The Heavenly Mandate Mysterious Bird

After Miketsu obtained her divine remains from the seabed, she immediately began using them as a medium to detect the status of her ritual priests. The final result, however, left her surprised.

Within the vicinity of Heian-kyo, Miketsu first successfully detected that Kikyo and Kagura possessed the aptitude of a ritual priest. This was within her expectations; the probe using the divine remains merely confirmed her previous suspicions.

However, just as Miketsu thought she had obtained all the results and was prepared to conclude the search, an unexpected reaction appeared at the edge of her detection range. Based on the fluctuations of the response, Miketsu confirmed that this was another ritual priest belonging to her. After a brief moment of shock, she immediately discerned exactly who this additional ritual priest was.

It was Menreiki. She had once been an overlooked young girl of the Hata Clan. Driven by jealousy because her brothers received their father's favor, Menreiki triggered her innate, powerful spiritual talent, unintentionally cursing her closest kin and everyone within their ancient estate to death. This immense spiritual talent had not appeared out of nowhere; it originated from the awakening of her aptitude as Miketsu's ritual priest.

A ritual priest of an ancient god is rarely born alongside another in the same era. As a daughter of the Hata Clan, Kikyo was Miketsu's ritual priest for this era, while Menreiki belonged to the previous one. By transforming into a yokai, she had survived until the present day.

The existence of ancient gods spans over hundreds of millions of years. They ruled the earth for an eternity long before humans appeared. Consequently, their ritual priests are not restricted to any specific race. Transforming into a yokai did not cause Menreiki to lose her aptitude. Shiranui, the ritual priest of the Eternal Worm, was also a human who became a yokai, while the Great Snake's ritual priest, Himiko, was a human who ascended to godhood.

"Please..." Clutching her throbbing head, a weakened Kikyo looked at Menreiki and spoke in a low voice. Menreiki nodded slightly and helped Kikyo to the side to rest.

"For a long time, I never knew why this power appeared within me, or what the meaning behind it choosing me was... why I had to bear such karma. Now it seems all of it was for this moment..."

Watching the celestial scenery manifesting in the sky, Menreiki stood atop Kojin-mine in the spot Kikyo had occupied, murmuring to herself. She then flourished her sleeves and began to dance gracefully, offering a Kagura once more to the Ancient God of Darkness in the heavens to fulfill her innate mission.

As her murmurs dispersed, the thousands of threads of causality connecting all things reappeared between heaven and earth. In Menreiki's eyes, she could now witness the torrent of causality that pierced through the past and the future.

The revival ceremony of the Ancient God of Darkness began once again.

In the heavens, the Great Snake remained tightly coiled around the mechanical divine remains of the Ancient God of Darkness, increasing the pressure of its constricting grip and the release of its black venom. Steam billowed from the black-gold steel corpse as the long-term corrosion and immense force caused visible cracks to appear in many parts of the metallic structure.

Clearly, through the perception linked to Kikyo below, the Great Snake was aware of the fact that Miketsu possessed another ritual priest. It was now desperately increasing its offensive power, hoping to convert its advantage into victory and end this battle quickly.

The appearance of Menreiki had clearly unsettled the Great Snake, but it had not yet reached the point of panic. It knew it still held one last hand—a card it had gained by disrupting Kikyo's earlier ritual!

"Heh! I admit I didn't expect you to have another ritual priest! But what of it? I already influenced the miko to scatter the energy you intended to use for your revival. Even if you have a ritual priest now, you have no energy. Without energy to activate you, you still cannot return!" the Great Snake shouted in a dark, heavy tone. In its view, while Miketsu's hidden move was unexpected, it still dominated the current situation. Without the energy that had been dispersed, Miketsu could not satisfy the full conditions for revival.

As it spoke, the Great Snake further eroded the land. The ground that had been pockmarked by explosions was now rapidly turning into flesh and blood once more. New snake heads constantly sprouted from it, lunging toward the sky to pin down the severely weakened Chang'e inhabiting Princess Kaguya. These thousands of densely packed snake heads kept the diminished Chang'e occupied; no matter how many she severed, new ones grew from the bloody earth. Even if she destroyed a large patch of the fleshy ground, the Great Snake's erosion would quickly transform the new surface back into flesh, sprouting endless snake heads.

In the Great Snake's eyes, as long as Chang'e did not intervene to provide energy to the Ancient God of Darkness, there was no possibility of her revival.

Facing the Great Snake's encroaching pressure and dark whispers, Miketsu's consciousness within the Ancient God of Darkness responded once more. She spoke slowly in a calm tone.

"No, I have energy..."

"What did you say..."

"There is a power that has always accompanied me, by my side from the very beginning. I cultivated and grew it with my own hands. I once viewed this energy as the key to increasing my strength, but after realizing my true power originated from being an ancient god, I momentarily forgot it. Now it seems its purpose was for this very moment..."

Amidst the Great Snake's surprised and confused expression, Miketsu called out loudly.

"Behold! Great Snake, this is the power of adoration originating from the depths of the hearts of hundreds of millions of living beings. This is the power of the masses that you ancient gods cannot understand and have discarded!"

Following Miketsu's words, anomalies began to occur in countless locations within the mortal world.

Beneath the strange canopy projecting the celestial scenes, countless beings were kneeling in terror, praying fervently. Amidst their fear, miraculous sights occurred everywhere.

In the forests, within the towns, along the seashores, and atop the mountains... spread across the world, the numerous Inari Shrines built in recent years all emitted a brilliant golden glow at once. Under the collective worship of the Inari gods and their followers, beams of golden light shot into the sky, converging toward the distant horizon.

"Lady Uka..."

Beneath the torii of a shrine, Oitsuki looked at the illusory sky and the golden light before her, murmuring to herself as she closed her eyes in prayer. In a shrine not far away, the Aki sisters held hands tightly while looking toward Heian-kyo. Deep in the ocean, Otakemaru and Uminari watched in awe as the newly built Deep Sea Shrine emitted a golden radiance that pierced straight to the surface. Within the Lunar Secret Realm, countless moon rabbits gathered curiously around a glowing shrine.

In Heian-kyo, atop Kojin-mine on Inari Mountain, Menreiki spread her arms toward the sky. The golden light from all directions converged there into a massive orb of radiance, casting a gentle, sun-like light upon the world.

"With the faith of these living beings as your flesh, please return to this world..."

Murmuring, Menreiki guided this vibrant, colossal power upward, crossing the boundaries and leading it into the heavens.

In the heavens, the gentle golden light broke through space and boundaries, shining down from the zenith. It fell precisely upon the mechanical divine remains of the Ancient God of Darkness constrained by the Great Snake. Bathed in the golden glow, the light became part of the Ancient God of Darkness's form, adhering to the steel skeleton.

With the immortal soul of hundreds of millions of years as the core, the ritual priest of the bloodline contract as the guide, the precision machinery forged by alien technology as the skeleton, and the faith of the sincere prayers of all living beings as the flesh—the Ancient God, the Heavenly Mandate Mysterious Bird, descends once more.