Chapter 136 Leaving the Island

"It seems you have a visitor!" said Fang You.

Abe Seiya opened the door in bewilderment. Standing before him was an old man, accompanied by a small boy.

The moment the old man saw Abe Seiya, he dropped to his knees. "I heard that Lord Abe Seiya has returned. Could you please save my grandson? My grandson accidentally fell under a curse, and he will likely lose his life in seven days!"

As he spoke, the old man began to kowtow repeatedly.

Abe Seiya hurriedly bent down and helped the old man up. "If there is any problem, I will do everything in my power to resolve it!"

Trembling slightly, the old man picked up a videotape he was holding. "My grandson watched this and seemed to be entangled by something. Please save us!"

Abe Seiya took the videotape from the old man's hands, examined it repeatedly, and seemed to understand something. "Leave the child here. I cannot guarantee that the curse will be lifted, but I will try my best!"

Overwhelmed with gratitude, the old man pushed the child toward Abe Seiya. "Then I leave my child, Taishan, in your hands, my lord!"

"I understand. You may leave now," Abe Seiya said softly as he took charge of the boy, Taishan.

With tear-filled eyes, the old man looked at his child one last time and then departed.

"What is this all about?" Fang You asked.

Observing the old man's earlier reaction, Fang You guessed that Abe Seiya still held a certain prestige and reputation in Tokyo. Just as Abe Seiya had mentioned, the Onmyo House was once a rather renowned family of Onmyoji in Tokyo.

"If you want to know what's going on, let's watch a videotape!" Holding the videotape, Abe Seiya patted the old, dusty VCR in the room and shoved the tape inside. Then, he instructed Taishan to sit nearby.

Images began to appear on the screen:

First was the image of a woman combing her hair. Suddenly, another young girl appeared in the mirror, approaching the woman.

When the woman combing her hair saw the young girl behind her, her expression held a mixture of tenderness and terror.

The scene then immediately cut to a well. After a brief pause, a pair of hands stretched out from the well, followed by a woman climbing out.

The woman crawled slowly toward the screen, her long hair obscuring her face. At that exact moment, the woman revealed her eyes, looked directly at Taishan, and broke into a grin. With that, the footage ended.

"That felt a bit eerie," Fang You said, looking at the screen. A lingering sense of unease settled in his heart, especially because the woman in the video seemed to have been staring directly at the little boy, Taishan.

"Congratulations, you've also been cursed!" Abe Seiya suddenly remarked to Fang You.

"What? I've been cursed too?" Fang You asked, completely baffled.

"Sadako is one of the top ten evil spirits in Tokyo. Many Onmyoji families have been helpless against her, and she has long plagued the region. The Abe family sealed Sadako away for a very long time, but it seems she has broken the seal and returned to the mortal realm. To lift the curse, we must seal Sadako once again. Otherwise, once the seven days are up, Sadako's power will be enough to drag anyone straight into hell!"

Abe Seiya said this with a mischievous smile.

"So just now, you deliberately let me open the videotape and get cursed, just so I would stay and help you deal with Sadako's problem?" Fang You suddenly realized.

"Don't be afraid. I know the method to seal Sadako, but it requires going to a very distant place. Besides, now that I've watched the videotape, I'm cursed too. Resealing Sadako is our only option!" Abe Seiya smiled and said.

"You really are full of tricks!" Fang You had initially thought Abe Seiya possessed some genuine prestige, but now he felt that Abe Seiya was nothing more than a cunning trickster.

Glancing at the little boy, Taishan, Fang You let out a sigh. "Let's get this over with quickly. I need to get back to the Eastern Land as soon as possible!"

In truth, Fang You was deeply worried about Zhang Shengnan. They had only just established their relationship, and he had decided to transition from a fully ordained Taoist to a half-ordained one—stepping out of seclusion and into the mortal world—only to be dragged to Tokyo by this fellow and subjected to all of this madness.

"Child, are you afraid?" Abe Seiya asked the little boy, Taishan.

The boy shook his head. "The Onmyoji my grandfather trusts will surely find a way!"

Abe Seiya smiled. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to you."

After packing up a few essentials, Fang You and Abe Seiya stepped out of the dilapidated Onmyo House.

Taking young Taishan with them, the three of them hailed a taxi on the street. Abe Seiya whispered a few words to the driver. At first, the driver looked surprised, but upon noticing the traditional Onmyo-style attire worn by both Fang You and Abe Seiya, he seemed to understand and nodded in acknowledgment.

As the taxi began to move forward smoothly, Fang You asked, "Where are we going now?"

Abe Seiya replied unhurriedly, "Sadako Island."

"Sadako Island?"

"Yes."

Abe Seiya explained, "It was named after Sadako. After all, Sadako is one of the most infamous vengeful spirits, and her abilities are nearly on par with those of a full-fledged yokai."

"As for Sadako's background, it was quite tragic. Sadako's mother was a woman possessing extraordinary abilities beyond those of ordinary people—much like Onmyo sorcery, she could accomplish things unimaginable to normal humans."

"However, because those who differ from the norm are inevitably treated as outcasts, and unable to bear the gazes of others, Sadako's mother chose to jump off a cliff shortly after Sadako was born."

"Sadako inherited her mother's preternatural abilities. This uncontrollable power gradually pushed Sadako into the very same predicament her mother had faced."

"The people around her treated Sadako like a monster; her teachers viewed her as an ill omen; and even her own father grew terrified of her power."

"During a gathering, Sadako was mocked by her classmates. In a state of emotional agitation, she unleashed her power, blasting the students right in front of her backward. One of the students suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died on the spot."

"Unable to endure Sadako's terrifying abilities any longer, her father lured her to the abandoned well in their backyard and, catching her off guard, shoved her inside, slamming the heavy well lid shut immediately afterward."

"The last thing Sadako saw was her father's distorted face, followed by endless, boundless darkness."

"Yet, Sadako's powers did not vanish. She survived in the well for seven days and nights through sheer ability, and her intense resentment forged her soul into something immensely powerful."

"Combined with her innate psychic powers from life, a twist of fate caused Sadako's resentment to be carried out via a videotape. From then on, using the tape as a medium, anyone who watched Sadako's tape could not survive past seven days—until one day, a mighty master from the Abe family managed to seal her back into the well. But that was only a temporary measure and could not last forever."