I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 356 - 356 355. Red Leafs Hairpin _1

Chapter 356: 355. Red Leaf’s Hairpin _1 Chapter 356: 355. Red Leaf’s Hairpin _1 For a moment, Lu Ban felt the entire Divine Sakura brighten slightly, and the cherry blossoms falling at his feet glowed with a faint purple hue, turning the rain of cherry blossoms into a pale purple rain.

The little girl gazed at the scene, her mouth agape, her face full of surprise and astonishment.

Lu Ban turned around and looked far off at the pale flames on the Shrine Maiden Pavilion fiercely burning.

He had thought the Chief Priestess would arrive from somewhere else, but now it seemed she had already been seated up there.

A sweet sound of an arrow pierced the long sky, shooting towards the distance and lighting up the night sky before quickly subsiding.

However, the flames on the Shrine Maiden Pavilion seemed to not have extinguished yet and were still burning fiercely.

Even if Lu Ban had seen Amber handle the Pure Fire before, at that moment he felt the blaze was becoming uncontrollable and would soon spread to the surroundings.

Soon, Lu Ban heard a commotion, as if the shrine maidens had started to move. He could not make out exactly what they were saying, but it was probably related to the current situation at the Shrine Maiden Pavilion.

Then, Lu Ban heard chants and murmurs, like prayers. Closing his eyes, he could imagine the shrine maidens kneeling around the Shrine Maiden Pavilion, forming a circle and chanting prayers with closed eyes.

This was also a form of Word Spirit.

With the rise of these sounds, the flames seemed to weaken a lot. In the end, reason prevailed, and all the Pure Fire was reined in.

The Shrine Maiden Pavilion returned to silence.

The lingering sound of prayers continued for a while.

At that moment, Lu Ban saw that the exterior of the Shrine Maiden Pavilion was charred black, clearly having been burnt several times before.

“Sitting in such a place for a long time must be very hard,” he thought.

Lu Ban suspected that the current Chief Priestess was indeed close to her limit, unable to suppress her powers, which led to the situation just now.

“No wonder Amber is needed to take over the position.”

If one day the Chief Priestess could no longer control the Pure Fire, then perhaps the entire Great Shrine of Harmony Island, the whole Divine Sakura, would suffer.

The safest place is also the most dangerous.

Lu Ban looked at the Shrine Maiden Pavilion but did not wait to see the appearance of the Chief Priestess. He remembered something else.

“If all the shrine maidens have come out, won’t people soon come here?”

Lu Ban decided to make a quick getaway.

He grabbed the little girl and immediately ran out of the corridor, returning to the vicinity of the Shrine Hall.

“Don’t talk about tonight’s events with anyone else, we have a deal,” he said.

Lu Ban stretched out his hand to pinky promise the little girl.

“I’ve grown up, I don’t play these little kids’ games anymore!”

The little girl stood up straight, proud and defiant.

“… Alright.”

Lu Ban withdrew his hand.

“You have to take me out to play again when you have a chance!”

The little girl spoke up again, clearly having learned to bargain.

“No problem!”

Lu Ban replied.

He was not sincerely trying to deceive the child; he just didn’t know when he would come to Harmony Island again. By that time, the little girl might have already grown up, or even become an old lady.

After taking the little girl back to where she lived, Lu Ban returned to his quarters.

The moonlight was clear, filtering through the tops of the cherry trees.

There were many books in the room. With the help of the translations from the Silent Lands, Lu Ban could tell that these were all waka, haiku, prose, and other writings left by the shrine maidens and priests of the past.

He flipped through a few, most of which were lamentations of sorrow and reflections on the swift passage of time. There were also some descriptions of the shrine life, which, it was clear, were very simple and unadorned.

As he was reading these words, the brush-written characters suddenly twisted and turned into the System’s detached and chilly text.

[Completed side quest: Homeward]

[The leaf returns to its roots, the soul that yearned for the sky ultimately falls to the earth. At least, her soul has returned to her homeland, may peace envelope her forever]

[Reward received: 50,000 Silence Points]

[Reward received: Red Leaf’s Hairpin]

A crimson hairpin appeared in Lu Ban’s hand.

This hairpin seemed forged from some special material, crystalline and translucent, but definitely not crystal or glass. In Lu Ban’s understanding, it was more like bone, crystallized bone.

Holding it, there was a slight warmth, as if a young girl’s palm.

[Red Leaf’s Hairpin]

[Contamination]

[A Shrine Maiden’s hairpin, never used]

[If a Shrine Maiden from the Great Shrine of Harmony Island fell into corruption, she would become a Calamitous Shrine Maiden. The more powerful the Shrine Maiden, the more susceptible to corruption]

[This hairpin comes from a Shrine Maiden who once fell but ultimately found redemption]

[Grasping the hairpin tightly might reveal the despair she once witnessed]

[“Stories of the age of the gods, so dark, unheard of”]

Lu Ban hadn’t expected to receive Red Leaf’s Hairpin, but it seemed she had never used it. He was unsure of its specific purpose.

Following the description, he tightly held the hairpin.

Soon, Lu Ban felt a wave of intense heat.

The heat grew stronger, from the sensation of standing under the midsummer sun to feeling almost as if he were in a frying pan.

He saw the surrounding rooms bursting into flaming infernos, he saw a withered hand clutching at his ankle from the ground. From the soil, numerous humanoid creatures crawled out.

These beings were a frenzied and perverse meld of human limbs and organs, creating a sense of madness and chaos as they all crawled toward Lu Ban.

He felt as if he’d become Red Leaf at that moment, with his body sealed by a Technique, lying there on a stone bed, helplessly watching these hideous monsters approach and use their sharp, filthy claws and teeth to tear into his flesh.

Even as she was devoured, Red Leaf remained conscious.

Lu Ban let go of the hairpin, his head releasing wisps of smoke, and the room filled with the charred scent of cooking brains.

Thump—

Lu Ban collapsed to the ground, Unmoving.

Several hours later, a sprout of grass finally emerged from Lu Ban’s ear.

These blades of grass grew tenaciously, until at last, Lu Ban’s whole body was enveloped in fresh verdure.

When the first ray of dawn light filtered through the tree gaps and fell upon Lu Ban’s face, he finally twitched and rose.

His body was now covered in withered yellow leaves. He looked at the fallen crimson hairpin beside him with mixed emotions.

“I didn’t expect that by fulfilling Red Leaf’s long-cherished wish, I would receive this thing as a reward — It can only be used to harm others…”

Remembering the pain of Red Leaf being torn and devoured by the monsters, Lu Ban thought she had a truly tragic fate.

Even after death, to be dragged out and turned into a Calamitous Shrine Maiden and continue to harm others, these vile creatures were terrifying just to think about.

Lu Ban wrapped the hairpin in cloth and packed it away properly, figuring that direct contact was what triggered the visions, so carrying it normally should be fine.

With that thought, Lu Ban took out the mask he had acquired after killing one of the Bandaged People. Because he had been at sea before, and worried that identifying it then might cause problems, he had delayed doing so until now.

Now that he was in the heart of Harmony Island’s Extraordinary Powers, it should be safe to identify it.

Lu Ban took out the mask and opted to identify it.