The teacher was stunned for a moment, and then he regained his consciousness: "This is the end of today's class."

"In addition to classes, you have another important thing to do recently." The teacher looked at all the offerings, and his expression returned to normal. "The summer festival is coming. Before being sent to the shrine, the offerings must go to the boat house to check your pain once."

"But you don't have to worry too much about the results of this test."

The teacher smiled kindly: "Except for Xiaokui-sama, none of you have reached the standard in terms of pain. After all, it is only the summer festival. You have to wait until the winter festival to mature."

"You all may leave now." The teacher turned to look at Xiao Kui, and the smile on his face became meaningful. "But Master Xiao Kui has to stay for a while."

"Given your level of suffering, you can be sacrificed at this year's summer festival."

"However, in order to maximize your pain, we will provide you with some additional special counseling in the next few days, so that your pain can bring the Kitahara family the greatest value."

The teacher stood in front of Xiaokui, with a weird smile on his face, looking down at Xiaokui:

"Mr. Xiao Kui, you are already sixteen years old, right? It is time for you to fall in love. Now you already know what a good love is like."

"Then it's time to taste the painful side of love."

"Tomorrow we will gather a group of [Princes], and Xiaokui-sama can act as [Princess] and choose the person you want to fall in love with."

The teacher smiled and said, "They are all very good [Princes]."

"These [Princes] are handsome but nearly frozen servants selected by the Kitahara family from the houseboat."

"The Kitahara family rescued them from the cage and told them that it was because of the kindness of Master Xiaokui that they were saved, so they all admire you very much."

"They love you naturally, just like the Shiba Inu dog that Xiao Kui once loved. As long as you reach out, you can easily get their love and loyalty to you."

"Of course you don't have to choose these [Princes]." The teacher leaned close to Xiaokui's ear and smiled kindly. "When the time comes, we will deal with these [Princes] who love you just like we dealt with the cats and dogs you don't want on the ship."

"I hope [Princess] won't be so cruel."

The light in Xiao Kui's eyes, who had just stood up, gradually disappeared. She lowered her head, and her tone was as quiet as if she had fallen into a well: "Okay, teacher."

"I will choose a Prince carefully."

That night.

Xiao Kui lay on the edge of the windowsill with a blank look in her eyes, her long hair falling down her shoulders.

Under the eaves of the attic, where her brother and the dog had been hanged, hung a sunny doll, swinging back and forth in the night. Even the moonlight could not penetrate the high attic windows, and it was as dark as a towering coffin.

A tiny glimmer of light appeared in the dark forest.

Xiao Kui moved her eyes, and her originally frozen features suddenly moved. She snorted and laughed: "There she goes again."

Bai Liu was walking along the mountain path with a lantern in hand, approaching the top of the mountain.

Xiao Kui moved a little. She lay on her hands, folded them, and looked at Bai Liu in a trance, muttering to herself: "...This guy actually managed to hold on until now..."

"Does love really have such great magical power?"

Bai Liu walked to the door of the shrine, and soon a sound was heard from inside.

The voice was a little anxious, but still as clear and clean as before: "...I've been waiting for a long time, and I thought you wouldn't come tonight."

“It turns out that I just arrived late.”

"Did something happen to you?" Shetta asked softly, "Did you arrive late for the sacrifice course, or were you injured in today's course and walked slowly up the mountain?"

Bai Liu, who was standing outside the door, still said nothing.

As he quickly approached the door, Xieta's breathing became a little short and his blood flowed a little faster because of the thread. He lowered his eyes and looked at his hand on the door, which was bleeding from the thread:

"Today, Bai Liu still won't come in to see me, nor will he say a word to me, right?"

Sheita continued to walk towards the door. His hands grasped the edge of the wooden door. The threads on his wrists and ankles contracted and sank into his snow-white skin. Blood immediately gushed out. This tragic appearance was very different from his casual tone:

"I have more and more threads."

"God told me that this is the shackles that people's suffering has turned into on me. The more sacrifices I receive, the more pain I feel, and the pain of these sacrifices will become threads that entangle me."

"This is so strange." Sheta said in a puzzled tone, "I haven't received any pain from the sacrifices recently, but the threads on my body are increasing."

"Whose pain is it that makes these threads?"

Xie Ta looked down at the threads entangled around her body, then raised her eyes to look at the wooden door: "Is this Bai Liu's pain?"

"But I clearly never saw Bai Liu again after that, and Bai Liu never offered your pain to me as a sacrifice. These threads should not be made of your pain."

Translucent threads were generated one by one out of thin air, forming a sharp net that cut into Shetta's face. Blood flowed down his jaw from the wound. Shetta seemed to be unaware of this. He stared at the wooden door calmly, with a slightly confused tone:

"...Then, if these threads are not Bai Liu's pain, whose pain are they?"

Xieta frowned slightly and raised his hand to cover his heart: "Why do these threads only entangle me when you appear?"

Why did the wounds caused by these threads make his heart feel particularly painful?

Bai Liu still didn't say anything.

A light rain began to fall in the woods, and the sound of the rain was pattering.

In the misty rain, Xie Ta heard the footsteps of Bai Liu turning and leaving, and he couldn't help but take another step forward.

The moment Xie Ta took that step, countless transparent silk threads flew out from all directions as if in response to a sound and tied up Xie Ta's limbs and torso.

As Bai Liu's footsteps became more and more distant, more and more silk threads appeared on Xie Ta's body, almost wrapping him into a translucent cocoon with only his eyes visible.

Blood flowed from every wound on his body, instantly staining the floor red.

Sheta looked down at the threads - every time Bai Liu appeared or left, they would appear densely, trapping him here.

But the god had clearly said that he had to feel the exact pain from the sacrifice before these threads would be formed.

So what are these threads?

The sound of Bai Liu's footsteps completely disappeared in the jungle. Xie Ta stood there in a daze. He looked at the wooden door in a daze, with a look of disbelief for a moment.

...This time Bai Liu left, and he didn't sleep well either.

He was still awake, the thread had not disappeared, and he was the only person in the entire shrine.

Sheita slowly lowered his eyelashes and looked at the blood-stained threads on his body, his face expressionless.

——The one that kept him awake, the one that left him covered in wounds…

It comes from his own pain.

On the third-to-last rainy night before the summer festival, at the moment the sacrifice left, the selfless god felt "pain" for the first time.

As a result, the dense [pain] kept God sleepless, trapped God in place, and made God guard the door, unwilling to leave.

The god persistently dragged the pain in his body towards the wooden door where the sacrifice left. Day after day, the god stayed awake and waited persistently in the deepening pain for the brief arrival of the sacrifice in the next night.

——It was as if God was offering his own pain to the sacrifice.