Why have you come here?
"A handyman asked."
"Come to seek your destiny."
The girl covered her lips and chuckled softly.
"How should I address you?"
The servant asked again.
"Please call me 'Quan'." The young girl gracefully accepted the bowl and chopsticks, her movements dignified and elegant.
Is this a name?
The servant asked, puzzled.
"I am an Onmyoji from Kyoto. I apologize for disturbing you," the girl explained softly.
Oh! Oh!
The servant realized how rude he had been when he came to his senses.
"I'm sorry, sir."
He addressed her that way, and the girl smiled, not taking offense at his rudeness.
Where are you headed on your trip?
The girl watched the raindrops fall from the eaves and hang in strings on the wall, and whispered, "I'm going to the snowy north."
"Oh dear!" the handyman exclaimed, lowering his voice, "I heard there are mysterious monsters there, some rather unruly ghosts!"
"Yeah?"
The girl smiled calmly.
She was looking for the monsters there.
-
She is a snow spirit clad in pure white, and a stunningly beautiful, aloof woman. She is filled with curiosity about the mortal world and its men. Many snow women have visited human dwellings, some even marrying and having children with human men, but all their journeys end tragically. Returning alone or with their children to the cold snow mountains is their inescapable fate.
Gently closing the book, the young girl Izumi lowered her veil to shield herself from the oncoming snowflakes and walked step by step on the thick snow.
"Wooden clogs are so hard to walk in."
She muttered softly, her dark eyes filled with joy as she looked around from time to time, hoping for a beautiful white figure to appear.
"Where are you? My daughter."
Despite the arduous journey, Quan continued walking through the mountains, from one place to another, and from there into the deeper snow valleys.
Where is it?
The girl was confused. She turned the pages of the book, but the parts she hadn't read were just ordinary descriptions, unimportant.
"Ah... I'm so tired."
She walked for a very long time, but the vast emptiness of the snow-covered ground remained unchanged, stretching as far as the eye could see with the falling snow. The girl grew tired and entered a dark cave.
Entering the cave and putting down her hat, the girl touched her cold arms and lit the firewood. Bathed in the firelight, her cold body regained some feeling.
"It's truly a snow-capped mountain; it's so cold."
Tear...
The fire crackled and popped, like tree bark bursting open, somewhat like chestnuts exploding. Just then, Quan keenly sensed something flash past behind him.
"who?"
She stood up. There was no one behind her. Strange noises came from the cave entrance. She walked towards the entrance and looked outside. In the deep valley below, a cold and beautiful woman with no smile, dressed in a white kimono, was leading a man who had entered the snow mountain into the deep valley.
Hello!
She called out to the woman in white at the cave entrance. The woman looked up, revealing a pair of cold eyes beneath her long white hair.
"Huh... they're ignoring me."
The woman led the man into the deep valley, and Quan extinguished the fire and followed. They walked unsteadily through the snow, their steps uneven, and it was only with great difficulty that they caught up.
Entering the deep valley, the snow woman from before was nowhere to be found. Quan searched everywhere and finally found a frozen man by the last icy pool.
"Huh?"
Quan walked around him a few times, and through a layer of ice, his eyes were so numb, as if he had lost his soul.
Did she do it?
Quan asked himself.
She doesn't know.
With a gentle exhale of warm air, the breath turned into white mist and fell to the ground. Quan caught the mist, waiting for the Snow Woman to return.
She wants to see her.
A gust of cold wind blew, and Quan's whole body froze. He stamped his feet on the ground and was suddenly pulled by a strange force into a narrow space behind a boulder.
what happened?
Quan stared blankly at her legs. The white-clad figure outside reappeared. She stood up, ready to go out, but suddenly sat down.
"Are you going to your death?"
A cold voice came from behind. Izumi turned around and saw a little snow princess with light blue hair floating behind him.
"How so?"
Quan asked curiously.
"The deep mountains are where the Snow Princesses live. Some Snow Princesses lure men who enter the snow mountains to secluded places and kiss them, freezing them while they kiss and sucking away their souls. That's how that man died. Aren't you afraid?"
Little Snow Princess spoke each word clearly.
So, will you hurt me?
Quan asked with a smile.
She knew that the young Yuki-onna wouldn't harm anyone, and that the cute little Yuki-onna in front of her wasn't yet an adult, so she wouldn't take her back to her cave to display her for her enjoyment.
She's not old enough to appreciate it yet.
"That snow woman will hurt you."
Little Snow Woman answered.
"So?" Quan asked again, standing up with a talisman in her hand.
"you……"
Little Snow Girl pouted and lowered her eyes, seemingly thinking that the person in front of her was so stupid that he couldn't possibly run away.
Hehe~
Quan chuckled a few times, took out a lamp and a flint from his pocket, struck the candle with the flint, and it lit up with a blue light.
"I'm going to save that person. I won't run away. Wait for me here, okay?"
He reached out to touch the snow maiden's forehead, but she turned her head away. Izumi wasn't angry and put the flint at his feet.
"Take this and play with it."
After saying that, she slowly walked out.
The adult snow woman quickly spotted her, floating in front of her, her voice so cold it seemed to freeze her.
"You are... an Onmyoji?"
Her eyes narrowed dangerously, a faint smile played on her lips, and she held a talisman in one hand and a lit lamp in the other.
"Hello, I am an Onmyoji. It's nice to meet you. Please take care of me."
Quan walked up to the man and asked, "Can you return his soul? I see that his life is still shining in your womb."
The snow woman stared at her without moving, and Izumi felt the pressure and retreated.
It seems this snow woman is not easy to talk to.
She thought to herself.
Please say it again.
The snow woman spoke.
Quan took a few steps back, and the Snow Woman suddenly reached out and grabbed at the air. A snowflake drifted into her hand and turned into an icicle.
"Onmyoji, this icicle will pierce your heart and stain it with your blood." The Snow Woman looked at her expressionlessly.
Quan's entire body tensed up as the icicle flew toward her chest under her gaze. Just as it was about to pierce through her clothes, a piece of blue candlelight stuck to the icicle.
In an instant, the icicles turned into countless snowflakes that landed on his chest. Quan shook his robes, brushing the snowflakes off.
"That is... Earth Pool Fire."
A hint of wariness flashed in the adult snow woman's eyes. Izumi took a few steps closer, looking at her with a smile, "Please give him back his life. I'm sorry."
The adult snow woman floated in the air, looking at the giant rock behind the spring, and said, "Come out."
A small blue figure landed beside her. Izumi covered her mouth in surprise, while the little snow maiden quietly floated down and watched her.
"sorry."
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