Late at night, the rain in Tokyo was still falling.
"Kenmei, thanks for your hard work today."
"Not at all. You worked harder, Yomi-nee."
Holding a black umbrella, Kenmei Isayama waved goodbye to the departing black Audi A8. He waited until the taillights disappeared before walking into his house.
"Goodnight, Yomi-nee."
Since she had successfully executed the Curse User on the kill list and ended the mission, Yomi still had to return to the Jujutsu Association to debrief.
"Damn Jujutsu Association."
Kenmei cursed under his breath.
Once the door closed, completely isolating him from the outside world, he breathed a sigh of relief. But he wasn't done yet.
Yomi-nee's surprise visit earlier served as a reminder: before relaxing completely, he needed to inspect the house.
The seal in the basement was fine; his sister was healthy. There was no one else on the three floors above except Kenmei. After exorcising four low-level Cursed Spirits that had accidentally wandered in:
"Okay, done."
Fatigue washed over Kenmei like a tidal wave. He rubbed his sore shoulders, went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, took out the iced barley tea, and chugged a large gulp.
"That hits the spot."
"Now, let's see what this special item is."
Because Yomi-nee and other Association staff were around earlier, it wasn't convenient to check. Now that he was alone, he had no reservations.
"I didn't expect to get equipment in this world too, and a type I've never seen before."
Sighing with emotion, Kenmei opened his system inventory and clicked Extract.
Soon, a dirty, bloodstained Teru Teru Bozu appeared in his hand out of thin air. It wasn't big, fitting perfectly in one hand, but it felt cold to the touch and indescribably eerie.
On its dirty head were two black eyes filled with deep resentment, and its bright red mouth was grinned wide open. Kenmei felt like this Teru Teru Bozu might come alive at any moment.
But no matter how creepy it was, it had been notarized by the system, so it couldn't cause Kenmei any harm. That was why he felt safe handling it.
However, when he checked the item's attributes, Kenmei's eyes immediately widened.
"What is this?"
[???] (Insufficient info, cannot view)
Origin: Temple of All Living Things
Quality: Unknown
Type: Key-Type Teleportation Item
Effect: Using this key as a medium allows entry into the Temple of All Living Things. (Note: The Temple of All Living Things is a High-Risk Area of LV.??. Extreme Danger.)
Tip 1: Can be entered a maximum of three times daily. You will descend as a thought-form. Death within the [Temple of All Living Things] domain will not affect your physical body.
Tip 2: Killing units within the Temple yields a massive amount of Points.
Tip 3: ??? (Missing)
Tip 4: ??? (Missing)
Description: An ancient temple of a thousand years, its flourishing incense and worshipers all burned to ash. Monks who died tragic deaths, separated from their heads, have fallen into terrifying wraiths. Their resentment remains as burning hot as the day they died, even a thousand years later. The once-pure place of Buddhist cultivation has become a terrifying demonic realm.
"Why, until the moment we died, did Buddha not hear our prayers?"
These densely packed bloody words were messy and twisted, each character seemingly saturated with boundless resentment and fear of death.
This time, the system thoughtfully shoved a vision directly into Kenmei's mind.
He saw a ghostly temple in the pouring rain. Many objects—heads wrapped in cloth and stained red with blood—were hung high under the temple eaves, swaying in the wind.
"Temple of All Living Things?"
Kenmei subconsciously read the words on the memorial archway in front of the temple. Instantly, he felt his hands and feet go cold. The lights in the living room began to flicker, and his ears were filled with countless miserable wails and the spine-tingling sound of flesh being chopped, sounding right next to him.
[WARNING!!!]
[Warning: Detected "???" attempting to locate Host. Locking on...]
Several warning signs appeared on the system panel before Kenmei's eyes.
[Lock-on complete.]
[Executing forced purge on "???".]
[Purge complete.]
"Damn it, something dirty."
Even seeing that the system had automatically reacted and blocked the intrusion, Kenmei still covered his entire body with psychic power. Only then did the suffocating feeling of being "watched" by an unknown horror disappear.
Panting heavily and still shaken, Kenmei glanced at the eerie Teru Teru Bozu in his hand. The thing was still grinning at him.
Holding the Teru Teru Bozu, even with the system's notarization, Kenmei felt like he was holding a hot potato.
This [Temple of All Living Things] was so evil that even mentioning it was taboo?
Just now, something terrifying clearly tried to use Kenmei's position as a coordinate to invade reality, but the system intercepted it.
And those warning words were a first for Kenmei.
[Note: The Temple of All Living Things is a High-Risk Area of LV.??. Extreme Danger.]
These words were a shocking crimson, looking as if written in blood so wet it felt like it was about to drip off the screen. It offered zero sense of security.
But Tip 2: Just reading the description made Kenmei reluctant to let it go.
Killing units within the Temple yields a massive amount of Points.
From his recent operations, he had earned a total of:
32,000 + 8,900 + 1,300 + 3,000 (Low-level Spirits total) + 24,000 (First D-Rank Simulation settlement) = 69,200 Points.
This was Kenmei's entire fortune.
He was still short about 30,800 Points for the 100,000 needed for the second D-Rank simulation.
That meant roughly three more Grade 1 Cursed Spirits, and Kenmei could start his second simulation. As for the despair-inducing 1,000,000 Points for a C-Rank simulation? Forget about it for now; it wasn't something he could consider.
Should I try it?
With the system's safety net, nothing bad should happen. Just now, he thought he was done for, but he turned out fine.
Kenmei wasn't one to hesitate once he decided.
Looking at the prompt that popped up:
[Do you wish to enter the "Temple of All Living Things" plane?]
He pressed [Yes] directly.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Kenmei suddenly felt the grin on the "Teru Teru Bozu" in his hand widen, as if mocking him for biting off more than he could chew.
A roar filled his ears, and his vision went black. When Kenmei opened his eyes again, he found himself in an interdimensional space isolated from the world.
The first sensation was cold—extremely wet and cold. It was raining heavily, and the accumulated water on the ground had already submerged his ankles.
Kenmei was standing in a pitch-black forest. On a distant mountain, he could vaguely see a magnificent temple shrouded in ghostly aura. That was the Temple of All Living Things.
[Warning: You have entered the High-Risk Area "Temple of All Living Things" Outskirts!]
[Warning: You have entered the High-Risk Area "Temple of All Living Things" Outskirts!]
[Warning: You have entered the High-Risk Area "Temple of All Living Things" Outskirts!]
Three warnings appeared in succession. The prompts were a terrifying crimson, seemingly outlined in fresh blood, giving an ominous feeling.
Kenmei suddenly whipped his head around. Behind him came the sound of something wading through the water.