Why can't humans do it too?

Xin Ke's gaze grew increasingly dangerous. She disliked the feeling of something disgusting lurking in the shadows, but Tian Zhao's eyes remained unfocused, offering no answer to her question.

"...Your grandson?" He moved his lips, turning his gaze away from the struggling corpse below. Suer suddenly realized he had so many questions that he didn't know where to begin. "What was his name again? Tian Erqi...Ming?"

He waved his hand, skipping over that long and tedious name. To be honest, if Amaterasu had charged at him with a roar as soon as he entered Takamagahara, it would have made things much easier for Suer, at least saving him a lot of mental energy. However, this goddess was just like last time; she simply appeared and floated there, and whether she was friend or foe remained unknown.

“Ah… I once had high hopes for him…” Amaterasu suddenly sighed, “I gave him the three sacred treasures and sent Takemikazuchi to help him pacify Izumo… but even with so much help, he still couldn’t do what he should have done.”

“Useless…just like his weak father—my son, all he knows is how to run away,” Amaterasu said, then suddenly looked up and smiled at Suer. “You know what? His father should have been the one sent to Ashihara no Naka de in the first place, but that cowardly guy ran away.”

Unlike the great fox or some self-important deities who used archaic phrases like "I come, you go," this Amaterasu Omikami spoke with unexpected simplicity, closer to spoken language.

“It sounds like a scapegoat,” Sue said sarcastically.

“Who says otherwise?” said Amaterasu, her voice brimming with enthusiasm. “That fellow, whom even I find shameful, offered his son to me as a sacrifice, so I granted his wish and had him enshrined in a pillar beside the Sky Bridge, so that he could see his son achieve great things step by step.”

Unable to give a proper evaluation, Su Er only felt a slight tingling sensation on his scalp.

He didn't know whether he had achieved anything great; all he knew was that the Heavenly Grandson was currently bound at his feet, his body covered in skin, and tar-like blood was dripping into the void. Suer wanted to tell himself that this was a shock therapy used by Amaterasu to free the Heavenly Grandson from the curse, but this self-deception didn't seem to be very effective.

She seemed to feel almost no sadness or reluctance, and described them not as her own son and grandson, but as two complete strangers. This goddess Amaterasu even spoke to Sull in a tone of "Ah~ Look how kind I am~, I've granted their wishes~" about everything that happened in the distant past.

Despite radiating a warm light and appearing to be an extremely righteous deity, his words and actions were no different from those of an evil god... at least to Suer, he was an evil god. Suer didn't know whether he was considered an evil god in this prehistoric era with its extremely low moral standards.

[You were right, Amaterasu isn't the gentle and kind person portrayed in legends.]

'Ah, not surprising at all. Aren't these kinds of plot developments in modern animated novels? They never exceed human imagination.'

【Right. 】

Xin Ke's voice echoed in his mind, and Su Er also had a brief conversation with her.

It's really not surprising at all. To be honest, after stepping into Takamagahara and looking around, I had a premonition that only Amaterasu existed here. After all, when there is only one seemingly normal or even sunny person in an obviously abnormal environment, that person is unlikely to be normal.

Takamagahara is a dead land. Compared to the scenery here, even the moon outside, which is as big as a pancake, can be considered a fairyland. This was the first thought that popped into Suer and Xinke's minds when they actually stepped into Takamagahara.

The ground was littered with the remains of former gods. Many corpses, even larger than the enormous body that Takeminakata had once transformed into, lay scattered on the ground, half-buried by the blood-red gelatinous soil. There were traces of struggle around many of the corpses, probably their last struggle before death, yet they died at the same moment, one corpse lying on top of another.

Chapter 126 The Strange Events of Takamagahara

Under the erosion of time or some other force, even the corpses of gods will rot or be devoured.

A sharp-eyed observer noticed a corpse half-buried in the red earth. Beneath the tattered clothes of the divine body, one could see the stark white bones. The exposed part of the body still maintained its physical form, but the flesh in contact with the ground was melting, like heated cheese. As it dripped from the edges of the bones, long, thin red threads were drawn out, which were the liquid flesh.

Suddenly, Suer realized that the blood-red earth was not red soil and rocks, but a surface covered by melted flesh and blood. Those angular protrusions were probably buildings on the surface before, but now they were also covered and buried by the flesh and blood of the gods, like small mounds.

There's no need to waste any more time searching for the places where the gods of Takamagahara reside.

If all demons have their own central lair radiating outwards, then Takamagahara, the most sacred and noble place in Ashihara no Kyushu mythology, inhabited by millions of gods, is the lair of the most evil demons.

Even now, right before the eyes of Suer and Xinke, a corpse with most of its body sunk into the fleshy ground, only half of its forearm exposed, fell heavily to the ground, like a tomato scalded by boiling water. But what fell was not the skin, but the whole piece of flesh—Suer even imagined the sound of it hitting the ground.

Then it sank into the slow writhing of red flesh and blood, disappearing from sight.

Suer couldn't imagine how many corpses were buried beneath so much flesh and blood that had almost recreated a landmass, but he somewhat understood why he couldn't see any trace of the ancient gods in that future society.

Those gods who were exiled to Ashihara no Nakatsukuni became the sparks of the god race.

The earth beneath their feet was a warm bed of flesh and blood, while the sky above was filled with the unchanging sun, warm and bright, enough to dispel even the darkness in people's hearts. But was the Amaterasu that appeared before them really the same Amaterasu of the past?

What kind of inner self lies beneath her outward appearance?

Suer simply couldn't believe that beneath the skin of this goddess, who was praised as the incarnation of the sun, lay the flesh and blood of a god, and he couldn't even believe whether the body she was now in front of him was her true form.

"...So, what should he do?" Su'er asked warily, glancing at the grandson being punished below.

Amaterasu's mental state also seemed abnormal; from the moment she appeared until she spoke later, she would occasionally appear dazed.

"What should be done well?" Su'er's words made Amaterasu laugh strangely. Her laughter was like sneer, or like anger, and her voice was extremely sharp. "Of course, it is to hold the entire Ashihara no Naka de together."

"The trash of Izumo, the native barbarian gods, the monsters born only to destroy the world, and the children born of Izanagi and Izanami, beasts, plants, fish... I'll gather them all together!" As if to amplify the power in her words, Amaterasu stretched out her palm and then clenched it into a fist.

Suer pondered whether the goddess's description of "gathering together" was a symbolic one, or whether it truly meant to gather all the power of the various races in the Reed Plains into a single force... or whether it was merely a literal description—that they were truly a bundle.

Considering the land beneath Takamagahara covered in blood and flesh, what should have been a joke now seems more like the truth.

"And then? And then what are you going to do?" Xin Ke asked coldly, unafraid of this inexplicable goddess. She always held a disdainful attitude towards the gods of this world, saying that they were not even as good as someone like Kenus.

“Then the Yamato Kingdom would rule over all life,” a sharp voice suddenly fell, and Amaterasu turned to look at Shinko and said, “...all living beings, both alive and dead, existing in this world…”

Reason seemed to be returning to the sun goddess; her dazed eyes were regaining their liveliness, and she was becoming more independent.

This is not good news.

"Is this world real?" Su'er pressed, wanting to know as much as he could, even just a little. "The fake starry sky outside, the moon that looks like a plate—what's outside this world?"

He simply couldn't believe this was an independent world. Even after witnessing everything before him, he was no longer sure if this distorted world would actually evolve into the world with a real universe and planets.

"Really?" Amaterasu chuckled. "Yes... and no~"

“...Is it or not?” Su Er rolled his eyes speechlessly. This riddle-like way of speaking was really annoying.

"Didn't I already say? Guests from outside... yes, but no."

For an old lady who already has grandchildren, Amaterasu looks like a sixteen-year-old girl right now. Xin Ke has asked Su Er more than once in her heart whether she should just go over and punch her.

"The world is bound—and so am I."

The voice suddenly turned icy cold. Amaterasu's hand unconsciously moved upwards until it could touch her collarbone. The expression on her beautiful face gradually turned painful, as if she were being tortured by an invisible instrument of torture. In the next moment, her ten fingers pierced her own chest.

With a tearing, creaking sound of bones breaking, Amaterasu seemed to be grabbing her collarbones and tearing herself in two. The pain on her face was not from physical pain, but for a reason that neither Suer nor Xinke knew—but she suddenly stopped.

"Where did you go?"

She suddenly said this, and if Suer remembered correctly, this was the first question that the goddess Amaterasu had asked them after seeing them.

Hot blood flowed down her chest, staining her plain clothes crimson. The flesh she had torn herself apart seemed to have no effect on her; her bloodied hand was still, tearing at the bone, motionless, as if nothing existed.

“After that day, I will no longer see you… but nothing can escape the sun’s rays,” Amaterasu said, seemingly puzzled. “The Land of the Dead has long been destroyed, and even the source of this celestial river has been severed. Where exactly did it send you?”

Chapter 127 Mismatched Encounters

Just as one might want to take off their outer garment when it's too hot, Amaterasu seemed to want to remove her own body. She was in pain, as if something inside her body was about to burst out, but it was always kept under a thin layer of skin, like sitting on a scorching hot iron plate, suffering agonizingly.

The whereabouts of Suer and Xinke were like a very thin rope holding Amaterasu's mind together, like a carrot tied to a donkey, drawing all her attention.

There was no response to Amaterasu's question, because it was very likely that even conversation would become a form of conceptual harm after Amaterasu transformed into this abnormal state. Su'er slightly regretted it; perhaps those few words he had just spoken could have caused some kind of harm to Xin Ke and him, but delaying the issue verbally was necessary...

"Hey... hurry up and tell me?"

Amaterasu, who had been waiting for Suer's reply, urged him on, even leaning forward in her eagerness. Her chest, torn open like a split pig, was utterly devoid of any romantic thoughts. The blood that had started out was crimson, but in just a few breaths it had turned golden, no different from the blood flowing from the jade-colored fox, or perhaps even purer.

"Where did you go?! How did you escape from this world?! Why did you come back?!"

One question after another, Amaterasu's emotions became increasingly agitated. Pale blue veins appeared abnormally on her cheeks, giving her an eerie beauty that was also incredibly ferocious, and she had absolutely no connection to the word "god".

'Looks like there's no way to avoid it... Well, at least I got what I asked for.'

Let's all go at it together and finish this quickly; this place makes me feel disgusted.

Suer muttered a few words to Xinke in a self-deprecating tone. Even though plants often grow more lushly on land where corpses are buried than on normal land, even an environmentalist like Xinke felt uncomfortable in this place full of excessive flesh and blood but with hardly any plants or trees.

Without any warning, and out of caution, not daring to utter any unnecessary words at this moment, Suer flew close to Amaterasu's side in the next instant.

The sickening sound of bones shattering and flesh twisting and splattering.

In that fleeting moment when they passed each other, Xin Ke pierced through Amaterasu's chest and abdomen with her palm. She, who could have had a physical form, turned into an invisible ethereal being in that instant. The power of this attack could probably only be described by that unfortunate flower fairy in the world before, but now there is another god—if she still has a clear enough mind.

Unlike the flower fairy who was already in a hostile state and was keeping her guard up against any unexpected changes, Kazami Yuuka was merely grazed by Shinko's hand, while Amaterasu was truly hit by Suer's sudden attack. As a result, when Suer turned around, she had completely lost her human form.

Arms and legs were indistinguishable, as were flesh and clothing. Even her eerie face was twisted together, and it no longer mattered whether Amaterasu's cheek was next to an arm, chest, abdomen, or internal organs amidst the clumps of flesh.

Almost completely covered in radiant golden blood, yet Suer clearly saw that the pained expression on Amaterasu's face had vanished; she was even smiling... which made his expression even more solemn.

Amaterasu was falling downwards, plummeting towards the land beneath her feet, which was roughly covered by the last remnants of the eight million gods in Takamagahara. But neither Sull nor the grandson of the gods, who was bound and tortured by iron chains, felt any relief.

It won't end so simply—Xin Ke and others all share this understanding, and they are constantly searching for any anomalies within their perception range.

The celestial grandson was also struggling desperately, as if he saw a glimmer of hope for liberation, or as if he wanted to remind Suer of something, but unable to make any sound, he could only tremble violently on the screen, adding to the annoyance of the viewer.

Suer showed no sympathy for the Heavenly Grandson, even though he had no interest in such acts of torture. Nevertheless, he felt that this punishment was insufficient to atone for what the Heavenly Grandson had done to the people of Yamato... He simply stared intently at Amaterasu as she fell.

Don't let her continue like this.

'I know. ’

Answering Xin Ke's question, Su Er took a deep breath. To be honest, in this Takamagahara, he was far from able to establish a connection with the world as easily as he had in Ashihara no Naka de. It was as if this place had its own clear and independent consciousness—fortunately, this consciousness was not very clear either, but rather hazy and confused.

From the moment he passed through the Gate of Takamagahara, Sull began to call out to this small world with all his might, just as he had when he first arrived in this prehistoric era, making contact with it little by little. Fortunately, this space was much smaller than Ashihara no Naka de, which saved him a lot of time.

The exchange with Amaterasu was precisely a delaying tactic to establish this connection. Although the exchange was more like a monologue, Suer finally rediscovered that feeling—

There is no doubt that spiritual energy exists in this small world of Takamagahara. In fact, because it is the abode of the gods, the spiritual energy here is even more concentrated than that of Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, a place where things can become spirits at any time. Putting aside the visual effect of the land covered with flesh and blood, the absence of so many gods absorbing spiritual energy also adds fuel to the fire of Takamagahara's high concentration of spiritual energy.

As if a bluish-white rag had been forcefully wiped across the sky, under Su'er's control, the spiritual energy existing in Takamagahara gathered together, condensing into a physical shape and directly covering Amaterasu. If there were no accidents, Amaterasu's already ravaged body due to Shinko's attack would disappear completely the moment this bluish-white rag touched it, like a pencil mark erased by an eraser, leaving not even a trace.

Closer and closer, Suer and Xinke's nerves tightened even more as they watched the mass of spiritual energy fall, as it pressed down on Amaterasu's flesh and blood, as it melted away like ice and snow... Was it really gone?

Suer stared in astonishment, his eyes widening.

At least within his perception, until the last drop of golden blood was diluted and disappeared by the spiritual energy, Amaterasu did not make any unusual movements, not even a resistance. When Suer manipulated the massive amount of spiritual energy to disperse, there was nothing left in the air.

Nothing was left behind.