It's Your Shrine Maiden

"Ding: Special Honkai Energy detected. Honkai Energy traits integrated. Possesses trace amounts of fire affinity and partial corrosion ability."

At around ten in the morning the next day, the familiar chime sounded in Han Jiang's mind. The system had finished updating.

"Fire affinity, corrosion ability? Shouldn't Hiyori's strongest ability be bewitching people's hearts?" Han Jiang muttered as he opened the system panel.

The updated system panel had undergone a few minor changes.

At the top was Han Jiang's personal information. Below that were photos of Kiana, Mei, and several others whose favorability he had obtained.

From left to right along the bottom were the Storage, Weapon Pavilion, Blacksmith Shop, and Logistics Department.

The Storage held evolution materials. The Weapon Pavilion contained only a lone Muramasa of Bizen, while the Blacksmith Shop, as its name implied, was where weapons could be evolved.

What Han Jiang looked forward to most was the Logistics Department. Just from the name, he could tell it was a tangible reward from the system.

Han Jiang opened it, and two large words came into view: Supplies.

After he clicked it, a line of small text popped up: "Not enough Crystals. Please work hard to earn Crystals."

Han Jiang's vision went dark. Sure enough, the upper-right corner displayed his Crystal count: 0!

"At least tell me how to earn Crystals!" Han Jiang gritted his teeth in frustration.

Fine then. There was no introduction to the supplies, no way to obtain Crystals. This was what it meant by "fixed some known issues"?

Were they issues you knew about, or issues I knew about?

"Ding: Continuously absorbing special Honkai Energy. The host's Honkai Energy fusion rate is steadily increasing."

"+1+1+1..."

Han Jiang clenched his teeth. Fine, it was at least somewhat useful!

Domain Gear: Unnamed (C-rank, evolvable.)

The evolved Domain Gear had lost its name again. After a simple test, Han Jiang found that he could activate it.

Han Jiang's strength had fully recovered, and he could retrieve the Muramasa of Bizen from the Weapon Pavilion at any time. All in all, this version update was not completely useless.

"Theresa, stop eating! Time to get to work!" Han Jiang shouted toward the other room.

A moment later, Theresa came out with a rice ball half the size of her head clutched in one hand.

She seemed to be choking. Her huge eyes rolled white as her other hand repeatedly stroked from her neck down to her chest.

Perhaps stroking was not enough. Theresa thumped her chest hard, lowered her head, and strained with bared teeth for quite a while before finally swallowing the food in her mouth.

"Where are we going? Didn't Yae Sakura say the village is a mess right now and tell us to stay in our room?"

After saying that, Theresa took another bite of her rice ball. She even held it out to Han Jiang. "It's really good. Aren't you going to eat more?"

"And that recording from yesterday still hasn't appeared. How are we supposed to help her?" Theresa had become convinced that Rin's soul was the recording.

"Let's go. The evil god has already started moving. We can't just sit around and wait." Han Jiang pulled Theresa out of the courtyard.

"What evil god? Schicksal Church has developed to where it is today through technology, not gods." Theresa retorted, "Gods don't exist at all."

Han Jiang curled his lip and muttered inwardly, It was clearly archaeology!

That morning, while they were eating, Yae Sakura had told the two of them not to step outside their room no matter what.

Han Jiang knew that the village being in chaos was not the true reason.

The real reason was that Hiyori had already begun acting, secretly controlling the people at the shrine and intending to sacrifice Theresa.

Hiyori was not stupid. Han Jiang had barely any strength; he could be dealt with in a snap.

But if Theresa recovered her strength, the consequences would be unimaginable.

For Theresa to regain her power, she first needed to confront Hiyori.

With Theresa's kind heart, she would absolutely be able to overcome the inner demon Hiyori had set for her and completely recover her strength.

More importantly, Han Jiang wanted the Yae Rin here to survive. He did not want Yae Sakura to once again watch her little sister get killed before her eyes.

The residence was not far from the shrine. Ten minutes later, Han Jiang and Theresa had arrived at its entrance.

After entering the shrine, they saw little fox statues everywhere.

Han Jiang led Theresa around in search, eventually finding Yae Sakura and the shrine staff in one of the rooms.

"It must have been the monsters brought by those two outsiders! Monsters only started appearing after they came. We have to sacrifice them to the gods!"

"Daisuke was killed by a monster the day before yesterday, and yesterday it was Jiro. Those two were the finest stonemasons for repairing the shrine's statues!"

An old woman sprayed spittle as she spoke. Her voice was the only one in the entire room.

"Yes, my son's girlfriend, Hanako, was killed too. It's all because of those two outsiders!"

"Sacrifice both of them. Only then can we calm the gods' anger."

More and more voices in the room began supporting the old woman, and all accusations were directed at Yae Sakura.

"If you hadn't saved those two outsiders, so many people in the village wouldn't have died. Especially that white-haired girl—she looks like a demon at first glance!"

"It's all because of you!"

Listening to their accusations, Yae Sakura lowered her head and said in a gentle yet resolute voice, "There is still no evidence proving that the monsters were brought by those two. Give me some time, I..."

"When have monsters ever appeared in Yae Village before? What more evidence do you need?" The old woman stood up excitedly and pointed at Yae Sakura.

Yae Sakura kept her head lowered. Every time she tried to speak, someone interrupted her. She had no chance to say anything at all.

"Enough!" Theresa suddenly shoved the door open and swept her gaze over everyone in the room. "There are so many of you, and you're bullying a girl without even knowing right from wrong. Aren't you ashamed?"

Schicksal Church had grown powerful precisely because it had abandoned illusory gods.

Yet these people kept speaking of gods, while all she could see was ignorance and the selfish desire to evade responsibility.

"The gods protect us. We should believe in them." Han Jiang leaned against the doorframe, ready to retrieve the Muramasa of Bizen at any moment.

As Han Jiang spoke, everyone's gaze shifted to him. Even Yae Sakura, who had kept her head lowered all this time, looked over.

The others in the room exchanged glances, seemingly unable to believe Han Jiang could say something like that.

Wasn't he together with that white-haired girl?

More importantly, they had just been discussing sacrificing both of them!

Theresa looked puzzled but restrained the urge to speak.

"It is good that you possess such resolve. I trust you will enter the gods' embrace." The old woman looked at him approvingly and began to coax Han Jiang.

Han Jiang nodded seriously and asked, "Is there anything else you want to say?"

"Mr. Han Jiang..." Yae Sakura was filled with confusion. She had clearly argued for the two of them to survive, yet Han Jiang was now standing against her.

"Yae Village has worshipped the gods for generations, offering sacrifices every year without fail. The gods have blessed Yae Village with favorable weather and kept its people safe and healthy." Han Jiang praised Yae Village's practices.

Then his tone changed, and his voice became forceful. "Then why didn't the gods destroy the monsters before they appeared? Why let them emerge at all?"

"That is because we did not hold a ritual!" everyone retorted.

"Heh!" Han Jiang sneered. "What are you using as sacrifices? Human lives—human lives!"

"Can a god that takes these lives still be called a god?"

"Open your eyes and look carefully. Who is the one wholeheartedly protecting Yae Village?" Han Jiang pointed at the stunned Yae Sakura. "When monsters come, who rushes to the front? Is it your god?"

"It is the person you are blaming and resenting. It is your shrine maiden, Yae Sakura!"