I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

This is the truth about the high priestess.

There was no authority above all others, no joyful life, and not even life itself.

The high priestess is the offering made to the gods.

All of this was done by Lu Ban himself for Amber.

If Lu Ban had agreed to Amber's request and allowed her to live as an ordinary girl in a corner of the sea, she certainly wouldn't have had to suffer such inhuman torment.

If Amber had been a little less responsible, a little more timid, or a little more selfish, she could have escaped her fate and taken a completely different path, one that would at least offer her a future.

She stands here precisely because she is so perfect.

It was precisely because she was so outstanding that she met such an end.

Fate, like precisely meshing gears, propelled her to this position.

"You've gotten thinner again, Amber."

Lu Ban sighed.

The desiccated corpse remained motionless, with only the flickering firelight of the longbow in its hand.

"I think you need to know this."

A faint voice came from behind Lu Ban.

He turned around and saw, in his shadow and in the flickering firelight, the black-haired, cherry-eyed priestess standing barefoot in the filthy, charred world, yet spotless.

The contrast between the two creates a strong sense of inversion, just like this exotic land, where there are exquisitely beautiful falling cherry blossoms and cruel and tragic sacrifices.

"who are you?"

Lu Ban asked.

He was surprisingly calm.

Calm and undisturbed, like the moonlight.

"You can call me Shenying, or you can call me Kazuma-sama, or whatever else, anyway, it's all the names they gave me."

The witch answered in a flat voice, which reminded Lu Ban of Feng Yu at times.

Indifferent, calm, as if everything in the world had nothing to do with him.

"The witches tricked her into taking a drug that could temporarily steal her consciousness and power, then tied her to a pillar and lit a sacred fire. She would struggle and try to escape, but most of the witches couldn't do it. A few could get down to the second floor, but that was the end of it."

The shrine maiden spoke as if she were recounting something commonplace.

“She was too young and the drug was too strong. She tried for a long time but couldn’t break free. By then, she could already see me.”

"She shed tears, though those tears would be swallowed up by the pure fire in an instant. She begged me to save her. She said she didn't want to die, that she still had many things to do, and that she had someone she wanted to be with forever."

“I have seen many people on their deathbeds. Some are angry, feeling cheated and accusing the world. Some are resentful and cursing everyone who helped them get here. Some are desperate and their reason has collapsed.”

"She was no exception."

"She regretted it, she was angry, she was unwilling to accept it, she lost hope in everything, she began to hate everything, to accuse everything, and she harbored the deepest resentment towards this world. This kind of obsession, the will sublimated in the pure fire, is what the divine child needs to protect this land."

"When the strongest hope becomes the deepest despair, the power born is the best food to feed the gods, and the pollution produced is enough to smooth over everything."

"As you know, in foreign lands, only pollution can fight pollution, and only stronger pollution can fight against invading pollution."

"In this world, this pollution is called Purification Fire."

"To sacrifice one person to save the lives of the many is my duty and my destiny, and it has remained unchanged for thousands of years."

The priestess's voice was colder than the night and softer than the moonlight.

"Until the very end, she kept repeating your name, a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times, etched into her heart, indelible, until death silenced her voice."

"I fulfilled her wish and told you all this."

She felt neither joy nor sorrow, as if nothing in the world could stir her emotions.

Does she hate me?

Lu Ban asked.

"Because I brought her here, that's why she kept calling my name until... death?"

"Do not."

The priestess shook her head.

"The first thing she said before calling your name was, 'I'm sorry.'"

Lu Ban remained silent.

He is very clear.

Lu Ban knew about Hongye's situation after learning about it in the evening.

Just like the red leaves, Amber's future is also its past.

When she first arrived at the island, Amber had already been burned to death and become a divine child, serving as the vessel for the shrine maiden named Kamisakura to descend.

The original high priestess did not die completely.

Her soul resides with the divine cherry blossom in the Wajima Shrine. By offering sacrifices to shrine maidens with powerful spirituality, the divine cherry blossom can descend upon the shrine, using these sacrificed maidens to nourish and control the purifying fire, thus protecting Wajima.

This is the truth about He Island.

Lu Ban didn't know who came up with such a cruel method. Not only would every high priestess suffer inhuman torture, but even the original priestess would never have peace and would have to witness these deaths again and again for thousands of years.

This is the price the people of He Island have paid to combat pollution.

This is what Lu Ban wanted to know: how to combat pollution.

"You only communicated with me to tell me these things?"

Lu Ban knew very well that every word he spoke to this witch now contained corruption.

Over this long period of time, she has come into contact with too much filth, and has become a collection of pollution herself. Perhaps she is no longer herself, but rather He, becoming a great being, breaking free from the chessboard of another realm, and arriving at a higher dimension.

Perhaps she was Him all along, only appearing in human form, staging a tragic song of self-gratification in this world.

"Because that's her wish."

The witch glanced at the withered corpse.

“I have witnessed the passing of countless witches, most of whom, as I just said, were filled with resentment and left a curse on the world.”

"These curses, along with their tormented souls, brew within me. Every moment, I can hear their howls, wails, and sobs, filling my consciousness with the most vicious language."

"But this child, despite suffering, despite being betrayed by the world, despite being in despair, still wanted to leave hope in the very end, even if it was just for the sake of one person."

She tells you, "Live on."

Lu Ban was stunned when he heard the priestess's words.

Then he laughed.

It was an uncontrollable, maniacal laugh, like a wail. He arched his back, bent over, and air was expelled from his lungs. The feeling of suffocation, accompanied by the twitching of his facial muscles, created a hallucinatory illusion.

The laughter grew louder and louder, echoing in the quiet night, as if mocking the world, or perhaps mocking itself.

"You should leave."

The priestess seemed to have decided to end the conversation. She said this and glanced at Lu Ban again.

"I have forgotten my thoughts, and only my body remains, perhaps a relic of you."

As the shrine maiden chanted, Lu Ban felt the surrounding space distort, the world spinning around him, and the shrine maiden, Amber, the Divine Child Pavilion, the Divine Cherry Blossom, and the Island Shrine all drifting away from him.

In that dazzling illusion, Lu Ban spoke to the empty void, to the great beings high above, his voice trembling with laughter.

"She did leave hope."

A century later, the island still exists, and in any case, that is the result of the hope left by Amber.

Not fueled by hatred and malice, but sustained by hope, her soul sat alone in the high Divine Pavilion for a hundred years, guarding the world that had betrayed her.

Some memories, even if they are only fleeting, can sustain a person for a very long time.

Perhaps Lu Ban didn't know how the Divine Child's arrow found its way to that cursed island shrouded in nameless mist, an island even the Shaka Magistrate couldn't find.

Why did this strange island, which had gone unnoticed by the Divine Child for the previous hundred years, suddenly attract the Divine Child's attention after Lu Ban arrived?

Is there a possibility?

In this distant, ethereal, mist-shrouded world, has Amber been watching him all along?

Throughout the long, cold, and lonely years, she persevered until, in Lu Ban's past and Amber's future, the two finally met for the "first time".

Then, the Arrow of Purification arrived as scheduled.

Like a promise, it remains unchanged for thousands of years.

It's like a vow, eternally burning.

Amidst the bizarre and distorted scenes of that otherworldly realm, Lu Ban seemed to see a small figure giving him an innocent smile. In the flickering firelight, she waved her hands and called out with laughter.

I see you.

To this, Lu Ban could only respond with a smile that was a hundred years overdue, and he spoke in response.

"You saw it."

Chapter 362 You already have it in your hands

Congratulations on completing the task!

Settlement will now commence.

[Mission Exploration Progress: 99%]

[Task Completion Status: Perfect]

On a peaceful and tranquil spring day, you and the girl embark on a journey. You have experienced setbacks, confusion, and even thoughts of giving up, but in the end, the flame was kept burning, the world was spared, spring has passed, and new seasons continue to turn. Remember, on this vast sea, there will always be a spark burning for you.

[Gained Silence Points: 86000]

[Reward obtained: Item: Springtime Calm]

Settlement complete