Pei Ziyun came out at Abe's sunny place. It was already evening, the snow had stopped in the sky, the last ray of sunlight was gradually disappearing, and the moonlight was rising.
The road is covered with snow, pure and flawless, and traces of passersby have been covered in snow. The cold wind blows, and the snow scatters towards the still flowing river, blending in silently.
"The barrier is still there, it's just broken and broken."
After 794 AD, Heian-kyo became the capital. According to the physiognomy of Onmyodo divination, Heian-kyo is a "holy place corresponding to the four gods". It is surrounded by mountains (Funaoka Mountain) to the north, rivers (Kamo River) to the east, and lakes to the south. (Giant Star Pond), Xitong Avenue (Sanyang Road) - are decorated with the four gods Xuanwu, Qinglong, Suzaku and White Tiger to pray for divine protection.
In order to match the natural terrain, the emperor built Enryakuji Temple (Ghost Gate), Toji Temple, Saiji Temple (forbidden area) and Rachengmon Gate (south side) in Kyoto to prevent evil spirits from causing trouble.
The feng shui boundary is like this, and it is the seat of the Japanese imperial court. It should be immune to all evil spirits, but now I dare not say that there is a gray and black air everywhere, and it is gathering and lingering, with a faint light of blood. No wonder it is just night, and the people on the road are No pedestrians were seen, and the people near the river had already closed their doors tightly while the sun was still hanging.
The noble Lord doesn't care about low life. In order not to attract evil things to the people living nearby, he doesn't even dare to discuss it in peacetime. He only conveys secrets between his eyes.
This is a taboo thing for the people living at the bottom of Heianjing.
Monster!
Pei Ziyun turned back at this moment.
There is a thick layer of snow on the road, and under the floating snow is an old layer of snow that has been crushed and hardened. If you are not careful when walking on it, you may slip and fall to the ground. But under Pei Ziyun's feet, the road cannot be smoother. Walking on the snow all the way, Smooth and steady.
Coupled with his outstanding temperament, unlike low-level warriors, some people who heard the movement and looked through the cracks in the door had awe in their eyes.
"Father, is this warrior here to get rid of evil spirits... um..." In the cold wind, a child's tender voice suddenly sounded, but was later muffled.
Pei Ziyun didn't look at it, but walked straight ahead and arrived in front of a stone bridge.
It was different from when I rode an ox cart during the day. When I went up to this stone bridge, I found that the scenery here was still elegant. Although the river under the bridge was dark in color, under the moonlight, it was so calm that it was so calm that even ordinary people could feel something was wrong. But standing on the stone bridge, you can see far away.
There are some trees on the side of the river. It is winter and there is no verdant green in sight, but the dense branches are covered with thin snow. Under the moonlight, there is a pear tree in full bloom, which is very beautiful.
It's just a pity that such a place has been polluted...
"Master Warrior, are you waiting for me?" Just as Pei Ziyun was thinking this, a female voice came faintly.
Pei Ziyun turned around and saw a woman in twelve undressed clothes who had appeared at the end of the bridge slowly walking over.
She has an elegant posture and a slender figure, as if she is walking not on a stone bridge road, but on a lover's road paved with flowers. There is a kind of joy in the coldness between her eyebrows and eyes.
Black hair and pale skin form a kind of beauty. It is said that beauty can be seen under the moon. This is indeed appropriate for her.
Pei Ziyun didn't pay much attention to her morbid beauty, but looked directly into her eyes and said, "Waiting for you?"
"Your Excellency came to the place where I live at night, and stared at me like this. Could it be that you are not waiting for me, but for another woman?"
The woman covered half of her face with a folding fan and smiled. This kind of allure was in great contrast with her conservative and cold tone, adding a bit of temptation.
Pei Ziyun turned a blind eye, as if the person standing in front of him was not a beautiful woman, but a skeleton - not that he really regarded beauty as withered bones, but that he had seen many outstanding girls.
No one can be called a beauty, not inferior to this woman, not to mention that the woman in front of her is full of resentment.
The untainted desire of gods does not mean that gods are pure in nature, nor does it not like the pleasure of men and women, but that once they reach the gods, their quality will be high. This kind of resentment is like a woman smeared with feces on her body. How can it be born? desire
It may be possible for humans and ghosts to fall in love, because humans cannot see through or smell it, but it is unheard of for gods and ghosts to fall in love since ancient times.
"You said this is your residence?" Pei Ziyun glanced around and asked knowingly: "There is only one river and one bridge here. Where is your mansion? Are you sleeping in the open air?"
"That's because I use the bridge as a cover and the river as a bed. If you don't believe me, I can demonstrate it to you."
The woman said with a smile, her eyes fixed on Pei Ziyun, and she reached out to untie her clothes. Pei Ziyun frowned and said nothing, but he just flashed away.
Just a "pop" sound was heard, and an identical woman behind her was sneering and pounced, trying to attack from both sides, but in the end she missed.
Then, the sword flashed under the moonlight.
"Ah-" A scream came from the mouth of the woman in front. A knife mark penetrated three inches. But in the back, the exact same woman couldn't even scream. She fell to the ground, her chest and abdomen were cut open, there were no internal organs, only ashes. Black air.
But before the gray-black energy emerged, two clusters of white flames shot up from the wounds of the two women at the same time. With a "boom", they spread all over their bodies, and both of them suddenly turned into burning people.
"Ahhh-" The woman in the back only burned for a moment before turning into ashes, while the woman in the front showed a look of panic the moment the flames started. She screamed and rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames that could burn the ghosts on her body. The flame of the body.
Whether it was because she saved herself in time or for other reasons, the speed at which the woman in front was burned slowed down visibly to the naked eye.
"Hey, it seems that the karma she was contaminated with is much lighter than the incarnation." Pei Ziyun, who was watching them, thought to himself with a little surprise.
The flame used contains divine power. Ghosts with heavy resentment will be burned very quickly, while ghosts with light resentment will burn slower.
This lingering woman obviously has some essential differences from her clone.
"Perhaps she is not just a ghost." Thinking of the legends about ghosts like Qiao Ji, Pei Ziyun had a guess.
Just as she was thinking about it, she saw her incarnation turn into a puddle of black ashes in an instant. The woman's heart was ashen and full of fear. Although the flame was slow, it was merciless, decomposing her spiritual power and body step by step.
She knew that although she struggled to survive, she would inevitably die.
However, she was not willing to die like this!
Staring at the young warrior standing not far away who was looking at her, her heart was filled with hatred and her eyes turned red.
"I hate it!" She rolled on the ground and clenched her fingernails tightly into the cracks of the stone. It seemed that only in this way could she reduce the pain of being burned.
"Why... why do you do this to me..."
"You ask why?" Pei Ziyun, who had been silent, spoke up, his voice even more mocking in the cold wind: "You are a ghost, disguised as a human to approach me, isn't it to devour my flesh and blood and increase your strength? At this time, why bother? Are you pretending to be innocent again?"
"What's more, you've already killed a lot of people by staying here, right? The people around here were so scared by you that they closed their doors before dark. The riverbed is probably covered with corpses under the stone bridge, right?"
"Haha, that's because you are all heartless people!" The flame on the woman's body is getting smaller and smaller, but this is not extinguished, but her figure is getting thinner and thinner. She knows that she will die soon, so she tries to raise her head and use His eyes full of resentment and hatred were locked on Pei Ziyun, as if he was not looking at a stranger who suddenly visited under the moonlight, but the man he longed for.
"I have been waiting for you, sir. You said you would come to me. Why... why did you make a mistake... why..."
"Haha! You all abandon me like grass clippings. I'm going to kill you, all of you heartless people..."
"Kill you all..."
In extreme pain, it was obvious that the woman had lost her mind and was speaking incoherently.
Pei Ziyun stood and looked down at her. This look made the woman even angrier, but when she wanted to speak again, her body had turned transparent.
"Am I going to die?" With this realization, a tear fell down from the corner of her eye. At the last moment when she finally sank into darkness, she suddenly became confused and stared at Pei Ziyun, as if she was watching her never see her again in her whole life. A man who was waiting came forward, as if many faces overlapped with hers. He opened the door respectfully and showed a gentle smile: "You... are finally here..."
The stone bridge fell into silence again.
Pei Ziyun did not move and stood quietly, looking at the two piles of ashes.
In just a few minutes, the nearest ashes began to float and spin invisibly.
Under the moonlight, a faint shadow reappeared on the black ashes.
This phantom was lying on the ashes, and when the wind blew, its clothes fluttered, and its black hair fell down. Although the figure was translucent and reflected the water and moonlight, its aura was completely different from what it looked like just now.
It's like a piece of exquisite glass wrapped in layers of dirt, shedding away all the ugliness, finally revealing the clear light inside.
"Sure enough, even though it is the Heian Era, there are actually many legends gathered together, not just now." Pei Ziyun stood, letting this scene happen, confirming his previous guesses.
Hashihime (はしひめ), the goddess of the Uji River, and the Rikyu Hachiman God are lovers. However, during the Heian period, the visiting wife system was in place. The wife could not live with her husband, but could only stay at her parents' house, waiting for her husband to come all night long.
The goddess's posture with her neck cocked as she gazes into the distance on the river is consistent with the times. It has stimulated the imagination of many singers and left behind many famous Japanese songs. But gradually, the whole-hearted waiting turned into sadness and then into hatred in every lonely night. There are women who commit suicide by jumping into the water, and when they coincide with each other, they gradually become infected with a strong spirit of ghosts.
Although the two that appeared just now can be regarded as Hashihimes, it is obvious that not all Hashihimes have divine status. The one who breaks out of the cocoon and is reborn is the lowest-level deity recognized by this river and this bridge.
Killing her would gain some divine power, but Pei Ziyun had no intention of doing so.
Pei Ziyun looked at the sky, and there was snow falling again. He looked at Qiao Ji who was lying on the bridge, slowly regaining her physical form, and then turned and left.
"Stop feeling pity and accept the resentment of those women, even though they are also very pitiful."
"God should be God."
Hashihime gradually woke up, and when she opened her eyes, what she saw was the figure of the young samurai walking away, and the words he left behind.
"I... am not dead?" She blinked in confusion and muttered to herself.
On the Uji River Bridge, the snow is getting heavier.
(End of chapter)