straight.

"The Yamata no Orochi is not an easy opponent. Many gods died trying to seal it. Now, this volcano is about to erupt again, and there's also that unsealed demon that's the most difficult to deal with. One more person means one more helper. You can't handle it alone. Under these circumstances, don't you plan to break my seal?"

"Actually, it's quite simple to break the seal on you. As long as you meet certain conditions that I set beforehand, the seal will automatically break. The fact that it hasn't been broken yet means that you haven't met the requirements."

Shrugging nonchalantly, Shi Bai turned his head to look outside the aperture.

"And who said I needed your help with something like this? A useless teammate like you could easily drag me down. Instead of having this little scheme in your mind, you should go and check on how Saint Lotus is doing right now."

"………you!?"

Hearing the perfunctory tone in someone's voice, Moonlit Sword was immediately angered. However, before she could say anything more, the scene outside suddenly changed again.

In the short few seconds it took them to speak, the towering flames outside suddenly vanished, replaced by a flowing darkness that seemed almost tangible.

Under the attack of that fireball, what was originally just a small mass of twisted darkness has undergone a tremendous change, expanding in size by hundreds of times, completely engulfing the mountaintop.

"...Because it is the embodiment of darkness, any attack will have no effect on that monster; instead, it will absorb the attack and make it its own power."

Taking a deep breath, she paused and put aside her worries, looked at the scenery outside, and began to speak with a serious expression.

"But that's not the scariest part. The scariest part is..."

"Boom!"

A sudden, deafening roar interrupted her voice. As if enraged, the enormous, sky-covering figure in the air raised its head and let out a deafening roar. Accompanying the movement of the Yamata no Orochi, thunder roared from within the mountain, causing the earth to crumble and boulders to fly and dance wildly.

All the lava seemed to burst and explode, flames shooting into the sky, dazzling and spectacular, like thousands of giant dragons dancing and soaring into the air simultaneously. Everywhere there were towering red waves of fire and churning, scalding lava.

Thunder rumbled from the summit of Mount Fuji, thick black smoke billowed, and streaks of orange-red flame shot into the sky. Colorful volcanic bombs shot out in all directions like a red meteor shower. The entire mountain was shaking violently, and countless rocks tumbled down like a dense rain.

Mount Fuji, which had been dormant for countless years, has finally erupted again!

"Want some? This spectacular sight is a rare treat."

As Tsukiyo was frowning in thought, a large bag of popcorn was handed to her from the side. When she turned around, she saw that someone had moved two small stools there at some point and was now happily eating popcorn with a cola in one hand and popcorn in the other.

"........."

After a moment of silence, Tsukiyo took the popcorn offered to her and sat down on another small stool.

(...Anyway, if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. If he's not worried, why should I be?)

Tsukiyomi now seems to have a self-destructive attitude.

The surging lava did not cause them much trouble, or rather, in the face of the rapidly expanding, almost tangible, flowing darkness, the lava did not even have to take that step before being completely assimilated and absorbed by the darkness.

From a distance, the blackness covering the mountain appears to be rapidly devouring everything within it, greedily and resolutely surging upwards.

After that, Yueye could no longer see what was happening, because everything around her was shrouded in an extremely thick layer of black mist. She could only vaguely hear some distant roars and howls, and nothing else.

In contrast, the person next to her seemed to be enjoying the show, occasionally cheering and clapping, which made her want to punch him.

As for Saint Lotus, he lay on the soft bedding, showing no signs of waking up. He had become like this after using the [Myriad Treasures Hammer], and it was unknown what price he had paid for it.

About an hour later, just as Tsukiyo was starting to count stones out of sheer boredom, Shibai suddenly stood up.

"Is the fighting outside over?"

When she saw the other person stand up, for some reason, Tsukiyo also quickly stood up as well.

"That's about right. I'll go and deal with the aftermath."

He casually tossed the cola in his hand to the other person, then turned his head to glance at Sheng Minglian, who was still unconscious behind him.

"I'm going out to buy some oranges. You all stay here and don't move."

"……tangerine?"

While Yueye was still in a daze, Shibai's figure had already stepped out of the barrier and into the darkness.

The battle outside wasn't actually over yet, but it was nearing its end. Although both the Yamata no Orochi and the demon were extremely malevolent beings and were unsealed at the same time, it was clear that the Yamata no Orochi's power was no match for the demon's.

In just a short while, the body of the Yamata no Orochi was almost completely devoured by that strange black mist, leaving only its remnant soul to flee in panic. Where was the domineering and arrogant aura it had when it broke free of its seal?

Although it was difficult to see inside the black fog and it had a terrifying swallowing effect, these were basically useless to Shi Bai.

With remarkable ease, Shi Bai arrived at the very center of the black mist that enveloped almost the entire Mount Fuji. Here, a giant black cocoon seemed to be alive, slowly rising and falling.

"Born from absolute darkness, feeding on the darkness within others' hearts... it actually gave birth to self-awareness. My guess was right after all."

Standing before the giant black cocoon, Shi Bai reached out and placed his hand on it.

Actually, just thinking about it makes it clear. Even umbrellas can become sentient and develop their own consciousness to become tsukumogami, so why can't this dark mass that makes people tremble at the mere mention of it?

"No, there are too many unnecessary and complicated negative emotions. Some of them must be eliminated. Although we are born from the deepest darkness, we must learn to embrace the light... Although some aspects cannot be changed in essence, we can still make some minor adjustments... Fine, you're lucky."

After a moment's hesitation, Shi Bai put his finger in his mouth and bit it, smearing his blood on the giant cocoon. As he swiftly drew something on the cocoon, he muttered something under his breath.

"Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. Since this is your rebirth, then the past must naturally be discarded. After all, this world is so beautiful, and I cannot allow anyone to cause trouble in it. Xiaoye has already had enough trouble..."

P.S.: Good morning!

I recommend the book "My Years as a Shrine Maiden in Gensokyo". It's a Touhou Project novel, and it's absolutely amazing!

Chapter Seventeen: The Monster of the Night—Rumia

Of all things in the world, what is meant by "living beings"?

Only those who gain intelligence and dispel ignorance can be called living beings; otherwise, they can only be called wild beasts. Most of the demons in this world are wild beasts that have gained intelligence from the spirit of heaven and earth and thus transformed into human form. For example, Nazling is such an example.

The surge in spiritual energy in heaven and earth has greatly increased the probability of wild beasts developing intelligence. This is the primary reason why the number of monsters in the world increased rapidly after the opening of the dragon veins. Once the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is almost exhausted, it will be virtually impossible for new monsters to appear. In the Dharma-ending Age, apart from a few extremely special monsters that can obtain spiritual power through other methods, such as vampires, other monsters will struggle even to protect themselves.

Of course, that time was at least several hundred years away from now.

Now, looking at the naked, golden-haired girl who appeared to be about seven or eight years old and was curled up asleep in the giant black cocoon, Shi Bai suddenly felt a slight headache for some reason.

Some things deviated slightly from his expectations.

"...So you brought her back?"

Looking at the little girl sleeping soundly on someone's back, Tsukiyo's lips twitched slightly.

"You can't possibly be unaware of its dangers, can you? I think it's better to do it sooner rather than later..."

"Even if you are born in darkness, can't you still embrace the light in your heart? Your idea is blatant prejudice."

Rolling his eyes, Shi Bai interrupted the other person.

"You need to understand that background isn't important; what matters most is how you're raised, okay? You're trembling with anger. When will this monster ever be able to truly stand up?"

"But it's dangerous, and this might be a disguise."

Yueye frowned.

"I have seen more than you, and I have more right to speak on this matter."

"Forget it, if we're talking about danger, I'm the one in the most danger."

With a smirk, Shi Bai walked straight past the other person and arrived at the tent that had been specially set up for Shengminglian.

"I've now suppressed the volcanic eruption again, but the environment here is clearly not safe for people to leave. Let's rest here for a day."

"But……!?"

Tsukiyo seemed to want to say something more, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she suddenly felt a strange chill all over her body. Just as she was wondering where this chill came from, she met the gaze of a certain being.

The little girl who had been sleeping on Shi Bai's shoulder had opened her eyes and was looking at her without her noticing.

—Those were bloodshot eyes devoid of any emotion.

..................................................................

When they first arrived at Mount Fuji, it was still noon, but after experiencing so many things, night had quietly fallen.

The once beautiful Mount Fuji, covered in snow, is now a scene of devastation. The animals and plants that remained in the mountain had all perished in the previous earth-shattering battle. As night fell, an eerie tranquility descended, with scorched earth everywhere.

"The price I paid was my life force."

Sitting around the fire, Saint Lotus, who had finally woken up, looked extremely calm.

"According to my humble estimate, I have at most six months left to live."

"Won't you regret it?"

Shi Bai added a handful of firewood to tomorrow's woodpile, his expression noncommittal.

"Life and death are natural occurrences, and destiny is ordained by Heaven. So why talk about regret?"

A smile appeared on Saint Lotus's pale face.

"But before that, there is something I would like to ask of you."

"You want to kill Bishamonten?"

Shi Bai looked up at the other person, raised an eyebrow, and seemed unsurprised.

“Amitabha, this humble monk only wishes to help him escape the sea of ​​suffering in the mortal world.”

With her hands clasped together, Saint Lotus wore a compassionate expression.

"As the Buddhists say, 'Put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot.' Since Vaishravana has already entered the demonic path, this humble monk shall pick up the butcher's knife and slay the demon on the spot."

"You really think you're someone who was buried in Tangshan... Compared to that, I have a better suggestion."

Shi Bai held up a finger in front of him, looking all mysterious.

"I'm asking you, do you want to become a Buddha?"

What is Buddha?