Chapter 208: Yūmi Island (14)
Chapter 208: Yūmi Island (14)
Time went back a few hours earlier.
…
Shusu Yuki and Hayasaka Muko were both brought back by Kuzunoki’s subordinates.
They were taken to a separate room.
Only one person was in this room—the masked, respirator-wearing “Founder,” Hayashizaki Ichi.
“Muko, you have truly let me down.”
Founder Hayashizaki Ichi sat in his wheelchair, his tone tinged with regret. He completely ignored Shusu Yuki, who was pinned to the floor nearby, forced to kneel.
“The cult has done nothing to wrong you, Muko. Why do you keep trying to oppose the cult?”
“Hayasaka, don’t think we don’t know what you’ve done. You secretly stirred them up, turning them against the cult…”
Kuzunoki also wore a cold smile. His gloomy tone made the room feel menacing.
“In fact… from the moment you began misleading those naive followers, I had people watching you. We also know about your secret meetings with Shusu Yuki.”
From the very beginning, he had noticed Yuki and Muko’s private talks and assigned subordinates to keep watch.
Hayasaka Muko did not utter a word. She stayed where she was, head lowered.
“So, Founder, how should we deal with these two?”
Kuzunoki respectfully asked Founder Hayashizaki Ichi what should be done with the pair.
“…”
Hayashizaki Ichi pushed his wheelchair forward and said gravely, “Bring them to the ‘Central Zone’! I have something I want both of them to see.”
Shusu Yuki was startled. He could not figure out what Founder Hayashizaki Ichi was up to.
But at this moment, he and Hayasaka Muko had little choice. Pushed from behind, they followed Hayashizaki Ichi’s wheelchair out of the room.
The group numbered about a dozen people. Kuzunoki led the way, pushing Hayashizaki Ichi’s wheelchair. Behind them were Yuki and Hayasaka Muko, followed by cult officials and followers.
Yuki recognized a few of them—he had interviewed those people before.
Outside the building was a dark corridor. Passing through it led to a spiraling passage that wound downward, as if heading underground.
This made Shusu Yuki’s mind grow even more unsettled. He could not grasp the layout of the building, only feeling that the design was unusually strange.
The passage floor was paved with concrete. Kuzunoki stood behind Hayashizaki Ichi’s wheelchair, carefully guiding the Founder down to the lower basement.
No—it was more like an underground chamber. It was a square room built from granite, very spacious—almost the size of a small sports arena.
Hayashizaki Ichi, still in his wheelchair, stopped with the others on a stone platform. Stairs descended from both sides of the platform. At that moment, he raised one hand and pointed into the vast space.
“This… is the greatest secret of our ‘Shinzaki Tenrikyo.’ Decades ago—no, perhaps longer, when I was still a child—I kept having the same dream.”
The Founder who single-handedly established Shinzaki Tenrikyo spoke with deep emotion. “In my dreams, the place that appeared was this very spot. It took me a long time to find Yūmi Island from the clues in those dreams.”
“This is a divine revelation, a holy omen granted to us by heaven. Many fishermen once lived on this island, but no one noticed this place or the miracle within.”
“The existence of this chamber is undeniable proof for us, the followers of Shinzaki Tenrikyo. It proves that what we believe is not an illusion—the great divine realm truly exists.”
Countless white candles lined the chamber, their flames arranged neatly. The air was filled with a strange fragrance that made people feel unusually excited.
“…Fish!”
At that moment, Shusu Yuki saw a school of “fish.”
He could not believe it—the “fish” floated in the air. It was a sight that should only exist in the deep sea.
Colorful fish glided through the air, their tails flicking and leaving trailing ripples like tassels.
“No, these are not ‘fish.'”
A slender, energetic old man dressed like a gentleman stood on the other side of the stone platform, leaning on his cane, his eyes bright and sharp.
“Professor Horikawa…”
Shusu Yuki had heard of this old man—he was an archaeology professor at Yamaryo University.
The old man pointed his cane at one of the “fish” in the air. The fish glowed with an enchanting phosphorescence, but as Professor Horikawa’s cane touched it, the fish vanished.
Only scattered specks of light drifted in the air.
“Or perhaps… these creatures are not the fish we know. Essentially, they only resemble fish in appearance—they are a completely different form of life…”
The old man seemed unusually exhilarated as he explained, “The clay pottery excavated from Yūmi Island contains a wealth of information about another ‘world.’ But I never imagined that a gateway to that world truly existed on the island.”
Fragments of pottery from the excavation pits, painted with bizarre patterns, recorded the observations of ancient people.
Even Professor Horikawa hadn’t believed such an “Alternate Realm” really existed.
“That is not an Alternate Realm—it is the divine ‘kingdom.’ As long as we can open a path to the divine realm, life will achieve full ascension and liberation.”
Hayashizaki Ichi’s words grew increasingly absurd, but Shusu Yuki, as if overwhelmed by his fervor, instinctively took a few steps back.
“Exactly. Under my guidance, humanity will embark on a path to the Higher Dimensions. Everything originates here. Look—at the far end of this chamber, you will see an ancient mural. That is the source of it all.”
Hearing this, Shusu Yuki finally noticed the mural on the opposite wall.
At first, due to the lighting, he hadn’t paid attention. But now, prompted by Hayashizaki Ichi, he saw it.
Yuki’s face shifted with uncertainty. Yes, he truly saw it… On the far wall of the chamber was a grand ancient mural, but it was a bizarre one—depicting a massive humanoid creature.
The mural’s background was dominated by red and black. At its center was a red-haired, black-skinned creature with fangs bared.
Above its head, on the skull, was an extremely terrifying feature—a grotesque, large fly-like face with compound eyes, seeming to cling to its forehead.
On the other side, a blood-red mouth full of sharp teeth split open from the skull, as if a beast were emerging from “its” head.
Most striking were its deep blue eyes.
They were eyes one could not bear to look into.
For some reason, just one glance gave Shusu Yuki a chilling feeling.
“…Isn’t it astonishing? Japan’s archaeological field has excavated painted and decorated tombs, and we’ve seen murals left by ancient people, but none are as vivid and breathtaking as this. Moreover, decorated tombs in Japan were mainly popular in the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries, but this ancient mural dates back even further.”
Professor Horikawa spoke in an impassioned tone.
But Shusu Yuki wasn’t paying attention. His focus was drawn to the humanoid mural. He noticed something: in the area of the humanoid monster’s heart, there was a “door.”
The color of this “door” matched the mural’s—mixed red and black pigments—but the door itself was entirely crimson, an intensely vivid hue closer to the color of blood than red. Piercing through the heart, deep into the mural, was a stone spear thrust into the “Stone Door.”
“What is that?”
Shusu Yuki furrowed his brow in confusion.
“What did you say—?”
Hayashizaki Ichi’s sharp ears caught Yuki’s question. He turned and asked him,
“Shusu, did you see something?”
“That thing… the stone spear stuck in the heart of the mural. Don’t you find it strange?”
“What?”
Kuzunoki also eyed him suspiciously.
“What exactly did you see?”
“As expected, bringing you here was the right choice.”
For some reason, Hayasaka Muko, standing behind Shusu Yuki, grinned faintly and murmured, “It seems that is the ‘Wedge.'”
Everyone present—Yuki himself, Hayashizaki Ichi, Kuzunoki, and Professor Horikawa—turned to look at her. At that moment, Hayasaka Muko lifted her head, her eyes turning a deep blue.
“Are you all ready to welcome Hell?”
What the hell is this!
Fang Jing’s pupils contracted. He reached the hallway of the main building and saw a human figure.
Kase Mi and Sakuma were not accompanying him.
Because Fang Jing believed that proceeding deeper into the Cult’s stronghold would meet great danger. If it truly came to that point, he couldn’t protect the two.
He had Kase Mi and Sakuma stay on the outskirts of the Cult’s stronghold. At that distance, he felt they wouldn’t be caught in the coming dangers.
Now, as he stepped into the hallway, a staggering man approached him, stumbling step by step like he was drunk, swaying his head.
When the man drew near, Fang Jing finally noticed that the scalp on his head had been peeled off, and parts of his skull were missing.
His brain was completely exposed to the air. Only, the wrinkled brain tissue glowed with a bluish light—it didn’t seem human at all, more like an alien thing living inside the skull.
The man was naked from the waist up, his skin covered in tattoos. His abdomen had split open, and several tentacles wriggled out, like green feelers stretching toward Fang Jing.
Whoosh!
The tendrils moved swiftly, flashing past like glowing shadows.
Fang Jing’s response was simple. He struck out with a palm from a distance, and the air shook with a forceful gust. Several tentacles were sliced clean off, and he could even smell something burning.
He reached out and slapped the man, sending him flying backward. A series of bone-breaking cracks sounded, and in the next instant, a burst of Black Flame erupted explosively where he’d been hit.
“If the Corpse Poison Curse is combined cleverly with the Dark Dragon Force, it can inject the Curse into a person’s body and trigger a blast. Alright! I’ll call this move ‘Mountain-Bursting Thunder’ from now on…”
He had recently been studying how to blend the Seal of the Asura Hand with his martial skills into one move, and it was starting to show results.
He kept walking forward. Ahead, the hall was dark with dim lighting, and the lamps went out one by one. Instantly, he was plunged into pitch-black darkness where he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face.
Fang Jing wasted no time. He directly pulled out a flashlight and lit up the front. In a flash, he saw a bald man covered in wrinkles on the ceiling, his body twisted and clinging there.
Smack!
The man dropped down from the ceiling. He turned over and crawled on his belly through the dark, moving toward the end of the corridor.
That thing—whether human or ghost—ran at the sight of him!
Fang Jing wasn’t rushed. He continued walking forward slowly, wanting to see what tricks it had up its sleeve.
He followed the bald Spirit all the way to a place that looked like a hall. There, rows of chairs were arranged like in a Church.
The chairs were full of believers in white clothes, each clenching their hands as if praying in their seats.
A fiery red rug covered the floor. Fang Jing strode boldly forward, and the believers turned their necks together. Their heads rotated 180 degrees, and their bloodshot eyes locked onto Fang Jing, watching his every move.
“Smack!”
Fang Jing suddenly stopped. He found the fiery rug showing a bloody stain, soaking the carpet. And that deep red color kept spreading around, like ink, quickly painting the whole space in shades of blood red.
Without noticing, he felt something sticky at his feet. The ground showed blood stains, the walls and wallpaper turned deep crimson, and the ceiling glowed with a red light.
His legs felt like they were wading in a pool of blood. Faces pushed out from the walls like bulges, like one after another twisted, hideous visages trying to force their way through.
They were ghostly faces, growing more savage by the second, straining to emerge through the walls.
The believers stood up. Their backs burst open, tentacles wriggling and stretching like chrysanthemums. Strong hatred poured from these Parasitic Entities.
“Boring!”
Fang Jing said lazily, “Is this all you’ve got?”
Treading in the bloody water, he spun around and sighed deeply, “…The trick of the Mirror Image Space, using it once was enough, and now a second time? Do you really think it’ll work on me?”
His body ballooned rapidly. In the blink of an eye, Fang Jing became a giant over three meters tall, with gray skin and knotty muscles, like a monster from mythic times.
“This foolish joke ends now! All of you—just die!”
His lips curled into a twisted smile, and he pulled one hand into a fist, slamming it down like a huge hammer.
Boom!
It was like a bolt of thunder striking the ground, roaring like an earthquake.
Fang Jing’s punch shattered the entire floor into pieces. Cracks webbed out like a grid, dirt and rocks sinking down while more rubble surged upward as if an earth dragon was turning below. The power was so huge, it felt like the earth was collapsing, tumbling half the world around it.
Over a hundred meters away, the ground heaved in waves. Under this violent shake, cracks spread from the base of the walls like spiderwebs, rising to the ceiling. With a deafening crash, the whole hall and the building began to collapse and break.
In an instant, shockwaves erupted, dust flew high into the air, and bits of cement scattered everywhere.
Neither the Mirror Image Space, the weird scenes, nor the hall itself—nothing survived the impact. All turned to rubble.
I had to go out at noon.
Things stay this way over the New Year. I have busy matters on my end too. Two chapters will be posted together tonight.——————————————————————————