The Ritual Priest

An undying divine soul, partial remains, a massive source of external energy, and finally, a High Priest born from among one's followers. These are the key elements for executing the ritual to revive an Ancient God. None can be missing. If we wish to return to our Ancient God form, we must gather all these conditions." Suwako held up four fingers as she spoke slowly.

Miketsu rubbed her chin, lost in thought as she began to cross-reference these requirements with her own situation.

An undying divine soul—all the Ancient Gods who still lingered on had one, and she was no exception. Though she wasn't sure if hers remained because of her own unique nature or because of the faith of the people of Qin's ancestors, she had, in any case, managed to survive until now.

Partial remains—this was where things got complicated. Miketsu had no idea how she had fallen, so she naturally had no clue where her remains as an Ancient God might be. She didn't even know if she had left any remains behind at all. Furthermore, even if her former self had left remains, they almost certainly weren't in Japan; they were most likely in the Central Plains.

Did she really have to make a special trip to the Central Plains to search for her corpse? The Central Plains was vast; where would she even begin to look?

At this thought, Miketsu couldn't help but facepalm. Following the bizarre question of "How did I actually die?" she now had the frustratingly absurd problem of "Where exactly is my corpse?"

Next was the massive source of external energy. While this was also difficult, Miketsu at least had more leads than she did for the remains. In her mind, the simplest way to achieve this was to mimic the Eternal Worm and feast on the ley lines. However, that would harm the environment, take too long, and cause too much of a commotion, making it easy for someone to notice and interfere—just as she had done to the Eternal Worm. It was not a wise choice.

Even without devouring ley lines, Miketsu had other options. For instance, she could use the spiritual power remaining in the White Tiger Altar of the Four Symbols Array. However, the consequence of doing so would be the complete failure of the seal, effectively handing over the remains of the Great Snake for nothing. Miketsu was unwilling to make such a trade. Aside from the White Tiger Altar, she could perhaps consider the Heavenly Fire Cannon built by the lunarians on the space station. She wasn't sure if its energy reserves were sufficient, but if they were, firing a shot at the ritual site might just do the trick.

In short, Miketsu had several avenues for the external energy; she didn't need to worry about it for now and could save it for last.

Finally, there was the qualified candidate born from among the followers—the priestess. She had two branches of followers: one was the kin of Uka-no-Mitama-no-Kami, the Inari foxes; the other was the kin of the Fate Weaver, the people of Qin. Since she sought the revival of an Ancient God, she needed a priest born from the people of Qin.

"Hey, you said the priest presiding over the ritual must be a qualified candidate from among the Ancient God's followers. How do you determine who is qualified?" Miketsu asked Suwako, needing to clarify the details.

"Once you obtain your remains, the connection between you and your followers will strengthen through them. At that point, you will be able to confirm exactly who among your followers possesses the aptitude," Suwako replied. Miketsu's brow furrowed slightly at her words.

"I have to get the remains first before I can identify the candidate?"

"Yes. However, even before that, you should be able to get a general idea based on their performance. Generally, a candidate capable of serving as a High Priest is born with immense spiritual power. They are exceptionally gifted, different from others, and their birth might even be accompanied by omens. If you have someone like that among your followers, you can be almost certain they are your qualified candidate," Suwako explained further. Miketsu's eyes lit up at this.

Innate spiritual power, exceptionally gifted, different from others... Didn't Kikyo fit those requirements perfectly? The current Kikyo was of the Hata clan, the daughter of the Inari Shrine's Hata priest. She had displayed immense spiritual power from a young age and had taken over her father's duties as a priestess through her outstanding talent. She was currently Miketsu's High Priestess.

Though not directly confirmed, it was highly probable that Kikyo was her qualified priest. If that were the case, she had already satisfied another condition for revival.

After sorting through it all, Miketsu realized that reviving in her Ancient God form wasn't actually too difficult. The biggest hurdle was finding her remains, a matter for which she had absolutely no clues.

'It feels like I'll have to put a lot of effort into this...' Miketsu sighed inwardly. She planned to ask Matara Okina the next time she appeared; as an ancient leader of the Hata clan, she was the only one likely to have any leads.

"What's wrong? Looking at your face, it seems there's a condition you're struggling to meet," Suwako said bluntly. Miketsu let out a breath and answered.

"Whew... something like that. For some reason, I didn't inherit any memories from my time as an Ancient God, so I have no idea where to even start looking for my remains."

"You don't know where your remains are? Heh, among us lingering Ancient Gods, you're probably the only one with that problem. Your situation is truly unique. Even without your memories, the power you've retained in your soul alone is incredibly vast... I really can't figure you out," Suwako remarked. Miketsu was indeed the only Ancient God who didn't know where her own body was.

"Based on what you're saying... do you already have your remains? By the way, how many of those ritual conditions are you missing?" Miketsu shifted the topic, looking at Suwako.

"Me? Well, my remains are buried beneath my former kingdom. They aren't sealed, and they're quite intact, ready to be used for revival at any time. As for the external energy, I'm not sure what to use yet, but I should be able to find something if I look hard enough. My biggest headache is actually the priest..." Suwako said with a hint of worry, crossing her arms. Miketsu was curious.

"A problem with the priest... So, Suwako, your followers are..."

"The Kochiya clan, where Kaki comes from. They have been the clan of priests serving me since ancient times. However, after I was defeated by Kanako and forced to merge our faiths, Kanako was also worshipped by the Kochiya clan with the same status as me."

"Your followers are the Kochiya clan... Then shouldn't Kaki be your qualified High Priest? That girl is quite excellent as a priestess, isn't she?" Miketsu continued to ask. Kaki had left a very good impression on her.

"Kaki... she is indeed a good child, but her excellence comes from tireless effort, not innate talent. Her natural aptitude is actually quite average. When she was born, she didn't even have spiritual vision to see me or Kanako. She only reached her current position through grueling training. Kaki is wonderful, but I can clearly sense that she does not possess the aptitude to hold the ritual..." Suwako said, looking toward the eastern sky with a helpless expression.

"In the past, the Kochiya clan did produce people with the aptitude, but that was a long time ago. Those candidates are long gone. In this current era, there is no one in the Kochiya clan who can serve as my Ritual Priest."

"No priest... Then how long do you estimate it will take for another qualified candidate to be born into the Kochiya clan?" Miketsu asked gravely. Suwako simply sighed.

"Who knows... but given the frequency of such candidates, it might take another thousand years..."