Chapter 80: Golden Light Sect, Golden Light God
Inside a private villa in Chuo-ku, Tokyo.
The gate was closed and two security guards in black uniforms were guarding the door. There were also two teams of security guards patrolling back and forth inside the villa with two wolfhounds.
"Open the door quickly! We have an urgent matter to report to the president!"
After a whole night of running and hitchhiking, the two tall and thin priests finally made it back to downtown Tokyo. They even made several circles in the city center before they dared to return to the base of the Golden Light Sect.
The two of them quickly passed through numerous interceptions and entered the villa gate. Led by a middle-aged man who looked like a butler, they went straight to the second floor.
Unlike the slightly empty hall on the first floor, the hall on the second floor is arranged in a pentagonal shape, with an altar in each direction, each with a statue of a deity placed on it.
In the center, there is a golden god carved with gilding technique. It shines brightly and enjoys the most worshippers.
There are four statues placed in the four directions around. One of them, representing the Toad God, has been shattered and completely turned into a pile of charred wood.
The two priests subconsciously glanced at the pile of charred wood, their hearts trembled, and they walked through the central hall and entered a meeting room.
At this moment, there were already five people sitting in the conference room.
The leader in the middle is the current leader of the Golden Light Sect and also the president of the entire Golden Light Group.
Except during internal meetings, the president is usually addressed as such to outsiders. This is a common practice after the Shinto sect is integrated into the secular world.
There were two figures sitting on each side of the long table. They were the spokespersons for the four gods outside.
They are the four gods who are in charge of the rituals in the Golden Light Sect.
One of them, their master, the spokesperson chosen by the Toad God, had a completely dark face at this moment, and the anger and disappointment in his eyes were not concealed at all.
"Master, this is what happened..."
Even though they had briefly explained the news of the Toad God's death on the phone last night, they now recounted the story in full and detail.
After saying this, the two priests came and stood behind their master, lowered their heads silently, and did not dare to say another word.
The fall of the Toad God was a major event for their Golden Light Sect.
"The summer festival in July is about to begin, but the Toad God has fallen at this time... For our Golden Light Sect, this is too much to bear."
"I've said it before, don't be greedy and try to get involved in the Moon God's priesthood. How can it be that easy to be a Moon Swallower?"
"Since the Moon God's position is not prominent, the Toad God can naturally take his place. Once it succeeds, the strength of our Golden Light Sect will rise to a new level."
"There is no point in talking any more. The Toad God is dead, and the Demon Pearl is lost. We should talk about how to solve this problem."
"What is the origin of that monk? Did he just happen to meet the Toad God, or did he come here specifically to target our Golden Light Sect?"
"What role does Tsukimi Shrine play in this matter?"
In the conference room, there were voices of varying importance, some urgent and some calm.
The two tall and thin priests just listened silently and did not speak to participate in this level of conversation.
After talking for about twenty minutes, the top leaders of the Golden Light Sect finally reached a unified decision.
Continuing with the plan for the summer festival, the position of plague priest represented by the Toad God will be replaced by the Bat God.
As for revenge for the Toad God, they chose to first investigate the murderer's background and question Buddhism about the matter, allowing them to handle it internally first.
Regarding the issue of the demon bead, everyone agreed to wait until the summer festival was over and then ask the monk for it back.
"Today's meeting ends here. July has arrived, so let's all go back and prepare for the summer festival."
The leader of the Golden Light Sect spoke, and everyone else stood up and left the meeting room.
After everyone else left, the leader of the Golden Light Sect took out a palm-sized, golden statue from his drawer.
Then, with great pain, he took out a gold bar that was as long as a finger and as thick as a thumb from the drawer on the other side, placed it in front of the statue, and then closed his eyes and called to the God of Golden Light.
Soon, the statue opened one of its eyes, and the gold bar gradually melted into it, as if it had turned into a pool of golden water, and then from water mist into golden mist.
The statue opened its mouth and inhaled, and the golden mist was sucked into its body. The entire finger-long pure gold bar disappeared completely without a trace.
On the other hand, a layer of light golden glow appeared on the surface of the statue, and the other eye also opened.
"God of Jin Guang, this is about the summer festival in July..."
The expression of the leader of the Golden Light Sect suddenly became pious. He held the statue in the palm of his hand and lifted it up above his head.
……
On July 7, night fell again.
Chiya Hiramiya came to Tsukimi Shrine, and under the same osmanthus tree, she looked up and saw Yaezakura Jingu again. Compared to the last time they met, she had lost her sense of distance tonight, and it was obvious that she was in a good mood.
What surprised Chiye Hiramiya was that when he came to Tsukimi Shrine tonight, he rarely saw the shadow of Omae no Miyaji.
On the osmanthus tree, Jingu Yaezakura naturally moved to a place. Seeing this, Heimiya Chiye jumped up and sat in the empty place.
Before he had the chance to talk to Jingu Yaezakura, his eyes were drawn to the three paintings hanging on the tree.
There is no doubt that he is the protagonist of all three paintings.
The first painting shows him punching a Moon-Swallowing Toad off a cliff.
The second painting depicts him as Acala, holding up his sword and killing the Moon-Swallowing Toad.
The third painting shows him on the top of a mountain, under the moonlight, chanting the "Nirvana Mantra" to pray for the salvation of innocent lives that died from poisonous smoke.
"It's a really nice painting." Pinggong Qianye praised earnestly.
"Okay."
Yaezakura Jingu's expression was calm, and she tried hard to suppress the corners of her mouth that wanted to slightly curl up.
“The lines, the coloring, the blank space, the artistic conception are all worth appreciating.”
"Oh, is it really that good?" Jingu Yaezakura's eyebrows were still slightly curved.
“These are three very good paintings indeed.”
“Can you draw, too?”
Yaezakura Jingu turned her face to the side with an obvious smile on her face, but her tone remained calm.
"I've never learned this kind of painting, so I'm not good at it."
Pinggong Chiye answered very honestly. He was good at painting images of Buddha, Bodhisattva, Vajra, lotus, staff, vajra and other elements related to Buddhism.
He has never learned black and white ink painting, which leaves blank space for artistic conception, and he is not good at it.
"Want to learn? If you do, I can teach you."
Yaezakura Jingu said this very seriously. Being able to become the master of such a human being, even if it is just a master in painting, is something worth boasting about.
Pinggong Qianye was silent. He had clearly come here tonight to collect the reward for completing the mission and to ask some questions about the Jinguan Sect, but how come the topic suddenly turned to him wanting to learn painting?
"Regarding what happened last night..."
Pinggong Chiye started talking about serious matters.
"The Golden Light Religion."
Jingu Yaezakura felt a little sorry that Hiramiya Chiye changed the subject, but she still said seriously with a tone of disgust and hatred: "They believe in a heretical god named Jin Guang Da Shen."
"This deity claimed to be in charge of war, chaos, floods, droughts, and plagues, so the Golden Light Cult appointed four demons and monsters who had achieved great success in cultivation to be their guardian deities."
"The four gods are in charge of war, chaos, floods and droughts, and plague respectively. The Moon-Swallowing Toad should be the god in charge of plague within the Golden Light Sect."
"You have personally experienced the power of its poisonous smoke. For ordinary people, it is indeed capable of causing a large-scale plague."
Pinggong Qianye listened silently, and finally asked: "If I kill the Moon-Swallowing Toad, will it cause a conflict between Shintoism and Buddhism?"
"It's not that serious."
Jingu Yaezakura smiled and signaled that Hiramiya Chiye didn't need to worry too much about it.
"Even if all 13 sects of Shintoism are added together, they cannot represent the entire Shinto religion."
Jingu Yae Sakura patiently explained the difference to Hiramiya Chiya.
Sectarian Shintoism is a religion that was formed in the late Edo period and after the Meiji Restoration. It is based on traditional Shinto beliefs among the people, and absorbs theological theories such as Retro Shintoism, and gradually formed a number of Shinto belief groups.
Among them, there are 13 sects with greater influence, which are collectively called Shinto sects.
If the entire Shinto religion is compared to a country, then folk Shinto is equivalent to the militia, and sectarian Shinto is equivalent to the daimyo warlords who rule the local areas.
Shrines and Shinto are the regular army of a country. They truly represent the entire country and maintain the basic operation of the entire country.
It's just a small toad god, so just kill it.
When mentioning this, Jingu Yaezakura felt much happier.
(End of this chapter)
