Chapter 51: Death and Immortality

Deep Rain still remembered the scene where she found the painting. At that time, she had just left the apartment. She hadn't thought that back then, she had also once drawn some paintings that she herself didn't even know about during her sleepwalking period. When she saw Chu Maitian on the painting, she felt even more incredible. What was drawn by her would definitely be a scene that would happen in the future. Of course, this future was not absolute, and while being drawn by her, it also meant that it was a future that could possibly be changed. She had once committed a stupid crime out of hatred and misanthropy, using the paintings she drew as bait to deliberately lead the occupants to kill each other. "Star, maybe I'll come see you soon." Deep Rain murmured. "But I want to atone for my sins as much as possible before I die." She had always believed that the death of her lover, Bian Xingchen, was retribution for her. Yet why hadn't that retribution been on herself? Someone like her did not deserve to live at all. "How much better it would have been if I was the one who died back then, not Ziyou. Why wasn't the one who opened that deadly drawer in the warehouse not me? If that was the case, maybe I could have met up with Star." In the nine years since she left her apartment, Shamu was cursed by this thought every now and then. Unable to find peace within herself, she began to calm herself by writing a novel. As a result, it didn't occur to her to turn into a hot online novelist. She put the fees she earned into charity as a way to alleviate her guilt, and her inner pain. All the way up to …… the encounter with Kitayama Jinglong. She didn't know what she could do now. From that painting, it can be seen that the current Chu Maitian has already died and transformed into an evil spirit. And for her to be able to live to this day, both Chu Mizhen and Chu Maitian siblings had made great sacrifices. Therefore, she decided to do whatever it took to at least stop the already dead Maitian from turning into the murderous evil spirit in the Blood Character Quest. In order to not let Mi Zhen worry and not let her and Li Yin get involved in the new Blood Word Mission, she decided to bear everything alone, even if she died here. Even she felt that maybe she subconsciously wished to die here. She didn't have the guts to kill herself, so she hoped to die at the hands of the evil spirits. After all, she knew very well that there must be a world after death. Just as she was walking through another corridor, suddenly, she heard a strange sound coming from behind her. "Huh?" Deep Rain's complexion stalled and her body trembled. She turned her head back with a little bit of difficulty, and her heart was beating strongly. What could be behind her? Immediately after, her eyes widened …… …… The Wheel of Entry Pavilion was very different from the Loremaster Pavilion. This pavilion was said to be possibly the oldest within the shrine; the Kitayama Family Shrine originally dated back to the days of Azuchi Momoyama, and the Rouinou Dokan had been built at about the same time as the Tokugawa Shogunate had been established. Once the room was opened, they felt as if they had traveled back in time to ancient Japan, especially so for Akatsuhiko, who often watched Okaa dramas. "This is?" As soon as he entered, Mo Yuan noticed that on the aisle, there was a samurai armor. However, he knew basically nothing about the history of Japan's Warring States, so he couldn't tell what origin this samurai armor had. "It's just a replica." Kitayama Jinghuang pressed on, saying, "Our family hasn't produced any decent samurai. Or rather, I've always hated our country's samurai culture." "Do you know if your family possessed any similar spirit removal abilities during that era?" Qin Ziyuan was half interested in whether or not Kitayama Jinghuang liked samurai, "Or ……" "There shouldn't be. At least if there is, I shouldn't know nothing about it. In fact, it feels like a miracle to me that our shrine has lasted as long as it has. Back in the Azuchi-Momoyama era, it was considered a waste for even a daimyo to be able to eat a bowl of rice." "Just a miracle?" Mo Yuan also noticed this sentence, "There is no other reason?" "I'm not sure ……" She had never been interested in the family's history, nor did she want to know about it. Why did she say that she didn't like the samurai culture? Perhaps it was because, the family's history left behind too much reverence for samurai culture. Although, her maternal grandfather, Kitayama Shinshin, himself did not have any shadow of the samurai way at all, he did not have the so-called loyalty and patriotism idea, not to mention he did not want to die for the sake of the country. However, the idea of samurai culture had a huge influence on the rest of the family. It's ironic that in this, she is instead the opposite of Aunt Yukie, whom she misses, as much as her grandfather, whom she detests. Aunt Yukie's love of Yukio Mishima's work is largely responsible for this as well. Yukio Mishima was a man of letters and arguably a samurai. He always believed that Japan had lost the spirit of samurai culture, and instead began to be transformed a little bit by European and American culture, and Aunt Yukie recognized this very much. True beauty is only a human fantasy. This is one of the most impressive lines in Aunt Yukie's book notes. In the ending of Kinkakuji, the reason why the hero finally burns down Kinkakuji is precisely because his original fantasy of its beauty has been shattered in reality. Mishima ultimately sees that the spirit of the samurai in Japan is broken and gone, and ultimately chooses self-destruction, just like the Kinkakuji Temple that was destroyed by the flames. Aunt Yukie's notes state that because of this, she could not understand her father, Mashin Kitayama, who forced what should have been destroyed to remain in this world. Destruction, death …… that which is truly perfect should be destroyed at the most beautiful moment. For what is truly beautiful cannot be sustained for long. That was the reason why Aunt Yukie wanted to die at that time. But just at that moment, she suddenly thought of something. "Wait a minute…… the meaning of the words that Aunt Yukie wrote down at that time?" These words to herself were spoken in Japanese, so only Akatsuhiko heard them in full. He hurriedly asked, "The meaning of that sentence? What words?" "So Aunt Yukie died because she wanted to escape the fate of immortality that Grandfather wanted to impose on her. Because she knew that after eating the meat, she wouldn't die. Did she want to die outside the shrine?" Hearing those words, everyone fell silent. "Foolish." Qin Ziyuan really couldn't understand this kind of mentality of Kitayama Yukie, "If that meat is really the same as the Longevity Monk's meat that can be eaten without aging or dying, then I will get it no matter how much I have to pay. Living is such a difficult thing, how can you even think about dying?" "That is to say," Dong Ning said to Kitayama Jinghuang after pondering for a while, "can you truly die by committing suicide outside the shrine?" "I don't quite understand, perhaps." "You can eat meat and not die, where is it that cheap." Silver Feather had no hope for that, "There's no way the condo would ever be merciful enough to give us this kind of hangover. It's clear to me that this apartment will only give us cruelty, darkness, and death." On this point, everyone was in complete agreement with Dong Ning. That was the nature of this apartment. "Maybe it just means that we won't die in this Bloodletter mission, is only valid for this Bloodletter." Akatsuhiko, on the other hand, was still holding on to a glimmer of hope, "My understanding is that it is still possible to die outside the shrine after eating the meat, but you won't die inside the shrine." "No." Kitayama Jinghuang shook his head and said, "I remember it clearly. Grandfather always emphasized one thing, that is, if one suffers from a disease that has the possibility of death, one must come back to the shrine before then, and even if one is going to pass away, one is going to die inside the shrine. That's why when my mother was first diagnosed with colon cancer, my grandfather told her to come back to Japan immediately." "Immortality …… death …… inside and outside the shrine ……" Dong Ning ruffled the bangs in front of her forehead, and a horrifying conjecture gradually began to surface in her mind. "Kitayama Jinghuang. Let me ask you a question." When Jing Huang heard Dong Ning's voice, she looked at her suspiciously. Dong Ning gazed at her with a straight face, then asked, "When that incident happened back then, many servants died within your shrine. And not a single person within the family died?" "No …… no one died." "Everyone in your family, all of them have eaten that meat, right?" "No …… that's right." Dong Ning then looked at the long corridor in front of him and said, "None of those dead servants have …… eaten the meat, right?"