Though he was already half a kilometer from the Shiranui Household, Jin Jianglang turned back without hesitation.
Despair showed on his face, and panic filled his eyes.
He remembered how the colors of every wreath in the village had been carefully arranged, and an icy chill spread from his head to the soles of his feet.
"Yanyanluo... even at the very end... you're still lying to me!"
He understood.
He understood everything.
The answer was "smoke"!
They had taken it for granted that Yanyanluo had lost her sight because her eyes were pale, but she did not use her eyes to see this world!
That smoke had always been part of her body!
She sensed the world through her smoke, saw everything through her smoke!
Jin Jianglang recalled every time Yanyanluo had released her smoke, and his hair stood on end.
She had known everything!
She released her smoke and knew Jin Jianglang was nearby, and so they met.
She released her smoke and saw Jin Jianglang and the Great Tengu grilling fish, and so they became acquainted.
She released her smoke in Shuten's lair, and she released her smoke in Hiezu Village. She knew everything with perfect clarity.
"Her smoke and the Dried Grass Wreath."
Yanyanluo had known all along. She had never joined the Shiranui Household, had never become an "Onmyoji." She had always been that insignificant monster.
She knew the villagers who loved her were all dead, piled like fish at the village entrance. Yet even then, she had to force a smile and give the monsters names so they would not give themselves away.
Jin Jianglang had thought he was protecting Yanyanluo, but in the end, it was Yanyanluo who had been keeping their childish lies intact.
"No wonder you said you didn't want great power,