Transformed into the leader of an esoteric sect in Japan

"Thank you, child of the Lord. You have finally granted me eternal peace. Now, please release the prisoner who has been bound for so long." The Pillar-Head Hermit seemed to feel no pain at all, his mutilated face only showing a relieved smile to Kurosawa Shizuki.

Kurosawa Shizuki could indeed sense that as the giant's body continued to collapse, some indescribable entity was being continuously stripped from the giant's body and then injected into Kurosawa Shizuki's body.

Burning filaments of light coalesced in the void, and a peculiar scroll silently appeared in Kurosawa Shizuki's hand. It unfolded on its own as if it were alive, its pages turning endlessly.

Congratulations on awakening the power dormant deep within your bloodline.

[The Will of the Wandering Flame, a purple skill: When the flames consume everything, the wolf will feast alongside all the wandering flames. You will be able to control unseen beasts to devour time and infuse burning time into the ashes, forming a new ash ledger.]

[Congratulations! You have triggered the hidden attribute, Ashes Ledger.]

[The Ashes Ledger: A special technique used by those favored by the dawn to store time, the foundation of a liquidator's livelihood. Each page of the Ashes Ledger can store one year's worth of time. You can retrieve or store threads of time from the Ashes Ledger at any time, anywhere, to trade with various individuals who sell or need time.]

[Your remaining pages in the Ashes Ledger: 308 pages.]

[You have stolen the false year 3028 from the body of the false Giant of Time, the Pillar Hermit, and transformed it into a forged ledger of ashes, page 302.]

[The Forged Ashes Ledger: Everything can be forged, even time. A forged Ashes Ledger won't make you live longer in reality, but it can at least be used to deceive traders or construct false histories.]

P.S. I've been very busy lately and uploaded this chapter without having time to edit it. I'll revise it again tomorrow, so please refresh the page then.

Chapter 128, Section 129: Ascending on the Rainbow Bridge

"It seems, Kurosawa-kun, you were indeed once a member of the Liquidators, and your position was definitely not low," Asakura Yuki appeared behind Kurosawa Shizuki at some point. She looked with great interest at the ash ledger in Kurosawa Shizuki's hand, which seemed to be burning with invisible flames. Each page of the ledger was blank, but the surface of the paper was weathered like old tree bark. "As someone who can directly summon a copy of the ash ledger, did that ruler really want to let you leave the Liquidators?"

“In order to deal with the Pillarhead Hermit, this is probably the only choice we have to make,” Chai Qi said, gazing at the Pillarhead Hermit who had collapsed and was now completely weathered away, with only his head floating in the air. “At least now we can finally go and pay homage to the highest ruler of this forest.”

Kurosawa Shizuki had no idea how much power she had never known was hidden within her. Perhaps the Shadow Girl knew, but for certain reasons, she wouldn't tell her. The Ashes Ledger was a unique authority belonging to the Liquidators. The Liquidators were able to expand their influence worldwide because they could collect and sell time through the Ashes Ledger. The only one who had ever truly come into contact with the gods and possessed the original Ashes Ledger was the Great Enemy. Kurosawa Shizuki's ability to summon a copy of the Ashes Ledger proved that she had gained the Great Enemy's approval, or at least it had in the past. However, for some reason, the Great Enemy had never taken back the authority bestowed upon her.

Is it that she can't do it, or that she's unwilling to do it? Kurosawa Shizuki recalled what she had seen not long ago in that realm, which she couldn't tell was real or a dream. The enemy's dark blue eyes were similar to hers. Kurosawa Shizuki suspected that the enemy might have been waiting for her to use the power of the Ashes Ledger again, because as long as she used that power, she would be exposed in front of the enemy.

Kurosawa Shizuki had never heard Kurosawa Ai mention that they had also joined the Purifiers, but their father, Kurosawa Asahi, seemed to have held a high position within the Purifiers. Kurosawa Shizuki suspected that this power was inherited from her father. The Great Enemy claimed that she was also "a member of the family." Perhaps in the Great Enemy's eyes, such power could be inherited through bloodline?

Furthermore, the time stored in the Ashes Ledger is a staggering 308 pages, with each page representing a year. How did the original owner, a teenage girl, obtain three hundred years of time? If nothing unexpected happens, theoretically, Kurosawa Shizuki could rely on this Ashes Ledger to maintain her youth and continue living in the world for another three hundred years. Could this abnormal time reserve be the legacy left to her by her father?

If we were to make a bolder guess, could the debt that the great enemy wants to collect from her be the past three hundred years?

Kurosawa Shizuki felt that her thinking was probably too simplistic. The Great Enemy had existed for far more than three hundred years, and the Purifiers were a vast organization spread across the globe. There were probably at least dozens of beings in this organization with lifespans exceeding three hundred years. Given the Great Enemy's status, would they really care about a mere three hundred years? Unless this ledger of ashes held even more secrets...

Kurosawa Shizuki closed the Ashes Ledger. Exploring the power of the Ashes Ledger could be done slowly later. If necessary, she could try to extract information from the Shadow Girl and Kurosawa Ai. As for the threat of the great enemy, she had no time to worry about it now. After all, even if it was a great enemy, it seemed unlikely that it would descend upon Heikyo before Kirie's demise.

The most urgent task now is still to pay homage to the ruler of the woodlands, to end this twisted world of the woodlands forever, and to thwart Mistspring's plot to resurrect.

Above the giant pillar where the Pillar-Head Hermit lived, even with the wings that Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura Yuki had obtained from the forest fairy, they could no longer climb. The higher they went in the sky, the more oppressive the atmosphere became. At their current height, they could only land on the Pillar-Head Hermit's pillar and could no longer get even an inch closer to the Wheel of Reincarnation Temple.

When the pillar-headed hermit's body disintegrated down to just his head, his suspended head suddenly turned around and looked toward the direction of the Wheel of Destiny.

Within the withered black eye sockets of the flowers, an incredibly dazzling light shot straight into the sky, its radiance forming a rainbow bridge that pierced the gloom of the forest sky, connecting all the way to the seemingly eternally sealed Chakra Temple at the end.

After the Rainbow Bridge was completed, the hermit on the pillar with a relieved smile on his lips finally vanished. From the beginning, he seemed to have no hostility towards Kurosawa Shizuki and the others, or rather, he had been waiting for visitors like them who were there to destroy the forest. He was already extremely tired of everything that was happening in the forest.

"My mission is complete. Please liberate the last ruler of the forest..." The pillar-headed hermit vanished in the light, leaving behind only an unsolvable mystery. It seems that Kurosawa Shizuki and the others were merely witnesses here, witnessing this decaying forest, which had endured countless years, heading towards its inevitable demise.

“It has been an unforgettable journey, Kurosawa-kun. Now we are finally coming to an end,” Asakura Yuki said with a smile, taking Kurosawa Shizuki’s hand. “I believe we have come to understand each other much better on this journey. After we leave the woods, our relationship will definitely become even closer.”

"Perhaps," Kurosawa Shizuki said noncommittally. Rather than saying they had gained a better understanding of each other, it would be more accurate to say that Kurosawa Shizuki had a deeper understanding of Asakura Yuki's sometimes cruel and sometimes eccentric personality. If she were to find a lover, Kurosawa Shizuki would definitely not want to find a half-crazy woman like Asakura Yuki, yet she had to admit one thing—

Yuki Asakura's mysterious aura, both innocent and mad, held a fatal attraction for Shizuki Kurosawa, like a flame drawing a moth to a flame...

“Foolish cultists, are you already letting your guard down? We haven’t even seen the true creator of the woodland yet. What we’re about to face is probably the most difficult battle yet,” Chai Qi said, licking his paws. His voice was sarcastic. “The Fellowships of Mist Spring outside the woodland are getting stronger every second. The Chosen Ones have already begun to move towards immortality. We have no time to waste.”

“Is that really something to be wary of? Why is it that, based on my judgment along the way, the one in charge of the Temple of Reincarnation seems to be just a childish and willful little brat?” Asakura Yuki’s intuition was so sharp as to be almost terrifying. “When I was a child, I liked to do the same thing as this Woodland Lord—play house by placing toys in various places, and if I got tired of the toys, I would destroy them all.”

“If a naive little brat were to wield the power of a god, the threat he would pose would be far greater than that of a rational adult. Those chosen ones who are causing headaches for the Anti-Epidemic Bureau are all creations of this little brat who do whatever he wants.” Surprisingly, Chai Qi did not refute Asakura Yuki’s conjecture.

"Wait, about those Chosen Ones... you actually know about what's happening outside?" Kurosawa Shizuki asked, somewhat surprised.

"Do you really think this is my body?" Chai Qi asked with a cold laugh. "My main body is still outside overseeing the overall situation. As a core member of this S-class mission, I can't risk my life by entering such a dangerous place."

"Truly worthy of being a big shot in the Anti-Suppression Bureau, never standing under a crumbling wall, unlike us weak and feeble cultists who can only venture into such a godforsaken place for a sliver of hope." Asakura Yuki could probably argue with Shibasaki endlessly anytime, anywhere, but the two maintained a certain degree of restraint in the woods and managed not to come to blows.

"Alright, you two, there's no need for us to continue this pointless argument in this place. Once we leave the woods, we'll be free of any further entanglements." As someone caught between the Anti-Suppression Bureau and the Secret Cult, Kurosawa Shizuki had no interest in the dispute between Asakura and Shibasaki. Right now, she just wanted to leave this godforsaken place as soon as possible, go out and scatter the ashes of all the members of the Shindai-kai in the Shedding Club. If any members of the Purge were around, she would scatter their ashes and then stomp on their graves three times.

“I agree with the opinion of this insightful Kurosawa classmate.” Chai Qi glanced at Kurosawa Shizuki with a playful look.

"Hmph, for Kurosawa's sake, let's go." Asakura snorted coldly and strode onto the Rainbow Bridge alone.

The moment they stepped onto the Rainbow Bridge, the purple wings on everyone's backs instantly disintegrated and vanished into nothingness, as if the Woodland Queen's wings were simply incompatible with the Rainbow Bridge.

Kurosawa Shizuki followed closely behind. Although the Rainbow Bridge was semi-transparent, walking on it created ripples like water, with iridescent light flowing across it. However, beneath the sky-reaching Rainbow Bridge, one could overlook the entire collapsing forest. One half was ravaged by the turbid River, while the other half had become a bottomless abyss. Water falling into the abyss was like falling into the legendary Ruins of Return, never to rise again. There was no way any living being could survive in such a forest.

As people walked along, the Rainbow Bridge began to tremble continuously, just like the iron chain bridge between the high mountains of China in the past. Walking on it, one could not feel any sense of security, only a sense of urgency and unease as if standing on the edge of an abyss, and one could not help but worry that the Rainbow Bridge would collapse into nothingness at any moment.

Is the whole world just a playground for some little girl to play house? Kurosawa Shizuki thought of Asakura Yuki's words again, and looked up at the music box temple that was still playing a sad song. The so-called master of the woodland, who was forever bound here as a prisoner of the woodland, what kind of existence was she?

P.S., what's the underlying principle? Why is my subscription rate increasing faster than when I update?

Chapter 129, Section 130: Makoto and Kyoko

Fujiwara no Kōko had known for a long time that she was born for a very great purpose. She was the chosen one. Before her birth, countless people had made countless attempts for the great rebirth of the gods. Her birth was an amazing coincidence and a miracle that could never be repeated. Only she was born with the ability to hear the sound of moths, to touch the deep and dark realms, and to glimpse the gods sleeping at the bottom.

From a young age, she was taught by her parents through various means that she had to accept this goal. Her parents imposed their will on Fujiwara Kyouko, not giving her any freedom of choice. However, Fujiwara Kyouko did not resent her parents because of this fact.

Because in her eyes, Wuquanzi constituted the meaning of her short life. Apart from Wuquanzi's revival, nothing else mattered to her. She could not see and refused to see the real world with her own eyes. If the world did not become what she expected, she would never try to adapt to it. On the contrary, she wanted to transform the world into what she expected.

From birth, Muko knew she was the chosen one. She often heard the sound of wings flapping in her dreams, flapping flapping. Her body seemed to lose all weight, surrounded only by endless wings and winged creatures. The heaviness of her physical body made her feel shackled, the steel jungle made her feel suffocated, and the fanatical gazes of countless followers of the Divine Society made her feel oppressed. She had no friends, or rather, her only friend was that winged god.

The winged god would visit her in her obscure and gloomy dreams, incessantly pouring out His despair, sorrow, hatred, and confusion from His long years: the great civilization He built in the age of giant beasts before the birth of humankind, the secrets hidden in the heavens and the underworld, the conflicts among the first gods, the splitting of the sun and the birth of worms, multiple histories, the decline of the old gods and the rise of the new gods…

Muko's worldview was built under the guidance of God. In her eyes, history is not linear, but an interwoven spider web, with multiple historical events happening simultaneously. Whether it is a god or a human, they may both live and die. Every decision made can be both right and wrong. Everything is uncertain and ambiguous. Only when she truly opens her eyes to observe can she obtain a temporarily certain ending. But when you close your eyes, endless chaos and darkness will once again dominate everything.

You are me, and I am you. Sooner or later, we will become one. There is no need to resist, no need to fear, for this is the greatest honor I bestow upon you. We will forever soar freely in the forest, rebuilding a new history, and then everything will be liberated. God often paints a beautiful picture of the future for Muzi.

Muko knew that God was not just teaching her secret history and forbidden knowledge; God was actually transforming her soul through "knowledge," broadening her personhood, and enabling her to accept everything she would receive from God in the future with a more complete and comprehensive attitude.

As her knowledge grew and her horizons broadened, Mu Zi was able to observe everything from a perspective beyond that of humans. The increase in power was as simple as drinking water and eating for her. The advancement in rank, which was incredibly difficult for mortals, was just a natural process for her. Mu Zi was very clear that all the power she possessed never belonged to her, but rather originated from that god who could only exist in dreams. She was getting closer and closer to the god with her mortal body.

The rebirth of a god is a long and arduous process. Because of the devastating war in ancient times, the place where the god was trapped was too deep and too far away. Even if she existed, the god could only barely sense the location of the human world. However, if the god wanted to rise again from the Netherworld, she needed an "anchor" to locate her. There were a total of seven "anchors". These seven "anchors" should all be children of the gods who have a higher status than mortals and have the opportunity to become gods. Therefore, they are called the seven chosen ones.

Once the seven chosen ones have been transformed into anchors, and the gods have fully risen from the Netherworld, Fujiwara no Kureko will have completely accepted everything from the gods. She will no longer be Fujiwara no Kureko, but Kirieko, the great forest god, the god of dance, the winged god. The insignificant memories and consciousness of the little girl named Kirieko will be completely erased by the great soul of the gods after countless years, like the crystal dew in the morning, whose existence lasts only for the moment it falls.

However, Fujiwara no Mitsukko felt no fear or resistance. On the contrary, she felt immense anticipation and longing, because this was how she had been taught since birth. The normal birth, aging, sickness, and death of other mortals seemed abnormal to her. Only by becoming one with the gods could she find meaning in her existence and fulfill her life's mission. Her life was worth countless times more than those ant-like mortals. Fujiwara no Mitsukko had always believed this.

All of this continued until one day, in another bizarre dream, Mu Zi saw another girl with the same fate as her. The girl stood on the other side of that gray river, with a shadow behind her that was deeper than the night, constantly devouring her slender body, but her face still had a calm and composed smile.

I never expected to meet someone like me here. I've actually come to say goodbye, because I'm about to embark on a journey of no return. The girl said to Muko, "But before we set off, perhaps we should have a talk, because I see my past self in you."

The girl had eerie blue eyes, a father who could steal time, and a mother without a shadow. In her dream, the blue-eyed girl told her that she too had been chosen by an evil god, but she refused to accept this fate. She wanted to escape and would never return to this dream.

How could you say such presumptuous things? Fujiwara Kageko asked, bewildered. This is the meaning of our existence. If you deny even this meaning, what reason do we have to continue existing?

The meaning of existence is always determined by oneself. Did you decide to become a god? The blue-eyed girl asked a question that Muko could not answer at all.

So... we can decide our own purpose for existence? Fujiwara Kageko had never thought of such a thing. What's the difference between a purpose decided by oneself and a purpose decided by others?

Meaning that is not determined by your free will cannot be called meaning; it is merely a 'shackle' imposed on you.

How could this be?! You mean—the winged god is a... shackle on me? Fujiwara no Kageko had never dared to imagine such a thing. It was too crazy, too rebellious, too terrifying for her, overturning everything she had been taught since birth.

That was only natural. Gods were shackles imposed on humanity by the Netherworld. Only by breaking free from the gods' bondage could humanity achieve true freedom and become a truly mature civilization. The blue-eyed girl spoke words that Fujiwara no Kage had never heard before. In her words, gods were not a protective umbrella for humanity, but a chain that bound them. Humanity should forever fight for freedom.

"No matter the cost, we must gain freedom. Humans who lose their free will are nothing more than lambs waiting to be slaughtered in an enclosure," the girl said resolutely.

But if we really gained freedom, would we really be happier? Fujiwara Kageko couldn't imagine how she would continue to live if Kirieko disappeared from her world forever. Imagining a future without Kirieko only made her feel a hollow emptiness in her heart, as if everything she had believed in in the past had been denied.

Admittedly, you will feel fear, helplessness, and confusion after being freed from God. But this is the inevitable growing pain that comes with gaining freedom. Only in this way can you continue to move forward and freely pursue the future you truly desire. At least give it a try, my friend. Believe me, if you never struggle and numbly wait for your predetermined fate, you will regret it when it finally arrives.

The figure of the girl with the deep blue eyes became increasingly blurry on the other side of the riverbank. Fujiwara Kageko saw her retreat, and in the rising shadows, a huge figure draped in a black cloak opened its arms and embraced the girl with the deep blue eyes. The girl with the deep blue eyes fell backward and disappeared into the shadows in the next instant. Fujiwara Kageko never saw that girl with a similar fate to her again after that day.

But Fujiwara Kageko believed that the girl had gone to pursue the "freedom" she wanted, and even if she paid a terrible price, she would still betray her gods without hesitation and embrace the freedom that belonged to humankind.

Fujiwara no Kageko finally began to seriously consider whether she should pursue her own freedom.

That idea was like a tiny spark; once ignited, it spread like wildfire and could never be extinguished.

You actually yearn for freedom? Until one day, when God visited her again, Fujiwara no Kageko saw God's angry demeanor for the first time: Your freedom is my despair.

Who told you about freedom? No one but me should be allowed to come here! When God is angry, the sky begins to wither, thunder dances an endless dance, and wings stir up towering waves.

A woman with deep blue eyes said she was leaving and would never come back.

Damn wanderers! How dare they invade this place! God uttered a sharp curse. Indeed, humans are all untrustworthy imposters. You are the same, she is the same. You will all betray me sooner or later. Since that's the case, I might as well do it before you betray me…

God used a pair of scissors to cut Muko in two. The two Muko looked at each other with similar bewildered eyes. One Muko's eyes were grayish-white, and the other Muko's eyes were deep purple. They couldn't understand what had happened at all.

From that day on, there were two Kagekos in the world: one was the real Kageko, and the other was the illusory Kageko.

The two will never meet again, just like the North and South Poles of the Earth.

P.S., I, a free-to-play player, finally pulled my first five-star character, and it turned out to be Keqing... I heard she's incredibly weak, but I guess I'll just have to keep raising her until the end.

Section 131 Chapter 130 The Art of the Compiler

When they finally stood before the Temple of Reincarnation, Kurosawa Shizuki was somewhat surprised to find that this was not the Demon King's stronghold as she had imagined. As they got closer, the music box stopped playing abruptly. The group, who were walking on the rainbow bridge, seemed to have arrived at a deserted island in the clouds. The eerie temple was shrouded in a semi-transparent light membrane, like an unreal illusion. The closer they got, the more they realized that the entire temple was nothing more than a misty phantom.

"As expected, the appearance here is just a mirage, an illusion, all show and no substance, concealing the weakness of its owner. The being inside is not as threatening as I imagined." Chai Qi licked his fangs, looking eager to pounce.

"Perhaps she's just showing weakness to us?" Yuki Asakura said uncertainly.

"Rather than showing weakness, I feel that she has been looking forward to our visit all along. She invited us here." The closer Kurosawa Shizuki got to the Temple of Reincarnation, the more familiar a premonition arose in her heart, as if she was about to meet an old friend. Some vague and fragmented images wanted to pop up in her mind, but she couldn't say when or where they were seen or heard.

Kurosawa Shizuki stood at one end of the river, while the girl with vacant eyes stood at the other end. Behind Kurosawa Shizuki, a huge shadow embraced her, and a sticky, wet tongue coiled around her body, dragging her into the bottomless darkness. In the last moments before Kurosawa Shizuki sank into the shadow, she still looked at the girl's worried and frightened face.

Before Kurosawa Shizuki could continue recalling these fragmented memories, she had already followed Asakura and Shibasaki into the illusion of the Wheel of Reincarnation Temple as if in a dream.

Passing through a semi-transparent membrane, shimmering with the light of flowing water, I was surprised to find that beneath the illusory illusion lay nothing more than an ordinary scene.

Stepping into the soft soil, feeling the fresh breeze blowing in my face, everything is imbued with the vibrant life force of green. On this isolated island high in the sky, bright lily of the valley flowers grow in abundance, each one white with a hint of red, as if it were about to bleed.

There was no metal music box at all, only a grand and elegant mansion standing in the middle of the lily of the valley, as if it had just been built not long ago. From the outside, you could not tell that a near-godlike being lived here.

"So ordinary, this is too ordinary." Yuki Asakura sighed with some disappointment. For Yuki Asakura, she probably never needed to think about money. This kind of house that Kurosawa Shizuki was so envious of was just an ordinary bungalow to Yuki Asakura.

“Although I don’t find this place ordinary at all, it certainly doesn’t seem like the place where the gods of the forest reside.” Kurosawa Shizuki realized that what she felt was ordinary here was probably the most extraordinary thing in itself.

“Everything in the woodland can find its home here. This environment was created entirely by that god’s ideal. Perhaps in her mind, this is the most ideal living environment,” Chai Qi said, seemingly relieved. “It seems that the enemy we are ultimately facing is indeed just a child who never grows up. What she longs for seems to be nothing more than a home to live in seclusion.”