The mountain road is paved with blue mudstone, and the woods on both sides of the road are lush and dark green. It looks a bit dark, but only to a certain extent.
"Master, what's wrong?"
The white Yukina looks a little strange.
"Did you say something just now?"
"Huh? Ah, no, it seems like I was just stunned for a moment...that's all. Did something happen?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka seemed to be clueless and scratched his nose blankly.
"Nothing, it's just that you looked like you wanted to say something..."
Zuo Cun turned around.
"What's wrong, Ms. Fujimaru?"
"Nothing, just keep walking."
Shaking his head, Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't pay attention to the strange feeling.
...
"How is it? Is there any change from the last time you came here?"
Several people stood together on the circular ridge. Takasugi Shinsaku put his hands in his pockets casually and asked Zuocun.
Zuo Cun did not answer immediately, but bowed his head and observed carefully.
"No...nothing has changed, it's the same as before."
"Then let's go down and have a look. If we get closer, we can know what's going on over there."
Shrugging, Takasugi Shinsaku jumped down first.
"This time... I'll go to the lake and have a look."
Xue Nai glanced at Mama Bear.
"Last time I just came into contact with the lake water in Kurokawa and felt the feeling in the water. I didn't enter the water to observe carefully. There may be some things I missed. This time I will go down and take a look."
"Xue Nai, is it okay?"
Mother Bear looked at her little daughter with some worry.
"No problem Mom."
Xuena transformed on the spot, turning from white to black in an instant, and the expression on her face didn't care at all.
"No matter what I say... I have lived in this lake for decades, so don't worry."
She deliberately avoided Zuo Cun's words and did not let Zuo Cun and Gaoshan hear her words.
When it was still entrenched in the Kurokawa Mountains as a great youkai, the Tengakurei spent long periods of time in the lake, while the mother bear ran around the Kurokawa Mountains at will.
Bears are just monsters, while ghosts hidden in the sky are monsters.
The Hidden Ghost was the real nightmare of Kurokawa, and Xiong was more worried about his daughter.
"In short, be careful."
Fujimaru Ritsuka gave an instruction.
"Don't worry, Master, little girl, I am very familiar with this place."
The black Yukina waved her hand, not paying attention to Fujimaru Ritsuka's reminder.
After sliding down the ridge, Samura and Takasugi went to investigate other things, leaving Fujimaru Ritsuka to take Yukina and her son back to the edge of the lake.
Xue Nai jumped directly into the lake without hesitation or pause, her hair floating and divided into several strands.
In just a moment, the black Xuena swam away and got into the huge, black lake.
Xue Nai can breathe freely in the water, open her eyes that can see everything clearly underwater, and swim quickly, looking for strange-looking things.
No no.......
That's none of it.
The scenery in front of her eyes was almost unchanged. The black Xuena spit out a string of bubbles and frowned.
This feeling... is really unfamiliar.
What was Lake Kurokawa like in the past?
Xuena has the most authoritative answer to this question.
That was the blue-black corpses covering the entire bottom of the lake.
This lake is called Kurokawa Lake for this reason.
As the Hidden Ghost, she dragged the person she killed to the bottom of the lake and made her own ghost, covering the entire bottom of the lake.
How many people are coming?
Can't remember clearly...
But in short, there are just a lot of them.
The water was so empty now, with only fish and shrimps roaming around, and she felt a little uncomfortable for a while.
"Miss Schnee, did you find anything?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka sat by the lake and called out to the water.
A tuft of hair rose up from the lake water, turned into the shape of a hand and shook it.
It seems like there isn't...
Fujimaru Ritsuka looked a little disappointed.
Isn't the problem in the lake?
While Fujimaru Ritsuka was thinking about what else was wrong, the black Yukina finally made a discovery.
Her pupils suddenly narrowed.
That, that is——
...
"I see, this is the hut you discovered before... Speaking of which, I haven't been to the top of the mountain very often. Is this hut originally here or did it appear suddenly recently?"
Takasugi Shinsaku looked at this somewhat dilapidated thatched hut and touched his chin.
"It is said that it existed before, but this lock seems to have only appeared recently."
This is the information Himiko told Zuocun.
This hut on the mountain seems to have always existed. I don’t know who left it, but it has always been in this place. It doesn’t look like anyone has lived in it. It has never been locked and the door has always been open.
Open, but recently... that is, after the village chief Oda Nobunaga disappeared, the door of this hut has been locked inexplicably.
It is unrealistic to say that there are no traces of the village chief.
"What should I do? Do I want to split it?"
Takasugi showed a questioning expression.
"Split."
Nodding, Zuo Cun did not hesitate this time, pulled out the pheasant feather from his waist, and cut off the lock that looked very hard and thick.
Zheng——
The sound of gold and iron clashing sounded, sparks flew, and the lock that locked the hut was split in two by Zuocun.
After untying the entangled iron chains and throwing them to the ground, Samura and Takasugi opened the door of the hut together.
And what was waiting for them in the hut was——
The interior of an empty hut with nothing in it.
There was a straw mat that looked tattered and covered with dust, as if no one had lived there for a long time. Apart from this straw mat, there was nothing else.
"...I guessed it would be like this, so who would be so boring as to add a thick and expensive-looking lock to such a dilapidated hut?" Takasugi twitched the corner of his mouth.
Jin Zuo looked somewhat speechless.
"...At least go in and see if there are any hidden secret passages or anything like that."
Zuo Cun also looked speechless, but for the time being he still retained the most basic sense of common sense.
Takasugi Shinsaku shrugged, saying he didn't care, and the two walked into the hut side by side.
...
"Master, Mom, I found out——"
Wow——
The black Xuena emerged from the water and shouted towards the shore.
However, when she emerged from the water, what she saw was not the clear sky before.
But the black sky and the burning sea of fire.
"......Why?"
She was stunned.
what happened?
Why...the scenery suddenly changed?
In a daze, she suddenly felt a cold and cold feeling coming from her back.
Turning around, he saw a vague shadow hidden in the black mist, which seemed to be looking at him.