The tide of time crashed against the rocks with a roar.
In the vast, empty space, Yan Lanyu curled up with all his might, his breath coming in short, trembling gasps. Torn apart by excruciating pain and despair, he repeatedly slammed his forehead against his knees.
Why me?
Why must I relive all of this?!
Why must this ugly past, buried deep within my soul, be cruelly unearthed and displayed all over again?!
His forehead was broken, and blood streamed down his nose to his cheeks. His face was contorted in a spasm, and he let out hoarse, shrill cries of pain that barely sounded human.
Let me out.
“—Let me out—!”
—BOOM!!
The magic dragon’s massive body swept by, instantly snapping a row of vermilion wooden pillars on the veranda outside the main hall.
The pillars crashed down, smashing into countless pieces on the ground. Several clergy members who were running over lost their footing and slipped, nearly getting their heads smashed open by the falling timbers.
Chu He lifted a hand, and the wooden pillar about to fall behind him was seemingly held up by a formless, immense force, slowly returning to its upright position.
“Who are you?” The sorcerers’ eyes couldn’t see the magic dragon circling above their heads. Terrified, they all stared at the young man before them. “How did you get in here? What are you doing?!”
Chu He didn’t answer, narrowing his eyes at the sky.
A streak of snowy light tore across the sky, unstoppable as a meteor, before exploding into a dazzling glare!
“Maha—!” Amidst the boom, Zhou Hui’s roar drowned out everything else. “What the hell is that thing you’re holding!”
Zhou Hui plummeted, landing steadily with a bang. He shot up, furious. “That kid’s sword is way too overpowered! It can summon wind and lightning directly from the sky. Do you know what it is?”
Chu He helplessly rubbed the bridge of his nose. “That’s Kusanagi, the ancient divine artifact said to control the weather. Along with the Yata Mirror and the Yasakani Jewel, it’s known as one of Japan’s Three Sacred Treasures… Hurry up and throw Maha back into the Sea of Blood, get rid of this dragon, and let’s get out of here quickly. Isn’t it chaotic enough?!”
Zhou Hui was enraged. “That little brat is too despicable! No, I’m going to snatch his sword!”
Chu He: “…”
The sorcerers at the side were stunned. The quicker ones immediately rushed forward. “Where on earth did you come from, trespassing into the Inner Palace that only His Imperial Highness is allowed to enter?! Disperse at once!”
Zhou Hui immediately turned his head and asked in a low voice, “Really? Only the imperial family can enter?”
Chu He: “More or less. This is a place of worship exclusively for the Japanese imperial family. Aida Yoshihide and the others must have snuck in…”
“Eh?! Doesn’t that mean there should be a lot of treasure here?!”
“Shut up!” Chu He was about to lose his mind. “Can you not add to the chaos at a time like this!”
The sorcerers were practically fuming, but the defenses inside and outside the shrine didn’t rely on manpower. The number of clergy was extremely limited, and most were shrine maidens with no fighting ability. Only a few of them were on duty near the Inner Palace. At this point, even calling for help was useless; they were powerless.
“If you don’t leave, then don’t blame us for…”
Before the sorcerer could finish, a massive bolt of lightning suddenly descended from the night sky!
Maha’s cold voice rang out amidst the crackling electricity: “You mortals, get lost—!”
—BOOM!
In the nick of time, Chu He raised a hand and pushed horizontally through the air. A gentle but powerful force wrapped around the waists of the sorcerers, instantly flinging them dozens of paces away.
The moment the sorcerers barely landed, a waterfall of electricity crashed down, blowing the spot they had just occupied, along with the front entrance of the main hall, to smithereens!
The sorcerers screamed in unison. Zhou Hui staggered a few steps from the violent tremor, narrowly avoiding being hit on the head, and couldn’t help but curse, “This dead kid really knows how to play, doesn’t he?”
Chu He slapped Zhou Hui’s hand as he was about to draw his saber. He raised his other hand against the fierce wind, and a string of pure cyan prayer beads instantly flew from his wrist. The beads then shattered in a flash of light, transforming into a lapis lazuli dagger, which he gripped in his slender fingers and swung towards the direction of Maha’s attack.
The blade created a fan-shaped cyan light that defied the wind, striking the Kusanagi in Maha’s hand and sending it flying!
This series of movements was as smooth as flowing water, unstoppable. Half of Maha’s body was knocked back, and he shouted angrily, “Mother!”
“Stop messing around.” Chu He extended a hand to Maha and said, “Come to me. I’ll take you back to the Sea of Blood.”
“No! Why do you all interfere with my actions?! Why are you all on the side of the human realm?!”
Chu He shook his head. “It’s not like that. I know you’re trying to compensate for your missing divinity by devouring souls…”
Chu He wanted to continue reasoning, but just then, the Kusanagi sword, flying through the air, traced a bright arc and suddenly drew countless intertwining sparks of electricity from the gathering storm clouds.
Then, the web of electricity crisscrossed and converged into a single bolt of lightning, which lightly touched the tip of the sword pointing straight at the sky.
Chu He: “Eh?”
The situation changed abruptly, and everyone was drawn to the strange celestial phenomenon. Before everyone’s eyes, the moment the lightning touched the sword’s tip, it was like cold water splashing into a pot of boiling oil—with a deafening boom, the entire sky exploded!
“I told you—!” Zhou Hui yelled into Chu He’s ear. “You were busy lecturing Da Mao, I told you this sword was valuable! We should just snatch it for ourselves!”
Chu He was speechless.
A waterfall of electricity poured down like a torrential rain. In this magnificent curtain of light that connected heaven and earth, the magic dragon finally revealed its enraged form!
If the magic dragon’s body had previously been in a parallel space, invisible to the mortal eye, then now, illuminated by this rare celestial phenomenon, it had completely broken free from the shackles of both the human and demon realms, projecting its image into the human world.
The sorcerers’ mouths hung open as they watched it reveal its form high in the sky. Its head soared hundreds of meters high, its body coiled like a mountain range, and its enormous tail even drooped to the ground.
“Is… is that a dragon? Is that really a dragon?!” The sorcerers shook their heads, trembling as they backed away. “Why is a dragon here?!”
Under everyone’s gaze, the magic dragon seemed a bit agitated. Its mountain-sized head moved from side to side, and its three blood-red, lantern-like vertical pupils slowly scanned the mid-air, as if searching for something.
And Maha, who was also in the air, had no intention of paying it any mind.
The Peacock King had little interest in things he couldn’t eat. Moreover, with Zhou Hui right in front of him, his hatred for his father was enough to overshadow his concern for these Japanese affairs. He wouldn’t care if this dragon killed everyone right now.
Maha just wanted to continue dealing with Zhou Hui. He turned and flew towards the Kusanagi sword.
—However, at that very moment, the magic dragon’s eyes in the sky suddenly merged their three pupils, all staring straight at him.
“…”
Maha sensed something was wrong and looked up to meet the magic dragon’s gaze.
The wild wind swept up his long, flowing silver hair. His gaze was cold and bewildered. At that moment, through the Peacock King’s violent soul, the giant dragon seemed to sense a familiar aura. It suddenly raised its head, forming an inverted U-shape, poised to strike.
“…?”
Is it going to attack me?
Before Maha could react, the next moment, the giant dragon swooped down from the sky and, with lightning speed, rammed him, sending him flying!
“—Ah!”
Caught off guard, Maha was sent flying sideways, spraying a mouthful of silvery-white blood across the sky!
What the hell is going on? Why did it suddenly come after me?!
Maha couldn’t figure out why, out of all the people present, the magic dragon had suddenly targeted him, but there was no time to think. Before he could recover from the dizziness of the impact, the magic dragon opened its ferocious fangs and, like a giant train, came roaring down, smashing Maha from mid-air to the ground!
With a loud bang, a crater several meters in diameter appeared out of nowhere.
Maha lay at the bottom of the crater. Before he could get up, he saw the magic dragon’s massive, scaly claw come whistling down to stomp on him through the swirling dust!
—If it were a mortal, this blow wouldn’t just crush their bones; not even bone dust would be left. They would be turned to powder in an instant.
The Peacock King’s fury instantly shot to his head.
He staggered to his feet and let out an extremely shrill, long cry. Immediately, a golden light erupted from his body; his entire form transformed in the golden light, turning into a giant, jewel-like, magnificent peacock in the blink of an eye!
“What’s going on?” Chu He took a step forward but was pulled back by Zhou Hui. “Wait, don’t go!”
Chu He turned his head and saw Zhou Hui squinting, carefully examining the attacking magic dragon. After a moment, he said, “It’s not trying to attack Maha… It’s looking for someone.”
“—Looking for someone?”
“Mhm, it’s looking for Yan Lanyu,” Zhou Hui said. “Do you remember how Maha trapped Yan Lanyu in his own barrier earlier?”
Chu He was taken aback.
The peacock spread its wings and tail feathers, swooping past the magic dragon wreathed in roaring golden flames. Wherever it passed, it sliced a long gash in the dragon’s body. Black blood and scales rained down, but the peacock dodged them all, charged forward, and rammed fiercely at the vital spot on the dragon’s body!
BANG!
The dragon’s body was knocked back several dozen feet. The peacock took the opportunity to flap its wings and soar high into the sky.
The Peacock King’s true form was ferociously powerful in combat. He was about to turn back and give the dragon a vicious blow when he suddenly felt a very subtle tremor deep in his heart.
What is this…?
A trace of doubt flickered in Maha’s eyes, followed by continuous vibrations from his nerve endings.
—He suddenly understood it was the barrier.
The barrier he, the Peacock King, had set up was being shaken by the magic dragon’s violent impacts and was beginning to collapse.
In the alternate dimension, the world was like a collapsing house. First, fine dust fell, then broken bricks and tiles, and finally, the ruined walls came crashing down like an earthquake.
As the alternate dimension collapsed, the memories hidden deep in his soul were also shattered, turning into millions of fragments and receding like a roaring tide. Amidst the deafening noise, Yan Lanyu let out an inaudible cry of pain, like someone rapidly ascending from the deep sea, and with a splash, he broke free from the boundless space of the barrier!
At the end of the void above him, the sliver of white light leading to the real world finally appeared.
And below his feet, the last fragment of memory was spinning as it fell into the abyss.
—Eighteen years ago, Tokyo.
In an ordinary apartment, a gentle breeze carrying sunlight rustled the curtains. In the cradle by the bed, a baby kicked its legs, its wide, bright eyes looking at a smiling young couple.
“Honey, look, he’s smiling, he’s smiling at me!”
“Good baby, come to daddy…”
The baby in the cradle was picked up, but for some reason, he suddenly started struggling without warning, making gurgling sounds, and then burst into loud cries.
“Ah, what’s wrong? Did he wet himself?”
“Good baby, be good, come to mommy for some milk…”
Ding-dong!
The doorbell rang. At the same time, the baby cried and struggled even more fiercely, letting out a piercing wail with almost unimaginable strength. The young father couldn’t hold him and had to hastily put the baby back in the cradle, while the mother hurried to open the door.
In that instant, the baby reached out to his mother, seemingly trying desperately to grab her.
But he was too small. His tender fingertips brushed past the corner of his mother’s clothes, leaving no trace.
“Excuse me, are you… Ah!”
“Wife! Wife, what’s wrong?! Who are you people… Someone! Help, someone help!”
With a splash, blood splattered everywhere. The cries for help stopped abruptly, followed by the thud of a heavy object hitting the floor.
Several men dressed in plain clothes stepped inside. The man in the lead walked straight to the cradle and looked at the baby.
“Hello,” he said. “We meet again.”
The baby had stopped crying. A few drops of blood had splattered on his swaddling clothes, one of which was slowly trickling down his pale, tender cheek.
His dark pupils reflected the man’s smiling face, a face that was so familiar.
—Nigini-no-Mikoto.
“To see your return in my lifetime is truly a great fortune.”
Nigini-no-Mikoto bowed politely by the cradle, reached out to pick up the baby, and turned to his subordinates. “Job’s done. Let’s go back.”
One whose soul is pure and extremely unyielding can be refined into a Yang-World Soul.
When a Yang Soul dies unjustly and goes through the Avici Hell, a mountain of swords and a sea of fire, and its spirit returns to the human world, it is called a Yin-World Soul.
The heart of the Yata Mirror is fickle and can reflect both the divine and ghostly realms; only one who possesses both a Yin and a Yang soul can serve it.
Years flew by in the blink of an eye, time passed in a flash.
Five years later, at the Esoteric School.
Sunlight was like golden gauze, and the chirping of early summer cicadas echoed through the tree-lined path. In front of a grand residence with a Heian-period flavor, a bamboo pipe filled with water and, with a thud, struck a moss-covered stone.
Nigini-no-Mikoto stepped onto the veranda, shielded his eyes from the brilliant sunlight with his hand, and squinted as he looked around.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been here,” Aida Yoshihide remarked at his side. “Ever since the Headmaster fell ill and went into seclusion, I haven’t set foot here. It’s been several years now…”
“Same here,” Nigini-no-Mikoto said with a smile.
“Hey, Senior Brother Nigini-no-Mikoto, what do you think the Headmaster means by calling us here this time?”
Feeling the burning gaze from his side, Nigini-no-Mikoto still wore that same smile, his expression relaxed and calm. “Won’t we find out everything when we see the Headmaster? I can’t guess at all.”
A trace of dissatisfaction flickered in Aida Yoshihide’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything.
Ever since the Headmaster fell ill and went into seclusion, his health deteriorating day by day, the open and secret struggles between these two martial brothers had become more and more overt. Now, they could only maintain a superficial harmony.
“Well then, since Senior Brother Nigini-no-Mikoto is so fond of the scenery here, please enjoy it at your leisure. I’ll go on ahead.”
Aida Yoshihide strode forward without looking back. Nigini-no-Mikoto seemed to turn a deaf ear to the sarcasm in his words and nodded with a smile.
Small lotuses were just beginning to bloom by the pond. A dragonfly landed on a lotus leaf, then flew up into the blue sky in an instant, disappearing without a trace.
Nigini-no-Mikoto slowly walked down the veranda, passed through the garden towards the main hall, and suddenly caught sight of a four- or five-year-old child sitting on the wooden steps in front of the mansion.
“—Hmm?”
He hadn’t noticed at first, but after a few steps, he suddenly stopped short.
The child had his hair cut short, wore a black kimono, and gazed at the sparkling pond in the distance. His young face held a calmness that was utterly out of place for his age. A red string pendant hung on his chest, and because he was so small and sitting down, the pendant dangled all the way to his knees.
It was, unmistakably, a grayish-white fragment.
“…”
Nigini-no-Mikoto narrowed his eyes, studying the child’s face carefully, as if trying to find an overlapping shadow of memory in his features.
But the child just sat there motionlessly, seemingly detached from everything in the outside world. After a long moment, he moved very slightly, raised his head, and met Nigini-no-Mikoto’s gaze.
In that instant, the cicadas’ chirping faded away, and the surroundings turned into a thick silence.
The New Year’s Eve bells rang out with the fireworks. The light instantly illuminated the depths of the darkness, then was submerged in the endless night.
Nigini-no-Mikoto walked forward and said with a smile in Chinese:
“Hello, we meet again, Lecturer-kun.”
The child looked at him indifferently, his eyes like the deep pools of a thousand-fathom-deep dead water.
After a long moment, he finally said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He stood up, turned, and walked up the wooden steps into the large house.
Nigini-no-Mikoto was stunned for a moment, and the usual careless smile on his lips disappeared.
After a while, he shook his head and walked up the steps.
The sunlight outside was brilliant, but the large house was dim and gloomy. The windows on all four sides were covered with dark paper, and the air was filled with the lingering smell of medicine being decocted year-round. It clung to everything, as if even the walls and floors were deeply permeated with a certain musty, sickly scent.
Two young attendants stood guard outside the inner room. Seeing Nigini-no-Mikoto arrive, they bowed deeply and slid open the paper door.
The smell of medicine was even stronger in the inner chamber. A frail old man was slumped on the sickbed. Aida Yoshihide knelt beside him, his head bowed deeply.
The child knelt expressionlessly in the corner of the room, his hands resting lightly on his knees. From his angle, he should have been able to see Nigini-no-Mikoto enter, but he didn’t even lift his eyes.
“Nigini-no-Mikoto is here too. Then let’s get down to business.”
Nigini-no-Mikoto walked to Aida Yoshihide’s side, knelt down as well, and bowed slightly. “Lord Headmaster.”
The corners of the Headmaster’s wrinkled mouth twitched weakly.
“The Esoteric School has become more prosperous in recent years, and my time is drawing to a close. Before I go, I want to entrust my affairs to someone I can trust. After much thought, you are both my disciples. No matter who I choose, it would be unfair to the other.”
The Headmaster paused, coughing hoarsely a few times.
The once-foremost onmyoji had been hollowed out by years of illness. His face was ashen, showing all the signs of old age. His cloudy eyes were half-closed, and his body seemed to be just a layer of skin hanging on a skeleton.
Nigini-no-Mikoto lowered his eyes, his peripheral vision glancing at the child in the corner.
The Headmaster’s health had begun to decline six years ago, when he was refining the yin-yang soul. The winter the young man died, the Headmaster used many forbidden techniques to break through the celestial chasm between the yin and yang worlds. Later, he used his own life as a price to divine where the reincarnated soul had landed. From then on, his health went downhill, with no hope of recovery.
Perhaps this was the price, Nigini-no-Mikoto thought.
From the fall of the first card, everything had collapsed in succession. All cause and effect led to the worst possible ending, until there was no room for redemption.
“The Headmaster will be fine. With a little rest, you will surely…”
The Headmaster waved his hand, and Aida Yoshihide’s voice stopped abruptly.
“I have considered for a long time and decided to leave the choice to the Yata Mirror.” The Headmaster paused and said, “Lanyu, come here.”
The child stood up, walked forward, bowed to the sickbed as a sign of respect, then knelt down again, silent.
“His name is Yan Lanyu. His Four Pillars of Destiny and his yin-yang dual soul all match the heart of the Yata Mirror. I intend to leave him to the next Headmaster as an attendant.”
The Headmaster coughed a few more times and said hoarsely, “Lanyu… you may choose one to serve.”
Aida Yoshihide had not expected this turn of events at all. His face almost changed color instantly, but he suppressed it.
Even Nigini-no-Mikoto was quite surprised and couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow slightly.
The room was dim and cool. The faint sound of cicadas came from outside the window. The incense in the corner of the room emitted wisps of white smoke, and from the tea room behind the curtain, the soft gurgling of decocting medicine could be heard, carrying an inescapable bitter and salty taste.
Yan Lanyu’s profile was very still. He only lowered his eyes, staring at his hands resting on his knees.
His fingertips were almost transparent, and in the dim light, they seemed to have a faint, barely discernible luster.
No one spoke. For a moment, the air seemed to stand still, and a suffocating silence drowned everyone.
Yan Lanyu’s body moved, but it was to shift slightly, bowing towards Nigini-no-Mikoto. “I choose to serve this lord.”
As if a time bomb had reached zero, Aida Yoshihide’s expression changed drastically in an instant. He shot to his feet. “Wait! I cannot accept this—”
But the Headmaster’s aged voice rang out at that moment, with a hidden threat: “Aida.”
“…” Aida Yoshihide panted heavily. It took him a long while to calm his heaving chest, and he forced himself to sit down, gritting his teeth.
When Yan Lanyu spoke those words, Nigini-no-Mikoto was also a little surprised at first, but in a flash, the surprise turned into great interest.
He looked Yan Lanyu up and down, as if meeting him for the first time, not missing even the slightest expression on his face. But there was no expression on Yan Lanyu’s face at all. He stared at the floating dust motes in the air, and after a long moment, he closed his eyes.
The Headmaster said slowly, “Since this is the choice of the Yata Mirror, then so be it. —Amano.”
Nigini-no-Mikoto bowed his head. “Yes.”
“After I am gone, you will succeed me as the Headmaster of the Esoteric School.”
Outside the Heian-period mansion, the sun was still shining brightly, the grass was long, and the orioles were in flight. The gentle breeze of early summer passed through the branches, and the sunlight cast mottled tree shadows on the bluestone steps.
Nigini-no-Mikoto stepped over the high threshold, squinted at the sun for a moment, and then suddenly turned back without warning. “Wait—”
He smiled at the person behind him and said, “You still owe me a New Year’s gift, Lecturer-kun.”
Behind him, Yan Lanyu stood inside the threshold, about to close the paulownia wood door.
The light in the house was very dim, and his face was indistinct at the boundary of light and shadow. Nigini-no-Mikoto just stood there quietly, smiling and watching him. It seemed like a very long time passed, so long that even the chirping of the cicadas faded into a blurry background.
“My name is Yan Jing,” he finally said after an unknown amount of time, his voice very flat.
“Jing, as in ‘thorns’.”
__
Author’s Note:
The fight scene got a bit fast. To prevent confusion, here’s a simple summary: The Headmaster turned into a dragon and started wailing on Maha. Then, Maha’s barrier couldn’t take it and completely collapsed, releasing our little beauty Yan~
