213: Chapter 213 Inheritance, Truth, and Reward

Lu Cheng's voice pierced through the night, landing in the center of the Torii.

Jinguji Ayane was still dancing.

The bells chimed crisply.

She stood barefoot in the muddy water, the hem of her red and white Miko robes stained with black, her long hair hanging down, her face almost transparently pale.

A Bright Mirror hung before her.

The mirror's light gradually absorbed the Qi and blood from her body.

The light was very fine, like countless invisible threads.

From her wrists, ankles, neck, and brow, they slowly pierced into the mirror, like a string Puppet.

When Lu Cheng saw those threads, his eyes completely chilled.

So that's how it is...

He gripped the kusanagi sword tightly.

The sword's white light suddenly surged.

The village chief's face changed.

"Stop!"

The one-armed blacksmith swung his hammer, trying to block Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng stepped forward.

The Dragon scales of the Holy Dragon Armament lit up, and the black-red flames of Flame Demon Transformation spread along his shoulders and back.

He didn't even glance at the blacksmith.

One punch.

Boom!

The blacksmith, along with his hammer, flew backward, crashing into a nearby wooden house.

The wooden house collapsed with a crash, and countless faint screams came from inside.

Monsters from all around lunged again.

But the kusanagi sword's light had already spread.

Lu Cheng swung his sword.

White light swept across the front of the Torii.

The moment those monsters were cut apart, all the black threads of resurrection on their bodies snapped.

Bodies that could have climbed up again and again finally turned into ash this time.

The village chief's face began to contort.

"That's the life of Tianyuan Village!"

"You can't cut it!"

Lu Cheng did not answer.

He came before Jinguji Ayane.

The light in the Bright Mirror seemed to sense the threat and tightened abruptly.

Jinguji Ayane's body trembled, and blood spilled from her lips.

Lu Cheng's eyes darkened.

"Still trying to steal?"

He raised his hand and plunged the kusanagi sword into the ground.

Boom!

Sword light burst from the ground, spreading outwards.

The threads of light piercing Jinguji Ayane's body snapped one after another before the kusanagi sword, like cobwebs struck by the scorching sun.

The Bright Mirror vibrated violently.

A blurry human face appeared on the mirror's surface.

That face had no features.

Only a blank space.

But within that blankness, countless overlapping Whispers emerged.

"Leave the Miko."

"Core, return to your place."

"The village continues."

Lu Cheng looked up.

"Shut up."

He pulled out the kusanagi sword and slashed it between the Bright Mirror and Jinguji Ayane.

Crack!

The last thread of light snapped.

Jinguji Ayane's dance stopped.

The bells on her ankles gave a final soft chime.

Ding.

The next second, she collapsed as if losing all support, kneeling in the muddy water.

Her hands propped on the ground, her shoulders trembled slightly.

Her long hair fell to the side of her face, obscuring her expression.

After a long while, she slowly raised her head.

In her black eyes, there was bewilderment, weakness, and a dazedness as if she had just returned from a very distant place.

"Is this..."

"Over?"

She looked down at her hands.

Her fingers were still trembling.

"Am I... alive?"

Lu Cheng stood before her, looking down at her.

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Oh."

"It sounds like you don't really want to live."

Jinguji Ayane froze.

She opened her mouth, unsure how to answer for a moment.

Did she want to live?

Of course she did.

Who truly wants to die?

She also wanted to eat desserts, to continue exploring the Commercial Streets of Dragon Country, to pet Snow Spirit, to try Douzhi again, and then earnestly tell others that it was indeed terrifying.

She wanted to leave the shrine and see more places.

She wanted to be like an ordinary girl, secretly doing things that didn't conform to Miko etiquette when the Elders weren't watching.

But the word she heard most often since childhood was 'mission'.

The Mikos of the Jinguji family were born for this day.

She had lived until now just to come to Pseudo-Takamagahara and replace the core of the First Generation Miko.

She had always thought there was no choice in the matter.

So when the ritual began, she didn't even struggle.

But now, when asked... she suddenly couldn't speak.

Her chest, however, ached terribly for a moment...

Seeing her silence, Lu Cheng squatted down and flicked her forehead with his finger.

The force wasn't heavy.

Yet it made Jinguji Ayane freeze.

"But not living isn't an option."

"You haven't given me the benefits you promised yet."

Jinguji Ayane stared at him blankly.

"Benefits..."

Lu Cheng was self-righteous.

"That's right."

"You dragged me into this ghostly place, then made me help you guard the door and fight monsters."

"Now you're just going to die?"

"That's not right, is it?"

Jinguji Ayane lowered her head, her eyes slowly turning red.

She could have just died like that.

Completing her mission cleanly.

Like the First Generation Miko, becoming the new core of this Pseudo-Takamagahara.

Everyone would say she was great.

The Jinguji family would engrave her name on the Memorial Tablets deep within the shrine.

Later Mikos might recite her name during festivals.

But now, having been pulled back by Lu Cheng, she suddenly felt that wasn't good at all.

She still wanted to live, very much so.

So much so that she felt ashamed.

She raised a hand to wipe the corner of her eye, whispering:

"Can I... still live?"

Lu Cheng looked at her, his tone uncharacteristically serious.

"You are already alive."

"Now just make sure these ghostly things don't drag you back again."

Jinguji Ayane stared at him blankly.

Just then, a huge crack suddenly burst open in the Bright Mirror in the center of the Torii.

Boom!

The entire Tianyuan Village began to shake.

The muddy road cracked.

The paddy fields churned.

Wooden houses collapsed one after another.

The villager monsters knelt on the ground, wailing in pain.

The village chief suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with Terrify.

"The core is broken..."

"The core is broken!"

Deep within the Torii, a giant figure slowly emerged.

It was a Faceless Person.

Over a dozen meters tall.

Its body was pieced together from mud, wood, broken talismans, villager remnants, and black water currents.

It had no facial features.

Only a blank space on its face.

From within the blankness came the cries of countless people.

Old people.

Children.

Women.

Blacksmiths.

And countless villagers who had long since died.

It looked down at Lu Cheng.

All the resentment of the entire village was contained within that body.

Xu Xinglan's face changed.

"That's the outer shell of the Rule Core."

Reinhardt tightened his silver bow.

"This thing's aura is close to a Battle King..."

Heavenly King Lin gritted his teeth.

"Again?"

Lu Cheng helped Jinguji Ayane to the back.

"Stand back."

Jinguji Ayane wanted to say something.

Lu Cheng didn't look back, merely holding the kusanagi sword horizontally in front of him.

"Don't move, just leave it to me..."

The Faceless Person raised its hand.

All the houses in Tianyuan Village simultaneously cracked open.

Countless black threads surged from the villager remnants, coiling towards Jinguji Ayane.

Lu Cheng stepped forward to block.

The kusanagi sword's white light burst forth.

The Three Bright Swords hovered behind him, their three sword images like three ancient moons.

Tamamo-no-Mae's demon heart released faint golden fox patterns, and Snow Spirit's twin-tailed star flames ignited accordingly.

"Still trying to steal?"

Lu Cheng's eyes blazed with fire.

"Did you ask me first?"

He charged towards the Faceless Person.

The first sword strike fell.

The Faceless Person's arm was severed by the white light.

Black water sprayed, but evaporated the instant it touched the kusanagi sword's light.

The Faceless Person let out a silent roar.

Its chest cracked open, revealing countless faces of villagers inside.

Those faces spoke simultaneously.

"Save us..."

"Miko, save us..."

"We still want to live..."

The voices were shrill.

Filled with pleas that could shake one's resolve.

Jinguji Ayane, standing behind, instantly turned pale.

She almost instinctively took a step forward.

But Lu Cheng's voice rang out first.

"Jinguji."

"Look closely."

"They are already dead."

Jinguji Ayane trembled all over.

Lu Cheng parried the Faceless Person's massive incoming palm with his sword.

The muddy ground beneath his feet exploded.

He looked up at the blank giant face, his voice as cold as a knife.

"Your pain is real."

"But she owes you nothing."

"The First Generation Miko saved you once."

"You lived for so many extra years because of her."

"Now you want another girl to sacrifice her life."

He suddenly exerted force.

His Fire Luminary Meridian burned to its limit.

"You call this a cry for help?"

"This is greed."

Boom!

The kusanagi sword erupted with unprecedented white light.

The Faceless Person's giant palm was shattered.

Lu Cheng soared into the air.

The Three Bright Swords' light merged into the sword body.

Tamamo-no-Mae's demon heart's fox patterns coiled around the sword's edge.

Snow Spirit let out a clear cry in mid-air, and the twin ice and fire luminaries transformed into a ring of star flames, encircling the Faceless Person's body.

Lu Cheng brought his sword down.

"It's over."

White light pierced through the Faceless Person's head, then split it all the way down from chest to abdomen.

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The cries of countless villagers ceased abruptly at this moment.

The massive body split down the middle.

Black water, splintered wood, talisman paper, and debris were all reduced to ash within the sword light.

The Bright Mirror in the center of the Torii gate shattered completely.

The entire Tianyuan Village began to collapse violently, as if some rotten support had been pulled out from beneath it.

The village chief fell to his knees in the muddy water with a thud.

The gentleness on his face disappeared completely, leaving only despair.

"Everything is over..."

"Everything is over..."

He crawled toward Jinguji Ayane, slamming his forehead heavily against the ground.

"Lady Shrine Maiden!"

"I beg you to complete the ritual!"

"We can only maintain our 'living' state by having the villagers replicate their past actions."

"Please, save us!"

"As long as you become the core, Tianyuan Village can continue to exist!"

"We can continue to live on!"

Jinguji Ayane stood where she was, her face pale.

She looked at the village chief kneeling on the ground, pain in her eyes.

The two words, 'mission,' wrapped around her like chains once again.

She had been taught since childhood to protect this place.

Taught to inherit the will of the first-generation shrine maiden.

Taught that sacrifice is the glory of a shrine maiden.

The village chief kept kowtowing.

"I beg you!"

"Lady Shrine Maiden!"

"Save us!"

Lu Cheng walked over.

Slap!

He slapped the village chief across the face.

The village chief was knocked over onto the ground by the force of the blow.

Everyone was stunned.

Even Jinguji Ayane was taken aback for a moment.

Lu Cheng shook his hand.

"Shut up."

His voice was very calm.

Yet everyone could hear the anger within it.

"Screw that, you things that have been dead for who knows how long, and you have the nerve to talk about living?"

The village chief covered his face, trembling all over.

"We just want to live..."

Lu Cheng looked at him.

"You want to live, so she deserves to die?"

The village chief was speechless.

Lu Cheng turned his head to look at Jinguji Ayane.

"Can you tell me now?"

"What is actually going on here?"

Jinguji Ayane was silent for a long time.

The wind blew under the dilapidated Torii gate.

She looked at the shattered Bright Mirror and finally spoke softly.

"This is Pseudo-Takamagahara."

"It was originally built by Ame-no-Uzume."

"Legend has it that before Takamagahara shattered, she left behind an interlayer in the Mortal world to shelter those Mortals and remnant Souls affected by the divine realm."

"My ancestor was the first-generation shrine maiden of the Jinguji family."

"She obtained the Legacy of Ame-no-Uzume and accepted the order to protect this place."

Her voice was very soft.

Yet it made everyone quiet down.

"Later, Takamagahara completely shattered."

"All the gods disappeared."

"Pseudo-Takamagahara lost its source of Divine Power and began to collapse."

"To protect this place, the first-generation shrine maiden sacrificed herself to become the core."

"She embedded herself into the Bright Mirror, using her own Qi, blood, Soul, and Legacy to maintain the existence of Tianyuan Village."

Jinguji Ayane looked at the village chief.

"These villagers died a long time ago."

"What remains here are merely remnants protected by the first-generation shrine maiden."

"As time passed, the remnants became increasingly distorted."

"They forgot that they had already died."

"And they forgot what the first-generation shrine maiden sacrificed for them."

She looked down at her hands.

"I came here to replace the core."

"To let me become the new core of the Bright Mirror and maintain Pseudo-Takamagahara."

"The Sakura Island team members could then take away the Legacy of Ame-no-Uzume and the relics of the first-generation shrine maiden."

Lu Cheng's eyes grew colder after hearing this.

"So that was why those people from Sakura Island wanted to attack me just now."

Jinguji Ayane said in a low voice:

"It was likely the village's ritual that influenced them."

"Or perhaps..."

She paused.

"They were already given orders from the start."

Lu Cheng chuckled.

"The people above you are truly ruthless."

Jinguji Ayane did not refute this.

She just kept her head down.

Lu Cheng looked at the surrounding village that was collapsing.

"So what now?"

"Just leave like this?"

Jinguji Ayane closed her eyes, as if sensing something.

A moment later, she opened her eyes.

"During the sacrifice earlier, I felt something calling to me."

She walked behind the Torii gate.

Behind the dilapidated Torii gate, in the darkness that was previously empty, a stone staircase slowly emerged.

The stone steps led underground.

On both sides of each step, there were extinguished paper lanterns.

Jinguji Ayane looked back at Lu Cheng.

"Follow me."

Everyone followed the stone steps downward.

Below was an ancient shrine chamber.

In the center of the shrine chamber, an ancient bronze divine bell was suspended.

Beside the divine bell lay a worn-out shrine maiden's robe, a broken hairpin, and a mirror shard engraved with the crest of the Jinguji family.

Jinguji Ayane stepped forward.

The divine bell rang automatically.

Ding-ling.

A gentle light fell upon her.

A female phantom slowly emerged from the divine bell.

The phantom did not speak, but simply raised a hand and gently tapped Jinguji Ayane's forehead.

A vast amount of Legacy information flooded into her body.

Jinguji Ayane closed her eyes, and tears streamed down from the corners of her eyes.

She saw the first-generation shrine maiden.

She saw that young girl sitting alone before the Bright Mirror, using her own blood time and time again to repair Pseudo-Takamagahara, and finally smiling as she hid the divine bell in the shrine chamber.

That remnant thought seemed to be telling her, enough... there does not need to be another sacrifice.

Jinguji Ayane opened her eyes.

This time, her eyes were finally clear.

"She did not want me to become the core."

"She wants me to leave with the Legacy."

No sooner had she finished speaking than the shrine chamber shook violently.

Boom!

The sound of water came from the distance.

Black and yellow spring water flooded in from the edge of Pseudo-Takamagahara.

Yellow Springs water.

The village, muddy roads, rice paddies, and wooden houses collapsed one by one into the spring water.

Xu Xinglan's expression changed.

"This place is collapsing!"

Jinguji Ayane raised her hand.

The light of the divine bell expanded, turning into a layer of white barrier that protected everyone within it.

The Yellow Springs water rushed into the shrine chamber.

The barrier was swept up by the water current, like a floating leaf.

In the next instant, everything blurred before everyone's eyes.

They were teleported to the border of Pseudo-Takamagahara.

There was a dilapidated high platform.

In the distance, the Yellow Springs water was engulfing Tianyuan Village.

The people from Northern Europe, Tianlan, and the Dragon Kingdom all landed on the high platform.

Only Lu Cheng and Jinguji Ayane remained in the center of the barrier.

Jinguji Ayane looked at the others.

"You all stay here for now."

"It is safe here for the moment."

After speaking, she turned to look at Lu Cheng.

"Lu Cheng."

"Follow me."

Lu Cheng raised an eyebrow.

"Going off alone again?"

Jinguji Ayane did not avoid his gaze this time.

She nodded gently.

"This is a gift I left for you."

The divine bell rang again.

A white light enveloped Lu Cheng and Jinguji Ayane.

Their figures disappeared from the high platform.

When they reappeared, they had arrived deeper in Pseudo-Takamagahara.

There were no villages here.

No monsters.

Only a stone platform surrounded by Yellow Springs water.

On the stone platform, there were five small shrines.

There were grooves in front of each shrine.

The first groove was shaped like a long sword.

The second groove was divided into three sword patterns.

The third groove looked like a fox heart.

Of the remaining two grooves, one bore a sake cup pattern, and the other was engraved with a black feather pattern.

Jinguji Ayane stood by the stone platform and said softly:

"The five islands outside correspond to the five Treasure Troves here."

"You have obtained the kusanagi sword, the Mikazuki Munechika, and the tamamo-no-maes demon heart."

"They can open the first three shrines."

Lu Cheng looked at the remaining two grooves.

"Shuten-doji and Daitengu?"

Jinguji Ayane nodded.

"Yes."

"I can also help you open the ones for the items you didn't get."

She raised her hand.

The divine bell rang softly.

The remaining two grooves also lit up with a faint white light.

Jinguji Ayane looked at Lu Cheng, a faint smile appearing on her face for the first time.

"This is the benefit I promised you."

"Thank you for pulling me back from the mirror."

Lu Cheng looked at her.

A moment later, he smiled.

"You should have said so earlier."

"I'm always very proactive when it comes to helping."

Jinguji Ayane blinked gently.

"Really?"

Lu Cheng remained calm.

"Of course."

She stood beside Lu Cheng and pointed to the first shrine.

"Let's begin."

"The true Treasure Trove here should be enough to pay your reward."