Splash.
With the sound of flowing water, mountain spring water ran through bamboo pipes into the shrine.
Kikyo held a wooden basin beneath the outlet of a bamboo pipe, collecting the cool spring water.
Although she had told Luo Shu she was going to bathe, what Kikyo was about to perform was not an ordinary household bath, but a miko's purification ritual.
Generally, Kikyo would make time for the ritual after killing monsters.
Its purpose was, first, to cleanse the impurities from her body, and second, to briefly strengthen her spiritual power through the shock of cold against her body, allowing her to see through illusions.
Kikyo reached for the white salt on a small dish beside her, took a handful, and scattered it into the clear spring water.
Then she took a deep breath, raised the wooden basin, and poured its contents straight down from her neck.
The water cascaded down with a splash, its chill washing away Kikyo's body heat and turning her plain white kimono transparent.
Once the water had drained away, Kikyo silently filled the empty wooden basin again, sprinkled in salt, and poured it over herself once more.
After repeating this, Kikyo stood up, her body cleansed, and entered the inner room beside her in her dripping clothes.
When Kikyo appeared in the shrine corridor again, she had changed into a clean miko outfit, white on top and red below, and tied her hair with a plain white cloth ribbon. Dressed like this, she walked into the shrine's main hall.
At some point, Luo Shu had seated himself inside the main hall, studying the divine statue standing at its head. Even when Kikyo arrived, he merely turned to glance at her before looking away.
"What are you looking at?" Kikyo regarded Luo Shu with a