When she saw Chu, Sakurako told Chu about the old monk's practice, but as for what kind of practice, Sakurako didn't ask, and she didn't know.

Under the eaves in front of the hall hangs a white rag doll that the old monk hung earlier, which is a puppet with a smiling face, which is said to be used to pray for sunny days.

The wind blew, and the white doll shook.

When he first walked in front of the hall, he stopped, looked at the empty Buddha hall, and frowned slightly.

She felt something faintly, a little uneasy.

On the second and third days, the old monk never returned, and the initial feeling became more and more intense, and she seemed to have a special intuition about the existence of life.

At noon on the third day, Hatsu stood under the cherry blossom tree with a knife that had deteriorated into it, and stood silently with his eyes closed, as if he had settled down. She's been feeling a little agitated lately, and she's trying to calm herself down.

Sakurako sat in front of the house boiling tea, and her tea-making skills have gotten better and better over the years.

The teapot rose with a white mist, Sakurako was also a little absent-minded, and the old monk didn't go out to practice, but it was the first time that there had been no news like this.

"Bang bang bang. ”

The door of Qingxin Temple was knocked on the door with a rapid knock.

At first, she didn't move, but the aura on her body became more and more unstable.

Sakurako sighed, got up, walked to the door, and opened the door.

There is a woodcutter standing outside the door, and there is only one woodcutter in the mountain village, who always chops firewood in the mountains and then takes it to the village to sell, but the firewood in Qingxin Temple is generally cut for the first time, so there is no need to buy firewood.

"Uncle Qiao, we don't buy firewood. Sakurako thought that the other party had come to sell firewood again, so she spoke first.

"What firewood. ”

The woodcutter who was called Uncle Qiao by Sakurako turned pale, gasped, and said with an anxious expression.

"I'm not here to buy firewood this time, come with me to have a look, I saw Abbot Qingxin in Sakurayama, and he had an accident. ”

The woodcutter's voice fell.

The blade of the first sword suddenly came out of the sheath, and under the cherry blossom tree, the sword flashed.

The woodcutter standing at the door only felt a bright light flash in front of his eyes.

Then, in an instant, the petals flying in the sky stopped in mid-air, as if time had stood still.

Several streaks of sword light lingered in mid-air, like frozen images.

"Whew!"

The sword light shattered in mid-air.

The next moment, the manic air currents appeared, surging around the courtyard, colliding with each other irregularly.

And the petals that had been frozen suddenly flew away.

Whipped up in the swirling of the turbulent air currents.

In the oncoming wind, a figure stood still, each petal cut in half.

The wind dispersed, and broken petals scattered all over the ground.

Under the cherry blossom tree, she put away her knife at first, as if nothing had happened, but the still restless aura on her body couldn't be concealed.

The woodcutter stood dumbfounded, unaware of what he had seen.

Sakurako had already run past him and was running towards Sakura Mountain.

······

Under the leadership of the woodcutter, Sakurako and Hatsu found the old monk.

He sat there in the falling cherry blossoms all over the ground, the wound on his chest was shocking, but the expression on his face was very calm.

His staff sat beside him, and a long, rusty knife was thrown aside.

The blood on the ground was almost dry, and between the bloodstains, a straw fell in front of the old monk, not in the half-congealed blood, trembling in the wind.

When she saw this, Sakurako's pupils contracted tightly.

There can't be straw in Sakura Mountain, it can only be left by the person who killed the old monk.

Sakurako remembers this straw, back then, her parents' side was also left behind.

"This was already the case when I saw Abbot Pure Heart. The woodcutter on the side didn't dare to look at the old monk's corpse, so he looked aside and said.

"I don't know who did it, but I've seen a stranger in the village these days. ”

The stranger had also helped him with firewood at the time, so he was very impressed.

"He wore a hat, khaki yellow, and a very wide garment, which was bare to his chest. Looks like a samurai with a sword......"

"I got it······"

Sakurako interrupted the woodcutter and replied in a loud voice, her head bowed so that no one could see her look.

On that day, Hatsuwa Sakurako put away the old monk's body.

They buried him at the edge of the village, which is also the place where the old monk confessed before his death, saying that the former Qingxin Temple abbot was also buried here.

When leaving, Sakurako took the rusty knife beside the old monk.

After returning to the temple, Sakurako went to the meditation room.

Three days ago, the old monk said that he had left her a gift in the meditation room and asked her to pick it up in three days, and now it is exactly three days.

Sakurako found the old monk's gift in the meditation room, the Zen character that had been flattened and spread on the ground.

In the meditation room, Sakurako sat all night. She knelt in front of the Zen character, her face expressionless, and the rusty knife resting horizontally on her lap.

Hatsu has been standing at the door of the meditation room, waiting for Sakurako to come out.

There was no sound in the room and no sound outside the room.

Until the sky was slightly bright, Sakurako pushed the door open, and she looked up at Hatsu.

At this time, she had a completely different look from her before.

"Chu. Sakurako's waist hung the rusty knife: "Help me find that person." ”

As she spoke, Sakurako walked out of the meditation room, and the sunlight passed through her, illuminating the Zen characters on the floor of the meditation room behind her.

Sakurako didn't look back, she said as she walked away with her knife in her hand.

"I'm going to, kill him. ”

The old monk left Sakurako the Zen word, and he hoped that Sakurako could put it down, but unfortunately, Sakurako picked up the rusty knife.

She didn't choose to let go, she chose and picked up the karma.

Obviously, she didn't want to take revenge anymore, Mingming, all she had made for five years was the same wish, Mingming, she just wanted to live plainly with the people around her.

Why, Sakurako didn't understand, so she had to go and ask for clarification, using the knife in her hand.

On the day when Hatsu and Sakurako left the mountain village, it was raining lightly, and the sunny day doll made by the old monk was useless, and the rain would still fall.

Sakurako walked ahead with a rusty knife in her hand, and Hatsu followed behind her, holding an umbrella with cherry blossoms painted in her hand.

The raindrops hit the umbrella, splashing one after another, and the water droplets fell from the side of the umbrella, blurring the faces of the people under the umbrella.

Under the umbrella, the two walked out of the village.

On that day, the cherry blossoms withered, and on that day, the youkai holding the cherry umbrella walked into the world.