Chapter 152: Shrine

The myths of this world were generally known to Wu Ming as well.

Within the entire Fusang pantheon, the highest deities were the Pillar Gods of Heaven, Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto!

These two were the father and mother gods of all Fusang deities, and the creators of the entire world. Legends even spoke of them having no concrete forms, representing the forces of heaven and earth, creation and destruction, life and death.

In truth, these were the ancient gods, possessing the authority and status of the world, thus requiring no worship.

This resulted in the entire Fusang continent having numerous shrines and grand shrines, all paying homage from afar, yet none specifically dedicated to worshipping these two deities.

After the two Pillar Gods came the Three Noble Deities.

These Three Noble Deities were Amaterasu Omikami, Susano-o, and Tsukuyomi no Mikoto. They were the three most direct offspring of Izanagi and Izanami, born to rule over the entire Fusang continent.

Here, the highest level of shrines, known as “Jingu” (Grand Shrines), were specifically dedicated to worshipping these three deities.

There were even legends that every daimyo and noble family possessed the bloodline of these three noble deities, thus giving them the “right” to rule over a city or country, and even to be deified and worshipped after death!

“The bloodline of gods ruling the continent, the union of divine authority and kingship, huh?”

Wu Ming sneered faintly and walked a few more steps forward, spotting a grove of cherry blossom trees.

Snow-white cherry blossoms drifted slowly in the wind, exuding a quiet and desolate samurai beauty. Amidst the fallen petals, a shrine building came into view.

“The shrines of the Fusang continent can generally be divided into five levels: Jingu, Kuu, Taisha, Jinja, and Sha… With the Yamada clan’s strength, thinking about Jingu or Kuu is out of the question. Even a Taisha might be a stretch; at best, they can only have a Jinja…”

Walking along the cherry blossom path, Wu Ming thought to himself with a bit of sarcasm.

The Jingu were exclusively dedicated to worshipping the Three Noble Deities, something ordinary daimyos could only dream of.

Even the second level, Kuu, housed only great deities, with titles at minimum bearing prefixes like “Dai Gongs” or “Dai Gonen.”

Even the third level, Taisha, were reserved for rulers of entire provinces, such as the Iyu clan of Izumo Province, powerful daimyos with tens of thousands of koku in revenue, who had the privilege of establishing them.

As for the Yamada clan, they could barely establish a family shrine, enshrining only regular deities.

Overall, this was still slightly better than the lowest level, the “Sha,” which were scattered throughout the villages, dedicated to minor deities, mountain gods, or even ghosts, spirits, or malevolent beings.

For instance, the Black Bear Wind Demon, who unfortunately met his demise at Wu Ming’s hands, was actually enshrined and worshipped by villagers in a shrine of this most basic tier.

“Twenty mu of cherry blossom grove? As a ‘sacred forest,’ it’s not bad for a shrine!”

Looking at the lush greenery around him, Wu Ming commented indifferently.

Almost every shrine had a surrounding “sacred forest,” which symbolized the shrine’s strength and served as the dwelling place for other spirits and creatures serving the deity, making it extremely important.

At the level of Jingu or Kuu, these sacred forests could even span hundreds of mu, forming entire woodlands.

Of course, the lowest level, “Sha,” was rather pitiful, perhaps having only a few cherry blossom trees to give the appearance of a shrine.

At the end of the cherry blossom path, Wu Ming saw the torii gate of the shrine.

This structure, made of two pillars and two crossbeams, marked the entrance to the shrine. Painted bright red, it represented a boundary.

According to Fusang Shinto beliefs, once one entered this gate, they had entered the divine realm, no longer part of the human world.

“A barrier?”

As Wu Ming passed through the torii, he immediately sensed a barrier’s power, along with an external divine force forming a field similar to the divine domains of deities in the Central Plains.

“However, compared to divine domains or sacred lands, this force is much weaker… It can accommodate spirits and even living people. This is what they call ‘coexistence of humans and deities,’ right?”

After walking along the approach path and purifying his hands at the hand-washing pavilion, Wu Ming arrived at the main hall of the shrine.

“The deity enshrined here… outwardly claimed to be some god or another, but in reality, it’s just the ancestral spirit of the Yamada clan!”

Opening his heavenly eye, Wu Ming immediately saw the deity within the divine realm, clad in full samurai armor, its body radiating a golden-red hue. Wisps of fortune intertwined with incense offerings, subtly supporting the Yamada clan’s fate.

“External fortune is golden-red, nothing impressive, but internal fortune is crimson, a third-tier Shinto deity?”

This was the Yamada clan’s last trump card and secret weapon. Unfortunately, before Wu Ming, nothing could be hidden, and a mocking smile appeared on his lips.

Divine beings like this had too many restrictions, especially when dealing with such deities; destroying their incense offerings was the best method.

Even without doing that, there were plenty of techniques for Taoist priests to destroy temples and break shrines.

This deity was already a yin spirit, repelled by the forces of the human world, and thus its power was greatly diminished, making it easy for Wu Ming to eliminate.

“Just… “

Wu Ming raised his head, his eyes narrowing slightly.

At this moment, he could see the fortune above the shrine, besides supporting the Yamada clan, a portion of it soared into the sky, subtly connected to a grand existence.

“Curse Art—Trace!”

A string of divine incantations was silently recited by Wu Ming, his gaze following this thread of connection, piercing through the sky.

His vision reached a sacred land, upon which a circle of green light, vast as clouds, displayed its might.

At the center of this sacred land was a green-clad deity. As if sensing something, a massive pressure, accompanied by boundless divine power, surged forth.

Peng!

Wu Ming deliberately severed the connection, stepping back several paces. A thoughtful expression appeared on his face: “The Three Noble Deities?”

“Although Fusang has many shrines, they are all intricately connected, ultimately leading back to the Three Noble Deities… Heh! A ruler of a city or country is acceptable, but if not chosen and blessed by the Three Noble Deities, one cannot unify Fusang and attain the status of ‘ruler of all under heaven’!”

“With my current martial family fortune, or rather, the blessings and potential of the Oniichi clan, becoming a daimyo of a province might be my limit… Going further, I would inevitably draw the attention of the Three Noble Deities, making it impossible to conceal my true nature!”

He understood in his heart that the side quest of the main temple, to unify Fusang and become the ruler of all under heaven, was probably quite treacherous.

Currently, he had hidden himself under the guise of “Oniichi Hōgan,” or rather his Fusang identity, evading many divinations and the gazes of deities.

However, if he continued to advance, one day this family name would no longer be able to conceal him, leading to unpredictable fortune or misfortune.

“Of course… it’s not entirely without opportunity!”

Wu Ming touched his chin, his eyes gleaming: “Even the Three Noble Deities cannot be completely united; there must be differences in status and struggles for fortune… If that weren’t the case, the deity just now should have directly revealed all three great deities at once, so why only one?”

“The discord among the Three Noble Deities… this is the root of Fusang’s fragmented fortune and its gradual erosion! They place their pawns on the mortal world to vie for the favor of human rulers, and within this struggle, there lies my opportunity!”

Wu Ming’s thoughts raced.

“This samurai lord…”

At this moment, a miko approached from the side, accompanied by a shrine priest.

After all, a visitor who entered the shrine without praying and only kept looking around was indeed strange.

“Quite beautiful indeed!”

Wu Ming glanced at the miko’s slender waist, her youthful and vibrant face, and the priest behind her wearing a white upper garment, red lower garment, and wooden clogs, his eyes flashing with coldness.

“I’d really like to see the beauty of cherry blossoms falling and red lotuses blooming here… Unfortunately, it’s not the right time yet!”

With this thought, he immediately turned around and quickly left.

“What a strange person!”

The miko couldn’t catch up and, watching Wu Ming’s retreating figure, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.

But upon returning, seeing the priest’s pale face, she couldn’t help but be alarmed: “Lord… Are you alright?”

“That man… was very dangerous!”

The priest leaned against the wall and sat down, sweat beading on his forehead: “Just now… I seemed to see… the hellish Asura!”

…

“Kill!”

On a small plain, two forces of several hundred soldiers, bearing the banners of the Kurosawa and Sanada clans, clashed fiercely.

“We must show our lord our strength! Kill!”

In the Kurosawa clan’s ranks, Matsushita Shota wore heavy armor, the flag behind him bearing the family crest of the Oniichi clan—a simple yet fierce blue demon’s head!

Not only him, but Ken’ichi and Ken’go, and a few others, all wore the heaviest armor, almost a hundred pounds, each looking like a fierce fortress.

In Wu Ming’s past life, the heaviest armor in the age of cold weapons was the Song Dynasty’s infantry armor, which weighed about sixty pounds and was considered the best in the world.

Of course, in this world of gods and demons, such standards didn’t apply. Shota and the others had demonic power within them, so this weight was nothing, though they still looked quite terrifying.

“Hah!”

The other six samurai and thirty ashigaru warriors roared and charged forward like arrows.

Bang!

The two waves of soldiers collided fiercely, blades flashing. Seven samurai swung their heavy katanas, instantly slicing their enemies in half in an instant!

Puh!

Blood splattered, entrails scattered, immediately causing the enemy ashigaru to cry out in fear.

“Haha… Follow me!”

Matsushita Shota felt the hellish scene around him was so familiar and intimate. He charged forward fiercely, cutting down his enemies without a single opponent able to withstand a single blow, his armor soon drenched in blood.

“Peng!”

Not knowing how long he had been killing, after he beheaded a foot soldier who looked only sixteen or seventeen, a puff of purple smoke exploded, and from it, a shadow flashed, several shuriken and kunai flew out, piercing the gaps in his armor with deadly precision.

“Ahh!”

Shota threw back his head and roared, pulling the kunai from his face. The muscles around the wound actually writhed and quickly healed.

“Ninja! I’ll kill you!”

Another flash of the blade, he held his sword with both hands, and fiercely chopped down at the corpse beside him.

Blood flew, revealing a lower ninja, his eyes filled with disbelief: “Impossible… How did you detect my invisibility?”

“Noisy!”

Shota swung his blade again, cutting off the lower ninja’s head, suddenly feeling a surge of hunger within him, he struck several more times, blood splattering everywhere…

“Ogre! An ogre!”

The sight completely shattered the morale of the Sanada army, their spirits plummeting to the lowest point.