On the highest slope of the village, there is a carefully treated flat land that connects with the mountain forest behind it, about fifty meters of vertical distance from the village on the plain below.

The hillside and the village are connected by a straight ramp, and at a distance of fifty meters, there are five hundred steps even if it is a step of ten centimeters. Therefore, it looks like a ladder to the sky, and whether viewed from below or above, it seems to have no end, and it looks extraordinarily long.

The stone staircase is made of good rock, which is hundreds of years old and is full of traces of the passage of time. At the end of the stone staircase is a huge torii gate, a Japanese-style structure similar to a Chinese torii that is permanently located on the avenue leading to the shrine or at the wooden fence around the shrine. It is mainly used to distinguish the divine realm from the secular realm inhabited by humans, and it is regarded as a kind of enchantment, representing the entrance to the divine realm, which can be regarded as a kind of "door".

Enter the dark-colored torii gate and walk along the avenue to the main hall of the shrine. Compared to the shrine where Kikyo once stood, this shrine is much larger. In addition to the main hall with a complete structure, there are also worship platforms and huts for shrine shrine maidens on the sides and at the back.

Although the sparrow is small, it has all kinds of organs. Generally speaking, there are only two reasons why such a medium-sized village can have such a formal shrine. One is that there are many shrines and priests at this shrine, so the size is not proportional to the size of the village. There is also a shrine maiden or priest stationed at this shrine, although the number is small, but it has strong spiritual power.

And this shrine is not this village, but several, dozens of nearby villages jointly built. It highlights the importance of maintaining the piety of the shrine in this era, even if people live in dire straits and suffer from war.

Because in this era, the shrine was not only a symbol of protecting the land, but also a shrine maiden or priest stationed in the shrine. It is also a spiritual pillar that removes monsters, treats diseases, and soothes people's hearts. As long as the shrine is still there, no matter what kind of suffering and torture the villagers encounter, they will have the confidence to support it, because they have a spiritual support.

By this time, it was close to dusk, the sun was setting in the west, and the afterglow was shining down from the distant mountain peaks, shining right on the stone staircase and torii gate of the shrine. This time. It's time for dinner. However, there was no movement at this medium-sized shrine, and at the top of the stone staircase, at the entrance to the torii, stood a young girl dressed in a red and white shrine maiden costume. It can be seen that the second reason for the size of this shrine is that it is so large.

The shrine maidens stationed at this shrine have very powerful spiritual powers.

The shrine maiden standing in front of the torii gate is about twenty years old, wearing a white shirt and red culottes. However, unlike Kikyo's shrine maiden costume, his blouse is not tucked into the waistband of his trousers, but is scattered outside. On his feet, he is similar to a bellflower, wearing white socks and herringbone straw sandals.

The face of the shrine maiden is very delicate and simple. With a smell of dust. He has long black hair with a middle part, and the bangs in front of his forehead are not very dense, and a smooth forehead can be seen. The eyebrows were very thin, like a pair of curved crescents. Below, there are two star-like eyes, deep black pain. Reflecting the sunset, it exudes a sense of solemnity.

Her facial features were very delicate, her skin was fair, and she emitted a faint fluorescence, which was a testament to the huge spiritual power she possessed. The cheeks are a little plump without powder, but they don't feel fat, but very upright. If the bellflower is the valley orchid, Zhong Lingyu is beautiful, out of the mud but not stained. Then this shrine maiden is a delicately constructed work of art, not exposed to earthly rendering and filth, but a lily on a high mountain.

This witch who is both temperamental and appearance is enough to fight with the bellflower.,With a lot of ornaments on her body.。 Each accessory has a powerful spiritual power fluctuation, which is obviously very extraordinary.

In her right hand, she held a tower-shaped golden hand decorated with bells, apparently a shrine maiden who excelled in spells.

At this time, this dusty witch was facing the afterglow of the setting sun, looking down on the village below, and in the middle of the village, there was a burst of children's songs, and a faint sadness emanated from the depths of her deep eyes.

Suddenly, to the children's songs, the shrine maiden began to hum softly.

"Bamboo ...... Cage-eyed, bamboo... Cage-eyed ...... The birds in the cage ......"

The voice was graceful and moving, but it revealed a sense of loneliness and melancholy, and gradually, the voice of the witch overlapped with another voice in her head. Accompanied by nursery rhymes, I fell into the memories of the past.

Yes, it was fifteen years ago, the last day she spent as an ordinary girl, and it was also the day when her fate turned and she lost her only relative, her grandfather.

"The crane and the turtle slipped...... Directly behind...... Who is ......?"

A girl who is still a child, wearing a shrine maiden costume, squatting on the ground with her eyes covered, surrounded by a group of children of the same age holding hands, singing the ballad of "Bamboo Cage-eye". This is a kind of guessing game in Japanese folklore, where children sing "bamboo cage eyes" while spinning in circles, and the last "ghost" has to guess who is directly behind them.

The song stopped with the sound of "who is it?", and the powerful shrine maiden was able to sense who the person standing behind her was not through her voice, but just through her intuition.

"Little three!"

The little witch stood up directly and shouted behind her without hesitation.

However, at that moment, the aura changed.

Standing there in place of his friend Mistress was a mysterious man wearing a red coat and full of silver hair. The other children scattered in fear and stood aside, trembling at the strange man who had suddenly broken into their game.

"Who are you?"

From this strange person, the little witch instinctively felt a very nasty aura that made her want to stay away from this person.

"You're Hitomi, aren't you? My name is Inuyasha, and I'm the big brother who came to play with you! ”

"Want to play with me?"

After listening to the other party's words, the naïve Hitomi also suppressed her instinctive disgust, after all, she was a child, and she was still happy to hear that someone was willing to play with her.

When the big silver-haired brother named Inuyasha smiled and stretched out his hand to him, Hitomi was still smiling sweetly and was about to reach for it. At this moment, from the shrine on the stone staircase behind, an elderly priest had already run down in a panic with a golden hand.

"Hitomi, run away, that guy is a youkai!"

The old priest hurriedly ran behind Hitomi, and before he could calm his breath, he aimed his hand at Inuyasha. Swing it vigorously and chant the incantation in your mouth.

"Divine power. Flame! ”

A fire-based spell with a powerful evil-destroying effect was cast from the old priest's hand, and with the help of the golden hand-holding spell, a spiritual fire was shot at Inuyasha.

Rumble!

The pure white flames hit Inuyasha fiercely, but unfortunately it had no effect, but was dispelled by Inuyasha's own evil energy. Feeling the painless attack on his body, Inuyasha let out a disdainful sneer.

"Hmph, it's ridiculous that this level of spiritual power actually wants to deal with me!"

As soon as the words fell. He raised his right hand, and aimed his palm at the old priest and sent out a demonic aura. The blue-purple demonic aura was full of evil aura, and it slammed into the old priest's body, knocking him out of the air.

"Grandpa, grandpa!"

Seeing her only relative, her beloved grandfather being knocked to the ground by a youkai, Hitoko finally recovered from her fear, wisely revoked the enchantment, and turned around and ran to her grandfather's side. Look at him worriedly.

The old priest couldn't answer, his old body had been invaded by evil qi in the blow of Inuyasha just now, destroying the last trace of life, and he didn't die on the spot. Thanks to the magic weapon in his hand, some of the evil qi was neutralized.

"Hum Hum Hum ......"

Seeing that Hitomi actually took the initiative to revoke the barrier that was in the way, Inuyasha sneered and walked towards her.

At this time, Hitomiko, who is in crisis, finally shows her terrifying talent. In that moment. Her index and middle fingers carved a pentagram in the air, and her mouth recited a demonic spell she had occasionally seen in books.

"The evil spirits are scattered!"

The huge spiritual power was channeled out along the circle carved by her fingers. Following the spell language, a huge aura was formed, and with the enchantment looming in the air, it struck at the approaching Inuyasha.

Rumble!

This time, the attack of the aura was much more powerful than the attack made by the old priest with the help of the golden magic weapon, and the huge spiritual power wrapped Inuyasha's body almost instantly, and the evil spirit-destroying spiritual power contained in it instantly burned his body to ashes.

"Destroy it, no, I didn't expect such a powerful monster to be just a clone! The body of this youkai."

At this time, the old priest, who had regained a little strength, was finally able to speak. His eyes had turned completely black, and he couldn't even stand up and move his fingers.

"Grandpa, cheer up!"

Hearing his grandfather's voice, the little pupil quickly turned around, knelt beside the old priest again, and said worriedly.

The old priest, who realized that his life was about to die, began to explain the aftermath to his granddaughter.

"Hitomiko, your spiritual power is on par with the shrine maiden Kikyo-sama who died decades ago, and those ghosts, demons and monsters want to take your life so that a second Kikyo will not appear! So you can't slack off......"

"Grandpa!"

"You can only fight, just like Kikyo-sama! It's a pity, if only I could protect you until you're old enough to protect yourself! That way, I can leave with peace of mind! However, now you can't cope with the trapping of the ubiquitous monsters! ”

"Grandpa!" Little Hitomi couldn't help but shout again.

"So, let's go to the Heavenly Demon Castle, which is a sacred place where humans and youkai coexist, and there are many powerful shrine maidens guarding it, and no youkai dares to go wild in that place. Let's grow up well, until you have enough strength to return here to protect the people of this land, so that grandpa can rest assured. ”

After saying this, the old priest who returned to the light used his most strength to hand over the golden magic weapon in his right hand to the little pupil, tilted his head, and finally stopped breathing. Only the mournful wail of the little pupil echoed in the dusk.

"Grandpa......" (To be continued......

PS: Without a follow-up, this chapter will look more abrupt. But there's nothing left to write about the Grim Reaper.,I won't make up the word count anymore.,The hole will be filled in later.,The content of the text begins to return to Inuyasha.。