【Wine Ci】Ksitigarbha Statue

Chapter 9

Izuku stopped walking.

Ahead was a tree with its neck crooked but still luxuriant.The rain had just stopped, and the green trees were still dripping down.On the other side, there is a shrine in the shape of a small house, which houses a small stone statue.The little monk sat leaning against the eaves of the shrine, already awake, he took off the bamboo hat Ibaraki had put on him, wrapped his fingers around it, and wandered carelessly and playfully.The remaining rain dripped from the treetops, and dripped to the ground along the eaves of the stone statue; frogs jumped out from the grass, stepped on the water pool and jumped in front of the little monk.The little monk raised his eyes and saw Ibaraki coming, showing a plausible smile.

"Where did you get the hat?" He asked.

Ibaraki came over, squatted down, and threw the bagful of wild fruits in his bosom cracklingly into the bamboo hat.The little monk picked one of them, bit it with a click, and boasted, "It tastes good, quite sweet."

Ibaraki sat cross-legged on the other side, picked up a fruit and threw it into his mouth, and chewed it with puffed cheeks.After swallowing it completely, he replied: "The stone statue on the other side, I saw it wearing a bamboo hat, so I took it off for you—just right." After a while, he tilted his head and asked, "I used to This kind of stone statue is also common. There are three together in Abe Seimei’s yard. Why do humans wear bamboo hats for them?”

"This is a Buddha statue." The little monk said, "a Ksitigarbha statue. At first, an old woman put a bamboo hat on the Ksitigarbha statue when she saw the heavy rain. Later, she was saved by Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in the flood. This custom It was passed on.”

"I see that the offerings in your temple are not so small."

"It's all about dharma." The little monk said lightly, "in all appearances, away from all appearances. There is such a saying in itself-all sentient beings, all kinds of illusions, are born with the wonderful mind of the Tathagata. These people feel that at the head of the village and on the mountainside Setting up a Ksitigarbha statue can prevent evil ghosts and plague gods from entering the village."

Ibaraki turned his head to look at the benevolent and smiling stone statue in the shrine.The evil ghost looked at it for a while, and then made a conclusion: "It can't stop me."

The little monk ate most of the fruits picked by Ibaraki, and the remaining two were placed side by side in front of the Jizo stone statue.He stood up, put the bamboo hat on his head, and then asked Ibaraki: "What happened? My senior brother—Guan Chan, the evil spirit he found is related to me?"

"I went out at night, I was in a hurry, and I didn't hide my aura." Ibaraki replied cautiously, "What they discovered was my evil aura...it continued into your room."

The little monk was not too surprised.He raised his eyebrows, narrowed his eyes slightly, raised the corners of his eyes, and curled the corners of his mouth.It's a sarcastic look.He shrugged, stood up, put the bamboo hat on his head, and said nothing about the status quo.

Ibaraki felt a little guilty - the expression on the young monk's face was too similar to Shuten's.Shuten-douji often showed such an expression, the demon was leaning against a tree or somewhere else, with his head half propped up, one hand hanging down, holding the neck of the jug, just looking sideways at Ibaraki with a half-smile.Ibaraki was afraid of the look on his best friend's face.So he tried to explain, "We can work it out. I can go and kill that guy right now—"

"You can't kill him." The little monk said, "As long as the meditation is dead, monster, you are the first object of their suspicion. They will soon implicate me."

This fact makes the youkai who are so reckless that they resort to force to solve all problems unhappy.He muttered in a low voice: "If I had heard him talking about Xiaoyou behind his back before, I wouldn't have hurt Xiaoyou like this now."

"He would have died," said the little monk suddenly.

Ibaraki was still sitting cross-legged, and the little monk was standing aside - he slightly raised his eyes to look at him.He was wearing a bamboo hat, and the hat was pressed low. The large shadow covered more than half of his face, and only the young man's jaw and neck could be seen.He is very young, whether it is for ghosts or humans, youth imbues him with some fresh things, such as an unusually fragile neck, an indistinct Adam's apple, and an angular face.But these things are completely opposite to the temperament he has now, and it is even said that it is precisely because of this youth that the aggressiveness in his temperament is released more intensely.He half pursed his lips, half of his face was clean, resolute and cold.Ibaraki looked through him as if he saw a silent tsunami, or a hurricane coming across the sea in summer; those things seemed to tear everything apart, but they lightly stopped in front of Ibaraki.

Izuku didn't speak.

The little monk glanced at the ghost, and continued: "Why should I take the risk to keep you? Who knows when you will break my neck."

"I won't--"

The little monk's voice was cold and hasty, interrupting Ibaraki's words: "When I saw you appear, I thought of many ways. I need a monster, and you appeared just right. Your appearance can explain why I was injured and why I died. What happened to those monks and nobles. I also thought about how to get revenge through you. It's very simple, just create a relationship between your evil spirit and Guanchan, just like what he did today No, he will be worse, he will be angered by the dead noble relatives, the master will disappoint him, and he will die miserable and hopeless." He stared at Ibaraki tightly, "As for your existence, because of this design Discovery? You must be discovered. What does it matter to me? Whether you are wiped out by Echigoji and Onmyouji, or you kill them all, you will fight, no matter what the outcome is, as long as I can keep it I win with my life. What does it matter to me if anyone dies?"

Ibaraki suddenly felt a burning sensation in his throat, as if swallowing the little monk's words was like swallowing a piece of burning coal.The little monk's eyes stared at him tightly under the shadow, and Ibaraki knew he was staring at him.He was very nervous, but his tone was still pretending to be indifferent and relaxed: "What? After knowing what I originally wanted to do, monster, are you just thinking about how to kill me?"

Izuku's voice was a little dry.

"So... Xiaoyou, why didn't you do anything? You planned everything immediately after you saw me. I believe that as long as it is you, you are calm and smart, and you can complete it quickly and without mistakes. Even I didn't even have time to realize that this was your design."

The little monk froze.

Izuku smiled.He wanted to smile better, the way he always smiled at Shuten-douji.But strangely, it was harder this time.Surprisingly difficult.

"Because I said a bunch of messy things to you." Ibaraki said, "I said so much to you, I defended you from your point of view, and I said so little caring things to you." He smiled wryly After a while, he said in a low voice as if he was talking to himself, "So, little friend, you gave up such a good plan almost instantly... you didn't implement it at all."

The little monk said, as for you, monster, you can do whatever you want.At that time, it was just before dawn, and the gray light came down from the window. The little monk turned his face sideways, looking inexplicably frustrated.

"Shut up!" he yelled suddenly, like a cat whose tail was burned just after realizing it, "what nonsense are you talking! Who would be moved by a monster with words?! I would be that bad?! "

The monster didn't answer.

His bright golden eyes watched the little monk quietly.Even though the ghost's eyes were golden in color, they were not so bright.Where the whites of normal people's eyes are, he is black.This contrasted with the golden color of his pupils so strangely that it was shocking.It usually burns with gunpowder smoke and flames from hell, with restless blood and dying souls; but now it suddenly quiets down, like fireflies in the night, or will-o'-the-wisps in a cemetery, or It is the morning star that you can see when you look back all the time.

The little monk lost his mind for a while.Suddenly he was appeased, and when he realized it, he just turned his head away bitterly.

"In the future, I will also talk to my little friend." Ibaraki said.He laughed for a while, his voice sounded a little hoarse, "My friend, I can't finish talking for three days and three nights."

"... Whatever you want." The little monk straightened the bamboo hat, "who knows what you are thinking. Anyway, I have to go. If I stay here, I will be caught by them sooner or later."

Ibaraki Doji re-disguised as a monk.The little monk saw with his own eyes how the monster transformed into form.He stared at the handsome and handsome young monk's face for a while, and then said with disgust: "They have all seen your face, don't you think I have not enough troubles? Change my look."

Ibaraki is in trouble.However, the little monk still has various choices about his next appearance. Either the eyes are too small, or the nose is too rigid; or the eyebrows are fierce, not like a monk, or the overall appearance changes too feminine—— —He even stood on tiptoe and gestured the distance between Ibaraki's eyebrows after he transformed again: "Which human being has such a wide distance between eyes? Are you going to change into a human? No matter how you look at it, you look like a monster."

Ibaraki was quite dissatisfied: "When I transformed into a woman, there were many samurai who believed that I had been fooled."

"Wow." The little monk squinted over with a half-smile, "You have transformed into a woman before."

Izuku didn't dare to speak for a moment.He changed a few more times according to the little monk's command, so many times that the ghosts of Rashomon really began to doubt whether he would be able to transform himself, and the little monk was satisfied-they hurried some more , Ibaraki was curious about what he looked like now, so he took a photo while passing by a stream.The shimmering dance of light and shadow made it hard to see clearly for a while, but the facial features vaguely resembled the appearance of Ibaraki Doji himself.

They walked around the side of the village.Ibaraki had taken the young monk for a very long walk before, and after a while, the atmosphere became obviously desolate.Although the woods are still woods, the mountains are still mountains, the villages are still villages, and the smoke is still smoke—but you can already see little monsters on the road.The farther away from the territory governed by Echigoji Temple, the weaker the traces of order.When they passed by a place, they were even stopped by a woman who was watching anxiously in front of the fence.

This place is no longer a village, but a small courtyard with a single family in a secluded place. A small field has been reclaimed in front of the courtyard.It was already getting late, and under the crimson sunset, a wisp of smoke rose from a house in the courtyard like a ghost.The woman stood in front of the forked path, anxiously standing on her tiptoes as if looking at something—she quickly spotted them.

"My lord mage!" she said anxiously, "It's been a long journey—please stay here with us. My master has a heartfelt request, please save her!"

The little monk and Ibaraki looked at each other.The little monk took the lead and took a step forward.The woman in charge showed a look of joy, she took two steps back and hurriedly led them into the yard.

They hadn't even set foot in the yard when they heard dogs barking.As soon as the woman pushed open the gate of the yard, dogs barked and rushed up; but their necks were tied by a strong iron chain, and no matter how rampant they were, they were tightly bound by the chain and could not move forward.Even so, groups of ferocious dogs kissed their paws, and eagle owls stared at them; their claws scratched the ground, their fangs were exposed, and a threatening growl was pressed from their throats, and saliva flowed from their bared teeth. dripping down the drooping tongue.They stared at the little monk closely, as if they saw an extremely delicious piece of meat - the chains locked them, but these dogs still rushed forward, shining their fangs in the direction of the little monk; the iron collar almost To strangle into their flesh.The collar had mutilated the flesh and blood on the dog's neck, and the fur had fallen off, exposing the flesh that was about to ooze blood.

The woman looked extremely nervous, and she shouted at the dogs in a panic, "Go! It's not that you are short of rations! Why are you barking at the guests!"

She drove the dogs, so she got a little closer, and the dogs flinched at her; but at the next moment, the thin black dog rushed up and bit her calf viciously.The woman said "Ouch", curled up on the ground with her legs hugged in pain, the black dog was eager to bite her throat - the little monk quickly grabbed her clothes at the nape of her neck and dragged her back, the black dog pounced Kong, the other dogs smelled the smell of blood, and were so excited that they couldn't bite, and howled even harder.

Ibaraki stood behind the little monk, crouched down silently, and bared his teeth at the dogs—almost like an instant command, all the ferocious dogs barked in unison.These vicious dogs seemed to have smelled something that frightened them, and retreated into the small room like a woodshed on one side like a tide.

The woman was still holding her injured leg and wailing and cursing, and then a man slowly and lazily walked out from the side of the dog house.The man glanced at this side and shouted: "What's the noise! ​​It's been so noisy since just now that people can't sleep!"

The woman said angrily: "Look at how you raised them! When the master saw this scene after returning home, he must have peeled your skin and fed it to the dog!"

The man rubbed his eyes that were still sleepy, and he took a closer look to figure it out.Then he rushed over tremblingly, bolted the door of the dog house firmly, and trotted over to help the woman up.He seemed to have just noticed the young monk and Ibaraki standing on the side, he looked and looked, and asked the woman cautiously: "Who are these two?"

The woman resisted the pain, but she still wanted to explain: "The masters I have invited - honored guests, I can't entertain them like this, so you call Naruko."

The guide was replaced by a girl dressed as a servant.She was walking in front, while secretly turning her head to look at the little monk's face, her face turned red when she glanced at it, she couldn't say a word, she just lowered her head, twisted the hem of her clothes, and spoke weakly like a gnat Said: "Go, this way please--"

The little monk glanced at the girl indifferently, and when he spoke, his voice sounded extraordinarily gentle and amiable: "Nariko, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is!"

"Please allow me to be a little curious. The benefactor invited me in to 'save your master' - just now he said that the master is out, what exactly is it that needs my assistance?"

Naruko looked around for a while, then lowered her head and said, "It's Madam. It's my mistress. The master came back the day before yesterday and took away the little master, and the madam became a little bit mad, calling the master to kill the little master— - How is this possible! The master has always loved the little master the most. Recently, the madam has become even more insane... The manager guessed that he was fascinated by the monster nightmare, but he did not dare to stay too far away from the madam, so he could only stay at home every day Waiting for the master to return at the door. Fortunately, the Tibetan Pot Association is coming soon, and the mages have all come out. This makes the steward wait for you!"

The little monk said: "So it's like this... Night is coming soon, why don't you let us exorcise your wife immediately?"

"Madam is especially bad at night." Naruko whispered, "That scene is too scary...Little Master, let's wait until daytime, okay?"

She glanced back at the little monk again, and the little monk nodded slightly to her.Naruko's face turned red again, she quickly avoided the little monk's sight, and stammered: "If you have any questions, little master, just ask, just ask me."

"I still have one thing I don't understand." The little monk said, "Why do you keep so many ferocious dogs?"

Naruko was silent for a while, looking also a little confused.After a while, she replied hesitantly: "I don't know... the master asked him to keep it. It turned out that there were more. In the past, there were special people to take care of it, and it was no big deal. But last time the master took the little master When I took it away, I took away the people who were in charge of the dog, leaving only one... Recently, I have to rely on the steward to take care of it. Today, what happened today was just an accident... The steward has never been bitten before."

"So there are more?"

Naruko nodded heavily: "The master often sends people to take away some dogs, and then replace some puppies. Or, or send some back. The ones that are sent back will be very fierce. Just like them—— Ah, the guest room is here."

Naruko took a step back, held the candle, and bowed.The little monk thanked her gently, and went in with Ibaraki.

The rooms are clean and tidy.As soon as Ibaraki closed the doors and windows, the little monk seemed to be vicious as if he had stripped off a gentle mask.He sat cross-legged on the bed, half-raised his chin and looked at Ibaraki, and asked, "You monster, you signaled me to come in, what's the matter? - Things here are more boring than living in the wild."

"Of course not." Ibaraki said, he looked out the window, and pointed to the direction of the group of vicious dogs, "I was sure there was no evil spirit in the place where the accident happened before, so I didn't pay attention to other breaths. That woman blocked the road I could smell it in the middle."

"what?"

"The smell of dogs." Ibaraki said seriously, "The smell of those dogs is exactly the same as the smell in the two deaths that implicated my little friend."

The little monk understood, he frowned tightly and sneered.

"And... the dogs outside have a different taste from other dogs." Ibaraki said firmly, "All the dogs in this yard have eaten human flesh."