Chapter 407 Ghost Kyoto

"Are you a mage from Tang?" the little fox asked curiously.

"You can say that." Richard said, looking around.

In the courtyard, some maids wearing masks came out from the corner. The masks were pure white masks with Japanese characteristics, painted dark red, with exaggeratedly small lips, eyebrows with only a few black spots, and tied in a Japanese-style women's bun.

These maids came up with some fruit plates and snacks in wooden clogs, and one of them brought a pot of wine.

"Please sit down." The fox girl leaned lazily on the couch, supporting her head with her right hand, holding a round fan in her left hand, her slender legs lying on the couch, the golden bells swaying slightly, her eyes like autumn water, and her heartstrings.

Although she did not use her charm ability, her every move was charming.

"What era is Japan now?" Richard asked.

"I don't care much about the news of those humans, but I heard recently that there is a famous Yin-Yang master named Abe Haruaki."

When Richard heard Abe Haruaki, he immediately knew that it should be the end of the Heian period, which is the period from the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms to the early Northern Song Dynasty in China.

"Abe Haruaki, is he famous now?"

"I heard that he is just 30 years old this year, but he is already better than many Yin-Yang masters of the older generation." The fox girl said.

"I don't know how the guests call you?" The fox girl waved her fan gently, and three singers with the same mask appeared in front of them. They were wearing gorgeous clothes and dancing with round fans in their hands. But Richard didn't like that kind of sad music.

"Richard!" Richard said, "What's your name?"

"My name is Qinghe." The fox girl said.

Qinghe? Richard recalled in his mind. He had never heard of this name among the Japanese monsters he knew. The most famous fox monster in Japan in his previous life should be Tamamonomae, the nine-tailed fox.

But the Qinghe in front of him should not be the nine-tailed fox.

Next, Qinghe asked Richard about the situation in the Central Plains, and Richard told him what he knew. Although he didn't know much, Qinghe was very interested.

"It's a pity that I can't go to Tangguo, otherwise I really want to see it." Qinghe murmured.

Richard found that Tangguo seemed to be a forbidden area for these monsters, and the monsters from Japan didn't dare to go there.

"It's getting late, it's almost dawn, you should leave here." Qinghe said.

Richard looked up at the sky, the moon was about to fall, there was no sun in the underworld, the ghost Kyoto would appear at night and would disappear again during the day.

The ghosts who went out had also returned and entered the room of the ghost Kyoto. Unlike the human world, ghosts hide during the day and come out at night.

"I'm glad to meet you today. This is my token. If you want to find me, take out this jade token, it will bring you here." Qinghe handed a green jade token to Richard.

Richard nodded, took the jade token and put it away, then stood up and said, "Thank you for the hospitality. It's getting late. Goodbye!"

As he spoke, Richard waved his hand gently, and flew directly to the gate of Ghost Kyoto. There are many ghosts in Ghost Kyoto, but there is no blind guy who blocks Richard.

There is still Qinghe's demonic aura on Richard's body. Many monsters immediately avoid him from a distance when they notice it. Obviously, this little fox has a high status in Ghost Kyoto and should be very strong.

Soon, Richard came to the gate of Ghost Kyoto and finally stopped in front of a gate. This gate looks like a city gate, and then two figures with ox heads and horse heads can be seen. Behind these two figures, a chain connects a large number of ghosts and is about to pass through the city gate.

Ox-headed and horse-faced?

Richard was slightly stunned. This should be a ghost messenger from Japan. The two ox-headed and horse-faced are dressed like Japanese people. One holds a soul-catching sickle, one holds a soul-calling banner, and the other hand holds a chain.

At the other end of the chain were all kinds of strange ghosts.

After passing the gate, the two sides met directly.

"Why did a living person come to the underworld?" Niutou was slightly stunned, and immediately raised the weapon in his hand.

"Don't blame the ghost, I mistakenly entered this place last night and was about to leave." Richard said.

"There is a difference between yin and yang, and there is an order between life and death. Living people should not come here!" The horse-faced man next to him glanced at Richard and said in an inexplicable tone: "Go through this door to the world of the living, let's go!"

After Richard thanked him, he walked directly to the city gate.

After seeing Richard leave, Niutou said: "He violated the ban."

"Didn't you feel the demonic power on him?" Horse-faced man interrupted directly: "We are just underworld messengers. If we really annoy that person, can we withstand it?"

"What about Yama?"

"Just pretend you don't know." The two quickly discussed it, then pretended to know nothing and left here with the ghosts.

Richard left the city gate, crossed the bridge, passed through a space crack, and left the underworld directly. At this time, a golden light just rose in the eastern sky, the night faded, and the light enveloped the earth again.

At the same time, the ghost gate behind him closed, and the space crack disappeared. The underworld and the world of the living are in the same time and space. Under normal circumstances, they are parallel to each other, and only in very rare cases will they be connected.

Richard looked around, surrounded by a field of weeds. Not far away, there was a broken stone tablet with a large number of symbols engraved on it. There were many ropes tied to the stone tablet, and a red cloth with talismans drawn on it was hung. There were also some traces of burning incense and candles underneath, but they were a long time ago.

This should be a town monument. In the era when demons were rampant, almost every village would have such a thing. It can resist some weak demons. Of course, if there are land gods, mountain gods and the like in the village, they will worship the land gods and mountain gods.

In the country of Japan, gods and ghosts have not been distinguished until later generations. Some big demons have their own shrines in the mortal world. The Qinghe I met last night wanted to build a shrine in the human world.

But she was ambitious and did not plan to build it in villages or other cities first, but went directly to Kyoto. Kyoto is the most prosperous place in Japan. If you want to build a shrine here, you probably have to fight with the original shrine here.

Richard identified the direction and found a small path to walk.

"By the way, there is also a phoenix." Richard suddenly remembered that when he teleported, he put the phoenix into the private space and forgot to release it last night.

He quickly opened the private space, and the phoenix, who had been impatient for a long time, flew out immediately. The phoenix Qingxuan, who left the private space, flew directly into the air, circled in the sky, and then landed on Richard's shoulder.

Then she kept chirping at Richard. It was obvious that the little girl was very dissatisfied with Richard for not letting her out last night, and kept accusing him.

"Okay, okay, I know, I will let you out as soon as possible in the future." Richard comforted the little girl and took out some lotus seeds for her, which made the little girl quiet down.

The little girl stood on Richard's shoulder and combed her feathers. It must be said that the phoenix is ​​still very beautiful, even if it is not yet an adult.

Soon, walking out of the forest, Richard saw a small village not far away. The village was not big, with only dozens of households. At this time, all the people in the village gathered at the entrance of the village and were burning and worshiping something.

Richard glanced at it. It was a small shrine with a roughly carved statue inside, but the statue was not a person, it looked like a dog.

Japan does not have a complete Shinto system now, and the beliefs are chaotic. Many villages worship some mountain spirits and wild monsters. This kind of belief is a matter of luck. If you encounter some kind mountain spirits and wild monsters, they will let people worship him and protect these villages. If you are unlucky, they will ask for blood and food tributes.

Richard took a look at a dog demon in the forest. It should be the god worshipped by this village. There is no bloody aura on it, so it should be a more obedient monster.

Seeing Richard appear at the entrance of the village, the people in the village were panicked. Most of these people were 1.4 to 1.5 meters tall, with shabby clothes and thin bodies.

And Richard's 1.8 meters height seemed like a giant to them, plus the gorgeous clothes, they were afraid of Richard from the bottom of their hearts.

After a while, the leading farmer stepped forward timidly.

Richard asked casually: "Where is the nearest city from here?"

"It's Kyoto." The farmer said tremblingly.

"Which way to Kyoto?"

"Just go west along this road." said the farmer.

Richard snapped his fingers, and a bag of rice appeared out of thin air and landed in front of him.

"This is your reward." After saying that, Richard walked west along that road.

It was not far from Kyoto. Richard was very fast. In just half an hour, the prototype of an ancient city appeared in his sight.

The city looked prosperous. After all, it was the capital of Japan. The city's shape imitated the Tang Dynasty capital Chang'an and Luoyang. It's just that the scale was reduced several times.

The city looked very similar to Ghost Kyoto, but it was more prosperous here.

Richard's arrival attracted the attention of many people. After all, among a group of 1.4-1.5-meter dwarfs, a 1.8-meter man suddenly came, and many people were directly scared.

The people here did not seem to have a good life. Most of them were thin and small, with dark skin, and there were only a few strong warriors and nobles.

Seeing Richard, a warrior soon stopped Richard with a team of soldiers.

"Where are you from? What is your purpose in coming to Kyoto?" The leading samurai said with a serious expression.

"I am a Tang person, traveling here, and I heard that Kyoto is a country in Japan, so I want to come and see it." Richard said.

"Tang people?" Hearing Richard's words, the samurai was very surprised and his expression became very respectful.

"It is indeed the customs of the upper country, extraordinary."

The samurai in front of him very politely invited Richard to enter the city and also invited him to be a guest, but was rejected by Richard.

The samurai left two soldiers to lead the way for Richard, and hurried back to report to his master. In this era, for the countries surrounding the Central Plains Dynasty, China was the Celestial Empire, and they admired the Central Plains culture very much.

Then the two soldiers took Richard to stroll in the city. This Kyoto city covers an area of ​​about 20 square kilometers and has a large population. At this time, it was in the Heian period. It sounds like the Heian period should be peaceful and prosperous, but in fact, the lower-class people here are very poor.

And along the way, Richard has felt more than one place with demonic and yin energy. If there are monsters and ghosts living in the capital of a country, then other places can be imagined to be even more chaotic. Obviously, this Heian period is not peaceful at all.

Richard came to a tavern, where several merchants were talking about monsters and ghosts. Some people encountered mountain ghosts, and several people were eaten by mountain ghosts. Another person said that a wine-drinking boy came to Tanba Mountain.

It feeds on the flesh and blood of women and children every day, and likes to seduce virgins. It is very cruel, and there are many monsters gathered under its command. Another merchant said that he met a woman in green clothes holding a lantern. The woman was beautiful and powerful. She stopped their caravan and asked them to tell a story she had never heard of.

If the story satisfied her, she would let them go. If the story did not satisfy her, there would be no if.

"Mountain ghosts, wine-drinking boys, and Qingxuande, it is really a world of demons dancing wildly." Hearing this, Richard had roughly understood this world. This should be the world of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons in Japan.

Especially that Qingxuande, Qingxuande is writing a ghost book "One Hundred Tales". Once she collects one hundred ghost stories, it will start a Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.

After meeting her, the best way is to tell a story. Of course, if you are unlucky and the story you tell happens to be the hundredth, then after the story ends, all kinds of ghosts will appear.

Of course, you can also tell a long story, directly delaying the time until daytime, when Qingxuandeng will return to the underworld, so that you can survive the crisis.

In addition to these big monsters, there are also some small monsters. Richard even heard about Abe Haruaki. At this time, Abe Haruaki was subduing monsters everywhere.

At this time, several people wearing Onmyoji costumes hurriedly passed by on the street, and Richard's mental power could clearly sense the power of these people.

These Onmyoji not only have energy, but also are deeply entangled with demonic energy and ghost energy. Such energy is not only difficult to prolong life, immortality, and longevity.

Obviously, these people have integrated all energies into their bodies for powerful strength. Those demonic energy and ghost energy should be their Shikigami.

Richard got some news about Shikigami from the fox demon Qinghe. Shikigami is a contract signed between Onmyoji and Shikigami. Onmyoji provides Shikigami, and then can use the power of Shikigami or control Shikigami.

Onmyoji feeds monsters and ghosts with his own body, and at the same time integrates their power into himself. Although this method can quickly form combat effectiveness, the Onmyoji will be eroded by the demonic and ghost energy, so there is basically no hope of achieving enlightenment.