A long long time ago, there was a temple. Its name was Reimei, and it was inherited from the Chan sect in the country across the sea.
Similar to some of the temples in Japan, Reimei Temple was owned and managed by a family. The surname, Baishi, was passed down from a Chinese monk during the Nara era.
In the Showa era, Reimei Temple had already become the leading temple in Tokyo. Along with the newly built but very successful Meiji Shrine, each of them occupied half of Yoyogi Park.
That time was the most glorious heydays of Reimei Temple. It had the most number of holy monks and it was the strongest amongst other temples. Then, the old abbot, or otherwise known as Baishi Zhe, was born.
As the youngest son of the abbot, he was everybody’s sweetheart. He had three elder brothers, all of which followed their father’s footsteps and became the servants of Buddha.
The eldest brother’s Dharma name was Tong Tian. He could communicate with celestial beings, and his spiritual power bore comparison to that of those elder monks in the temple even though he was just in his mid-twenties.
The second brother’s Dharma name was Tong Ling. Born with astral vision, he had the ability to see spirits. He was only twenty, yet he had already displayed promising talent in exorcism.
The third brother’s Dharma name was Tong Chan. He was born with a clear mind, and he showed extraordinary aptitude in deciphering Buddhist scriptures. At a young age, he had already read through countless scriptures and created multiple Buddhist skills.
As for the youngest of the brothers, Baishi Zhe, everyone had high expectations of him. The silver lining was that he did not disappoint everyone’s expectations as he was a prodigy.
At four years old, he showed a potential that far surpassed his three brothers. Then, at eight, he finished the middle school syllables all by himself and began learning Buddhist scriptures.
If this went on, it was foreseeable that his achievements would be even greater than his three brothers in the future. However, that incident happened. Calamity befell his family, and everything was destroyed overnight.
Due to an unknown reason, his second brother succumbed to the demon in his heart and became a yokai.
He murdered his own father, Master Puzi, the abbot of Reimei Temple. He took his soul and crafted the first soul orb. After that, he gave the soul orb to the third brother, who had been consumed by rage and hatred.
Then, two strongest yokai were born.
As they continued to fight, they murdered everything in their path, leaving only dead bodies and wreckage in their wake. The entire Tokyo burned. Even Reimei Temple could not escape the fate and was razed to the ground.
Baishi Zhe survived the catastrophe, thanks to his eldest brother. After entrusting him to the Shinto priests of the Meiji Shrine, his eldest brother went to face his two brothers alone, but he never returned.
A dozen years had passed since then. The once glorious Reimei Temple was gone. Only a small living quarters, a small temple, and an old abbot remained. As those people from back then passed away one after another, they brought the tragedy along with them into the ground, never to be told again.
In the revived Reimei Temple, the old abbot sat in front of the Buddha statue and told the young monk in front stories.
“Abbot, is your second brother… my second uncle, still alive?” Baishi Shū asked. He did not ask about his third uncle. After all, since the soul orb containing the old abbot father’s soul was here, it went without saying that he had already been liberated from his suffering.
As for his second uncle… If the soul orb appeared again, then this time, it would be his turn to put an end to the story. The only surviving brother out of the four brothers was old, and the young monk that he adopted was going to go all out and exorcise the second brother who had become a yokai… Was there any more interesting story than this one?
“He’s dead,” the old abbot said matter-of-factly.
“He killed far too many people and caused too much suffering for the people in Tokyo, so there was no way he could run away from his judgment. I saw the two kami-sama from the Meiji Shrine subdue both him and Tong Chan with my own eyes. It’s also them who returned my father’s soul orb to me. To thank them for their help, I volunteered to give up the land rights of the other half of Yoyogi Park and give it to the Meiji Shrine. Besides, as the only survivor of Reimei Temple, it’s my responsibility to pay back all the damages caused by my second and third brother. To measure it in monetary terms, it should be about 100 billion yen. It is too much, and it took me a lifetime to earn that much money. However, looking on the bright side, at least, I’ve finally put an end to the incident that year. Now, it’s your turn.”
Baishi Shū looked at the old abbot in awe as the information he received was a little hard for him to process.
Did he die just like that? As the first yokai to create the soul orb, destroy Reimei Temple, and cause havoc across Tokyo, he died just like that?
However, on second thought, this kind of result was quite reasonable. Tong Ling and Tong Chan were, after all, still inexperienced as yokai. They had been two young monks when they were still human, so although their powers were as great as those great yokai, they were no match for the kami-sama. By the time the two kami-sama from the Meiji Shrine decided to help, their fates were already sealed.
At the same time, the question that had been bothering him since he came to this world was finally answered.
The reason why Reimei Temple would fall from its glorious spot and become like this was that firstly, the temple had been burned to the ground, and secondly, the old abbot was the only survivor. As a kid, no matter how smart he was, there was no way he could rebuild the entire temple all by his own, not to mention that he had already given the land rights to the Meiji Shrine and had 100 billion yen of debt on his back.
He could only work extra hard to enrich himself and pay back the debt while concurrently using his free time to rebuild the temple bit by bit. In the end, although he had successfully paid back all the debt, he was already old. He no longer had the ability or strength or the mind to restore the glory of Reimei Temple, so he could only put his hopes on Baishi Shu.
For a moment, Baishi Shū felt as if there was a heavy load on his shoulders. Compared to the old abbot, he felt so useless. Other than exorcising evil spirits, he knew nothing.
One hundred billion yen. He had only made 50 million yen so far. If he was the one to bear the debt, he was certain that he would not be able to repay it for his whole life.
Then, he suddenly realized something.
“Abbot, since my second uncle is dead, then where did the soul orb I saw come from?” Baishi Shū asked.
“I don’t know,” the old abbot replied, “I was just a kid that year. How was I supposed to know about all of that?”
‘I thought you were a prodigy…’ he chided inwardly before shooting the second question to the old abbot, “Then, why did my second uncle become a yokai? To become a yokai, one must have gone through a series of despair and disappointment. Did anything happen to him before his transformation? Also, did he show any particularly weird action in his daily life?”
“I don’t know,” the old abbot replied, “I was just a kid that year. How was I supposed to know about all of that?
‘Well, it seems like I have thought too much…’
The old abbot was just a kid that year, not to mention a prodigy…
What was a prodigy? A prodigy was a kid who had high hopes placed upon him and supposed to study from day to night. No prodigy could escape from this fate. Perhaps the old abbot was the most confused one when that incident happened.
Maybe when that tragedy happened, he was still studying in his room. Then, he was dragged by his eldest brother to the Meiji Shrine, and before he could understand anything, Reimei Temple was destroyed.
The reason the old abbot told him the thing that happened that year was that he wanted to shed some light on the person who created the soul orb and how it affected Reimei Temple and also Tokyo. Also, he wanted him to understand that it was the sin of Reimei Temple and his responsibility as the next abbot of Reimei Temple. At the same time, he also wanted to answer the question he had been asking for years.
However, rather than clearing Baishi Shu’s doubts, it created more questions in his mind.
Nevertheless, Baishi Shū decided to leave the matter to later. It was time for studying. He understood that some problems were not meant to be solved instantly. Thus, rather than wasting his time mulling over something like this, it was better for him to put his energy into perfecting his body cultivation method.
Besides that, he wanted to study the principle and the composition of the soul orb. He wanted to find out why a human would turn into a yokai, and whether or not such a transformation was reversible.
Slow and steady won the race. He was certain that if he did everything at his own pace, he would eventually be able to find out the answer.