"elder sister?"

Amakura Mio looked around, but there was no one in the dark alley. Hinasaki Shinkuen also turned her phone and took a photo of the surroundings. The vengeful spirits were too annoying, so they focused on the front and the back respectively, and neither of them paid attention to Amakura Kan in the middle.

But even so, neither Hinasaki Shinku nor Amakura Mio thought that Amakura Mayu could leave, because her left leg was inconvenient and she walked with a limp. The two of them slowed down before just to cooperate with Amakura Mayu. Otherwise, if three teenage girls ran away, it would not be easy for the group of evil spirits to catch up.

But why did Tiancang cocoon disappear?

"Do you know where she went?"

Hinasaki looked at Amagura Mio suspiciously and asked, and the latter shook her head in confusion. Then Amagura Mio looked around again, and then she seemed to have discovered something and screamed.

"elder sister!!"

While shouting, Amakura Mio quickly turned around and ran towards the alley next to her, and Hinasaki Shinku hurriedly followed.

The two girls walked through the alley one after the other and came to a big house in front of the village. At this time, they finally saw Tiancang Jian limping towards the house as if attracted by something. In front of Tiancang Jian, several bright red butterflies were flying in the air, as if they were leading her.

"elder sister!!!"

Seeing Amagura Kan, Amagura Mio shouted again, but Amagura Kan seemed to be deaf to her sister's shouts and walked straight forward as if guided by something. Amagura Mio and Hinasaki Shinku also hurriedly chased after Amagura Kan, trying to catch her.

However, an unexpected scene happened.

Although Tian Cang Jian seemed to be walking very slowly, even limping, for some reason, Tian Cang Mio and Hinasaki Shinku were unable to catch up with her even if they ran a hundred meters. In the end, they could only watch Tian Cang Jian push open the door and walk into the house, while they were a step slower, and the door slammed shut in front of them and never opened again.

“Bang!!”

Amakura Mio threw herself on the door and pushed hard, but the door that Amakura Kan had pushed open easily just now was now like a lump of iron. No matter how hard Amakura Mio and Hinasaki Shinku pushed, it didn't move at all.

"What can I do?"

"Let me take a look..."

As she spoke, Hinasaki Shinku closed her eyes and put her hand on the door.

Then, the scene before her eyes began to change again.

Soon, Hinasaki's face turned ugly, she closed her eyes tightly, and trembled as if she was in a nightmare. Seeing this, Amakura Mio beside her couldn't help but worry, she reached out and pressed on Hinasaki's shoulder.

"Ms. Hinasaki?"

“——!”

The moment Amakura Mio pressed her shoulders, Hinasaki Shinku suddenly opened her eyes, then fell backwards to the ground. At this moment, she was sweating profusely and gasping for breath.

"Ms. Hinasaki, are you okay?"

Seeing Hinasaki Shinku's abnormal behavior, Amakura Mio asked anxiously, while Hinasaki Shinku was staring at the gate in front of her, turning a deaf ear to Amakura Mio's question. Not only that, at the same time, the shouting of vengeful spirits was heard again all around. Amakura Mio turned her head and saw that the villagers who had chased them before appeared again, holding torches and weapons to block their way.

"Ms. Hinasaki, please cheer up, we have to get out of here!!"

At this moment, the two of them were blocked by the villagers' resentful spirits at the gate, and Amakura Mio hurriedly pushed Hinasaki Shinkuen to wake her up. Hinasaki Shinkuen seemed to have just reacted at this time, she hurriedly stood up, looked at the villagers' resentful spirits behind her, and then gritted her teeth.

“No, this is beyond my ability to handle, Shizuku-nee… help me…!!”

As she spoke, Hinasaki Shinku raised her cell phone and pressed a button hidden on the back. The next moment, a golden beam of light suddenly appeared and went straight into the sky.

At the same time, the resentful spirits of the villagers were getting closer and closer to the two.

And at this moment, suddenly, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky.

"boom!!!"

The roaring lightning struck directly in front of the two girls, and the ghosts of the villagers near them were completely annihilated in the thunder. The howling wind rushed towards them, forcing Amakura Mio to raise her hands in front of herself to block the wind and dust. However, when Amakura Mio put down her hands, she was surprised to find a strange black-haired girl wearing a sailor suit and holding a big sword appeared in front of them.

"It looks like you're in trouble after all, Crimson."

“Shizuku-sister!!!”

Looking at Shizuku in front of her, Hinasaki Shinku immediately relaxed and smiled. Shizuku winked at her, then raised Frostmourne in her hand. Soon, the cold wind howled, and the swirling air flow was like a whirlpool in the sea, sucking in all the souls of the villagers who had no time to escape. In the blink of an eye, the vengeful spirits that had been showing off their power were swept away, as clean as autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.

Only when she was sure that she was satisfied with the Frostmourne in her hand did Shizuku put down the sword and turned to stand in front of Hinasaki Shinkuro.

"You look bad, are you okay?"

“Shizuku, Shizuku-sister…!”

Seeing Shizuku appear, Hinasaki Shinku grabbed her as if she had seen a life-saving straw.

"Please save her, save Sazhong, save Jian...!"

"Okay, okay, don't get excited yet. Tell me slowly what you saw."

Seeing the nervous Hinasaki Shinku, Shizuku hurriedly comforted her while looking around.

"Um... this is not the place to talk, wait a minute..."

As she spoke, Shizuku picked up the greatsword and swung it forward.

"Wake up!!!"

“Ahhhh!!!”

As the cold wind blew again, countless ghosts emerged. They rode tall horses and held swords and shields in their hands. They looked like a ghost army, ready to go.

Shizuku just swung the sword.

"Clear this place!!"

Following Shizuku's order, the ghost army immediately dispersed in all directions. Soon, the whole village was in chaos and screams. If you didn't know, you would think that bandits had entered the village and were slaughtering the whole village.

Although it's almost the same.

Seeing this scene, Hinasaki Shinku was obviously much more relaxed. Shizuku had done the same thing in Himuro Residence, and the result was that the horrible ghosts entrenched in Himuro Residence died miserably. Now it was Kamikami Village's turn, and the same operation was still used, and the same effect was still achieved, which immediately calmed Hinasaki Shinku's irritated mood.

However, Amakura Mio didn't have such good concentration. In fact, when Shizuku summoned the ghost army just now, she was already dumbfounded. It felt like she was directly transferred from the set of The Ring to The Lord of the Rings. Her brain was completely confused, so much so that Amakura Mio was a little doubtful whether she was awake or asleep.

There are many vengeful spirits in the village, but their fighting power is certainly not comparable to the army of undead in Frostmourne, just like the villagers who surrounded the girls before, they only had torches and long sticks, which had no killing power at all. In contrast, here they are riding tall horses, wearing heavy armor and big shields, and they will be swept away by you without any resistance.

After a short while, the chaotic village became quiet again, and the raging undead army turned into a gust of cold wind, and was sucked into the blade of Frostmourne along with the spoils. It was not until this moment that Shizuku looked at Hinasaki Shinku again.

"Okay, now tell me what's going on here."

"Okay... Shizuku-nee."

Looking at the girl in front of her, Hinasaki's deep red mood had completely calmed down. She nodded vigorously and began to narrate everything she had seen before.

"Just as I thought before, this village also has a gate to the underworld. And, just like the Himuro residence, the villagers here have been sealing the gate to the underworld through a ritual called the Red Trapped Ceremony from generation to generation. However, their ritual is too cruel..."

"Is it even more cruel than Himuro's residence?"

Hearing this, Shizuku raised her eyebrows curiously. Being torn apart by a chariot was cruel enough, but the thing that Hinasaki Shinku felt was even more cruel than being torn apart by a chariot... couldn't it be something like the ten cruel tortures of the Qing Dynasty, such as pulling out the tendons, skinning, and cutting into pieces.

"Um……"

Hinasaki nodded deeply in red and then spoke in a low voice.

"Every once in a while, they would offer a pair of twins to the Yellow Springs Gate as a seal to suppress it. The content of this ceremony is actually very simple, which is..."

Having said that, Hinasaki Shinkuen glanced at Amakura Mio beside her.

"On the altar in front of the Yellow Springs Gate, the older sister or older brother of the twins will kill his or her younger brother or sister with their own hands... and then throw the body into the Yellow Springs Gate..."

"I see."

Hearing this, Shizuku frowned. She finally understood why Hinasaki Shinku said that this ritual was cruel. Indeed, although the "Rope Miko" ritual of Himuro Residence was also cruel, the only one who was hurt was the Miko herself, and if the Miko herself was prepared to sacrifice herself, then there was nothing to say.

Tragedy like Himuro Kirie's is just an accident, and if anything can be said, it can only be said that it is a trick of fate. If Himuro Kirie had not met that stranger, she might not have gone crazy because of it.

But it was different here. To kill one's own brothers and sisters with one's own hands was simply to kill one's heart. The one who survived would probably fall into eternal despair and pain. From a certain perspective, this was indeed much more cruel than the rope-making ritual at Himuro's residence.

After all, if someone dies over there, it will all be over, but if one person dies here, the remaining one will have to suffer in eternal pain.

"My... great-grandmother Yae and her sister Sae were the chosen priestesses for the ceremony. But because someone in the village wanted to put an end to this tragedy, they helped them escape and contacted people outside for help. So when the festival was being held, my great-grandmother and her sister Sae tried to flee the village."

Having said that, Hinasaki Shinkuro seemed to recall something and sighed.

"But while escaping, my sister Saeki accidentally fell off a cliff and broke her leg... She couldn't escape..."

“……!!!”

Hearing this, Amakura Mio's expression suddenly changed and she lowered her head.

"My great-grandmother didn't realize she was separated from her sister. When she found out, she hurried back to look for her, but it was too late. By then, her sister had been found by patrolling villagers and taken back. Because the ceremony had to be held, the priest decided to continue the ceremony. Until the last moment, Shazhong was still hoping for her sister to come back, but...she never waited for my great-grandmother to come back."

"So the ritual failed, right?"

Shizuku could guess what was going on without Hinasaki Shinku telling her. This was the same tragedy as the Himuro residence. They both knew that the situation was not right, but it was too late and they could not find a replacement. They could only hold the ceremony anyway, hoping to win the gamble, but ended up losing everything. No one was left alive in the Himuro residence, and it seemed that there were no living people in the village anymore.

But it’s not surprising, as betting on national destiny is a daily routine in Japan.

Losing in gambling is even more common.

"Yes, because of her hatred for her sister, Sazhong's ritual failed, and she became a terrifying evil spirit like Himuro Kirie, and then killed everyone in the village. And now her soul is attached to Amakura Kanon. The reason why she lured the sisters here is that she hopes they can replace herself and her great-grandmother and complete the failed ritual again."

“How could it be…”

Hearing this, Amakura Mio's face turned pale. Although she didn't understand most of the conversation between Hinasaki Shinku and Shizuku, she at least understood the remaining half.

"You want me to kill my sister with my own hands? I won't do that!"

"Yes, there is no need to do that."

Shizuku shook her head. After knowing the whole story from Hinasaki Shinku, the rest of the things became easy.

"Let's go find the girl named Tiancang Jian now, rescue her, seal the Yellow Spring Gate, and go home... Do you know where she went?"

"I know."

Hinasaki nodded deeply.

"The Yellow Spring Gate of this village is also located underground, and the passage to the Yellow Spring Gate is also in the village's Muraya Shrine!"

"very good."

After receiving a definite answer, Shizuku gripped the sword tightly and swung it with all her might.

"Let's go!"