"Xu Fu-chan, that was going too far..."
Eiko Hozuki hurriedly took Xu Fu's hand and whispered anxiously at her side.
Interrupting someone was already rude enough. Who just came right out and cursed someone to die?
What did she mean, "Why aren't you dead yet?" Wasn't it a good thing he was not dead? How could someone who had died still be standing here?
Keitaro Gentoga and Yayoi Hozuki did not rush to speak, because both of them saw the old monk's face changing rapidly.
It was not the anger of someone who had been offended, but the guilt of someone whose truth had been exposed, along with fear toward some terrible existence.
"You bastard! Not only did you force your way into our temple, you even cursed our abbot!"
A monk with a small mustache stepped forward, about to uphold justice for the abbot, only to be stopped by the old monk after taking just one step.
"Abbot?"
The mustached monk looked at the old monk in confusion, but the old monk no longer had the attention to spare for him.
He stared fixedly at Xu Fu, his voice dropping low.
"What... do you know?"
In stark contrast to the old monk's tension and guilt, Xu Fu's lips curved into a wicked smile.
"It was only a guess at first, but thanks to your reaction, I've already gotten the answer I wanted."
"...That line just now was a test?"
The old monk's eyes widened, and a deep surge of regret immediately welled up in his heart. His reaction just now had indeed been far too abrupt.
"Did you think you could hide it forever? Huh? You've caused a huge disaster, you idiot!"
Xu Fu cursed him without the slightest mercy.
Yayoi Hozuki tugged at Xu Fu's sleeve and asked curiously, "Xu Fu, can you explain? What exactly did you find?"
Xu Fu kept staring at the old abbot without blinking. His expression had become complicated now, filled with anxiety and unease.
"There really is some extremely powerful evil thing suppressed beneath this temple. Most likely, some eminent monk in ancient times sealed it at the cost of his own life, then passed down the method for maintaining the seal..."
Xu Fu planted one hand on her hip and said smugly, "But the spell formula for this seal really doesn't have much technical depth. I finished analyzing it the moment I entered this temple."
"Huh...?!"
Keitaro Gentoga and the other two outsiders only listened quietly from the side, but Xu Fu's words made the five monks' faces change drastically.
"What... what nonsense! Our ancestor completed this highest-level sealing art at the cost of his own life, and a child like you dares claim you can understand it? Utter rubbish!"
Xu Fu paid no mind to the old monk's flustered outburst and continued speaking.
"To maintain the seal here, the abbot of this temple is supposed to sacrifice himself at set intervals and become a sokushinbutsu to suppress the vengeful spirit... I'm right, aren't I?"
"..."
With just one sentence, the old monk broke out in sweat. His face shifted from blue to black to purple, and the hands hidden beneath his sleeves trembled uncontrollably.
He truly had not expected such a young girl to see through the sealing art. In his eyes, her image suddenly became unfathomably profound.
Just who in the world is this little girl...? No, who exactly are these people?
The old monk finally realized that Xu Fu was beyond his ability to measure. And if the people standing together with such a mysterious figure—someone even he could not see through—were ordinary, how could that be possible?
Very quickly, the old monk's gaze locked onto the doll in Yayoi Hozuki's arms.
That ominous, profound, abnormally dangerous aura... That was absolutely an aura only a fairly high-ranking vengeful spirit could possess!
And this unremarkable little girl could carry such a dangerous thing with her without changing expression?
Why didn't I notice that just now? To make such a grave error in judgment... It seems my training truly is still lacking...
Keitaro Gentoga and Eiko Hozuki both looked very ordinary, but after misjudging Xu Fu and Yayoi Hozuki's true abilities just now, the old monk could no longer trust his first impression.
"Become a sokushinbutsu... suppress the vengeful spirit..."
Eiko Hozuki repeated Xu Fu's words, her gaze moving between the old monk and Xu Fu.
Combining that with Xu Fu's earlier lines—"Why aren't you dead yet?" and "You've caused a huge disaster"—Eiko Hozuki quickly guessed the truth.
"Xu Fu-chan, are you saying... this abbot should have offered himself as a sokushinbutsu to suppress the vengeful spirit and maintain the sealing ritual, but for some reason, he abandoned that duty?"
"Some reason? I doubt it's that complicated. Most likely, he was just afraid to die. After all, fearing death is human nature~."
Thus spoke Xu Fu, who, under Qin Shi Huang's mix of coercion and temptation, had had no choice but to research the Elixir of Immortality.
The old monk's expression grew worse and worse as Xu Fu spoke, and Xu Fu continued.
"The sealing formula is still barely holding, but not completely... You found someone else to act as a scapegoat and become a sokushinbutsu in your place to suppress the vengeful spirit, didn't you?"
The instant she said that, the way Yayoi Hozuki and the other two looked at the old monk changed.
He had made someone else become a sokushinbutsu in his place. Did that mean... he had killed someone?
"Becoming a sokushinbutsu requires a whole series of complicated steps. A corpse that's already completely dead definitely won't work. In other words, you must have made a living person become that scapegoat."
"Whether that person was healthy or dying, they were still alive. Taking their life on your own is an evil act. As a Buddhist, you created needless killing karma out of greed for life and fear of death. Aren't you afraid of retribution?"
With his deeds completely exposed, the old monk panicked, and the monks behind him panicked as well.
With something as major as sealing a malignant entity, of course there was no way these people knew nothing.
The old monk's face had already gone deathly pale, yet he still argued, "I-it wasn't without permission! She volunteered to become a sokushinbutsu in my place! Otherwise, the seal never could have lasted until now!"
"After becoming a sokushinbutsu, that person's soul can no longer reincarnate. It is imprisoned beneath this temple, locked together with the suppressed malignant entity until the next sokushinbutsu arrives."
Xu Fu slowly said, "Whether the one who became a sokushinbutsu in your place did so willingly or was forced no longer matters. Because of your deception, this seal has developed extremely serious flaws. The monster inside breaking free and seeing the light of day again is only a matter of time. I came here to uproot it completely."
"No! You can't undo the seal!"
Once he understood that Xu Fu and the others intended to undo the seal and fight the suppressed evil spirit, the old monk immediately spoke up to stop them.
Even knowing that Xu Fu's group was far from simple, he still did not want to take that risk. Once the malignant entity inside broke free, in order to avoid being sealed again, it would certainly target him first.
The seal would be destroyed by the malignant entity sooner or later? That did not matter. By then, he might already be dead. The only ones who would suffer in the end would be the living, and the only ones who would have to worry would be the living. He, meanwhile, would already have lived his life without regrets.
"You people have no idea how terrifying that monster is! What makes you think you can deal with it? If you fail, do you know how many civilian casualties you'll cause? Can you shoulder that responsibility?!"
"Do you think shouting louder lets you shove yourself onto the moral high ground? Even if something really happens, that will still be your responsibility. Everything that followed happened because of your selfishness. We're the ones cleaning up after you."
Xu Fu's tone remained calm.
"Also, we're not asking for your opinion. Whether you nod or not won't change our decision. So... are you going to try to stop us?"
The old monk's expression shifted several times. Keitaro Gentoga and Eiko Hozuki were both extremely nervous, afraid the two sides would actually start fighting.
Yayoi Hozuki said nothing, but she stood beside Xu Fu without hesitation, making her position clear through action.
Of course, in the end, that fight did not happen.
On one hand, the old monk could not see through Xu Fu's group's strength. If they fought, his side would most likely be the one to suffer. On the other hand, even if they won and drove Xu Fu's group away, those people could still come back. The seal was right here and could not run anywhere.
It truly fit the saying: the monk may run, but the temple cannot.
Unless he not only defeated the four intruders in front of him, but also killed or imprisoned all four of them. If he did that, however, then he would truly be irredeemably wicked, and neither the spiritualist world nor ordinary society would tolerate him.
"I... I want to contact my senior brother. If he's here, we should have a better chance against that monster."
Xu Fu's group had no reason not to agree to the old monk's proposal. If they could have a reliable spiritualist assisting them, their odds of victory would be higher, and the danger to the locals would also be reduced.
Though Xu Fu felt she alone should be able to handle that evil god from the West.
...
The old monk's name was Sagami Kengyo. His senior brother's Dharma name was Jogan, also known as Monk Jogan.
Monk Jogan was a tall, burly old man. His eyebrows and beard were like steel needles, and every muscle on his body seemed filled with power. Merely standing there without moving, he made people instinctively think, This man is strong. He exuded a heavy pressure like a mountain of rock.
Meeting his gaze made one feel as though one were being watched by the Buddha himself. This was because Monk Jogan had received the Buddha's blessing.
Like Namiko Shami, Monk Jogan was also one of the ten people standing at the pinnacle of Japan's spiritualists.
The strongest figures in each field became one of those ten as representatives of that field. Among them were the strongest spirit-channeler, the strongest black magician, the strongest onmyoji, the strongest shugenja, and so on.
Monk Jogan was the representative of Japan's Buddhist monks, and also the strongest in that field.
A black sedan slowly stopped in front of Nissho Temple. The ones who got out were Monk Jogan and the three helpers he had brought with him: the young Monk Saijo, the fierce-looking Monk Zenjin, and the one-eyed old Monk Kakucho, who had lost his left eye.
"Everyone of Nissho Temple, what did you mean by what you said over the phone? What happened to the seal?"
In the darkening evening, Monk Jogan, who had hurried over, started questioning the vague figures in front of him the moment he saw them. After all, this matter was truly grave. One mishandled step, and it could become a catastrophe that would plunge countless lives into misery.
But when he made out the number of people at the gate, he realized something was wrong. In his memory, there should have been only four people at Nissho Temple.
Naturally, the first ones he noticed were Xu Fu and the other three, who were not monks. His solemn gaze swept over them calmly.
A child holding an abnormally ominous object. A young man burdened with a terrible curse. A woman carrying the misfortune of her blood kin. And...
His gaze stopped on Xu Fu, and Monk Jogan froze slightly.
"Are you a practitioner of Taoist arts?"
"Hmm? Pretty sharp, aren't you~! At least much sharper than the one beside me." Xu Fu smiled without a trace of tension and pointed at the old monk, Sagami Kengyo.
Perhaps out of guilt, Sagami Kengyo stood rather far back. In truth, he had wanted to hide, but Xu Fu had immobilized him in place with a binding spell. After all, he was the most important witness.
Following the direction of Xu Fu's finger, Monk Jogan also saw Sagami Kengyo standing behind the others, and his eyes immediately widened.
"Kengyo! You..."
"This old monk didn't want to die, so he made someone else become a sokushinbutsu in his place, causing problems in the seal suppressing the malignant entity. We were just preparing to resolve the monster inside completely."
Xu Fu sighed softly. "We originally intended to solve it ourselves, but this old monk said that if we could invite you here, we should have a better chance."
There was almost no need to verify it. Monk Jogan and the others believed Xu Fu's words, because Sagami Kengyo still being alive and standing there was the greatest proof.
Seeing that the matter had been completely exposed, with no room left to salvage it, Sagami Kengyo confessed everything.
The one who had become a sokushinbutsu in his place was actually his wife.
He had lived in fear every day of his fate to become a sokushinbutsu. Then, just as the day he was to become one drew near, his wife was suddenly diagnosed with late-stage stomach cancer.
The first step to becoming a sokushinbutsu was to stop eating. As his wife gradually became unable to eat because of her late-stage stomach cancer, Sagami Kengyo stopped giving her any food at all. By the time she died, even his wife was no longer sure whether she had died of cancer or starvation.
Nissho Temple paid a large compensation sum for the heavy responsibility of becoming a sokushinbutsu and maintaining the seal. Sagami Kengyo had hidden the truth from Monk Jogan and the others for the sake of that compensation money, and he had hidden it for ten whole years. In the records of other temples, Sagami Kengyo had already died ten years ago.
If Sagami Kengyo had truly been unwilling to become a sokushinbutsu, a replacement could have been selected from among the many monks in Japan. However, Sagami Kengyo both wanted to avoid death and wanted the compensation money, and that was what led to everything that followed.
Monk Zenjin pried open the temple's safe with his bare hands and took out several passbooks from inside. They confirmed that the compensation money had been embezzled by these five monks.
"Kengyo, you... you... What a fool you've been...!"
The evidence was undeniable, and Monk Jogan looked at Sagami Kengyo with bitter, furious disappointment.