Page 161
"Anyway, let's eat first. Oshima Miko, welcome back."
Since Reiya's godhood is registered at Izumo Shrine, the phrase "welcome back" is appropriate.
"Sorry for disturbing you these past few days, Lord God, everyone."
Ling also lowered her head, and when she looked up she was met with Hisayoshi's smiling face, and a piece of beef had already been put into her bowl with chopsticks.
"Try it. This is beef raised on the ranch in front of the mountain. It was offered to the shrine this morning. It's very fresh."
This beef is the base for sukiyaki, so you can eat it early in the morning. Fry the beef with butter, pour sukiyaki sauce on it, and sprinkle some sugar. Although cane sugar is usually used, the shrine sprinkles rock sugar, which has a special fragrance.
Watch the yellow crystals gradually melt in the pot, and then you can put in all kinds of ingredients, fresh mushrooms picked from the mountains, and vegetables grown in the shrine's own plot.
The beef is wrapped in raw egg liquid and is sweet and delicious.
Even Lingye's taste buds, which had been spoiled by the two chefs at home, could not resist the impeccable taste. No fancy cooking skills were needed, and the fresh ingredients were surprisingly delicious even when cooked in the simplest way.
"The shrine will be very busy in the next few days, and I'm afraid we won't be able to entertain you well enough."
Ling didn't care about being poorly entertained because she was not a guest, she was also a shrine maiden of Izumo Taisha Shrine.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"If Reiya Miko doesn't mind, please help to receive the tourists." Lord Boli said so. However, he got a roll of the eyes from Kuze, and he lowered his head a little guilty.
"It's okay to receive tourists." Ling was actually curious about the interaction between Kuze and the God Lord. She looked at Kuze and asked, "Is there any problem?"
"Reiya, you may not know that there is a 'Freya Miko from Tokyo' at Izumo Shrine. It has been a hot topic among tourists recently."
When discussing the issue of copyright compensation, Kuze dissuaded the chief priest from using Lingye for advertising. Now, Izumo Taisha Shrine does not put up any text advertisements, and even if pilgrims ask about it, the priests will claim that they are unaware of it.
But the rumor still spread, and the number of tourists has indeed increased a lot in the past few days. Jiu Shi didn't believe that it had nothing to do with Lord Bo Li.
Lord Boli pretended not to know and stared at the soup pot nonchalantly, as if there was something particularly attractive in the pot.
So, this year there are many more tourists than in previous years. Is it really because of me? Ling was also a little surprised.
She is just a supporting actress in a TV series. Is she really that famous?
In the next few days, Ling also found that her popularity was indeed much higher than she had imagined. Almost all the pilgrims who came to worship at the shrine knew her.
Ling did not realize what a TV series with a peak viewership of 1972% meant in 37. In this era, the variety of TV programs was far less abundant than in later generations, and a popular TV series had far more impact than just the TV series itself.
If she could be compared to the 1980s and 1990s in the country across the sea that she is most familiar with, when "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" was all the rage, and Felix Wong and Barbara Yung suddenly appeared in reality outside the camera, it would surely have attracted a large number of people.
Fortunately, she was wearing a shrine maiden's costume and receiving pilgrims as a clergyman, so she didn't need to sign autographs or take photos like a celebrity. Otherwise, she suspected that even if she were Gaia, she would probably be too tired to hold on.
During these few days, Ling also went through a "blessing ceremony" for the amulet. It was not difficult, a shrine maiden dance, and then the priest chanted a scripture to the accompaniment of the Kagura flute.
Ling followed suit, but she wasn't sure how effective such a ritual would be. Unlike the previous exorcism, Gaia didn't respond, and she didn't pray for a response.
The ceremony is just a ceremony. These amulets sold at the New Year's Festival are probably just ordinary amulets.
Time flies, and New Year's Day, which is the New Year, is here.
This was the first time she considered New Year's Day as New Year's Day, but it didn't really matter. The main thing was the atmosphere. As long as everyone thought that day was New Year's Day, it was New Year's Day.
Because Kuze Saizu reminded her in advance, although Ling did not go to bed until after the New Year's bell ringing ceremony at 12 o'clock on New Year's Eve, she also got up early on New Year's Day.
I slept for less than five hours and felt a little groggy, but after washing my face with the cold water from the shrine's purifying pond, I was immediately awake.
The main entrance of Izumo Taisha Shrine was crowded with people, and there were even many police officers maintaining order. Beyond the shrine stone monument at the main entrance was the black Torii Gate. It was more than 20 meters high, and even if Ultraman stood there, it would be waist-high.
There are four torii gates in the entire shrine. Starting from the second torii gate at the entrance of the shrine, pilgrims calm down and begin to worship, walking across the Taiko Bridge, entering the third torii gate of the ancient pine shrine, and walking all the way to the front of the shrine, a full kilometer.
It was still dark, and the sky had not yet brightened, but the approach to the temple was brightly lit.
The pilgrims have lined up in a long queue for amulets, painted horses, and fortune sticks. The trainee shrine maidens and priests are almost too busy to handle the work.
"Do you need my help?" Ling also took the initiative to ask.
"You have more important things to do."
Kuze came over wearing a miko costume and the Chihaya belonging to Saizu.
"Something more important?"
"Come on, Sunday priestess. The ceremony has begun. By the way, how is your archery?"
"Archery?"
"It's just archery. Can you hit the target from ten steps away?"
Ling also nodded.
She wasn't sure if she could do it, but Gaia definitely could.
The demon-breaking bow that belonged to the sun priestess and once exorcised evil spirits was brought out.
The special ceremony attracted the attention of the pilgrims. Even the elderly who had lived in the nearby villages for generations and came to participate in the Hatsumode every year had never seen such a scene.
Because this is a ceremony to remove evil spirits. It has not been held for a hundred years since the last Sunday priestess was removed from the list of gods. Only the Sunday priestess who can remove evil spirits can preside over the ceremony.
The arrow on the Demon-Breaking Bow was greased at the tip. Jiuze took a piece of sacred wood and lit it.
Shenmu literally means sacred tree. The laurel tree in the forbidden area behind the mountain has been worshipped for thousands of years. Okuninushi, or 'Moon Man', and the white rabbit in the Moon Palace are said to be the eternal laurel they planted.
She cut off a branch of the ancient sacred tree and lit a pure fire. After lighting the arrow with the pure fire, Kuze withdrew, even as the host, she withdrew from the altar, because this was a ritual for the Sunday priestess.
The bow is fully drawn, and in front of it is a sacrificial fire covered with pine branches.
The thousand-year-old ritual of destroying demons has eliminated the evil spirits that have accumulated on this land for many years. Hatred, cause and effect, and the entangled karma have accumulated to pollute the land and taint people's hearts.
I don't know if it was an illusion, but Ling did feel the pent-up aura. Perhaps it came from the legendary netherworld, or maybe it just came from the human heart.
For thousands of years, successive Sun Priestess held the Demon-Destroying Bow and shot Demon-Destroying Arrows at the evil spirits with the faith of mankind.
So, this time, she did not pray to Gaia.
As Oshima Reiya, she shot an arrow that ignited pure fire towards the sacrificial fire in front of her, while also shooting towards the unknown.
The demon-destroying arrows tore through the air, and the sacrificial fire burned fiercely in an instant.
"Did you put gasoline in the pine wood pile?" Lord Boli, who came to watch the ceremony, asked Jiuze in a low voice. The flame that suddenly ignited was too exaggerated.
"No, it's just an ordinary pine branch."
"what?"
How can pine branches burn like this?
"So, this is the demon-destroying Sun Priestess."
It’s a pity that his own god doesn’t believe in God, so he couldn’t see the dazzling scenery in Jiuze’s eyes at the moment Lingye shot the arrow.
At this moment, the light from the sky shone onto the earth.
Its daybreak.
Chapter 195 Guanghan
The wish of all living beings, the wish of all people
At the moment of New Year's sunrise, people's prayers reach their peak.
Pray, bless, repent, believe. Ling also realized that it was not herself who shot the arrow that destroyed the devil, but all living beings.
Presumably, the same was true for the Sunday priestesses of the past.
Therefore, the arrow does not have the light of Gaia, but the light of human beings. In Buddhist terms, it is probably the 'Alaya'.
Alaya consciousness can contain the good and evil of all dharmas, so it is both good and evil, neither good nor evil. It is pure true consciousness and polluted false consciousness.
Be it good or evil, since this land belongs to human beings, anything that is harmful to human beings is evil.
Ling didn't know whether this was right or not, but the sunrise glow had dispelled all the darkness.
Everything is bright.
When people's wishes were at their peak, Ling suddenly felt something strange. Secret realm?
Are there any secret places left over from this world here?
It is created by the human heart and faith, between reality and illusion. It also disappears with the collapse of faith.
But at least at this moment, here, thousands of people believed in the gods. Perhaps only on this day, only at this moment, when the original visit was over and they left the shrine, they would become atheists again.
Human faith is inherently fragile and cheap.
But the faith at this moment communicates with the mysterious place that exists here.
"Master Kuze, is my work finished?" Lingye asked after putting down his bow and arrow.
"Well, you can rest for half an hour. There will be a festival afterwards."
The sacrificial fire was lit with human hearts as the furnace, and then there was the ceremony of praying to the gods in heaven. However, in Kuze's view, the following ceremony was really just a ceremony, because no one knew better than her that the eight million gods were no longer there.
Including Amaterasu, the supreme deity of Takama-ga-hara, and Okuninushi, the nominal master of Izumo Taisha Shrine.
"Can I go to the forbidden area?"
Ling could also feel that the location of the secret realm was the forbidden area.
"Of course you can. For the Sunday shrine maidens, there is no forbidden area in Izumo Taisha."
The reason why people are not allowed to enter the forbidden area is that it is said that it is the land of gods and mortals cannot disturb the gods. However, the host is a shrine maiden who serves the gods, so Kuze herself is not among the forbidden areas. And the shrine maiden of the sun is the agent of the gods to eliminate the filth in the world. She carries out the will of the gods in human form.
With Hisayoshi's consent, Ling walked towards the back mountain step by step. Compared with the noisy and bustling shrine in front of the mountain, the back mountain was simply another world.
Just as Lingye expected, she found the entrance to the secret place in front of the huge sacred tree in the deep pool of the back mountain.
Izumo Taisha Shrine embodies thousands of years of faith.
According to legend, this is the palace of the gods. During the entire Kanman month of October, eight million gods will come from all over the place to Izumo to hold a gathering of gods here to discuss matters of the world.
Therefore, Ling thought that she would see a palace that might be dilapidated or collapsed in the secret realm. Then there was the divine palace that was beyond human imagination, where the gods once stayed, and it was overgrown with weeds because no one took care of it.
But when she stepped into the secret realm, Ling once thought she had come to the wrong place.
Desolation, not a wilderness without people to take care of it, but a desolation without life. She found herself standing on a land with no life.
No, it's not land. There is no soil on the ground that symbolizes life. It's all bare rocks that can't support any plants.
The ground is full of potholes.
What surprised Lingye even more was that she saw the palace.
It did not collapse as expected. The exquisite and magnificent ancient buildings with layers upon layers and flying eaves and corridors are like a heavenly palace.