He changed Tiwat

“Divine Child, you have already lied to me twice. I will not let you lie to me a third time.”

A muffled "bang" was heard.

The child's wrist trembled, and she accidentally knocked over the sauce bottle on the counter.

The sesame oil that leaked out when the sauce bottle was tilted meandered along the cracks in the wood grain, splitting the countertop reflecting two faces into tiny specks of light.

Han Fulai clearly saw the fleeting panic and fear in Shenzi's eyes, as well as the tear stains at the corners of her eyes.

The goddess turned her gaze away, wiped her cheek with her sleeve, and once again revealed that mocking smile on her lips: "...Heh, I didn't expect you to hold a grudge. Although I did tease you twice with cherry blossom petals, didn't you say they were delicious?"

During her five hundred years as the chief priest of Narukami Taisha Shrine, she had become accustomed to displaying a playful attitude towards the world, and always used this playfulness to cover up her true feelings.

But this time she failed.

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.” There was no smile on Han Fulai’s face. “From the moment we met in this consciousness space, you’ve been trying to deceive me, to trick me into actually killing you.”

"Your pretense of 'possession by a spirit' is just a smokescreen. Your real deception only began after I saw through it—the 'last words' you left me after your first 'death' are the true purpose you wanted to conceal."

“‘A dying man’s words are good.’ I never doubted your claim that ‘there were many versions of you in different eras’… But now I realize that’s false. From beginning to end, there has only been one Yae no Kamiko.”

“You left behind that ‘True Meaning of Kagura’ and those nine bells, making me connect ‘killing you’ with ‘Nine Great Purifications of the Divine Cherry Blossoms,’ making me believe that I have ‘nine chances’ to save you…”

"But in reality, this is just a 'card trick by civil servants'—all the information I have and all the choices in front of me are given to me by you."

"Nobody ever promised me nine chances, and I've never seen nine of you appear at the same time."

"It was all your deliberate manipulation."

"...If I kill you in this dream this time, you will truly die, won't you?"

The steamer in the ramen shop vibrated with a hissing sound, and the hardworking crow chef was busy behind them, while the aroma of rich tonkotsu broth wafted through the shop.

The goddess's purple eyes flickered in and out of the misty steam.

“You told me back then that the corrupting power of the ‘God of Calamity’ was too great for you to contain alone. Only in this space-time distortion of consciousness could multiple versions of you exist at different times to share the corruption of the ‘God of Calamity’.”

"Then you told me that in every era you would wait for me in front of the Divine Cherry Tree to perform the exorcism... Indeed, every 'Great Divine Cherry Tree Exorcism' in history relied on the Divine Cherry Tree, and I was indeed guided by it. On the surface, it all seems plausible... But..."

Han Fulai flicked his fingers lightly.

A white band of time light appeared, encircling him.

“You don’t know that I have ‘seeds of time,’ and you don’t know that I can calculate time in this space where time cannot be measured.”

"The space where we met is a consciousness space from five hundred years ago. Every time I 'exorcise' you, the Divine Cherry Tree will give me new guidance after two hours. But after two exorcisms, I am still in this consciousness space from five hundred years ago. The times have not changed."

"For me, only four hours have passed here."

"You appeared at the teahouse 'Ru'an' for the second time, and you are still from the same era. At the time, I thought that since the interval between the second 'Great Purification of the Divine Cherry Blossom' and the first 'Great Purification of the Divine Cherry Blossom' was not long, the times had not changed... But now we are meeting here for the third time."

"In any case, this 'you from a different era' should be on a timeline sixty years apart from the other 'you'—however, that's not the case."

"The so-called 'divine children of different eras' are nothing more than the same you appearing repeatedly."

Tell me, why do you, from 'different eras,' repeatedly appear at the same time?

The divine child remained silent.

Han Fulai also remained silent.

Only the white smoke from their breath swirled in the center of the counter.

Realizing he wouldn't get an answer from the Divine Child, Han Fulai spoke again: "Divine Child, there's actually a very serious flaw in your lie—"

“The reason we are performing the ‘Divine Cherry Blossom Great Purification’ here is because you absorbed the filth left by the evil star from the ‘Pure Land of One Heart’. But back then, you were the only one who secretly performed the ‘Great Purification’ to absorb the filth in the ‘Pure Land of One Heart’.”

"Yes, you are the 'White Star Fox King,' the most talented demon in Inazuma's history to advance to the 'Heavenly Fox' rank the fastest. Your strength is only natural. The previous chief priest of Narukami Shrine, your teacher, Fox Prince, also took on the filth for Inazuma with his own strength... You are the same."

"When you were in the 'Pure Land of One Heart,' you could bear the filth alone, without even the people present, including Shadow, not noticing... So why are you now weaving a lie, claiming that you need multiple clones to share the filth?"

Han Fu asked and answered himself: "--The so-called power weakens when divided, and the same is true of filth. The real purpose of your 'split body' is to disperse and weaken the power of the 'evil star' as much as possible, so that I can cleanse it one by one and not let the filth harm me... right?"

"At the same time, this also allows me to gradually develop a mental inertia, subconsciously believing that I still have several more chances to save you... Only in this way can I bring myself to do it."

The goddess's lips twitched slightly, then tightened again.

Han Fulai did not miss the subtle changes in Shenzi's expression.

"Hmm, it seems I was right." He paused, then added, "Based on this, I have another guess. Your soul consciousness should now be integrated with the Divine Cherry Tree, right?"

“Every time we meet, it is next to the sacred cherry tree, and it is also the sacred cherry tree that guides me to perform the ‘sacred cherry blossom purification’. These are not coincidences.”

“Think back, we also saw the ley line memories you selected to guide the ‘Great Purification of the Divine Cherry Tree’ near those ley line nodes. This shows that you now have the ability to manipulate the root system of the Divine Cherry Tree and manipulate ley line memories.”

"Including our two previous encounters, the Narukami Shrine and the tea room you conjured up are actually memories of the earth's veins."

"And the anomaly that made me realize this time was different is here—this time you didn't use illusion magic, but instead used your own dream."

“What appears before me this time is no longer a ‘clone’ similar to leyline memories, but your ‘true self,’ your true soul consciousness. If I kill you in this dream, you will die completely, and at the same time, it will mean that the defilement will be finally ‘purified,’ right?”

The divine child finally spoke: "What if I told you you guessed wrong?"

Han Fulai shook his head: "Even if you insist on denying it, it doesn't matter. I already have conclusive evidence to support these speculations."

The divine child questioned him with his eyes.

Han Fulai's lips curled up slightly, and his gaze lingered on Shenzi's cherry-colored lips for a moment.

“Your memory, your cherry blossom-flavored chocolate,” he said. “The you in front of me, the you I’m meeting for the third time, still remember the jokes we made when we met at ‘Ru’an’.”

"You, who refuse to admit defeat, deliberately 'poisoned' me in the chocolate and pulled me into your dream."

"If every version of you I meet is a 'you from a different era,' then what makes you think you can have memories of me from different eras?"

“Divine Child, your ‘fox tail’ has been revealed.”

The divine child remained silent for a long time before sighing.

"Do you know? You and Sister Gan Yu are very similar. You both uphold the kindness, justice, and responsibility in your hearts, and never hesitate to lend a helping hand to others... But, you are different in one way."

"What's different?" Han Fulai asked.

"Even if Sister Gan Yu sees through my little scheme, she will pretend not to notice and accompany me in doing those silly things... She knows best when to be foolish and when to be clever."

The divine child sighed again, "And you, you are too clever when you should be confused."

Han Fulai also sighed: "Then I should be glad that I'm smart enough, otherwise I would have killed you so confusedly, and I might have nightmares every day from now on... but I don't have a dream-eating tapir friend to help me eat away my nightmares."

"You really want to see Mizuki, don't you? I'm not bragging, but I'm pretty good at finding people. As long as she's still alive, I'll definitely be able to help you find her."

"You said you can't go back to the past, but you still have a future. As long as you're alive, the future will keep extending, and you can always create new memories..."

"Enough! Stop talking!" The priestess's voice suddenly became loud.

This was the first time she had shown her feelings so openly since Han Fulai and she met.

She lowered her head and took a deep breath...

The next moment, the voice of the chief priest echoed throughout the town.

"Who wants to die! You idiot!"

This was the first time Han Fulai had heard the Divine Child's "roar"—and also the first time he had heard the usually elegant Palace Master swear and curse.

"I don't want to abandon 'Yaedo' either!"

"Do you know how hard it is to be an editor? You have to run around collecting materials, pay attention to readers' feedback at all times, and rack your brains to keep up with the trends; you have to discuss the plot with the authors and find inspiration, and you have to take care of them when they are tired or sick, and urge them on when they are lazy or exhausted; the cover design before publication, the publicity and sales after publication... which one of these does not require our hard work behind the scenes?"

"Even though it's a collaborative work, readers will only remember the author! For us, the reward for all this is holding the published work in our hands and carefully reading through it—it's like watching a tree we planted grow into a useful tree. We strive for that moment of satisfaction and fulfillment!"

"But I haven't even finished reading the latest novel yet!"

"Festivals too! Without me, can the collaboration between 'Radiant Splendor Festival' and 'Yaedo' be successful? This is the first collaboration festival, do you know how worried I am?"

"...I haven't had enough fried tofu! Master Saigu clearly said that once you become the priest, you can eat hot fried tofu anytime, anywhere. She lied! The food at Narukami Shrine is just like at Okuzō-zan, nothing but flowers and grass. If you want to eat fried tofu, you have to sneak down the mountain and not let anyone find out!"

"Besides, Aying doesn't manage things, so I, as her subordinate, have to take care of a lot of things! The explosion at the Tassa sand factory, the 'Five Lightning Transmissions' incident, the 'Spirit of Evil' incident, the Haiji Island incident... I was the one who handled all of those for her!"

"And that Ah Ying! Without me, who can take care of that idiot Ah Ying! She's so stupid, she'll definitely get fooled by others again in the future. I won't allow anyone to fool her, the only one who can fool her is me!"

"And there's more... There are still so many things I haven't done, and so many fun and interesting things I haven't experienced!"

"Of course I don't want to die!"

"Is there any way? Besides the 'Divine Cherry Blossom Great Purification,' what other method can be used to exorcise the 'Evil Star'!?"

"Say it! Just say it!"

For the first time in five hundred years, the divine child has so openly revealed her inner thoughts to the world.

Without any pretense, they simply hurled their words at the person opposite them like javelins.

Decades of pent-up emotions welled up in her heart and burst forth with tears. The goddess buried her face in her arms on the table, sobbing uncontrollably.

A hand gently stroked the top of her head.

"I just want to hear your honest opinion. I understand that some things are hard to keep inside, so it's better to say them out loud."

Han Fulai's voice was gentle and warm, as was the temperature of his palms.

“I heard you say ‘I don’t want to die’.”

The divine child gritted his teeth, shook his head violently, and shook off his hand.

"So what if you heard it? Are you laughing at me? Are you trying to say, 'That wise and arrogant Yae no Kami is having an inner breakdown, crying and making a scene, so pitiful!'? Pah, don't say that!"

She glared defiantly at the man who had witnessed her vulnerability, tears still glistening in the corners of her eyes, her expression one of unyielding defiance.

Han Fulai was indeed laughing.

But not in a mocking way.

That smile seemed more like "doting," like seeing a little fox hugging your leg and rolling around in a spoiled manner.

Han Fulai maintained his smile: "...I heard your wish."

Karvin will be taking a two-day break from updating.

The author is pondering a rather complex setting related to the Divine Cherry Tree and the power of time. In order to present that part of the story in the best way, please allow me to pause writing for two days.

Therefore, there should be no updates for the next two days.

Thank you for your understanding.

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Chapter 243 In my countless failures, why should you accompany me through my wanderings?

"I have heard your wish."

The divine child saw Han Fulai bend down and reach out to grasp the purple pendant hanging from the tip of her ear.

That was her "eye of God".

"You've probably heard the legend—'The strong desires of mortals attract the attention of the gods, and when the gods cast their gaze upon mortals, the Eye of God descends.'"

He said that.

The divine child once again revealed that mocking smile: "I'm sorry, but I happen to know that this legend is false... and my God's Eye is also fake."

Yes, the one hanging on the tip of the goddess's ear is actually a fake "Eye of God".

The "Heavenly Foxes" of the Bai Chen bloodline do not need an external magical organ like the Eye of God. Their own demonic power, or rather, immortal power, is enough to manipulate elemental forces, and they can even do many amazing things that elemental forces cannot.

The divine child would wear a fake eye of the god simply to conform to people's legends.

Since the Shadow issued the "Eye Hunt Order," rumors have circulated that the Thunder God's wrath has caused the issuance of Thunder God Eyes to cease... As a member of the Thunder God's family, if you don't possess a Thunder God Eye, people will suspect that "even the Thunder God's family is not favored by the gods."

As a genuine member of Thor's family, the Divine Child knows best that the rules for distributing the Eye of God have nothing to do with the will of the "Seven Rulers of the Mortal World".

The so-called "divine gaze" is nothing more than the rule of a "false heaven".

Obtaining the Eye of God is essentially obtaining a shackle called "Fate".

Demons are inherently free-spirited; who would willingly choose to put on shackles?

In particular, powerful demons who had reached the level of a divine child, such as the Fox Palace, Yurakusai, Mikoto Chiyo, and Kageshiro Reisenbo, consciously avoided obtaining the Eye of God.

Of course, conversely, if the Divine Child were willing, she could obtain a genuine Eye of God at any time—she only needed to make a request to the ley lines, or rather, to the "Destiny System" of Sky Island.

If she accepts the Eye of God from Sky Island, it's tantamount to voluntarily accepting Sky Island's "surrender" and becoming part of the "Destiny System." Sky Island would be overjoyed and would never refuse.

But in the mind of the goddess, her god, the "divine gaze" she desired, was always just a shadow.

Perhaps one day, when Shadow truly gains the authority to issue God's Eyes, she will replace the glass bead on her ear, which serves only an aesthetic purpose, with the God's Eye that Shadow personally gives her.

In the eyes of the world, the "eye of God" can indeed bring about miracles—but such a "miracle" cannot change her fate.