Chapter 41: Abe no Seimei's Shikigami
The next day—
"...Finally."
Gin Tsumugi lowered the last scroll in his hand and leaned back into the wooden chair, letting out a long breath. The air he exhaled felt hot and stale in his chest. He pressed two fingers to his temples and rubbed them slowly, trying to ease the dull ache pounding behind his eyes.
When he glanced toward the window, the first pale light of dawn had already begun to stain the horizon.
Another sleepless night.
If he had a choice, he would never willingly keep grinding like this in the Tsuchimikado Library, ignoring both food and rest. But this trip was too rare an opportunity. Once Dairenji Suzuka made her move, he would become one of the least welcome people in the entire Tsuchimikado Clan. That outcome was unavoidable. He had already chosen his side.
"I have to admit," Gin murmured, looking around the library, "a thousand years of Tsuchimikado accumulation is truly terrifying."
Shelves filled the room in neat rows, each one packed with Onmyodo scrolls. Ancient texts, modern texts, ancient style arts, imperial style arts, clan editions unavailable anywhere else, obscure manuals that had likely not seen daylight in years, all of it was here.
And this was only the first floor.
There was still more above, including the sealed forbidden arts.
Even Gin, who had already seen far too much, could not help but marvel.
Over the past few days, however, he had been highly selective. He had only focused on ancient Onmyodo texts, especially those directly related to Abe no Seimei. Only such material could significantly advance his role playing progress.
Otherwise, even if the Tsuchimikado Clan gave him three full months, there was no chance he could finish reading everything in this place.
As for tonight's gains...
He called up the system.
[Abe no Seimei (Founder of Onmyodo)]
[Role Playing Progress: Youth Period (61%)]
[Character Abilities: Basic Talisman Compendium (Initial Mastery), Shikigami Contract (Initial Mastery), Five Pointed Star Incantation (Initial Mastery), Word Spirit Technique (Proficient), Uho (Proficient) Immovable Binding Technique (Proficient), Fire Boundary Spell (Proficient) Ghost Averting and Evil Dispelling Incantation (Advanced) ]
Only one percent.
Gin stared at the panel for a moment, then let out a quiet breath.
He had clearly reached the limit of what he could squeeze out under the current conditions.
"Time to move around a little."
He stood, stretched his stiff shoulders and neck, and was rewarded with a crisp string of cracks from his bones. Just as he was about to leave the library—
Boom!
A tremendous explosion tore through the silence.
The shelves around him trembled. Dust fell from the beams overhead.
Gin's eyes sharpened.
"That aura..."
He crossed the room in an instant, shoved open the wooden doors, and looked toward the western side of the Tsuchimikado estate.
A thick tide of Yin energy surged into his perception, violent and ancient, like a beast waking from a long sealed grave. No, not one tide.
Two.
Both had already crossed far beyond the level of the Wedding Dress Tree. These were presences that had stepped into the realm of Great Yokai.
And more importantly, the feeling they gave him was strangely familiar.
Gin narrowed his eyes and pushed his Spirit Insight to its limit. His vision pierced through distance, layers of spiritual interference, and the lingering haze of night.
Then his expression changed.
"So it was them."
A flicker of realization passed through his eyes.
"No wonder."
On the far western side of the Tsuchimikado estate stood an abandoned courtyard. At its center was an old stone lined dry well.
At that moment, something deep inside the well was slamming against the seal again and again.
Each impact shook the entire courtyard.
A blue sealing formation hung over the mouth of the well, Sanskrit characters spinning through the air as it pulsed with suppressive force. For years, perhaps decades, it had done its job in silence.
But now cracks had begun spreading across it.
Fine at first. Then wider. Then more.
Dense Yin energy seeped from the fractures like black smoke from a split furnace, quickly filling the courtyard. The air grew heavy and cold. Faint cries, half ghostly and half beastlike, echoed from the depths, making the scalp prickle just from hearing them.
The seal was failing.
Just as the formation was about to shatter—
A man's voice and a woman's voice rang out together, overlapping in a solemn chant.
"Namo Shakyamuni Buddha. Namo Marici Bodhisattva. I take refuge in the Triple Gem, Marici Bodhisattva. Hide me from sight, hide me from knowledge, hide me from bondage and harm, hide me from deception and punishment, let none hold debt against me, and let no enemy overcome me."
"[Marici Mantra]!"
The sacred vibration of the incantation rolled across the courtyard.
The Yin energy that had just spread outward was forced back on the spot. The cracked formation above the well blazed once more, then slowly began to repair itself.
By the time the chanting ceased, the seal had stabilized again.
"We managed to reinforce it."
The speakers were now visible in the courtyard.
One was a barefoot man dressed like a country physician, plain and unassuming at first glance. The other was a woman with a resolute bearing and sharp eyes. Though neither radiated power outward recklessly, their spiritual presence was immense.
Tsuchimikado Hirotaka and Tsuchimikado Chizuru.
Though members of a branch family, both were renowned experts within the Tsuchimikado Clan, each only a step below National Level Onmyoji. Hirotaka, in particular, had once fought National Level opponents without suffering defeat. More importantly, he was also a shikigami directly contracted to Tsuchimikado Yasuzumi, which gave him an exceptional position within the clan.
These two were the guardians Yasuzumi had left behind to defend the estate in his absence.
"Dear," Chizuru said, her brow furrowed, "this seal has been stable for years. Why has it become more and more unstable these last few days? It almost feels like something is calling to them."
Worry had already entered her voice.
She knew exactly what lay imprisoned below.
If it truly broke free, the current Tsuchimikado Clan might not be able to suppress it at all.
Hirotaka stared at the well, his expression no lighter than hers.
"These really are troubled times."
He had no answer either.
Just then, two more figures hurried into the courtyard, drawn by the commotion.
"Uncle Hirotaka. Aunt Chizuru."
"Dad. Mom."
Tsuchimikado Natsume and Tsuchimikado Harutora had arrived.
"It's you two," Chizuru said, though the smile she gave them was a tense one. "You heard it, did you?"
Natsume's gaze immediately fell on the fading sealing formation above the well.
"Aunt Chizuru... what was that just now?" she asked. "And what exactly is sealed here?"
Hirotaka hesitated.
These were not matters the younger generation should have heard so early. Yet when he looked at Natsume, then at Harutora, something in his eyes shifted. A sigh escaped him.
"It is time you knew."
He turned back toward the well.
"Sealed below are two shikigami left behind by our ancestor. Their malice is too intense, and after the ancestor's death, no one in the clan was able to bring them under control again. In the end, the only option was to seal them here."
Harutora and Natsume both stiffened.
These were not outside spirits.
Not invaders.
They were remnants left by their own clan's most exalted forefather.
"They have slumbered for a very long time," Hirotaka continued. "But for reasons we still do not understand, they awakened several days ago and have been trying to break the seal ever since. If this continues, the Tsuchimikado Clan may face a great disaster."
Natsume and Harutora exchanged a glance, both shaken.
Harutora was the first to speak.
"Whose shikigami are they, exactly?"
Among the Tsuchimikado line there had been many famous onmyoji. Tsuchimikado Yakou in modern times. Further back, figures from the Abe line who had each left their own mark on history.
But the change in Hirotaka and Chizuru's expressions told him this was someone far beyond that.
Their faces grew solemn.
Then Hirotaka said the name.
"Our ancestor... Abe no Seimei."
Silence fell over the courtyard.
Even Natsume, as the heir of the Tsuchimikado Clan, lost her voice for a moment.
Abe no Seimei.
.....
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