The village chief was a little confused, but he still did as the traveler had told the parents of the children to take their children back.

After sending the men away, the traveler looked at the brazier in a daze as before.

"Mr. Onmyoji. Do you have any ideas? ”

The traveler's gaze still did not take off the red glow in the carbon brazier. It was as if what he was thinking about was burning in that flame.

"Mr. Village Chief, are these children the only ones here?"

The village chief was a little abrupt. He didn't understand why the traveler would ask such a question.

"Let me think about it. Yes, that's all... Oh, yes! There was a widow in the village, and she also had a little boy. However, the child did not appear to be at the well that day. I had never heard of him having the same prophetic abilities as those children. ”

When the traveler heard the words of the village chief, he immediately stood up, put on his coat, and carried his suitcase.

"Mr. Village Chief, take me to see that child!"

The village chief was still confused. However, ten minutes later, the two of them were already sitting in the widow's deserted house.

"This is Mr. Onmyoji who was invited from the city."

The widow was a very thin young woman. It can be seen that she has experienced a painful past. The traveler didn't stay on her face for long.

"Is the child home?"

The widow nodded, and calmly got up and led the village chief and the traveler into the back room. Her child was resting in bed at this time. The village chief glanced at the child, frowned, and then asked, "What's wrong with his eyes?" ”

It turned out that the child's eye sockets were wrapped in a thick layer of gauze.

However, the widow did not answer the village chief's words. Instead, he silently shed two lines of tears. The traveler walked over to the child's bed.

"Can you take the gauze off first?"

The widow nodded again. The traveler leaned down and carefully removed the gauze from the child's eyes.

After seeing the child's eyes with the gauze removed, the village chief couldn't help but let out a low cry. Because, he had never seen a pair of eyeballs like that. It was yellow, round, and big, like the moon in the sky. That is, so to speak, the moon in the sky.

The traveler took a closer look at the child's moon-like eyes.

"Your child has been saying something inexplicable lately. Like what, I saw someone flying in the sky or something? ”

As if the traveler's words had pierced her thoughts, the woman lifted her face in surprise.

"You, how do you know?"

The traveler did not answer her question. It's just that I'm still observing the child's pupils. After about ten minutes, he finally stopped, and turned to a chair and sat down.

"When did children start like this?"

"It's autumn."

"Does he cry out in pain often?"

"At first, it was fine, but then it seemed to be very painful. Sometimes you can't even do anything else. The woman began to sob again.

The traveler was silent for a moment, then turned and opened his suitcase, and took out two packets of medicine from it.

"Cook this for him, eat it once a day, don't eat more. It should ease his pain. As for when he said those strange things again," the traveler paused, and after glancing at the widow's eyes, he continued, "Take out his eyeballs." ”

Not only the widow, but even the village chief suddenly opened his mouth. They looked at the traveler's calm face together, and it was hard to believe that he had just said something like that.

Then the traveler got up and walked over to the child's bed. Leaned down again and stretched out one of his hands. At this moment, the widow suddenly rushed up and grabbed the traveler's arm.

"What are you going to do?"

"Tell you how to get his eyeballs out."

"What? Are you going to kill him? The widow's emotions began to stir violently, and she firmly grasped the traveler's arm.

"Why should I kill him? He's not going to die, don't worry. ”

"Fart! Who do you think you are! ”

At this time, the village chief quickly stood up.

"Mr. Onmyoji, what the hell is going on? How can a child's eyeball be taken out when it is taken out? ”

The traveler looked at the widow and then at the village chief. Finally stopped insisting on his movements. Turning around, he returned to the chair he had been sitting in.

A cigarette was lit, and the traveler's face remained calm.

"Do you know why our kind of people are called Onmyoji?"

The widow and the village chief looked at the traveler blankly.

"It was a cursed race. We can't live a normal life like you, and we can't simply die and leave this world as ghosts. Because there is nothing in our field of vision that cannot be seen. It can be said that we live in two different worlds. However, the curse did not end because of this. We can't stay in the same place. It is necessary to travel to different lands all the time to send back to the world where it should be. Therefore, we will be called onmyoji. ”

The widow's mood seemed to calm down a little, and the village chief's frowning brow relaxed a little.

"What happened in this village, you should know, is something that cannot be explained by the existing concepts of human beings." The traveler took another puff on his cigarette and stood up. This time he didn't go over to the child's bed. Instead, he lifted his own box.

"Village Chief, let's go back."

The village chief looked at the widow and said nothing. He also stood up and left with the traveler. When they left, the widow did not go to see them off.

"I'll be back in the spring."

After leaving these words, the traveler left early the next morning.

Time flies. In the blink of an eye, the barren land was suddenly dyed green again as if full of hope. The wildflowers have also reproduced beautiful petals, and the decoration of this seemingly bland green is particularly moving.

The traveler reappeared in the village as he had said.

It is still the home of the village chief. This time, there were two more people in the house—the widow and her son.

The village chief looked much older than the last time the traveler had seen him. He handed the cigarette to the traveler again, and his fingers became noticeably thinner. The widow looked the same as the last time. It's just that his expression seems to have darkened a little. Her son was sitting quietly beside her. His eyes were still bandaged.

"Mr. Onmyoji, I'm really sorry last time. I was so rude. ”

"It doesn't matter. How is the child doing now? Do your eyes still hurt? ”

"It doesn't hurt anymore. However, he can't see anything now. ”

The traveler could see that the widow wanted to weep. But she couldn't cry anymore, so she could only hear her reply trembling at the end.

"Can you show me?"

The widow nodded. So the traveler carefully untied the little boy's bandage again. This time, the two moon-like eyeballs were gone. In their place, there were two eyeballs that looked like burnt dry carbon blocks. The two pupils that had once shone with fluorescence had also degenerated into two holes that were black and deep.

The traveler's expression suddenly became much more serious. The village chief asked in a trembling voice.

"How, how?"

"What about the kids?"

"I didn't let them come, do you want to see them? I could call them all right now. ”

"No, take me to the ancient well now."

The village chief no longer wondered about anything this time. Because he has completely surrendered his fate to this onmyoji in front of him. After spring, it's summer. He didn't want to die like the little girl said. After all, death is the most feared thing for any person.

When they came to the ancient well, the traveler did not observe the well. Instead, he knelt down and opened his box again. This time, what he took out of the box was a stick of incense. It was a very thick stick. It seems like it takes a long time to burn it out.

The traveler took a few deep breaths of the dry tobacco in his hand, then pointed it to the incense stick and stuck it in a crevice by the well.

"Well, there will definitely be a moon tonight, so when the time comes, call all the children here!"

The traveler said these words by looking into the eyes of the village chief. This couldn't help but make the village chief a little panicked. However, when the traveler spoke again, the village chief chose absolute silence.

"Mr. Village Chief, aren't you going to tell me about that incident at this time?"

Sure enough, there was a very complete full moon that night.

At this moment, the traveler was sitting on the edge of the well with the little hand of the widowed boy. The children, who had seen the moon in the dry well that night, stood neatly opposite the traveler and the boy with their parents and the village chief. This was deliberately arranged by the traveler beforehand. At this time, there was a strong fragrance around the ancient well—the incense that the traveler had inserted in the gap had been burned.

"Wait a minute, whatever you hear, don't be afraid! I'm here, it's okay! ”

The boy nodded.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew. Everyone covered their eyes. The light of the moon faded in an instant. Because a dark cloud is covering it tightly. Some people cried out in panic. Even the village chief could not hold back the fear in his heart and prayed loudly.

Soon, the wind subsided. Once again, the moon revealed its silhouette.

Once again, everyone looked in the direction of the well. This time, they suddenly lost all sense. It was a reaction to the sudden concretization of the fear that had been hidden in the heart.

Behind the traveler and the boy, there were two more backs.

It was the back of a woman and a small child. Now they were snuggling up behind the traveler and the boy.

The traveler was still smoking the dry smoke as calmly as before.

"You've finally appeared. It seems that the boy's eyeballs are indeed for you to snatch! ”

"Who are you?" The woman's voice was flat and cold. This made the people standing behind her feel like they were about to be devoured.

"Onmyoji!"

"Cursed souls!"

"That's right! That's why I'm here. ”

"Don't be nosy! Otherwise, I'll kill you! ”

The traveler smiled.

"Don't be reckless. You don't have any power to kill in this season. Just look at how you steal this boy's eyeballs in order to gather your strength! Or, you don't have to wait until summer to kill these people. ”

"What do you want?"

"I want you to go back. This is not the place where you should be. ”

"What if I don't go back?"

The traveler took a puff of his cigarette and replied silently.

"Don't force me to do what I don't want to do! It's not good for you! ”

Suddenly, the woman's back disappeared. At that moment, almost all of them felt a jump in time in an instant. Because at that moment, they all felt that the space suddenly cracked a crack, and after sucking their souls in, they spit it out. Although it was just a feeling, it left a very positive impression on them.

The woman's back reappeared. One can see that this time her back doesn't seem to be as obvious as before. It's a lot more transparent all of a sudden.

"You! Enchantment? Vile! ”

"What do you think that incense is for? This time you should be aware of the current situation, right? Are you going to go back on your own, or are you going to let me send you back? ”

This time, the woman stopped talking. Instead, she wept miserably. But that didn't make the listeners more creepy, but it made them begin to dim, and they seemed to have a kind of sadness like tears. As if telling a story, the woman's crying spreads her grief and her grief into the air that people breathe.

The traveler said nothing more, and let the woman's weeping grow more and more miserable. People will control their own will because of their feelings.

"I know why you're crying. Just make you feel better when you leave. ”

As he spoke, the traveler called out to the village chief who was standing in front of him.

"Mr. Village Chief, at this time, you should tell you what you haven't let everyone know! People always have to have a little conscience! I'm sure you're not feeling very good right now! ”

Together, everyone focused their attention on the village chief again.

The village chief slowly took a few steps forward, and then knelt on the ground.

This land, as the village chief said, is an area where water has been scarce for many years. A hundred years ago, however, this was not the case. At that time, the situation was the opposite. At that time, other villages had good weather every year, but this village suffered from drought every year. There are also people who often die of thirst.

Later, a monk traveled to the village. When he learned about the situation here, he secretly told the village chief at the time such a thing.

"This well in this village is a magical ancient well. It can concentrate all the water of the land into its ground. ”

The village chief at the time was really excited when he heard this. So he pestered the monk to tell him how to make the well magical. However, when the monk said the solution, the village chief at the time was silent. Because the monk's method was to find a boy to sacrifice the well alive.

That's definitely something that no one can accept. However, when the village chief is once again confronted with the villagers who are going crazy because of the drought, he secretly makes a decision that makes his heart ache. He was to sacrifice his six-year-old grandson to the well.

It was spring, and there was water in that well.

Finally, on a full moon night, the village chief secretly took out his sleeping grandson, came to the well, and threw his grandson down.

The next day, the body of the village chief's grandson was found in the well. Everyone was discussing this as if they had exploded. And at this moment, the daughter-in-law, who learned that her son had drowned in the well, suddenly rushed to the well like a mad man, and jumped into it all at once. This is something that no one expected. When everyone struggled to carry the village chief's daughter-in-law up from the well, they found that she had lost her breath.

Since then, as the monk said, the well has really started to become magical. Other villages began to suffer in the summer.

Later, due to the war, many people in the village fled. Only a few old people who still had some impressions of the events of that time remained. When it settled down again, many people moved into the village. But at that time, the old men only told the new village chief about it, and then they all died.

Later, the new village chief told the current village chief about the incident. Then, only at this time, did the village chief kneel on the ground and tell the whole village about it.

At this time, after listening to what the village chief said, everyone knew who the mother and son were facing away from them.

After a moment of silence, the people began to slowly kneel on the ground one by one. It was a tacit move. No one looks at what others do, and no one looks at whether others see how they do it.

"At this time, do you want to say something? Although their apologies at this time will not save you and your son's lives. But it is a blessing to you from the depths of their souls. This world is not absolute for you, and you will come back sooner or later. Know that the tolerance given by the soul is the most precious thing for human beings. ”

The traveler's voice was still so flat, but the listeners reflected their own tears. That's the light they shine because of their affection for the mother and son.

The woman's crying voice began to weaken, and when people looked up at her back again, they could no longer see anything. On the edge of the well, only the traveler who was still smoking a cigarette and the little boy who had lost his eyes remained.

"Let's take this as a reward!" The traveler carefully wrapped the boy's completely dry eyeballs and placed them in his suitcase.

"Is that really all there is?" It was not the village chief, but the widow who rushed forward and asked the question.

"Yes, that's enough! Also, don't let the child bring any eye patches later. Just make your bangs longer and block his left eye! ”

"Then you..."

"It's okay! My bangs are long enough to cover my right eye! ”

"Thank you, thank you! Thank you really ......"

The traveler smiled and waved at the villagers, then turned and stepped into the path leading to the sky with the box in his hand.