Chapter 768 Enemy

Miao Yan’s driving speed exceeded Chen Xiaolian’s expectations. The speed of the jeep never went below the 150 mark and it took them merely two hours to reach Izumo, where the Izumo-taisha was located.

Strangely, during their two-hour trip to Izumo, nothing peculiar happened.

No landslides, no changes to the terrain, no monster attacks. Not even attacks from the other game participants.

Thus, the two of them were able to peacefully drive all the way to the foot of the mountain where the Izumo-taisha was located.

As Miao Yan was driving, Chen Xiaolian brought out his cell phone to browse through the related Japanese mythology.

Only after Miao Yan had stopped the jeep within a parking lot did Chen Xiaolian put down his cell phone. Then, he pushed open the door.

“This moment of peace is really rare.” Miao Yan looked at Chen Xiaolian. “Did you find anything?”

For this instance dungeon, the prompts given by the system were too scarce. It was almost non-existent. Strength wise, Chen Xiaolian no longer feared anyone. However, getting a better understanding of the instance dungeon’s situation would still be beneficial.

“A rough picture.” Chen Xiaolian nodded. “Simply put, it is the story of a fight between a foreign conqueror and a local lord.”

The two of them walked towards the main gate of the Izumo-taisha. In front of them was a huge torii gate, followed by a tree-lined pathway.

As they walked forward, Chen Xiaolian briefly informed Miao Yan about the information he found earlier.

According to the Shinto religion of Japan, the Gods can be roughly divided into two sides, the Gods of Heaven and the Gods of the Land.

Although the various myths were different, with many conflicting and confusing stories, it generally depicted the same thing. It can all be summarized with one sentence – the foreign Gods of Heaven defeated the local Gods of the Land to take over this land.

The Supreme God, the High Creator and the Divine Creator were the first three Gods to emerge alongside the formation of the world. They lived in the Plains of High Heaven.

Subsequently, more Gods were born. The seventh generation of Gods was a pair of siblings who were also a couple, Izanagi and Izanami. These two Gods gave birth to three very important Gods, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo.

Amaterasu was the Goddess of the Sun, in charge of the Plains of High Heaven while Tsukuyomi was the God of the Moon, in charge of the kingdom of the night. As for Susanoo, he was the God of Destruction, in charge of the seas.

In Japanese mythology, these three Gods were the most respected Gods, and the strongest.

However, Susanoo, who stayed in the Plains of High Heaven, would constantly be up to no good. Once, he frightened Amaterasu, causing her to hide inside the Heavenly Rock Cave. This caused the world to lose its light, falling into a state of darkness.

In order to restore light to the world, the other Gods tricked Amaterasu out and exiled Susanoo.

Exiled from the Plains of High Heaven, Susanoo came to a place known as the Central Land of Reed Plains. There he killed the infamous Yamata no Orochi.

His descendant, Okuninushi, became the ruler of the Central Land of Reed Plains.

One day, Amaterasu violated her former oath and sent forth her grandson, Ninigi, and Takemikazuchi. They led the other Gods to defeat Okuninushi and took over the Central Land of Reed Plains.

According to this myth, the Emperor of Japan was the direct descendant of Amaterasu and Ninigi.

“In other words, Susanoo, Okuninushi and the others are the Gods of the Land that the system mentioned while Amaterasu and the others are the Gods of Heaven?” Miao Yan nodded. Chen Xiaolian had gone to great lengths to make it as concise as possible. Thus, it was not hard to understand. “Our objective is to unravel the seal of the Gods of Heaven and release the Gods of the Land?”

As it was a Monday, there were not many tourists and worshippers here. They walked in twos and threes and everything there appeared peaceful and harmonious.

“Yes.” Chen Xiaolian nodded. “If the setting of this instance dungeon conforms to the information that I have discovered, the one sealed here must be Okuninushi, the Master of the Great Land.”

The Izumo-taisha, one of Japan’s oldest shrines, was dedicated to Okuninushi.

They made their way through the pathway. After passing through the last copper torii gate, they reached the prayer hall…

After the prayer hall, through yet another gate, was the Izumo-taisha’s Kagura Hall…

Only…

Nothing unusual happened along the way.

Chen Xiaolian stood in front of the gate of the Kagura Hall, his head tilted as he observed the knotted straw rope hanging down before him.

Although it was called a straw rope, its girth was so big that it had exceeded that which everyday people would consider as ‘rope’. Rather, they wouldn’t even be able to put their hands around it, even if several of them tried together.

Every now and again, some tourists would bow their heads, put their hands together and pray silently. There was a serene tranquillity within the small square in front of the hall.

“Is that it?” Miao Yan gestured at the straw rope with her mouth. “To lift the seal… cut it?”

“Doesn’t seem like it.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “If it is a type of seal, it is unlikely to be placed at such a conspicuous location. It is too dangerous.”

Glancing around, Chen Xiaolian then circled around the Kagura Hall before continuing ahead. “Come.”

Although it was known as one of the oldest shrines in Japan, the Izumo-taisha did not encompass a particularly large area. The truly important buildings there were only the prayer hall, the Kagura Hall and the main hall. Visitors were usually not allowed to enter the main hall.

Chen Xiaolian was presently heading towards the main hall.

The gate of the main hall was tightly closed. More, there was also a fence there blocking the way. It was something that would only be opened for worship during the first lunar month. Short of that, the place would usually be closed.

“There are no guards.” Miao Yan looked at the gate of the main hall. There was only a group of visitors bowing towards the gate. There was no sign of any of the personnel belonging to the shrine. “Do we just break in?”

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“It won’t be here either.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head, circling through the main hall as he continued onwards.

After the main hall, within an inconspicuous corner, was a small, stony mountain trail. This winding path led towards the back mountain.

Placed before the mountain trail were two straw ropes placed like a cross. Beside them was a sign, stating that entry was prohibited.

Chen Xiaolian came to stand before the mountain trail.

“Is it here?” Miao Yan, seeing Chen Xiaolian stop there, asked, “How do you know?”

“If you watch a lot of Japanese anime, you will understand. Generally speaking, there is an inside and an outside for these religious places. The areas open to visitors are just a disguise. The real important places are hidden in the back mountains. It’s pretty cliché.” Chen Xiaolian smiled. “However… there is something strange about this situation.”

“Strange?” Miao Yan did not understand.

“Generally speaking, in order to prevent ordinary visitors from carelessly barging in, there would usually be at least one or two guards stationed here. It could be those ordinary personnel we see outside or those ‘inner personnel’. At any rate, two pieces of rope cannot stop the curiosity of men.”

Chen Xiaolian walked forward, casually tearing the ropes apart before walking up the mountain trail. “Instead, this place is empty, not a single person in sight. This doesn’t seem normal.”

“Makes sense.” Miao Yan smiled and she followed Chen Xiaolian. “So, what do you think is happening.”

“Logically speaking, the biggest possibility is that there is an enemy invasion. And so, the guards placed there were killed. Either that or they had rushed over to deal with the enemy.” Chen Xiaolian was not walking quickly. Walking leisurely, he even spent some time appreciating their surrounding scenery. “At any rate, we are surely not the only two game participants in this instance dungeon. There are five shrines with those mitama. Moreover, they are scattered all over Japan. There are likely quite a number of participants here. Also, we drove here. Some Players or Awakened ones may have chosen to ride the Shinkansen over. Or perhaps, they may have ridden their own aircraft over. It is possible that they are ahead of us.”

“But there are no traces of battle here…” Miao Yan pondered for a moment. “If some other teams have truly managed to get ahead of us, this place cannot be so… clean.”

“That’s what makes me feel strange. However… it is not completely impossible.” Chen Xiaolian smiled. “If this is one of my acquaintances…”

“Acquaintance?” Miao Yan’s lips curled slightly. “Why do you always end up encountering your acquaintances everywhere? Is this acquaintance of yours also as formidable as the GM?”

“No.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “He is not that strong. However… he is a very interesting fellow.”

Less than two minutes after they started walking up the mountain trail, Chen Xiaolian suddenly stopped. “There’s no mistaking it. It really is here.”

“Hmm?” Following Chen Xiaolian, Miao Yan also stopped. Just as she was about to forward a question, Chen Xiaolian extended his right hand to lightly tap the air before them.

A very soft breaking sound rang out. The space before Chen Xiaolian became like a mirror, suddenly shattering before quickly disappearing without a trace.

After the hazy ‘mirror’ shattered apart, the mountain trail before them split into two forking trails.

“A minor magic array, capable of making people lose their sense of direction within this mountain.” Chen Xiaolian pointed at the left mountain trail. “Without the guidance of someone from the inside, this trail will likely lead whoever comes here in a circle until they arrive at the bottom of the mountain again.”

“But the magic array was still intact.” Miao Yan followed Chen Xiaolian, who used the right mountain trail. “You mean to say, if some other participants had beat us to this place, they must have been brought in by an insider?”

Chen Xiaolian did not reply. Instead, he continued to leisurely walk forward. He did not appear anxious at all.

They had been walking on the mountain trail for over 10 minutes, but still there was no one. Finally, they reached the end of the mountain trail.

Before them was a large wooden gate. There was no paint on it, thus, retaining the colour of wood. Its two wooden doors were tightly closed. Again, there was no one standing guard over it.

“We’re finally here.” Chen Xiaolian walked towards the gate with a smile. Glancing back at Miao Yan, he suddenly kicked the gate.

Bang!

The gate was bolted shut from the inside. However, the thick bolt was naturally incapable of withstanding Chen Xiaolian’s kick, which snapped it. And so, the two large doors flew into the courtyard.

“Who?!”

Roars of fury rang out from behind the gate.

Ignoring them, Chen Xiaolian strutted his way in through the gate.

Behind the gate was a vast courtyard. Two lines of men stood on either side, all dressed in kariginu robes with voluminous sleeves and black caps on their heads.

It was the typical priest attire of Shintoism.

Every one of them wore a face of shock and rage.

“Visitors.” There was a faint smile on Chen Xiaolian’s face, indifferent to the looks of rage on the faces of the priests there. “This place seems… more fun compared to the bottom of the mountain.”

“This is not a place for tourists! How did you come up here?” The leader of the priests walked forward, a dark look on his face. “Please leave quickly, or else…”

Although both Chen Xiaolian and Miao Yan were wearing ordinary-looking clothes, no one treated them as ordinary tourists.

Would an ordinary tourist enter by kicking down the gate?

In the priest’s hand was a small wooden stick, no more than one metre in length. Two zigzagging paper strips were tied to the tip of the wooden stick. He was slowly waving the stick.

Chen Xiaolian recalled that it was a type of magic weapon in Shintoism known as gohei.

“Hey, so fierce?” Chen Xiaolian smiled, but he did not stop moving forward. “What if… I insist on entering?”

Upon hearing those words, the faces of all the priests there changed in unison.

No further questions were needed.

This was an enemy!

[TL: Better late than never, right? Sry. >_<]

Notes:

The Supreme God aka (Ame-no-Minakanushi)

The High Creator aka (Takamimusubi)

The Divine Creator aka (Kamimusubi)

The Heavenly Rock Cave aka (Ama-no-Iwato)

The Central Land of Reed Plains aka (Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni)

Okuninushi aka (Master of the Great Land)