"Master, it's here!"
The two middle-aged men stood outside the house, their eyes showing fear as they looked at it.
These two men were biological brothers. The elder brother was called Asama Taro, and the younger brother was called Asama Jiro.
This time, they invited him over to perform a religious service for their mother.
Before coming, Hayato knew that this religious service was probably strange.
Now, he was even more certain of this idea.
His gaze shifted to the three-story detached house, and an indescribable feeling surged in his heart.
It was as if he had seen something dirty; his entire body felt very uncomfortable.
This was the first time he had encountered such a situation.
After a moment of hesitation, Hayato took off his shoes and walked into the house.
In the not-very-large room, strips of white cloth were hung, and the room was empty with no one inside.
The further he walked inside, the stronger the oppressive atmosphere permeating the air became.
It was so stifling it made it hard to breathe.
Without needing the two brothers to lead the way, Hayato came to a bedroom door on his own.
The source of the oppressive atmosphere permeating the air came from this room.
Just standing outside the door made him feel like he was suffocating.
Hayato didn't rush to open the door, his gaze turning towards the two brothers following behind him.
"Now, can you tell me what happened?"
"Otherwise, I will not take on this religious service."
Looking at his overly calm eyes, the Asama brothers exchanged glances and directly knelt on the ground.
They told the truth.
After a moment, a look of realization appeared on Hayato's face.
According to these two brothers, the elderly person in this house passed away last night.
The two brothers had their own families, usually didn't have a good relationship, and rarely visited their mother.
It was the neighbor next door who discovered the elderly person's death and called to inform the two of them.
That night, the two brothers argued over the expenses for the religious service and the funeral.
They had originally agreed to hold the funeral today, but strange things happened.
Their mother, who had been dead for a long time, suddenly opened her eyes in the middle of the night and let out a strange laugh, scaring away all the relatives who were keeping vigil.
Fearing something bad would happen, Asama Taro hastily contacted a funeral home, wanting to cremate the elderly person directly.
However, the funeral home workers who came to transport the body couldn't lift the body no matter what.
The two brothers feared that the elderly person would not rest in peace after death, so they could only go to the Temple to find a highly accomplished monk to perform a religious service.
Yakushi Temple was the nearest Temple nearby, so they naturally came to him.
Hayato looked at the two brothers with shifty eyes.
He instantly understood in his heart.
Perhaps, these two fellows were not afraid that the elderly person would not rest in peace after death, but rather afraid that the corpse would turn into an Evil Spirit and harm them.
However, he was already used to such things.
Don't look at these people from Japan; they are very polite on the surface, but deep down, they are all cold and selfish.
Not all of them, but most are sophisticated egoists.
He wasn't interested in those trivial matters, but since it was an Evil Spirit causing trouble, the price for the religious service naturally couldn't be the same as usual.
"The religious service can be done, but you have to add money."
Hayato said indifferently.
He was the abbot of Yakushi Temple after all; his status was here.
A regular religious service would cost at least three to four hundred thousand yens in incense money.
Now that an Evil Spirit was causing trouble, the remuneration should at least double.
Even so, considering that these two families were not rich, he didn't ask for an exorbitant price.
If he encountered wealthy people and conglomerates, several million yens wouldn't be enough.
As the saying goes, the Dharma is not easily transmitted.
In Journey to the West, Tang Sanzang went through eighty-one hardships to obtain the true scriptures, and in the end, he still had to exchange them for his purple-gold alms bowl.
He had cultivated the Buddha Law for over a decade and couldn't sell it off like cabbage.
Whether it was about money or not wasn't important; the most important thing was not to let people disrespect his Buddha Law.
The Asama brothers looked conflicted. Performing a religious service was a considerable expense for both of them.
However, thinking of their mother's terrifying appearance possessed by an Evil Spirit, Asama Taro gritted his teeth and agreed.
"Stay away, don't come close."
Hayato waved his hand, telling the two to stay away.
Then he slowly pushed open the wooden door. A seemingly light door felt unspeakably heavy, like a water-soaked sponge.
Hayato used all his strength and barely managed to push the door open.
Whoosh!
As the wooden door opened, a chilling aura rushed towards him.
Hayato narrowed his eyes and looked into the room.
In the dim room, the curtains had been drawn at some point, and not a trace of light could be seen.
Vaguely, he could see an elderly person lying on the ground.
Wisps of black energy emanated from the old man's body, filling the entire room.
This scene appeared particularly eerie.
Hayato, standing outside the door, felt a tingling sensation on his back and a few drops of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
He felt as if he was currently standing between two completely different worlds.
One step forward was the abyss.
This was the first time he had encountered such a strange situation, and he felt a slight chill in his heart.
Touching the wooden fish inside the cloth bag at his waist, Hayato's heart regained a touch of confidence.
He walked into the bedroom and approached the window.
He wanted to pull open the curtains, but found they seemed to be welded to the window, completely immovable.
Shaking his head, he didn't continue to waste effort.
Hayato slowly walked to the corpse on the ground, glancing at the two brothers standing at the door, afraid to enter.
Methodically, he took out the buddha scriptures and the wooden fish from his bag.