Chapter 178
The martial artist couldn't believe his eyes.
How.
How!
How could a head!
A head had grown on the headless Ksitigarbha.
And it was a head that seemed to be made by clumping the darkness of the forest and haphazardly shaping shadows.
But it was a pitch-black head whose clear form could be seen with qi-enhanced eyes, with a face drawn by protruding ears and sunken contours.
"Th-this..."
The martial artist barely suppressed the fear-mixed groan escaping from his mouth.
He clenched his mouth shut and gritted his teeth as if they might break, and barely pretended to be calm by forcing strength into his trembling lips. But as if instinct couldn't be helped, his chin trembled, and with it, his teeth clattered as they hit each other.
Click.
Click click.
The martial artist desperately prayed that the sight before him was false, and recalling the god of the shrine he had been visiting since childhood, he prayed for the evil thing before him to be vanquished.
Please vanquish this evil thing. God, that evil spirit... Huh?
Evil spirit.
The two-character word that flashed by while trembling in fear.
When the thought occurred to him that the thing before his eyes might be an evil spirit, the martial artist felt the fear filling his body slowly disappear. Instead, he naturally performed the 'actions to take when encountering evil spirits and demons' taught by Shigen-ryu.
He drew up qi and sent it to his head and eyes, roughly wrapped qi around his whole body and emitted it as if radiating outwards. He emitted it without minding the rapid consumption of qi to prevent the evil spirit from approaching recklessly, and used a brief gap to circulate qi a few times to recover his mind.
And only after all this work was finished did he open his eyes.
The only difference from before was that instead of containing clear fear, there was a bit of courage settled in.
It was courage that came from the 'unknown anomaly' becoming a clear existence called an 'evil spirit'.
In Japan, the fear of unknown beings was often resolved by naming them. And along with the name, by describing their form, behavior, lore, and even methods of exorcism, they changed the fear of the unknown into fear of a clear target.
This was an act of changing 'fear that cannot be resisted' into 'fear that can be overcome'.
The unknown being knocking on the door at night became a one-eyed baby yokai wandering the night streets playing pranks.
The unknown being that mysteriously made the house's food disappear every day became a yokai pretending to be an uninvited guest.
The unknown lights fluttering here and there near graves became ghosts wandering around with a single lantern.
Thus, Japan had overcome the fear of 'unknown beings' by degrading them into yokai over many years.
And this was the same for evil spirits.
Evil spirits were things that originated from humans, and were very dangerous beings that bewitched people and led them to death.
But no matter how dangerous, they clearly existed and had substance.
Compared to unknown beings that couldn't be known what they were or even if they existed, they weren't such frightening existences.
Because there were solutions.
Because solutions were taught.
Even if it was difficult to eliminate evil spirits, even the martial artist could sufficiently perform actions like driving them away or escaping from them!
That was why the martial artist could discard his fear and open his eyes.
"You wicked evil spirit!"
The martial artist spat out the fear that had been floating in his heart along with a shout. And he firmly planted his trembling feet on the ground like stakes, infused strength into his hands that had been shaking until just now and gripped his sword with excessive tension. And by repeatedly tensing and relaxing his muscles, he forcibly loosened his stiffened body, and with strength in his eyes, he glared at the Ksitigarbha with the grown head without even blinking.
It's looking at me.
The martial artist felt an illusion that the Ksitigarbha's head was looking at him from within the wavering darkness.
He even felt an illusion as if the Ksitigarbha was swaying its body this way and that and approaching him in the distorted and flowing darkness.
The black head that didn't easily reveal its true form even with qi-enhanced eyes seemed to be looking straight at the martial artist as if it were alive, as if it had real eyes.
It was looking.
The martial artist was looking at the Ksitigarbha.
The Ksitigarbha was looking at the martial artist.
The martial artist's qi-wrapped eyes cut through the darkness and fixed on the Ksitigarbha, and from the sunken eye sockets of the Ksitigarbha, a formless gaze shot out and looked straight into the martial artist's eyes.
The only difference was that the martial artist was looking at the Ksitigarbha with light.
While the Ksitigarbha was looking at the martial artist with darkness flowing from its sunken eyes.
The martial artist lengthened his stride as he usually did, and ran towards the Ksitigarbha with his sword raised as if sliding.
Creak!
Gritting his teeth lest fear escape and seep into his body if he let out a kiai, the martial artist ran towards the Ksitigarbha with all his might, overcoming his fear.
And he swung down the wooden sword infused with excessive qi onto the ground with all his strength.
Swish!
The wooden sword imbued with qi.
Shigen-ryu's one-hit kill form of slash.
And the will of the martial artist filled with desperate resolve.
All of these combined, and the wooden sword split the Ksitigarbha's body like tofu.
The Ksitigarbha was cut in half along the trajectory of the wooden sword, and the unnatural black head that had been on its neck cracked down the middle and crumbled like sand, falling to the ground. And the fallen pieces seeped into the wind held by the night mountain and flew away far, far away.
Thus, the Ksitigarbha that had enveloped the martial artist in fear disappeared.
"I've exorcised the evil spirit..."
Along with the martial artist's sigh of relief at having exorcised the evil spirit.
* * *
"What?!"
He cut the Ksitigarbha.
Hearing those words, the Shigen-ryu instructor couldn't help but shout loudly.
"Y-you-!"
The instructor's face turned bright red as he looked at the martial artist bowing his head before him with a pale face. The veins on his forehead bulged, and his arms trembled as if he might grab something and strike with it.
But soon, as if he needed to calm down, he closed his eyes and tried to collect himself several times, and barely managed to ask in a voice that was 'somewhat similar to his usual tone' rather than a roar.
"If I didn't hear wrong."
"Yes!"
"So you caught some college student doing a spiritual experience, and you heard a ghost story about the Ksitigarbha from that student?"
"Yes!"
"And you trembled like some girl because of that ghost story, and patrolled in that state?"
"Y-yes. Yes!"
"And the Ksitigarbha that should have had its head cut off had a head growing on it?"
"Yes!"
The instructor glared at the martial artist after saying that much.
Then he moved his lips as if to say something but held back by taking a deep breath, and instead asked a question in a tone that seemed to have traces of anger everywhere.
"And you. Hoo... Thought it was an evil spirit and swung your sword with all your might?"
"Yes!"
"And you think that was wrong, so now you're shrinking like a girl who broke a vase-!"
The instructor, unable to contain his anger any longer, shouted at the top of his lungs with veins popping on his neck.
"You coward who can't even act like a man-----!!!"
Slap!
The instructor slapped the martial artist's cheek.
Thud!
The martial artist, unable to withstand the shock from being slapped, rolled on the floor.
"Get up----!!!"
"Y-yes, yes!"
The instructor, seeming to get angrier at the sight of the martial artist rolling miserably on the floor after being slapped, shouted loudly, and the martial artist stood in the same position as before with a pale face.
Slap!
Thud!
The instructor slapped the cheek of the martial artist who had returned to his original position again, and the martial artist rolled on the floor again.
"Get up again!"
"Yes!"
And so the 'punishment' began.
Slap!
Thud!
"Again!"
"Yes!"
Slap-!
Thud!
"A-gain-!"
"Yes!"
The instructor slapping the cheek.
The martial artist rolling on the floor.
The martial artist returning to his place with a shout.
This terrible act of cruelty was repeated over and over again.
And finally, when the martial artist's face had become swollen and burst from the repeated slaps, the instructor stopped his physical punishment.
But as if his anger hadn't completely subsided, he shouted at the top of his lungs with veins popping on his neck.
"Do you know why you were hit?!"
"Yes!"
"Why were you hit?"
"Because I broke the Ksitigarbha!"
Slap!
The instructor, unsatisfied with the martial artist's answer, struck his head with his palm.
"Do you think I'd get angry over something like that?!"
"N-no!"
"Then why do you think you were hit?!"
"I don't know!"
The instructor shouted at the martial artist's answer as if he might burst his eardrums.
"It's because you weren't manly!"
"Yes!"
"Ksitigarbha? You can cut that mere stone ten times, a hundred times, and it wouldn't be a problem! If you want, I can even order some and put them there for your sword practice! Managing it? What's so important about that mere stone! Does having one of those stones help with training?!"
The instructor grabbed the martial artist's head with his pot lid-like hand and growled fiercely.
"And you cut it because it looked like an evil spirit? Then there's no problem! What's the issue with cutting it because it looked like an evil spirit!"
"Yes!"
"I'm not angry because of that! You got completely absorbed in the story of some weirdo wandering around doing strange things and got scared! And because of that, you saw things that weren't there! And even after cutting an illusion, you should at least be proud! You show me this pathetic appearance while trembling?!"
Thud!
The instructor struck the martial artist's chest with moderate force.
"A Shigen-ryu martial artist!"
"Yes?"
"You bastard! A Shigen-ryu martial artist!"
"Must not know fear!"
"And!"
"Must be manlier than anyone else!"
"What does it mean to be manly!"
"Not trembling over trivial things! Not fearing to jump into battlefields where blood and swords are rampant! And knowing how to enjoy a day as if it were a lifetime!"
The instructor, seeing the martial artist recite the spirit of Shigen-ryu that he always emphasized, nodded as if his anger had finally subsided.
"Right. You know it well. But why couldn't you put it into practice?"
"I'm sorry!"
"If you had come back trembling in fear, I wouldn't have let you off easily, but since you cut it with one stroke, I'm letting you off with just this much. Understand?"
"Yes! Thank you!"
"If you show such a pathetic appearance again! I'll personally cut off your lower half with a sword and make you a woman as you wish! Got it?!"
"Yes!"
"Go!"
"I understand!"
The instructor chased away the martial artist and started doing his usual work again.
But that was only for a moment.
Irritation and anger that hadn't fully subsided invaded the instructor's body.
"Damn it."
The instructor stepped out of the training ground, carrying that irritation and anger.
And walking through the forest path that he could navigate even with his eyes closed, he headed towards the headless Ksitigarbha.
He thought he might release his emotions while looking at the Ksitigarbha that the martial artist said he had cut with one stroke.
But...
"What is this."
The instructor's face froze completely upon seeing the Ksitigarbha's appearance.