The Spirit of the Miko

Remains from the Nagaoka-kyo period? That was over a hundred years ago. Could this place have been a forbidden site for the Onmyoji of Kyoto back then, abandoned due to the sudden relocation of the capital?

Hearing Byakuren's words, Miketsu thought of Fangshan Castle, a large part of which she had forcibly blown up. That too was built for Nagaoka-kyo, but abandoned midway due to the capital's relocation. This place, like Fangshan Castle, was also deserted before its completion.

All of this was caused by that vengeful spirit legend she found so preposterous.

"Please continue this way."

As Miketsu was pondering, Byakuren left the collapsed stone pillar and continued towards the center of the stone platform, walking towards the dilapidated seven-story pagoda. Miketsu followed suit.

At the base of the tall pagoda, Miketsu discovered many yokai corpses. Seeing their condition, Miketsu's eyelids twitched involuntarily.

All these yokai corpses were severely mangled; some were broken into several pieces, some had shattered heads, and some had large holes ripped through their bodies... They all appeared to have been destroyed by an extremely powerful force.

"These yokai are all..."

"They were yokai forcibly bound here by a spell to serve as guardians. The spell was so powerful it destroyed their sentience. I couldn't bear to see them suffer eternally, so I released them." Byakuren said to Miketsu with a kind smile, which made Miketsu pause, her mouth twitching slightly as she spoke.

"You're a renunciant, aren't you? Doesn't this count as breaking a vow of non-killing?"

"Slaying demons and exorcising yokai is not considered breaking a vow of non-killing. However, I also do not wish to wantonly create slaughter. Even for those utterly steeped in evil, I would grant them a chance to reform. But alas, these are different. These pitiable yokai had their souls destroyed by the very spell that bound them; they are merely puppets of sorcery. They possess no consciousness, knowing only to attack anyone, human or yokai, who approaches this place. Countless innocents have already perished by their hands." Byakuren said, looking at a pile of yokai remains, where various skulls were clearly visible.

"Their souls were tormented by the spell, and their bodies brought calamity to the human realm. Releasing them was my only choice. It is better for them and for this world. Namu San..." Byakuren said, bowing in prayer with one hand, a compassionate expression on her face. Miketsu watched and nodded in understanding.

What she said made sense; even Xuanzang would support killing man-eating yokai. But wasn't her method of release a bit too brutal? With shattered corpses and rotting bones everywhere, one might mistake this for a slaughterhouse. Could this be the style of your Shingon school of Buddhism?

However, Miketsu also noticed an interesting point in Byakuren's words: her attitude towards yokai was not like that of the Onmyoji.

Miketsu continued to follow Byakuren to the seven-story pagoda. Byakuren reached out and pushed open the large door. With a creaking sound of decay, the door slowly opened, and the scene inside reflected in Miketsu's eyes.

This was the base of the seven-story pagoda. The air was filled with the scent of decay, and dust and cobwebs were everywhere. There were no other implements throughout the entire base of the pagoda.

In the center of the space, there was now an ethereal figure.

It was a young woman, about seventeen or eighteen years old, with long black hair and a serene face, dressed in traditional red and white miko attire, kneeling in prayer.

Her entire body was semi-transparent; Miketsu knew this was a characteristic of a yurei.

There was a miko's yurei in this pagoda? Could this yurei be praying to her?

"This spirit of the miko is trapped within the pagoda, unable to find release or rebirth. Every night, she silently prays, hoping a deity will come here to help her escape this place." Byakuren said, looking at the miko kneeling in prayer before them. Her words confirmed to Miketsu that this miko was the source of the prayers.

"You can't release her?"

"Unfortunately, the jutsu-shiki and power binding this miko's soul are extremely sinister. I have never encountered them before and cannot properly decipher them... All I could do was forcibly break the seal with brute force, but that would also cause her soul to scatter into oblivion." Byakuren said, a hint of helplessness appearing on her face.

Hearing Byakuren's words, Miketsu pondered for a moment, then continued to ask.

"Can she communicate?"

"Yes, but because her soul was severely damaged by the spell and has suffered the erosion of a hundred years, she has lost most of her memories. Only her obsession remains, sustaining her. You might not be able to obtain the information you seek." Byakuren said to Miketsu, indicating she had been observing this miko's spirit for a long time.

Miketsu slowly walked towards the praying miko's spirit, knelt down, and looked at her intently. The miko's spirit seemed to sense someone approaching and opened her bewildered eyes.

"Are you the one praying?" Miketsu asked, looking at the miko's spirit before her.

"Yes... I am praying... praying..." The miko's spirit's words were very ethereal, just as Miketsu had heard in her dream.

"What are you praying for?"

"I... I pray to leave this place... I must leave here. I have very important things to do; that is my mission. To fulfill my mission, I must leave." The miko's spirit continued, a hint of firm responsibility entering her ethereal words, and her bewildered expression vanished.

"What is your mission?"

"My mission is... is, what is it?" The miko's spirit said, and suddenly her expression returned to bewilderment. She frowned, clutching her head as she spoke.

"I only know that I must, I must fulfill my mission, otherwise a terrible disaster will befall us."

Seeing her like this, Miketsu knew that this was what Byakuren had meant by memory loss. Faced with such a situation, she could only ask a different question.

"How did you die? What is this place?"

"I don't know how I died... I only know that I shouldn't have died; I still have things I must do. And this place... this is a ritual ground, and I am the core of this ritual... but... but I don't want to perform this ritual!"

Hearing the miko's spirit's words, Miketsu frowned. If what this miko said was true, then she was forced to participate in the ritual held here, and very likely died within the ritual.

In this situation, Miketsu thought of a possibility: sacrifice. This ritual here was very likely a sacrificial ritual, and this miko was the offering!

A chill ran down Miketsu's spine at this thought. Considering all the previous signs, it was highly probable that this ruin had official backing, meaning the shadow of the imperial court or powerful clans was involved.

Over a hundred years ago, during the rampant rampage of Prince Sawara's vengeful spirit in Nagaoka-kyo, someone built such a ritual ground in the wilderness outside Nagaoka-kyo and sacrificed a miko? What kind of situation was this? Was this miko related to that vengeful spirit's haunting?

All sorts of thoughts arose in Miketsu's mind. She suddenly felt that the so-called haunting by Prince Sawara's vengeful spirit seemed far less simple than it appeared.