Untori Mountain in the dark night looks like a black giant beast dormant on the earth, its undulating body shrouded in mist.
In the pitch-black mountain, there is a bright strip of light halfway up the mountain.
It was a long shrine approach, with tall red torii gates standing on both sides, which were already covered with lanterns.
On the shrine, a large number of men with white ropes tied around their heads were crowded, shouting slogans, carrying a series of chariots, and walking slowly upward.
Sitting on the chariot are young men and women in rich costumes, each with their eyebrows lowered and their expressions solemn.
On both sides of the chariot, there were old priests wearing clerical robes.
Somora took out his handkerchief and wiped his sweat. He looked up at the long approach to the shrine, and couldn't help but complain in his heart. Why did the people who built the Amaterasu Shrine build the shrine so long?
After wiping his sweat, Mr. Zong looked up again and glanced at Sarina, who was sitting quietly in the chariot.
Normally, these pampered men would have to get off the car and walk up the mountain, but the people they selected could easily sit on the chariot and be carried up the mountain.
However, this is also the process of the Heavenly Sacrifice Ceremony. Members of the Protectorate Council must personally deliver their sacrifices to the mountain to show their respect for Amaterasu.
Elder Zong had already sent him off more than once, so he didn't feel too unhappy and continued to immerse himself in his journey.
On the chariot, Sarina was wearing a red and white miko costume, with delicate makeup on her face, making her originally beautiful face even more dazzling.
Her current identity is that of a shrine maiden of the Amaterasu Grand Imperial Palace, but to put it bluntly, she is a sacrifice in the heavenly sacrifice ceremony. If she succeeds, she can become a divine attendant, but if she fails, she will not even survive.
The Protectorate brought ten sacrifices tonight, five men and five women. The female was a witch, and the male was named Jin.
These ten people were all selected from thousands of people, but if one of them can really successfully pass the test of Amaterasu, it is good luck, and it is normal for all of them to fail.
These sacrifices also knew their fate, and most of them were terrified and ashen, desperately waiting for death to come.
There are also people who are eager to try, preparing to pass the test of Amaterasu and become a divine attendant or even a great priest.
Sarina's face was calm, but her heart was empty. She had no emotions, no expectations, and no uneasiness.
She knew that she would be a sacrifice since she was a child. She fought and ran away, and eventually developed the mentality of passively waiting for death.
Not long after, the transport team arrived in front of the shrine.
A group of clergy stood in front of the shrine gate, led by three priests, including Zong Lao's old friends. They chanted something loudly to welcome the arrival of the team.
After a series of complicated rituals, the chariot was put down and all irrelevant personnel left respectfully.
Accompanied by the solemn music, the witches and monks stepped off the chariot and entered the shrine under the leadership of the priest.
A gust of evening wind blew from the mountains. Sarina stopped, stroking her messed up long hair with one hand, and looked up at the tall Amaterasu Shrine. It was brightly lit, giving people an eerie feeling.
At the urging of the elder, Sarina lowered her head and followed the priests into the shrine.
…
In the mountains and fields blown by the night wind, the figures of five people suddenly appeared in the dense forest.
"What a handy ability."
Chizuru Godera complimented, then put down her hand and asked Hoshizaki Yukina: "Is Secretary Hoshizaki interested in joining our special response force?"
"The captain should find a way to protect his position first."
Hoshizaki Yukina, who had switched to a secretary-type personality, replied in a nonchalant manner. She worked in the Countermeasures Department, so how could she not know that the new director, Masato Kanemu, was eyeing the special response force and would annex it sooner or later.
Akimiya Yue was already observing the surroundings. After looking around, he asked Hoshizaki Yukina: "Why did you choose such a place to stay?"
The foothold was deserted, with no signs of human activity, and no one knew how far away it was from Amaterasu Grand Shrine.
"How about you choose?"
Hoshizaki Yukina was dissatisfied with the fact that these guys were increasingly treating her as a means of transportation: "Aren't you afraid of being discovered if you fall directly into the shrine? The surrounding area is deserted, so you can only choose a place to fall."
Xu Cheng interrupted the quarrel between the three women: "I'll have plenty of time for you to argue when I get back. Witch, how do we get out?"
In the past two days, Hoshizaki Yukina has secretly used her ability to scout the area, and she specially selected this location.
After figuring out the direction in the night, she raised her hand and pointed to a certain place: "Go this way. You can see the road in less than two hundred meters."
The five people started to take action, and under the leadership of Hoshizaki Yukina, they rushed towards Amaterasu Grand Shrine.
Although the terrain was rugged, except for the prophet, the other four people could not stop themselves. Soon they saw a light ahead, which was a winding mountain road.
This mountainous area is private land, and being able to build a winding mountain road privately shows that it is wealthy.
The five people continued to move along the road, and soon saw a staircase decorated with red lanterns in the distance. A large number of luxury cars were parked below the temple, and a large number of people stayed here.
These are employees and bodyguards of the Protectorate, but they are not qualified to participate in the heavenly sacrifice ceremony.
Xu Cheng and others wanted to go around the shrine and went around from the side, only to find that the mountains and forests near the shrine were full of sentries.
It's almost like five steps, one post, ten steps and one sentinel. It's almost impossible for five people to smear and infiltrate.
Unexpectedly, the Defense Council's defense was so tight, and it was filled with a bunch of old guys who were afraid of death.
Xu Cheng could only look at Hoshizaki Yukina: "Can you send us up?"
Hoshizaki Yukina thought about it and replied: "It's okay to send it up, but there's no guarantee that it won't be discovered after landing."
So everyone's eyes immediately turned to the prophet.
The prophet had no choice but to press his temples with both hands, close his eyes and use his ability: "After landing, three sentries spotted us, one directly in front and one in the five o'clock direction..."
She described the situation after landing in detail, so the four of them once again formed a circle around Hoshizaki Yukina and put their hands on her.
Hoshizaki Yukina took out her plain glasses from nowhere and put them on. With a cold and frosty look, she used her teleportation ability and took the four people away.
On a hillside dozens of meters away from Amaterasu Grand Shrine, five people appeared out of thin air.
Under the tree in front, a man in black who was about to light a cigarette looked at the five people who suddenly appeared, with a look of shock on his face.
Before he could react, a flying knife hit his forehead with a flash of cold light.
At the same time, Xu Cheng and Yudera Qianhe also rushed out suddenly, each rushing towards the other two sentries who discovered them.
The second sentry was hiding in the tree, and when he subconsciously opened his mouth to issue a warning, he heard the rustling of leaves - Xu Cheng jumped up the tree in a few steps, covered his mouth with his hand, and bumped against the trunk of the tree.
There was a muffled sound, and the trunk and head cracked together.
On the other side, Chizuru Godera also broke the neck of the third sentry.
All three of them solved their targets neatly, but without the prophet informing them of the locations of these sentries in detail in advance, it would be difficult to find them.
When you get here, you can already see the tall buildings of Amaterasu Grand Shrine, and the faint sound of solemn music floats along the mountain breeze.
So everyone looked at the prophet again.
You don't have to know it, only after using it do you realize that this prophet is really useful. No wonder the resistance forces tried to trick her into it.
The prophet began to use his ability. After a while, he opened his eyes. Facing four pairs of expectant eyes, he spoke of the predicted future: "The witch and I stayed outside. The three of you entered the shrine and were soon forced out. , was besieged by seven powerful people, Xinyue was injured, Qianzuru sister was in danger to protect her, the witch and I were also in danger, the witch took me away first, but three hours passed He never came back."
This answer made the four people frown, especially Qiu Gongyue. She did not expect that she would become a burden.
I am even more eager to learn the fourth level breathing method.
Chizuru Godera said, "What if Xiaocheng and I go in and you stay outside?"
The prophet once again predicted the future: "After you entered, you were besieged by the seven people, and then you retreated. Xinyue and the witch went up to help. Mugu entered the shrine again, and then a light flashed..."
She suddenly trembled all over, Qiu Gongyue asked: "Then what?"
The prophet was stunned for a moment and then said: "Then I died."
The four of them were silent for a while.
Judging from the prophecy, there are at least seven powerful guys in the shrine who can attack Xu Cheng and Godera Chizuru and injure Akimiya Yue.
Then there might be other forces that killed the prophet who was hiding dozens of meters away and watching.
Xu Cheng thought of the great priest who presided over the heavenly sacrifice ceremony.
Compared to others, Chizuru Godera had established a special response unit from scratch and had experienced countless large and small battles. The problem before her was not even an appetizer for her.
She continued to ask questions to the seer, who had to make new predictions based on her questions.
After several times in a row, she was out of breath, her physical strength was visibly reduced, and the future she could predict was shortened to one hour.
But Chizuru Yudera had already found the best answer. She turned to Xu Cheng and the others and asked, "How about my plan?"
It seemed like he was asking three people, but in fact he was just asking Xu Cheng.
According to her habit, after making a decision, everyone else just obeys the order, but after all, the three people in front of her are not her subordinates, and they have a special relationship with Xu Cheng, so she asked him for his opinion.
Xu Cheng glanced at Qiu Gongyue and Hoshizaki Yukina. Seeing that they both had no objections, he nodded: "Okay, I'll listen to you."
In terms of killing, Akimiya Yue and Hoshizaki Yukina are professionals, but when it comes to tactics, they are not as good as Chizuru Godera.
Seeing that everyone agreed, Chizuru Godera began to give orders.
"Do it!"
…
Before entering Amaterasu Grand Shrine, Sarina originally thought that the shrine would be extremely luxurious and full of the smell of copper.
However, when she came in, she discovered that, apart from being large in size, the shrine was very ordinary and old. Many of the decorations looked ancient and full of history.
But Sarina saw the smell of decay in her eyes, and the entire shrine seemed to be a nest of decay in her eyes.
The lights were brightly lit and the solemn music sounded soothing, but the eerie feeling just now became more and more serious.
Sarina's originally empty heart began to feel a little uneasy.
Surrounded by priests and clan elders, ten male witches entered the main hall of the shrine.
There is no statue of Amaterasu in the center of the main hall. Instead, it is separated by a curtain with Shinto symbols painted on it.
After a while, the originally silent main hall was filled with people. There were about seventy people, with an average age of over forty-five. They were all a group of old men and women, and there was no sense of violation in being dragged to the square to dance.
Don't underestimate this group of old men and women. Behind each of them, they represent a wealthy old Chinese family.
If this group of people work together, they can even influence Japan's national policy and decide the replacement of the prime minister. But tonight they gathered in this unknown shrine.
Except for a few who did not come for some reason, most of the members of the Protectorate have already come tonight.
When these distinguished people gather together, they certainly don't make a lot of noise, but they talk quietly to each other and the buzz they make is not low.
Mr. Zong was also talking to the priest. After the plan to kill Xu Cheng failed, the priest's anger not only did not disappear in the past two days, but intensified.
He had been a member of the Protectorate for decades and had worked hard for half his life to become a priest, second only to the high priest.
Now that they have lost the strength of the resistance, they can't get back the things in Lingzi's tomb that Xu Cheng took away, and they can't even do anything to Xu Cheng.
Many members who got the news are already waiting to see the joke. After this heavenly sacrifice ceremony, the priest will definitely be deprived of his position.
Therefore, the priests have been jumping up and down in the past two days, and they want to continue to use the power of Kagebei from the great priests to eliminate Xu Cheng, but they have been rejected.
Seeing his old friend looking irritated and angry, Mr. Zong advised: "Don't be discouraged. After the heavenly sacrifice ceremony, the great priest will definitely be free to deal with Xinghaiguang. When the time comes, you can apply to lead the team in person. You can not only take revenge, but also take revenge." It can also reverse the great priest’s negative impression of you.”
The priest was a little tempted by this proposal, but he was afraid of the danger of leading the team himself.
Elder Zong said with a smile: "Xinghaiguang called me a few days ago to make a bet, saying that he would find us within three days. However, there has been no movement for five days. He must have given up on the difficulty. If you lead someone to attack him when he is not paying attention, there is no possibility of failure. Even if we really cannot defeat him, he may not dare to kill us."
Seeing that the priest was moved by what he said, a meaningful look flashed in Mr. Zong's eyes.
A cleric appeared in front of everyone and placed a brazier in front of ten male witches.
I don't know what he threw into the brazier, and the originally bright flame suddenly turned green.
Sarina knew that this was something specially used to test virginity.
Sacrifice to Amaterasu requires a virgin. In history, some people sacrificed unchaste sacrifices to Takamagahara, which angered Amaterasu and ignored the National Assembly for decades.
That's why this rule of testing chastity came into being.
When the green flames in the brazier burned down to only small flames, the men and witches stepped over the brazier one by one.
When it was a man's turn, he tremblingly raised his legs and stepped over. Unexpectedly, the brazier underneath suddenly burst into flames, and the small flame turned into a big fire.
The man's crotch was ignited by the flames, and he slapped it with both hands in horror, and it was extinguished in a short time.
But the cold stares from the surroundings made him sweat profusely.
The three priests looked angry and scolded: "Drag the person down."
Several wolf-like clergymen immediately pounced on him, grabbed the man and dragged him out.
"No! No! I didn't lose my virginity! I didn't lose my virginity!
"
The man's pleas for mercy echoed in the shrine, and soon disappeared.
The other men looked disdainful. They also solved the problem with their hands. How could they not be judged as losing their virginity?
By hand? It was someone else’s hand!
Losing a male disciple means that the chance of being selected as a divine attendant is also reduced, which makes the atmosphere in the main hall very bad.
The member who sent the man who had lost his virginity turned pale when he received the accusing gazes of others.
clang!
The giant gong hanging in the corner was struck, and the gradually noisy sounds in the main hall immediately fell silent.
Everyone quickly stood up, including the remaining male witches, who also lined up in two rows under the priest's order.
When an old man came out from behind, everyone in the main hall knelt down as if to welcome the leader of the Protectorate.
In fact, the high priest is indeed the leader of the Protectorate.
Sarina, who was kneeling on the ground, quietly looked up and saw an old man wearing a priest's attire slowly walking into the main hall.
The old face was as old as the bark of a tree. It was hard to tell how old he was. His beard and hair were all white, and his half-open eyes held a majesty that made people afraid to look directly.
He is holding a cane, but if you look closely you can see that the cane is actually a katana.
This is one of the three artifacts, the Tiancongyun Sword.
Behind the high priest were seven men and women, ranging in age from twenty-five to forty-five, with solemn and old-fashioned expressions.
Sarina knew that these seven men and women were the important fighting force of the Protectorate, called the Kagebei.
The Kagebei are divine servants who have passed the test of Amaterasu, but they are not good enough to be granted the three divine weapons. Therefore, they have the power given by Amaterasu, but their status is much lower than that of the great priests.
There were originally eight Kagebei still alive, but recently one of them died after being sent on a mission, leaving only seven.
With everyone kneeling respectfully, the high priest led seven shadow soldiers to the middle of the main hall.
He looked around with half-open eyes and said calmly: "Let's get started."
The music in the hall suddenly changed, from solemn to passionate.
Several topless dancers with masks on their faces came out and performed primitive dances in front of everyone, interpreting the legend of Amaterasu.
After the dance ended, the people in the main hall changed from kneeling to sitting.
The ceremony does not end here, there are blessing ceremony, God-asking ceremony, God-inviting ceremony and so on.
After struggling for more than an hour, the complicated ceremony finally came to an end when Sarina felt tired.
The great priest drew out the Tian Congyun Sword, turned around and aimed at the curtain behind him.
The sword light cut through the curtain slowly and struck the air behind, cutting a crack out of thin air. A large amount of wind blew out from inside and blew to the entire main hall.
If Xu Cheng were here, he would definitely be familiar with this wind.
Because this wind is exactly the same as the wind blowing from Lingzi Tomb.
After opening a crack out of thin air, the great priest sat cross-legged on the ground, thrust the Tian Congyun Sword into the floor, closed his eyes, and remained motionless.
Behind him, the crack gradually widened, eventually forming a square door.
