Eightfold

According to historical records, in the three years after the Chi You Calamity, Yan Emperor Jiang Zhu and Jingwei ventured out to sea many times, but every expedition ended in disappointment. It seemed they had been searching for something in the ocean, yet found nothing.

According to the brocade documents left behind by Yan Emperor Jiang Zhu, Chi You had been jointly sealed within the Nine Netherworld by several warriors of ancient times, but those warriors had likewise vanished without a trace.

The two strongest warriors among them, Yinglong and Xingtian, survived the Chi You Calamity, but disappeared as well after leaving behind their weapons. To thank these two warriors, the inheritors of their wills and weapons respectively changed their surnames, taking Xing and Ying as their family names and passing them down through the generations.

Eighty-six years after the Chi You Calamity, Yan Emperor Jiang Zhu passed away, and her body vanished.

Her weapon, the Shennong Ruler, was inherited by her clansmen.

In 221 BCE, the Qin Dynasty was established. A fisherman by the sea caught a large fish with dragon horns. When he cut open its belly, he found a Jade Statue inside.

The Jade Statue sat in the Five Hearts Facing Heaven posture, its eyes tightly shut. There was a gap at its chest, where its heart would be. The moment the statue was removed, the dragon fish died.

Frightened, the fisherman threw the Jade Statue into the wilderness.

Later, the fisherman's son searched for it, but the Jade Statue had vanished without a trace.

In 753 CE, the twelfth year of Tang Tianbao and the fifth year of Japan's Tenpyō-shōhō.

The Tang Dynasty monk Jianzhen made his sixth voyage to Japan, carrying a Jade Statue aboard his ship.

More than 1,450 years later... a pair of twin sisters was born in a small Japanese village.

As the daughters of the priest of a Japanese shrine, they had carried the high expectations of their father and the villagers since childhood.

When their father named them, he called the elder sister Sakura, while the younger sister was named Rin. Rin—pronounced "lin." Many people got it wrong, so that was worth mentioning.

The name of this small village was... Yae Village.

The two girls were called Yae Sakura and Yae Rin.

...Six Years Later...

"Rin! Why did you run over here again?"

A pink-haired little girl dressed in Miko robes arrived at a hillside in Yae Village. Sitting on the slope was another little girl who looked almost exactly like her.

If there was any difference at all, it was probably that the seated little girl had tied up her hair and wore an obvious hint of frailty on her face.

Yae Sakura ran to Yae Rin's side and took her hand, her face full of worry. "Rin, you haven't recovered from your illness yet. The wind on this hillside could easily make it flare up again."

Yet Yae Rin wore a relaxed smile. "It's all right, Sister. Spending more time in the sun on the hillside might even help my illness."

"And besides..." Yae Rin looked toward one side of the hill, where the grass was noticeably lusher than elsewhere. "Whenever I come here, I feel like my body gets a little better. It's as if I've been blessed by the Divine Lord."

"Rin, if the Divine Lord wanted to cure you, why would he be on some little hillside? Let's hurry back to the shrine. Father is still looking for us."

"Mhm, Sister. Let's go back now."

After Yae Sakura and Yae Rin left the hillside, a butterfly with one half of its scaled wing broken fluttered unsteadily over from somewhere else. It circled the spot Yae Rin had just been looking at, as though something there was drawing it in.

Not long after, the butterfly flew away from that place, and its scaled wing had returned to normal.

...Yae Shrine...

Yae Sakura and Yae Rin were sitting properly before their father, the head priest of Yae Shrine. The atmosphere between the three was tense.

Behind the Yae God Master stood a huge fox sculpture, and before it sat a cross-legged Jade Statue only half a person's height tall.

"Sakura, Rin."

The Yae God Master's expression was especially solemn as he addressed his two daughters.

"Tomorrow is your birthday. There are some things that it is time for you to know."

The Yae God Master paused before continuing. "Our shrine in Yae Village has always worshipped two gods."

"One is the Fox God, who blesses Yae Village with favorable winds and rains."

"The other is a god who protects our village's peace."

Yae Sakura asked curiously, "Father, is the other Divine Lord you mentioned the Jade Statue inside the shrine?"

"Yes."

The Yae God Master did not mind Yae Sakura interrupting him and continued, "What I am going to tell you today concerns this Divine Lord."

"That is a story from a very long time ago..."

The Yae God Master reminisced.

"Yae Village has worshipped this Divine Lord since long ago. Back then, Yae Village did not have nearly as many people as it does now. It was only a tiny, tiny village."

"During the chaos of war, Yae Village once faced destruction. But it was then that the Divine Lord appeared and saved our village."

The Yae God Master's voice carried a trace of excitement.

"It was also then that the Jade Statue of the Divine Lord was brought to Yae Village by the Miko of that era and enshrined within the shrine."

"That Miko alone protected the peace of Yae Village, and she also left behind a secret within our shrine."

The Yae God Master stopped there.

"Father, what secret is that?"

Yae Rin could tell that this secret was likely connected to her and her sister.

The Yae God Master looked toward the statue in the shrine, its eyes tightly closed, and said, "Others may not know, but every generation of Yae Shrine has known this secret—the power possessed by that Miko back then was learned and cultivated from the statue."

"Every Miko thereafter, upon turning six, would drip her blood into the Divine Lord's heart, and the Divine Lord would grant those young Mikos power in return."

"The last Miko to receive that power was your mother. She learned powerful swordsmanship from the Divine Lord."

"And now... as the Mikos of this generation, you have reached the time to learn of this secret."

The Yae God Master rose from the floor, walked to the wall at one side, took down a finely crafted long blade, and returned before Yae Sakura and Yae Rin.

"This is the blade your mother left behind—Kite Bird."

"She insisted on giving this blade that name back then. And now... she is no longer here..."

A gentle look appeared in the Yae God Master's eyes, as though he were recalling those days.

Then his expression turned solemn as he looked at Yae Sakura and Yae Rin.

"Sakura, Rin, it is time for you to accept the Divine Lord's trial."