Chapter 640: Sacrifice Site (3.5k)
The afterglow of the setting sun spilled onto the top of the temple, illuminating the sweating shrine maidens. The lead dancer glanced at the sky, then at Su Jiu, who was slacking off on a stone bench, and a satisfied smile appeared on her face.
This maiden, about to be sacrificed, is truly obedient.
Seeing the lead dancer look over, Su Jiu stretched, turned off the Bluetooth speaker she had somehow acquired, stood up, and asked with a smile: “Teacher Lead Dancer, everyone is tired from dancing. How about we go see the sacrifice preparation?”
That sacrifice should also be a very important part, I wonder how to disrupt it.
“Alright! Everyone, come this way.”
Glancing at Su Jiu with some surprise, the lead dancer clapped her hands, then turned around, made a “follow me” gesture, and walked deeper along the path lined with lanterns.
“Yes.”
The shrine maidens who were performing got up and followed behind her, their steps neat and orderly. They even stopped chatting with each other, as if they were about to do something very solemn.
“Jingle—”
One step, two steps… The steps were neat, as if rehearsed. Although it was just a rehearsal, their movements seemed exceptionally strange.
“Their mental power is being influenced by some entity. No wonder I felt these people were inexplicably fanatical about this sacrifice. Only then does it make sense…”
Following behind them, Su Jiu frowned slightly. She seemed to sense special mental power fluctuations coming from these shrine maidens, but she didn’t care. The extent of the entity’s influence was clearly not as great as her own.
She could make these people dance “Senbonzakura” at the sacrifice, while that entity could only make these shrine maidens respect it.
Even if it came down to it, they could just control everyone together. I am the one truly sacrificing the shrine maiden, and I won’t be controlled, will I?
Passing through various paths until they reached a grayish-white wall ahead, the lead dancer stopped. She clasped her hands together, bowed to the large incense burner below the wall, and chanted:
“Lord of the Gods, please, you must expel the monsters and protect everyone in Fukuoka…”
After speaking, the dance teacher took out a shining Beginner Magic Crystal from her pocket and placed it into the incense burner, then bowed and began to worship, her actions and expression extremely devout.
“Using magic crystals as offerings, this god is probably also a monster, right?”
Su Jiu narrowed her eyes slightly. She hadn’t forgotten that the Silly Duke also accepted magic crystals for divine descent. If sacrificing people were forbidden, she might have thought that entity was acceptable.
As soon as it involved sacrificing people, they were basically the same as the “gods” from the Ancient God Sect.
While Su Jiu was thinking, the shrine maidens also took out a Beginner Magic Crystal each, lined up, and placed the crystal into the incense burner with half-bowed bodies.
The lead dancer seemed to notice Su Jiu staying behind alone, and she frowned, asking softly: “Miss Natsu Yama, what’s wrong?”
Looking up slightly at the other person, Su Jiu suddenly asked: “Lord of the Gods, does He receive these offerings of faith every day?”
The lead dancer didn’t understand the meaning but still explained: “Once every three days. The last time was yesterday. What’s wrong?”
“I’m thinking of something sad.”
Su Jiu lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly, which caused many shrine maidens to turn their heads, their eyes behind their masks showing a hint of sympathy.
However, she actually had a fun idea pop into her mind, and her gaze fell on the belt at her waist, where three Dream Flower bombs, which looked very much like magic crystals, were hanging.
Suddenly thinking that they might be thinking that she would be sacrificed in three days, the lead dancer twisted around again, sighed, and changed the subject:
“Don’t think too much about it. You didn’t bring a magic crystal today, so just follow our movements. Remember to bring one tomorrow.”
“Who says I didn’t bring any? Let’s throw more, be generous.”
With a light laugh, Su Jiu suddenly looked up and strode forward. Under the gaze of all the shrine maidens, she directly threw down the three Dream Flowers from her waist, then pretended to clasp her hands and pray.
It’s a shame there weren’t any better “Fusheng-level” bombs to offer.
However, this is simple. She can make them tonight and hopes the Lord of the Gods can wait a little longer to taste them.
The lead dancer was dumbfounded by Su Jiu’s actions. After staring blankly for a while, she raised her hand and started clapping, earnestly telling the other shrine maidens and Su Jiu to learn from this generosity.
After doing this, and lingering for another half an hour, Su Jiu decided to leave. At the main gate, she met the temple priest dressed in white Onmyoji attire. It seemed he had heard of Su Jiu’s arrival and had rushed over from the Yin-Yang Bureau.
He had a fair face and no beard, and looked to be around forty years old. He smiled at Su Jiu:
“Miss Yama, you’ve finally come to your senses. I am truly impressed.”
“One person exchanging for the peace of the entire city, this is great kindness. It’s what I should do.”
Su Jiu casually scanned his attire but couldn’t detect his exact strength. Her gaze fell on the small wooden tag hanging at his waist, which seemed to be what was blocking mental power detection.
However, the pressure he gave off was not much, not even as strong as that brought by Old Man Yamazaki Taka.
The temple priest chuckled and nodded, appearing quite satisfied with Su Jiu’s posture.
The two exchanged pleasantries for a while longer, and then Su Jiu, under the watchful eyes of almost the entire city, swaggered back to Miss Natsu Yama’s home.
As soon as she got home, she found a quiet room and immediately began researching “Fusheng,” striving to show her sincerity even more during tomorrow’s sacrifice.
For the next two days, Su Jiu continued to research bombs and teach the shrine maidens to dance “Yosakoi,” occasionally bullying some vendors, living a very comfortable life.
As for the temple priest that Old Man Yamazaki mentioned, she really hadn’t seen him again. Perhaps he truly believed in her. However, they only met once, and he never appeared in the temple again.
Su Jiu untied and used the storage bag that was snatched from the pirates, obtaining the defensive hairpin, as well as some alchemy equipment of various sizes and some magic crystals. The alchemy equipment she didn’t need was resold to the Adventurer’s Guild.
The magic crystals obtained were then used to produce “Fusheng” and “Dream Flower.” In just three days, Su Jiu had invested a total of four “Fusheng” and secretly thrown in over a dozen “Dream Flowers.”
The dance teacher even thought it was a donation from the city’s residents. After inspecting the “magic crystals,” she found they were “Intermediate Magic Crystals,” and after being shocked, she became even more fond of Su Jiu.
This is a person who has faith in the gods!
During this time, Miss Natsu Yama’s brother-in-law sent another message, seemingly intending to intercept her on the day of the sacrifice, sending a message in advance to prepare:
[On the day of the sacrifice, do not complete all the procedures. When the temple priest takes you alone to the sacrifice location, I will bring people to take you away directly. Don’t be surprised by anything you encounter then.]
For safety’s sake, Su Jiu unusually replied with a message from this account: [Brother-in-law, do you know the temple priest’s strength? He looks quite mysterious.]
Seeing this message, the other side was silent for a moment, as if thinking about something, and then slowly typed a reply:
[Beginner War God.]
Su Jiu knew her question made this “brother-in-law” suspicious of the identity of the person on the phone, but she didn’t care about these things. Hiding was just to complete the act.
Just as Su Jiu was about to put away her phone, the other party sent one last message:
[The strange phenomenon locally might be caused by a ghost using its skills. Similar phenomena have occurred in the Osaka area, which we investigated in advance and found traces of ghosts within.
[If it breaks the seal, it will cause a small-scale “Night of a Hundred Demons.”]
Looking at the text above, Su Jiu’s eyes became a little heavy. If the other party were just dealing with his sister-in-law, he would never say these things.
Was he saying this to Old Man Yamazaki Taka, or to herself?
…
On the day of the sacrifice, in the morning, the sky was overcast. Local reporters eagerly came to the front of the Yamazaki family’s house, and many people who were afraid Su Jiu would not go also gathered around.
The number of people gathered on the road leading to the temple was almost several times more than before. These spectators were not entirely ordinary citizens; many were government staff responsible for maintaining order and clearing any monsters that might appear on the road.
When Su Jiu arrived at the passage, she looked at the human dragon that had almost completely blocked the entrance to Yamazaki’s house and felt a little speechless. These people were really too idle.
Finally, with the help of the official personnel, she entered the honor guard procession in front of the temple through a heavily guarded passage. As the sacrificial maiden, she naturally had to be at the front of these maidens, leading the dance and sacrifice to replace the dance teacher.
The temple priest, who had been waiting early, stood on a bluestone step. He also wore a fox mask and instructed Su Jiu, who had arrived:
“Recently, there have been unclean things that seem to want to influence the sacrifice. I will be patrolling below the mountain. After the dance performance, during the sacrifice, I will go up to assist with the sacrifice.”
“Understood.”
Su Jiu bowed slightly, nodded to the temple priest in a proper manner, and then walked towards the temple at the end of her line of sight. On both sides of the road, there were many onlookers. If not for the personnel maintaining order, these people would probably have watched this scene from a closer distance.
Su Jiu was a little excited to see what “cute” expressions these people would have when the shrine maidens danced “Senbonzakura” later. After a long while, they finally arrived at the very top of the temple, chanting all the way.
“Natsu Yama, weren’t you very arrogant and cursed me at school? Why aren’t you cursing now?”
Just as everything was proceeding in the direction Su Jiu had planned, a discordant voice sounded from the side of the road. The young lady from the Lin family, with her arms crossed, was looking down at Su Jiu with more than a dozen cloaked figures beside her.
“What?”
Su Jiu was stunned. She stopped in her tracks, looked up at this haughty young lady, who seemed to be wearing a different shrine maiden costume than anyone else present, and also wore a fox mask…
Did the mask and costume also have formation fluctuations?
Seeing this, the cloaked figures beside her quickly whispered to dissuade her: “Young Lady, please don’t cause trouble. What if she refuses to continue…”
“I… I’m just trying to scare her.”
Amidst the dissuasion of the cloaked figures, gazes converged on this young lady from the Lin family, and she could even feel an unnamed pressure entering, causing her face to turn slightly pale.
Under the mask, Su Jiu looked at her, pondering slightly. She suspected she was just Plan B, and this person was the intended sacrifice, or Plan A.
After all, regarding the “ghost” related to cherry blossoms, she didn’t believe a local insider could have much ability to change the sacrificial candidate.
Su Jiu’s pause made many onlookers’ hearts tremble. Immediately, they began to condemn the young lady from the Lin family. Finally, they got rid of this unlucky god, why are you causing trouble!
In an instant, the Lin family’s young lady, who was still arrogant a moment ago, showed panic. She quickly spread her hands and shouted: “Everyone, stop arguing! At worst, I’ll apologize to her!”
After all, she is just a high school student. Even if she has the strength of a War General, she will still panic.
At this moment, Su Jiu’s eyes flashed with a sharp light, and she understood what she should do. Lowering her voice, she beckoned to the other person: “Apologize to me by bowing, otherwise, I won’t do this sacrifice.”
As she spoke, her nails in her sleeves extended slightly, and in the translucent light, they showed a hint of coldness.
“Bow and apologize?!”
Hearing this, Lin Zi-mu was like a startled cat, but soon, under the surrounding gazes, her arrogance disappeared. She took a deep breath and walked step by step to Su Jiu’s side, just about to bow…
The next second, she felt a slight stinging sensation on her face, and a cold glint suddenly appeared. The fox mask let out a “crack!” sound, and along with some threads of clothing, split into two and fell to the ground.
When she came to her senses, Lin Zi-mu only felt a burning stinging sensation on her face. She touched her chin, saw the blood on her fingers, and her expression turned from stunned to angry. Her War General level aura surged into the sky:
“Natsu Yama!!”
