Chapter 5: The Sea of Lost Trees

Mo Yuan's hand shook violently. And then, a tennis ball flying at a high speed smashed hard on his forehead. This was in a tennis court. For Mo Yuan, his level of playing tennis was completely amateur, but probably because he liked Prince of Tennis too much during his student days, it caused him to remain obsessed with the sport. Now, however, he felt that his heart had that intense burning sensation again. Here it comes! His …… sixth Bloodletter indication! And across from him, accompanying him to play tennis, was Qin Ziyuan. At this moment, like him, Qin Ziyuan was also covering the position of his chest …… This heart burning sensation was extremely painful, the good thing was that it usually lasted for just a few seconds before disappearing, and it was entirely used to alert the occupants of the release of the new Blood Character Instruction. "Go back to the apartment." Mo Yuan grabbed the tennis racket in his hand and said, "We have to go and execute the sixth Blood Character Instruction." Qin Ziyuan was in a mixed mood at this time, the sixth Blood Word, and the difficulty would be heading to a new level, as it meant that once the time for the Blood Word was up, a single thought could instantly return to the apartment, comparable to the city return scroll in the game. Likewise, the apartment's restrictions on evil spirits will be weakened! …… Kitayama Jinghuang fell asleep. She always felt that her dreams were very long. In her dream, she was walking outside the dark courtyard of her family's ancestral home. When she was very young, she would follow her brother Jing Long around, so she wouldn't be too scared. However, inside the dream, there was no brother, only herself. "Brother …… where are you?" Beishan Jinghuang moved her pace step by step, suddenly, her leg tripped and fell to the ground, just as she was about to get up, she felt a coldness in her ankle, and when she looked more closely, she realized that a cold hand had grabbed her foot! Under the shock, she immediately woke up! At this time, she realized that outside the car window, the sun was already sinking in the west. Her mother, on the other hand, was sitting on the side, also asleep. The scene around her was already rural countryside. And she soon saw a signboard ahead. According to the signboard, after traveling another 3 kilometers, she would enter the private land of the Kitayama family. "I can't believe I slept for so long ……" Beishan Jinghuang glanced at her mother who was still sleeping beside her, and suddenly realized that she didn't even remember when she fell asleep. She suddenly wondered if what she had said to her mother before would be a bit too much. In fact, she was very clear about one thing. Mother herself was very much repulsed by the North Mountain Family itself. So much so that she even chose to marry far away in China, not wanting to become a witch. After driving for a while longer, the surrounding trees became more and more lush, forming a jungle. This jungle, to Jing Huang, was like a dividing line separating the North Hill Family from the normal world outside. And here, the speed of uncle's car, gradually began to slow down. Jing Huang slowly looked outside. Before the age of eight, Jing Huang had always lived in the Beishan family's ancestral house deep within these woods. At that time, Grandfather had clearly stated that she would definitely be the witch who would inherit the family shrine in the future, so she would be raised by him personally. This was the only condition under which Grandfather had allowed Mom to break her marriage contract and marry far away in China. She would, originally, have lived here all her life as well. But, the horrific experiences of her early childhood had made her incredibly resistant and repulsed by this place. "Have you heard? North Mountain's family, all of them are abnormal ……" "What does abnormal mean?" "You guys listen to me …… will go to the North Mountain family when someone is haunted by something unclean." "No? Really?" …… It wasn't a day or two since such a saying started spreading in the school. But to Beishan Jinghuang, she didn't even bother to say anything more. Just at this time, uncle suddenly stopped in his tracks. In front of him, a woman wearing a purple kimono, holding a lantern, and wearing her hair in a bun suddenly appeared, standing in the center of the woods. Kitayama Jinji immediately slammed on the brakes, while the woman holding the lantern slowly walked up. "Shinji-sama, it's been a long time." "Hanabi ah." Kitayama Jinji asked in slight confusion, "What are you up to?" "Lord Jinji …… you're going the wrong way. Next, I'll take you to the correct route." Kitayama Jinji revealed a shocked expression and said, "I-I'm going the wrong way?" "Yes. Occasionally, it is something that happens. You don't have to worry about it; both my mother and I often serve in such a capacity. When clients used to come to our shrine, they would often get 'lost' as well." When she heard the word "lost", Kitayama Kagehiko immediately felt a physical aversion. The memory of that nightmare from childhood resurfaced in his mind once again. "Flower Flame, what do you mean ……" "The candle oil in this lantern is specially made. I will show the way for your lordship." "Then …… you get in, Flower Flame." "No need, Lord Jinji, you just follow me." Kitayama Jinghuang also recognized Himura Hanabi at this time. And Kitayama Yuriko also woke up at this time, she slowly rolled down the window of the car, looked at Himura Flower Flame who was not far away, and said, "Then, Flower Flame, please." At this time, Jing Huang suddenly felt a strong chill. In fact, it shouldn't be particularly late now, even though she couldn't see the time without her cell phone. But as soon as she entered these woods, it felt as if she was in the middle of the night. She looked towards the car window not far away. Immediately afterward, the trees kept shaking and swaying as the wind blew …… "Lost" …… She still remembered the first time she heard this term when she was a child, the first time her maternal grandfather spoke to her with an incomparably solemn face. "Jing Huang, without an adult to lead you, never go to that sea of trees outside the ancestral house. Otherwise, once you get lost, there is a possibility of Divine Hiddenness." Divine Hidden …… is also known as the evaporation of the earth. This sea of trees seemed to be really unchanged at all. Immediately after that, Uncle Jinji slowly drove the vehicle, and Himura Hanabi traveled a little bit ahead of him carrying a lantern. "Mom, the candle oil for that lantern, what is it made of?" Jing Huang actually had some guesses in her mind, but she wished to learn the truth from her mother. In turn, her mother slowly replied, "You'll know when you become a family shrine witch." "Mom, is it made from the grease extracted from that 'thing'?" "Shut up!" At this time, uncle Kitayama Jinji immediately scolded, "Jing Huang, who told you this!" During this process, cousin Beishan Yuanyi was the one who didn't say a word. "I guessed it myself. There are some things that I don't have to have someone tell me before I know." In fact, she was able to guess to this point because of Aunt Yukie. She remembered at that moment, when she was seven years old, together with her brother, attending the ceremony of Aunt Yukie's succession as a witch. That was her fondest memory of the Kitayama family's ancestral house, but, after that, it was the beginning of a nightmare. From a young age, Jing Huang was passed on to her childless Aunt Yukie, destined to become the next generation of witches after her. Back then, she was completely different from now, and loved to have a good time, especially that day's banquet where she got to taste the best tempura and sashimi dishes in Japan. I remember back then, my aunt told herself that during the Warring States period, tempura was a culinary delicacy that only the daimyo nobles could enjoy, and the tempura that she could eat was made from the best culinary masters in Japan. The sashimi served at the banquet was made from the freshest fish caught in the Sea of Japan. It was the first time she had ever eaten sashimi in her life. The family's diet was extremely light, and it was common to have rice three times a day, with the occasional mentai, miso soup, and the like. She did not expect that sashimi would be so delicious. Other than that, it was the family's special Wagyu beef. Japan's wagyu beef was not banned from overseas until this year, and until then, other than Australia, only Japan could get authentic wagyu beef. She had heard that the family had a special ranch to raise Wagyu beef, and also had a set of secrets for cooking Wagyu beef steaks, so the flavor was even higher than Kobe Wagyu beef. She looked ahead, the more she entered the center of the Sea of Trees, the darker the surroundings became, it was almost as if it was as dark as eleven or twelve o'clock at night. Right now, one could only see a little bit of faint firelight from Flower Fire's hand in front of her. It looked …… like a ghost fire, giving people a creepy feeling ……