Though voicing complaints, we remained on high alert, staring into the darkness ahead. Jie Yuting's sudden shout had clearly startled everyone awake.

The second brother, the third brother, and Da Xiong scrambled out of their tents in haste. Da Xiong rubbed his eyes, grumbling, "What's going on?

Who was yelling 'Get lost, break up, and clear out'? Why disturb your great Xiong while he sleeps?" We had no time for him, for as the sound of drumming drew nearer, a faint, ethereal blue light began to illuminate the valley stretching horizontally before us.

"The... Parade of a Hundred Demons!

It's actually marching this way..." Da Xiong nearly collapsed in fright. Hearing his words, a ripple of unease passed across our faces, and a cold sweat broke out instantly.

However, Jie Yuting glanced over and said, "What Parade of a Hundred Demons? Those are the scenic area security guards doing their night patrol.

Look at those beams of light; those are flashlights." I looked closely and indeed, the slightly bluish pillars of light swaying in the dark were refractions caused by focused beams cutting through the mist. And that drumming sound seemed to be coming from those same guards.

Because when traveling in the wilderness at night, one never knows which deity might be offended, so the custom in Japan is to beat a drum while walking in the field. This serves two purposes: to keep up one's courage, and to inform the surrounding beasts and spirits: I am coming, please make way.

The principle is much like a Chinese night watchman's rounds—it's simply a particular custom. "Then what do we do?

Why are we still standing here stunned? Hurry up and find a place to hide!" Nie Chuan urged anxiously.

Jie Yuting, however, shook his head and said, "Since they are people, there is no need to hide. On the contrary, we should move towards them." I was bewildered, thinking, wouldn't moving towards them be asking to be caught?

But Jie Yuting didn't see it that way. He exchanged a meaningful look with Gu Tianle behind him, and the two of them walked forward to meet them.

When they reached the intersection of the two valleys, precisely then, seven or eight patrolmen with flashlights also approached. The two groups immediately saw each other.

Surprisingly, the patrol team wasn't startled upon seeing Jie Yuting and Gu Tianle; they merely paused briefly, and the leader spoke a string of Japanese. Judging by his serious tone, I felt like I was watching a scene from a drama where an underground party member is interrogated after being captured by the enemy.

Jie Yuting listened to the question posed by the other side, answered a few sentences, then pointed to the rest of us and replied to some more questions in Japanese. The leading patrolman nodded, took something from his pocket and handed it to Jie Yuting, then led the rest of the team forward and continued on their way.

Nie Chuan and I watched with curiosity. When Jie Yuting returned, we asked him what exactly had transpired.

Jie Yuting smiled faintly and said, "I told them we are travelers from China who have long admired the sunrise over Mount Rokkō, so we specifically came to camp here." "The captain looked at our identification to confirm I wasn't lying, told us to be careful about mischievous monkeys, wild boars, bears, and even yokai roaming the mountains, and gave us this whistle to call them if we ran into trouble." I was momentarily speechless, realizing that all our prior tension stemmed from my own constant feeling of being a trespasser, leading to guilt the moment we were discovered. And now Jie Yuting had shown me that we could simply be tourists.

However, even as tourists, we couldn't allow our every move to be monitored, or we would truly be exposed. Jie Yuting tossed the whistle to Nie Chuan and said, "I think you might need this." Nie Chuan gave Jie Yuting a strange look, unsure of his meaning.

But I understood. In Jie Yuting's eyes, Nie Chuan was a scholar utterly incapable of self-defense, thus requiring means of protection.

After a moment of thought, I asked Jie Yuting, "Did you ask the staff about those statues of the Thunder Cloud Monk erected around here?" Jie Yuting nodded and said, "They told me it’s a type of Japanese yokai, very powerful—even more so than China's Sun Wukong—and also known as a major local philanderer who often breaks into houses to assault young girls. However, there are also some positive rumors suggesting it is the God of Thunder among the creator deities.

There used to be a shrine dedicated to this yokai deep in the mountains, but it has since fallen into ruin." Jie Yuting paused and added, "They also warned me not to approach that shrine, saying bad things would happen." I was left speechless again, thinking how clever these patrolmen were to even know where we intended to go. Furthermore, these people openly warned us about yokai.

I couldn't tell if they were joking or if they had genuinely encountered such beings. As the sound of the drumming gradually faded, sleepiness overtook us.

On the way back to the tents, Da Xiong asked me, "Do you think the Parade of a Hundred Demons we saw on the mountain was actually these patrolmen?" I shook my head and replied, "I don't know, but let's hope so. It would save us a lot of trouble." Finding my answer unhelpful, Da Xiong snorted and went back to his tent, soon beginning to snore.

Lying in the tent, I pondered a few things and gradually drifted off to sleep as well. After the incident with the patrolmen, the rest of the night was surprisingly peaceful.

Nothing strange occurred, and I managed to sleep soundly until dawn. The enemies trapped in the snares made no attempt to attack us during the night; only Lao Si's dark circles were visible even through his heavy sleeping mask.

Thus, the atmosphere among our group shifted from the slight oppression of the previous night to today's ease. Everyone seemed to adopt the demeanor of sightseers, pointing out strange rocks and peculiar trees on the mountain, discussing them ceaselessly.

Only Jie Yuting remained vigilant, occasionally glancing up at the planes overhead while holding his scanner. While admiring the scenery, I pondered the strange singing from last night, starting to suspect it might have been collective auditory hallucination, as the existence of yokai was rather unreliable to consider seriously.

The daytime journey proved uneventful, even tedious. There were no dangerous traps, and the difficult terrain Jie Yuting mentioned was merely some undeveloped valleys.

The jungle here was neither as perilous as a tropical rainforest nor as filled with large predators as the Greater Khingan Range in Northeast China. For seasoned hands like us, a few venomous snakes or spiders were child's play.

It was while dispatching a yellow-bellied snake that Lao Da, the actor playing Gu Tianle, finally showed a performance worthy of our attention. First, he pinned the venomous snake lurking in the grass with a throwing knife, slicing it cleanly in half.

Then, picking up the upper section, he pressed his thumb onto it, extracted the snake's live gall bladder, and swallowed it whole, his fierce expression chilling the blood. Moreover, when the others nearby looked at him, he glared back with eyes so cold they drove them away one by one.

I inwardly thought how fortunate this fellow was on our side; with such ferocity, he could easily have killed us if he were an enemy. Besides the dense foliage and the occasional small animals, the only other notable features were the statues of the Thunder Cloud Monk.

We encountered them every so often as we walked—all roughly the same size, about a meter tall, with large heads, pointed beaks, and bird-like tails. These stone figures appeared to be at least two or three centuries old, covered in moss and creeping vines, looking deeply ancient.

Some statues even had simple wooden shelters built over them, suggesting they once served as small shrines. We continued forward according to plan, stopping twice to drink water and eat.

We spoke little during the journey, and by evening, we were finally approaching our destination. I had expected the shrine to be hidden away, but when Jie Yuting and I climbed a tall tree to survey the location, I realized it was actually quite conspicuous.

The shrine was situated atop a mountain peak, but this particular mountain differed from the surrounding ones: it was only half the height of its neighbors, and its summit was a circular platform. Although the platform was covered in lush vegetation, we could still see the corners of ancient architecture peeking out from among the towering, old-growth trees.

What was strange was that these buildings did not appear decrepit or neglected by time; instead, they radiated an ancient yet upright presence. The main color of the structures was red, with deep yellow glazed tiles on the roofs, giving them a distinct temple appearance.

I confirmed this with Jie Yuting, and he nodded, saying, "It is indeed a temple structure, but Japanese temples aren't like the secluded, purely Buddhist sites in China. All sorts of people could reside in them; powerful figures like Daimyō and Shoguns often stayed in temples.

For instance, the renowned Uesugi Kenshin originated from a monastic background." I nodded, affirming that I had seen similar historical records. After observing the topography, we moved forward again.

Ahead lay an even denser forest, but to our surprise, we discovered a narrow path winding through it.