A Destined Matter

"Divine Lord! Divine Lord!"

Yae Rin, in her sleep, rushed into a spiritual state to find Xu Yanwu, wanting to understand what was going on.

Yae Sakura hadn't entered this place yet, but Yae Rin was already very anxious and immediately began searching.

When Yae Rin entered the shrine where Xu Yanwu's body was kept, the scene before her made her involuntarily take a few steps back and cover her mouth.

In Yae Rin's eyes, the shrine was now enveloped in masses of blackness, including Xu Yanwu's body.

Xu Yanwu's soul, at this moment, was bound in mid-air by the black mist, unable to move.

"Divine Lord!"

Yae Rin cried out nervously.

"...Rin?"

Xu Yanwu opened his eyes with difficulty. "Go... leave here... don't come back..."

Xu Yanwu, drawing on some unknown strength, forcefully broke free from the black mist binding his soul's right hand and pushed Yae Rin away.

Yae Rin felt herself being directly thrown back by a force.

The next moment... Yae Rin woke up in her bed.

"Mmm... Rin...?"

Yae Rin's drastic movements also woke up Yae Sakura, who was sleeping beside her.

Meanwhile, on Xu Yanwu's side...

"Divine Lord..." the Eerie Woman sat beside Xu Yanwu. "You still have the spare energy to worry about others?"

"Oh, that child from just now... could she be the child of that Miko from over ten years ago?"

The Eerie Woman couldn't help but feel surprised. "So her child is already this old. She was truly a unique existence back then... even after being made a Sacrifice Ritual by the villagers, she didn't harbor any resentment... and didn't join 'us'..."

"I really want to know what her daughter will be like, I really want to..."

"Shut up!"

Xu Yanwu stared intently at the Eerie Woman.

"You... you can't touch them. They're different from those villagers. I don't care what you do otherwise... but you absolutely cannot harm them!"

Upon hearing Xu Yanwu's words, the Eerie Woman laughed. "Well... Divine Lord, you truly dote on them..."

"But..." The Eerie Woman's expression turned somewhat ferocious. "What about us? Are we the ones who were meant to die?"

"We equally believed in you... our Divine Lord..."

"But why did we become Sacrifice Rituals? Divine Lord... tell me why..."

Xu Yanwu fell silent.

In the end... the Eerie Woman had never done anything wrong.

She... or rather, they, were always just victims.

Xu Yanwu said in a deep voice, "Regarding your situation... I can only say I am very sorry. I didn't have the ability to stop those villagers..."

"An apology... does an apology help, Divine Lord?"

"I... just want to destroy everything in Yae Village now..."

— In Yae Shrine —

"Rin, what's wrong?"

Yae Sakura asked Yae Rin with concern.

"Sister! Divine Lord he..." Yae Rin anxiously grabbed Yae Sakura's shoulders and told her, "Divine Lord he... something has happened..."

Upon hearing Yae Rin's words, Yae Sakura couldn't help but recall the corpse of the elder sister from the same village she had seen at the altar that evening, and her stomach churned.

However, in front of her sister, Yae Sakura forced a smile. "What are you talking about, Rin?

Divine Lord... isn't he fine? How could something have happened?"

"But..." Yae Rin hesitated, wanting to say more, but was interrupted by Yae Sakura.

"Alright, Rin... stop talking... get some sleep..."

After Yae Rin fell asleep, she tried to enter Xu Yanwu's world again but couldn't, no matter how hard she tried.

It was as if Xu Yanwu had closed the door to that world.

Drought...

It was one of the greatest enemies for villagers who relied on farming.

Three consecutive months of drought had left the crops planted by the villagers of Yae Village on the verge of death. Even if the villagers of Yae Village wanted to draw water from nearby rivers, the water they carried was merely a drop in the bucket for the vast fields and couldn't solve the problem caused by the drought.

The villagers of Yae Village naturally believed this was the wrath of the Divine Lord.

The reason for the continued lack of rain even after the Sacrifice Ritual was attributed to the fact that the previous sacrifice was not a virgin.

They gathered outside the Yae Shrine once more.

Yae Sakura, as the future Miko, sat beside the Yae God Master, watching the villagers surround the shrine.

"God Master, it hasn't rained in three months! Please hold another Sacrifice Ritual!"

"Didn't we just have one a month ago!"

"Why hasn't it rained yet!"

Looking at the villagers, Yae Sakura felt that the familiar villagers of Yae Village seemed so... ugly.

An elder, who appeared to be the most respected among the Yae Village villagers, spoke up. "It must be because the girl offered last time was not a virgin. You've angered the Deity!"

"We encountered this ten years ago too. Only by offering a sacrifice with Miko blood can we appease the Deity's wrath!"

Upon hearing the words "Miko blood," Yae Sakura trembled and looked at her father.

After a long silence, the Yae God Master finally spoke.

"I understand."

The Yae God Master slowly stood up from the ground and said, "Then we shall use Rin as the sacrifice. She has been ill for a long time, and if she can contribute to the village, she would surely be happy."

Yae Sakura anxiously said to her father, "But Father, Rin's health is getting better..."

"Sakura! Stop talking. It has been decided that Rin will be the sacrifice!"

The Yae God Master reprimanded Yae Sakura, then continued, "Sakura, you will preside over the Sacrifice Ritual in two days. You must prepare well."

"..."

Yae Sakura's hands, resting on her knees, clenched the hem of her skirt tightly. After a long while, she managed to squeeze out a few words.

"Yes... Father."

All her actions were observed by the Yae God Master.

That night...

"Heh heh... Divine Lord, do you see? This isn't something I orchestrated... Those foolish villagers... are about to send your beloved little girl to you as a sacrifice..."

"However... you probably can't hear me anymore... tee hee..."