Don't force me to use my right fist.

"Yeah, I already said I killed that thing on my first day there. I'm pretty good at fighting, okay?"

Zuoyou patted his chest; he wasn't exaggerating at all. In terms of fighting ability, there were few people who could match him.

The battle with the Saigyu demon was not particularly difficult or risky; compared to the two gods, it was still too weak.

Tamamo-no-Mae sighed as her slender fingers tried to grasp the golden threads in Saya's palm, which resembled living little fish, but the moment her fingers touched them, they turned into a golden light and merged into Saya's body.

If she had known there would be such a great reward, she would never have left such a pure and precious source of faith unattended, letting Sōyūichi handle this alone. For the sake of this faith alone, she would have been willing to risk serious injury to kill that monster; it would have been worth it.

But there's no going back in this world. Since Sawa has already absorbed all that faith, even if she ate Sawa, she wouldn't get it anymore.

Thinking about it that way, Tamamo-no-Mae felt even more jealous.

"Yes, and I've found this thing to be incredibly helpful to me. Is there any way to obtain a large quantity of it?" Since the person in front of him was an expert in this area, Zuoyou, upholding the good virtue of not being ashamed to ask questions, once again showed her a friendly smile.

The result was that Tamamo-no-Mae poked his forehead in an annoyed tone. "If you thought I had a solution, would you be so sarcastic?"

Tamamo-no-Mae was telling the truth. If she could gather that level of faith, she wouldn't be so troubled by the famine.

"However, in my opinion, the faith you've collected likely originates from the gratitude of the various plants that had stolen the spring you spoke of from that demon. Only plants could produce such pure faith. If it were humans, even the most sincere gratitude would be mixed with some desire as impurities." Despite her sarcastic remarks about Saya, Tamamo-no-Mae still offered her analysis of the source of this faith. As for how to acquire such a large quantity, that's for Saya to figure out himself.

Chapter 450 The Way to Obtain Faith

"Plants' gratitude towards me? Can not only humans, but other living beings also develop faith?"

Sōyū hadn't actually considered this possibility. His previous guess was that he gained this faith because he killed the Saigō Ayakashi, but the problem was that none of the monsters he had killed before had given him this stuff. They were the ones who contributed a certain amount of faith to Sōyū.

"Ha, everything in the world can generate faith, what's there to doubt? It's just that the purity and nature differ. Just like I guessed, you probably only received faith once, and then never received it again, right?"

As if comforting herself, Tamamo-no-Mae pointed out the flaws of these purely nonsensical beliefs.

In terms of purity, these things certainly surpass any faith that humans can offer, but unlike the faith of humans and animals, they are not something that can be continuously and sustainably produced.

"Yes, there was only one wave of faith at that time, and there hasn't been any more since."

Sōyu scratched his head. He had thought about this before. Generally speaking, faith is something that will be continuously generated as people believe in it. How come it has become something that is used up little by little in his case?

Using only a tiny bit of power, without any way to replenish it, is just too unfair.

"That's precisely because of its different origin, which means that while it's incredibly pure, it only happens once. If you want to gain this faith again, perhaps..."

Shrugged, Tamamo-no-Mae realized she no longer felt that unbearable sourness. While her faith wasn't exactly pure, at least it was plentiful and replenishing.

If everyone were replaced with someone like Sasuke, wouldn't it take her forever to become a god? And if her power weakens with each use, who could accept that?

"Hmm, so you mean, if I want to gain this type of faith again, I can only do things that are useful to plants?"

Sōyū snapped his fingers, finally understanding what Tamamo-no-Mae meant.

"That's pretty much the situation. Of course, this is just my guess. You'll have to test it yourself to find out the specifics."

Tamamo-no-Mae sat back down in her seat and pushed Saku, who was getting too close to her due to his excitement, to the side.

"I understand. Anyway, thank you."

Sōyū lowered his head. If the source of his faith had changed from humans to plants, it wouldn't be a good thing for him, but in a sense, it wasn't unacceptable.

You know, if you were to ask Saya to play the role of a god like the fox in front of you and trick others into becoming your followers, Saya would get a headache just thinking about it, let alone having to satisfy the followers' desires and prevent them from scheming against each other.

Nothing is more troublesome than dealing with other people, and if anything, it's dealing with a large group of people.

In contrast, just as Tamamo-no-Mae said, plants with little emotion or thought are far simpler.

At least as long as you do something that benefits them, they will genuinely express their gratitude.

How to acquire these beliefs is another question altogether.

But Sawa already had a small, nascent idea in his mind. If anything could be a plant, then frankly, wouldn't that just mean he could just keep farming?

After all, the ultimate goal of all things in the world is simply to survive, and this is especially true for plants.

A single plant might only provide him with a negligible amount of faith, but if he planted enough, little by little, Zuoyou felt he would soon become rich.

After planting and harvesting one crop, you plant another. As long as the farm is big enough, isn't that like having an endless source of faith?

Having already decided to do this, Sawa's only remaining thought was where to farm.

However, there are advantages to ancient times. For example, those desolate and wild areas are obviously no-man's-land. If Zuoyou can find a place with no people and level it, it is absolutely no problem to build a giant farm.

If all else fails, he can simply take a torch and head straight underground. As a blocky being, he's done things like building underground farms before.

"Is this all you wanted to ask?"

Tamamo-no-Mae, now transformed into the handsome young Seimei, looked at Saya's finally enlightened expression, touched her lips with her finger, and then asked him.

"Well, the remaining question is still the same, but that will have to wait until you've fully become a god before you ask." whl

Zuoyou nodded. Apart from how to collect faith, all that was left for him was how to get back, a matter that had been troubling him all along.

"Alright, you just said you're really good at fighting, and I actually need your help with something."

With a crisp snap of her slender fingers, Tamamo-no-Mae moved closer to Saya.

"Because I need to play the role of an Onmyoji well, I won't be able to get away from the festivals most of the time. But you know, the birth of a god will definitely be hindered by some strange guys, not to mention I have a lot of enemies." Tamamo-no-Mae tapped her folded fan in her palm and showed a somewhat disgusted expression when she mentioned her enemy.

"Originally, I was planning to ask Yongyi to come and help, but that guy has been busy with something lately and just can't get away. So, you probably won't be able to come anytime soon."

Tamamo-no-Mae poked Saya's chest with her finger, her eyes filled with anticipation.

"You mean you want me to help you fend off attacks from those hostile monsters during your ascension ceremony?"

Sawa quickly understood what she meant, leaned back to avoid her mischievous fingers, and then said.

"Yes, there's a very generous reward afterward, you definitely won't be shortchanged." whl

Tamamo-no-Mae raised an eyebrow, her expression one of utter delight at having struck gold.

"I just want to know one thing: how powerful are the monsters that came?"

Sōyū's face lit up with anticipation, and he unconsciously wiggled one of his fingers before asking.

Chapter 451 A Small Request

Yuichi has never disliked monsters.

Perhaps it was because most of the anime I watched that year were of the contrasting type, or perhaps it was because I gained the power to deal with monsters after being transported to another world.

In short, in Saya's view, the yokai are perhaps just a group of beings that look somewhat different from humans, but who also have their own personalities.

At most, they might be slightly stronger than ordinary people. Furthermore, Sawa doesn't believe that all demons are necessarily bad; the same goes for people. There are good people and bad people. How can anyone be born with their entire personality predetermined?

But a thousand years ago, for some unknown reason, there were no strange creatures. Sawa's experience and loot sources could only come from these restless monsters.

So when he heard Tamamo-no-Mae ask him to deal with the yokai that might come to interfere with her, Saya's first thought was, "So there's such a good thing?"

This was practically a gift delivered right to his doorstep; how could he possibly refuse? After hearing Saya's question, Tamamo-no-Mae didn't rush to answer. Instead, she smiled and asked him, "That kind, right?"

Zuoyou nodded. He was busy farming, so a little while wouldn't make a difference. Being able to collect some loot was a good thing for him.

"I'm supposed to be a benevolent god, okay? What kind of enemies do you think I'd have?"

Tamamo-no-Mae rolled her eyes slightly, clearly stunned by Saga's question.

"Then I'll take care of everything. I've already thought about the compensation. You should have a lot of power here now, right? Can you find a way to get me ownership of a vacant lot? I don't need to consider the location or the terrain, as long as it's big enough and no one lives around it."

Having heard Tamamo-no-Mae's answer, Saya had a general understanding of the situation and decisively made his request, which wasn't too unreasonable.

"Although I don't know what you need the land for, this request isn't unreasonable, so I agree to the deal." whl

"But similarly, I have a small request. Although it feels a bit strange that someone with her handsome appearance would make such an expression, Sōyū didn't think much of it. He was simply curious about what her request was."

His eyes met Tamamo-no-Mae's; Saku waited for him to turn towards him.

"Actually, it's not that difficult, but if you're going to step in and stop the demons, you'll definitely need an identity. But you know, the deity I created based on my own image is the aloof and divine type." She scratched her face with her slender fingers, and for the first time ever, an embarrassed expression appeared on Tamamo-no-Mae's face.

"Then what?"

Saya keenly sensed an uneasy feeling, but couldn't quite put his finger on why.

"In other words, the person who can appear next to me at that time must be someone who is decent. If you go out like this, it will have a bad impact on my image."

Sōyū continued to press for answers.

"That's right, I did think of that when I was promoting it, but I was initially shaping it based on Yuugi's image, so I fabricated the image of a shrine maiden of Inari."

With her index fingers nervously tapping against each other, Tamamo-no-Mae lowered her head.

"Um?'

"What I'm saying is, could you dress up as a girl? That way, we can further unite the people's faith and make it easier for me to cover up your true identity later."

Tamamo-no-Mae rubbed her hands together excitedly and expectantly, her greedy gaze sweeping over Saya's body.

Thanks to Saya's fairly pretty appearance, combined with her demonic powers, it wouldn't be particularly difficult for her to impersonate a girl.

"...What kind of ridiculous request is this?" Sōyū's lips twitched. He had considered the possibility of Tamamo-no-Mae making some rather unreasonable demands, but he truly hadn't expected her to say something like this.

"Please, this is really important for me to collect faith. It's just that Yuugi suddenly stood me up, and I can't back out now."

With both hands clasped together, Tamamo-no-Mae made a pleading gesture towards Saya, while Tamamo-no-Mae looked at Saya with a pitiful expression.

"I will use my demonic power to disguise you properly, and you will definitely become more beautiful than an ordinary girl, so please help me, please."

"Do you think this is a question of whether it looks good or not? Are you focusing on something strange?"

Saya covered his forehead, finding the condition utterly unacceptable.

He would wholeheartedly agree to let him fight monsters. No matter how many monsters came, it was a good thing for him, and he had absolutely no reason to refuse.

But to disguise oneself as a girl? Isn't that a bit too strange? So, to fight monsters, one has to transform into a young girl? Does he think he's some kind of weird magical girl?

"No, these aren't very important things to you. A true man doesn't concern himself with trifles, right? It's all about vanquishing demons and monsters; sacrificing a little for this isn't unreasonable, is it?"

Tamamo-no-Mae was still pleading with Saku with that pitiful expression, but Saku could tell from her expression that she seemed to be enjoying it.

"Then can't I wear a mask?"

Sawa sighed; after thinking it over, this was the only solution he could somewhat accept.

"But with your figure, even if you're wearing a mask, you wouldn't qualify as a girl. If the advertisement doesn't match the reality, believers will start to doubt their faith."