Chapter 311

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Chapter 311: Life or Death

Bai Wei walked beneath the crimson moonlight.

Unconsciously, tiny golden particles overflowed from his shoulders.

Just like tiny fireflies, or sparks flying out from a flame as it burns.

Mysteries meeting always create such phenomena. If it weren’t for the small remnants of his once-great power that had been restored, Bai Wei would never have willingly bathed in the crimson moonlight. Its influence grew stronger, nearing what it had been five hundred years ago.

Recalling the faint song he heard when infected by the Scarlet Curse, Bai Wei glanced at the moon and thought to himself that someday he might actually have the chance to visit the moon. Going alone, preferably with his golden throne.

He followed the moonlight along the way, without encountering any passersby. He only found a few scattered footprints on the ground. The mountain path was rugged and narrow, indicating that very few people passed through here.

In the deep forest of the night, the journey up the mountain proved to be perilous for Bai Wei. Along the way, he encountered several wild beasts, seemingly large carnivorous animals. They exchanged a brief glance, and Bai Wei continued climbing as if nothing had happened. The animals quickly vanished, running and leaping a few kilometers away. Their scent masked by the smell of trees and earth.

Not long after, a sacred gate appeared ahead.

The sacred gate was a door that separated two different worlds, inside and outside.

Bai Wei stepped through the sacred gate, but strangely, he didn’t sense any immediate changes. It seemed that the protective barrier here had long lost its effectiveness. The sacred ropes were scattered and disordered, and the gate itself was dirty, lacking the vibrant crimson color it once had. Instead, it had gradually faded into a dull and dim shade of yellow.

There were no signs of anyone staying here. After all, staying in such deep mountains at night could possibly attract wild beasts that might snatch them away. The rooms inside the shrine were locked and showed no signs of being opened.

"Are there no traces of any visits?" Bai Wei furrowed his brow and glanced around, surveying the area.

Suddenly, a pale exclamation point jumped into view, appearing quite noticeable in the red moonlight.

Bai Wei followed the exclamation point and came across a wooden frame with many wooden pieces hanging on it. These things are called "Ema," where pictures or words are painted and hung on the frame to make wishes to the gods.

Here, almost all the Ema looked old, except for this one piece that appeared brand new.

Taking off this Ema, he snapped his fingers, and a golden shimmer dispelled the darkness, illuminating the patterns on it.

The pattern wasn’t anything special, as if it portrayed two people holding hands. When flipped over, it revealed a fragment of an ancient poem.

"May I win someone’s heart, and never part until our hair turns white."

Bai Wei instantly choked up, not because of the hidden deep emotions within this poem, but because this poem originated from the "Poem of White Hair." Just looking at this one line was fine, but if you read the entire poem, you would realize that it depicted the inner thoughts of a forsaken woman. The most remarkable part was the last line, "A man should value loyalty, why use riches and mighty power to forget about me."

The purpose of hanging it here must have been for a confession, otherwise they would have used the last line instead.

But she deliberately chose "Poem of White Hair" instead of "Reeds" or "The Upper Lord," which clearly implies her reproach towards men.

Bai Wei’s mouth twitched as he exclaimed, "I feel so unjustly accused!"

He gazed at Ema, which triggered an exclamation mark, instantly revealing two options within his field of vision.

[Dead end]

[A way out]

[Note: Choose one, the dead end is not your dead end, the way out is not your way out]

"What a beach volleyball," Bai Wei complained.

"The riddle man is starting," Bai Wei said, sensing that it wouldn’t be easy.

Dead end, way out, an ordinary person would definitely choose the way out, but since it’s not their dead end, it doesn’t matter.

Bai Wei found himself at a dead end, with only two options to choose from.

Ema suddenly emitted a gentle glow, followed by a strong sense of weightlessness sweeping over her.

Bai Wei’s body was involuntarily pulled, and a hollow emerged at the center of the bird-shaped gate. It looked just like the hollow gate beneath the Meishin Taisha, transparent and ethereal, as if it would lead to the depths of the universe.

This was a door, but it was unclear where it would lead to.

Bai Wei had never imagined that he would actually encounter a dead end. He tried to stand still, but couldn’t resist the pull of gravity. After holding on for three seconds, he was thrown into the hollow of the bird-shaped gate. His body floated in mid-air, still on the mountain path, as if jumping from a high place to a lower one, crossing several steps in the process.

But the entire brief process was stretched tenfold, a mere second or two of time extended.

Bai Wei blinked his eyes and witnessed the surroundings transforming before him. The colorful scenery swiftly shifted and changed.

On the ground, light and darkness alternated, trees went through cycles of withering and blooming. Heavy snow covered everything and then melted away, while maple leaves turned green and then red.

Thud… Bai Wei’s footsteps landed, once again treading upon the mountain path. He lifted his head and just a few steps away stood the torii gate.

Bai Wei looked around, and the crimson moonlight remained unchanged. The familiar scenery still surrounded him, but there were also many changes. The most striking of all was the torii gate, which used to emit a dull yellow glow, but now it had turned vermilion red.

He stepped into the shrine, practically skipping in excitement. Just as he had guessed, the shrine before his eyes had transformed from old to brand new.

The building was renovated, the broken shimen rope was replaced with a new one, and the lost divine aura gathered back together once more.

Inside the torii gate formed a separate little world.

Bai Wei couldn’t believe that it had all happened in the blink of an eye. Could it be that a construction team had arrived?

The recent changes were vivid in his mind, which sparked a certain connection in his imagination.

Taking another glance at Ema, he had been uncertain before, but now he was starting to become certain about who had left behind this Ema.

"Hokusinn Kichyō."

This girl had a deep connection with Kamitsumi Shrine, and… she seemed to have a special bond with time travel.

Is it time again?

Bai Wei’s face was as calm as water.

Before, it had been a continuous loop of loading save files, but this time it didn’t seem like a loop. Instead, it brought them to a time far in the future, or perhaps… a time long past.

He entered the interior of the shrine, thinking that since the shrine was intact, there should be someone here. It wouldn’t hurt to ask what year it was tonight, just like it was joked in that funny picture, "We have successfully time-traveled, let’s ask a passerby what era it is now."

Thinking about it this way helped ease his mind a little. If it truly was because of an accidental time-travel to a distant past or a far-off future, he might want to investigate what had happened or even try to change some things that had occurred in the past.

Everyone would do this, but often the cost is too high to bear.

Bai Wei walked along the path to the shrine, about to move forward, when suddenly he heard a voice – the voice of a woman.

"Before entering the shrine, you need to purify yourself, at the very least, wash your hands clean," said the voice, in a calm tone.

Bai Wei scanned the surroundings and spotted a shrine maiden standing beneath a large, ancient tree in the courtyard. She was dressed in a blue and white, traditional shrine maiden attire. The color combination had a touch of coolness, lacking the usual vividness. Her facial features were not clearly visible in the shadows, with only half of her shoulder visible. She had short hair. Based solely on this, Bai Wei could tell that she was not any of the shrine maidens he knew.

"I never expected the shrine maiden to be open for business so late at night," remarked Bai Wei.

"I never thought that there would be people going up the mountain so late at night," said the shrine maiden.

Bai Wei shrugged and said, "I’m a visitor from a faraway place, here to pay a visit to this shrine."

The shrine maiden tilted her head and asked, "Do you mean what you just said?"

"Are we not allowed to pay our respects here?"

"Allowed, just that I’ve traveled all the way from afar to offer my respects…" The shrine maiden sized up Bai Wei and said, "You don’t really look like a backpacker, though."

"Alright, you caught me." Bai Wei raised his hand. "I got lost."

The shrine maiden took another deep look at Bai Wei, pondering for a moment. "You are still lying," she concluded.

"Why?"

"This is halfway up the mountain. If you’re lost, you should look for the path down the mountain. Why are you walking up the mountain?"

"I noticed a faint light among the mountains, so I decided to come closer. I thought there might be a shrine or a temple here, where I could stay for the night."

"The lies sound convincing, but this shrine has been deserted for a long time," the priestess shook her head and said, "Even outsiders won’t easily approach this place."

"Why?"

"This question should be asked by me," the priestess repeated, "If you still don’t speak your intentions, I’m afraid I will have to close up and drive you away from this shrine."

"Ahh…" Bai Wei scratched his head and confessed, "Actually, I came here to find someone."

"I’ve said before, no outsiders have come here for a long time," the priestess sighed. "No matter who you’re looking for, you’ve come to the wrong place."

"May I not even ask for your name?" Bai Wei attempted to persuade her.

"I’m sorry, but I have to ask you to leave," the priestess said politely. "Please, leave this place."

In the air, a feeling of estrangement emerged, and Bai Wei’s body was being rejected. He involuntarily took a step back.

Goodness, did it come true in one fell swoop? What is this, alchemy of gold, or the power of words?

"Hokusinn Kichyō," Bai Wei spoke the name, "Has she been here, by any chance?"

The feeling of estrangement vanished, and Bai Wei finally saw the blue and white shrine maiden emerging from the shade of the trees. It was then that he noticed her eyes, a pair of pale golden vertical pupils, and her face concealed by a terrifying Hannya mask.

"Where did you hear this name?" The feeling of estrangement vanished, but in its place came a more terrifying sense of oppression.