Taishan Fujun Festival

As the soul fire left his body, Seimei collapsed to the ground, eyes wide open, while Dark Seimei triumphantly clutched the flames of the soul in his hand, observing the scene before him.

Opening his mouth, Dark Seimei unhesitatingly inhaled the soul fire. From this moment on, there would be only one Abe no Seimei in this world. He would define everything about the existence of Abe no Seimei. Henceforth, Abe no Seimei would be remembered in history as a Divine Messenger of the Snake God.

“Farewell, my half-self. Under the gods, our unified self will witness the reshaping of this world together.” Dark Seimei murmured, gazing at the fallen body before him. Then he turned, preparing to ascend and continue the Great Snake’s mission.

Just then, the familiar voice behind him spoke.

“This world will change… but not in the way you imagine…”

A hint of astonishment appeared on Dark Seimei’s face upon hearing the voice. He turned his head to look behind him, seeing Seimei struggling to support himself.

“You… can still move? Impossible, I clearly devoured your soul.” Dark Seimei said with surprise, looking at the scene. Seimei, facing him, forced a smile and replied,

“Yes, you devoured my soul, but unfortunately… that wasn’t all. It was still only half…”

“Half?” Dark Seimei frowned at Seimei’s words. He then carefully sensed the soul he had just devoured and merged, realizing it wasn’t as potent as a normal soul.

“You… performed soul severing beforehand?” Dark Seimei stated directly, looking at Seimei. He already had a rough idea of what had happened.

“Haa… haa… Yes, I asked Lady Uka to help me sever my soul beforehand, and merely roughly stitched the two halves together. What you just took… was only the half I had prepared.” Seimei said, panting heavily. Although he had stood up again, his condition seemed very poor, swaying as if he could collapse at any moment.

Seeing Seimei in this state, Dark Seimei couldn’t help but sneer.

“Ha! Soul re-severing? How foolish. Don’t you know our souls have already been severed once? If you cut it again, you’d have two quarter-souls. And now that I’ve taken one of those, you only have a quarter of a soul…” Dark Seimei said, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“Merely a quarter of a soul… is not enough to live…”

No sooner had Dark Seimei finished speaking than the extremely weak Seimei’s legs gave out, and he knelt on the ground. Dark Seimei was right; a quarter of a soul was not enough to live. Seimei could already feel his life force draining away.

“Hmph… It seems you’re dying. I truly don’t understand… what’s the point of this dying struggle? All this effort, just to make me strike one more time? To humiliate me?” Dark Seimei snorted coldly at the incredibly weak Seimei. He then extended his right hand, turning it semi-transparent once more.

“Haa… haa…” Facing Dark Seimei’s words, Seimei merely gasped violently, seemingly unable to even speak.

“Although you’d die here on your own, seeing as your dying counterattack was truly laughable and useless, I’ll grant you release…” As he spoke, Dark Seimei slowly stepped forward. Just then, the weak Seimei lowered his head and whispered softly.

“It has begun…”

Suddenly, the earth trembled. The ground beneath Dark Seimei’s feet abruptly collapsed downward, instantly forming a large, circular deep pit. The bottom of the pit glowed with a terrifying crimson light, as if endless flames were burning, and thousands of miserable screams emanated from below. This chasm seemed to lead straight to hell.

“What…”

Seeing this, Dark Seimei intended to fly away immediately. However, countless thick, crimson demonic hands instantly stretched out from the abyss beneath his feet, seizing Dark Seimei’s hands, feet, and body. The arcs of electricity around Dark Seimei struck the demonic hands, but only caused them to tremble and char, without destroying them or making them release their grip.

“These… these are underworld soul binding hands… What exactly have you done!? Why have you summoned underworld soul binding!” Restrained by the demonic hands, Dark Seimei was astonished. He shouted loudly at Seimei, who was kneeling at the edge of the pit.

Facing Dark Seimei’s almost roaring question, Seimei raised his head, his expression gentle, and looked at his half-self, saying,

“Nothing much… I merely performed a ritual not long ago, sacrificing ‘my own’ soul in the name of Abe no Seimei…”

Upon hearing Seimei’s words, Dark Seimei paused, then immediately realized something.

“Ritual… soul… could it be…”

“Indeed… it is the highest secret art brought from the Central Plains by Abe Maro—the Taishan Fujun Festival…” Seimei said with a smile, causing Dark Seimei’s face to darken.

As great Onmyoji, they both knew the purpose of this secret art: to sacrifice one’s soul to the Underworld God Taishan Fujun, allowing Him to resurrect another deceased person. In essence, it was a soul for a soul, a life for a life.

“Impossible! If you had used the Taishan Fujun Festival, you would have died long ago! You couldn’t still be here!” Dark Seimei shouted, completely disbelieving Seimei’s words.

“Yes, if an ordinary person performed the Taishan Fujun Festival, they should die immediately. But Abe no Seimei’s situation is a bit special. There are two Abe no Seimeis in this world, with identical bodies and equal souls… Taishan Fujun couldn’t immediately determine which was the true ‘Abe no Seimei,’ so the ritual’s sacrifice was delayed…” Seimei continued slowly. Hearing this, Dark Seimei immediately realized where the problem lay.

The Taishan Fujun Festival had been successfully performed, but because there were two Abe no Seimeis with equal souls, the sacrifice process was stalled, unable to determine the true offering.

However, Dark Seimei had previously devoured a quarter of Seimei’s soul. Dark Seimei now held three-quarters of Abe no Seimei’s total soul, which immediately reactivated the sacrificial ritual. The Taishan Fujun Festival determined who Abe no Seimei was, and who the sacrificial offering was—naturally, it was the entity with the largest quantity of soul!

“You… calculated that I would devour your soul!?” Dark Seimei, restrained by the demonic hands, snarled at Seimei. Seimei slowly replied,

“I merely had a premonition… In truth, if you hadn’t devoured my soul but killed me directly, the result would have been the same. If my soul were destroyed or entered the Underworld after death, you, the remaining one in the mortal world, would become the sole Abe no Seimei. This would also trigger the Taishan Fujun Festival…”

After hearing Seimei’s words, Dark Seimei’s face turned ashen. Feeling the demonic hands pulling him into the abyss, he let out an unwilling roar, and then a torrent of lightning descended from the sky.

Amidst a series of continuous roars, powerful lightning strikes completely annihilated the demonic hands restraining Dark Seimei. Freed from his bonds, Dark Seimei immediately flew towards the sky, while Seimei calmly watched it all.

“It’s useless. The Great Emperor of Dongyue is the Lord of the Underworld, above the Ten Kings. Even the Azure Dragon Divine General cannot defy Him.”

No sooner had Seimei finished speaking than an ancient, colossal greatsword thrust out from the abyss, piercing Dark Seimei’s entire body as he attempted to escape. Dark Seimei’s eyes widened in astonishment, his expression of panic and shock frozen on his face. As the ancient greatsword retracted into the abyss, Dark Seimei was dragged along with it.

Subsequently, the abyss began to close automatically. As earth and stone filled in on their own, the ground returned to its original state, leaving only Seimei, with a quarter of his soul, kneeling in place, awaiting the final moment.

“It’s over…”

Murmuring, Seimei collapsed to the ground. Life drained away, and death arrived. Abe no Seimei became a corpse.

But only moments later, a soft, ethereal glow appeared on Seimei’s body. Within the glow, Seimei’s life force began to flow back. Even his quarter-soul was being restored and spontaneously growing under a strange power.

The second phase of the Taishan Fujun Festival had arrived. After offering one life, Taishan Fujun would resurrect a person as promised. And the person Seimei had written down to be resurrected in the previous ritual was still Abe no Seimei. In the mortal world at this time, there was no other person called Abe no Seimei.

From within the ethereal glow, Seimei slowly rose again. Now, he was the sole Seimei in the mortal world.