Published at 6th of May 2020 5:06 am

Chapter 268: Fukuyama Shrine And Shironeko

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Kimura Kazuki and Harunaka walked out of the train station as soon as they got down from the Shinkansen.

Harunaka’s eyes were wandering around. Previously, she would always travel to other districts with her sisters. It was her first time going out with a guy and he was her senior whom she had mixed feelings about.

After they got out of the train station and without the need for her senior to lead the way, Harunaka saw a boy holding up a sign with Kimura Kazuki’s name on it. That boy was Asuka Shigeru while the person standing next to him was Mei Shigeru. The siblings waved at Kimura Kazuki when they saw him.

“Master Kimura, over here.” Both Asuka and Mei knew the strength of Kimura Kazuki and thus they did not dare to disrespect him.

Upon hearing their greetings, all the bypassers looked in their direction as they thought some big shot was here. However they were speechless as all they saw were four teenagers. Perhaps they were thinking that four of them were playing some sort of role playing game.

Harunaka looked at Asuka and Mei with curiosity. Asuka and Mei were also looking at Harunaka who was next to Kimura Kazuki curiously.

“Where’s your grandfather?”

“He’s drawing talismans in the hotel,” Asuka answered truthfully. He and his sister had watched the Jade Dragon Flag Competition, thus they knew exactly how strong Kimura Kazuki was. Furthermore, Sei Shigeru had gotten to know the reason behind the incident during his past visits to the Arisu Shrine, even though he ran away as soon as he saw Kimura Kazuki. Thus, Sei Shigeru had told Asuka and Mei everything about the Arisu family.

That left Asuka and Mei speechless as they did not expect the Kimura Kazuki they first met at Mount Tobiuo to be so powerful.

As for the death of Arisu Yuusuke, both of them did not think that Kimura Kazuki was cruel. On the contrary, they would be surprised if Kimura Kazuki failed to act.

Under the lead of Asuka and Mei, both Kimura Kazuki and Harunaka arrived at the Seven Summers Hotel in a short period of time.

Even though Harunaka did not know Mei, Mei knew who she was. Thus, they had a great conversation along the way to the hotel. After all, she had watched Harunaka’s performance in the Jade Dragon Flag Competition on television. Mei was especially amazed by the Youbi Sword Drawing Skill that she had pulled off.

Although it was taught by Kimura Kazuki, Mei still admired Harunaka as she managed to pull off such a powerful sword style even though she was of her age.

However, it was unfortunate that Mei did not master any sword style. She was the president of the Archery Club back in her school. At first, she wanted to participate in the national competition, but the competition was held in the summer holiday and she was occupied during that time. Thus, she could not participate in it.

Kimura Kazuki met Sei Shigeru when they arrived at the hotel. After Kimura Kazuki and Harunaka put away their luggage, Sei Shigeru along with the others rushed to Fukuyama Shrine.

Fukuyama Shrine was one of the most famous shrines in Kyoto. It was called the Toyama Shrine 300 years ago. After being taken over by the Fukuyama family, it was renamed as Fukuyama Shrine.

Fukuyama Shrine was also one of the main forces of the Deity Rising Palace. Since ancient times, the Fukuyama family had passed down the Fukuyama Shine for almost 300 years.

Harunaka who was at the side became very quiet once she met Asuka and Mei. She was not afraid of strangers. It was just that Asuka and Mei were not ordinary people, thus she was a little restrained. Furthermore, she would not speak blatantly since senpai was on her side.

Harunaka totally agreed with the phrase that “silence is golden”.

Harunaka’s eyes widened as she heard that Fukuyama Shrine belonged to the Fukuyama family.

Although she had never been to Kyoto, she had heard of Fukuyama Shrine. Fukuyama Shrine was one of Kyoto’s tourist spots. Every year during the holiday season, a large number of tourists would visit Fukuyama Shrine to pray for blessings.

Most importantly, if she remembered correctly, Akino had once mentioned that one of the scenes in an animated film was taken in Fukuyama Shrine. After the anime movie was aired, Fukuyama Shrine became the sacred land for otakus. That year, a large number of people came to the holy land for a tour.

Soon, the group of people arrived at Fukuyama Shrine.

Kimura Kazuki noticed that Fukuyama Shrine was not only bigger than Arisu Shrine, the crowd was also much bigger than Arisu Shrine.

Arisu Shrine was famous locally, but it was unknown to many outside of the region. As for the Fukuyama Shrine, it was well-known throughout the nation. Even foreigners would visit it when they came to Japan. Hence, there was a big difference on the scale of tourists.

As soon as they stepped into the Torii, they could feel a different aura. The next moment, a cat in pure white fur came out from the fox statue located in the middle back area of the Torii.

A cat coming out from a fox statue? Harunaka was too shocked to speak.

Although she had been practicing sword styles, Kendo was a culture that had been passed down from the ancient times. It could be seen and felt. The Onmyoji had also been spread widely and had a long history. However, they were considered superstitions in modern times. Hence when Harunaka saw this, she subconsciously wanted to take her phone out for a photo.

Then she realized that something was not right. If she could see the cat, then everyone should also be seeing it. But, why did not the passerby react? Harunaka stared blankly at the cat as it approached. She did not know how to react.

“Welcome, Patriarch Shigeru.” Shironeko walked with four of its limbs in an elegant and sophisticated manner. Its voice was euphony and clear. It then looked at the two people who were standing at Sei Shigeru’s left and right and greeted them with a smile that even its eyes squinted. “Welcome to Fukuyama Shrine, Asuka and Mei.”

“Greetings, Master Fukuyama.” Mei and Asuke bowed as they greeted. Their faces were full of respect.

It nodded lightly and moved its gaze to Kimura Kazuki. It then lifted its head and observed the young man in front of him. It lowered its head and spoke with a respectful tone, “Kimura-sama, I’ve heard a lot about you. Welcome to Fukuyama Shrine. I have already asked Bun Fukuyama to prepare a banquet for all of you.”

Was the Fukuyama Shrine powerful? Yes, it was very powerful. What about Arisu Shrine? It was almost equal to Fukuyama Shrine.

The reason why the crowd was bigger in Fukuyama Shrine was because Fukuyama Shrine was better in their operation compared to Arisu Shrine. There were not many differences in their strengths. As for why Arisu Shrine succumbed to Kimura Kazuki… They had already inquired about it and it was all because of a trivial incident. It could only be said that sometimes reality was more outrageous than fiction.

However without Arisu Yuusuke’s stubbornness, perhaps many people would never get to know that a powerful cultivator named Kimura Kazuki existed for their entire lives. Hence, Shironeko dared not neglect Kimura Kazuki.

“Thank you.” Kimura Kazuki nodded his head slightly.

He looked at Shironeko, guessing that it might be similar to the red bird and green bird in Arisu Shrine. It existed like an old antique for the Fukuyama family. The existence of the Shironeko was to serve as a guardian spirit. Even though they were powerful, the price that they had to pay for staying in the mortal world after their deaths was that their strengths would never be improved in their lifetime and that they could never leave the Torii.

Later, without waiting for Shironeko to speak, Kimura Kazuki grabbed Harunaka who was by his side and said solemnly, “The reason why I’m here at Fukuyama Shrine is to lend the power of Fukuyama Shrine to activate Harunaka’s consanguinity in order to fuse with the shikigami. Once it is done, I will offer a reward that Fukuyama Shrine will be satisfied with.”

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