16
Immediately after, the view suddenly opened up.
A crystal-clear river flowed quietly before his eyes.
The river was named the Isuzu River.
An archaic wooden bridge spanned the river, its body built entirely of cypress without any superfluous carvings.
This was the only entrance to the Inner Shrine, the Uji Bridge.
The Information Bug silently swept across the bridge deck, officially stepping into this Forbidden Land of the gods.
An indescribable aura of solemnity rushed towards it.
On the other end of the bridge was a boundless primeval forest.
Towering ancient trees blocked out the sky, and sunlight could only cast mottled light spots through the gaps in the branches and leaves.
Most of these trees were Japanese cryptomeria, easily centuries old, with trunks thick enough to require several people to embrace.
Several pilgrims dressed in traditional attire were walking slowly; with every step they took, the gravel underfoot made a soft "rustling" sound.
This sound appeared exceptionally clear in this silent forest.
Zhou Huai manipulated the Information Bug, hugging the ground and flying deep along the mountain path all the way.
He thought of the materials given by Wei Liao.
The Ise Grand Shrine had a Inheritance extending back over five hundred years to this day.
It was rumored that this place was once the long-term residence of Amaterasu.
Later generations continuously repaired and expanded upon this foundation, resulting in the sacred and brilliant scene of today.
The entire shrine was divided into the Inner and Outer Shrines, with shrines standing in great numbers, totaling over a hundred large and small ones.
This was the most sacred place in the entire Sakura Country.
Ordinary people were simply unable to approach the core area.
Even for the descendants of the Kujo Family and Omiya Family, they were only allowed to enter the Inner Shrine to worship on specific annual memorial days.
From this perspective, patrolling Shinto priests could already be seen continuously around.
Zhou Huai originally wanted to manipulate the Information Bug to continue flying forward towards the Inner Shrine.
He didn't expect that shortly after venturing deeper,
beneath the gravel paved on the ground of the shrine, golden runes suddenly lit up,
instantly interweaving into an airtight golden giant net.
That Information Bug, which was still flying rapidly close to the ground, seemed to have hit an invisible wall and was instantly fixed in mid-air.
Zhou Huai's heart sank.
He could clearly feel that the mental connection between himself and that Information Bug was forcibly severed by a powerful and arrogant force.
No matter how he urged his consciousness, that tiny bug didn't move at all, as if it had become a specimen sealed in amber.
Almost at the same time the Formation lit up,
deep within the Inner Shrine, inside an archaic shrine,
a Shinto priest in white who was meditating with his eyes closed suddenly opened his eyes, a trace of surprise flashing through them.
"Hmm? The outer purification Formation has been triggered?"
He stood up and strode out of the shrine.
Several young Shinto priests sweeping the courtyard saw this and hurriedly bowed in salute.
"Lord Matsushita."
The middle-aged Shinto priest called Lord Matsushita ignored them, only raising his head to glance at the golden light soaring into the sky in the distance, his brow slightly furrowed.
The purification Formation was the first barrier on the periphery of the Ise Grand Shrine, and also the most basic one.
Its function was not to kill, but to purify all unclean things while imprisoning all unauthorized intruders.
Usually, aside from the occasional clueless flying bird straying in, this Formation had not been actively triggered for decades.
"I'll go take a look."
Matsushita's figure flickered, wind generating under his feet, and his entire person turned into a white afterimage, galloping towards the direction where the Formation was located.
His speed was extremely fast, crossing a distance of nearly a thousand meters in just a few breaths, arriving at the area shrouded in golden light.
The light of the Formation was still brilliant.
Matsushita narrowed his eyes, carefully searching within the range shrouded by the Formation.
He walked a circle around the Formation, his expression becoming increasingly perplexed.
"Strange, there is nothing."
Inside the Formation was completely empty; let alone suspicious human figures, not even the trace of a beast could be seen.
Could the Formation have malfunctioned?
Impossible.
All Formations within the shrine were maintained by dedicated personnel every day, and had not made a single mistake for hundreds of years.
Matsushita refused to believe it, calming his heart once more, elevating his perceptive power to the limit, scanning the space within the Formation inch by inch.
Finally, his gaze locked onto an imperceptible small black dot in mid-air.
That thing was too small.
If not for the golden light of the Formation serving as a background board, it would have been almost impossible to capture with the naked eye.
Matsushita furrowed his brow tightly, slowly extending his hand.
Following his movement, that golden light net shrouding heaven and earth quickly contracted, ultimately transforming into a soft light rope, wrapping around that small black dot and steadily landing in his palm.
The light dispersed.
A pitch-black bug, resembling a mosquito in appearance, was quietly lying in his palm.
On Matsushita's face appeared an expression of seeing a ghost.
He brought that "mosquito" close to his eyes, looking it over and over several times.
"What the hell is this?"
"A mosquito?"
He found it somewhat unbelievable.
The dignified Ise Grand Shrine, the most sacred Forbidden Land in Sakura Country, protected by the purification Formation for hundreds of years, was actually triggered by a mosquito today?
If this word got out, wouldn't people die of laughter?
The more Matsushita thought about it, the more absurd it felt, a trace of annoyance surfacing on his face.
"Jeez, how can there be filthy things like mosquitoes in such a sacred place."
He muttered, his tone filled with disgust for this uninvited guest.
Finishing speaking, he couldn't even be bothered to look another glance.
With a casual pinch of his thumb and forefinger,
"Snap."
An imperceptible soft sound.
That Information Bug carrying Zhou Huai's hopes was just like that treated as an ordinary mosquito and crushed into powder.
Tokyo City, the outskirts of Takamagahara, inside the two-story small building of the Natsume Clan.
In his mind, that incomparably clear real-time footage shared by the Information Bug instantly disconnected, turning into pitch black.
Zhou Huai couldn't help feeling a bit annoyed.
This Ise Grand Shrine truly lived up to its reputation.
The defenses were strict to a hair-raising degree.
Not even a single mosquito could fly in.
It looks like wanting to see the specific situation inside the Ise Grand Shrine
will require thinking of other methods.
At this moment, the sky outside the house had completely darkened.
A short knock suddenly came from outside the door.
Very rhythmic.
Zhou Huai silently manipulated Insect Emperor Caesar to stand up,
arriving at the doorway.
He wasn't in a rush to open the door, instead lightly tapping a few times on the door as well.
Before coming, Wei Liao had instructed him.
After successfully infiltrating Tokyo City, someone would meet up with him.
This knocking sound was the secret code.
Until the other party tapped out a short response once more, Zhou Huai then confirmed that his contact had come to find him.
He slowly opened the door, and there was no one outside the door.
Zhou Huai didn't have the slightest surprise,
manipulating Insect Emperor Caesar to walk in the dim street.
A moment later, a clear and lovely female voice came from behind him,
"Ever-changing Star Lord?"
Zhou Huai paused his footsteps, slowly turning around.
The voice came from the shadows of the street corner, where a slender figure was quietly leaning against the wall.
She wore a set of black tight-fitting clothes convenient for movement, vividly outlining her curvaceous figure.
On her head she wore a black duck-tongue cap, the brim pressed very low, almost covering most of her face and revealing only a beautifully-lined chin.
Zhou Huai raised an eyebrow.
Not to mention, this really had a bit of that spy thriller drama vibe.
He lowered his voice, making his own voice sound more like the hoarseness of a low-level punk.
"White Butterfly?"
That figure walked out from the shadows, her movements capable and efficient without any dragging or hesitation.
She came before Zhou Huai, stopped at a distance of three steps apart, and nodded.
"It's me."
The woman's voice was very calm, carrying a kind of professional composure.
"Minister Wei has already conveyed the order to us."
"From now on, all our forces in Tokyo City will be dispatched by you, cooperating fully with your actions."
Zhou Huai manipulated Insect Emperor Caesar, imitating Natsume Masahiro's cowardly appearance, unnaturally rubbing his hands.
"You should have heard about the theft at the Ise Grand Shrine, right?"
"Do you have any views on this?"
"Can someone really steal something from the Ise Grand Shrine without anyone knowing?"
The woman with the code name White Butterfly fell silent for a moment.
Her gaze seemed to linger on Zhou Huai for a fraction of a second, as if evaluating something.
"Whether anyone can steal something from inside the Ise Grand Shrine, I don't know."
She silently shook her head.
"The only thing I currently know is:"
"The Kujo Family might take this opportunity to make trouble for the Omiya Family."
Zhou Huai raised an eyebrow.
"Make trouble?"
"Could it be that they are about to start the Ancestor Contention right away?"
"Ancestor Contention? A very interesting phrasing."
White Butterfly smiled and continued speaking,
"However, it doesn't seem to be what you think."
"Just last night, the higher-ups of the two major families, the Kujo Family and the Omiya Family, held a secret meeting."
"I don't know the specific meeting content."
"But according to the intelligence sent back by our informant planted in the Omiya Family, the attitude of the Omiya Family seems to have undergone some kind of change."
White Butterfly paused, lowering her voice even more.
"The Omiya Family doesn't seem to plan to use the Pendulum of Life to resurrect their Lord Susanoo."
"Not only that, they even want to stop the Kujo Family from resurrecting Amaterasu."
The expression in Zhou Huai's eyes moved slightly.
Things were getting more and more interesting.
Could the Omiya Family also have deduced the terrifying consequences after using the Pendulum of Life?
"Between these two families, whose strength is stronger and whose is weaker?"
Zhou Huai asked the most crucial question.
White Butterfly didn't hesitate in the slightest, clearly knowing this intelligence by heart long ago.
"Originally, the Kujo Family could steadily suppress the Omiya Family by a head."
"After all, the Kujo Family of the past had a full three SS-Rank Experts holding down the fort."
Her voice was unhurried, clearly transmitting into Zhou Huai's ears in the night breeze.
"The strongest in strength Wada Hirayama, the most senior Chong Wenguma, and the youngest as well as most talented Takatsukasa Arashi."
"As for the Omiya Family, on the surface there is only one SS-Rank Expert, 【Spirit Painter】 Soma Kosuke."
"But now, Takatsukasa Arashi has already died during the exploration of the Kaslandis Ruins."
Zhou Huai understood in his heart,
dying under the backlash of the Pendulum of Life.
White Butterfly continued speaking.
"Therefore, the current Kujo Family only has those two SS-Rank Experts left, Wada Hirayama and Chong Wenguma."
"With the ebb and flow, the situation becomes a bit hard to say."
Hearing this, Zhou Huai manipulated Insect Emperor Caesar, showing a just-right expression of perplexity on his face.
He scratched that somewhat shabbily dyed yellow hair, his tone carrying a bit of puzzlement.
"Two SS-Rank Experts fighting one SS-Rank Expert, how can it be hard to say?"
"Could that 【Spirit Painter】 of theirs take on two by himself?"
White Butterfly's lips, under the shadow of the brim, seemed to hook up into an extremely faint arc.
That was a kind of confidence belonging to an intelligence operative who saw through everything.
"Originally, of course not."
In her voice, she carried a trace of inexplicable implication.
"However, don't forget."
"The Divine Artifact of Sakura Country has always been in the hands of the Omiya Family."
White Butterfly raised her head, her gaze beneath the brim seeming to pierce through the night, carrying a bizarre sharpness.
"That Divine Artifact named 'Yasakani no Magatama'."