Yu did not return home the day he visited the sages' sacred land.
Inside the dwelling stood a stone candle lamp and two pots of clear tea.
Yu and Miao Miao treated each other with courtesy as they discussed matters concerning the Great Lord God.
Miao Miao had transformed from a slug into a human maiden, dressed in light, airy robes. After years of cultivating her character, she was the gentlest and most refined of the three sages, and the first to set aside her prejudice against humans.
The candlelight flickered, and Miao Miao's gaze was clear and distant. "By using faith to establish an unseen chakra channel, we receive the believers' incense power-that is, chakra-and bring about a leap in our level of existence. We call this 'God-Making.' If God-Making succeeds, the believers who supply incense power are called 'godfolk.'"
"The more godfolk there are, the stronger the incense power, and the more exalted and powerful the god it creates. The Great Lord God is the pinnacle of this. When two-thirds of the living beings in Reed Plain Country become godfolk, the Great Lord God will arise!"
Yu gently swirled his teacup, watching the ripples within, and said with deep emotion, "For her Great Lord God Plan, Shinshiki went so far as to use Kotoamatsukami to control the countless inhabitants of Jianzhou Country. Then she collected incense power through the Divine Revelation Method, which Ryushiki created after taking inspiration from the Elder Wet Bone Forest's Prayer Technique, hoping to elevate him to the throne of the Great Lord God. Yet she died without ever knowing that she lacked the crucial Wondrous Life Divine Altar. What a lamentable end..."
Miao Miao smiled. "The Wondrous Life Divine Altar was hardly the only thing she lacked."
"Oh?" Yu asked curiously. "How so?"