[The Gon-negi pressed a hand to his forehead. After a long silence, he sighed, “Lady, please leave.”]
Lin Xun’s thoughts raced.
He had gone so far with this shrine maiden disguise, there was no way he could accept failing now because of the Deep-Sea Siren Shell.
“If this really doesn’t work, I’ll just kill the Gon-negi and possess him!”
Right now, inside the shrine, even using the Master Instructor Shell, victory wouldn’t be guaranteed.
He’d have to use the President Shell to first subdue the Gon-negi, then kill him to prevent any noise.
As for whether murdering a shrine official would trigger so kind of alarm, he had no idea, but at this point there was no other option, he’d have to gamble.
Lin Xun was about to switch Shells and strike down the Gon-negi when suddenly, ga text appeared.
[Your vision flickers. The youthful statue of Amateru Sakiina on the altar erupts in brilliant radiance, streams of multicolored light bursting forth.]
[The cold stone transford into smooth, pale skin. The dim eyes slowly gained life…]
[In the blink of an eye, a slender young girl leapt down from the altar to stand before you.]
[The girl, wearing a pointed straw hat, swung her small hoe. A tender green rice seedling materialized in her hand.]
[She offered the seedling to you, speaking softly: “Co find …”]
[As soon as she finished, she turned quietly away. Your vision wavered again.]
[The statue still stood unmoving on the altar. Beside you, the Gon-negi remained in place, hand pressed to his forehead, seemingly oblivious to everything that had just happened.]
[You have obtained the God-Gifted Rice Seedling (Item)]
Lin Xun quickly opened his inventory to check.
[God-Gifted Rice Seedling (Item): A tender green seedling sown by the legendary harvest deity. Plant it in soil, and within one day you will reap ten thousand bushels of rice.]
[Using this item, you can awaken the true statue of Amateru Sakiina.]
He frowned.
According to what he knew, Amateru Sakiina was a lesser new god under the command of the Ancient Heavenly Enma.
But he now belonged to the Chaotic Origin Dragon faction, and the two were clearly enemies.
Yet Amateru Sakiina had perford a divine miracle, telling Lin Xun to co find her…
This item, the God-Gifted Rice Seedling, could awaken the true statue, which was located in the third worship hall deep within the shrine.
Lin Xun had originally thought there might be so special event in the hall and had wanted to explore. Now it turned out the enemy boss herself was beckoning him over.
For a mont, he lost all desire to go courting death.
But then he reconsidered, sensing sothing wasn’t right.
Even if Amateru Sakiina hadn’t manifested a miracle, Lin Xun would have done everything he could to break into the third worship hall.
This sudden phenonon actually seed like it was intentionally alerting soone.
“Could it be… things aren’t as simple as I thought?”
Lin Xun imagined all sorts of scenarios.
Maybe Amateru Sakiina secretly sympathized with the Old Gods but, forced by the New Gods’ might, had no choice but to pretend loyalty.
And now that she had encountered him, a descendant of the Dragon God, she wanted to draw closer…
If Amateru Sakiina truly ant him no harm, even a little favor spilling through the fingers of a god would be a huge windfall.
“I’m not even officially a shrine maiden yet. I can’t get into the third worship hall. Better deal with the current problem first…”
[The Gon-negi stated plainly that the incense smoke was not red, so you did not et the requirents to beco a shrine maiden. He urged you to leave.]
[Will you leave the shrine, or argue with him?]
[You put on a puzzled expression, insisting that you were a virgin, and there was no way this could be the result. It had to be that the incense was defective!]
[Seeing you argue, the Gon-negi drew out another stick of incense, sliced open his own fingertip, and sared blood onto it.]
[He recited an incantation again, and the incense lit without fla. Crimson smoke curled into the air.]
[As a man, the Gon-negi personally demonstrated that the incense worked fine. He explained that this batch of special incense was handcrafted by the shrine attendants, ant exclusively for this testing, and had never once failed.]
[Moreover, he had overseen shrine maiden selection for many years, having examined at least several hundred candidates. Even when won failed the test, he had never seen smoke this blackish-gray…]
Lin Xun stared wide-eyed, completely ignoring the ‘blackish-gray’ part. Slowly, a question mark ford over his head:
“This… can be used to test n, too?”
Apparently, when incense was burned in the first worship hall, it could detect purity in anyone, regardless of gender.
It was simply that Ishiyama Shrine had no strict requirents for male clergy, so this verification was only perford on shrine maidens.
[You shook your head, insisting again that the incense must have been faulty, and requested the Gon-negi give you another to prove your innocence.]
[You quietly slipped him another five thousand Spirit Essence.]
[The Gon-negi saw how firmly you maintained your claim. Indeed, even a courtesan from the pleasure quarters would hardly produce smoke that black. Let alone you, a noble young lady, the daughter of a Master Instructor. The result really did seem unreasonable.]
[For a mont, he, too, began to suspect the incense might be defective.]
[After hesitating briefly, he accepted the Spirit Essence and handed you another incense stick, then turned to leave the hall, shutting the door behind him.]
[You have obtained Special Incense (Item)]
[You stared at the incense in your hand, lost in thought…]
“Five thousand Spirit Essence… just to buy one more attempt…”
Lin Xun opened the Shell panel, intending to find a suitable Shell.
“The Yellow-Robed Bishop, that pervert, is the first to be ruled out.”
“The others, the Blacksmith, the Earth Giant, the President of the Direct Vision Association, the Little Dragonkin, they don’t look like they’ve lived chaste lives either…”
Though there were plenty of Shells in the panel, there was no way to tell at a glance which one t the requirent. If he wanted to make the incense smoke turn red, he would have to test them one by one.
But he only had a single stick of incense left, there was no room for trial and error.
For a mont, Lin Xun scratched his head in frustration, unable to think of a solution.
Then his eyes happened to fall on the Offering Purple-Red Incense in his inventory.
He still had seven sticks of that high-grade incense left over from the last ti he worshipped the Dragon God. But those incense sticks were ant for offerings, not testing, they weren’t appropriate for this situation.
Suddenly, he slapped his thigh, a flash of inspiration sparking in his mind.
He would materialize the Special Incense into reality…
After so quick maneuvering, he stuffed the incense back into the ga.
Using the finger with a bandage stuck on it, he resud playing.
“An right hand artisan ought to still count as pure, right…?”
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