Sage Qingwei invited Princess Himiya Akiko for a meeting, and the two had a detailed conversation.
What they discussed was unrelated to the Fenglin royal family or the Tenmon Sect’s new policies. It concerned only Izanagi-no-Mikoto.
Princess Himiya Akiko wished to hold something back, but Tamamo-no-Mae, a fox demon who had served the Tenmon Sect for centuries, was by her side, so though the latter might not know every secret, she could easily discern a lie.
Moreover, a figure like Princess Himiya Akiko, who was the Saio of the Tenmon Sect, was somewhat revered like a god herself. Her relationship with the Three Great Kami was not of the traditional deity and devotee, but more like superior and subordinate. There was no humility or piety. At most, it was loyalty.
However, Princess Himiya Akiko’s loyalty was limited. She was more concerned with practical interests.
In the end, forced by circumstance, Princess Himiya Akiko had no choice but to bow her head and reveal all that she knew.
Some secrets of the Tenmon Sect were never written down but passed orally from one Saio to the next.
According to Princess Himiya Akiko, Izanagi was indeed the father of the Three Noble Children. He was once known as the King of Deities, but after being defeated by his children and the Buddhist Sect, the Three Noble Children renamed themselves as the Three Great Kami. Fenglin then entered an age of shinbutsu-shugo, where gods and buddhas were integrated. When the Vairocana ceased to appear during the Confucian golden age, the Three Great Kami switched allegiance and became faithful disciples of the Confucian school. Thus, the Confucian ideology of revering the king and expelling the barbarians came about.
From that time onward, the Tenmon Sect ceased to be a vassal of the Buddhist Sect and became independent as Fenglin’s state religion. Still, it maintained good relations with the Buddhist Sect.
The term “expel the Daoists” only arose when the Daoist Order entered Fenglin. The Tenmon Sect dared not label those from the Central Plains as “barbarians,” as most of Fenglin prided itself on emulating the Central Plains.
When the Daoist Order entered Fenglin, they soon discovered anomalies in Mount Fuyo and began an investigation. But Izanagi’s era had long since passed. Even the Three Great Kami who replaced him no longer appeared in the mortal world. Thus, few knew the old legends. The vast majority of the Buddhist Sect and the Tenmon Sect were ignorant. Only a few elders knew the truth through inherited knowledge. But they chose to hide it and merely sent other uninformed leaders to assist the Daoists’ inquiry.
At that time, the Daoists focused mainly on Poluo and Shakya, paying little attention to Fenglin and stressing rule by non-interference. Thus, the investigation ended hastily without deeper digging. From the records, the Daoists probably learned of the demonic fire and the suspected evil god but had no wish to break the seal and invite trouble. The findings were filed with the Golden Tower Council and then sealed away. With frequent turnover of personnel in the Fenglin Daoist Mansion, the later Daoists ended up being ignorant of the matter entirely.
This time, the Daoists realized something was amiss, mainly because the Tenmon Sect itself faltered. Unable to reinforce the seal, Izanagi’s aura leaked in vast amounts, affecting nearly half of Fenglin. Ise Province, in particular, turned into a ghostly realm. So the Daoists could no longer turn a blind eye to it.
Furthermore, with the rise of the Sonno-joi faction, the Daoist Order overturned its former policy of ruling by non-interference and decided to intervene in Fenglin’s internal affairs, hence the implementation of the new policies. Since the Daoist Order was now fully in charge, they could no longer ignore the demonic fire and the evil god. The matter had to be investigated to the very end.
Also, with ancient figures like Suzuka Gozen and Tamamo-no-Mae switching sides, the truth about Izanagi gradually surfaced.
Beyond confirming and verifying the various pieces of inside information the Daoist Order had already learned from other sources, Princess Himiya Akiko also provided the precise locations of Izanagi’s five seals. His head and torso were sealed beneath Mount Fuyo, his right arm sealed in the palace of Heian Capital, his left arm in Ise Province’s Iino District, and his right leg on Sakurajima in Satsuma. But his left leg was not sealed in Emishi Province. That was false news released by the Ise-jingu meant to deceive ancient figures like Suzuka Gozen and Tamamo-no-Mae. In truth, the left leg was sealed in Izumo, beneath the lake where the Yamata no Orochi dwelled.
The reason was not hard to guess. The seal within Ise Province was guarded by the Ise-jingu, the one in Heian Capital was guarded by the royal family and the Great Tengu, while the Yamata-no-Orochi guarded the seal in Izumo Province.
Mount Fuyo and Sakurajima were active volcanoes, so unsealing them would inevitably cause a great commotion. Mount Fuyo was the sacred mountain of Fenglin, watched by countless eyes. Thus, any anomaly would be noticed. Meanwhile, the guardian of the Satsuma seal was the Shimazu family, tasked with overseeing the seal on Sakurajima. Since the seal had always remained intact, they did not watch the volcano daily. Over time, the Shimazu family took root in the Satsuma domain and gradually became local magnates instead.
All five seals were left by the Vairocana. However, Vairocana’s seal for the left arm had already been broken, replaced by a seal clearly bearing the style of the Daoist Order.
In truth, Sage Qingwei did not need Princess Himiya Akiko to tell him about the last part, as he was well aware. When Qi Xuansu reported about going to investigate a seal in Iino District, Sage Qingwei had not stopped the boy and his group, probably harboring the intention of letting them test the waters. In the end, the Heavenly Preceptor personally resealed Izanagi’s left arm. But Sage Qingwei suspected Qi Xuansu or Zhang Yuelu had gained something from it.
Sage Qingwei then asked a crucial question. “What would happen if the fragmented, sealed parts of Izanagi were recombined into one?”
Princess Himiya Akiko replied, “It would open the gates to Izanagi’s divine kingdom.”
Sage Qingwei said, “But as I understand it, the Buddhists and the Three Noble Children have destroyed Izanagi’s golden body. It is said its fragments fell to the mortal realm, forming countless fire demons, each embodying a different divine power of Izanagi. His divine kingdom crumbled along with it.”
Princess Himiya Akiko answered, “Strictly speaking, Izanagi’s divine kingdom crumbled but was not entirely destroyed. According to Tenmon Sect records, it was split into two halves. One fell into the mortal realm, breaking into fragments of various sizes. The five seals were constructed atop these fragments. The other half vanished without a trace. Only Izanagi knows its whereabouts.”
Sage Qingwei noted this carefully, then asked, “Legend says the Yamata-no-Orochi and Tamamo-no-Mae were both revived through Yomi-no-Kuni. What exactly is this Yomi?”
Princess Himiya Akiko pursed her lips. “I do not know the exact situation within Yomi-no-Kuni. Legend says that Izanagi’s wife, Izanami, slumbers in Yomi. Another tale claims her corpse was placed there by Izanagi himself and that he set a seal at the entrance of Yomi. Apparently, a Buddha once ventured inside and emerged unharmed but gained little of value. The Three Great Kami are vague on the matter, so perhaps only they truly know the truth of Yomi.”
Sage Qingwei remarked, “I have heard that Yomi is a divine kingdom left by the first generation of gods, akin to the underworld or hell described in various myths.”
Princess Himiya Akiko replied, “Indeed. The celestial palaces and netherworld prisons that mortals speak of are, in truth, divine kingdoms fashioned by the gods. You and I both know the real heavens are boundless and profound, the destination after ascension, and what’s underground is the yin realm of the netherworld. Yomi is a divine kingdom akin to that netherworld.”
Sage Qingwei asked, “Where exactly is Yomi located?”
Princess Himiya Akiko hesitated before answering, “Beneath the crater of Mount Fuyo. In truth, it is more a divine kingdom on land than a true divine kingdom.”
Sage Qingwei was not shocked by this answer. To him, Yomi was less a divine kingdom and more a pocket realm. In truth, the two had many similarities, but a divine kingdom relied on divine power to sustain itself and could exist in the void, while a pocket realm depended on earth qi, always tied to mountains and rivers. For example, the Kunlun Paradise drew upon the earth qi of Kunlun Mountain, which was the ancestor of all mountains and the source of three Dragon Veins. Its earth qi was unimaginably immense; hence, Kunlun Paradise was the foremost pocket realm in the world.
If Yomi no longer relied on divine power but instead upon the earth qi of Mount Fuyo, then it should no longer be called a divine kingdom but a pocket realm.
This way, Fenglin’s Three Realms made sense. Ashihara was the mortal land of Fenglin, corresponding to man; Yomi was a pocket realm corresponding to earth; and Takamagahara was a divine kingdom corresponding to heaven. Together, they fit the triad of heaven, earth, and man perfectly.
Sage Qingwei mused, “Mount Fuyo is your sacred mountain. It seals Izanagi’s head and torso. It’s also where Yomi lies. But what makes it so special? And why does Mount Fuyo spew demonic fire once every century? Is it possible that the seal on Izanagi’s head and torso had already loosened centuries ago?”
A complex expression crossed Princess Himiya Akiko’s face, but at last, she said, “You ask me three questions, but they all share one answer. In religion, worship often arises not from faith, but from fear. Floods and quakes are taken as signs of divine wrath. Mount Fuyo is considered sacred more so due to fear rather than devotion.”
Sage Qingwei finally asked, “Then what is it about Mount Fuyo that makes the whole of Fenglin tremble with fear?”
Princess Himiya Akiko answered, “Because beneath Mount Fuyo’s crater lies a vast yin-yang rift leading directly to the netherworld. Endless yin energy leaks through the fissure, pouring out of the mountain and turning Fenglin into a ghostly realm. So the first generation of gods built Yomi, casting it into the crater to plug the flow. But Yomi, eroded by the yin qi, became like an infernal hell. Izanagi once held only the power of flame. But after taking charge of Yomi, he fused yin qi into his fire, creating today’s demonic fire.”
Finally, Sage Qingwei’s expression shifted slightly as he asked, “Then is Izanagi sealed within Yomi itself?”