Chapter 76: The Shadow Ghost (7) part 1
Two business vans were parked at the entrance of the alley outside the guesthouse. At the end of the alley, a thick wisteria vine climbed along a high, green-tiled wall to the top, its purple-red floral cascades hanging down like a waterfall. When the wind blew, it looked like a flock of pale purple butterflies.
It was hard to imagine such stunning scenery hidden in this inconspicuous alley.
Jiang Si pushed aside the vines hanging by his face. “You certainly know how to enjoy life, living here away from the world.”
Miyata No acted as if he hadn’t heard the sarcasm. He stuck his neck out and asked, “Where are you taking me?!”
“To your favorite place, of course.”
“?”
“Don’t you like a society ruled by law? I’m taking you to experience it personally.”
Walking to the car, Hai Di had already lowered the window and was waiting for him. He consciously opened the door for Jiang Si to get in. Once he was settled, Hai Di said, “Shen Hu has already arrived in Rong City. We’ll see him in a bit.”
Jiang Si nodded. He looked at Miyata No, acting as if he were in control, but in reality, he wasn’t sure what the other man’s background was.
To prevent Miyata No from having any other tricks up his sleeve, he simply kept him close, which also made it easier to keep an eye on him.
Hai Di treated him as if he were a dead man. His gaze never shifted toward him for a single second. Without hiding Miyata No’s presence, he told Jiang Si what he had discovered.
“The Miyata family is the second largest family of Onmyouji in Japan, after the Abe family. Also equally famous is the Fujiwara family. But the Miyata family only rose to fame and developed in modern times. About forty years ago, the current head of the Miyata family suddenly acquired a special ability—to judge life and death with a single glance, and even to reverse life and death or rewind time. Since then, the Miyata family became famous throughout Japan, suppressing other more ancient families with their own power alone.”
“Miyata No is the great-grandson of the current head of the Miyata family. He has two elder brothers and a younger sister. He’s been interested in Chinese culture since he was a child and lived in China to study since middle school, even giving himself a Chinese name, Gong Zhao.”
“Interested in Chinese culture?” Jiang Si arched an eyebrow. “Is the way he shows interest by raiding tombs? The habits of your people truly follow a single line of descent, long and well-established.”
“I won’t let you talk about my country like that! What right do you have to judge?!”
Jiang Si smirked. “A place with petty etiquette but no grand righteousness—you really treat it like a treasure. Setting that aside, just look at yourself. An heir to an Onmyouji family running off to study Gu arts—don’t you find it strange yourself?”
“Hmph, what do you know?! Onmyou-jutsu is the most mysterious thing in the world. How can Gu arts even be compared to it?!”
Hai Di explained his contradictory behavior very concisely: “Miyata No is the recognized ‘useless’ member of the family. He couldn’t even summon a single Shikigami by the age of fifteen, so he’s not qualified to be called an Onmyouji.”
So he settled for the second best. Jiang Si understood, and his gaze toward Miyata No became playful.
To Miyata No’s further annoyance, Jiang Si added, “No wonder his Gu arts are also terrible. Even I could find his flaws.”
“Therefore, he is useless,” Hai Di summarized.
Miyata No was so angry he cursed in Japanese. His mouth had only opened and closed a few times when a piece of foul-smelling rag was suddenly stuffed in, making him roll his eyes and nearly faint from the stench.
The bodyguard found him too noisy. After searching his pockets, he found a cloth he’d forgotten to throw away after using it to wipe his shoes.
“Mmm-mmm—” No one cared about Miyata No’s angry struggles.
The car became quiet. Jiang Si turned and gave the bodyguard a thumbs-up, praising him, “What great observation skills. As expected of a professional.”
The bodyguard, a former soldier, scratched his head in embarrassment and gave a simple smile.
…
Using a warrant from the Celestial Master Association, Shen Hu successfully negotiated with the police for an empty interrogation room.
Unlike a normal interrogation room, Shen Hu had placed various talismans in all eight directions, and even a warding talisman on the surveillance camera to prevent any curious police officers from seeing anything they shouldn’t through the monitors.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Jiang Si, he took the man to the interrogation room for questioning. Out of curiosity, Jiang Si chose to listen in.
According to the information Shen Hu currently possessed, Miyata No had dug up at least five Tang Sancai artifacts from the same tomb over the years. Two of them had already entered the market and been collected by different buyers.
One of the remaining items was in Jiang Si’s hands, and the other two had been sent to Japan by Miyata No.
“The large-scale archaeological tomb in the Southwest was only excavated six years ago, and progress has never been publicly announced. How did you obtain artifacts from it while the archaeological excavation was ongoing?” Shen Hu asked.
This was also something Jiang Si found strange. Even back then, he had to rely on his connections with alumni and his teacher, and under the guise of professional research, he could only see some photos taken during the excavation. How did Miyata No, a foreigner, know about it?
“Heh-heh…” Miyata No suddenly felt much less frustrated when he saw their confused expressions. Malicious retaliatory psychology completely took over his brain. At this moment, he had only one thought.
He wanted to see them break down.
“Of course it’s because there are people inside the archaeology team who specifically do business in selling artifacts. Didn’t expect that, did you? Hahahahaha!”
“ I didn’t even need to go into the tomb. With a flick of my finger, people would deliver the items to me.”
“He’s trying to provoke us,” Shen Hu said in a low voice. “Don’t let it get to you.”
Jiang Si asked, “Has it been confirmed which tomb the items were dug from?”
“Yes.” Shen Hu handed him a stack of photos. “These are real-life images sent from there. Have a look.”
Jiang Si took the photos and looked through them bit by bit. They were color prints of the local site, following a sequence from the outside going deeper in.
After flipping through several photos, Jiang Si’s finger suddenly stopped. He pointed at an area and asked Shen Hu, “Is this a Tomb-Guardian Beast?”
Shen Hu looked over. “Yes. It’s a merman figurine, also called an Yiyu (儀魚).”
The spot Jiang Si pointed to was a somewhat dilapidated, half-human-high stone statue standing on one side of the stone tomb door. Half of its body was hidden in the shadows, and the surroundings were full of broken walls and ruins. The light and shadows were grey-white, making the photo none too clear.
From the blurred quality, one could vaguely see it was a stone statue with a human head and a fish body, though half of its head had been broken off by some external force.
But even so, the remaining statue looked solemn and majestic. Its one remaining eye stared burningly forward, warning all outsiders who tried to disturb it not to enter.
“Is it the Yiyu recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas as having a human face and fish body but no feet?” Jiang Si had heard of it. “Legend says these mermen have the power to bring people back to life.”
“Yes, you know quite a lot,” Shen Hu praised.
“I’ve read a bit while researching materials before.” Jiang Si smiled with pursed lips and pointed at the image. “Tomb-Guardian Beasts should come in a pair. One is missing here. Was it taken by the archaeology team or something?”
“It wasn’t taken. It was like that originally.”
Jiang Si said as if casually, “I heard the current head of the Miyata family is over 120 years old, yet he still looks like a young man. It’s quite miraculous.”
Miyata No suddenly heard his family mentioned and snapped back to his senses, staring coldly at Jiang Si. “My great-grandfather just pays attention to health maintenance. What are you implying?!”
Shen Hu also looked over.
Jiang Si laid the photos on the table and crossed his hands over his thighs. “Nothing. Master Shen, please continue with the questioning.”
His fingers rubbed the sandalwood beads on his wrist, and his head was slightly lowered as if he were still listening to the dialogue, but in reality, his mind had already wandered off.
The Underworld messenger’s hint had told him to link this situation to a larger scale, not limited within the country.
According to what Sun Yu said, Miyata No wanted the thing that could change destiny inside Shi Danxing’s body, so he had him send a figurine to Shi Danxing.
But how to explain the soul-calling banners and the patterns on them? They were also items from the ancient Southwest tomb. Sun Yu said he hadn’t known any Master Wei before; that man was someone Shi Danxing found himself. Initially, when Shi Danxing’s health improved, Sun Yu had worried his plan wouldn’t succeed. Unexpectedly, things took a turn—Master Wei was a fraud and had run off.
A figurine, soul-calling banners—two different groups of people both had items from the ancient Southwest tomb, and both were targeting the same person.
Jiang Si didn’t believe in such coincidences.
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