A little earlier.

At this time, Kamiyagawa had not yet arrived near Hibikiyama, and even Onizuka Kirita was still on the plane to Osaka.

Ringing in the mountains.

The sky seemed to be bright before dawn.

The mountains and forests in the early morning are like the edge of the world, the dark night has not completely receded, and the hazy dawn is quietly falling. Between the mountains and forests, there is silence, only the breeze quietly shuttles between the treetops, blowing the leaves to make a rustling sound.

The giant trees are towering, and the dense branches and leaves are intertwined overhead, forming a huge dark green barrier, blocking everything from the outside world.

In the darkness of the forest, a figure was standing.

The man wore a three-coloured face, and was dressed in a peculiar garment, a black silk robe that reached the knee in a straight shape, with a bright silk trim at the neckline and a hem stitched together.

The official uniform of the ancient Japanese civil official, sewn armpit robes.

A faint morning light shines through the dense foliage, and dappled shadows jump on the ground. The shadow of the strangely masked man blended with the shadows on the ground, but thicker than the shadows of the trees.

Even though the shadow of the tree was shaken by the wind, his shadow remained unmoved, as if embedded in the ground.

His shadow can be seen with three long black spikes nailed to it.

One on the head and two on the left and right arms.

I don't know how long it took, but the nail nailed to the shadow of the head made a rustling sound and squirmed from the ground, as if it had been pulled up by some invisible force.

Then, the remaining two nails shook violently.

At this time, the masked man's body finally twisted twice, proving that he was still a living thing.

"Princess, I didn't expect you to appear here, so it's time for you to show up, right?"

He spoke, his voice rippling through the air, rough and harsh like sandpaper.

There was no response at first, but after about two minutes, a white figure swayed out from not far away.

The figure looked much more vivid than the masked man, a young woman.

Her long hair was draped in front of her, so she couldn't see her face, but her figure under the white clothes was graceful. The visitor was armed with an iron hammer and wore a cast iron ring, with three candles burning with blue light inserted into the iron ring, and a bronze mirror hanging on his chest to reflect the candlelight. With his feet on his single-toothed clogs, he seemed to have something in his mouth and whispered.

"Porphyry."

The young woman's bright red lips opened slightly, and the flexible red tongue behind the white teeth pulsed, and she actually pushed out a long black nail stained with crystal salivation.

The nail fell from her mouth and was caught by her empty hand.

Such an image is somewhat similar to the character "Double One" in the work of the well-known horror manga artist Ito-sensei.

No, it is better to say that this woman is the prototype of the image of "double one".

She is the Ugly Time Ginseng, also known as the Daughter of the Ugly Time.

"Don't you let me go? Princess. ”

"You can break free yourself, right? Or maybe you've already broken free, waiting for me to get closer. Ugly Shishen gently wiped the saliva on the nails in his palms with his whitish fingertips.

"Huh." The masked man was noncommittal, "Why did you save those two girls?" Does the princess know them? ”

"I don't know, I just don't want you to get my wish. And, didn't you just get what you wanted? Whether those two girls are dead or alive has no effect on you. ”

"You're still the same as before, too merciful."

"Huh." This time, when it was Ughou's turn, he smiled in return, "Not really, for example, I'm not the little girl who is helpless because of the loss of my father, so I'm not as easy to deceive as before." ”

"You seem to be hostile to me."

"Isn't it obvious? Looks like I'm too restrained. ”

"Probably not. Takihime, you should know that I do all these things for your father. It was good before, and it's good now. ”

"I would have believed you before. Also, I'm not called that anymore, and I'm not a princess. I'm here now as a soul slayer. Ugly Shi Shen lifted some of the nails in his hand and aimed them at the masked man in the distance.

"Whether you admit it or not, you are the Takiyasha who almost overthrew Kyoto and terrified the world."

"However, it was not you who controlled everything behind the scenes, almost overthrew Kyoto, and was finally killed like a lost dog, isn't it actually you, Lord Koyo?"

"Huh."

"Huh."

"The princess provoked me, did she still want to fight me?"

"No, I don't want to." The ugly shogun put down the nail he had raised again, "You snatched it from me, and the 'curse' of the god of your ship is more than I expected. ”

The man known as King Xingshi did not argue anything, but asked in a relaxed tone: "You see that?" ”

"As I said, I'm not as easy to deceive as I used to be. When you lied to me to be ugly, you thought about this, right? ”

"Takihime, you and I have been asleep for a thousand years after the last failure, and now we have woken up one after another. We've all become weak, but now is the opportunity. We are the only ones of our kind in this world, and you should be with me. Your father is the emperor, even if he dies, he is still the emperor, let's wake him up, with the help of your father's ghost majesty, let him be the ruler of the ghost, I will continue to be his guanbai, you are still a princess. Isn't that bad? ”

"Not good. You're a lunatic, you were and you are. I won't work with you again. ”

"Takihime, aren't you crazy? Otherwise, why would you be in the time of the devil? Ahh ”

"Of course I've gone crazy for a long time. A thousand years ago, I listened to your nonsense and tried to resurrect my father and went crazy the moment. However, I have other things to do now. So, I'm not at all interested in your Goblin Dynasty project. By the way, don't think that when you meet the devil, you have been on your side. At that time, he probably wished you were dead. ”

"I'm not alive anymore, Princess. Of course, you are not. We have the power of the gods. ”

"Huh."

Ugly Shi Shen shook the hammer in his hand.

God?

Kifune Myojin, a god who has sent curses.

"Say whatever you want, so be it. Keep up the good work for your ghost Guan Bai dream, goodbye, Guan Bai. Ugly Shishen glanced at King Xingshi again playfully.

Then, the white-clothed figure covered in the faint candlelight turned and disappeared into the half-light and half-dark dense forest.

In the mountains and forests, only King Xingshi was left.

The shadow beneath him instantly became thicker in color, wriggling in the shade of a tree, and the two black nails that were still nailed to the left and right arms of the shadow were shaken apart without much effort.

"Princess...... I've borrowed the power of the gods for you. Why don't you know how to be grateful to me as a loyal courtier? However, it doesn't matter without your help. What I have received from you, the 'curse' of the god of your ship, is much more than you can imagine now. ”

King Xingshi's tone was hoarse and gloomy, and the shadow beneath him writhed like a poisonous snake in the silhouette of light and shadow in the morning light.

……

Kamiyagawa arrives at the police station in Hibikiyama.

And successfully saw Onizuka Kirita here.

"Again?"

Ms. Sugita, who was in charge of this side, also came out to greet her, but she only knew that Juqiong's Miko was coming.

For this later young man, I don't know who he really is.

Before Kamiya could speak, the little witch snorted lightly: "He is a disciple of the ghost god." ”

"Ah, Mr. Kamiya? Are you Mr. Kamiya? ”

Ms. Sugida reacted quickly.

Sure enough, the name of the ghost god disciple Kamiyagawa was already very loud in the soul slayer industry.

As for Ms. Sugida, there was a group of valley rings at the Xiangshan Echo Festival celebration, and it was enough for her to panic when Juqiong Shenzi came over.

Unexpectedly, this hot ghost and god disciple also appeared.

This one is even more heavyweight.

What happened on Xiangshan's side, does it need to alarm two such characters to appear together?

Ms. Sugida began to realize the seriousness of the situation.

"How's it going?"

Kamiyagawa nodded at Ms. Sugida and asked Onizuka again.

On the phone just now, he only roughly knew that the resentful spirit Fang Xiang might have appeared in Xiangshan last night.

The little shrine maiden handed Kamiya the notes she had just made, and gave a general account of what happened to the Shinagawa sisters.

"What about the mother and daughter of the Shinagawa family now?"

"I'm still in the police station, I don't plan to let them leave for the time being, and I've arranged for a few other soul exorcists here in Kyoto to stay with me."

"Okay, Uncle Chengcheng has also sent someone over, it is estimated that he will be there at the latest in the evening, we will go to Xiangshan first to see what clues there are."

Kamiyagawa made a quick decision.

Onizuka did not object to his judgment either, and the moment he arrived, he tacitly handed over the leadership to him.

……

Because of what happened last night, the festival venue on Xiangshan has been cleared, and a cordon has been set up at the scene.

However, the booths, the stage, and the illuminations and colored paper of last night's celebration are still left at the scene.

The excitement has gone through the riots, and only a mess remains.

With their feet on the colored paper, Kamiya and Onizuka, led by Ms. Sugida, began to climb up the slender mountain path of Hibikiyama.

"Did anything ever happen in Hibiki Mountain? Maybe those valley rings produce something related. ”

Kamiya and Onizuka are both experienced investigators, and while they are heading for their destination halfway up the mountain, they grasp the point and talk to Ms. Sugita, who is in charge of the area.

Now it's time to peel back the roots.

Although the most important object is the one who wears the resentful spirit and seems to be the time of the demon, the first thing to understand is why that person appeared at the ritual celebration of the Echo Festival, and what he wanted from the group of valley sounds.

Anyway, according to the Shinagawa sisters' story, the feeling of Kamiya and Onizuka is-

The masked man seemed to be heading towards the valley.

"The valley sounds...... Related to the Echo Festival, there are some rumors in the Xiangshan area. For the record, though, that was a long time ago. Lady Sugida seemed to have some difficulty speaking, but she didn't dare to hide in front of the two big people who came down from above, "That is, the echo festival on the side of the sound seems to be accompanied by a living sacrifice when it was first formed. ”

"A living sacrifice?"

"Yes, the rocks halfway up Mt. Hibiki are places to make wishes to the gods. When there is a famine and there is a shortage of food, or a prolonged drought and a lack of water, people can simply go up and shout to send their wishes to the gods. ”

Generally speaking, an echo refers to one's own voice, no matter what mountain it is.

To insist on being a god's response is somewhat reluctant.

So, in order for the gods to listen to their wishes, something should be necessary.

Sacrifice.

Ms. Sugida: "When we came from Kyoto last night, our people there temporarily checked some materials on Hibikiyama. Found some vague, vague and vague ancient records related to sacrifices. ”

Human sacrifice is an incomprehensible custom in modern society.

But a long, long time ago, in a time when it was still wild, it may not be so unusual.

It is possible that you can find some of the materials of the old era that have been preserved in many parts of Japan.

Lady Sugita: "Combined with the valley noises that appeared last night, I think they may be the undead who were chosen as sacrifices in the old days." ”

Sounds coming from below the cliffs.

A god who grants wishes.

Sacrifices that were pushed off the cliff.

It is also unknown whether those who died under the cliff in the old era really believed that their death would bring happiness to other individuals. And their will and will remain at the bottom, and over the years, more people's "wishes" have fallen......

That's probably the reason for the formation of the valley rings.

Onizuka remembered the conversation with the Shinagawa sisters just now, and Shinagawa's sister Misako finally added that she seemed to hear the sound of the valley climbing up from the bottom of the cliff, and a large number of mouths opened and closed, all repeating and whispering: "Please, please......"

So, those valley rings are probably responding to the wishes of the wishers in their own way.

Of course, Onizuka doesn't think that those undead monsters can fulfill people's wishes.

It may just be a desperate and mechanical response.

As the three of them continued to climb the stairs, Ms. Sugida added, "But the custom of living sacrifices must have been abolished a long time ago. The current Echo Festival is just a part of shouting your wishes on the rocks. Moreover, there had never been a glen sound here before. ”

"Never showed up? Could it be that Chenshi somehow inspired those resentful spirits? Then the plan was inadvertently shattered by the girl named Misako Shinagawa. ”

Kamiya speculated in his heart.

"Grievance, Achuan." Onizuka on the side thought for a while, and gently touched Kamiyagawa with his elbow.

"Huh?"

"Misako's inspiration seems to be very high, and she said that she felt a strong resentment in Hibiki Valley."

If those valley rings were really the sacrifices of the past, it was normal to carry resentment.

"Resentment......" Kamiya thought again.

Kohata Himetsuki, who married into the Kohata family, has a very heavy resentment on her body, which is so heavy that she gives birth to a doppelganger.

The valley under the cliff of Xiangshan Mountain, those undead who died for the wishes of others, also carried extremely heavy resentment.

Also, one of the four great resentful spirits in Japan, Heishomon.

A resentful spirit that is affected by resentment and mutates.

All of these recent events cannot be avoided from "resentment".

What do you want to do?

Collect grievances?