Chapter 16:15

  November 5th, Autumn Grand Festival of Ontakesan Shrine.

  Mount Ontake in November is surprisingly beautiful.

  The open-minded man seemed to be admiring this beautiful green mountain for the first time. Only now the green mountain was wearing a red dress.

  Cheng Chou has seen many beautiful landscapes in China, he always thought that there is no country in the world that can surpass China's beauty, and at the same time, he also believed that there is no nation in the world whose people can destroy natural scenery more than the Chinese.

  It's not clear if Japan has already gone through the process of being punished for destroying nature, but here, in this mountain, he can't see any trash that destroys the scenery, can't see mountains with half-cut and patchy faces, can't hear the rumbling sounds of machinery, and can't see treeless and barren mountain tops.

  Here there are only flowers, grass, trees, mountains, rocks, streams... fragrant soil and clear waterfalls.

  "Young man, things are not as good as they seem." The old man walking beside him seemed to know what he was thinking and sighed lightly.

  "Is it?" Cheng Zhou looked at the old man beside him.

  This is an old man in his seventies or eighties with white hair, wearing traditional plain clothes and wooden clogs on his feet. Although he is advanced in years, he looks very spirited.

  The old man is a friend of Cheng Zhou's who was just made at the hospital this morning. And as soon as he thinks about it, he gets furious!

  In the morning, he also wanted to go with everyone to participate in the autumn festival of Oyama Shrine, but no matter how he said it, the doctor just didn't believe that he had recovered to the point where he could get out of bed and walk. Even though he got out of bed and walked a few laps in front of the doctor, he was still prohibited from leaving the hospital, and finally only approved for him to take a stroll within the hospital.

  And his ruthless and unfilial "son", who was originally making a fuss about going to see the excitement with him, as soon as he learned that he could not leave the hospital temporarily, immediately abandoned this seriously ill "old father" of his and followed Xiu Ming to run. Leaving his old father lying alone on the hospital bed, bored to death.

  A bored person always has to find something to do. He decided to get out of bed and take a walk in the garden, where he ran into an old man who was also out for a stroll.

  The old man was initially startled when he saw him, leaving Cheng Zhou bewildered for a while.

  Later, the old man seemed to see that Seitaro had no intention of harming him and expressed his only wish was to go to the shrine to see the autumn festival.

  Chengzhou saw that the other family was so big and old, he got a sudden fever in his brain and came to Mt. Yushan with the old man together.

  The old man pointed to the observation deck cafeteria next to them and said, "This mountain has also experienced torture and trauma. The convenient modern facilities that people enjoy today have come at a great cost to this mountain. Look at this observation deck cafeteria, it was built by flattening a small peak."

  Chengzhou followed the old man's finger and listened to his explanation along the way.

  "...back then, everyone was focused on economic development and neglected everything else. As a result...now we're spending a lot of money to restore the environment, but fortunately, after many years of effort, there have been some achievements. Now, anything related to wood, minerals, oil, and other domestic environmental resources, we all import from abroad. Hehe, do you think our country's people are very bad when I say this?" The old man asked with a smile.

  Chengzhou listened but didn't understand, "You're very familiar with this place?" Chengzhou guessed from the old man's expression.

  The old man smiled and shifted the topic along with Cheng Zhou's inquiry: "I was born and raised here, went to the capital for work when I was young, and could hardly come back once a year. Later, after I retired, I would come to this mountain every year to live for a while, until I got sick and stayed in the comprehensive hospital at the foot of the mountain..."

  Older people often like to talk about past events, and once they start, they become garrulous and go on and on.

  Seijuro made an effort to be a good listener for the old man while following behind him towards the shrine.

  In fact, he was not unfamiliar with this road, but seeing the old man wanting to show off his memory, Cheng Zhou decided to pretend that today was his first time going to the shrine.

  The closer to the shrine, the more tourists there are. In contrast to the tranquility of previous days, Mt. Ontake is bustling with excitement today. Apart from tourists, you can also see one small stall after another along the way.

  We've arrived at the place where I first met Komohada. If we go a bit further, we should be able to see the shrine's staircase.

  "That's strange." The old man suddenly stopped in his tracks.

  "What's wrong?"

  "I remember there should be an ancient milestone by this road, but I haven't seen it as we walked along." The old man turned his head to look around.

  "What's a seal stone?" Cheng Zhou looked bewildered.

  "A seal." The old man explained.

  This time Chengzhou didn't even know which Chinese character to use for the pronunciation of the seal. However, to save trouble, he made a gesture as if he understood and nodded.

  "Are you mistaken? Maybe it's not on this side." Cheng Zhou didn't understand why the old man attached so much importance to a piece of stone, just like he couldn't understand why passersby kept stealing glances at him, especially children.

  "No, it's impossible. Don't you see that giant sacred tree? It's about three hundred meters ahead of us, you should be able to see it." The old man raised his cane and pointed forward.

  Really, in the direction the old man pointed, there was a large tree with a very strange shape. The trunk was twisted and intersecting, and on the trunk grew several small trees... anyway, those didn't look like branches of a big tree.

  Wait! That's not right. I remember there should be stone steps here.

  "Is it a shrine further ahead?" Cheng Zhou asked with certainty.

  The old man nodded, recalling as he spoke: "Qīng Shí is 250 meters away from the Divine Tree. I remember the elderly saying that this number was to allow the Divine Tree to guard Qīng Shí while avoiding being harmed by its power. The person sealed inside has an extremely fearsome legend; even when sealed, they can still exert their power."

  The ancient people, fearing its power, wanted to make future generations forget it, so they built the shrine on top of the sacred tree, which is also the mountain peak. The shrine was mainly used to worship the warriors of olden times, and interestingly, its stone steps happened to have exactly 250 steps. Since the construction of the shrine, later people indeed gradually forgot about the sealed stone, only knowing of the existence of the shrine.

  The old man said a lot, but Seijuro only understood about 30-40%. He thought the old man was probably telling him about the history of the shrine.

  As he walked past the giant sacred tree, Cheng Chou was tripped by a root that protruded from the ground.

  The old man looked at him with a genuine smile and said, "Young man, the divine tree seems to like you."

  "What?" Is this also called liking?

  "I feel it's smiling at you..." The old man lifted his head.

  How can I not feel it?

  Ah, I see it! That... should be the stone steps of the shrine.

  But has this shrine been rebuilt in these two days? How can the stone steps and their length have changed completely? Even the location is not right.

  Chengzhou scratched his head, unable to think of a solution.

  "Young man, I'm waiting for you here, waiting for you to come down from above." The old man's hand rested on the trunk of the divine tree as if he didn't want to leave.

  "Okay, I'll go up and take a look, and come back down later."

  Cheng Chou guessed that the old man probably couldn't handle the long stone steps, so he didn't force himself and crossed over the stone steps in front of the random god gate alone.

  When he climbed up the long stairs and came to the platform in front of the shrine, the man was completely stunned.

  What a magnificent shrine! What a spacious plaza! In short, it doesn't look like the small shrine he remembered at all.

  What's going on here? Are there two shrines or something?

  The man stood with his mouth agape, wandering around in the crowd like a fool.

  From the worship hall to the offering hall, from the offering hall to the main shrine of the god, he strolled along and roughly understood this shrine.

  According to the introduction board in front of the shrine, it is said that the shrine was built in the era of Emperor Sujin around 90 BC and was mainly used for worshiping mountain gods and famous samurai during the Kamakura period. It was also believed to bring longevity, prosperity, and protection from evil spirits. Later, it was rebuilt by the Tokugawa shogunate and transformed into its current three-hall structure.

  Strange, he must have walked this road countless times when looking for the child, how could he not have seen that there was such a large shrine here? Could it be that his eyes really had a problem?

  Chengzhou was perplexed and couldn't figure it out, so he made up his mind to carefully examine his eyes and brain in detail.

  Not wanting the old man to wait too long, after a cursory visit to the shrine, Cheng Chou immediately headed back in the direction they came from.

  He originally thought he might run into Xiū Míng and the others, but looking at this sea of people, it's not like there are fewer people than on a Chinese holiday in an open square.

  At the moment, this square is filled with piles of tourists, people in charge of worship, and gods participating in worship performances, plus many vendors. So many people have crowded a large square that can accommodate thousands of people to the point where it's hard to move. Walking can only be done slowly and laboriously. Therefore, along the way, he didn't see Xiù Míng and others, and Chéng Zhōu didn't think there was anything strange about it.

  "Chengzhou! Chengzhou!" Someone in the crowd was calling his name.

  Chengzhou walked down the stairs as if he hadn't heard anything at all.

  "Cheng Zhou!" It was Xiū Míng and them.

  The child was the first to spot Cheng Chou. As soon as he appeared, the child immediately pulled Xiu Ming and ran towards him. However, the tourists and scenery seemed to be deliberately blocking their way, no matter how they chased, they couldn't shorten the distance between them and Cheng Chou. Even their voices couldn't reach him.

  "Hum! You damned tree spirit, what are you up to again? The little kid's eyes blazed with fury as he stood with his hands on his hips. Unfortunately, his power had only awakened a tiny bit, so much so that he couldn't even break through this small tree spirit's minor tricks."

  It's suffocating me!

  Chengzhou walked down to the stone steps and saw that the old man was still waiting for him under the divine tree, so he hurriedly ran over.

  "Sorry to keep you waiting."

  Other tourists resting by the divine tree looked up and stared at Cheng Chou in surprise.

  "Yes... I have been waiting for a long time, waiting for this day to come." The old man said with a sigh of relief.

  "I'm really sorry, I didn't think that shrine was different from the one I saw before. Do you know if there's another shrine around here? It's a small one, also with stone steps, and two stone dogs in front of it." Cheng Chou thought the old man was blaming him for taking too long, so he hastily explained with gestures.

  "Thank you, sir, the Onmyodo master from Huaxia." The old man said with a smile as he looked at Cheng Chou.

  "Thank me? For what?" Cheng Zhou was once again perplexed, and the three words "Onmyodo Master" in the second half of the sentence he completely did not understand.

  "Thank you for taking me out of the hospital, thank you for bringing me into this mountain, thank you for bringing me here, thank you... broad-minded."

  Chengzhou smiled awkwardly and scratched his forehead, feeling a bit embarrassed. "It's nothing, anyway it's not far. Whoever you ask to bring you here can do so."

  The old man shook his head and smiled, "You know, I've been waiting in that hospital for ten years, and it took ten years for someone to be able to see me, take me out of the hospital, and bring me into the mountains under the bright sun. And when I saw you this morning, I thought you would directly destroy my soul just like those souls that suddenly disappeared in the hospital, but unexpectedly..."

  Chengzhou struggled to digest the meaning of the old man's words, and when he had digested about half of it, his scalp began to tingle. At that moment, he saw...he saw the old man's hand stroking the tree trunk gradually fading away, as if...

  Waaah! Who can tell me if I've encountered a ghost again? He wouldn't want to suck out my yang energy too, would he?!

  Although it doesn't look like it, but... being careful can make a boat sail for ten thousand years, he still wants to live several decades more.

  Cheng Lao Xiong thought he was being cautious and quietly took a step back.

  The old man was amused by Cheng Chou's exaggerated attitude. As he laughed, his arm stroking the tree trunk also merged with the air.

  "Onmyouji-sama, the shrine you spoke of was probably built a very long time ago for the sacred tree. The original sacred tree withered and died from the power of the sealstone, and the shrine collapsed as well." With each word, the old man's body grew fainter.

  Cheng Zhou was stunned by the strange phenomenon in front of him, and he didn't have the energy to understand the meaning behind the old man's words. He just looked at the old man thinking: I wonder how high the danger level is for this seemingly kind-looking old ghost? Will he suddenly change his face and pounce on him? But with so many tourists around, there should be one or two who feel something is off and lend a hand to help him, right?

  Thinking of this, he felt more at ease.

  Later, a person with magical powers planted another divine tree to replace the original one, but the rebuilt shrine was said to have hidden the divine tree, so as not to let the person inside the sealed stone discover and destroy it. However...

  "Dad——!" The child's voice. The child, as if seeing a real relative, cheered and rushed directly from the steps to Chengzhou.

  "You're here...... everything is......"

  "Look out!" Cheng Zhou didn't have time to see what the old man was saying, and he quickly shifted his body to catch the child who was rushing towards him.

  The child's pounce was quite powerful, and Cheng Yun stumbled backward five or six steps while catching the child, just exiting the range of the divine tree's shade.

  "How did you end up here? Didn't the doctor say you couldn't leave the hospital yet? What if you faint halfway and can't get back? Does the doctor know you ran out?" The little boy stood firmly on his feet, and immediately bombarded his ears with a barrage of questions.

  "Have you seen... that...?" Cheng Zhou stretched out his hand to point at the divine tree, but when he saw the old man's shadow was gone, he immediately withdrew his finger and changed his attitude. "I just wanted to go out and play, is that not allowed?!"

  "Shut up, you big-headed ghost! Tell me, why didn't you respond when I called you just now?" The kid knew the reason but was being unreasonable.

  "With so many people around, how am I supposed to know you're calling me? I didn't even see you, nor did I hear your voice. And is this the tone a child should use when speaking to an adult?" Cheng Zhou also stood up straight.

  You little brat, how dare you scold me? You're so fierce, where's the dignity of this father of yours? You're not giving me any face.

  "What kind of adult are you? Oh... I get it, you're not an adult at all, you're an old man, so old that your ears and eyes are all bad!" The little devil puffed himself up, his voice five times louder than Cheng Zhou's, and his attitude ten times more ferocious.

  "You! You little stinker!" Cheng Zhou was about to blow his top. No wonder his parents would abandon this kid, such a despicable little devil that nobody wants!

  Passersby didn't know what had happened between the big and small ones, although they were curious, but for safety's sake, they all avoided them.

  "Hey, who were you just talking to?" The kid looked at the divine tree with a smug expression, his eyes gleaming with malice.

  Ah, Cheng Zhou slapped his palm and suddenly realized. He was asked by the little ghost, he understood why many people were stealing glances at him on the way just now. It's possible that in their eyes, he seemed to be talking to the air all the time back then.

  Ugh... probably 90% of people would think I'm crazy.

  "Hey, I'm asking you... Daddy, I want to eat roasted corn on the cob." The child's voice changed in an instant from fierce to soft and coquettish.

  Startled by the sudden appearance of a ghostly figure, Cheng Zhou was just wondering what kind of mischief this little demon was up to when he saw Xiu Ming and his group walking towards them.

  No wonder...

  When greeting Hua Ming and the others, Cheng Zhou's eyes caught a glimpse of Xiao Mao running to the side of the divine tree, tilting his head as if saying something to it.

  The child's innocent expression is lovely.

  Tourists sitting around the divine tree all smiled at this lovely little fellow.

  Then, that little fellow suddenly lifted up his small hoof...