Chapter 31: The Stone Statue

"The sunshine is really good today."

Shiba Plaino.

Kakashi lay quietly on a tree somewhere, looking like he was enjoying himself.

A green leaf blocked Kakashi's eyes, and the sunlight shining through seemed to have an infinite sense of beauty.

The raccoon chased to the side, scratching its head with its paws from time to time.

"It's so comfortable."

Kakashi stretched, feeling like he was about to fall asleep.

Kakashi had nothing to do, so he went out for a walk, but he didn't expect to find such a good place.

"Tanuki, this place is good, we can come and visit often in the future."

Kakashi took the black cat in his arms and jumped out of the tree.

"Hmm."

Tanuki replied softly, then rubbed twice more in Kakashi's arms, as if looking for a more suitable position.

Kakashi rubbed Tanuki's head, chuckled, and was about to leave.

The time was almost up, and his stomach was a little hungry.

As he was walking, he suddenly heard a strange sound in the distance.

Kakashi frowned slightly and stopped.

"This feeling ......"

Tanuki also jumped out of Kakashi's arms and whispered, "It's the breath of an evil spirit." ”

"Evil spirits? I didn't expect evil spirits to haunt such a place. ”

Kakashi said helplessly, and then he took the right direction and headed towards it.

"Kakashi, you're going to deal with that evil spirit?"

"Since they have all encountered it, it is natural to solve it. Evil spirits really don't have any meaning in existing. ”

As he spoke, the shadows of the trees flickered over the eyes of a man and a cat, and soon, Kakashi stopped.

"It's a mess."

The woods in front of me showed signs of being burned.

What was once a lush scene is now only a few charred tree stumps.

"Really, the original good mood is gone."

Kakashi shook his head, his perception pouring out.

"Is it there?"

A little on your toes, and the speed skyrockets!

Woohoo!

Soon, Kakashi saw a figure in front of him, his whole body covered in black mist, his eyes glowing red, and he looked quite frightened.

"Is that you?" Kakashi muttered.

When the black figure saw Kakashi, he roared violently, "Damn human! Unforgivable! ”

With that, he pounced on Kakashi.

"It's an evil spirit."

Kakashi sighed and held out his right hand.

The demonic power of the fingertips condensed, and then with a bang, a white light shot out, hitting the forehead of the evil spirit.

"Ahh

With a scream, the evil spirit fell to the ground, and the black qi on its body dissipated a little.

The raccoon looked at the evil spirit, a look of surprise on his face.

Kakashi was about to finish off the evil spirit once and for all, but Tanuki said, "Wait a minute, Kakashi. ”

"Huh? What's wrong? ”

"This evil spirit doesn't seem to be your average evil spirit."

"Oh? Or is it an evil spirit with a history? Kakashi said with interest.

"She has a faint power of faith in her body, and she should have been a god before." Tanuki said.

"Gods?"

Kakashi was a little surprised.

If it was a god before, then now it has become like this, and there is a story.

Tanuki is the king of the Heavenly Forest, and it can be regarded as a kind of god.

Seeing that his fellow gods had fallen into evil spirits, he naturally felt a little embarrassed in his heart.

"Human! Damn humans! I'm going to kill you! Unforgivable! ”

The evil spirit rose from the ground again, ready to attack again.

"It seems that this evil spirit hates humans, so it has become what it is today." Kakashi said.

"Maybe we can help her."

"What are you going to do?" Kakashi curious.

"Let her be quiet for now. Let's see what the hell is going on. I know, you can do it. ”

Kakashi scratched his head and said, "If you do this, I really feel like Natsume." ”

"There's nothing wrong with being like Natsume."

"That's right...... Forget it, it's idle and boring anyway. ”

Kakashi said as he walked over to the evil spirit, the index and middle fingers of his right hand resting against the demon's forehead.

The left hand took out a scroll out of nowhere, opened it with a thud, and flew through the air.

The scroll continued to roll around the evil spirit's body, and the black qi shrouded in his body was constantly absorbed by the scroll.

"Bondage!"

With a soft snort, the black qi disappeared in an instant, and the scroll closed again, falling into Kakashi's hand.

The evil spirit screamed and fell to the ground.

"I didn't expect it to work."

Kakashi took the scroll and muttered to himself.

This is a skill he learned in the book of an onmyoji not long ago, but he didn't expect to use it for the first time but it was unexpectedly easy.

At this time, the evil spirit has faded from its previous terrifying image and returned to its original appearance.

Dressed in snow white, like a fairy in the snow.

The delicate face is even more beautiful than ordinary people.

"This ...... I didn't expect this evil spirit to be quite delicate in its original appearance. Kakashi laughed.

The raccoon dog chased after the evil spirit, looked at it carefully, and said, "This person seems to be one of the guardian spirits of Shiba Harano before, named Tsui. ”

"You know?"

Tanuki nodded and said, "Well, I said hello before." Originally, there were two stone statues in Shiba Harano, one named Gen and the other named Tsui. They are the guardian deities of Shibaharano, guarding the peace of the place. They were originally gods with gentle personalities, how could they become evil spirits? ”

Tanuki's words were full of doubts.

Looking at the unconscious Tsuiro, Kakashi said, "You should be able to understand the situation of the stone statue by looking at it." Tanuki chase, do you know the location? ”

"Yes."

"That's easy, we want to settle the cui and go over and have a look."

"Hmm."

Kakashi carried Emerald back to his room, where there was an enchantment, safe enough for Emerald to rest quietly.

Kakashi, on the other hand, went to Shibaharano again with Tanuki.

A barren clearing, with a snowfall just now.

A snow-white patch, which looks a little bleak.

An old stone statue stood alone in the distance, motionless and desolate.

"It seems that the god who lives in this stone statue is also gone." Kakashi whispered.

The raccoon dog sniffed on the stone statue and said, "The stone statue still has the breath of Xuan, which means that Xuan is still alive and has not been away for a long time." ”

"So he's nearby?"

"No, not necessarily. Xuan's main body stone statue is here, and it stands to reason that there is no way for him to leave here more than three meters. Unless he finds a container that can hold his body. If this is the case, there is no limit to the distance he can move. Tanuki said.

"Containers?" Kakashi thought thoughtfully.

Tanuki continued: "There is only a stone statue of Xuan here, and there is no stone statue of Cui, it seems that there is something wrong with the stone statue of Cui. ”

"Will losing the statue turn into an evil spirit?" Kakashi asked.

"No, not necessarily. Only when the heart is full of resentment will it become an evil spirit. ”

"If that's the case, presumably the disappearance of Cui's stone statue should have something to do with humans." Kakashi laughed.

"Huh? Why? ”

"If it weren't for the humans destroying or removing the stone statues, the emeralds wouldn't have been so resentful of humans. Isn't it? ”

Tanuki nodded when he heard this, it seemed to be such a truth.

"Ask the nearby youkai what's going on here." Kakashi said.

"That's the way to do it."

Kakashi glanced and soon spotted a nearby youkai.

As soon as his body moved, he found a minotaur.

When the minotaur saw Kakashi, he was stunned for a moment, and then he was a little panicked.

"You...... What do you want to do? ”

"Don't be nervous, I just want to ask, there were two stone statues here before, why is there one less now?"

When the minotaur heard this, he said, "You mean Lord Xuan and Master Cui?" ”

Kakashi was overjoyed, it seems that this youkai is a youkai who knows the inside story.

"Yes, that's them."

The Minotaur Monster sighed when he heard this, and said, "Alas, Lord Xuan and Master Cui are really miserable. ”

At that moment, the Minotaur told Kakashi what had happened.

Xuan and Cui were originally two gods born from the two stone statues, and they were the guardians of the place, responsible for purifying the evil spirits of the forest.

One year, when the nearby land became so barren that the villagers could not grow crops, they came here to pray for their blessings.

Unfortunately, although the two of them are gods, they do not have the function of making the land fertile, and their ability is only to purify evil spirits.

Both are anxious, hoping to help humanity.

They asked the yokai for a method, but no one knew.

In the end, they even emitted the essence of their own life and landed in the land, hoping to make the land fertile.

But unfortunately, none of them worked.

The villagers didn't know what they were doing, they just knew that if they didn't get food in the land, they would starve to death.

So, in a fit of rage, they came to the statue and kept hitting it.

And Xuan and Cui also silently endured all this.

In the end, the stone statue of Emerald was thrown into the abyss by the village names and never returned.

"Master Xuan misses Master Cui very much, and has been enduring loneliness. Yesterday there was a human imp with a stinky cat who made a snow rabbit, and Gen-sama entered the snow rabbit and walked with the human imp. ”

Kakashi already understood when he heard this, that human imp was Natsume nine times out of ten.

"Can I go?" The Minotaur said tremblingly.

Kakashi smiled and said, "Yes, thank you. ”

Hearing this, the minotaur hurriedly ran away.

"It seems that Gen is gone with Natsume. He also wants to find Emerald. It's just that if he sees Cui's previous appearance, I'm afraid he will be very sad. Tanuki said in a low voice.

"It is really ironic that the god who was originally a god who purified evil qi ended up becoming an evil spirit."

Tanuki sighed and didn't say anything.

The human heart is always something that cannot be explained.

"What do we do next? Kakashi. ”

"Cui's condition is not good, if you want to fully recover, I'm afraid that the discarded stone statue needs to be recovered."

"You want to go to the abyss?" Tanuki said in a low voice.

"Well, that's good. I'll go find the remains of the stone statue, and you go find Natsume. Xuan is already there with him, presumably their purpose is also to find Cui, you take them to me, and it will save them from taking the wrong road. ”

"Okay, then be careful."

Kakashi smiled, "Don't worry, there's nothing left for me in this world." ”

With that, a streamer flashed, and Kakashi had disappeared into the distance.

Seeing this, Tanuki also went to Fujiwara's house.

Abyss.

Kakashi stood in front of the cliff and whispered, "It should be here." ”

After saying that, he jumped into the cliff.

If anyone is here, I'm afraid they will be shocked.

In mid-air, Kakashi saw the bottom of the cliff getting closer.

The sound of the wind in his ears grew louder and louder, and Kakashi stopped his body and stopped in mid-air.

"Is this it?"

At the bottom of the cliff, broken rocks are buried in the dirt, as if to vent some kind of injustice.

"Such a powerful resentment, no wonder Emerald turns into an evil spirit."

Kakashi looked at the broken stones and sighed leisurely.

The person who originally wanted to protect wholeheartedly ended up abandoning himself and hurting himself, so it's no wonder that Cui couldn't accept such a reality.

The greed of human beings has led this kind-hearted god down the path of evil, and it has to be said that this is a sin.

But such things are still being discovered.

Human goodness will always be used and tarnished by evil.

In the end, evil claims to be harmed by good.

A lot of things, the world is not black and white.

It is difficult to distinguish between good and evil, black and white, this is the normal state of life.

Kakashi picked up pieces of stone statues scattered in the dirt and pieced them together.

Some of the missing parts have long been differentiated in the traces of time and can never be recovered.

But fortunately, there are not many missing parts, which can be made up.

Powerful demonic power shrouded the stone statue's body, and the original cracks continued to stitch together.

On the other side, Tanuki has already found Natsume.

After a brief explanation, Natsume took Gen to the Hachiki Mansion.

"Emerald!"

Xuan looked at Cui who couldn't recover on the bed, and hurriedly shouted.

Cui seemed to hear Xuan's voice and slowly opened her eyes.

"Gen-sama ......"

"Emerald! You're finally recovered. I know, I know you can! ”

"Master Xuan...... I ......"

"Eui, I'm so happy that you're finally back again. Let's go back together, back to where we belong. When the time comes, we can wait for the rainbow together again. Do you say okay? ”

"Master Xuan, I am willing to accompany you."

"Hmm."

"This scene still looks quite touching, and I seem to be a little unpleasant."

Kakashi's languid voice came from the windowsill.

When everyone heard this, they looked at each other.

Kakashi was seen standing on the windowsill carrying a stone statue.

"Kakashi-sensei? How do you hold this thing? Natsume exclaimed.

"It's hard to find it back and repair it."

Kakashi placed the stone statue in the room and said, "Gen, Tsui, I've already repaired your stone statue for you. You can still live as before. ”

Hyun and Cui looked at each other and smiled, as if they had made a decision.

"Thank you, Kakashi-sama."