Tomo-sama's Rescue Plan - Hell Chapter

When he was young, he heard people say that the time after sunset is called the time of encountering magic. If you are walking on the road and hear your name being called, you must not turn your head, otherwise you will encounter those who only move in the dark. thing.

But those are often the quietest moments of the day.The birds return to the forest, the sun disappears in the mountains, and even the last ray of light is absorbed by the dense forest, followed by darkness.Often at this time, there will still be an ember-like phantom light in the western sky, slowly extinguishing in the diffuse shadows, like a burnt candle on the altar table of the scripture hall.

It was also dinner time in the temple, and under normal circumstances there would be no believers visiting.In childhood, the woman he called "mother" in his heart often came at this time.The reason why it is called mother is because it is so written in the book. Although there are no other books to read except the scriptures, he still knows the story of "Mu Lian saves his mother" in the Buddhist scriptures.Forgot since when "mother" no longer let him call her mother.This title is inappropriate. "Mother," said.You are the child of the gods, and the gods are your parents. Remember to say this at all times.

Yes, Mrs. Kiyoko.He said.

Mrs. Qing Zi is a person who attaches great importance to "should".The futons on the floor of the scripture hall should be arranged in a straight line, no more or less; what should be burned in the incense burner should be three spoonfuls of white sandalwood mixed with a spoonful of frankincense, no more or less; White clothes should be buttoned up to the neckline, one more or one less; morning classes, evening classes, confession, and prayers should be held on time every day, no more than a moment, no less than a moment.

Except for the gold, silver and satin in the warehouse, the more the better.

Therefore, the schedule of the whole day is the same, and the schedule of the whole night is also the same. If there is any change, there is only the phantom light that flickers on and off at the moment of sunset, which attracts people's imagination.

Who doesn't love light?When he first learned about human affairs, he understood this very clearly.No matter young or old, believers always look at him with a kind of eager light in their eyes, but what they say is that there is a rainbow in the eyes of the son of god, and he will definitely be able to see the pure land of bliss and hear the voice of the god , please guide us to the embrace of the gods.

Mrs. Qingzi also said the same.Son of God, please guide everyone at any time.

What is a guideline?He really didn't know it when he was young, but one day he suddenly realized it.This is really a very simple matter. People who worship under the altar, when the other party cries, he cries more sadly, and when the other party smiles, he smiles brighter. What they want is only an existence that looks different from them, so affirmation and response.Such a simple matter can be understood as soon as one thinks about it, there is no way, whoever called him the son of a god is born smarter than ordinary people.

This is probably the biggest difference between him and the statue made of stone, with a pure and innocent face, a living god who can smile, shed tears, and give comfort with a clear and gentle voice.How beautiful, how appropriate, how reassuring.

But why are you all crying, and what are you all laughing at?

If there is anything that the Son of God does not understand, this is the only remaining question.

Some people come to cry for the crops at home, some people come to cry for the lost business, some people come to cry for the seriously ill daughter, some people come to cry for the parents who died young, some people come to cry for the bullying of the wicked, some people come to cry for the decay of the world.Some people come to cry for the dead, some people come to cry for the living.

He really didn't understand why those things were worth crying about. After all, his schedule was so full of Mrs. Qingzi's "should", that every day and every night were the same, and as far as the eye could see, only Looking at the courtyard wall and the lotus pond under the verandah, there are still four distinct seasons, but in his vision there are only scripture halls, white clothes, and weeping faces.

You are so poor, what can I do for you?Once, he asked sincerely.

This question went beyond Mrs. Qingzi's "should", which caused her face to change on the spot.But the believers didn't find anything wrong, but just cried and said:

The world is too bitter, please guide us to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

OKHe said.I will guide you to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

But what is bliss?He has only read it in the scriptures, and those descriptions obviously do not belong to this miserable world, and he has never seen it himself.Maybe in the sky?After all, he thought, the birds flying around seemed more at ease than these people.

Then a very lucky thing happened - a newcomer was hanged in the woods near the monastery.

He remembered that woman, Ji Yuan's wandering girl, was suffering from illness, and was cheated out of her savings by a man.The day before, she cried in front of him all afternoon, until Mrs. Qingzi felt impatient, so she just found a reason to dismiss her, and unexpectedly died in the woods the next day.When something like this happened, Mrs. Qingzi could only ask someone to bring the body back, and pray for a proper burial.

He witnessed those people arranging crude funeral ceremonies. One of the believers might see that he was young after all, and feared that he might panic, so he comforted him:

Son of God, don't worry about it. She is a real blessing. She can relieve all pain and go to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss with you. There is nothing more fulfilling than this.

Very good.I'm happy for her, he said with a smile.

Ah, so it is.

It turns out that the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is not in the sky, but in the ground.

Death is the only way to bliss.

Thinking about it carefully, he already knew about this.When he was a few years old, a believer gave him a little bird, probably caught from a tree outside, tied his leg with a cotton thread and gave it to him to play with.The bird didn't eat or drink, just stared at the world outside the window and fluttered desperately until his leg was cut by the cotton thread, and blood splashed on his scriptures in bits and pieces.Then it stopped moving very quickly.

The waitress also comforted him in the same way, saying that the bird has gone to bliss and does not need to suffer anymore.At that time, he still believed that bliss was in the sky, so he didn't think there was anything wrong, so he watched the maid take away the small corpse and buried it beside the lotus pond under his window.

A few days later, on a rare whim, he wanted to see how the bird flew to Paradise, so he found a place and dug the hole.

Only a mass of white maggots and shriveled bird carcasses.

He's a little disappointed, it doesn't look blissful at all.

But thinking of the desperate struggle of the bird, it is indeed no longer suffering.

Is there a difference between humans and birds?Different routes lead to the same goal.

Afterwards, whenever believers asked him for guidance, he no longer had the slightest confusion.

Well, everyone will go to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss one day, but I will still guide you, after all, this is my responsibility as the son of the gods.

Days go by, every day is the same, every night is the same.

until that day.The temples of bliss are drenched with the blood of those called "parents."

Even he himself didn't expect that Mrs. Qingzi, who was aloof, strict and unsmiling, would stab the man and his mistress to death with a sharp knife used by a cook to kill fish.

Probably not only because their actions openly humiliated her majesty in front of the congregation and turned her "should" into a mess, but also because the man's food and prostitution were all her hard-earned family property.

Rivers of blood and viscera flowed, and corpses lay like blooming plants in a swamp.The smell in the room is suffocating, and it is even more disgusting when mixed with the sweetness of white sandalwood and frankincense.

Like bliss mixed with maggots.

As the man was about to die, Mrs. Qingzi, whose mouth was full of blood, stretched out a hand, grabbed his black cassock firmly, and said:

My son of God, my son... Please guide me to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss...

The eight-year-old obediently held the bloody hand, smiled and said:

There is no pure land of bliss at all, Mrs. Qingzi.I am not your son either, you said that the gods are my parents.

Mulian's mother fell into hell because of greed. He didn't believe in hell, just as he didn't believe in bliss, so the couple just died.

Death is also a joy from suffering, which can be called a blessing.

The only impact of that incident was that the sutra hall had been exuding a faint smell of blood for several months. It was the blood that seeped into the floor and spread in the air little by little, like some kind of poison, even the best white sandalwood could not cover it.

The people in the memories are far away.Outside the window, the phantom light is about to disappear.

He looked at the last visitor of the day. It was a thin middle-aged man with a disheveled face, talking about how he and his family escaped from Edo, how the floods there were terrible, and how his family lost their lives. All the property, the eldest son also died of illness on the way.

Edo Castle?The impression of that place seems to be a certain spring day more than ten years ago, and the cherry blossoms were really blooming.

He gently interrupted the crying man, and asked: "Sorry, let me ask an irrelevant question. I heard that there has never been a flood in Edo in the past, because there is an Arakawa Shrine, and the witches in it are very magical. It worked. How could something so unfortunate happen suddenly?"

The man wiped away his tears and replied: "What you are talking about happened in the early years. Ever since the last priestess was sacrificed to the water god 12 years ago, there have been strange things going on. The god of Arakawa seems to have disappeared. Yagyu Daimyo asked us to build more dams to store water, but this year's rain is so heavy..."

"Sacrifice? How to sacrifice?"

The man looked at him in bewilderment, as if he didn't understand why the son of the gods would pay attention to such details, and said falteringly, "That's a ritual that has always existed in the local area. You live here in Kyoto, so you may not be familiar with it. Just put The witch and the offerings are pushed into the river together, and I heard that the god of Arakawa will come to pick up the witch, how to attract the witch, let me wait for the little people..."

Only now did he fully remember the child.

She is really a fierce girl, not like a shrine maiden at all.

Arguing with a daimyo son on the street, daring to overturn someone's tea table for no reason, even crying and shouting at him, and then dragging him away all the way, climbing mountains and visiting night markets, causing him to not finish his homework for the day , Go back and be reprimanded by Mrs. Qingzi.

We don't have to go to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss to be very happy.she says.

If you come here next spring, I will take you to eat yokan, sakura dumplings, and pine nut cakes.The year after next, I will take you to eat honey cakes in a store in Edo Castle. In the year after next, even if we grow up, I will take you to drink glutinous rice wine. If it is winter, I can bake sweet potatoes for you.

He wondered at the time, how could someone live a different life every year?Isn't every day the same and every night the same?

What did she say at the end?

correct.

Life is an incomparably precious thing that must be cherished.

Snapped.

The candles in the scripture hall burst out the last candle, and then slowly extinguished.

The maid came in and put on new candles, making the room much brighter.

He put on a smiling face to the visitor: "You have been exhausted from the journey. It is really hard. Why don't you just stay in the temple and rest for a few days. Don't worry, the gods will take care of everything and will definitely give you salvation."

The man thanked him and withdrew.

He looked at the flickering candles, suddenly tired of everything.

Just that emotion called boredom, not sadness, not loneliness, just boredom.

He wasn't bored.In his childhood, he faced the crying believers endlessly, and he also had an instinctive sense of rejection, but Mrs. Qingzi said, to give everyone guidance and salvation, this is the meaning of the existence of the Son of God, and it should be like this for one day. one day.

This seemed to be a curse, and it was not broken with the death of the man and woman.

Maybe it's time to end it.he thinks.To live a completely different life, every day, every year, a different life from the past.

One evening in the autumn of this year, Arakawa Shrine, which had been neglected for a long time, welcomed a strange visitor.

The maid who cleaned the hall couldn't help being stunned when she saw the visitor.

It was a tall and slender young man, his slightly drooping eyebrows made him look gentle and handsome, but he had a pair of smiling peach eyes, and dazzling white oak long hair, and he was wearing a haori that was worth a lot of money at first glance. .Because it has been raining in recent months, he put away his umbrella and stood by the wall of the courtyard, as if he could not see the dilapidated lintel and torii at all, and walked in with a carefree smile on his face.

The waitress went up to meet him, and was shocked to find that the man's eyes were strange colors like rainbows. Suddenly, she remembered the legend she had heard in her childhood, about the son of a god from a certain mountain in Kyoto, who had a strange pupil color. The legend of Arakawa Shrine.

It was the young man who spoke first, his voice was calm and soft, inexplicably very trustworthy.

"Excuse me. Is there a witch named Bai Ji here?"

The waitress was completely bewildered.After all, Arakawa Shrine has not had a maiden for 12 years, and the Yagyu family no longer sends people to take care of it. In recent years, ominous legends have spread.This person is from another place, why doesn't he even know about this?

She finally came to her senses: "Are you talking about the last witch of the wilderness, Lord Baiji? Ah... that happened more than ten years ago. That year, the drought in Edo and the plague caught up with the plague. Even the little girl of the Yagyu family The son died of illness. That Lord Bai Ji felt sorry for the suffering of all living beings, so she voluntarily offered sacrifices to the god of Arakawa. Are you from somewhere else? This matter has long been..."

"So it's really dead." The gentle-looking young man interrupted her suddenly.

"What did you say? No, Lord Bai Ji offered sacrifices to the gods voluntarily..."

"I've heard. To die is to die, to cease to exist."

The waitress raised her head and found that the young man's face was blank and silent, like the earth after a blizzard.

He stared at the high altar, there was not even a trace of waves in those peculiarly colored pupils, and his tone was extremely calm.

"There are no gods in this world. It's a pity that she couldn't be redeemed in the end."

An inexplicable chill hit the maid's heart.

However, after a while, a gentle smile appeared on his face again.

"It's really troublesome for you. I have some things from the past that I want to hand over to you for safekeeping. They belong to that child. If I stay here, I will feel relieved."

He took out something from the seal cage on his belt. It was a very simple knife, which looked like a child's toy.

Putting the humble knife on the altar, he didn't even look at it anymore, turned around and walked towards the door, his steps were very calm and determined, as if he had finally got rid of some long-standing shackles, and he wanted to leave the whole world behind .

Suddenly there was a gust of cool wind in the hall, swirling and whimpering.

At that moment, the white-haired young man who walked to the door paused slightly, and turned around as if he heard something.

But only the wind.The wind brought a maple leaf to his feet, red like blood.

"Ah, yes, it's already autumn." He didn't know who he was talking to.

The last rays of the setting sun sank into the horizon, and darkness finally engulfed his back.

A black carriage was driving on the forest path, and it was not long before sunset, but because of the continuous rain, it was already late autumn, and it was getting dark early.

The wheels rolled on the muddy road, shaking, and the speed could not be increased.The two white-clothed women in the car seemed a little anxious, and one of the more lively ones complained: "Why did the leader choose this kind of weather to come to Edo? It will be dark soon, and it must be too late to go back to the temple. Could it be that we Want to spend the night in the wild?"

The other hurriedly persuaded: "Meijin, don't talk to the leader like this. The leader said that today is an auspicious day, and he will give us salvation that others don't have. This is a great thing, don't complain anymore."

"You're still sensible." The young leader smiled lightly, twirling the long hookah pipe between his fingers, knocking on the delicate small copper bowl, and those smiling peach blossom eyes were a stunning iridescent color , Seeing Xuzi's heart beating for a while.

That's right, the high priest on the altar is also a young man.What kind of blessing must it be to be favored by such a handsome, rich and powerful man?What is bliss?She felt that this was bliss.

The carriage shook and stopped suddenly.

"Hey, my friend is here. I'll be right back, so wait for me a little bit."

The leader seems to be quite interested today, and even his smile is much more sincere.It's just that the Son of God also knows how to smoke hookah?

The white-haired young man got out of the carriage leisurely, not forgetting to close the door, and then walked towards the side of the road.

Under the hideous shadow of an old tree, there was a man leaning against him.

The man had cat-like blood-colored pupils and thick, seaweed-like black hair. He stood there with his sleeves folded, his gaze condescendingly examining the young man walking towards him like a poisonous snake.

"You are late." He said solemnly, "You are the first person who dared to make me wait."

"Hey, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting for so long." The young man showed no fear, with a gentle smile all over his face, which made the man feel inexplicably irritable.

Not sure why, but the young man was more ghostly than he looked.

A monster that looks like a human, but is not human.

"Give me a reason not to kill you, but to fulfill your wish."

"I have a church, and the believers in the church regard me as the son of God, and they will believe no matter what I say." The white-haired young man blinked his beautiful, rainbow-like eyes, "This can provide you with a lot of benefits." Convenience. In addition, I have no relatives or friends, and I have no ties in the world, so I can work for you wholeheartedly."

"Very good." The man nodded in satisfaction, "I don't need those wastes that are full of human weaknesses. I am Kimai Tsuji. I have existed for more than a thousand years. You must remember my name, but you must never say it." Say my name, because I am a god, understand?"

"Ah, that's my honor, my lord."

With a happy smile on his face, the young man knelt devoutly at the ghost king's feet.

When the ghost king's sharp claws penetrated his skull, dripping hot blood flowed down the white oak hair that was once regarded as a miracle by thousands of believers.In the dizzying pain, what he thought of was that he had only accepted other people's kneeling in his life, but he had never knelt down before. It turned out that kneeling down to a god felt so good.

Oni Wu Tsuji was also slightly surprised.He has transformed many ghosts. Like the young man in front of him, his appearance is the same before and after he transforms into a ghost. Even the smile on his face has not changed. Even in the past thousand years, he has never seen one.

"From today on, you will be called Tong Mo."

The ghost king declared so.

The white-haired ghost stood up nonchalantly with his head covered in blood, smiling brilliantly under the moonlight.

"Thank you, that's a really nice name."

The Son of God of the Bliss Sect died, and the one born on this moonlit night was the second of the first strings who danced on the mountain of corpses and the sea of ​​blood a hundred years later.

After the ghost king left under the moonlight, he returned to the carriage, opened the door gracefully, and showed a sharp-toothed smile to the two stunned women in the carriage.

"What a wonderful night. The salvation of the gods begins now."