The Thirteen Trials of the Deceptive Monk

"Oh?" "Hoo hoo..."

This sentence caused both of their reactions to change simultaneously. Hisamitsu looked at him with great interest, while Akira encouraged him, "Tell me about it."

Lu Wenjun briefly explained his previous doubts, saying, "What is the biggest difference between me and Lacey? I believe the answer has nothing to do with race, strength, or likes and dislikes, because it is God's judgment. As a god with natural attributes, God should have a broader perspective."

"The difference in nature is 'belonging'."

“Lassie is a monster that originally lived in the forest and is a ‘native creature’, so she is unaffected. I, on the other hand, am an ‘outsider’ from the academy. If an outsider wants to enter the forest, he must accept the rules of the gods—that is, the assimilation of the divine realm.”

Lu Wenjun explained in detail: "If we can figure out the criteria the gods use to judge outsiders, we can find a way to circumvent the divine realm. Therefore, this afternoon I conducted a series of tests. I tried smell, appearance, clothing, and so on, and the final answer I got was..."

He maintained his quadruped position and said, "Motion mode!"

Native forest creatures use trees and shrubs for locomotion.

They nest in trees, hide in bushes, and run across grasslands. Most creatures in nature walk on all fours, and a few monsters with the ability to walk also move by leaping between trees and bushes.

Only outsiders walk on two feet. Only outsiders are persistent on the path. Only outsiders illuminate the darkness. This difference in behavior is the greatest anomaly in the eyes of God (the forest).

Lu Wenjun stood up, proudly saying, "Therefore, I imitated apes moving among the trees, using this method to penetrate deep into the jungle. Even without using my divinity, I didn't turn into a tree, which is the best proof!"

Hisamitsu nodded, then suddenly asked, "So what? You still don't know where God is."

"No, I already know."

Lu Wenjun took out the map that Lai Xi had drawn, and after only half a day, more than a dozen white marks appeared on the map.

“God is not an omnipotent being, and the realm of God has its boundaries. Therefore, today I use my spring-like legs to quickly traverse the jungle, marking wherever there are signs of vegetation. This way, it will be clear at a glance.”

It is indeed very clear at a glance. Even a layperson can understand it clearly.

Laixi's simple markings, combined with Lü Wenjun's carefully added marks, formed an almost perfect circle. A large exclamation mark was placed at the center of the circle.

"This is the true location of the god beyond all boundaries!" Lü Wenjun said confidently. "My reasoning is as above. What do you two think?"

Hisamitsu let out a long, unreadable sigh, looked at Akira, and asked, "What's wrong with this guy?"

“I told you this already,” Mingxiao said cheerfully. “Wenjun is a genius.”

Chapter 59 A Bite in My Throat

The following day, the routine contact with the prophet Sheen took place.

(Thank you for your hard work, Agent.) Sheen said softly, (I also think this mission is a bit excessive... but it's the King's order after all.)

(A task is a task, nothing more to say.)

The agent's response was listless, and upon reflection, it wasn't hard to understand his feelings. Pretending to be a heretical mage in a godforsaken place like the academy was already dangerous enough, and now there was an additional mission to subdue a god... He had to hide his identity while also fighting a god; the requirements were completely contradictory. A knight with a short temper would have given up long ago.

Sheen cautiously asked, "(If it's convenient, could you tell me about the current progress of the investigation?)"

Helping him regulate his emotions is also part of the liaison officer's job. In short, let him vent under the guise of checking on the progress of the consultation, and then tell him the good news after he's in a better mood.

(We have already ascertained the target's divine abilities and scope, the types and strengths of their followers, their divine nature, the location of their true form, their origin, and their true identity. It is expected that these will also be determined today.)

(Oh wow, this is really something... You can't be kidding me, only 4 days?! It's only been 4 days and it's already this bad?!)

(Four days is already a long time.)

Sheen exclaimed: (Wow, amazing... So this agent is the type who goes all out in missions...)

The agent's voice was filled with helplessness: (What kind of image do I have in your eyes?)

(A good-for-nothing middle-aged man who can't do anything except flirt with girls.)

(It's a good decision. Starting from the next contact, we will increase the intensity of your training.)

(No way!) Sheen shouted, (I really didn't expect your investigation to be progressing so quickly... The support I specially prepared is completely useless...)

(Is there another surprise?)

(It's a new function of the "Eye".) Sheen said listlessly, (Because the mission was too outrageous, I specifically applied to the King, and now the Eye of the Living Sacrifice has opened the "Fate Detection" permission, which can be used to sacrifice divine tears to investigate enemy intelligence... I originally planned to let you use this to investigate the enemy's true face, but you don't need it at all.)

(I'll use it. My calculations aren't always 100% accurate, but this ability is perfect for verifying conjectures.) Lü Wenjun said, (Well done, Miss Prophet. By the way, about the divine power support request you made for me before...)

(It was approved together. The reply was that cross-realm teleportation was too risky and therefore the resources were converted into server usage rights and given to me.) Sheen said smugly, (In this operation, I can use the server to assist in simulation calculations, ensuring a flawless result!)

(……well.)

(Why are you sighing? Don't you trust me? This is a perfect calculation by the mainframe, it can even calculate world lines!!)

(Okay, okay...)

After exchanging a few words and hanging up, Lü Wenjun noticed that there were two additional bird-beak-like marks on the upper left and upper right sides of the Eye of the Living Sacrifice, which seemed to be the new ability to explore karma.

Cicadas chirped outside the window, and a faint warmth filled the library. Most of the students had their collars open and were fanning themselves with spells or magical artifacts.

On the fourth day after the appearance of the otherworldly god, the summer heat intensified, and the Four Seasons Forest quietly expanded, with flowers, trees, and shrubs climbing the Crystal Mountain and infiltrating the academy. Upon waking, the campus was found to be adorned with three more patches of greenery: deep green branches and leaves slanted into the windows of the teaching buildings, and ornamental plants in the small flower beds looked exactly like man-eating flowers, much to the chagrin of the little fairies.

The 14-day deadline was no joke; at this rate, half the campus would be a primeval forest in less than two weeks. The idiots in the "Millennium Cave" were overjoyed, making a fortune selling cold drinks during the heat. Meanwhile, some upperclassmen were dissatisfied with the first-years' inaction; even sitting in the library, Lü Wenjun could feel the unfriendly stares from those around him.

Isn't he the strongest among the first-year students? He should hurry up and figure out a solution. If you're not capable, don't waste your time messing around with Professor Ji… It's nothing more than this kind of displaced anger; in this respect, magicians and ordinary people aren't much different.

"How annoying..." Reiko sighed.

"Your words have the air of a Kyoto nobleman."

"What you're doing now has nothing to do with nobility."

In front of the two were several illustrated books comparable to dictionaries, with colorful illustrations of various plant specimens spread across the table, dazzling the eyes.

The first day of the investigation determined the extent of the divine realm and deduced the location of the deity's true form. However, deities can move at any time, and the information gathered on the first day may differ significantly from the actual situation in battle. To formulate a plan, it is necessary to confirm the nature and divine authority of the deity, which requires extremely tedious data comparison work.

The arrival of the otherworldly god should have caused changes in the forest—a perfectly reasonable assumption. However, once Linggong actually began the investigation, she discovered the difficulty of it all, because the Four Seasons Forest contained simply too many species!

According to "A Study of Species Evolution in the Four Seasons Forest," there are over a thousand animal species and more than four thousand plant species in the forest, not to mention the numerous magical beasts and plants. The number of species recorded in this single book easily exceeds five figures, not even counting the countless insects…

Ling Gong only worked on it for a day before resolutely pulling him in to join the work, while Lü Wenjun, faced with this vast sea of ​​species, felt his eyes light up and wished he could just drown his sorrows in books.

“I seriously underestimated the sheer size of the forest.” Lü Wenjun stared blankly. “How can there be 76 species of cicadas alone…”

"Haha, there are 1254 species of birds." Ling Gong chuckled dryly. "It is said that there are millions of species in the Amazon rainforest. The forest ecosystem is amazing."

"I think if I don't get lucky today, I'll just go and develop data comparison techniques."

"Wouldn't it be more efficient to directly pursue the research and development of techniques..."

The tedious, boring, and utterly uninteresting comparative work continued from morning until afternoon, yielding nothing but a greater sense of awe for the forest ecosystem. By five o'clock in the afternoon, everything looked like a tree to Lü Wenjun; he was practically turning into wood on his own without even entering the divine realm.

"Temporarily...suspended..." He weakly pulled out his ticket to Laixi. "I booked the ticket in advance. I'll change it to a field trip tomorrow..."

Ling Gong didn't reply, staring blankly at him.

"...Ling Gong?"

"what is this?"

Lü Wenjun looked bewildered: "Leaves of some kind of cedar tree?"

Lacey's train ticket was a dark green, with long, slender, needle-like leaves, clearly from some kind of cedar tree. Reiko took the leaf and examined it closely: "Nothing..."

She hurriedly flipped through the book "Studies on the Evolution of Species": "I just finished reading the section on cedar trees this afternoon. There are no cedar trees with leaves this big in the Four Seasons Forest!"

"No way..." Lü Wenjun said incredulously, "The clue is really right in front of us?"

“It actually makes perfect sense. The forest is full of leaves, and the Laceys must have found these leaves very recognizable, which is why they used them as a marker.” Reiko tapped her glasses. “Besides, I have a memory of these leaves… They definitely come from the Japanese cultural sphere; they’re trees with a connection to the gods!”

Lü Wenjun stood up: "I'm going to find an illustrated guide related to the Divine Tree."

"Also try searching using keywords like 'spirit wood'!"

After a break, the search resumed. With a clear target in mind, the comparison went exceptionally smoothly, and just one hour later, they successfully located the target in the "World's Ancient Trees Illustrated Guide".

On page 765 of the illustrated guide, in the Japanese section, there is a full-page hand-drawn illustration. It depicts an extremely ancient cedar tree, its rough, dark bark resembling the wrinkled face of an elderly person, while its branches and leaves are lush and green, reaching straight to the sky. Its leaves are almost identical to the sample in Lü Wenjun's hand.

Its name is Yakusugi, specifically referring to ancient trees on Yakushima Island that are over a thousand years old. It is said that the oldest existing tree is over 2000 years old and is revered as a "sacred tree" by the locals.

“Yakusugi…Yakushima is…an ancient island far removed from civilization, nestled amidst evergreen forests…” Lü Wenjun carefully examined the text, “Yaku…long…”

He remembered the voice he had heard that night. The voice of the gods.

【long】

"I see!" Lü Wenjun suddenly stood up. "It's so obvious, there's no way I wouldn't recognize it! You think so too, right?!"

“Yes!” Linggong nodded, “But we need to verify the evidence for our conjecture.”

"It's 5:30 now, we still have time. Let's go find Qiu Shen!"

·

They hurriedly left the library and successfully found the melancholy Miss Opola near the tavern. Little Qiu was startled by them.

"Want to see a painting of leaves? Why...?"

"I'm counting on you to find out the enemy's true identity!"

Xiao Qiushen looked puzzled, but because she was good-natured, she did as she was told. She carefully drew a yellow leaf and, at the strong request of the two, accompanied them to observe it.

Half an hour passed. An hour passed. And then—

"Ah?!"

The leaves have "regenerated".

The withered leaves fell, decaying at an unbelievable speed and merging into the soil. New leaves sprouted from the bare branches. These leaves quickly skipped over the tender green buds, transforming into a deep, rich green.

Opola was stunned: "The tree itself is constantly growing?!"

"Yes, so it's not Miss Opola's fault at all."

No matter how many seasonings you update, or how meticulously you paint, it's meaningless if the canvas itself is replaced.

The plants, under divine power, continued to regenerate, thus delaying the appearance of autumn's signs. The unprovoked earth remained immersed in the heat of summer—this was the true nature of the event.

The enemy's ability is to control plants and manage their growth. The sacred tree of Yakushima Island is a clue to its origin, and its goal is to ensure its longevity. Thus, its identity is finally proven.

"The true face of the god beyond the realm is not the deity who guides summer..."

"It comes from Japanese mythology, the god of wood!"

The two high-fived and cheered happily.

For combat reasons, its true name will be officially revealed when the formal campaign begins. Now that we've reached this point, we can finally begin to formulate a battle plan.

“Deities like the Wood God and the Mountain God always possess enormous physical forms. They typically hide within ‘temples,’ relying on the influence of their divine domain to manifest their existence and thus gain faith,” Ling Gong said. “Because their physical forms are so large, movement is extremely difficult, so for now, there’s no need to worry about moving to their destination. As for the temples…”

"Use targeted techniques to infiltrate, or use direct attacks to break through!"

"When it comes to dealing with trees, the best approach is still fire."

"We also need to consider the potential disruption to regenerative capacity..."

"And there's also a decisive, high-powered tactical move!"

Enthusiastic and with a clear train of thought, once the true identity of the target was confirmed, ideas and methods for the attack flowed forth endlessly. Lü Wenjun spoke with great enthusiasm, yet he always felt that his mouth couldn't keep up with his train of thought, and his expression was not very fluent. Ling Gong also gestured haphazardly, exchanged a glance with him, and they both laughed.

"You're not in good shape..."

Let's call it a day.

It was almost eight o'clock. After spending the whole day in the library, even Lü Wenjun was a bit mentally exhausted. In this state, how could they come up with any good plans? What they needed now was rest.

So the two of them stretched their aching shoulders and walked along the tree-lined path leading to the campus. There were no students around the library at this hour, but the empty night wasn't peaceful. The cicadas in the trees were still full of energy, spreading their annoying, noisy life force with their chirping.

Ling Gong laughed and said, "I thought it was an important clue, but now it seems to be just a divine special effect."

At the beginning of the list of questions, only the question of cicada chirping was left with a question mark, but now it seems that this matter is the least important.

Having seen through both the divine realm and the true form, they had a corresponding strategy in mind: the purpose of occupying the forest was simply to collect faith. As for the reason of specifically using cicadas…

"I guess it really likes summer, which is why it keeps the cicadas chirping," said Lü Wenjun.

"The cicadas should be very happy. After all, it's already October, a rare extended battle."

"Um……"

Cicadas have a long underground development period and a short adult stage. After developing underground for about 13 years, they emerge from the ground, molt, reproduce, and then die within a mere 60-80 days.

Its activity period begins in June and ends no later than September, coinciding with the summer season.

Therefore, it is a life as short as summer.

Lü Wenjun slowed his pace.

"...Linggong, why are there still cicadas chirping now?"