Many years ago, several Kyoto people came to a small village in Kobe, bought a house in the village, and gave the village chief an extra sum of money, entrusting the village chief to send someone to clean the house every now and then. , and then they left.
The villagers were very curious as to why these gentlemen from the capital came to this remote place to buy a house, and they never lived in it for a day after buying it. They stayed in the inn for the few days they stayed in the village.
Later, several bad guys from the village sneaked into the room to investigate, and they found that there were not even a few pieces of furniture in the room, only an altar and some boxes.
Of course, they did not open the box to confirm what was inside, because they knew without opening it that the box contained ashes.
At that time, the Warring States Period in Japan had not yet come, and various places were relatively peaceful, so those rich and powerful people were more particular about funerals: for example, shoguns and daimyo basically had their own family temples. After their family members die, they usually enshrine the ashes at home for seven to forty-nine days according to the old etiquette, and then send them to the family temple to "revere the bones", and those family temples are also guarded and cleaned by dedicated personnel all year round.
Those who are worse than daimyo, such as the samurai class and local tycoons, will send the ashes of the deceased to cemeteries near temples or shrines for burial. Such cemeteries are considered to be blessed places that can be blessed by nearby gods, so they can be placed there. It’s not bad there either, people from temples and shrines will also clean it.
As for the ordinary people at the lowest level, of course... you can bury them wherever you like. Anyway, it won't be surprising if someone digs them up one day.
However, there is another group that does not fall into any of the above situations.
This group includes small business owners, capable craftsmen, capable street performers, capable gangsters, etc. In our modern concept, it is the "petit bourgeoisie".
The common characteristic of these people is that although their economic status is much better than that of the common people at the bottom, and some have even surpassed that of the lower class warriors, their social status is still very low, and many people who are much poorer than them look down on them.
In Kyoto at that time, there were quite a few petty bourgeois people like this, and they were no different from ordinary people when it came to funerals - simply put, even if you were willing to spend money, you might not be qualified to compete with those samurai gentlemen. Be a neighbor to the tomb.
So, at that time, someone came up with the idea of going to a relatively remote village around Kyoto, buying a house in the village, and secretly enshrining the family's ashes there.
Anyway, the house prices in small villages are very cheap compared to those in Kyoto. These petty bourgeoisie can completely afford it. If they spend some money to let the villagers take care of themselves, isn't this better than being buried in the barren mountains?
As time goes by, more and more people do this, and the villages near Kyoto that handle this business are no longer enough. The main reason is that the villagers in some villages will make trouble. They think that many houses in the village have become "haunted houses", which is unlucky - why The house next door to me is used to worship the dead, but my neighbor who sells the house gets the money? I live next to dead people every day, but I don’t get a single cent from them?
There have been many such troubles, and many places around Kyoto have banned this kind of thing. After all, this is a gray industry, and if you really go to the government to make trouble, there will be no reason.
But the market is gone and the demand has not disappeared, so a new supply model will inevitably be born.
Northwest of Osaka, northeast of Kobe, northeast of Nara... these places that are a little further away from Kyoto are just a day or two more walk on the mountain roads. There are more villages there and the housing prices are cheaper. Just walk to one of them.
In this way, another village soon started this business, and this small village in Kobe was very poor. Later, almost every household developed into a "professional box watcher", and this village was also called "professional box watcher" by outsiders. I gave it a name, "Hui Yi Village".
Time flies, decades pass, and Japan's Warring States Period comes, which lasts for hundreds of years.
At this time of year, the whole country is filled with battlefields littered with corpses, and even those famous people are living a precarious life. At this time, who cares how you die and how you are buried?
Huiyi Village, located in a place of war like Kobe, naturally became a deserted village like many other villages.
However, after being abandoned for decades, a group of people came here again; this group of people took a fancy to this gloomy village and decided to build it into a secret stronghold.
This stronghold is now the main altar of the Zanxing Sect, and the group of people back then were the original members of the Zanxing Sect.
In the blink of an eye, the winter of the second year of Yuanhe has arrived, and the day of the annual gathering of the Xingxing Sect is coming soon.
As mentioned in our previous article, in ancient times, in the coldest lunar month of winter, even working people had less time to go out. This is the same in both Japan and Japan.
It is difficult for the Zhenxing Sect to do business during this season, so they have made a rule that everyone returns to the main forum for a gathering at the end of each year. Whether you say they report on work or discuss rewards and punishments for performance, that's all.
Since communications were not developed at that time, it was necessary to gather once a year even for the purpose of "confirming whether there were any missing persons or casualties in the organization during the year and exchanging information."
Seeing this, I guess many people will understand why Shuangxie has already encountered three groups of people from the Tao Xing Sect on the way from the west to the east of Honshu Island... To put it bluntly, this is the route they took and the people they caught up with. The time coincided with the monks of the Xingxing Sect who were returning to the main altar for a meeting.
Of course, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai had already obtained the above information from Xuan Gen.
In fact, they now not only know the origin of the Zanxing Sect and its annual gatherings, but also the organizational structure, staffing, settings of unique secret techniques such as corpse puppets, and even the fighting styles of the senior leaders. , the strength and weakness of abilities... I have a general understanding of them.
Don't think it will take long to talk about these things. In fact, it was finished in less than ten minutes. Xuan Gen also introduced Yong Gen's abilities and what he considered to be his weaknesses in a private way. It seemed that he was planning ...One day, if Shuang Xie really comes knocking on his door, he can kill Yong Gen with a borrowed knife.
It's a pity that he didn't expect that even after saying so much, he still couldn't save his life.
After dealing with Xuangan and rescuing Azhi, Sun, Huang, and Hayato discussed it for a while and decided to put their tasks on hold for the time being and spend two or three days to destroy the Xingxing Sect. Say it again.
On the one hand, they all felt that the people in this organization really deserved to die.
On the other hand, even if they ignore the Zanxing sect, this gathering of the Zanxing sect may also interfere with their contacts with people in Kobe.
Furthermore, after A-Zhi saw Shuang Xie's ability, she immediately became hopeful about rescuing her son, so after Xuan Gen's death, she immediately burst into tears and sincerely asked them, "Young Heroes", for help. Everyone really couldn't bear to refuse Xiaosuke's rescue.
As a result, the four of them arrived near the Huiyi Village on the evening of the next day.
"This village is so dark."
When they were still a few hundred meters away from the village, Huang Donglai and Hayato looked into the distance and muttered this sentence almost at the same time.
Hearing this, Sun Yixie's face suddenly felt a little painful. He touched the old wound on his cheek and continued: "I said... In this village, apart from the gang of traffickers and monks and the corpse dolls they refined, , there won’t be any other monsters, right?”
"That's not necessarily the case." Huang Donglai was the first to reply at this time, "Places with strong yin energy do not necessarily have ghosts. Otherwise, there are so many basements and cellars in the world, and almost all of them would be haunted."
"That's right." Hayato also said, "Even if there are many innocent souls who died here, but since this Zhenxing Sect is still entrenched here, it means that either there are no ghosts here, or these evil monks have some way to avoid being afraid. Noisy."
"That's it..." After hearing the answers from these two "professionals", Sun Yixie felt a little more settled, "Then it seems like we are the only ones left to make a fuss."
"Ha... That's true. When it comes to 'making trouble', you Sun family still have something to say." Huang Donglai didn't know what he was thinking of and said with a smile.
"What do you want to say?" Sun Yixie didn't know what he was thinking of. He glanced at Huang Donglai and said with a crooked mouth, "Let me declare first...I didn't make a fuss back then. I just threatened the other party to make a fuss. In the end, the other party I paid the money I owed those players, so I just let it go. The whole idea of 'unrolling banners while the leaders are present' is just talk, but I've never done it."
What Brother Sun is talking about is an old thing that happened when he was in the original universe. Huang Donglai knows about it, but Huang Donglai is not actually talking about this at the moment. It's just that Brother Sun is a bit sensitive and there is no money here. Three hundred taels.
"Brother Sun, I just want to say that another member of your Sun family...the deeds he dared to cause in the East China Sea Dragon Palace, the Underworld, and the Lingxiao Palace did not mention your past affairs, so don't be nervous." Huang Donglai continued.
"Mao~ who is nervous?" Sun Yixie curled his lips, "Even if you are talking about my past, I was always helping others out of a sense of justice. At most, my methods were a bit despicable. What's there to panic about?"
"Yes, yes...can I still not understand who you are?" Huang Donglai's words should be heard by a passerby. At first glance, there is nothing wrong...
But people who know the two of them a little bit, such as Hayato who has been with them for some time, fully understand this is a strange yin and yang.
"Hmph... you bitch." Sun Yixie didn't defend himself anymore, he just snorted and cursed.
Huang Donglai didn't reply even after being scolded so bluntly, but instead smiled even more.
A Zhi, who was watching the interaction between the two people, was dumbfounded. She didn't understand. Are these two good brothers? Or do they have any hatred? I always feel that the conversations between the two are incomprehensible and moody, and the one named Huang seems to have a tendency to flirt?
By the way, let me mention it here, because A Zhi already knew their identities as Central Plains people, and made it clear when they were traveling with them, so Sun and Huang stopped using the fake names of Kameda and Edo in front of her. .
"I said, it's getting dark now, which is a perfect time to conduct reconnaissance. Let's not waste time anymore. Why don't I, the ninja, go in first to investigate..." Azhi tried to bring the topic back on track.
But before she finished her sentence, Huang Donglai interrupted: "Okay, okay~ stop, okay..." He paused, looked at A Zhi and said, "Although you took my pill, for now it's You can sit up, sit down, and walk normally, but my medicine is not an elixir. Your rib fracture will not heal in a few months. If you want to run or even use force... you should save it."
"But...I..." Azhi, who was eager to save his son, undoubtedly wanted to help.
"You don't have to use 'but'." Huang Donglai said, "I'm better at Qinggong, ear skills, and eye skills than you. If you want to go, I'll go too."
"Okay~ As expected of Brother Huang, you are tough!" When Sun Yixie saw that Huang Donglai was trying to show off, his voice immediately became louder, "Then it's up to you, we're waiting for you here. good news."
"Huh... don't go out on fire." Could Huang Donglai not know what Sun Yixie was doing? He immediately said, "I'll go in first. If I don't come out in half an hour, you have to follow."
"Ah?" Sun Yixie said, "Then why can't Hayato follow?"
"Hayato will stay and protect Azhi." Huang Donglai said.
"Then can't I stay and protect A-Zhi?" Sun Yixie asked again.
"Hayato has invisibility skills to protect him in emergencies. What do you have?" Huang Donglai asked.
"I..." Sun Yixie thought for a while, and there was no problem in protecting himself. He had all kinds of insidious means, but protecting others did not seem to be his specialty. "Forget it, just keep up." Bar."
When Huang Donglai heard this, he didn't need to say anything more. He turned around and walked away. In a blink of an eye, he dodged into the woods and slowly approached the Huiyi Village in front of him.
(End of chapter)
