Chapter 107 The Resurgence of Gods?

At this moment, no one cared whether Jiang Chen was being rude or not; they only cared about when the so-called deity would awaken.

"Chief Priest Abe, what should we do now?" Great Master Hongfa asked.

"The reason the Great Deity bestowed a divine oracle upon me is because we need to gather the strength of all of us to help the Great Deity Inari awaken from slumber!"

"Since that is the case, let us not delay and begin immediately!"

As soon as the words fell, someone immediately came to clear away the extinguished incense remnants in the bronze cauldron.

Then, a handful of yellow incense sticks were distributed to everyone.

Deities rely on incense to absorb power, and the Inari Deity is no exception.

When the shrine attendant reached Jiang Chen to distribute the incense, Jiang Chen merely glanced at him indifferently, which left the attendant so frightened that he was at a loss for what to do.

Abe Kusuku spoke up to tell the attendant to withdraw, and he left as if relieved of a heavy burden.

Abe Kusuku stepped forward solemnly and inserted the three incense sticks in his hand into the bronze cauldron.

A miraculous thing happened; the moment he inserted the three sticks into the bronze cauldron, the incense in Abe Kusuku's hand suddenly burst into flames.

Wisps of incense smoke rose, twisted and turned a few times, and finally drifted toward the stone statue.

Then it merged into it and disappeared without a trace.

As the incense was absorbed by the stone statue, it seemed to become slightly more vivid, as if it were about to transform into a real person at any moment.

But Abe Kusuku also underwent a change; the incense in his hand burned extremely quickly, and in just a few dozen seconds, it had completely burned away.

During the burning process, Abe Kusuku's complexion gradually turned ugly, tinged with a hint of paleness, fine cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and his aura gradually became weak, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.

Jiang Chen saw it clearly from the back; during the burning process, the incense carried away a portion of Abe Kusuku's essence, energy, and spirit, which was absorbed by the stone statue.

That was why his aura dropped sharply; it would likely take at least two or three months to recover afterward.

Moreover, even if he did recover, the fundamental damage had already been done, causing harm to his Lifespan.

After offering the incense, Abe Kusuku stood to the side and circulated his Qi to recover.

He did not expect the deity's feedback to be so intense, leaving him unable to handle it.

But this also showed that the Great Deity Inari was now very active and was quite satisfied with him, the Chief Priest of the Inari Shrine.

Otherwise, why would there be such an intense reaction?

Next, the second person was Tsuchimikado Yeyasu; he also stepped forward without hesitation and inserted the incense in his hand into the bronze cauldron.

Then, he also experienced the same change as Abe Kusuku.

"Junior Martial Uncle, why do I feel like this doesn't look like a deity, but rather a demon that feeds on human essence and energy?"

Jia He watched from behind and whispered to Jiang Chen with some fear.

"When a deity consumes incense, it is to absorb the Power Of Will from people; it does not harm the human body, but rather transforms human faith into an anchor for its own existence."

"But this so-called Inari Deity of the island nation forcibly extracts human essence, energy, and spirit, without any regard for the safety of the believers. I fear that in its eyes, these believers are nothing more than pigs."

Jiang Chen watched quietly as they went up one by one to offer their own essence, energy, and spirit to awaken this so-called Inari Deity, having no intention of intervening.

Because as the "Great Deity Inari" consumed enough essence, energy, and spirit, although it had not yet transformed into a real image, a faint aura was already being revealed.

It was very powerful; the aura it was currently revealing was already comparable to the Life Wheel.

By the time it truly emerges, it will likely not be inferior to the strength of a cultivator at the Peak of the Life Wheel Realm, and, this does not seem to be its true power.

Because Jiang Chen felt that even if this "Great Deity Inari" awakened, it would not be able to immediately recover to its full Peak strength.

Its aura gave Jiang Chen a feeling of being fierce in appearance but weak in reality, as if it had suffered severe injuries or consumed too much Origin before falling into slumber, which led to the sleep, and it had never recovered.

The strength of the Peak of the Life Wheel Realm, Jiang Chen weighed it in his heart.

Hmm, he should be able to exchange blows; even if he couldn't win, escaping would be absolutely no problem.

The only thing that puzzled Jiang Chen was that as the "Great Deity Inari" awakened more deeply, it gave Jiang Chen an increasingly familiar feeling.

It was as if he had seen it somewhere before and had even interacted with it.

But Jiang Chen recalled all the cultivators he had ever seen in his mind and was certain that no one was like this.

There was, however, a woman who had a slight resemblance to this "Great Deity Inari"...

But this didn't make sense; even if that woman were a cultivator, how would she come to the island nation and become the island nation's deity?

Furthermore, that was just a scene from his dream...

Jiang Chen had never imagined that one day, he would see a character from his dreams in reality.

Not to mention anything else, the timeline alone spanned nearly 1,500 years!

"Could it be... an old acquaintance..."

"Junior Martial Uncle, what are you saying?" Jia He asked, somewhat confused, upon hearing Jiang Chen muttering.

"It's nothing."

Jiang Chen really hadn't expected that just by coming to the island nation to retrieve the Magical Artifact of China and incidentally destroying a Yasukuni Shrine, he would actually have such an unexpected gain.

His thoughts were very chaotic now, unprecedentedly chaotic; such confusion could probably only be compared to the day he discovered his Transmigration and dream-entry.

Because if everything he thought came true, and this so-called "Great Deity Inari" really was an old acquaintance from his dreams.

Then, would this old acquaintance recognize him?

Perhaps, from here, he could know whether he had merely experienced one dream after another.

Or if he had truly Transmigrated back to the Great Tang!

...

As the monks and Yin and Yang masters on the scene offered their essence, energy, and spirit one by one, the aura within the stone statue became increasingly vigorous.

A majestic aura was released without restraint, stirring in everyone's hearts.

Ancient, powerful, majestic!

This was their intuitive feeling about this aura; under the scanning of this aura, no one dared to act rashly or harbor improper thoughts.

Crack! Crack, crack!

Suddenly, after more than half of the people on the scene had offered their essence, energy, and spirit, cracks suddenly appeared on the deity's stone statue!

The cracks were like winding, twisting reptiles, from the first one or two to later, one after another, completely enveloping the entire deity statue.

"Quick, the Great Deity Inari is about to awaken! The era belonging to the island nation is about to arrive!"

Abe Kusuku was so excited that he was incoherent.

While the others were excited, they also began to calm down a bit and started to ponder the changes in the layout of the island nation's cultivation world after the Great Deity Inari awakened.

First, naturally, was the Abe Family; as the servants of the deity, the Abe Family had undoubtedly received an epic boost, leaping to become the number one Family in the island nation with no one left to question them.

And other Families and forces would all have to depend on its whims.

...

Of course, such thoughts only flashed through everyone's minds; under the deity's pressure, they could not think about anything else.

They could only piously step forward to offer incense.

With the last person stepping forward to offer incense, it seemed that the critical point had finally been reached.

Large pieces of stone debris began to flake off the statue, and from behind the flaking debris, a brilliant and sacred white light bloomed.

"Descendant of the Abe Family, Chief Priest of Fushimi Inari Taisha, Abe Kusuku, pays respects to the Great Deity Inari!"

Abe Kusuku was the first to kneel down, in a prostrate position, not daring to lift his head to peek at the deity's true appearance in the slightest.

The others also followed suit and knelt down.

"Descendant of the Tsuchimikado Clan, Tsuchimikado Yeyasu pays respects to the Great Deity Inari!"

"Abbot of Kiyomizu-dera, Fujiwara Ki, pays respects to the Great Deity Inari!"

"The Kamo Clan..."

"The Jinguji Clan..."

And at this very moment, an ethereal sigh, as if coming from above the nine heavens, struck heavily upon everyone's hearts.

Upon hearing this sound, Jiang Chen's pupils dilated sharply, as if struck by lightning, and he stood frozen on the spot, staring blankly at the "Deity" walking out from inside the stone statue!

"Daoist Priest Jiang, it has really been a long time..."

(Completely burned out)