Interlude: The Shrine and the Legacy

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PS: This chapter is mostly dialogue with little plot development. It serves as a supplementary explanation of certain matters, so it’s separated into its own chapter. The next main chapter will be updated soon.

Only souls possessing supernatural abilities, upon death, can merge into Uesugi Muneyuki’s Vajra Dharma Body as a form of incarnation technique. Moreover, if Uesugi Muneyuki requires it, the soul can remain conscious and communicate with him.

Such communication consumes the soul’s energy and “spirit essence,” so it cannot be continuous. When Uesugi Muneyuki does not need the soul, they fall into slumber to restore their spiritual power.

This limits the time Uesugi Muneyuki can communicate with the old priestess Kurosawa, and since her attention is often elsewhere, she only reluctantly answers his questions after repeated insistence.

“What exactly is the Inner World? How did you learn your supernatural abilities?” Uesugi Muneyuki asked the questions that interested him most.

“I don’t know,” Kurosawa replied lazily, shaking her head. “My master taught me seriously at the time, but I didn’t remember anything. In short, the Inner World is a place very similar to the real world. We enter it through a special method. It’s exactly like Kurosawa Shrine, except visibility is poor and you can’t see the areas outside the shrine. Master also forbade me from going outside.”

“My Vajra Dharma was learned in the Inner World, but I don’t remember how exactly,” Kurosawa continued. “Anyway, it wasn’t very pleasant. I didn’t study seriously. I only sensed a bit of strange power and thought I had mastered it.”

“Coincidentally, my master told me the Inner World is dangerous. Since I said I had learned it, she never took me back.”

Uesugi Muneyuki lowered his head speechlessly.

Her mind must already be full of Tokyo’s decadent pleasures, right?

“Did your master say anything else about this?” Uesugi Muneyuki pressed on. “For example, about the barriers? The origin of supernatural abilities?”

“All I know is that supernatural abilities can only be learned in the Inner World. Once learned, it doesn’t matter where you are. As for barriers, Master only said… let me think,” Kurosawa pondered deeply, hunched uncomfortably as she forced herself to pull away from decades of memories filled with nightlife, host clubs, skiing trips, Hawaii visits, luxury boutiques on the Champs-Élysées, endless Hakone hot springs, Michelin-starred dinners, high-end sushi restaurants, Chanel perfumes, and Harrington jewelry—to recall the boring, lonely training of her youth.

“Oh right, Master once said the barriers are to guard dead gods. These dead gods are both the source of danger and the origin of supernatural powers.” Kurosawa thought for a long time before suddenly realizing, “You know, Master told me that in ancient history, there were some legendary figures who were once ‘gods’!”

“Specifically?” Uesugi Muneyuki raised an eyebrow, finally hitting on the key point.

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“I don’t know,” Kurosawa shook her head.

“Then do you know which gods the Kurosawa Shrine’s barrier is guarding?” Uesugi Muneyuki pressed again.

“No idea,” Kurosawa still shook her head.

“What about your Dharma…?”

“Don’t remember. No idea where it was passed down from.” The old priestess shrugged carelessly. “Master didn’t seem to care much either.”

You call yourself the shrine’s heir? What a joke!

Uesugi Muneyuki was utterly speechless at this old priestess.

Yet he understood her choice. Frankly, the wealth created by modern industry and commerce is unimaginable in old times. For these ancient professions, the temptation is deadly. It’s understandable that Kurosawa doesn’t feel the burden of “shrine heritage responsibility.” Besides, after earning money through stock trading using her supernatural abilities, she also did her best to give back to her hometown.

Having exhausted questions about the barriers and the shrine, Kurosawa could recall nothing more. Uesugi Muneyuki quickly asked another question that interested him: “Have you ever encountered other supernatural ability users?”

“Face to face? None,” Kurosawa smiled. “I’ve lived sixty-five years, mastered the Vajra Dharma for fifty, and the only one I know with supernatural powers besides me was Master.”

“But about that, Master told me to do everything possible to avoid being discovered,” Kurosawa summarized. “So I never told anyone. During the years I traded stocks, I moved once or twice a year. Looking back, when the stock market was hottest, I was constantly divining. After a while, strange people came investigating near my home, so I moved immediately…”

“After several years of stock trading, I pretty much used up my powers. Handsome guy, you should know, supernatural power doesn’t regenerate. Use some, and there’s less left. I spent it all on the stock market.”

“I see.” Uesugi Muneyuki understood. He had one last question: “So, how much do you know about the Kanto Shrine Alliance? Might there be other supernaturals among them?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know. Master handled all that,” Kurosawa chuckled awkwardly, shaking her head. “Maybe one or two, but it’s all secret. I’ve visited many shrines in Kanto on trips. I can say with certainty that 95% of shrines have lost their lineage.”

“Understood.” Kurosawa’s spiritual power was already very weak. Uesugi Muneyuki asked his final question: “Then, what about me now…”

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“Don’t go. They have numbers!” Kurosawa immediately shook her head. “Handsome guy, with just your level, going in is a death sentence. You have to use the Vajra Dharma I taught you to fight.”

“I never cultivated any combat techniques, nor do I understand martial arts or kendo. But even so, Handsome guy, I am not someone you can match now.”

“There’s still time. Imagine an incarnation and attack me.”

Kurosawa was already old and weak at death, her supernatural power fully spent. To fight properly, she had to borrow from Uesugi Muneyuki’s body.

Uesugi Muneyuki nodded. Imagining an incarnation consumed a lot of spirit essence, but he needed to know his true strength.

With that thought, Uesugi Muneyuki immediately expended a large amount of spirit essence to create an incarnation. Before the golden Vajra Dharma figure of Aizen Myōō, he charged his imagined form straight at Kurosawa’s deceased soul incarnation.

Kurosawa remained calm. As Uesugi Muneyuki rushed forward, she seized the moment to raise her right arm, placing her forearm directly in the path of his clumsy attack, effortlessly blocking it.

“Can break! Can see through!”

The blow felt like shoving an arm into Uesugi Muneyuki’s face, but under the Vajra Dharma’s blessing, Kurosawa’s deceased soul was immovable like a mountain, hard as iron. Uesugi Muneyuki was powerless against her forearm. As he prepared to strike again, Kurosawa forcefully pushed his body aside with her left hand while her right index finger hardened and poised to precisely press on Uesugi Muneyuki’s temple.

“You still need practice, Handsome guy,” Kurosawa sneered. “Blind force won’t work. Go learn some martial arts, or this strike would have splattered your brains. Now that you’ve learned my Vajra Dharma, you know how hard it is.”

As her finger lightly pressed his temple, Uesugi Muneyuki’s forehead veins bulged with pain. The hardness of her finger, empowered by the Dharma, was astonishing. If it pierced in, even if his skull wasn’t penetrated, it would surely crack.

“You can’t beat anyone without technique. Find a skilled martial arts master,” Kurosawa said, having exhausted all her spiritual power. “Practice more skills, and combine them with the Dharma I gave you. That’s your only chance against those nobles.”

“Much appreciated!”