Chapter 365 "Monkey God"
Tokyo metropolitan area, Kanto region, Tochigi Prefecture, Nikko city.
This is a city with natural scenery and well-preserved historical relics everywhere, where people can clearly feel the perfect combination of man and nature.
There are many tourist attractions here, including but not limited to Toshogu Shrine, Futarasan Shrine, Rinnoji Temple, Mt. Nikko, Mt. Nantai, Lake Chuzenji, Senjogahara, Yumoto Onsen, Kegon Falls and other attractions. There is also Nikko National Park in the western mountainous area. The highest peak in the area, Mt. Okushirane, has an altitude of 2,578 meters. There are more than 20 mountains with an altitude of more than 2,000 meters nearby, and most of them are bell-shaped volcanoes. There are so many famous tourist attractions in the mountains that the number of tourists here can reach millions every year. It is a must-visit place for many foreign travelers.
Just like now, although there is still some time before the peak tourist season, there are already quite a number of tourists here, and there are people of all ages, young and old, men and women. Some are traveling individually, some are traveling with families, and some are couples and group tours, etc. It is very lively.
At the foot of Mt. Nikko, there are also many visitors coming in an endless stream.
They were climbing up the main shrine path at the foot of the mountain and finally arrived in front of a torii gate.
If you walk through this torii, you will arrive at Toshogu Shrine. To the right is Rinnoji Temple, and deep to the left is Futarasan Jinja Shrine.
Nikko Toshogu Shrine is a mausoleum built to worship the deified Tokugawa Ieyasu, also known as Tosho Daigongen.
This mausoleum is a luxurious shrine that cost about tens of billions of yen in modern times to build, so it gives people a feeling of golden glittering everywhere. Not only is the building magnificent and luxurious, but there are also various carvings and exquisite trinkets. It is more like a palace than a mausoleum.
The person who built the Toshogu Shrine was Tenkai Shojo, who was Tokugawa Ieyasu's think tank and a monk of great wisdom. He served the third generation Tokugawa Iemitsu during his lifetime and was a very famous person in the local area.
However, few people know that in a corner of this splendid and luxurious palace, a shrine that is difficult for ordinary people to enter was secretly built.
This is a shrine that looks very plain and out of place in the Toshogu Shrine.
It was small and old-fashioned, with no striking decorations, and looked like a stable.
There are many monkeys carved on its walls and the lower edge of the eaves.
There are monkeys with closed eyes, closed mouths, and ears covered, sitting monkeys, monkeys looking at the sky, and lying monkeys... A total of more than a dozen monkeys are carved on it, which makes people wonder why so many monkeys are carved here.
In front of this building with monkeys carved everywhere is the Xitian Palace.
It is a part of Nikko Toshogu Shrine, but unlike the Toshogu Shrine that enshrines Tosho Daigongen, it is an independent sanctuary that enshrines other gods.
"Who would have thought that there really were gods being worshipped here?"
Aize stood in front of the simple stable, looking at the woods behind it, muttering to himself.
Looking closely, Aize's attire today was very simple, even low-key, and there was no one following him.
He came here alone and without telling anyone else.
There's no way. Aize is here to cause trouble today.
"The four major families that lead the Neon spell world - Saya Palace, Seiakiin, Liancheng and Kuhozuka, each family has their own duties." Aize continued to talk to himself, and said: "And Kuhozuka's job is to protect the Saiten Palace of the Nikko Toshogu Shrine, right?"
In fact, Aize has already sensed the existence of an extremely powerful barrier here.
This barrier has the effect of repelling people, so much so that among the Toshogu Shrine that is crowded with tourists, this place is the only one that is empty, with only Aize breaking in.
"If it were in the past, this barrier would still have some effect on me."
But now, facing Aize's cursed resistance which is even stronger than that of ordinary gods and godslayers, this barrier is as good as nothing.
Aize took a step forward, followed the stable in front of him, and walked into the vast woods behind.
This is the middle area between Futarasan Shrine and Toshogu Shrine, and is not very eye-catching.
Aize walked in the woods for more than ten minutes and finally came to an ancient ancestral hall.
The ancestral hall, like the stable in front, was neither very large nor very ornate. It was just like the very simple and unpretentious ancestral halls that one often sees on the roadside in the countryside. Only the low peach trees growing around it were quite conspicuous.
When Aize arrived in front of the ancestral hall, he immediately saw the Shimenawa ropes between the peach trees surrounding the ancestral hall.
It was a straw rope woven from straw, with a white zigzag-shaped imperial coin hanging on it, fluttering in the wind like a wind chime.
Shimenawa is a rope that marks the boundaries of sacred objects and may appear on torii gates, near sacred trees and stones. During ceremonial ceremonies, the highest-level sumo wrestlers also wear ropes similar to shimenawa.
Aize felt a very strong cursed force on it, which showed that there was a powerful barrier around the Shurenna.
"Is it in here?"
Aize looked into the interior of the shrine behind the Shimenawa, but he could not see anything. There was only a tattered lattice door blocking the view, and the interior was completely dark.
"It should be here."
Aize was just about to go in when a large group of people suddenly appeared around him.
"Who are you?!"
A young man dressed in a suit and quite decently led these people, stopped in front of Aize and asked questions.
"Are you from the Kufuzuka family?"
Aize was not surprised by the appearance of these people.
However, since he came here alone, he was not going to reveal his identity and pretend to be friendly with these people.
then……
"Shatter it..."
A Zanpakuto with a bright blade appeared in Aize's hand and was held upside down.
"Mirror image."
Suddenly, with the mirror flowers and water moons as the center, the whole world seemed to have turned into a world in the mirror and suddenly shattered.
The people of the Jiufazhong family felt a panic at first, and then they were stunned.
"Where is the person just now?"
"Gone?"
“Where did you go!?”
"Go find it!"
Under the loud instructions of the leading young man, the people who were originally blocking the ancestral hall began to disperse and search the surroundings.
However, Aize, who was their target, had already put away his sword and passed through the Shimenawa.
The barrier surrounding the Shurenawa was unable to stop him at all, and he broke into it easily.
The people from the Jiufazuka family were clearly nearby, but they ignored Aize one by one, as if they couldn't see his existence, and let him pass by as if no one was around.
Soon, Aize opened the lattice door of the ancestral hall, walked into the dark interior, and slowly walked into the deepest darkness.
“I really can’t see anything at all.”
Aize felt a little strange.
You know, God Slayers will gain the ability of night vision after reincarnation. Logically speaking, darkness alone cannot take away their vision. Only the night and darkness caused by power can affect the God Slayers.
Aize can't see anything now, proving that this darkness is not just the absence of light, but involves a mysterious realm.
Walking in it, you can't see the front, back, left or right at all, there is only monotonous darkness.
Walking in a place like this, you might even lose the sense of time and not be able to tell how long you have been walking here.
However, as he walked, Aize still discovered something unusual.
He found that he seemed to no longer be in the original world, but had come to a different dimension.
Because this is a world where the spirit is more important than the body, Aize can clearly feel that his spirit is gradually becoming active, while his physical senses are becoming dull.
"Sure enough, the road in the Xitian Palace ancestral hall is the corridor between the living world and the underworld."
The underworld, the realm of life and immortality, the empty land between the human world and the world of gods, that is where Aize came.
"This place should be isolated from the rest of the underworld, and become a cage used to imprison the gods within."
Aize walked in the dark corridor for a long time, and it was not until a long time later that he saw a square hole.
There was light shining from there, and at the deepest part there was actually a dilapidated hut.
The hut was uninhabited and looked similar to a stable. However, the surroundings were different from the darkness just now. There was the sun, the refreshing blue sky, and a... monkey.
Yes, monkey.
It's not a carving like the ones outside, but a living monkey.
He was lying in the corner of the stable, on a pile of hay. One could tell from his appearance that he was not a Japanese monkey. His face was not even red, and his fur was very bright. His hair was a color close to orange-gold, and he looked very majestic.
He is about 80 centimeters tall, not very big.
However, as soon as he saw Him, Aize's heartbeat began to speed up, his blood flowed and boiled involuntarily, his adrenaline was automatically activated, and his body instantly entered a combat state.
This is a natural reaction to encountering an enemy.
This is the best proof of encountering God.
"oh?"
The monkey god who was originally lying on the hay seemed to have sensed something. He immediately got up and turned his eyes towards Aize.
The eyes were very bright, as if there was fire burning in them, and they were golden in color, with a majestic aura without even being angry.
"This is a rare guest."
The Monkey God speaks human language, and his voice, like his eyes, is exceptionally bright.
"I never expected that a godslayer would come to my palace. I thought it was the witch who came to play with me again after a hundred years."
The Monkey God's attitude was not friendly, but it was not hostile either. He did not look like he was encountering a godslayer enemy at all. He was bright and lively.
Looking at the monkey god in front of him, who was a little strange but didn't look much different from an ordinary monkey, Aize smiled.
The smile was not very emotional.
"It seems that you enjoy being imprisoned, Great Sage."
Aize's attitude was neither friendly nor hostile.
Because the Monkey God in front of him is not qualified to be his enemy yet.
"Great Sage? Are you calling me?" The Monkey God sat on the haystack and tilted his head, looking confused and asked, "Is this my name? Or my nickname?"
"Hmm... It feels familiar. Maybe you are calling me?"
"What a pity. I am now sealed. I have completely forgotten my previous name and title."
"Those guys who locked me up here called me the Monkey God. Now I guess that's the only thing I can be called."
The Monkey God indeed could not remember his past name and title.
He was the God of disobedience manifested on earth, the Steel of disobedience, the Hero from the East.
However, many, many years ago, he was sealed by the ancient sages of this country using a great spell that they had spent their entire lives planning, and was transformed from the steel of disobedience into a sword that protects the country.
The cursed power gathered from the holy places all over Japan was transformed into the divine power of Tosho Daigonen through that great spell, which bound the monkey god, causing him to lose his ferocity, wildness, divinity, and even his nature, and turned him into a harmless monkey that was raised here.
Whenever dragons and snakes appear on the ground, his seal will be opened. He will regain his lost ferocity, wildness and divinity, and follow his instinct as a steel hero to destroy them.
But after the dragons and snakes on the ground are destroyed, he will be affected by the great spell and return here obediently to continue to be sealed.
Now, He has not left here for a hundred years and has been staying here, wasting his time.
So, the Monkey God knows very well…
"I am definitely not a great sage now, but Bimawen, okay?"
The great spell that imprisoned him was named Bimawen.
In the past, he had also held this position in heaven, and was specifically responsible for looking after the horses of the gods in heaven.
but……
"Now, can you really call yourself Bimawen in such a high-sounding way?"
Aize said calmly.
"In the past, when you felt humiliated by this position, you did not hesitate to cause a big commotion in the Heavenly Palace to prove that you were not Bi Ma Wen, but a great sage who was equal to the heavens."
Hearing this, the Monkey God scratched his face.
"Even if you say that, I don't know what I was like before."
He smiled playfully and heartlessly.
Looking at him like this, Aize finally understood Luo Hao's feelings.
The famous Monkey King is actually being kept here without any wildness or awareness, and he doesn't even feel ashamed of it and looks optimistic. This will indeed make many people who grew up listening to his stories feel uncomfortable.
The same is true for Aize.
"No wonder Sister Cui Lian has been thinking about this for a whole hundred years."
Aize ignored the Monkey God in front of him, as if he had nothing to say to Him now, and talked to himself.
"Hmm? What do you want to do?"
Perhaps the Monkey God sensed something and made a surprised sound.
"Nothing." Aize glanced at Him and said, "I just wanted to wake you up."
"Awaken that unrivaled hero."
"The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong."
(End of this chapter)
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