To be honest, I had no expectation that fooling with the headstone would achieve anything. After all, how could a physical object affect a spiritual barrier? However...
"Whoa, it opened!"
"That's my Merry, Gensokyo's finest barrier-detector. Accept no substitutes."
I looked over at the area just in front of the headstone as Nazrin floated over to join us. The moment we had turned the pillar some sort of mechanism beneath the ground had opened with a click, leaving the sod and earth directly in front of the headstone to sag inward and then collapse into a dark shaft that lead vertically downward into a profound blackness.
"That was more of a physical device than a border, but the barrier also opened when the door did. This entrance must have been intentionally built this way."
Renko walked over to the edge of the hole and peered in, leaning over the lip of the void. Nazrin floated above her, also looking down. "There's no stairs or ladders," Renko muttered, "so we'll have to just jump in, I guess." Obviously, the idea of not descending down the shaft and interring ourselves in the graveyard was simply off the table to her. "Do you think you can fit in there Genji?"
Nazrin moved out of the way and Genji floated over to peer into the hole. "I can tuck my limbs into my shell and fit, I think. It looks like it gets wider deeper down. Let me go down first, then you can hop on."
Renko grinned and nodded and just as he had suggested, Genji tucked his limbs into his shell and descended into the shaft, retreating into the darkness until he was perhaps two meters below the ground and cloaked in deep shadows.
"Alright, Merry! Let's go, today's activity is exploring an ancient undisturbed tomb buried and sealed beneath Myouren temple! Doesn't that sound like fun?"
"It sounds like a good way to get eaten by a monster or caught in some sort of trap."
"There wouldn't be any traps here, Merry, the entrance was hidden. Besides, this vertical entrance shaft is enough to keep most intruders out, I'd think. We'll be fine." Squatting by the edge of the hole she offered me her hand.
"It'll be easier to go in one at a time. You go ahead, I'll be behind you." I said, swallowing a sigh.
With an excited whoop, Renko kicked her legs over the edge then scooted herself into the void, disappearing beneath the earth. I heard her grunt as she landed on Genji and settled herself into position. I looked up at Nazrin, who gestured for me to go ahead, then walked around to the front of the hole, where I could see Renko grinning up at me from Genji's back. I lowered myself down as much as I could then slid over the lip, falling perhaps a meter to settle into position behind Renko. The thin cushion provided little protection to my thighs as I landed hard on Genji's shell, but he moved to soften the blow as best he could. I wrapped my arms around Renko's waist as Genji descended, clearing space for Nazrin to float down after us.
"You two really are reckless, aren't you?" she said as she caught up to us. "I thought you were odd to accompany us to free Hijiri, but Murasa's stories are true, aren't they? You really did descend into the Underworld out of mere curiosity, didn't you?"
"Oh please, you're embarrassing me, little Naz! I'm no hero, just a great detective dedicated to a higher calling: My own desire to reveal the truth and make the world a more interesting place."
"That wasn't intended as praise." She said dourly. "But I suppose as a human Hijiri must have once had the same sort of idealistic-" whatever she was about to say was cutoff as, with an audible mechanical click, the paired metal doors at the top of the shaft suddenly swung shut above us, cutting the only light in the shaft first into a narrow line, and then extinguishing it entirely.
"Huh," Renko mused, ahead of me. "I guess that mechanism operated on a timer."
"How can you be so carefree about it?" I scolded, slapping at where I guessed her shoulder might be. "You just said there wouldn't be any traps here! What do we do now?"
"Well. Hmm," she began.
There was a sudden brilliant flare of greenish-white light that softened into a steady glow as Nazrin produced the same stone and crystal pagoda she had once stolen from our office and floated down past us. "Now we go down," she said grimly. "We need to know what's down here, and we don't have much of a choice anyway."
"Oh, good idea bringing that houtou, little Naz! Isn't that Shou's though? Does she know you have it?" Renko nudged Genji into motion and we followed Nazrin as she floated straight down, deeper into the darkness.
"Hijiri had her lend it to me since she wanted me to escort you. I'm not as skilled at using it as Shou is though, as it wasn't made for me."
"Does it still do anything besides glow? I thought all of its power was used up unsealing Byakuren from the Realm of Truth."
"The power it contained then was Hijiri's. That power was returned to her when the seal on the Realm of Truth was broken, but she's put some of it back in since then. It's not nearly as strong as it once was, but it's still useful."
"Alright then. Let's see what there is to see." Renko said that, but there wasn't really much that was visible to us. The walls of the shaft were bare, rough stone that looked more or less like a natural void in the rock rather than something artificial like the borehole Suwako had dug down to the remnants of the Hell of Blazing Fires. As we proceeded lower and lower we did encounter a great many drifting spirits, much more densely packed together than any we had seen on the surface, forming into cloud-like streaks and banks. There were also more than a few small fairies down here. I wondered if they were a natural feature of the stone surrounding us, or simply surface dwellers who had gotten lost, but Nazrin mostly ignored them either way, letting most past by us, and instantly dispatching the few curious enough to draw close.
We continued flying slowly downward for several minutes, with no end to the shaft in sight. "This reminds me of the shaft leading to Former Hell," Renko said, "but it's a lot drier here. I don't think this tunnel was carved by an underground river." It hadn't occurred to me to notice, but it was indeed surprisingly clean and dry in here and even a bit warmer than one might expect of a cave.
"You're right, it almost seems pleasant in here, and air doesn't seem stagnant either. It doesn't smell like anything's been living down here though. It actually feels kind of like the Realm of Truth, doesn't it? Not hostile, but totally barren."
"Well there's supposed be a powerful holy figure down here somewhere, right? Maybe they're a monk like Byakuren and that's just how they prefer to live."
"You're still thinking its Kukai down here, aren't you?"
"No, Byakuren's right, there'd be no reason for Kukai to be sealed under the earth, but it could easily be another monk."
"Like Saicho?"
"Oh, the founder of a rival Buddhist sect? That'd be interesting, but it could even be a holy figure from another religion. Byakuren said that she suspected whoever it was that's buried here was about to be resurrected. What if it's Jesus?"
"What would He be doing in Japan, Renko?"
"Maybe He gets around. People claim to have seen Him all over the place. Besides, we've met westerners here. All of the people at the Scarlet Devil Mansion are foreigners and so is Parsee. Plus Eirin and Kaguya and Reisen, they're from even further away!"
"I don't think it's going to be Jesus, Renko."
"Well, it could still be a Christian saint. There are a bunch of Christian missionaries from the Edo period who became famous. The fact that Byakuren was worried about them suggests it's not a Buddhist to me. If it were, I think she would have just come down here herself."
At the time, I thought Renko was just being ridiculous as usual, but it would turn out that she wasn't so far from the truth. She probably couldn't see me shaking my head as I sat behind her, but she didn't argue the point any further, merely looking around as we continued to descend toward Nazrin's light. After a few more minutes however, the light stopped moving and came to a halt.
"Stay there." Nazrin called up to us.
"What's wrong?" Renko called back.
"The shaft ends here, and there's a big door set into the wall at the bottom of the shaft."
Nazrin lifted the houtou above her head and the light coming out from it increased in intensity. Under its harsh illumination, we could now see that there was indeed an end to the shaft here, bare dry rock laying completely undisturbed except for the bit of earth and grass that had fallen in when we had opened the mechanism far above. At one side of the shaft's terminus an enormous pair of doors were set into the sloping wall at a 45 degree angle. They appeared to be made of metal and though they weren't ornately sculpted like the doors to Makai had been, they were no less ornamented, bearing a huge and intricately detailed mural depicting a stern-faced man with a long beard dressed in some sort of official Chinese courtier's uniform. There was no sign of any method by which the doors could be opened or closed, nor was there any gatekeeper present.
Renko whistled appreciatively as she leaned over Genji's head to look down. "Well, what do you make of that, Merry?"
The imposing weight of the doors was further reinforced by the presence of a powerful barrier. One much stronger and better maintained than the one I had seen above. Even from this far above it, I could see that it consisted of multiple self-reinforcing layers. I said as much to Renko.
"Welp, I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle. Let's get you close enough to have a look." She nudged Genji into motion even as I protested.
"Renko wait, what did I say about volunteering me without asking?"
"You would have said yes, we've got nowhere else to go. Now, let's see who's behind..."
She stopped as Nazrin held one of her dousing rods out in front of Genji, blocking our path. She was staring warily into the darkness, eyes focused on something above us, just beyond the reach of the light. With a grim expression, Nazrin shouted sharply into the shadows.
"Who's there? Show yourself!"
"You're asking me who's there? I should be asking that of you." The voice was bemused, feminine. It sounded like someone pleased to have just discovered a new toy. "I can see you well enough though. A rat, two humans and a turtle. That's a lot of vermin to have found their way in here. Maybe I ought to be checking these seals more often."
A figure floated into view from the edge of the darkness, dressed in pale blue silks, with her blue hair tied into a braid held into the shape of the mathematical symbol for infinity with a long metal hairpin that threw back the glow of Nazrin's pagoda. The sensation of her presence was decidedly inhuman, but not quite like that of a youkai.
"I told Yoshika not to let anyone through until the resurrection is completed. I hope she's not sleeping on the job," the woman continued, floating closer but seeming to pay us no mind, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand as she moved through the air in a seated position, balanced in the sling of a gauzy scarf that seemed, impossibly, to also be hanging from her arms. I wondered if by 'Yoshika' she was referring to the jiangshi we had encountered above ground. If so, then this person was likely that monster's creator, a necromancer capable of animating corpses.
"Well at any rate, I can imagine why the rat is sniffing around, she's one of that temple's minions. What brings two lonely humans here though? Are you just greedy souls pulled here along with all these spirits of desire?"
"Why don't you tell us your name?" Nazrin said, moving to put herself between us and the floating woman. "And you can stop where you are for now."
"Wouldn't it be more polite to give your own name first? Just because you're vermin doesn't mean you have to be rude," she replied.
Nazrin seemed like she was about to make a retort but Renko waved her arm and called out before she could, stretching to address the newcomer from over top of Nazrin's head.
"My name's Renko Usami," she volunteered. "This is Merry here behind me and this turtle is Genji, who's being kind enough to act as our chaperone since my partner and I are just normal humans. We run a detective agency in the human village and we're looking into the cause of all of these spirits suddenly becoming visible. Little Naz here is just our bodyguard, she's not here due to any associations she may have with the temple. It's nice to meet you!"
"Well that's better," the woman before us said, smiling in a way that seemed genuine, but not at all kind. "I'm Seiga Kaku, an immortal hermit. Did you by any chance run into my cute little servant guarding the entrance up above?"
"I assume you're referring to the jiangshi we encountered?"
"Yes, her name is Yoshika. Isn't she adorably rotten?"
'Adorably rotten' was an extremely odd phrase to hear spoken aloud, but I suppose if someone could smile so sweetly after committing something so universally considered to be taboo as reanimating the dead, any aesthetic considerations I might have would be completely irrelevant here.
"I see. Well Yoshika should be resting in the shade of a tree at the moment. She found the sunlight to be a bit overwhelming, I'm afraid."
"Ah yes, that happens above ground, doesn't it? Perhaps I should have waited a bit before sending her up. She wasn't gnawed on by any rats, was she?"
"Neither I nor any of my soldiers would stoop so low as to eat a rotting corpse," Nazrin growled.
"Oh that's a relief," Seiga said, laying a hand over her heart. "I'd hate to think that my cute little Yoshika might have any bite marks from a rat on her. Why, if that had happened, I'd have to gather up all of the rats responsible and all of their families and use them to test my latest formula for rat poison. I think this batch will be a good one, it should even melt bones!" She spoke with the same gentle, carefree smile she had worn since appearing, seemingly completely at peace with such an idea.
"You see, little Naz? It's a good thing I didn't let you get in a fight with that gatekeeper. Trust in my negotiation skills, they always lead to a more amenable outcome." Renko said, turning to Nazrin. I couldn't help but think that, given the situation we found ourselves in, Renko's carefree smile was just as unnerving as the one opposite us.
"It's a miracle that you're even able to make such a ridiculous boast. You came very close to being a rotting corpse yourself." Nazrin grumbled.
Renko ignored her commentary and continued to address the hermit. "So, miss Kaku. We've come here to investigate the appearance of these spirits, but my intuition tells me the cause of this situation lies beyond this door. You mentioned that you had asked Yoshika to keep everyone away until the resurrection had been completed. I take it that something is about to awaken in there, and these spirits have something to do with that?"
"The spirits are merely a side effect, drawn to the slowly awakening presence of the crown prince. They've been slowly becoming more prominent for the last three days, though I imagine humans likely wouldn't have noticed them before now. With the number that are gathering I expect the resurrection will be a grand affair, quite a bit more noteworthy than the resurrection of that pagan prophet from the Outside world you were mentioning earlier."
"Ah, you heard that, did you? And what's more, you're familiar with Christianity as a concept."
"I am, though it's a rare thing to hear it being discussed here. You seem like a very interesting human, miss Renko and your friend who's hiding behind you looks to have some very interesting eyes. I have no interest in this rat, but you seem like the open-minded sort. Have you ever considered studying Taoist hermetic practices?"
"Oh, are you a Taoist then?"
"A bit of Taoism, a bit of mysticism and many things too old to have such names. I could teach you quite a bit, if you'd be interested. The secrets of eternal youth and immortality, the art of perfect mental clarity, not to mention limitless mystical power, of course."
"Oh well, that's very enticing of you to offer. Eternal youth sounds nice, but my mind is already perfectly clear, and I don't have much use for mystical power to be honest."
"No? What about the other human, you there in the back. Your eyes are quite unusual, but just looking at you I can see that there are a great many things they have yet to see. Would you be interested in witnessing the truths of the Tao?"
"Me?" I asked after a moment of uncertain silence. "Um, I visit a pair of Shinto shrines fairly regularly, so I should probably avoid dabbling with other religions." I was more than a little unnerved by the fact that she seemed so fixated on my eyes despite never having come close enough to examine them.
"Well that's no trouble, you'd just have to convert. Would you like to?"
"Um, no, not at the moment," I said, shrinking behind Renko awkwardly. "I should mention that Renko attends the same shrines as well."
"Well it would be shame for two mortals to have come this far for no reason. What sort of fool climbs a mountain and ignores the wise hermit sitting at the peak? The same sort the leaps into an open grave, I suppose. I know what we'll do. Why don't you come meet the crown prince? I'm sure once you've met them, you'll understand the true glory of the Tao."
Saying that, Seiga drifted over to the enormous metal doors and touched them ever so lightly. Without any sound at all they slowly began to open, the barrier sealing them drawing back like a taut skin as they did.
"Wait! Renko, Merry, don't go in there, I don't trust this hermit." Nazrin said, still holding her dousing rod out in front of us.
"No talking please, vermin from the temple. I find your voice distasteful." Seiga waved dismissively. As she did so a flash of intense white light raced away from her hand, crackling through the air like a dagger made of lightning. Nazrin was taken off guard and would certainly have been struck if not for an equally intense beam of light that leapt, unbidden, from the crystal sphere of the stone pagoda she was holding to meet Seiga's projectile in the air and vaporize it.
"Oh!" crowed Seiga, "what an interesting toy you have. Is that the power of the founder of your temple that I sense? I'd like to have a look at that. I think it's past time I cleaned up here and exterminated the vermin."
"I'm here to act as a bodyguard to these two. I have no quarrel with you directly, but I cannot allow a wicked hermit to abduct them from my care. Allow us to leave in peace and there will be no need for a fight," Nazrin said, moving away from us and taking up a defensive stance with the pagoda balanced in the palm of one hand and both of her iron rods crossed like an X and held in place behind her with the other.
"A 'wicked hermit?' My, what a compliment from such a vile little creature. If you'd like to resolve things without a fight, then just leave these two and that pagoda with me. I will allow you to scurry home."
"Merry? Renko?" Nazrin said, glancing back at us for a moment. "...Let's run!" She twisted in midair, re-orienting herself then shooting upwards, back toward the entrance.
"Oh, we're running now?" Genji asked, as he turned to pursue. Genji rushed to follow but with Renko and I balancing on his back, he couldn't take the same sharply vertical path Nazrin had taken, instead treadmilling his legs desperately in the air as we began to rise, still maintaining our horizontal alignment.
From somewhere below us, far beyond the reach of the pagoda's light, Seiga's voice called after us. "I won't let you escape, you know."
At the same moment, from somewhere above us another voice growled down at us. "Nooo escaaaape!"
"Oh Yoshika, you're finally here. Don't bite the humans, please. You can have the rat."
"Yaaay, dinner!" Yoshika dived into view from above, her mouth open wide as she fell like an arrow at Nazrin, who pirouetted out of harm's way then turned to face her attacker. From below us Seiga was slowly rising, glowing with an ethereal light and smiling unconcernedly. Above us Nazrin and Yoshika were squaring off, fangs and weapons bared. Lit by the glow of the borrowed houtou and surrounded by the absolute darkness of the cave, a fight seemed inevitable as the two of them closed in.
