Why Am I a Priestess When I Reach the Maximum Level? - [Vol. 6] Chapter 56

[Vol. 6] Chapter 56: The Star of Heaven’s Fall

The Spirit Maiden is a long-standing tradition in the Ancient Spirit Realm.

This title does not only exist in the Western Origin Spirit Kingdom, the Eastern Origin Mysterious Kingdom, Southern Origin Sacred Kingdom, and Northern Origin Cosmic Kingdom all have their own Spirit Maidens.

The word “Spirit” here does not refer to the Western Kingdom, but rather to the entire Ancient Spirit Realm.

A Spirit Maiden is a noble being who has received the protection and blessing of the Ancient Spirit Realm. They are exclusively born female, and possess a unique constitution known as the “Innate Spiritual Body.”

This constitution is very special. While it does not extend the Spirit Maiden’s lifespan and prevents her from absorbing external energy for cultivation, meaning she can never become a powerful being, it does allow her to remain youthful and disease-free until her life runs out, neither aging nor falling ill. It has both advantages and disadvantages.

More importantly, this constitution grants the Spirit Maiden the power to communicate with and “heal” the land.

The factor of destruction.

According to the Qilin, this is the root cause of the frequent appearance of demons and evil in the Ancient Spirit Realm, and the Spirit Maiden can help mitigate this issue to some extent.

Since the descent of the Four Saints and the pacification of the demon and evil spirits, Spirit Maidens have appeared regularly in the Ancient Spirit Realm.

Their appearance has no predictable source. They are born completely randomly in any household across the continent of the Ancient Spirit Realm. They could be the children of high-ranking officials or generals, or they could be a baby born in a small mountain village.

In each country, there is at most one Spirit Maiden. The next generation will never appear before the previous generation passes away, and there are often long gaps between the generations.

Because of this, Spirit Maidens are extremely precious. Once a Spirit Maiden is discovered, the four nations immediately send people to take her to the capital city, where she is treated with the highest standards and given specialized education.

As for how the Spirit Maiden “heals” the land…

Beneath the Ancient Spirit Realm lies the Spirit Vein, which is the essence and core of the world. It nourishes all things and bestows vitality and spirit.

But the Spirit Vein is a balanced and harmonious force. It grants nourishment to all things equally on the land, which naturally includes the existence known as “demons and evil.”

A thousand years ago, during that disaster, countless evil beings suddenly emerged from the earth, bringing terrible calamities to the living beings of the Ancient Spirit Realm. Their unchecked growth and insatiable hunger also consumed the power of the Spirit Vein in large quantities.

Though vast, the Spirit Vein is not infinite. Once its balance is lost and it is completely drained, the entire Ancient Spirit Realm will gradually lose its vitality, turning into a desolate, dead land of despair.

Therefore, the Spirit Maiden’s ability is to sense the problems in the Spirit Vein’s roots and, through some far-reaching and boundless power source, use herself as a medium to transform and replenish the energy, restoring the ancient land’s veins.

As for what this vast power source is, no one knows, but even though its origin is unclear, it’s certainly better than the world slowly dying, right?

Under the shade of the trees by the official road, after listening to Ling Feng’s detailed explanation about the Spirit Maiden, Violet appeared to be lost in thought.

“Spirit Veins… in the world I stayed in before, there was something similar. Although the names and some details were different, it seems like they served a similar purpose.”

Not only that, but the potential disastrous changes Ling Feng mentioned once the Spirit Veins and Earth Veins are exhausted made Violet think of the world called Aibus.

Even now, she still didn’t fully understand why the world, commonly known as the Aibus, had fallen into such a tragic state of near extinction. Its land ruined, lifeless, with even light itself ruthlessly stripped away.

But if… she meant if…

What if Aibus had once faced a similar demonic and evil disturbance as the Ancient Spirit Realm, yet their final outcome was failure?

The reason is simple: what was the Doomsday Bombardment, a superweapon, created for?

And because of the [Chaos], what would the world look like today if the demon realm had not had its other three rulers, constantly launching raids and gathering energy?

These seemingly scattered thoughts, in the process of delving deeper into the Ancient Spirit Realm, began to intertwine with some subtle, hard-to-notice similarities.

The final destination known as “Destruction.”

The black-haired girl looked up, gazing at the blood-red setting sun in the sky.

…Is it you, Hen, who is guiding me to these pieces of information? What exactly do you need me to help with?

Forget it. The main objective for now is still to find the Spirit Maiden, who shares the same name as her.

Miss Priestess turned her attention to He Zhu, the personal maid of the Spirit Maiden, who had been brought here as well.

“You mentioned before that you and Hen… the current Spirit Maiden of the Western Origin Spirit Kingdom, are from the same village, right?”

The young girl, with a delicate face, nodded timidly.

“Yes, my lord…”

“Then, what exactly are you trying to tell us? Don’t be afraid, speak freely. I can guarantee your safety.”

Seeing that the girl was still hesitant, Miss Priestess gave a discreet glance to the others nearby. Ling Feng caught her meaning, nodded, and with Bai’er, Murong Yun, and the seemingly out-of-place General Ji Xun, they all turned and left, walking a little further away.

“Alright, now it’s just you and me. I’m not really someone from the Western Origin Spirit Kingdom’s government. You should have heard about my relationship with Qilin. So, just speak up.”

After briefly assessing the young girl with a light smile, Miss Priestess glanced surreptitiously at the Spirit Guards walking back and forth in the distance. As though she had finally made up her mind, the maid’s tone suddenly became more animated.

“My lord, Hen… the Spirit Maiden… she has definitely been swapped! The current Spirit Maiden is absolutely not the person I knew!!!”

“Oh… such a thing really happened?”

Violet raised an eyebrow in surprise, suddenly understanding the hesitation and fear on the maid’s face.

It’s no wonder the girl didn’t dare to speak out in front of everyone. It would be like one of the royal guards suddenly shouting in the palace, “Our queen is an impostor!”—such a profound act of disrespect.

After all, the identity of the Spirit Maiden is different from ordinary official positions. It is not only more important but also easy to inspect and verify. There is no way she could have been swapped out.

Such a statement is almost equivalent to spreading rumors, and it’s one of the most malicious kinds of rumors. The punishment for this could be as severe as losing one’s head.

However, since He Zhu and the Spirit Maiden are from the same village, and since He Zhu serves as the Spirit Maiden’s personal maid, it is clear that the two share a strong bond. Therefore, her words may indeed have some reference value.

Violet patted her shoulder and casually cast a calming spell on the pale, extremely agitated young girl.

“Don’t worry. Start from when you first noticed something was wrong, and tell me everything that happened before and after.”

“Yes… my lord.”

…………………………

He Zhu and the current Spirit Maiden were originally just two ordinary villagers from Xinghu Village in Yiyuan County, Western Origin Spirit Kingdom. Although they were as close as sisters, they were not related by blood.

Her younger sister, Hen, was found by He Zhu’s parents on the mountain about seven years ago.

According to her, her parents, who had an interest in celestial phenomena, were stargazing on the hillside at night when they noticed a silver star falling rapidly from the sky. It soon crashed into a nearby valley.

He Zhu’s parents were both surprised and somewhat afraid of the unknown sight, but their curiosity drove them to approach and see what this rare celestial event, the falling star, actually was.

However, when they arrived at the crash site, they found no meteorite remains, only a glowing silver light floating in midair. Inside the light was a baby who had just been born.

After hesitating for a long time, the young couple carefully approached and cradled the baby, and as soon as they did, the silver light receded and disappeared without a trace.

They took the child home with them.

Because the child came from a celestial event, and with her unique silver hair, unlike that of the people of the Western Kingdom, the child was considered a “child of the heavens.”

In a certain intuitive moment, He Zhu’s parents decided not to give her their surname but to call her “Hen” directly.