Following his gaze, Shion unconsciously smiled with pride.
"Isn't it spectacular?" She put down the half-eaten cherry blossom cake. "Those spells have been protecting the Land of Demons for nearly a thousand years; they're a variant of the ' Four Symbols Seal.'"
Shion casually said, "But we call it the ' Violet Spirit Barrier,' it's specifically used for..."
She suddenly stopped, blinked, and said, "Wait, you're not trying to trick me, are you?"
Hoshino looked completely innocent. "How could that be? It was purely an academic discussion."
"Really!!!"
Shion squinted at him, then suddenly chuckled and waved generously.
"Fine, it won't hurt to tell you anyway. There are no secrets in the Land of Demons that can't be told."
Hoshino, Hoshino asked, "Actually, I'm very interested in ancient legends from various places, such as... stories about the ' Immortal Army ' and 'Dark Monsters'?"
Shion paused slightly in the hand holding the pastry, then continued eating as if nothing had happened, but her eyes subtly became more serious.
"Oh? You're interested in these legends?" She tilted her head, her tone innocent, but a hint of inquiry flashed in her eyes.
"As a researcher, I am very interested in the myths and legends from all over the Shinobi World, especially the fateful relationship between 'shrine maidens' and 'demons'."
Shion was silent for a moment, then suddenly put down the pastry and patted the crumbs off her hands.
" Hoshino, did you know that in the Land of Demons, some stories are more than just 'legends'?"
The candlelight in the hall flickered slightly, casting its glow between the two people, and the atmosphere suddenly became somewhat heavy.
"I'd like to hear the details." Hoshino's expression remained unchanged.
Shion stood up and walked to an ancient mural inside the hall.
The mural depicts a woman resembling a witch confronting a twisted mass of darkness.
Long ago, a powerful being was born on this land. It possessed boundless dark power and was known as the ' Moryo '.
"The first priestess sacrificed herself to separate and seal away the Moryo's body and soul. But the Moryo's power was too great, and each generation of priestesses must use their own lives to maintain the seal."
As she spoke, Shion turned around, a complex emotion flashing in her purple eyes.
"And the Moryo is actually the other side of the priestess."
"Two sides of the same coin?"
Shion nodded. "The stronger the priestess's power of light, the stronger the Moryo's power of darkness. We... are beings born from the same origin."
As Shion recounted her story, Hoshino fell into deep thought.
No wonder that in the original story, after Shion's mother, Miroku, sacrificed herself, the Moryo began to stir.
I originally thought that Miroku would be dead for some time, but judging from the current situation, she has been dead for a long time.
The reason for leaving Shion, whose power was sealed, was to prevent the Moryo from breaking the seal.
After all, priestesses and Moryo are like light and shadow, forever intertwined.
"So..." Hoshino carefully chose his words, "What is the current status of the seal?"
Instead of answering directly, Shion suddenly asked, "Lord Hoshino, what is your true purpose in coming to the Land of Demons this time?"
The air inside the hall seemed to freeze for a moment.
Hoshino and Shion looked at each other for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said frankly, "As expected, you can't hide it from the priestess."
"I am very interested in the existence of ' Priestess Power ' and ' Moryo '. If possible, I want to find a way to completely resolve this millennia-old fate."
"You want to eliminate the Moryo?" Shion's eyes widened slightly.
"No." Hoshino shook his head. "I was thinking, since the shrine maiden and the Moryo are essentially one, perhaps there's a way to achieve balance between the two?"
Shion was stunned.
For thousands of years, priestesses have only been able to choose between sealing away the spirits or perishing together with them; no one has ever proposed such an idea.
"How will you know if you don't try?" Hoshino said with a determined look in his eyes.
Shion gazed intently at him, then suddenly turned and walked deeper into the hall.
"Come with me."
She led Hoshino through several hidden corridors to a secret underground chamber, where a crystal ball emitting a faint purple light floated in the center.
"This is the ' Sphere of Prophecy,' which has been used by priestesses throughout history to monitor the sealed state of the Moryo," Shion said softly.
Hoshino approached to observe and discovered a distorted black shadow that was slowly writhing inside the crystal ball.
"The situation is worse than we thought!"
Shion smiled bitterly, "After my mother passed away, the seal gradually weakened. At this rate, the Moryo will be fully awakened in at most three years."
Slender fingers gently traced the surface of the crystal ball.
The shadowy figure seemed to sense something, and suddenly surged violently, forming a hideous face.
Shion led Hoshino back to the main hall, where the candlelight once again illuminated their faces.
She gently adjusted the sleeves of her shrine maiden robes, then suddenly looked up and asked, " Hoshino, why do you think I'm being so honest with you?"
Hoshino paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Perhaps it's because I look more believable?"
"No, that's not true!"
Shion puffed out her cheeks, then couldn't help but laugh out loud. She then pointed to her eyes and said...
"Because the priestess's intuition is very accurate, you won't hurt me!"
"And..." Shion paused, but continued.
"And I witnessed your death, and I stood right behind you, unharmed."
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.
Hoshino was silent for a moment, then asked softly, "When?"
Shion shook her head. "I don't know, it's very blurry, like it's been interfered with by something."
"Your death is different from others."
"No the same?"
"Hmm." Shion's brows furrowed slightly.
"Usually, I can clearly see how and when a person will die, but your future is like a fog; I can only vaguely sense the ending, but I can't see the process."
Listening to what the resource said, Hoshino gazed thoughtfully at the candlelight, his fingertips lightly tapping the table.
In his view, prophecy is nothing more than the integration and deduction of existing information.
Just like the biological computer system envisioned by Sunagakure, it can make some kind of probabilistic predictions through the calculation of massive amounts of data.
There are perhaps two possibilities why Shion was unable to clearly foresee his fate.
Firstly, his soul originated from another world, exceeding the scope of the prophetic system of this world.
Just like trying to solve quantum equations on a traditional abacus, you're destined to never get an accurate result.
Secondly, the upheaval of change he unleashed in the Shinobi World was too intense, like throwing a boulder into a calm lake.
Predictive models based on conventional variables are naturally unable to accurately capture the fate of an 'abnormal variable'.
That's really interesting...
"Hey, aren't you scared?" Seeing Hoshino's silence, Shion reached out and tugged at his sleeve.
Hoshino snapped out of her reverie and looked at the shrine maiden in front of her, who was clearly two years younger than her but was trying her best to put on a serious expression, and couldn't help but smile.
"Being afraid is useless, isn't it? Besides, prophecies only predict a 'possible' future, not a 'certain' future, are they?"
Shion paused for a moment, then pursed her lips. "I don't understand, but you're quite calm! Most people wouldn't react like this when they hear they're going to die."
"What kind of reaction does Lady Shion hope I will have?" Hoshino asked deliberately.
"Shouldn't they at least be a little panicked? Otherwise, my prediction will seem ineffective."
"I'll be more careful next time."
Shion glared at him, but quickly her expression turned serious again.
"But since I've seen it, it means your death is a 'high probability' thing."