From God of Lies to Lord of All Worlds

Chapter 283: The Birth of Onmyodo

"Crown, have you chosen him?" Alvin asked, observing the dazed young man before them with a hint of curiosity.

"Yes. After all, it still takes a little time for Wish Power to ferment. Let's have some fun with the grudges and grievances of an Onmyoji family first!" Bai Yang declared with a bright smile.

He could sense certain changes within the city, but the citizens' emotions hadn't yet intensified. The Hundred Demons hadn't officially appeared, and those preliminary Transcendent Powers were still in hiding. There was nothing entertaining to watch just yet, so he figured he might as well perfect the subsequent settings first.

This way, even if the Japanese authorities investigated, there would be a traceable path.

He was genuinely weaving these myths with meticulous care, making them closer to actual mythology with complete lineages and stories. Only by doing this could he continue to elevate the tiers of these myths in the future, raising them to the level of a world.

Even the myths of a small nation could become the rulers of certain minor worlds in the future. This was entirely in line with Bai Yang's design philosophy.

The Lord of the Ten-thousand Worlds certainly couldn't be a laughable existence reigning over merely one or two worlds. It had to encompass the myriad heavens, with each realm similar in scale to the Dylan Continent.

Naturally, this goal was incredibly difficult to achieve, but it wasn't truly impossible. He had plenty of time to accomplish these things.

And through the constant influx of humans and Souls, as well as the continuous emergence of newborns in the world, the probability of Bai Yang achieving his goal naturally grew higher and higher!

Proceeding methodically with a plan whose ultimate goal was exaggeratedly ambitious perfectly suited Bai Yang's personality.He routinely designed these schemes and used his power to turn them into reality bit by bit. He thoroughly enjoyed the process.

Just like right now, he was reveling in his role as a guide, allowing this sole Inheritor of the Kurahashi family's Onmyodo Magic to witness the extraordinary nature of this divination!

Onmyoji were naturally part of Bai Yang's plan as well. These Inheritors of Eastern Daoist culture possessed a profound family legacy, yet appeared somewhat mysterious due to the government's abandonment and their separation from Shinto. This allowed him to smuggle in a lot of his own hidden agendas.

Compared to the already bizarrely distorted Shinto and the completely unrecognizable Buddhism, this profession hadn't changed much, mainly because its professional nature and existential attributes had been dismantled.

This kind of covert cultural invasion was quite fascinating!

Bai Yang snapped his fingers, letting the paused story resume.

...

"Water departing from the marsh, the Kui hexagram, Dui below and Li above, symbolizing the mutual division of marsh and fire!" Cangqiao Qingci's hesitation did not last long. He quickly gathered his thoughts, detached himself from his stupor, and flipped through his reference books.

After all, this was a family that had once produced a renowned Onmyoji. Their reference books were entirely written in Chinese, clearly annotated with various hexagram explanations.

Every Onmyoji was well-versed in Chinese, so Cangqiao Qingci had no trouble reading them.

'Does the Ancestor mean I should abandon the old spells and learn new ones? But I don't have any new ones!' Cangqiao Qingci pondered in confusion. 'These are the only books in the house, and I have learned them all... Unfortunately, there is still no way to save this decaying family!'

"My meaning is for you to stop your wild imaginations and detach yourself from this family, so that you can better cultivate!"

The sudden appearance of that voice gave the deeply thoughtful Cangqiao Qingci a massive fright!

He jerked his head up and saw a certain ancient Onmyoji looking incredibly lifelike on the portrait before him!

"Lord Seimei? Ancestor?" Cangqiao Qingci could clearly see that the figure in the painting, who originally wore a solemn expression, actually blinked at him with elegant composure before standing up within the frame.

It was a bizarre sensation. Even though the man was clearly inside the painting, the canvas seemed to have transformed into a peculiar screen. It began to gradually zoom out until Abe no Seimei's entire body was fully revealed.

"Do not shout so loudly. It is I!" Abe no Seimei declared, looking around at everything with a hint of nostalgia. "Is this the final legacy of our family? How wonderful!"

"I am sorry, Ancestor. We were useless. We failed to maintain the family's glory and instead allowed hardship to befall us," Cangqiao Qingci muttered, lowering his head. "We cannot even protect the family's final ancestral home anymore!"

Abe no Seimei looked at him. "Are you the only one left?"

"Yes. The main Abe family changed its name to the Tsuchimikado family, but they faded into obscurity under the suppression of the Meiji era. Only the Kurahashi family managed to barely sustain itself by relying on our noble status!"

Cangqiao Qingci knelt on the ground and continued, "But now, I am the only one left!" "Who could have imagined that in a place as vast as Japan, among so many shrines and families offering Sacrifices to me, the only ones without selfish desires and purely acting out of public spirit would be reduced to this tiny portrait?"

Abe no Seimei sighed with deep emotion. He gazed at the young man and asked curiously, "What about you, my descendant? Why did you choose to stay?"

"I just felt that as a member of the Kurahashi family, as a descendant of the three great Onmyoji of the Abe clan, I shouldn't live such a lowly and opportunistic life!" Cangqiao Qingci declared. "We have to leave something behind for future generations, don't we?"

"Excellent. As my Inheritor, you are qualified!" Abe no Seimei looked at him, his eyes brimming with admiration. "To persist in your cultivation during such an age of declining magic, and to do so without your will ever waning! You deserve to be my successor!"

With that, the figure in the painting pulled a thread-bound book from his robes and handed it to the young man. "Take it, my descendant. A terrifying Darkness is about to descend upon this world, and the Onmyoji shall rise once more upon the lands of this nation!"

Cangqiao Qingci felt he had surely lost his mind, because he actually reached out, attempting to touch the book through the painting.

However, just as he thought all of this was merely a hallucination, the rough texture brushing against his fingertips reminded him that this was no illusion—it was reality!

"My teacher was Master Hakudo, a Mage who cultivated in the superior nation. This is the book he gifted to me, and now I pass it on to you!" Abe no Seimei said with a smile. "Go now. Go and bring glory to Onmyodo. Go and capture those Deities and Spirits who refuse to obey the divine laws once again!"

"This is your Mission and mine. This is the Mission of Onmyodo!"

As those words fell, the animated figure within the portrait returned to his tranquil state once more. Inside this modest residence, only Cangqiao Qingci remained, holding the ancient tome written in archaic Chinese—the Book of the Golden Crow and Jade Rabbit!

"Ancestor!" Cangqiao Qingci muttered some obscure words in sheer astonishment, which ultimately dissolved into a sigh of faint regret. "What a pity. If only this had happened two years earlier, my grandfather might have been able to witness this too!"

He hesitated no longer and opened the book before him. This was not the time for indecision. The countermeasures from the main family branch were already on their way, and he needed to be faster—much faster.

He needed to secure a certain level of self-preservation power; only then could he defend this ancestral home.

Cangqiao Qingci had never considered giving up to begin with, and now he was even less inclined to do so. His calm and elegant disposition ensured that even when faced with such an extraordinary event, he didn't appear overly agitated on the surface.

His grandfather had once evaluated him as a natural-born Onmyoji, and now, this natural-born Onmyoji was about to learn true Onmyodo Magic!

...

'We are guiding the descent of Transcendence, and also guiding the Onmyoji to come out and clean up the mess. Does this count as dipping a whip in iodine—disinfecting while we strike?' Bai Yang suddenly thought as he watched the scene unfold.

"I suppose so?" Alvin was having a hard time keeping up with Bai Yang's incredibly erratic train of thought. "But Crown, you didn't Bestow any Transcendence upon him, merely giving him a book. Will he truly be able to succeed?"

Bai Yang said with a broad smile, "That is the greatest difference between the Eastern Divine Pantheon and the Western Divine Pantheon, Alvin! Onmyodo is not Shinto, and what they worship are not wild fox spirits, but the True Gods of the Daoist Sect!"

"In the system of Eastern mythology, the True Gods all possess immense power, which is why they can Bestow blessings and God Power. By the same token, True Gods also adhere strictly to the rules, which is why the Heavenly Court and the Netherworld were established!"

"Therefore, the texts of Onmyodo have never been mere cultivation manuals, but rulebooks! By utilizing these rules, even a young man who has only just stepped onto the path of cultivation can still contend with Deities and Spirits!"

Bai Yang obviously knew exactly what he was doing. After China in this world experienced its "passive ascension," someone eventually had to take over the legacy of the Daoist Sect's culture. This faction, born from Daoist culture and the Yin-Yang School, was quite suitable!

Daoist priests could confront Deities and Spirits through Rituals, and naturally, Onmyoji could do the same. Invoking the rules of the world and channeling the power of heaven and earth had always been what the Daoist Sect excelled at most. Even with only a sliver of power, they could put up a fight.

This was fundamentally the true significance of the Daoist Sect's legacy.

"Besides, who says he doesn't have the ability to succeed?" Bai Yang observed as Cangqiao Qingci used the ink brush in his hand to draw the Bellflower Seal on the ground before him.

[Bellflower Seal]

Afterwards, a gentle breeze slowly emerged, sweeping over some fallen leaves in the courtyard and stirring a peculiar ripple in the space outside.

As for Cangqiao Qingci, amidst his surging excitement, he managed to channel half a wisp of spiritual energy from his own hand...