Chapter 51: Activating the Altar
This was the Sacred Mountain.
A long flight of stone steps wound upward through the darkness, and on either side, rows of earthen yellow torches burned with a wavering glow. Their fire stretched all the way to the old torii at the summit, a structure of weathered wood and stone that marked the entrance to the place the Tsuchimikado Clan had guarded for generations.
Beyond the torii stood the altar.
It was enormous, shaped like a pagoda with three broad tiers rising one above the other. Each level was roughly half the size of the one beneath it, yet even the highest platform remained spacious. Every angle, every proportion, every orientation had been laid out according to strict ritual design. Even after a thousand years of wind and rain, the structure still carried a solemn pressure that made one instinctively lower their voice.
Gin Tsumugi stood atop that ancient altar and quietly recalled the sequence for performing the [Taizan Fukun Ritual].
"The altar. The talismans. The prayers."
His gaze swept across the age worn stone beneath his feet.
"The foundation lies in the talismans that open and sustain the altar. That is the real reason Suzuka needed me."
Only old style talismans could awaken this thousand year old altar and make it answer the ritual.
He had heard that the Onmyo Academy also possessed an altar capable of hosting the [Taizan Fukun Ritual], but that one was merely a replica built in the era of Tsuchimikado Yakou. It could be activated with Imperial style talismans, yes, but using it would have been the same as walking straight into a snare.
The Onmyo Agency headquarters was too close.
The Onmyo Academy itself was no harmless place either. Otomo Jin alone was not easy to deal with, let alone the other forces hidden inside that institution.
Compared to that, the original altar of the Tsuchimikado Clan was dangerous in another way, but it was still the better choice.
Gin exhaled once and drew a handful of talismans from his robes.
"Let's begin."
He held several slips of paper between his fingers and began to chant, his voice low and steady.
"Homage to the universal Vajras, to the Dragon Kings, to the essence of water. Homage. Firm, firm. Vajra, Vajra. Fix and bind. Terror. Destroy."
The talismans brightened with a faint glow.
The moment they left his hand, they cut through the air with a hint of metallic chill and watery weight, then struck the corresponding metal water position on the left side of the third tier.
The entire altar trembled.
It was only the slightest movement, yet it felt unmistakably alive, as though something that had slumbered for a millennium had just opened one eye.
Gin did not pause.
He drew out another set of talismans and continued.
"Purify defilement. Rebirth in the Pure Land. Vajra. Purity. As all Vajras are pure, so too is all made pure. Sangha. Cleanse the body. Raise the barrier. Yin and Yang. Break obstruction. Purity. Illusion. Auspiciousness."
Another cluster of talismans flew out.
Then more.
He did not stop there.
"Homage to the universal Vajras. Violent evil demonic obstacles…"
One talisman after another struck the altar and fixed itself into place.
Each time one landed, the ancient structure shuddered.
One tremor layered over the next. Then the next. Then the next.
The vibrations gradually grew stronger, until the whole Sacred Mountain seemed to be waking with the altar.
After more than forty talismans had been laid down, even the mountain beneath them began to quiver. The trees rustled in waves. Hidden birds burst from the woods in alarm. Small beasts fled through the underbrush as though some great predator had opened its eyes in the dark.
The more power the altar accepted, the heavier the pressure became.
Gin's breathing grew rougher.
The amount of spiritual power being consumed was staggering.
When he had destroyed the Wedding Dress Tree, he had only used a single [Demon Purifying Talisman] as the decisive move. This time, the very setup required more than forty talismans, and at least half of them were on the same level as that killing blow.
That alone was enough to show what kind of ritual the [Taizan Fukun Ritual] truly was.
No wonder it had always been classified as a forbidden art capable of meddling with the boundary between life and death.
At last, Gin reached for the final talisman.
"The last one."
He raised a hand and wiped the sweat from his brow.
This was his first time driving so many talismans at once, and the strain was already beginning to show. Even with his current foundation, forcing the altar open in one go was no easy matter.
Still, he had no intention of stopping.
He released the final talisman.
It flew to the heart of the altar and attached itself dead center.
The reaction was immediate.
Boom.
The entire structure lurched, far more violently than before.
Ancient lines began to emerge across the surface of the stone, one after another, like veins of light spreading through a corpse that had suddenly drawn breath. Complex patterns lit up across all three levels, overlapping and linking together into something vast, old, and difficult to comprehend.
A strange fluctuation pulsed outward from the altar.
It rolled across the Sacred Mountain like an invisible tide.
Not far from the mountain, Tsuchimikado Hirotaka, Tsuchimikado Chizuru, Tsuchimikado Natsume, and the others all felt it at once.
"They've opened the altar on the Sacred Mountain."
Hirotaka's face changed sharply as he turned toward the source of the disturbance.
Natsume was just as shocked.
"Uncle Hirotaka, those fluctuations are coming from the ritual altar. Does that mean Mr. Gin and the others have already begun the [Taizan Fukun Ritual]?"
"Not yet. That is only the preliminary opening of the altar," Hirotaka said, but his expression remained heavy. "Still, if they've reached this point, then the ritual itself cannot be far behind."
His gaze hardened.
"And that alone is already astonishing."
Natsume and Chizuru both looked at him.
"Tsuchimikado Yakou only dared perform the rite on a replica altar," Hirotaka continued. "He never used the original. Opening this one directly is far more difficult."
Chizuru frowned.
"More difficult than constructing a new one?"
"Yes." Hirotaka nodded. "This altar requires a tremendous number of ancient talismans to activate. Over the last thousand years, nearly half of the related methods have been lost. In many cases, building a substitute is actually easier than awakening the original."
That answer made both women's hearts sink a little further.
To force open the original altar under those conditions…
That was not something one could accomplish through talent alone. It required frightening mastery of ancient Onmyodo.
"White Fox Gin Tsumugi…" Hirotaka murmured. "A rare prodigy of Onmyodo indeed. He truly lives up to the name."
He had already thought highly of the young man.
Now he realized he had still underestimated him.
This could not be dismissed with some simple explanation like "specializing in ancient style arts."
No. This was something far beyond that.
Hirotaka drew a slow breath, then made a decision.
"We move at once."
His voice turned cold and decisive.
"If they truly succeed in performing the [Taizan Fukun Festival], the consequences will be too unpredictable."
"Yes. Hokuto!"
Natsume responded immediately.
The dragon shikigami appeared once more, fully restored from the injury it had suffered earlier. Its long body arced through the night sky, scales reflecting torchlight and starlight alike.
Without wasting another moment, Hirotaka, Chizuru, and Natsume mounted Hokuto and sped toward the Sacred Mountain.
As for the remaining Tsuchimikado Onmyoji, they were left behind to calm the residents of Mitsuwa Town and restore order. In the battle to come, numbers alone would not help. If anything, too many people would only create more opportunities for disaster.
.....
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