Ogun didn't interfere with these matters. He sat on the ground with his eyes closed, regulating his breathing.
Old Man Yashida also remained silent.
The well's opening wasn't large. At most six soldiers could work at once. They exerted all their strength, pushing the stone slab outward bit by bit.
Twelve soldiers split into two shifts, taking turns pushing the stone.
"BOOM!" When the stone slab was finally pushed completely aside, before the soldiers even had time to glance into the well, a stream of pitch-black miasma shot out from within. Like oil erupting from an oil well, it surged violently toward the sky before instantly falling back, wrapping around three soldiers at the well's edge and dragging them down. The three only managed a single scream before falling completely silent.
Ogun was very close to the well, but he showed no intention of rescue. Instead, he watched with great interest.
After waiting for over ten seconds, he waved, produced a talisman, and watched it float in mid-air and rapidly burn. He shook his head with some dissatisfaction.
"Not resentment from her true form?" he muttered to himself. Then, moving like lightning, he pushed three more soldiers into the well.
He was using their lives to wear down the accumulated resentment in the well.
The remaining six soldiers went on full alert. Ogun was using their lives as filler—this wasn't complicated; everyone could see it. Now this strange character wanted them dead, but they wouldn't just surrender.
The six soldiers carefully guarded against Ogun while forming a semicircle to surround Old Man Yashida. This cash cow couldn't be allowed to die.
"No need to worry. Those were necessary sacrifices," Ogun explained—rather unusually—but it still couldn't dispel the soldiers' concerns.
Several soldiers kept their guns pointed at him.
Ogun didn't care. He glanced down into the well.
Such good luck!
From his perspective, he could pierce through the well's obscuring barriers to see Sadako's true form.
At this moment, a golden Chinese character "镇" (Suppress) was firmly holding down Sadako's true form. No matter how she struggled, she couldn't move an inch.
After the accumulated resentment in the well was completely consumed, this female ghost posed no threat to him whatsoever.
Old Man Yashida had said his dutiful son found someone to seal Sadako. At first, Ogun hadn't believed it. In modern society, it was very difficult to find someone with such abilities. Even in his own era, anyone who could seal a ghost of Sadako's caliber would be a figure of considerable importance.
Ogun was an old man who'd lived from the end of Japan's Warring States period to the present day. Counting just his soul, he'd lived for four hundred years.
By relying on his psychic mutant abilities, he continuously refined his spirit body and performed soul transfers to extend his lifespan.
Someone with Professor Charles's high moral standards would never do such things. Ogun had no such obstacles—he wasn't even a modern person. Modern moral concepts couldn't restrict him at all.
Soul transfer was very convenient, but various spells and techniques had to be relearned after each transfer.
Every time he performed a soul transfer, he had to hide in the deep mountains and retrain all his mastered abilities from scratch. This was extremely time-consuming.
If his skill level was too low, he didn't dare emerge. Each transfer—whether adapting his soul to the new body or retraining spells—required considerable time.
Earth's environment was truly too harsh! Training was becoming increasingly difficult. Back during the Edo shogunate era, retraining took at most twenty years to basically recover his original level. Now? After twenty years, the new body was already old and still hadn't recovered to seventy percent of his former strength.
He originally knew sealing techniques too. Having lived so many years and traveled the world, what didn't he know?
But knowing was one thing—due to various limiting factors in his current transferred body, he still hadn't learned sealing techniques yet.
According to Ogun's established understanding, modern society's magical energy was diluted to the extreme. With his own limited time, he'd better focus on life-preservation skills.
Never mind what he'd boasted to the old man—under normal circumstances, he'd find it very difficult to seal Sadako. At least Ogun couldn't do it now. Specialization mattered—his expertise wasn't in this direction. Killing was fine; sealing was hard.
Now this was equivalent to picking up a bargain.
"Look." He gestured at the well's opening. The well remained completely still.
"Things are quiet down there. I need you to go down and bring out the bones."
After he finished speaking, the scene fell silent for a full two minutes.
Old Man Yashida slowly spoke: "Follow his instructions."
The remaining six soldiers were finally mobilized. They had to descend to the well's bottom and dig out Sadako Yamamura's bones.
In Ogun and Bella's eyes, Sadako was sealed within her corpse. But to ordinary people, this well contained only a large mass of foul-smelling sludge and a corpse that had been dead for many years.
After confirming there was no danger, the soldiers installed pulleys and ropes. A slim soldier discarded his weapon, was lowered on a rope to the well's bottom, and began searching for Sadako Yamamura's remains.
Ogun, meanwhile, drew a prohibition magic circle with Eastern characteristics nearby.
Bella hid in the shadows, sneering coldly.
She'd figured out Ogun's scheme—this guy wanted to turn Sadako into a shikigami!
You had to understand that Sadako Yamamura's power was no less than Alessa's. Used properly, she'd absolutely be a formidable fighter.
But how could Bella watch Ogun succeed? Who had sealed Sadako? She had! If she could seal, naturally she could release...
She watched stealthily as they dismantled the well, as Sadako Yamamura's remains were wrapped in cotton cloth and slowly dragged up from the well's bottom.
She also saw Old Man Yashida's extremely excited eyes. The old man definitely wanted his body to recover, then go home and give his dutiful son a surprise, right?
Sadako Yamamura's corpse slowly appeared before everyone. The soldiers exclaimed in shock.
The body wasn't much different from when she was alive. Her skin was darkened, her face a pale white. Aside from some torn clothing, she seemed just like a normal person. But how was that possible? This person had been dead for over thirty years!
Not to mention turning to ash—at the very least, she shouldn't be in this state of appearing only one or two years dead.
"Don't worry. Bring her to my side." Ogun pointed at the magic circle he'd drawn.
Those employed by Old Man Yashida were all desperadoes, each with blood on their hands. At this moment, they felt little fear. They lifted Sadako's corpse and slowly approached the magic circle.
"Release!" Just as Sadako's body was only three steps from Ogun, Bella pulled the rug out from under him, directly releasing the psionic energy that had been suppressing Sadako.
Instantly, an eerie wind filled the scene. Countless sharp, piercing wails appeared all around. Several soldiers couldn't help but listen closely—the sounds seemed to hide strange whispers.
At this moment, with the well as the center, everything within a hundred-meter radius became pitch black. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Dense, pungent corpse stench filled everyone's nostrils, as if they'd entered hell itself.
Ogun detected Bella this time. The commotion was too large—there was no hiding it. But he had no time to turn around and look. All his attention focused straight ahead.
Sadako Yamamura had broken free! And she was only one meter away from him!