Looking at the dim and cold room before her, Hiiragi Inori could clearly feel the negative emotions emanating from within.
Sensing this immense negative energy, her expression also became a little more serious.
Fortunately, her connection to the ley line had also become more apparent.
She tried to establish a connection with the ley line, but it seemed that the spirit of that Yuuko had indeed occupied its core. At her current distance from the ley line, she could not directly borrow power from it.
After all, this was originally the ley line that the Kanoe family had guarded for generations. If it weren't for the fact that the gods no longer interacted with the mortal world, followed by the decline of the supernatural, this place might still be the Kanoe family's shrine.
Although Kanoe Yuuko was dead, she had the Kanoe family's bloodline flowing in her veins when she was alive, and her soul had also, by a stroke of luck, connected with the ley line before her death.
It was precisely for this reason that while becoming a vengeful spirit, she also retained the characteristics of an earth-bound spirit, and even a deity.
If someone had worshipped her as a deity over the years, as long as she could resolve the hatred from her past life, she truly had a chance to become a new god.
Under such circumstances, even with the improved secret techniques of Shinto, it would probably take a lot of effort to snatch control of the ley line from Kanoe Yuuko.
Thinking of this, Hiiragi Inori couldn't help but sigh softly.
She had originally thought this was just a walk in the park, at most needing to comfort the emotions of this vengeful spirit and see if Miyauchi Hikage's video could act as a catalyst to help Kanoe Yuuko get rid of her past hatred.
Unexpectedly, after being stable for half a century, Kanoe Yuuko's vengeful spirit had started to show some signs of restlessness due to the spiritual resurgence.
According to Itou Kaiji's feedback, the cell phones could no longer receive any signal, nor could they make calls to the outside world.
They couldn't even take pictures; the phone screen would just display a pile of mosaics.
This was very normal.
Whether it was spiritual power, cursed energy, or any other special power, including the negative emotions on a vengeful spirit, these powers would interfere with the use of electronic devices once they reached a certain level.
Since Kanoe Yuuko had sealed them in this room and was not letting them leave, she would naturally cut off all their means of contact with the outside world.
She just didn't know why she, who had been quite stable ten years ago, would become so violent ten years later.
Could it be that her own mother had some unpleasant encounter with her back then, so she had held a grudge all this time, and now that she smelled the scent of an enemy on her, she wanted to get revenge?
After muttering this in her heart, Hiiragi Inori brought her thoughts back to reality.
In any case, it was better to establish a connection with the ley line as soon as possible, leave this place first, and then consider how to deal with Kanoe Yuuko.
And to seize control of the ley line, she had to walk into this room hidden by Kanoe Yuuko.
In this regard, Hiiragi Inori's mentality was still relatively stable at the moment.
The "battle suit" she was wearing now was basically a bulletproof vest specifically designed for vengeful spirits and ghosts. Even against the attack of a special-grade vengeful spirit, it could provide a certain defensive effect.
If necessary, she could also activate the spiritual power in the battle suit to enhance her techniques.
Even if it couldn't erase Kanoe Yuuko's existence, at a critical moment, using it to forcibly destroy the barrier and leave this school would not be a problem.
But these two ordinary people...
Hiiragi Inori glanced at Kanoe Kirie and Itou Kaiji.
Both of them seemed quite nervous right now.
Especially that Itou Kaiji. His face was pale, his eyes were dull, his forehead was covered in fine sweat, and his legs couldn't stop trembling. He really looked like a complete newcomer who had just come into contact with this world.
But this was the true reaction of an ordinary person when suddenly encountering a strange event.
After all, not everyone had a big heart like Miyauchi Hikage.
Even after having seen a real vengeful spirit on camera and receiving a warning from Nanami Kento, he could still continue to take his equipment to the crime scenes of those murder cases to film videos, seemingly without showing any fear.
Perhaps it was precisely because of his strong-willed to the point of being a bit twisted personality that he was able to turn a whole village, Asahigaoka, into the current internet-famous base through the platform of the internet in such a short period of time.
In other words, it was also highly likely because of his personality that he was targeted by those abnormal jujutsu sorcerers.
But it was fine to just be targeted by jujutsu sorcerers. There were still a few guys in this group who could be communicated with normally. It was just that because they had to deal with those Cursed Spirits that were even more twisted than vengeful spirits every day, their personalities were more or less a bit crazy.
In addition, the core group of jujutsu sorcerers was still that bunch of clan sorcerers with innate techniques. They basically spent their whole lives fighting with the techniques passed down in their families, so there were not many people in the Jujutsu world who specialized in researching techniques.
Including the current strongest jujutsu sorcerer, Gojo Satoru. His power, besides his own talent, was also basically built on the Gojo family's inherited Limitless Cursed Technique and the Six Eyes.
So even if Miyauchi Hikage was targeted by jujutsu sorcerers, it would be difficult for him to make any big moves.
But if he was targeted by mages, then it would be really hard to say.
After all, those mages were all crazy about their research. There had even been a few extremist factions who planned to sacrifice the entire magical foundation of the magical world, along with other supernatural systems, to create a new one.
It could only be said that in order to achieve their goals, this group of mages could truly treat human life as grass.
If a person like Miyauchi Hikage was targeted by mages, then Hiiragi Inori would really have to worry about whether he would do something even more earth-shattering.
Hiiragi Inori shook her head, then looked at Kanoe Kirie again.
Kanoe Kirie's state of mind was also very tense, but not to the point of being as scared as Itou Kaiji.
After all, she had already seen Kanoe Yuuko's ferocious appearance in this school before, and now that she knew the whole truth, she was naturally not so afraid of her.
Her nervousness was more because what her grandmother had done back then was too shocking, making her, as a granddaughter, not know how to face this grand-aunt, Kanoe Yuuko.
Now that she had encountered this situation, she was also thinking in her heart whether it was because her bloodline had angered Kanoe Yuuko, which was why she had acted to seal off this area and prevent them from leaving.
However, Hiiragi Inori was not aware of these thoughts.
After all, she only had a slight understanding of this Kanoe Yuuko's past and what happened after she became a vengeful spirit. As for Kanoe Kirie, she only learned about her when Miyauchi Hikage introduced her.
After letting Itou Kaiji and Kanoe Kirie calm down for a few minutes and briefly explaining the truth of this world to them, Hiiragi Inori planned to enter the room hidden by Kanoe Yuuko to connect with the ley line.
"Do... do we really have to go in?" Seeing that Hiiragi Inori was about to move, Itou Kaiji asked again, still a little nervous.
He had roughly understood some of the truth about this world through Hiiragi Inori's explanation just now.
After knowing these things, he wanted to punch himself.
It was he who had brought up the matter of Yuuko-san, and then attracted Miyauchi Hikage's attention.
And when they arrived at Seikyou Academy, Miyauchi Hikage and that suspected boss's wife had already seen the figure of that dusk maiden.
But because of the things he had investigated, he had let down his guard, thinking that it would not be much different from the usual filming, at most needing to personally come into contact with Kanoe Yuuko's remains.
Who would have thought that they would run into the real thing this time, and a great vengeful spirit that had survived for half a century at that.
Fortunately, his boss was still relatively vigilant and had contacted professionals right away. Otherwise, if they had really encountered this situation during filming, they would have been truly helpless.
Now he at least had a shrine maiden like Hiiragi Inori by his side, and Miyauchi Hikage and the others were still investigating outside.
If they stayed here for a long time and his boss couldn't contact him, he should also find a way to contact other professionals to come and rescue them, right?
Hiiragi Inori waved her hand. "Even if my mom rushed over now, it would still take an hour or two. And if I can't solve it, then even if my mom comes now, it probably won't be of any use. At least a special-grade would have to be called."
Unlike the jujutsu sorcerers, who were few in number and whose promotion mechanism was completely monopolized by the higher-ups, resulting in only a single-digit number of special-grades so far this century, the Shinto school still had a considerable number of special-grade exorcists.
It was just that most of these exorcists were also restricted by region.
After leaving their own territory, their strength would drop significantly. Only after re-establishing a connection with the local ley line could they display their full strength.
Itou Kaiji memorized this information, planning to find the priest in charge of his area after returning to Tokyo, so that he could immediately seek their help if something happened in the future.
After getting ready, Hiiragi Inori stepped into the dim room, then reached out and took out a talisman to light it.
A small spark appeared in her hand, illuminating some of the room's structure.
The mottled wooden walls, on which some old photos seemed to be hanging, but it was no longer clear whose photos they were.
Obviously, no one had set foot in this secret room for many years.
Due to the dampness, the dust on the ground exuded an unpleasant musty smell in the air.
The most conspicuous place in the entire room should be the full-length mirror placed at the edge of the room.
Some spiritual power fluctuations could be felt on the mirror, and in this dusty room, it was surprisingly clean, as if someone often wiped it.
Kanoe Yuuko probably usually rested in the mirror.
"This is indeed Kanoe Yuuko's lair," as she said this, Hiiragi Inori beckoned to the two of them, indicating that they could come in.
And Kanoe Kirie and Itou Kaiji also carefully entered this room after she beckoned to them.
But just as the two of them also followed into the room, the door of the room slammed shut again, further restricting their movement to this room.
Hiiragi Inori did not show the slightest bit of surprise, just continued to remind the two to follow behind her.
As she said this, she followed the position of the ley line she sensed and walked forward under the illumination of the spark.
Soon, after passing through one or two more rooms, she came to another, even older wooden door.
The ley line was right below this.
And Kanoe Yuuko's vengeful spirit was probably already waiting for their arrival below.
Pulling open the door, a staircase leading down to the basement, with an almost bottomless appearance, was revealed.
But even if they couldn't see anything, Kanoe Kirie behind Hiiragi Inori could feel a sense of pressure from below.
"If a fight breaks out later, you guys find a good position and protect yourselves."
Hiiragi Inori said this, holding a few talismans in her hand in advance, while also applying some enhancement spells to herself, preparing to go down to the basement in one go to figure out Kanoe Yuuko's current situation.
But this last flight of stairs was particularly difficult to walk.
With every step down, the connection between Hiiragi Inori and the ley line became clearer.
Similarly, the resentment from the basement, which was almost about to materialize, was also becoming more and more obvious.
It seemed that this vengeful spirit, which had existed for more than half a century and had a great chance of becoming a deity but was abandoned by the Shinto higher-ups, had finally taken the most critical step in these ten years.
Even if she had not yet felt the pressure of a special-grade, judging from this resentment, it had already far exceeded the level of a normal Grade 1.
If they had come a few months later, she probably would have really become a genuine special-grade vengeful spirit.
"Your boss really picked a good time to discover this place. When she really becomes a special-grade vengeful spirit, this school will probably be forced to have a super-large-scale 'food poisoning incident'."
But just as Hiiragi Inori was mentally preparing to use all the spiritual power of her miko uniform to forcibly suppress her, a furious and soul-shaking shriek suddenly came from the direction of the basement.
This howl almost scared the life out of Itou Kaiji.
He tremblingly supported himself against the wall next to the stairs, stammering and asking Hiiragi Inori what was happening down there.
But in the next moment, a black shadow shot out from underground.
Just as Hiiragi Inori was prepared for an all-out battle, she was stunned to find that Kanoe Yuuko's vengeful spirit didn't even glance at them and rushed past them with extreme anger.
At such a speed, even Itou Kaiji didn't have time to react. By the time he realized what had just happened and screamed, Kanoe Yuuko's vengeful spirit was long gone.
He didn't know who had provoked her to make her so violent.
Hiiragi Inori stared blankly at Kanoe Yuuko leaving. For some reason, she suddenly thought of Miyauchi Hikage, who was outside.
The only one who could provoke Kanoe Yuuko seemed to be Miyauchi Hikage, who was outside.
Could it be that Miyauchi Hikage, upon finding that he couldn't contact them, had caused some huge commotion outside?!
So how on earth did that boy, who was noticed by the jujutsu sorcerers, manage to enrage Kanoe Yuuko to the point where she would even abandon her own home?
But Hiiragi Inori would not let this opportunity go. After being stunned for a few seconds, she quickly rushed down to the basement, preparing to first establish a connection with the ley line here and resolve this barrier, before going to find Miyauchi Hikage's whereabouts.