Darkness is like ink, gradually infecting the world outside the courtyard of the Inoue family.

The cherry blossom trees outside the courtyard and the wooden houses not far away were all submerged in the surging darkness.

Even the white paper lantern with the family crest of the Inoue family hanging on the main entrance of the courtyard was gradually surrounded by darkness, and the light emitted by the lantern was gradually eroded by the darkness.

If you could look down from above,

You can find that the darkest fog has engulfed the street market,

Now we are surrounding and overturning Inoue's house, the only one that still has light.

In this thick darkness, four straw men wore white paper masks on their faces and bells on their necks. They were carrying a wooden box soaked in water and slowly approached Inoue's house with stiff steps.

Every time they get closer to Inoue's house,

The darkness presses forward.

Ding dong, ding dong...

The faint sound of bells was faintly heard in the darkness.

A stone woman's head with a head full of black hair emerging from the soil of the grave turned slightly.

After seeing the back door of Inoue's house ahead, the stone head gradually retracted into the soil - together with the thick black hair on its head, it returned to the soil.

The flat ground has no more strange changes for the time being.

But inside the back door of Inoue’s house,

The red paint curses carved on the door, eaves corners, and beams all melted at a faster rate at this time.

The spell gradually twisted and dissolved.

Lines of red paint flowed down along the cracks in the door.

Like bright red blood.

"Ding dong...Ding dong..."

Miss Haruko, who was tossing and turning on the bed unable to sleep, was sitting in front of the desk practicing calligraphy.

She had just written a word when she heard the faint sound of bells.

"strangeness……

It’s already this time, why is there the sound of bells?”

Haruko felt slightly alert.

put down the brush,

listen attentively,

The tinkling sound of the bell disappeared again.

She frowned and looked around her bedroom - the bedroom with only one oil lamp lit, was dimly illuminated by the faint light, and looked completely different from the boudoir in the daytime.

Haruko stood up,

Holding an oil lamp to illuminate the surroundings,

Go to the wooden box in the corner of the bedroom,

He opened the wooden box, took away the neatly stacked clothes with a faint fragrance, and took out a wakizashi about thirty centimeters long from the bottom.

The wakizashi's scabbard is painted with red and gold lacquer.

Like the falling leaves at dusk.

Miss Haruko took off her clothes, changed into casual clothes, hung her wakizashi on her waist, and held the sword in her hand - the blade of this wakizashi was covered with vermilion spells, and the blade was bright and sharp.

Then, Haruko took out another paint box from the box.

Open the paint box,

There is a pile of white cloth inside.

The cloth smells of ink and cinnabar,

open it,

You can see that on the entire square piece of cloth, which is half a meter long, there is a colorful dragon-shaped animal covered with colorful feathers, circling in the black sky.

The pictures are full of some indescribable charm,

Decorated with cinnabar, it seems that spiritual energy is flowing through the dragon's body.

Under the whole picture, there is a line of Chinese characters written: Picture of Baixiang Transforming into a Dragon.

Haruko took out a loose cloak from the box, pasted the "Baixiang Transformed into a Dragon Picture" on the inside of the cloak, and buttoned the cloth buttons one by one into the specially sewn buttonholes on the inside of the cloak.

She put on her big cloak, held a wakizashi covered with vermilion spells, and tiptoed to the window.

open the window,

She took a look outside - her residence was surrounded by many houses in the courtyard and was located in the center of the courtyard.

From her perspective, she could not see what was happening outside the courtyard wall.

But Qingzi still observed that the sky was very dark that night, which was unusual.

Under the gloomy sky,

A samurai walked through the alleyway between the pavilions and buildings, carrying a white paper lantern and hurried past.

There are far fewer samurai patrolling the house today than usual.

I was assigned to do something by my father.

Haruko felt more and more that something was wrong,

However, when she saw the surrounding buildings and the warriors walking in the alleyway under the window, she felt that her inner premonition was just an illusion.

close the window,

She sat cross-legged on the wooden floor,

I thought quietly for a moment.

Finally, I decided to go talk to my father.

Even if nothing happens, there is no harm in being more vigilant.

Haruko sheathed her sword, got up and walked outside the house.

The warrior who passed by the second floor where she lived turned the corner of the alley, walked around several buildings, and when he passed the back door, he saw a wriggling black shadow on the ground.

"what is that?"

The samurai was nervous and drew his sword to defend himself.

——He is a timid person. He used to patrol the courtyard of his master's house with his three or five companions, but he thought it was nothing.

Now the companions were summoned by the head of the family to do an important thing.

He was the only one left to patrol,

Seeing someone unusually awake, it is inevitable to panic inside.

Holding his sword in front of him, the samurai approached the wriggling black shadow in small steps.

came closer,

Only then did he realize that it was a bunch of black hair that was blown by the wind.

Who would leave their hair here?

wrong!

hair?

Several thoughts flashed through the warrior's mind one after another,

Before he could react,

I only saw the soil under my hair suddenly rising,

A stone woman's head emerged from the soil——

The woman turned her head towards him, and the corners of her mouth seemed to be slightly raised on her stone face.

The warrior's eyes quickly turned gray, and then his entire face, body, and clothes turned blue-grey, turning into a stone sculpture.

…

It was so dark that I couldn't see my fingers,

The footsteps of the warriors became extremely faint in the darkness.

The torches they hold will gradually lose their light under the erosion of such darkness, and then be completely extinguished.

"Old man!"

The warrior who was following Ah Xiong on the left side lit the torch with the fire ignition again. After observing the situation around him, he immediately asked the tall figure in front of him: "This is not the way home. Where are we going?"
To be continued...