Chapter 64 Jingu Yaezakura: I was born knowing "Are you the shrine maiden of Tsukimi Shrine?" "I guess so. What about you?" "I'm from Weilian Ancient Temple." "This is a place I've never heard of. With your strength, you shouldn't be so unknown." "Isn't that true of you, too?" "I'm different from you." "You serve God, I believe in Buddha, we are essentially the same." "I have seen God. Have you ever seen Buddha?" "I've seen it."
"where is it?" "Everywhere you look, wherever your heart can rest." …… “I can’t go down the mountain yet.” "why?" "There are big monsters watching me in the dark. They want to eat me." “Are they powerful?” "It's awesome." When the topic reached this point, Pinggong Chiye finally showed real interest. Big monster! The only big monster he had ever seen in his life was Qingxuande who ran away last time, and he always felt regretful about it. As his strength improved, ordinary exorcism could no longer satisfy him. It always made him feel like he was using an anti-aircraft gun to kill a mosquito. "It's on the top of the barren mountain opposite, and it occasionally casts malicious glances at us." Hiramiya Chiye followed Jingu Yaezakura's gaze and was quite surprised. The mountain opposite should be more than 20 kilometers away from here. His perception ability is pretty good, but he is far from being able to sense the gaze coming from such a far distance. Moreover, could that place be the one described in the mission to slay the Moon Devourer on the Pudu APP? Looking at the location and distance, it is indeed suitable. Could it be that the mission was issued by Tsukimi Shrine? But they are a Shinto shrine, so why would they post this task on an app belonging to Buddhism? What are they worried about? There are too many doubts.
"I'm sensitive to malicious glances." This was the only explanation given by Jingu Yae Sakura. "Is there any more specific information about that big monster?" Pinggong Chiye asked tentatively. "It was a giant toad that wanted to swallow the moon. It had black skin, green pupils, and compound eyes on its back. Its body was as big as a mountain, and it had the ability to turn over seas and fill rivers." That's right. This is good, one commission, two remunerations. Pinggong Qianye thought for a moment and said, "I can help you deal with that big monster, but you need to tell me all the conditions required to confer the title of God." "If you can deal with that toad, I can tell you the method of enshrining it now." For the first time, Yaezakura Jingu's face, which had always been expressionless, showed some movement. "The so-called conferring of the gods in Shintoism is actually more like signing a contract, and you, the person responsible for conferring the gods, need to endorse this contract." "If the deity that was conferred violates the contract, breaks the rules and hurts people, endangering the world, the endorser must be able to take responsibility for resolving the matter." "This is what Shintoism means by qualifications." When mentioning the so-called qualifications, there was no hiding of the contempt in Jingu Yaesakura's tone. Shintoism can be divided into shrine Shintoism, sect Shintoism, and folk Shintoism according to the form of belief. There are 13 sects in Shintoism, each with its own unique beliefs. Folk Shinto does not have a strict organization. It is just farmers who worship agricultural and road gods out of their own needs. The so-called national religion of Japan refers specifically to Shintoism. The government supports Shintoism in order to achieve the unity of politics and religion. The requirements of the contracts signed with the enthroned gods vary according to the different Shinto. For example, when a Shinto sect confer an ordination on a deity, it requires more help from the other party, which is equivalent to finding a mountain guardian deity for one's sect. The folk Shintoism is more pure in that they confer gods on gods, no matter whether they are demons or ghosts, or the spirits of nature, they will believe in whichever god is useful to them, which is extremely pragmatic. The conferring of titles at shrines and Shintoism is the most comprehensive. They are often motivated by the overall situation and confer titles on gods of mountains, rivers and lakes simply to allow them to better protect the living beings in the area. Jingu Yaezakura's voice is clear and her tone is neither hurried nor slow, just like the trickling of a clear spring. On the other side, the Grand Priest finally cleaned up the messy altar and walked out of the main hall door. Just as he was about to find Pinggong Qianye to discuss compensation, he caught a glimpse of movement coming from the osmanthus tree. He was stunned for a moment, with all kinds of complex emotions flashing in his eyes. Finally, he silently returned to the main hall and closed the door. "Ennobling the mountain boy as a mountain god is in line with the needs of Shintoism. No one will embarrass you for this matter, and it will not affect the conflict between Shintoism and Buddhism." Jingu Yaezakura gave Hiramiya Chiye a reassurance and reminded her, "If you want to confer an imperial seal on the mountain boy, July is the month of sacrifices, which is the perfect month for conferring imperial seals on gods. Be careful of the summer festival." In the following time, Hiramiya Chiye asked a lot of questions, and Jingu Yaezakura answered them one by one. "You have a lot of knowledge."
It was the first time that Pinggong Qianye looked at his peers with admiration. “I was born knowing.” Yaezakura Jingu swung her little feet in red buttoned shoes. Under the moonlight, her snow-white ankles seemed to be soaked in a layer of jade-colored light. A playful smile appeared on her face, far from the indifferent feeling she had at the beginning. Pinggong Qianye did not respond to this statement. In fact, he was born with knowledge of this. Before leaving, Pinggong Qianye politely asked the girl's name. "Jingu Yaezakura." This name sounds very powerful. Pinggong Qianye went down the mountain with such feelings. On the osmanthus tree, Jingu Yaezakura looked from afar and saw Heimiya Chiya riding a mountain bike and leaving along the abandoned road. "This person is really scary." A solemn expression slowly spread across Jingu Yaezakura's face. In tonight's conversation, she and Hiramiya Chiya were on equal terms. It's an incredible thing. Being so young, he has been able to achieve such a terrifying level of cultivation. Even he himself is afraid of the huge sun in his body. This is also an incredible thing. And his physique is as strong as that of a living King Kong. There are so many incredible places. At the main hall door, Daijo Miyaji secretly opened a corner of the door and glanced in the direction of the osmanthus tree. After confirming that Heimiya Chiye had left and the conversation was over, he came out of the main hall. "goddess……" The Grand Priest Daijo came to the osmanthus tree and was about to say something. I saw a burst of moonlight falling, and the figure on the osmanthus tree disappeared along with the moonlight. …… Pinggong Chiye rode his mountain bike back home. As usual, he first went to the main hall to worship Vairocana Buddha and burn incense. After doing all this, he came to the shelf where the bright lamp, which was transformed from the Qingxuandeng, was placed. The index finger of his right hand gently swept across the candle on the altar, catching a glimmer of flame and relighting the bright lamp that had gone out for some reason. Some time has passed since the green lantern was transformed into a bright lantern. For some reason, this bright lantern would sometimes suddenly go out. These days, it goes out at least once every day. Pinggong Qianye found it difficult to figure out the real reason, and could only attribute it to the fire being accidentally blown out by the wind and then reignited.
After confirming that the flame in the light lamp was burning slowly and there was nothing abnormal, Pinggong Qianye put the light lamp back to its original position. After he left, the flame in the lamp began to tremble slightly for a while, the flame gradually shrank, and finally went out, leaving only a wisp of white smoke floating out of the lamp. Pinggong Qianye returned to his home, took a bath, and then lay down on the bed. He gained a lot tonight, especially the chat with the shrine maiden who called herself Jingu Yaezakura, which gave him a general understanding of Shintoism. He knew that Jingu Yaezakura was definitely not an ordinary shrine maiden. She has many characteristics that are not common to ordinary human girls. She is more like an intermediate existence between humans and gods. Although shrine maidens often play this kind of role, they are fundamentally different from Jingu Yaezakura. A normal shrine maiden approaches the divine side from the human side, but Jingu Yaezakura seems to be descending from the divine side to the human world. Hiramiya Chiye guessed her identity might be Kaguya-hime, the celestial maiden from the moon. Because of her existence, she fits the image of Princess Kaguya in mythology and legends. But it’s hard to confirm. The only thing that is certain is that Jingu Yaezakura's status in Tsukimi Shrine must be higher than that of Daijoguji. Perhaps, she will really be the spokesperson for the deity Tsukuyomi. Japan claims to have eight million gods, most of whom are mountain spirits and wild monsters, minor gods ordained by Shintoism, with moderate magical powers and low status. Tsukuyomi-no-no-Moriya is not among those who were artificially conferred titles. He is one of the Three Noble Sons, a descendant of Izanagi, and the true moon god of Japan. A natural born deity. Being able to become His walking spokesperson on earth, Jingu Yaezakura's status is already very noble. At least that's the case within Shintoism. (End of this chapter)
