9 Blessing The Buddha's Palm To The Intended Person

It had been a year since Baishi Shū started to battle evil spirits.

He felt that evil spirits were the most shameless, barefaced existence he had ever met up until now. When the sun was high in the sky, they would go into hiding and never show themselves again until the middle of the night when the Yin energy was at its peak. If they were injured, they would take advantage of the favorable atmosphere, coupled with the external stimulation and their resentment, to absorb a large amount of Yin energy in a short time and go berserk. 

Only a handful of evil spirits would violate this normalcy and appear in front of the living no matter if it was day or night. The best example would be the Onryō in front of them. 

With his Divine Eye, Baishi Shū could see that Asada Senna had worn out its Yin energy considerably with her barrage of amulets. However, the Onryō was triggered when she responded to its question. Its grudge and jealousy rose anew as it absorbed a large amount of Yin Energy from its surroundings, which not only healed it to full health but also powered it up. 

'See, this is what you get for babbling too much and not getting rid of it fast. Serves you right!' Baishi Shū chided inwardly as he fought back his renewed desire to nibble on sunflower seeds. He even began to consider having a slice of watermelon instead. He knew now was not the right timing, but would it really hurt to snack on something while watching Asada Senna settle the malevolent spirit? 

Just when Baishi Shū was immersed in his own thoughts, the tide of the battle before him began to shift again. After all, Asada Senna was a miko from a large shrine, hence even though she made some slip-ups, she remained calm. Staying cautious while swiftly moving backward, she continued to hurl barrage after barrage of amulets to fritter away the Onryō's Yin energy as she shouted, "Ahh! Baishi-san, please help me! Help me to kill this Onryō!" 

Standing behind the camera, Baishi Shū thought in his heart, 'She must be joking, right?'

He was able to control his Divine Eye with practiced ease, so he knew that Asada Senna still had a comfortable reserve of amulets in her pouch to spare. There was no way she could not handle a runaway evil spirit. 

When an evil spirit went on a rampage, it usually would put a huge toll on its body. It first had to empty or even overdraw the resentment that formed the building blocks of its body to absorb more Yin energy. It was a double-edged sword approach, so there was no way the Onryō could use the same method for the second time. If left aside, the evil spirit would eventually disappear. Considering all the facts, Baishi Shū was certain that Asada Senna could handle the Onryō all by herself. He reckoned that the reason she called him must be that she wanted him to help her do something for free...

"I'll pay you half of my remuneration!" 

"Alright! Hang on there, Asada-san! I'm coming!" Without any hesitation, Baishi Shū emerged from behind the camera.

His movement was not as quick as hers, but his steps were firm. He passed Asada Senna and went straight for the Onryō whose face was contorted grotesquely beyond recognition. Then, before the Onryō could do anything, he thrust his palm forward with his skill, the Palm of Great Brilliance, activated. 

"Time to hit the road, mister."

Baishi Shū created the Palm of Great Brilliance by himself by summarizing the scriptures he read. In essence, it was a skill that gathered a huge amount of spiritual power in his palm. It did not possess any destructive power and only had a purifying effect. 

At that moment, a warm light as if Buddha had descended filled the air. Everything in sight was dyed white and bright as day. Baishi Shū did not see a "happy smile" emerging on the Onryō's contorted face. It evaporated instantly, and even the grass that it stepped on and turned black reverted back to green again.

The world fell silent.

Baishi Shū clasped his palms together and murmured as the light ebbed away, "Amitabha."

'Indeed, something is wrong with the skill.'

According to Baishi Shū, the Palm of Great Brilliance was supposed to cleanse the evil spirit of its grudge, leaving a pure soul behind. Buddha taught him to treat everyone as an equal and with compassion, so even if it was an evil spirit, it should at least have the chance to say its final words. However, the Onryō followed the fire ghost's footsteps and went back to Buddha's side without saying anything.

It occurred to him that it was not the fire ghost or the Onryō that had an affinity with Buddha, but his skill.

He made up his mind. From now on, he would rename the skill as the Buddha Blessing Palm. Anyone who had been hit by this skill would be blessed enough to meet Buddha straightaway! 

"Baishi Shū-san, where is the Onryō?" Asada Senna asked, her voice thick with disbelief. 

She stared blankly at the empty open space, and were it not for the fluttering ashes of her amulets and the fact that she could feel how much her reserve of amulets in her pouch had shrunk, she would have thought that she was hallucinating.

'What's going on?'

"The Onryō has already departed to the Pure Land," Baishi Shū replied. 

He thought he just said something very normal, but Asada Senna did not know how to reply.

Therefore, she just clapped her hands.

...

Half an hour later, at Nishimura's house.

After bidding goodbye to Mrs. Nishimura, Baishi Shū and Asada Senna hurriedly walked out of her house and heaved sighs of relief.

Even though they were just doing their job, they indeed had avenged Mr. Nishimura. Mrs. Nishimura had been waiting at the police station after she learned that Asada Senna was going to exorcise the evil spirit. After they told her that the Onryō that killed Mr. Nishimura had been eliminated, she broke into tears.

To prevent the same thing from happening again, Baishi Shū and Asada Senna decided to walk Mrs. Nishimura home. When they arrived at her home, Mrs. Nishimura took out a pile of money to give them a reward. However, they turned down her offer.

After all, Asada Senna had already received her due reward from the police, so she was not going to accept the money from Mrs. Nishimura. Needless to say, the most important thing was that it was foreseeable that Mrs. Nishimura had to raise her child alone after the death of her husband. Therefore, she was much more in need of money compared to them.

Standing beneath a dim, orange streetlight, Asada Senna turned to Baishi Shū and said, "Thank you for your assistance, Baishi-san. Without you, things might've ended really badly. By the way, are you going back to the temple now?"

"Yes, I'm going back to rest as I still have morning service and school to attend tomorrow morning," Baishi Shū replied. After that, he stretched his arm forward with his palm facing upward. "My commission."

Asada Senna rolled her eyes and dug her hands into her pouch.

Even though the monk had a very high spiritual power, he was materialistic. When they faced the Onryō, he hesitated when she first asked for his help. It was only when she said she would give him half of her reward that he decided to step out of the sidelines. Then, he eliminated the runaway Onryō in one hit.

'Hmph, stupid monk,' Asada Senna chided Baishi Shū inwardly. She took out a pile of yen and smacked it hard into Baishi Shū's hand.

"Here!"

Baishi Shū's eyes widened in disbelief when he saw the pile of yen in his hand. He hastily activated his Divine Eye and began counting the money.

'Twenty-five! All of these are 10,000 yen bills, so there's a total of 250,000 yen here! They earn 500,000 yen by helping the police to exorcise the evil spirit?'

Baishi Shū's heart ached when he thought about the wage for his exorcism service. He had worked for a year tirelessly, yet he could only manage to amass half a million yen. He intended to use the money to repair the Buddha's statue in the temple this weekend. He did not expect that the miko who came from a large shrine would earn his one year's worth of income just by eliminating an evil spirit once. 

A monk only wept when deeply grieving, and Baishi Shū almost cried. 

He knew that the shrine priests and monks from large shrines or temples could easily make a lot of money, but he did not expect that it would be so easy. 

'No, this is not fair. I have to double up the price of my service! How about 20,000 yen? But will my customers complain if I double my price suddenly?'

Baishi Shū felt a little worried. 

Before they parted ways, Asada Senna asked curiously, "Oh yeah, Baishi Shū-san, you said you are from Reimei Temple, aren't you? Actually, where is it?"

"Oh, it is inside the Yoyogi Forest," Baishi Shū answered simply. 

'Yoyogi Forest? Isn't that where the Meiji Shrine is? There is a temple over there?' Asada Senna was stunned as a large question mark appeared on her face.