After 

we returned

 to the hotel, I told Yin Xinyue about this new case. She sounded cheerful. “Great! You guys can help the shrine capture some monsters! It’

ll be

 much more interesting than sight-seeing!” 

“Where’s Li Mazi?” 

“Oh, Li Mazi and Ru Xue didn’t feel well after 

being

 trapped

 in that illusion on

 the stairs. They went to their room to rest.” 

Since we didn’t have much information about the enemy, I didn’t know what to prepare. I decided to visit the shrine in the morning to investigate. 

Early 

the next morning, 

Li Mazi didn’t want to go with us no matter what. He hugged the blanket

 and rolled o

n the bed. “Even if we can earn money, I’m not going to go with you. I don’t want to encounter more trouble!” 

“Look at you, 

you

 coward!” I had to 

remind

 him that I 

c

ould reveal the fact that he had rubbed the hostess’s rear end. Eventually, Li Mazi unwillingly left his bed. 

Ru Xue was also hesitant

, so

 I gave her the Ghost Sealing Pouch Chuyi used yesterday. “You can use this for self-defense.”

She 

was convinced and kept 

the pouch with her. 

After breakfast, we departed to Inari Shrine. We thought we were early

,

 but there were many tourists

 there

 already. They lined up

 and waited

 to make a wish to the statue of Inari. Some wrote their wishes on a small wooden board. 

“I want to write some wishes, too,” said Yin Xinyue. 

“There are so many people. We should do business first. Tonight, when no one’s here, we will come again for you to make your wishes

,

” I told her. 

While we were looking around, a man wearing 

a ceremonial

 uniform called us

. He spoke in 

Japanese. Xiao Gao talked to him then turned to u

s.

 “This is Mr. Urashima. He’s the 

K

annushi

,

 the Grand Priest of this Shrine. He said that tourists are not 

allowed

 to enter this place.” 

“

T

ourists

?

 Tell him that Ms. Chiba invited us

,

” I said. 

Xiao Gao translated to Urashima. 

He 

believed us.

Next

, Chiba 

arrived while carrying 

a bucket of water. She hurried to brief the situation to Urashima. Urashima’s attitude changed immediately. He warmly welcomed us. However, 

it seemed he had 

something to do, so he asked Chiba to take us around.

Yin Xinyue pulled my sleeve

 and pointed 

at Chiba. “Is she the legendary shrine maiden? 

Sure enough

, 

her aura is

 different.” 

“Thank you!” Chiba smiled gently. 

“Oh, you speak Chinese?” Yin Xinyue was amazed. 

“I learned Chinese,” answered Chiba. 

Li Mazi smiled. “Miss Chiba, you are really beautiful.” 

Ru Xue shot him a fierce glance. 

As

 we walked to the shrine, I saw a broken stone lantern in a corner. The other tourists 

didn’t pay attention to it

, but Chuyi and I noticed it. This stone lantern was different from the others

 as

 I saw a Vermillion Bird carved on it. I smeared some soot on the broken lantern

 and sniffed it,

 smell

ing

 a wisp of Yin energy

.

This stone lantern 

might contain some

 soil 

from the cemetery, which would have

 contributed to the 

geomancy

 of this shrine. In 

geomancy

, it wasn’t always good to use only Yang attribute items. Sometimes, they needed to use Yin attribute materials. When Yin and Yang cooperated, they could 

strengthen

 the 

formation

. 

“If I am not wrong, there should be four stone lanterns like this in the four corners of the shrine. The carvings on them 

represent

 the Four Divine Beasts of ancient China

. They are the 

Blue Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise,” I said. 

Chiba nodded in admiration. “Mr. Zhang 

has

 keen eyes. We have those stone lanterns. However, we don’t know why they 

were

deliberately destroyed…” 

Ru Xue mocked her. 

“Miss, 

the way you talk 

is like 

how

 Japanese devils 

talk i

n movies.” 

S

he seemed to 

have a hostile

 attitude toward Chiba. Perhaps, 

it was

 because Li Mazi kept 

stealing 

glances 

at

her

. 

“Japanese devils? 

Do you

 mean the 

yokai

?” Chiba didn’t get it. Since she 

grew

 up in the shrine, she didn’t have many chances to watch TV and learn new insults. 

I had to 

change

 the topic by asking her to take us to see other places. 

Along

 the way, Xiao Gao helped Chiba 

improve

 her Chinese grammar. Although Chiba sounded a little strange when she spoke, she was a

n intelligent

 woman

. Xiao Gao

 just needed to show her the correct way and she could smoothen everything by herself. 

Behind the shrine was a vegetable field where the 

residents

 grew vegetables. 

From

 a distance, we saw many graves

. They were lined up one 

next to another. They had green grass growing on them.

I turned to Yin Xinyue. “Let’s check your knowledge. 

Should a

 grave be placed in front of or behind a structure?” 

“Hm

. It 

should be behind the structure. It’s not good to have a grave in front of the house, right?” Yin Xinyue frowned. 

“Wrong

. T

he graves should be put in the front! Placing graves behind the house is taboo in 

geomancy

,” I explained. 

Chiba blinked, then said, “Mr. Zhang, in Japan, we don’t use 

geomancy. I

t doesn

’t seem to

 affect us much. Please pardon me, but I think th

is

geomancy

thing

you’re talking about

 is just nonsense.” 

“Oh, you think it

’s useless

?” I snorted

 and explained, 

“First, shrines usually have 

strong

 Yang energy

, so

 evil

 spirits

 and ghosts 

w

on’t dare to 

barge in easily.

 Next, 

all the

 people 

who live

 in shrines are usually single for the rest of their lives

, so they aren’t influenced too much.

 And lastly, this shrine’s 

geomancy

was

 arranged with meticulous deta

il 

by a great master. But now,

 just because

 four stone lanterns 

are

 broken, paranormal activities have started to happen. What do you think 

will

 happen next?” 

Chiba 

understood how serious it was

. “Do you have 

a

 solution?” 

“Who 

is

 buried over there?” I asked. 

“Generations of 

m

iko and 

ka

nnushi. They were all loyal servants of Inari-sama. I guess they 

have

 become Buddhas by now.” Chiba pointed at the graves. “However, many warriors and samurais were also buried on this mountain. According to what you just told me, the 

geomancy

 shouldn’t be good.” 

Countless bamboo trees 

grew and filled

 the mountain. From our 

position

, we saw a thick fog shrouding the mountain. It was true that this place had 

strong 

Yin energy. 

“Tonight, I will mend the 

geomancy

of this place

. There should be no paranormal activities afterward.” 

“Thank you

.

” Chiba nodded at us

 and looked 

grateful. 

Chuyi, who had kept silent all the time, suddenly asked, “Who built this shrine?” 

Chiba answered, “I heard that it was the great Onmyoji Yasukiyo Abe.” 

“

Abe no Seimei

’s grandson?” Chuyi furrowed his brows. 

“Yes.” Chiba nodded. 

I used my phone to 

search

 for some information. During the Heian period in Japan, Onmyoji

s were famous

. 

Abe no Seimei

 was the imperial Onmyoji 

appointed

 by the Emperor himself. He was in charge of the

 geomancy

of

 the palace and all worship

 areas

. 

Yasukiyo Abe was 

Abe no Seimei

’s grandson, who had inherited the Onmyoji profession from him. 

Is there 

a

 relation between the sealed Tamamo-no-Mae and this shrine?

At this

 moment, we heard 

a 

commotion from the shrine. Another 

m

iko came and talked to Chiba. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked her. 

“Two tourists suddenly fainted.” 

We also 

went

 to take a look. The two tourists were placed in a 

quiet

 room. They were one man and one woman

 that looked 

like a couple. Urashima was 

calling

 an ambulance. When I saw the couple, I felt that something was wrong. 

Chuyi walked 

forward

 and pulled their eyelids to check. Then, he turned to me. “Their Yang energ

y has been 

sucked 

dry.

” 

“Can you save them?” asked Chiba. 

“Their lives aren’t 

in danger

. They need to rest for a few days

, and they’ll 

be all right.” 

Ghosts wouldn’t appear in broad daylight. The thing that had sucked their Yang energy was possibly a monster. 

Th

e two fox spirits were 

the main

 suspects. 

I looked around and 

noticed

 that we were all 

in the same place

. “Hey, this 

is 

not good. Perhaps we 

have been

tricked

into leaving

 the 

secret area

 unguarded. I think they want to steal the fox statue

!

” 

Urashima was frightened. He rushed to the storage to check. The others followed him closely. 

When we 

reached

 there, Urashima had already opened the drawer

, b

ut 

n

othing was inside. He screamed in desperat

ion

.

Chuyi suddenly reached his hand 

into

 the drawer and took something out. It was the intact box. 

This looked like a magic 

trick. Both 

Chiba and Urashima were amazed. Chuyi said, “It

 was

 just an 

illusion

.” 

Urashima couldn’t ease his worried mind. He opened the box to 

check the content

. But 

as soon as

 the fox statue was taken out of the box, Xiao Gao suddenly snatched it from him

 and ran 

away!