Spell Return: The Wheel of Time

Chapter 346 The Wave Rises

Finally arrived.

Although they are said to be ancient ruins, in fact, they look like some extremely dilapidated ruins standing on this open space covered with weeds. Those broken stones, most of which are not even as high as a person, are the last traces of the so-called ruins.

After all, this place was once a battlefield. Perhaps some other buildings were erected here over time, but now all that remains are stones.

All other miscellaneous things have long been destroyed by the erosion of time, so apart from the archaeological value after its discovery, there is no other benefit here.

But now, in this strange weather, those ruins seem to connect the reality and the unknown world after the fog, and the atmosphere suddenly becomes indescribably depressing.

"Why is the fog getting thicker? Could it be..."

Kamiyama Ena seemed to have thought of something, and turned her head to look at Shen Yuanyi, trying to seek an answer from him. However, she was overthinking this. A cursed spirit that can change the weather in the world is not something that a small fry can do.

This fog may have some power from the curse spirit, but it was definitely not created by it on its own initiative. If it were, then this thick fog could be considered its domain, and Shen Yuanyi should have noticed it the first time he stepped into it.

"No, this is just the weather. Go get ready for the shoot. I'm going to start getting ready too."

The crew members began to get busy, and Shenyuan also began to use the materials prepared earlier to carve the magic circle. Of course, those rituals were useless. Spells did have similar "rituals", but they were completely different from the exorcism rituals in the eyes of ordinary people.

What Shen Yuanyi is doing is setting up a barrier. The effect of the barrier is also very simple, which is to replace a certain concentration of cursed power in the area, so that ordinary people can also see the cursed spirits within the range of the barrier.

The principle is the same as that of ordinary people who are caught in a curse event. They can also see the curse spirit when they are under the erosion of the curse or in extreme situations. Because of passive or active reasons, the concentration of their own curse power temporarily increases, so they can see the curse with their own eyes.

But there is no need to worry. Only vague concepts of spells are initially disclosed through this program, and the existence of cursed spirits is still something that these machines cannot capture. But this will also become a loophole and pave the way for further disclosure of concepts such as curses and cursed spirits.

When Shen Genyi had almost finished setting up the barrier, director Fujitani Yosuke had already come to see Shen Genyi with the script he had urgently revised. Since the content of the program had to be changed, the original direction of the script naturally had to be changed as well.

Shen Yuan finished reading this thin script. Rather than calling it a script, it was more like a framework for the filming of the next program, and its structure was very reasonable. It can only be said that Fujitani Yosuke is indeed very capable to have his current position.

"Very good, let's shoot it this way. I've set up a barrier around it. In the script, we can film the real reactions of the staff members when they see the cursed spirits in panic."

When they learned that they would soon see the vengeful spirits, or the "cursed spirits" mentioned by the Onmyoji, the crew members were still agitated, but after all, they had prepared themselves mentally, and there were no cases of people collapsing in fear.

"Megumi, Yuji, are you ready?"

In order to use this program to initially publicize the concept of spells, some means are naturally needed to divert some of the public's attention, and Yuji and Megumi are part of the plan. Young onmyoji, supernatural powers... all of this sounds easily reminiscent of some hot-blooded comics.

In today's age of entertainment to death, if you want to reduce the fear brought by supernatural things like spells, then turning part of it into entertainment is a good choice, just like a film and television work that Shen Yuanyi once watched, in which the superhumans were no different from idol stars.

Of course, the world of curses does not need to be so thorough. Entertainment is only a temporary measure to reduce the turmoil that will be caused in the early stages of disclosure. Simply put, it is to give millions of people a firm understanding: curses are just a kind of disaster that will continue to occur, but sorcerers can easily solve them with their own strength.

That's why Shenyuanyi popularized the concept of cursed spirits to prevent the public from confusing them with non-existent things like ghosts and arousing their natural fear.

This plan is unfamiliar to the people in this world, but to Shen Yuanyi, he has had experience with this. In his own time and space, the world of spells used similar methods to perform public spells.

Therefore, Shenyuanyi only needs to cash in on his successful experience, and then absorb and learn from the process of developing it to the final stage. This experience is extremely valuable for any time and space where spells are destined to be unable to hide.

"Let us unveil the new world."

----

After receiving a call from a friend, Ryuya Takigawa immediately finished his lunch at the restaurant downstairs, then ran back to the house in slippers, and hurriedly turned on his computer.

Ryu Takigawa is also a "parasite" without a job, but the difference is that the amount he relies on his parents is very substantial. To put it simply, his parents gave him a small apartment so that he can live a peaceful life as a rent collector.

And Takigawa Ryuya had no ambition to get rich. The money he collected from rent was enough for him to live a comfortable life. He became a otaku immersed in his own world and a veteran who surfed the Internet all day long.

Naturally, Takigawa Ryuya is also very familiar with and passionate about the supernatural topic that is now popular in Japan. As a passionate young man who has not yet gotten rid of his "middle school" mentality, he has also fantasized about possessing supernatural powers and becoming a hero admired by everyone.

For most people, supernatural topics can only be used as conversation pieces and entertainment projects, but Takigawa Ryuya is able to devote a lot of energy to it because of his special situation. Yes, Takigawa Ryuya is also a "firm believer" who firmly believes that supernatural powers are real.

For this reason, he became one of the earliest users to discuss supernatural topics and met a group of like-minded people on various forums. At this moment, the person who made him rush back in a hurry was a good friend whom he met on the Internet and in real life.

The reason why this phone call made him so hurried and he couldn't help but take out his mobile phone to check the various messages he received on the way back was because that friend brought him a big news.

This episode of Qiwenbaijian seems to really involve supernatural powers!

Naturally, Takigawa Ryuya also knew about this program, and he was also its loyal viewer. Of course, like many male viewers, he also watched it for Ena-chan, and then was attracted by the wonderful show and became a loyal viewer.

But the only thing that made him dissatisfied was that the local legends involving the supernatural that appeared in every episode of "Strange Stories" eventually became debunked rumors without exception.

There were a few times when it was difficult to tell the truth from the false, and the programs still caused a lot of discussion among the audience after they were released. However, in Takigawa Ryuya's opinion, there was no conclusive evidence, so they did not count.

But this time it seemed different. The excitement of the senders could be seen from the bombardment of messages. Their speech was incoherent. Moreover, the posts in the forum he saw on his phone just now kept appearing as if the screen was being refreshed.

Takigawa Ryuya, who had forced himself to watch the show on his phone outside, returned to his home, turned on his computer, quickly started it up, and clicked on the premiere of the Qiwen Baijian online platform to which he had subscribed.

"Lard bones, ..." A pleasant ringtone rang out, and Takigawa Ryuya watched the familiar opening animation of Qiwen Baijian on the screen while answering the call.

"Tatsuya, are you watching?"

After receiving an affirmative answer from Takigawa Ryuya, the friend on the other end of the phone, who also believed in and was interested in the supernatural, could not contain his excitement and threw out a series of words.

"This is amazing! It turns out that supernatural powers really exist. Those Yin Yang masters who only sell blessing and blessing peripherals and perform some useless rituals are actually real..."

Takigawa Ryuya was completely confused. What was Onmyoji, what was cursed spirit... those familiar or unfamiliar terms left him confused. However, his friend's unprecedented excitement also made him feel an irrepressible expectation.

"Today, our goal is to explore an ancient site that was left over from a battlefield hundreds of years ago. Its history..."

The show officially began with the familiar opening remarks, and then Kamiyama Ena's flawless beauty at close range occupied most of the shot. Takigawa Ryu did not slowly appreciate the goddess's shots as he did in the past, but started to fast forward and skipped the previous opening plot until the protagonists arrived at their destination, a village.

"Killed a wild boar with your bare hands?"

Takigawa Ryuya followed Kamiyama Ena's camera and learned this fact from the villagers who were rushing to watch the excitement. Then he continued watching with the same skepticism as countless viewers who saw this place for the first time.

When he really saw the huge wild boar lying on the ground and the pink-haired boy surrounded by the villagers, Ryuya Takigawa couldn't help but have an idea.

"Is this production crew crazy? They created such an obviously fake program effect. Do they think the audience are fools? No, could it be that..."

In the footage, Kamiyama Ena also showed completely genuine surprise, and then there was a clipped interview footage, with the interviewees being the villagers who had witnessed the boy carrying the killed wild boar into the village.

Then the scene changed again, showing a conversation between Kamiyama Ena and the young boy, and a term appeared in their conversation that shocked Takigawa Ryuya.

Onmyoji, or the nickname that the young man called him - sorcerer.

"From this young man, we learned that Onmyoji or sorcerers really exist. On this journey to explore the ruins of the ancient battlefield of xx, we also invited this young Onmyoji and his teacher to provide us with the most professional guidance..."

Then a figure appeared in the camera, and Takigawa Ryuya's first feeling about it was, where did they find this star? And which work's character is this cosplaying?
The man's appearance was really not what we would see in everyday life, but strangely, he didn't look as exaggerated as the people at the comic convention.

White hair, black uniform, and a black pendant on one ear. Especially when the pair of ice-blue eyes appeared on the screen, coupled with the impact of that face, the barrage of comments at this moment immediately poured out like crazy.

Takigawa Ryuya had no choice but to turn off the barrage, and then started watching Kamiyama Ena, who was the one asking the curious questions, and had a conversation with her that he cared about most.

"That vengeful spirit just now really looked so scary?"

"? What resentful spirit..."

Ryuya Takigawa suspected that he might have missed something, but he was very sure that he had not fast-forwarded since the main content began. Just as he was about to rewind to check, the conversation continued.

"To be precise, there is no such thing as ghosts. The correct name for them should be cursed spirits. Don't be so superstitious. For example, the low-level cursed spirit just now, although it looks like a skeleton, it is definitely not transformed from anyone's corpse..."

Takigawa Ryuya looked at the man on the screen and began to talk incessantly. He seemed to be constantly telling Kamiyama Ena or the audience to believe in science and not to be superstitious about ghosts and gods, but how could the rest of his words have anything to do with science?
Ena Kamiyama caresses the big white dog-shaped shikigami that no one else can see. Two student Onmyojis... the sorcerers appear and fight with invisible beings in the mist. After the man sets up the barrier, the camera covers the panic expressions of most crew members.

Shot within the shot, this technique is relatively rare in variety shows, not to mention that the entire crew is exposed to the audience. It would be a broadcast accident at other times, but it is unexpectedly very appropriate at this moment, as if... there is really something that cannot be seen through the camera, appearing in the eyes of everyone on the scene.

But this also caused a disagreement among the audience. Some were convinced by the real performances of the people in the camera. They believed that the cursed spirits really existed, but ordinary people and machines could not record them.

There is also a part of people, or should I say the majority of people, who just smiled knowingly, thinking that this was a new attempt by the program team, and praised their realistic acting skills, and then continued to watch with a spectator mentality.

Strictly speaking, Takigawa Ryuya should be the first type, but at this moment he had strong doubts in his heart. This was precisely because he had a strong belief and a doubtful mind. He did not want even ninety-nine percent certainty, he wanted one hundred percent proof that supernatural power really existed!
So question it first, and then go explore it!
"Ding-dong-"

The phone suddenly started to ring again. Takigawa Ryuya picked it up and saw that it was some post links forwarded to him by his friend.

After clicking on it, the page jumped to the expanded content of the post. I quickly skimmed through the content of a few lines. Most of what was said on it were some people's self-narrated experiences. Without exception, they were all about some strange things they had seen, but it seemed that they had only seen them for a brief glimpse.

Therefore, they would think that they were dazzled and mistook some wild cat or something like that for an animal. But now, seeing what the Onmyoji, who was not sure whether he was true or not, said, most ordinary people could not see cursed spirits.

This seemed to be the proof of their past experiences. Takigawa Ryu didn't know whether these were true or not. After all, there were too many people who talked nonsense on the Internet. But soon his friend sent him another link.

"see this!"

Takigawa Ryuya clicked on it, but this time it was not a recollection of his own experience, but a sharing post with a hint of bragging.

"Haha, let me tell you, there is a school for sorcerers. I'm studying there now. We all know Yuji Itadori and Zenin Kei from the show. They are our classmates..."

It looks no different from those posts that vividly describe one's own bizarre experiences, but Takigawa Ryuya, an experienced surfer, has tasted some details that are difficult to fake.

"Tatsuya, what do you think?"

The young man's eyes were brighter and firmer than ever before. He had never felt his beliefs were so unwavering.

"I want to find them!"

(End of this chapter)