The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

"Does killing and death also exist among monsters?"

Saint Byakuren turned her head to look at the other person.

“Minglian has always been protecting me. Although I now possess all of his magic power, I don’t really understand demons at all.”

"The world of monsters... is a world of survival of the fittest. The weak are always at risk of death. You humans are much happier than us."

The voice seemed to carry a hint of envy.

“When you die, your loved ones will mourn you, and you will live on in their hearts. But if we die, we are truly dead. No one will remember us little monsters, as if we had never existed in this world.”

"Happiness... Do you think having such a fragile life is happiness?"

Saint Byakuren looked at the stone tomb in front of her.

"According to several other masters, Minglian died of old age, passing away peacefully without injury or pain. Just the day before, Minglian was teaching me magic, and the next day he was lying in a cold stone tomb... Is this kind of fragile death also a kind of happiness?"

"Probably, at least in my opinion, I am happy."

The voice seemed to sigh.

"Although we yokai live longer than you humans, most yokai live a precarious life, unless we receive the protection of a powerful master like I did before, otherwise our fate will be terrible. I used to think I was very powerful, but later I realized that that power was not truly mine. After losing that power, I am nothing. Do you know how many life-or-death crises I have faced in the past few months? Every morning I wake up and struggle to avoid starvation and death. I live desperately just to survive... Do you think I can be happy?"

"What is the world of yokai like?"

Saint Byakuren couldn't help but ask.

"War, bloodshed, slaughter... Do you know why so many monsters choose to go to the human world? The human world is very dangerous for small monsters like us, because we are very likely to be killed by those powerful humans. The probability of that is quite high. But why do we still go to the human world?"

"why?"

"Because in the human world, if we try our best to hide, we might survive and not die an unknown death. But in the world of monsters, you could very well be swatted to death by those powerful monsters like a fly one day."

"...So that's why you've stayed here?"

“I am waiting for my master’s call. My abilities are very useful, and my master will not abandon me. Few people come to this graveyard, so it is the safest place.”

"I thought monsters were all cruel and harmful."

"There are good and bad people among humans, so can't there be good and bad demons among demons? I have never done anything that is morally wrong, and I have even helped many people in secret. But even so, I can only live underground. Although my master took me in, I am forbidden to mention his name... But for a small and weak demon like me to be protected is already a great fortune. I shouldn't ask for too much. To be honest, I envy you humans."

"A monster who envies humans..."

This was probably my first formal conversation with her.

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

"...Meiren Temple?"

When we met again a month later, I was somewhat taken aback to see that she seemed to have changed slightly compared to before.

"That's right, this is a temple I built specifically to commemorate Myoren. If you really have nowhere else to go in the future, you are welcome to come here."

Her face still wore that gentle smile.

“But I am a demon, and you are a highly respected monk. I cannot come here.”

"Buddhism emphasizes the salvation of all sentient beings, and demons are also within the category of sentient beings, so why can't you come?"

"Just because I am a demon, even the gods dare not openly acknowledge such a thing. Why should you, as a human, acknowledge it?"

"He is him, and I am me. What does it have to do with me?"

"........."

"Myorenji Temple treats all beings equally. If you have any kind-hearted yokai friends who have nowhere to go, you are welcome to Myorenji Temple."

—She's always like this; once she's made up her mind, no one can make her change it.

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

Soon, news of Myourenji Temple's existence spread rapidly within the yokai community.

During the day, this place belongs to humans, but at night it belongs to monsters.

The world of yokai is far less complex than the human world, but the more I learned about the world of yokai, the more silent she became. I don't know what she was thinking about all the time, but her fame grew with the passage of time.

"Want to create a place where humans and monsters can live in harmony? How is that possible? Such a place simply doesn't exist."

I shook my head vigorously.

"Why isn't it possible?"

She looked up at the night sky and suddenly laughed.

"There's always a possibility; if you don't want to, then there's really no possibility at all."

On summer nights, fireflies flutter and dance among the grass, lotus flowers bloom, and dewdrops swirl and dance on the lotus leaves.

"Other things might be possible, but this is really impossible... Never mind, I'm going to sleep."

I reached out and picked a bright green lotus seedpod. In a fit of pique, I lay back in the small boat, peeling lotus seeds and stuffing them into my mouth while gazing up at the starry sky. She, on the other hand, sat at the bow, dressed in pristine white.

The stars seemed to teeter on the edge of their seats, floating in the shimmering water with her. The lotus seeds on my tongue released a bittersweet taste. In a half-dream, half-awake state, I seemed to hear a faint flute melody, a clear song from a young boy in the night. I drifted off to sleep.

The next day, an uninvited guest arrived at Myeonren-ji Temple.

I recognized him because he was the one who had once held a very scary spiked club in front of me.

I was so scared that I hid in a tree and dared not show myself. I could only watch their conversation from afar, but I had no idea what they were talking about.

A few days later, she suddenly announced that she was going on a long trip. After handing me the key to Myourenji Temple for safekeeping, she and that person set off and I don't know where they went.

When I returned, it was several months later.

Meanwhile, her journey also brought back a rather rare shipwrecked ghost named Murasa Mitsumitsu. She was a ghost but did not go to the underworld to be reborn—she became a member of Myourenji Temple.

I don't know what happened to her in the past few months, but she has clearly transformed from a short-lived human into a being with a long lifespan. She told me that her current race is a mage... although I don't know what a mage is.

However, I am still very happy because she has lived a long life.

But at that time I didn't realize that this was the source of a series of subsequent disasters.

People tend to believe what they see and think, and most people believe that seeing is believing. However, sometimes what we see is not necessarily the truth.

—The secret of Myourenji Temple has been exposed.

Actually, these things would eventually be exposed no matter what, especially now that she has an immortal lifespan. But I never expected that day to come so soon.

I don’t know whether it was a monster or a human who did this, but in just a few days, she was subjected to the most severe insults and slander.

But she didn't offer any explanation, she just remained silent.

Those humans, deliberately incited, blocked the entrance to Myouren Temple with all sorts of weapons, shouting for her to hand over us, the youkai she had taken in, completely forgetting how kindly she had helped them before, and instead uttering the most vicious curses.

We monsters all understand what our fate will be when we are handed over.

In the end, she decided to take us away to other places. Although she couldn't take Myourenji Temple with her, she could build another Myourenji Temple in another place.

But at this very moment... some monsters betrayed them.

As she was about to lead us away, the treacherous demons charged straight into the crowd betting in front of Myouren Temple and began a massacre. The incident happened so suddenly that she had no time to stop them.

That was the first time she broke her vow of not killing.

Fifty-three humans died, and she killed twenty-three monsters.

After personally collecting and burying the remains of the 53 deceased humans, she sat silently in front of the grave for a long time before turning to us, the monsters who still chose to stay by her side, and began to speak.

...She told us to leave.

We told her it wasn't her fault, that she had no reason to take responsibility or feel guilty, and we desperately tried to persuade her to leave with us... but it was no use.

No one can change the choice she made in her heart.

In the end, without offering any explanation, in order to atone for her sins, she willingly allowed herself to be sealed away by the powerful among the humans.

Thus, as an extremely evil being who kept monsters and drove them to wantonly kill humans, she became known as "the demon with a human face".

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

"...Is this the true history?"

The girl put down her pen, looked at the book in front of her, sighed softly, and then looked up at the person in front of her.

"Is this the end of the story? What about those monsters who chose to stay by her side until the very end?"

"Us? Of course, we need to find the place where she is sealed and rescue her."

The other person stood up from the table.

“Yes, we are indeed very weak, so weak that we might die before we can even find out where she is sealed… But we have no regrets.”

After saying that, the other person didn't linger and turned to leave the teahouse.

"........."

Watching the other person's figure disappear from her sight, and waiting for the ink on the book in front of her to dry, the girl closed the book.

It's noon.

P.S.: Good morning! (((*°▽°*)八(*°▽°*)))?

Chapter Twenty, Part Two: The Sage of Yokai

True history needs a recorder.

Their job is to record the truths of the past and tell those stories; that is the meaning of their existence.

"How's it going? Is it finished?"

As the girl carefully placed the books on the table into her bag, a very lazy voice came from outside.

"More or less, everything that needs to be recorded has been recorded."

Picking up her bag, the girl stood up from the table.

"I have basically collected all the information about the past of that sealed archmage. I will make further revisions and corrections when I get back."

"Oh? What was that period of history like?"

A girl with beautiful long purple hair walked in from outside the shop.

"It takes a lot of courage for those weak monsters to come here. To be honest, I'm a little curious about why they would risk their lives to see you."

What is your impression of Saint Byakuren?

Stepping out of the teahouse, the midday sun made the girl squint slightly.

"Her? After hearing about her deeds, I was curious and wanted to visit Myouren Temple, but when I got there, Myouren Temple had been burned to ashes by those angry humans. All I saw was ruins."

He held up an oil-paper umbrella to shield the girl's head, and she shook her head slightly.

"I don't really know much about her deeds, but it's rumored that her younger brother, Myoren, was a legendary monk with very powerful magic, and she learned her magic from him. However, after Myoren's death, she became extremely afraid of death and learned power from demons, gaining immortality. Not only did she betray humanity, but she also secretly protected those demons. People call her 'the demon with a human face'... That's about it."

"No wonder..."

The girl sighed softly, first taking the oil-paper umbrella from the girl's hand, and then handing over the newly written scroll from her baggage.

"Take a look for yourself. I don't think someone like her would be afraid of disappointment. I think she's a pioneer in the desire for harmony between monsters and humans."

"...Clearly, someone doesn't want her to continue."

After spending a few minutes reading through the entire book, the girl stood with her arms crossed, looking thoughtful.

"Given the power she possessed at the time, leaving would have been an incredibly simple matter. Myouren Temple could have been rebuilt elsewhere. But at that time, the youkai she had taken in suddenly rebelled... Don't you think that's a bit too much of a coincidence?"

"What a coincidence?"

The girl took the book from the girl and couldn't help but look curious.

"At that time, you were still in the underworld, so you probably didn't know about the great event that happened in the world of yokai. At that time, a very fierce war broke out at the Yokai Mountain. As the shrine maiden of Hakurei, I was fortunate enough to participate in that war... That was almost two hundred years ago."

The girl, recalling the past, shook her head slightly.

"That was a war between the monsters and the Moon People... Don't ask me what the Moon People are, they are the people who live on the moon. The war was extremely fierce, and a large number of monsters died in that war. The defenses of Monster Mountain were even breached at one point. If it weren't for the help of the Oni clan that came out from underground, Monster Mountain might have been occupied by those Moon People."

As she said this, the girl glanced at the girl beside her.

"My shrine was destroyed at that time, and I was seriously injured and almost died. Although the intensity of the war decreased for some reason afterward, it was still ongoing. However, due to the alliance formed by the Oni Clan, the Yokai Sage, and the Yokai Mountain, the flames of war never reached this area again."

"Has the war, which has lasted for so many years, still been going on?"

Upon hearing these secrets, the girl was momentarily stunned.