Family Deity said gently, "Next time, don't go stuffing things into my body."

　　Into your body...?

　　Ethan Clark awkwardly took back her hair. "Okay, I'm sorry."

　　Suddenly, she realized the implication and exclaimed in surprise, "That was your body? If that's the case, why did you let me try to break it?"

　　Family Deity smiled and said, "Precisely because you couldn't break it, I let you try. There was nothing else to do anyway."

　　Recalling that nightmarish experience, Ethan Clark suddenly had a thought. Could it be that every night, that was Family Deity playing some kind of game? Was he just too bored? If that's the case, and Family Deity wanted her to play along, it seemed she couldn't really refuse.

　　At night, when she went there again and heard the moaning from the crack, she felt a headache and started singing, trying to drown out Family Deity's voice that could burrow into one's mind. It actually worked; at least, once her singing overpowered the sound from the crack, that voice disappeared. She sang nonstop for a long time, and in the morning, her throat felt a bit sore.

　　With her hands together, she asked Family Deity, "How did you feel last night?"

　　Family Deity nodded with a smile. "It was fine, but I hope you can sing a different song."

　　Ethan Clark felt embarrassed. She wasn't good at singing and couldn't remember lyrics, so she sang that catchy song the supermarket downstairs always played.

　　"Then, would it be okay if I told you some stories or recited some poems instead?"

　　"That seems easier to accept than last night's song."

　　The terrifying scene had inexplicably turned into something strange. Other than Ethan Clark feeling like a night owl, with her days and nights reversed and needing to catch up on sleep during the day, there were no other problems.

　　At noon, there was no music outside the courtyard; the clan women were burning paper again.

　　Those were all ritual texts hand-copied by members of the Qin clan, hoping to ease Family Deity's pain during the divine birth month. But as generations passed, this practice had become mere formality, and the comforting effect of the texts had long since faded. In ancient times, people would copy ritual texts for the clan's Family Deity, expressing gratitude for his protection; deep guilt and sincere thanks could be conveyed this way. But now, the emotions in those texts were thin and faint, with no strong feelings left.

　　Even the soul-soothing music that played through the night was less comforting to him than the genuine concern of a young girl.

　　The human girl he kept behind was curled up sleeping behind him. Thanks to her, this divine birth month didn't seem so painful after all.

　　Although it was a bit different from what he had originally imagined.

　　On the last day of the divine birth month, it snowed outside. The quiet, heavy snow covered the entire courtyard, hiding the cluster of red camellias. The clan women walked into the courtyard, their expressions more solemn than usual.

　　They brought in a tree with many branches, its trunk golden, its branches silver, and countless white beads hanging from the many forks.

　　"Family Deity, the clan tree has been brought," they said, then withdrew outside the curtain to wait.

　　Family Deity's long hair and sleeves floated slightly, and countless red threads extended from his sleeves, slowly winding around the clan tree. The process lasted a long time. When all the red threads were withdrawn, there were a few scattered red spots on the originally gold-and-silver tree, and a few of the white beads had changed color.

　　The clan women came in, carefully examined the beads that had turned red, and identified the clan members they corresponded to on the tree.

　　"Family Deity, there are four this time. Tomorrow, they will be brought here for your judgment."

　　Ethan Clark poked her head out to watch them carry the tree away, a bit curious. "Family Deity, what is that?"

　　Family Deity: "The Qin clan tree. Each bead represents a living member of the Qin clan. With such a large and deep-rooted tree, it's inevitable that there will be withered branches and dead leaves. It's my job to find and prune them, as it is every year."

　　The next day, the clan women brought in four people. Two were between forty and fifty years old, and two looked to be in their teens or twenties. All four were brought in with ashen faces.

　　The clan women lowered the curtain and withdrew. Four blood-red threads emerged from Family Deity's sleeve, landing on the foreheads of the four, writhing as they prepared to pierce their foreheads and see through everything about them. The two older ones didn't dare resist, but the youngest was startled and tried to escape. He was quick, and in the blink of an eye was about to run out of the shrine. Seeing this, the other young man in his twenties also became restless, resisting the red thread approaching him.

　　Before he could retreat, the young man who had run out had already collapsed in the snow. After a scream, the person who had fallen in the snow melted into a puddle of red blood foam, leaving a red human-shaped mark on the white snow.

　　With a gentle expression, Family Deity looked at the remaining three with a smile, saying nothing. The young man, terrified and dejected, slumped to the ground, allowing a blood thread to pierce his brain. The three had blood threads connected to their foreheads. Family Deity closed his eyes and examined them carefully. After a while, he sighed softly and withdrew the threads.

　　Ethan Clark hid behind Family Deity the whole time, not seeing what happened. She only heard that scream and Family Deity's sigh.

　　The three, dazed, were led away by the clan women. When asked how to deal with them, Family Deity simply said one word: death.