Chapter 709
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Chapter 709: Demon God Shrine
The knight took out a positioning device from his pocket and turned around, finally focusing on the side pillar of the torii gate. A palm-sized pixelated signal transmitter was quietly attached to it, its indicator flickering with a faint light.
The knight removed the signal transmitter, his brow furrowed in confusion.
“What’s wrong?” Wu Xiangnan walked over to him and, seeing the device in his palm, asked, “Is this the signal transmitter for the ‘paratrooper’?”
“That’s right…”
The knight hesitated before speaking, “But since the signal transmitter has already been set up, logically, the ‘paratrooper’ should be waiting here for us to rendezvous…”
“But there’s no one around,” Wu Xiangnan continued, crouching down to carefully examine the bluestone slabs beneath his feet. “And there are no signs of a struggle or pursuit… Did he leave on his own?”
“That shouldn’t be the case. The ‘paratrooper’ wouldn’t leave at such a critical time. Without him guiding us, it would take us a lot of time and effort to figure out the structure of the ‘human circle,’ and there’s also the risk of exposure. He wouldn’t just abandon us like this.”
“Are you saying… the ‘paratrooper’ is in trouble?”
The knight remained silent, quietly staring at the signal transmitter in his hand. After an unknown amount of time, he looked up at the bluestone path ahead.
“Let’s search the area first and see if there are any other clues.”
The three of them walked straight along the bluestone path. The deep gray walls seemed endless; the further they went, the darker the gray became, and the temperature dropped rapidly.
This strange change did not escape the perception of the three. Wu Xiangnan stopped, frowning as he looked at the surrounding walls. “Something feels off here…”
Jialan raised her head, sniffing the air, unconsciously tightening her grip on the black box in her hand.
“It’s the aura of the ‘mysterious,'” Jialan said with certainty. “It’s strong, and there’s more than one, but… the scent seems different from the usual ‘mysterious’?”
In the two years of drifting, Jialan had encountered an astronomical number of ‘mysterious’ beings. Even with just a hint of scent in the air, she could keenly sense the presence of the ‘mysterious,’ their general direction, and even their strength.
“That doesn’t make sense,” the knight said, his confusion deepening. “The ‘human circle’ was created by the gods; how could there be ‘mysterious’ beings here? These things shouldn’t be able to enter the ‘human circle’…
Could it be that this isn’t the ‘human circle’?”
After hesitating for a moment, the knight extended his hand and grasped the air. A swirl of pure white mist rolled in his palm, and his brow furrowed immediately.
“The forbidden ruins can be used normally; this really isn’t the ‘human circle’?” He pondered for a moment and thought of a possibility. “I understand now; we are still within the ‘gap.'”
“Still in the ‘gap’?” Jialan asked in confusion. “Didn’t we just pass through the ‘gap’?”
“The size of each ‘human circle’ gap varies. Generally speaking, the larger the scale of a ‘human circle,’ the larger the gap may be. If the space we are in is indeed the gap of Japan’s ‘human circle’… then the scale of this ‘human circle’ must be at a terrifying level!”
The knight continued seriously, “So far, the largest ‘human circle’ we’ve seen is the Sphinx in Egypt, which houses nearly ten million people. Based on the size of this gap, the scale of its ‘human circle’ might even be larger than Egypt.
If that’s the case, then this ‘human circle’ we are in could be the largest and most insane ‘human circle’ in the world.”
Upon hearing this, both Jialan and Wu Xiangnan fell silent.
Jialan couldn’t help but feel worried.
In such a dangerous place… would Qiye and the others be okay?
Jialan tightened her grip on the black box, a determined look flashing in her eyes as she quickly walked along the bluestone path. The deep blue robe fluttered in the wind, and the red ribbon tied in her black hair swayed gently with her steps.
Noticing the change in Jialan’s demeanor, Wu Xiangnan and the knight exchanged glances, both seeing confusion in each other’s eyes.
What’s wrong with this girl?
Ignoring the gradually dropping temperature and the spreading chill, Jialan walked straight to the end of the long bluestone path. The deep gray walls abruptly stopped, revealing a vast shrine ruin before her.
In this ruin stood one black stone statue after another, most of which were oddly shaped: a long-haired woman with two mouths, a short and ugly boy with a green lotus leaf on his head, a strange youth with a single horn on his head, and a graceful girl with flowing light blue hair…
These statues were covered in cracks and moss, leaning haphazardly across the ruins, their expressions stiff and eerie, their movements very uncoordinated. The sight of these statues together was unsettling.
“Statues?” The knight followed Jialan into the ruins, looking around and licking his lips, as if unable to suppress the instinct to destroy the shrine ingrained in him. “Are these the deities worshipped by this shrine?”
“No,” Wu Xiangnan approached one of the boy statues and observed it closely. His expression suddenly changed. “These aren’t divine statues… they are images of demons.”
He stood up, his face darkening. “On the surface, this statue resembles the Zashiki-warashi from Japanese folklore, and the girl with light blue hair next to it should be the Yuki-onna, while the boy behind must be a Kappa…
This shrine doesn’t worship Japanese deities; it worships Japanese demons.”
“A shrine that worships demons?” The knight was greatly puzzled. “How could such a thing exist? Who made these statues?”
“It wasn’t made by anyone.”
Standing in front of the Yuki-onna statue, Jialan, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. “The ‘mysterious’ aura I sensed earlier comes from here. They aren’t just statues… they are ‘mysterious’ beings from Japan that have been petrified and trapped here!
They… are alive.”
Just as the night watchman believed, the ‘mysterious’ largely stemmed from legends and folklore around the world, and these statues before them were the embodiment of Japanese folklore.
“Alive?”
Upon hearing this, both Wu Xiangnan and the knight’s expressions changed simultaneously.
Things seemed to be different from what they had imagined.
This was a gap leading to the ‘human circle,’ yet a shrine dedicated to demons was built here, and all the demon statues were alive… This situation was extremely bizarre. Even the knight, who had extensive experience in the mist, began to feel lost.
What… exactly is this place?
