Why can't humans do it too?

Just for good luck!

Not to mention the men and women who haven't dated yet but want to confess their feelings. There is data online proving that the success rate of confessing at the Futakami Shrine is 40% higher than that of confessing elsewhere!

Of course, for Suer, this was purely a one-way choice. After all, the Twin Souls Shrine was already famous, and the purpose of many people going there to worship was tacitly understood. In this situation, whether it was a man inviting a woman to visit the place or a woman inviting a man to visit, what else was there to say?

In this situation, those who agree to go together are either willing in the first place or at least have some feelings for each other, so it's no wonder the success rate is high.

This simple principle has long been summarized and circulated online. As a result, for young students still in school, "Want to go to the Futakami Shrine together?" has become a subtle way of expressing affection, just like "The moon is beautiful tonight." It's fashionable and elegant enough that even if rejected, it won't feel awkward, leaving ample room for both parties. It's simply too useful.

Therefore, it makes perfect sense that most of the people here are young couples, and even if Sue and Jibril were to blend in, it wouldn't seem out of place.

"Alright everyone, we've arrived at the Soul-Clearing Spring of the Twin Souls Shrine. Legend says it's the tears shed by the Twin Souls God, pitying lovers who cannot share their hearts. According to legend, if two people drink from the same cup of water, they can understand each other's hearts like the Twin Souls God, knowing each other's feelings without needing to speak—I'm sure you've all brought your cups, right? Please line up here to collect your water!"

"oh!!!"

Looking up, you can see a tour guide in front of you giving a long and detailed explanation of the origin of the spring next to you, while many tourists stop and listen with great interest.

He quickened his pace and walked up with Jibril. With just one glance, Suer knew why the founder of this shrine had chosen this spring as the first attraction for tourists. As for the origin and function of the spring as the guide said... Suer could only say that it shouldn't be taken seriously.

Between the dark, moss-covered stone walls, two springs are gushing out simultaneously. It is unknown how long they have existed since they appeared, but unlike many other springs that simply flow along the stone walls, they gush out as two jets of water, continuously and very steadily.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: A Covert Showdown...

If it were just that, it would be nothing special. But what's amazing is that the two springs gush out from the left and right in a cross pattern, and then converge at a point in mid-air. Even more amazing is that after the two streams intersect, they do not continue to extend in their original directions, nor do they intersect to form an X shape. Instead, they converge into a single stream, forming a Y shape. What the tour guide asks the tourists to collect is the lower half of the Y shape, which is the thicker stream where the two springs have converged.

What amazed Suer was that he couldn't find any trace of human creation on the two springs, meaning they were natural wonders formed between heaven and earth—small, but truly a wonder, and indeed very much in line with the deity enshrined in this shrine.

The person who built this shrine was indeed very insightful.

The long queue quickly formed and it was Suer and Xinke's turn. Suer hadn't prepared a cup for water in advance, but he just needed to find a place where no one would notice and pull one out.

"Should you drink first or should I?" Su'er asked after taking a cup of spring water.

"Why not together?" With a slight smile, Jibril reached out and grasped the outside of Sue's hand holding the cup, while her other arm wrapped around the back of Sue's neck, pulling him close to her face with a forceful pull.

Their cheeks were pressed together, and this bold move caused the young people behind Sue and Jibril to let out suppressed gasps.

Jibril brought the rim of the cup between them and pressed it to her lips first.

With a wry smile, feeling the grip on his neck finally loosen, Suer was finally freed from the face-to-face contact with Jibril, and pressed his lips to the rim of the water glass.

Feeling the wide-eyed stares behind him, even someone as experienced as Suer couldn't help but feel a little nervous. His breath bounced back as it touched the water in the cup, along with Jibril's breath... She must be feeling the same way.

Lost in thought, Jibril tilted her water glass slightly. The clear, sweet spring water had a bone-chilling coldness, and it tasted slightly sour as it lingered on her lips and teeth.

In any case, it was too difficult for the two of them to drink from the same glass of water at the same time. The translucent water droplets flowed down the rim of the glass and spread down the cheeks and necks of Sue and Jibril, dripping down.

With her long pink hair, at such close range, Suer could see his reflection in her amber eyes. Even though the non-human features on her body had been concealed, Suer still saw the face that the Skywing girl should have.

Feathers on the sides of the ears, a halo above the head, fine feathers on the wings, cross-shaped pupils...

The increasingly loud whispers woke Suer up. She glanced apologetically behind her, then reached out and slipped her hand through Jibril's ear, her thumb gently brushing across the faint blush on her face where water had left its mark.

Even though they had already walked more than ten meters away, with their hearing, Sue and Jibril could still hear the couples behind them excitedly whispering to each other, wanting to drink a cup of spring water together like the two people before them.

Whether Jibril's whim will add another ritual to the shrine without any explicit rules but with customary practice remains to be seen. Sue doesn't blame her, after all, Jibril is one with him.

We quickly walked to a wooded area where tourists rarely come. The Sokon Shrine is built against the mountain and is usually well maintained, so it's easy to find such a place.

Let Xinke freely appear in the real world, Suer raised the water glass in his hand and waved it at her—"Want some?"

"Humph."

Without replying, Xin Ke simply snorted and then raised her hand—well, it was practically snatching the water glass from Su Er's hand—and took a rather bold sip. Without swallowing, she puffed out her cheeks and appeared in front of Su Er. Just as Su Er instinctively tried to take a step back, she pressed her hand against the back of his head, and then—their lips met.

The clear spring water flowing from the ground should have been icy cold, but what entered Suer's mouth along with Xinke's tongue was a warm spring, just as sweet.

After a long while, Xin Ke released her hand from the back of Su Er's head, then turned to look at Jibril provocatively and proudly raised her head.

Surprisingly, Jibril showed no signs of anger. She simply crossed her arms and leaned against an ancient tree, a mocking smile playing on her lips—but it wasn't sharp.

“…You guys,” Su Er licked his lips and sighed deeply.

I have a headache, but it's not a complete headache.

“Let’s go, this shrine seems more interesting than I expected.” He held Jibril’s hand in his palm, their fingers intertwined, while his other hand was in his pocket, where another semi-transparent hand was also intertwined with his.

"Don't worry, I will definitely help you regain your body as soon as possible."

Hold tight.

Actually, this isn't so bad. I don't mind... At least that jerk would never be able to be this close to you, to the point of being so emotionally connected, as I am.

Suer let out a long sigh.

These women, constantly competing with each other...

--------------

There are no statues of divine messengers in the Twin Soul Shrine. Neither along the shrine's approach nor in front of the main hall are there any of the things that other shrines would have, which are used to protect the shrine and ward off evil spirits. It is said that this is because the Twin Soul God is very powerful and only wants to be with his partner and does not like anything else to be around him.

Well, Su Er didn't know if the person introducing the story felt awkward, but he felt uncomfortable just listening to it... especially the title "Dual Soul God," which sounded awkward no matter how you looked at it.

However, Yukari Yakumo didn't seem to be having too much fun. At least, Suer discovered that even the people in this shrine didn't know the real name of the Twin Souls God. For hundreds of years, they had only referred to her as Twin Souls. This relieved him from worrying that he and Jibril would be looked at with surprise because they had the same name as the god.

Of course, like Nurarihyon, Yukari Yakumo is also destined to get a good beating.

The fact that Yukari Yakumo, who knew nothing about the future in prehistoric times, made Su Er somewhat hesitant to take action against her. But what if he were to find out where Yukari Yakumo was hiding in the modern era...?

hum.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Idols

Two coins were tossed into the offering box, and as Suer listened to the crisp sound of the coins falling into it and colliding with their ancestors, he tugged on the rope above the offering box—and the bell rang out crisply as well.

That said, the money in this offering box is all for the offering to the Twin Souls God... but isn't the Twin Souls God myself? Doesn't that mean it's perfectly reasonable for me to take this money?

Lost in their own thoughts, Sue and Jibril followed the steps others had taken, putting their hands together in prayer twice, clapping their hands twice, and then bowing again.

The feeling of worshipping oneself is truly both laughable and pathetic.

He took Jibril's arm and left the group to make room for the tourists behind them. The place they were going to next was not a place that the shrine allowed tourists to visit, well, it was even a place that humans were not allowed to enter at all.

Visitors can only visit the main hall, but the most important sacred objects, offerings, and ceremonial coins of the entire shrine are all in the main hall. That is the most sacred and important place in a shrine, and believers believe that it is the place where the gods reside.

Of course, this cannot completely restrain someone like Suer.

He and Jibril were already standing in the main hall of the Twin Souls Shrine, carefully examining the statue that, theoretically, belonged to him and Shinko and had been worshipped by humans for hundreds of years.

It wasn't as exquisite as Suer had imagined, but you could tell it had a long history. It was probably the best that human craftsmen could do at the time, and after so many years, it has gained a kind of antique charm.

The statue depicts a man sitting upright in a chair, with a woman behind him who is embracing his neck, her arms hanging down from his chest, and her long hair cascading over her shoulders. She has no physical body; when Suer goes around to look from behind, he can only see that half of her body is inserted into the man's back.

To be honest, they don't resemble each other at all. I mean, their appearances. Neither their male nor female faces have anything to do with Suer and Shinko. If Nurarihyon hadn't explicitly stated that the shrine here was a marriage deity that gradually evolved from the yokai tales passed down by Yakumo Yukari, and given their combined appearance, Suer would never have associated herself with Shinko.

Compared to the statue that resembled the gods but not quite, what caught the attention of the three Su'er was a small statue next to it. Perhaps to emphasize the towering stature of the two gods, the small statue was only about knee-high to the seated male statue. The face didn't matter; what immediately drew the attention of the three Su'er was the pair of wings on the back of the small statue.

Female, with small wings, those ancient craftsmen even used an extremely thin vertical line to support a small ring on its head.

Given all these factors, who else could it be but Jibril? However, compared to Sue and Hink, who are seated in the main seats, this small statue of Jibril looks more like a little maidservant under a great god.

"Pfft...Isn't this done quite well?" In this place where no human would approach, Xin Ke naturally revealed herself. She flew directly to the small statue representing Jibril, reached out and poked its cheek, and then pinched the ring on its head.

Compared to Xinke, who was in a very good mood, Jibril, who had only smiled mockingly when she saw Xinke forcibly kissing Suer right in front of her, had a face that was almost as black as the bottom of a pot. What's wrong with these humans?!

"...It's called Yakumo Yukari, right?" Jibril asked through gritted teeth, enunciating each word clearly. Sue could already see her clench her fists.

Instead of focusing on those short-lived humans, Queen Jibril instantly identified the crux of the problem: Yukari Yakumo, who had fabricated and spread these stories hundreds of years ago.

She's finished!

A certain blond monster couldn't help but sneeze twice.

"Haha, so there's nothing unusual here?" With her attention shifted from the statue, Suer began to examine the other items in the shrine.

“There are no Onmyoji, no Yokai, this is just a tourist attraction,” Xin Ke had already concluded along the way. “There isn’t even a trace of a barrier or energy.”

It was rather strange. Suer had assumed that this place was dedicated to yokai, so there should be other yokai who knew this living in seclusion here, or at the very least, there should be onmyoji (yin-yang masters) here, since it was such a nationally renowned shrine. But there was nothing there.

The appearance of Su and his two companions in Nara was certainly not just for tourism—well, actually, it was probably more about traveling together, but they also had the purpose of verifying what Nurarihyon had said about the continuous appearance of yokai from the past.

Nurarihyon was right. There were indeed many yokai with power that surpassed those yokai that had gradually integrated into human life over a long period of time. What made Sull even more serious was that the power they used was not fear.

It's important to know that the Fear system was created by Nurarihyon to quickly increase his strength in order to deal with the old, famous yokai from his youth. In an era when yokai hid in human society to avoid humans, resulting in a significant decline in their overall strength, it has become a skill that almost all modern yokai must master in order to become stronger.

However, these newly emerged monsters do not understand this technique, or perhaps they know it but disdain to use it, trusting more in their own bodies and their own demonic power.

They haven't been seen in large human settlements, but in the forest at the foot of Mount Fuji, a suicide hotspot that's also famous throughout Japan, these monsters seem to appear one after another, like weeds sprouting up.

Before they die, those who commit suicide will more or less have a attachment to life. Not to mention that the desire to commit suicide has its own reasons, such as setbacks in life, being hit hard, or being humiliated. In this case, their resentment before death twists their souls and bodies into different monsters, or rather, beings that are closer to demons.

As a result, the various wild beasts that naturally arose in those sparsely populated places were also affected, becoming more bloodthirsty, more ferocious, and further developing their own demonic aura, becoming the most primitive monsters in this era where monsters hid.

To prevent these ferocious and bloodthirsty creatures from breaking out of the forest and causing harm to the surrounding villages or human cities, Sull stayed in that area for a while until he was sure that the existence of the monsters would not be exposed to humans before leaving for Nara.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Seven Days

Besides the ferocious monsters that have gradually re-emerged in the current situation where spiritual energy is increasing, Suer also saw many monsters whose concepts, behavior, and even tone of voice all had a sense of the times.

They were like old people from the last century, with outdated styles in both clothing and habits, only about twenty or thirty years away from today. Even the things they talked about were things that happened twenty or thirty years ago, and they were also dumbfounded by the magnificent cities outside.

The past seemed to be curling up, curling up towards the future, but whenever Suer tried to connect with this world, all he could feel was that the world was perfectly healthy, as if it was always meant to be this way—it seemed that only all life in the world was unable to adapt.