Chapter 1497 - 1159: Chaotic Clues, Changzai Temple

The banquet wrapped up early.

Lann and Wuming returned to their rooms to rest, while Habu mentioned he would stay up all night examining household records, intending to deliver the results to Lann first thing in the morning.

Both Rong Buqiu and Qilin received the high-level hospitality from Ando Shouji.

They also got rooms in the Tenshu, and the attendant responsible for guiding them appeared utterly astonished when entering from outside.

Just like Ando Shouji, even though this world possesses Guardian Spirits, which can be seen as divine forces, typically normal people cannot see or hear them.

On the other hand, demons and evil spirits that directly intrude into the human realm don’t care if ordinary people can see them or not—if you come across them, they attack or devour.

As such, ordinary people have far more opportunities to see demons or evil spirits than genuine divine figures.

Creatures like Rong Buqiu and Qilin, appearing extraordinary but exuding either a cute or noble aura, are the kind that ordinary people don’t have much chance to see in their lifetime.

People usually just hear of them as mythical stories and legends.

Such an attitude slightly reassured Lann.

It seems this world, at least, doesn’t treat unfamiliar things as monsters or inexplicable when encountered.

Thus, taking Rong Buqiu and Qilin outside would just require a bit of talking, without much trouble otherwise.

Mentos seemed quite happy about having less to do.

Although Habu, thanks to the Bai Ze Guardian Spirit, possessed super memory and quick analytical abilities, could he conduct real-time battle analysis and research assistance at Lann’s side?

Definitely not! Hence, Mentos was quite relaxed, feeling no sense of crisis.

After the banquet, when Wuming stared with a strange look of ’Are you really some big shot in exile overseas?’ for a long time, they still had a good night’s sleep under the excellent warrior’s self-control.

In unison, as they gradually brought their bodies to a battle-ready state, they slept till dawn.

When the sky outside the Tenshu slightly brightened, Lann opened his eyes at the right moment.

"You finally woke up," came Wuming’s calm voice by his ear. "You’re really not vigilant enough, huh?"

"No, isn’t it nice to relax a bit when there’s no danger?" Lann propped himself up and smiled sideways, "Moreover, aren’t we becoming familiar with each other? And we’re in the same trade; no need to put on that professional poker face for me."

In the dim room, Wuming sat cross-legged, suitably dressed, and arranging her weapons.

Her originally cold expression suddenly froze; then, she instinctively turned her head away, avoiding eye contact with the Demon Hunter, who had just gotten up and was stretching his shoulders.

Both the Demon Hunter and the Demon Hunter seem to have a professional habit of putting on a cold face to avoid trouble from clients.

Thus, Wuming’s expression typically appeared quite indifferent.

But with prolonged interaction, or even without much time, one could understand she is a simple and kind-hearted girl.

She was quite easy to understand.

"Don’t, don’t talk about such trivial matters!" Wuming disdainfully retorted with her mouth. "First, think about how to deal with those [Residual Filth]! That’s a life-threatening matter!"

"I completely agree."

Lann said as he got up, started to put on his outerwear, and began to don his armor.

Among the clanging of Smaug’s armor pieces, a polite knock came from outside the sliding doors of the room.

"Come in," Lann said, fastening his armor clasps without looking up.

The sliding door opened with a scraping sound, and Takeda Hanbei was already kneeling at the entrance to greet them.

"I wonder if last night’s hospitality was satisfactory; my father and I have been worried if our guests had rested well."

It seemed that the stern and fierce demeanor from last night was a fleeting illusion; Takeda Hanbei reappeared before Lann with his gentle and courteous young warrior demeanor.

"Let’s skip the pleasantries; none of us are noble enough to be affected by any sort of turmoil."

In the ’kachunk, kachunk’ sound of the armor clasps being tightened, the Demon Hunter declared steadfastly.

"Looks like you’ve had a sleepless night. I must trouble you, but is there any result?"

Takeda Hanbei’s gentle expression involuntarily formed a wry smile: "Indeed, I was busy all night, living up to the word ’trouble.’"

"According to both of your suggestions, I started tracking the events over a longer timeline and with more intricate angles."

"This made the workload far exceed my expectations. But at the same time... I must say, I have become even more aware of the terrifying nature of this particular [Residual Filth]!"

Wuming placed the well-maintained Glaive Scythe against the wall, while Lann was still donning armor alone, but despite their different actions, both were frowning as they listened to Takeda Hanbei’s investigation results from last night.

Hanbei’s face turned grim, and his tone was too: "If my shorthand and analysis are correct, then the spread of this [foul residue] within Iwamura Castle is already more widespread and further-reaching than what you two have investigated."

"Back when Lord Dao San stole... acquired the country."

Saito Dosan used a coup to seize Mino Country; this is a fact. However, as a samurai loyal to the Lord of the Country, Takeda Hanbei’s fidelity prevented him from speaking, yet he could not ignore it either.

Samurai must be loyal to their master, but the object of loyalty himself rose to power by violating samurai spirit.

This is a contradiction that Mino samurai have been unable to escape mentally and cannot justify.

Hanbei stumbled slightly because of this contradiction but eventually spoke smoothly.

"Those purged remnants weren’t numerous. At that time, monks and priests were also invited to carry out large-scale purification rituals."

"But afterwards..."

"The merchant who bought the land of those remnants at a low price, built an inn on it, and one night suddenly went mad, burning his guests and his entire family to death."

"A distant relative’s child of the merchant, three years after the inn fire, suddenly went mad, was arrested and committed suicide in jail."

"Among the prison wardens at that jail, one was transferred to Rice Leaf Castle five months ago and fell off a cliff one rainy night."

After Hanbei calmly and rationally finished speaking, the room was silent.

Wuming’s mouth uncontrollably opened wide.

Even the sound of Lann wearing his armor stopped for a brief moment before reverberating again in the room.

"This is only the surface of the [foul residue] spread chain, the one I chased down is not the deepest."

"’Don’t inquire, don’t get involved, even getting to the bottom of this will face consequences’... while most of us are unaware, a warning whose origins are unknown has begun to circulate privately."

"Honestly, by the time I investigated this far, even my father-in-law was quite frightened."

Hanbei lifted his head, his dark circles pronounced, looking as if he was already quite exhausted.

One can imagine that despite having the Bai Ze Guardian Spirit, which gave him a mental edge,

the convoluted and seemingly insignificant clues and connections in the files, along with a timeline spanning over a decade, made information sorting extremely difficult!

Like the line Hanbei picked out, it probably weaves in and out through eighteen twists, and still may not make the character relations clear.

"But since you’ve come, you’ve probably completed the investigation, at least have a general result, right?"

Lann gazed at Hanbei kneeling at the doorway.

The young warrior hesitated, his lips quivering.

"Yes... Changzai Temple."

"Changzai Temple?" Lann immediately recalled information received from Wuming’s client’s family.

When their family encountered a miscarriage, it was Changzai Temple’s wandering monk who was called upon to perform a ritual to dispel [foul residue].

"Among the prominent families purged in Iwamura Castle, the largest one, before execution, under the pretext of Buddhist prayers for reincarnation, offered a scroll depicting women to Changzai Temple, recorded in the dossier."

"Other families, post-execution, also had items or people in their family entangled with Changzai Temple. This is the earliest and most consistent trail of evidence I found."

"But I assume this temple in Mino isn’t simple, is it?" Lann had resumed his armor dressing pace, not fast but steadily clicking repeatedly.

"Otherwise, you wouldn’t speak hesitantly, Hanbei."

"Inhale~" The young warrior instinctively took a deep breath, and then spoke heavily, "Exactly as you thought."

"Lord Lann, Changzai Temple... is the temple where Lord Dao San took tonsure!"

"Eh?!" Even Wuming, with a usually indifferent expression, couldn’t help but exclaim in shock.

Saito Dosan, the viper of Mino.

In this chaos initiated by the Onin War, he was first to use coup methods to seize a country, becoming a heroic Lord of the Country.

His ruthlessness and scheming even frightened daimyos beyond Mino Country.

Not to mention, his complete control over the domestic affairs within Mino Country.

Since defeating the previous Lord of the Country and repelling the allied forces of the Tokugawa Clan and Owari Oda Family, his dominance was absolute.