Why Am I a Priestess When I Reach the Maximum Level? - [Vol. 6] Chapter 138

[Vol. 6] Chapter 138: The Vanished Inscription

“This is… truly something else,” the priestess muttered, her expression turning slightly peculiar after reading the entire inscription on the stone tablet.

If she still didn’t understand what was going on, Violet felt she’d have to be incredibly dense.

This tomb was indeed built by someone connected to Spirit Veil Immortal Island, but that person wasn’t just anyone. It was none other than the [Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden] herself, the enigmatic figure who seemed to share countless hidden ties with Violet.

[Dawn].

For the first time, Violet had encountered a direct remnant left behind by the [Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden], rather than hearing secondhand accounts of her often exaggerated and dubious tales.

To be honest, Violet still wasn’t sure how to feel about this legendary figure. Someone said to hail from Spirit Veil Immortal Island and revered across the [Ancient Spirit Realm] as a near-mythical existence.

Ever since she put on the [Dominion of the Fox Mask], nearly everyone who saw her and knew of [Dawn] immediately insisted that she was the [Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden] herself. The name [Dawn], which Violet had come up with on her own, seemed far too coincidental to dismiss as random chance.

But to equate herself, Violet, with [Dawn]? That was something the priestess couldn’t accept, no matter what others said.

At this point, she realized she actually knew very little about the [Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden] as a person.

“Violet, what are you looking at?”

The curious voice of the cat-eared girl broke through Violet’s thoughts, pulling her back to the present. She turned around.

“Are you saying you can’t read the text on this stone tablet?”

That didn’t seem right.

Given that Xiao Kong had once fought alongside the [Ancestral Dragon] and, at her peak, was said to have reached the god-level she should have encountered and understood this universal language of the gods.

If it had been Murong Yun or Hen who couldn’t understand the “Ancient Divine Language” on the stone tablet, Violet could have accepted it. But for Xiao Kong to ask such a question? That made no sense.

Hearing Violet’s question, Xiao Kong furrowed her brow in confusion and pointed at the ancient tablet, likely standing there for at least a millennium. With a puzzled expression, she said, “What do you mean, whether I can read it or not? Isn’t this a blank tablet?”

“?!”

The words, spoken lightly, struck Violet like a thunderclap.

It was as if a hammer had shattered the mirror of her perception or like she had been yanked out of an unseen abyss. In that moment, Xiao Kong’s words caused a strange disorientation in Violet.

It felt as though her consciousness had leapt from one version of herself in one world to a parallel version in a completely different reality. Her entire body felt unsteady, but there was no visible sign of anything amiss.

Her silver-blue eyes contracted slightly as she turned back to face the tablet, ignoring the puzzled looks from both Xiao Kong and Murong Yun. She stared at it again.

“…How is this possible?”

The writing was gone.

The [Ancient Niel language], which had seemed to hover on the surface of the stone and had left her feeling faintly uneasy, had vanished without a trace. The once richly inscribed tablet was now blank. Just an empty, lifeless slab.

Even with her typically calm composure, Violet couldn’t suppress the shock that rippled through her.

The last time she had felt this level of disbelief was when she encountered Ming Lan in the streets of Sacred Star City, and he had addressed her directly by the names [Dawn] and [Dominion of the Fox Mask]. That event had been her first encounter with the Spirit Veil Tribe and the concept of the [Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden].

It seemed that anything connected to that mysterious shrine maiden immediately became shrouded in strange, incomprehensible phenomena.

Sensing Violet’s shock and confusion, the others exchanged uncertain glances. Murong Yun approached the tablet, crouching down to examine it more closely. Running his fingertips over the still-smooth surface, he murmured thoughtfully like an experienced scholar.

“This stone doesn’t seem to be made of any material commonly used for constructing spirit tablets in the [Ancient Spirit Realm]. If this tomb really has been sealed in the mountain for over a thousand years without maintenance, considering the humidity and airflow in this ceremonial chamber, the surface of the stone tablet should have grown moss by now,” Murong Yun observed.

“In other words, this might be some kind of special stone imbued with certain powers. The absence of any writing on the tombstone is indeed unusual. Could it be that the text was engraved using a method we can’t comprehend?”

“But then, why could only Miss Violet see it?”

“……”

Seeing Violet remain silent, the silver-haired girl, who had a closer rapport with her, didn’t indulge Murong Yun’s speculative musings any further. Instead, she went straight to the point.

“Violet, what did you see on it?”

Violet, after carefully inspecting the now completely blank tablet, shook her head. She didn’t fully understand what had just happened either, but she did have an idea to determine whether the text she saw was real or just an illusion.

She moved to the back of the meter-high stone tablet and began feeling around in the shadow cast by the [Dawn Stones]’ light.

“What’s going on? What are you looking for?” Xiao Kong asked curiously.

Violet didn’t respond, focusing instead on using the tip of her holy staff to tap the seemingly smooth floor in front of her, listening carefully to the changes in the sound.

*Tap, tap, tap… thud, thud.*

Suddenly, an unexpected hollow sound echoed, sending ripples through the air. Everyone’s expressions shifted slightly.

“Wait! Miss Violet, that spot is hollow. There might be something underneath!”

“Hmm.” Violet nodded in acknowledgment, her expression sharpening as she prepared to investigate further.

Violet let out a soft acknowledgment but didn’t attempt to search for a mechanism to open what appeared to be a hidden compartment. Based on the previous patterns of whoever designed those branching paths, and the tone of the vanished messages, the likely method of opening this space was…

Without changing her expression, she raised her seemingly harmless, pure white holy staff and, under the astonished and perplexed gazes of the other three, smashed it down with force!

*Bang!!*

The heavy strike instantly created a web of cracks at the point of impact. Then, with a loud *crunch*, the square panel within the floor shattered completely, collapsing inward without disturbing the surrounding area at all.

Clearly, this was a pre-designed mechanism, and Violet’s chosen method of opening it, was apparently aligned with the designer’s intentions… probably.

Sure enough, the earlier messages weren’t a hallucination.

Violet crouched down and retrieved a small wooden box, no larger than her palm, from the revealed compartment. The box was a light brown color, and despite being sealed underground for over a millennium, it showed no signs of decay. Instead, it emitted a refreshing, pleasant fragrance that gradually spread through the room.

“This is…!”

Xiao Kong seemed to recognize the wood’s material immediately, her tone carrying a noticeable hint of surprise. Violet, however, didn’t ask for details. The outer wrapping was irrelevant. The real “gift” likely lay inside.

*Click.*

With a soft sound, Violet gently pushed open the lid, revealing the contents to everyone.

Inside was a jade pendant.

Shaped like a small fox, its form was exquisitely familiar. The jade was pure, flawless, and radiant as snow, showing no signs of age or wear. Beneath the pendant, a plain white piece of paper rested, seemingly unremarkable but bearing text written on its surface.

Rather than immediately taking the jade, Violet chose to first pull out the paper tucked beneath it. Perhaps due to the protective properties of the wooden box, the page had been preserved perfectly against the passage of time.

Sure enough, it contained another message.

This time, however, it was written in the common language of the [Ancient Spirit Realm], in clear black ink on white paper.