Walking down the mountain road, and then crossing a small bush jungle, you can faintly see the swaying lights through the gaps in the dense forest.

Through the flickering lights, you can see clearly visible in the night sky... Silhouettes of various houses.

That's true

The houses all looked a bit old, with dilapidated eaves, some of the roofs were even tiled, and all that was left was bare, blackened with dirty water.

The ground is covered with fallen leaves that have accumulated over the years, and only one ramp is clearly visible.

The ramp first spread a part forward, then turned upwards.

It seems that the only way to walk up this ramp is the official entrance to the village.

Kitagawa Temple turned to look around.

The dense forest around him was full of darkness, the air was filled with a wet fishy smell, and the leaves under his feet were soft, and there was no sound when he stepped on it.

Standing here and looking ahead, there is no one in sight.

The same goes for standing here and looking behind you.

Everything was quiet, except for the lights in front of us.

Kitagawa Temple exhaled lightly.

He didn't let Kamiya Future follow.

Let him come up and explore alone... This was already decided in advance.

"Let's go, eternal, maki-e, pitiful."

Kitagawa Temple looked at Kagura Suzu, poked Nishikujo's pitiful face again, carried a backpack and a flashlight in his hand, and stepped on this ramp that appeared with the appearance of Mu Chi's main family.

The slope under his feet was slippery and covered with moss, and Kitagawa Temple found a broken branch as a support and walked steadily upward, observing the surroundings from time to time.

"Huh?"

Kitagawa Temple stopped and glanced at the pile of stones wrapped around him with strips of vermilion cloth.

These stones, large and small, were piled up, and they were all wrapped with strips of vermilion cloth.

Under these stones, there are traces of long incense burning.

"It's an old warning ... Temple-kun. ”

Asamiya's eternal voice rang in her ears, and she explained to Kitagawa Temple:

"In the past, it was not uncommon for a lost traveler to break into this dense forest, and at some point they would come to the vicinity of the village of such an ancient family. But because there were some things in the village that were not easy for outsiders to see, stones were erected at the entrance, and strips of vermilion cloth were wrapped around them, which stood out in the dark. ”

"It means that travelers and outsiders stop, and those who violate it will be at risk of their lives."

And over time this has been preserved as a custom, or tradition. Travelers are reminded that this is an area ahead that ordinary people cannot tread. ”

Sure enough, it is worthy of Ma Gong Yongshi, who likes to read books very much, and he is clear about this kind of partial custom.

Kitagawa Temple nodded, then lowered himself again, picked up a small stone and looked at it.

The stone was covered in wet moss, and the surface was smooth, and the faded color of the vermilion cloth stuck to it, making it look like a dried blood spot.

"Keep going."

Kitagawa Temple put down the stone and continued to walk forward.

At the end of the ramp, there is a torii gate that has been tilted.

If you stand here at the torii gate, you can see old mansions dotted around the streets.

"This is Mu Chi's own house..."

Kitagawa Temple's eyes flashed with Morimori's dead breath.

For some reason, just looking at this seemingly peaceful mansion, he had a vague sense of crisis.

The flashlight in your hand starts to turn to check your surroundings.

These wooden buildings have not been repaired for a long time, the surface of the wood is a little damp and oxidized, completely gray and black, and there seem to be candles and figures flickering behind the white paper windows, but if you look closely, there is nothing.

Of course, that's not all.

Kitagawa Temple looked around thoughtfully.

The first step into the village is to discover it.

In this village of Mu Chi's family, a gray mist is filled.

"This is the Yellow Springs Miasma?"

Kitagawa Temple glanced behind him.

The entrance torii gate is gradually enveloped in a dense mist, and it is impossible to see clearly unless you look closely.

Needless to say.

Kitagawa Temple continues to walk forward.

But this time he didn't take two steps, and his steps stopped again.

"Is this...?"

Kitagawa Temple just wanted to reach out and brush away the soft fallen leaves under his feet.

But in the next second, a pale and deformed palm suddenly pinched Beichuan Temple's wrist from the side.

Well?!

Beichuan Temple's eyes were sharp, and a thick black dead qi gushed out from his wrist, and while he broke free in an instant, his other wrist flipped over, and the silver glittering Kanji also fell into his hand.

He didn't look at it, so he just used it and cut it directly!

Poof!!

Wrist flying! Jet-black liquid cross-flowing.

With the action of Beichuan Temple kicking the other party away, it was then that he saw the appearance of this resentful spirit who suddenly grabbed his wrist.

It was a middle-aged man, no expression could be seen on his gray and blurred face, and the only thing that could be heard was his painful, broken voice:

"Where are you... Jinghua..."

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

He scratched his scalp with both hands, and with a tingling tearing sound, his scalp slipped off his stomach as a black, foul-smelling liquid dripped down.

The next moment, the other party raised his head.

Obviously, he couldn't see the expression on his face, but Kitagawa Temple could still feel that the other party was glaring at him resentfully.

The shrill sound of furious tears exploded instantly.

"Where did you get Jinghua?!"

Boom!!!!

The shrill voice went out like a candle, and Kitagawa Temple withdrew the pitch-black sledgehammer, looking at the male resentful spirit whose head had been completely hammered and exploded, he calmly dropped a sentence: "You have found the wrong person." ”

Jinghua...? Who, exactly?

Beichuan Temple didn't bother to pay attention to the other party, and took three steps and two steps to the place where he was standing just now.

The dead leaves have been brushed away, revealing what lies beneath them.

That's a photo.

Photograph with a glue back cover.

Kitagawa Temple picked up the photo and looked at it carefully.

The photo shows a family of three.

A relatively young-looking man and another woman, holding their young daughter's palm, are smiling at the camera.

This is undoubtedly a happy family.

But—

"Zhu Zhiyin?" Kitagawa Temple looks at the men and women in the photograph.

On the wrists of these two people, a bright red mark can be clearly seen.

Thinking about it, Kitagawa Temple flipped his wrist and wanted to see if there was anything recorded on the back of the photo.

But just when he wanted to flip the photo—

Smack... Smack... Smack...

Having completely lost his head... The resentful male, who was left with only an empty spine, grabbed Kitagawaji's ankle.

"Jinghua... I'm sorry... Jinghua..."

The broken syllables are no longer heard by anyone except for Kitagawa Temple.

But even so, the male resentful spirit still said it sentence by sentence.

Until his spirit body drifted away, and his voice of remorse remained in the air.

"......" Kitagawa Temple.

Watching the black resentment drift away, Beichuan Temple also came back to his senses and looked at the back of the photo again.

On the back of the photo, what remains is neat handwriting.

'Jinghua, Zhenshi, I will always love you. ’

"Jinghua... The real world? ”

Kitagawa Temple's eyes flashed.

Soon he thought of what Mu Chi Zhenshi said.

Her parents had already organized people from the Mu Chi family to explore this year.

Could it be that the male resentful spirit just now is Mu Chi Zhenshi's father? And Mu Chi Jinghua is Mu Chi Zhenshi's mother? They had come to this place to explore, but in the end, they encountered unsolvable spirits and died in this place.

And Mu Chi Zhenshi's father also felt remorse for not protecting Mu Chi Zhenshi's mother, so he could only leave a deep apology...

"......" Kitagawa Temple shook his head.

Does that mean that he inadvertently got rid of Mu Chi Zhenshi's father just now?

But there's no way around it.

The father of Mu Chi Zhenshi, who continued to let him, linger in Mu Chi's own family, which was also a pain for him.

Send him out of this world... This may also be an excellent thing for Mu Chi Zhenshi's father.

It should be regarded as a favor that Mu Chi Zhenshi told him about the Mu Chi witch.

Kitagawa Temple silently made up his mind in his heart.

If you meet the resentful spirit of Mu Chi Zhenshi's mother during this period, then let's get rid of the other party together.

He put the photo in his arms, planning to give it to Mu Chi Zhenshi when he had the opportunity to give it to Mu Chi Zhenshi in the future.

"Si-kun, at your feet... It seems that there is something left behind when the resentful spirit is gone. ”

Asamiya Yongshi reminded.

"Oh?" Kitagawa Temple turned his head sideways, and suddenly he saw a note left on the ground.

Kitagawa Temple picked it up from the ground and spread it out to look at it.

Remaining on the polished paper is a neat map.

The distribution of the various areas of the village is smoothly drawn on it.

In addition to the exit that Beichuan Temple just entered, there are two other village entrances and exits, which are about one or two hundred meters away from here in a straight line.

It can be seen that this map should have been drawn by Mu Chi Zhenshi's father according to his memory, and many of the contents on it are not so specific, such as the residential area, just roughly drawing a few irregular squares, and then writing the residential area, and the wild area is simply written as a wild.

But even so... It's also referential enough.

Because going over the living quarters, the water intake, all the way forward... It's the family's mansion.

"If this is the standard..."

Beichuan Temple raised his head, looked at the road in front of him, which was hidden by the fog, and muttered to himself:

"It's about twenty minutes further on..."

After all, this village is only built around the main family mansion, and the overall area is not too large.

But in addition to these, what makes Beichuan Temple care most is the vast open space behind the main family's mansion.

What's there...? And what is hidden?

This is not clear even to Mu Chi Zhenshi's father.

But it's just a rough guess.

A place where unrelated people are off-limits... It is nothing more than a place of sacrifice or ceremony.

And in that clearing... There is the entrance to the Yellow Spring.

Kitagawa Temple folded up the map and put it away, carrying a flashlight and continuing to walk inside.

The fog around him grew thicker as he continued to walk forward, and at the same time, strange noises came from the surrounding houses from time to time.

For these things, Beichuan Temple turned a deaf ear, he just carried a flashlight and continued to walk forward.

The miasma of Yellow Springs is getting thicker and thicker... The road ahead is also a bit murky.

There were also bursts of gloomy nursery rhymes in my ears.

"The man-eating imp, the drooling imp, quietly, quietly came."

"Falling cherry blossoms, falling cherry blossoms, there are corpses buried underneath."

"Mu Chi, Mu Chi, life as light as tissue paper."

"Colorful, colorful falling cherry blossoms, there are corpses hidden underneath."

"Bones, bones... Shake, shake, a corpse that will never speak. ”

"Blood—"

"Stream! Dry! Hoo! ”

The ethereal and gloomy voice came from far and near, as if it was not far ahead, and it seemed to be close to the ear.

This quaint and dilapidated nursery rhyme makes people feel cold in their hearts just by listening to it.

But Kitagawa Temple has an impression of this nursery rhyme.

Isn't this the nursery rhyme that Kamiya Mirai heard after using the evidence of the Mu Chi Shrine Maiden?

Beichuan Temple subconsciously raised its head.

There was such a sight in front of him.

Dancing a quaint dance, holding hands... The children, whose faces were blurred by the miasma, were dancing around a girl in a pale white yukata.

Long sleeves that flutter and flutter.

A simple dance that keeps circulating.

Innocent... But the extremely cruel children's voice -

"Hmm... Afterimage? ”

Beichuan Temple is in a trance.

In front of him was still the road shrouded in the miasma of the Yellow Spring.

It's just that there seems to be something more on that road, and it's a small strip of cloth.

Kitagawa Temple walked over in two or three steps, and without hesitation, he lowered his body and picked up the strip of cloth.

The white strip of cloth is skewed handwriting.

'A nursery rhyme legend of cherry blossoms falling. ’

There is a forest of a thousand cherry blossoms behind the mountain of Muchi's main house, and beautiful cherry blossoms bloom every year. Going up is a patch of stone lamps and bluestone steps, but the family never allows anyone to step into them. ’

Legend has it that there were man-eating imps hiding in it, and in order to suppress them, they were killed and buried under the cherry blossom trees. ’

And these silent corpses are buried under the cherry blossom trees, which are used as nutrients to nourish the cherry blossoms to bloom more vividly in the coming year. ’

The nursery rhyme legend of the falling cherry blossoms?

But what does this have to do with Kamiya's future evidence of the Mu Chi Shrine Maiden?

Kitagawa Temple thought with a frown.

The only thing to say... That is, Mu Chi Wuwu often heard this nursery rhyme before she was a girl, so she had a particularly deep impression of this nursery rhyme.

But how could a shrine maiden be sacrificed to the cherry blossom tree as a sacrifice?

And—

"A Thousand Sakura Forest?"

Beichuan Temple couldn't help but look up.

But his vision had long been obscured by the dense fog, so he couldn't see what was behind the fog at all.

"At least the way forward should not be the wrong one."

Kitagawa Temple took out the note and glanced at the route on it.

Yes, at least the direction of progress is not wrong, the miasma of Huangquan is getting thicker and thicker, which means that it is getting closer and closer to the mansion of Mu Chi's family.

Thinking so...

Continue to walk forward to Kitagawa Temple.

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