Chapter 19: A Strange Yokai
Hikaru ultimately failed.
After three consecutive days of attempts, he was still unable to sense the so-called "pure energy" Kikyo spoke of. It wasn't a matter of talent. Kikyo herself had confirmed it: his soul was whole, his will was formidable, and his spiritual foundation was superior to that of most human practitioners.
The problem lay with his body.
The vessel of an Oni Samurai was anathema to spiritual power. Whenever he tried to perceive the faint specks of light drifting between heaven and earth, the Yao Qi roiling within his demonic form would instinctively surge to meet them. It was like trying to mix oil and water; the pure energy and his own turbid demonic energy violently repelled each other, shattering the fragile connection he managed to form.
"Is it not working today either?" Hikaru asked, opening his eyes to find Kikyo standing before him.
The shrine maiden withdrew the hand she had placed on his back, a faint warmth lingering where her palm had been. She shook her head. "Your Yao Qi is too dense."
"Unless you can find a way to suppress it," she continued, her voice as calm as a placid lake, "it will be exceptionally difficult to sense the world's pure energy."
"Is there a way?"
"Yes," Kikyo replied, pausing for a beat. "If I were to kill you, the Yao Qi would naturally vanish."
"..."
Hikaru remained silent for a long moment, his gaze fixed on her impassive face. "You're joking, right?"
Kikyo offered no answer. She simply turned and began walking back toward the shrine hall. As she moved away, however, Hikaru could have sworn he saw the barest hint of a curve grace the corner of her lips.
He sighed. Forget it. If he couldn't learn it, he couldn't learn it. He hadn't truly expected to master spiritual power in a few days anyway. That kind of art required years, even decades, of arduous cultivation for human mages. For a yokai like him to attempt a crash course was perhaps asking for too much.
, just because he couldn't learn spiritual power didn't mean he could afford to sit around idly. He still had the Shikon Jewel's favorability to grind.
Hikaru pushed himself up from the ground, brushing the dust from his clothes. He no longer wore the tattered, blood-soaked armor. It was far too conspicuous. Although the villagers had reluctantly accepted his presence thanks to Kikyo's protection, the sight of his demonic panoply still sent them scurrying away in fear.
Now, he wore a simple, gray hemp robe, a gift from a kind old woman in the village. She had told him it was a keepsake from her late husband, and while Hikaru had initially tried to refuse, she insisted it was better for someone who needed it to wear it than for it to gather dust. So, he had accepted.
The garment was a bit loose on his frame, but it was infinitely more comfortable than the broken armor—even if that armor was merely a manifestation of his own Yao Qi. In fact, by dismissing it, he significantly reduced the constant drain on his energy. The trade-off was a loss in defense, but here in the village, by Kikyo's side, he had little to worry about.
As for the crimson Oni mask, he kept it tucked away in a cloth bag at his waist. There was no point in wearing it now; the villagers had already seen his face. Besides, the last two times he'd worn it, little Kaede had clamored for him to take it off, insisting that, "Big Brother looks better without the mask." A child's aesthetic sense was, he supposed, refreshingly straightforward.
Hikaru descended the stone steps of the shrine and headed toward the eastern edge of the village. A small grove stood there, a place he had begun to frequent lately. Not for cultivation, but for… something else.
"Hello there," he said, his voice low and even. "How are you doing today?"
He stood before an ancient locust tree, speaking directly to its gnarled trunk. If anyone were to witness the scene, they would surely think him mad. A yokai, talking to a tree by himself?
But Hikaru didn't care. The prompt on the system panel was perfectly clear.
[Old Locust Tree: Current Favorability 3 (Sprouting)]
[It conveyed a vague message to you: "Your voice is very gentle. I like listening to you speak."]
Yes. He was grinding the tree's favorability.
The Shikon Jewel's affection increased far too slowly, and relying solely on 'purifying'it by slaying yokai was proving inefficient. The system had stated that conversation and companionship could also raise favorability., all non-living things, so long as they could be seen and perceived, were potential targets for his'conquest.'
So, Hikaru had decided to tackle the problem from two angles, trying things he never could while wandering without a home. On one hand, he would continue to slay yokai to grind the favorability of the Shikon Jewel's Naohi. On the other, he would cultivate relationships with all sorts of inanimate objects around the village.
This old locust tree was one of his primary targets. It was said to be over two hundred years old, the most ancient living thing in the village. A tree of that age might have already developed a trace of spirituality. If he could max out its favorability, perhaps he could obtain some special ability.
Control over trees, for instance? Or… photosynthesis?
He mentally dismissed the latter as useless. The former, however, he could potentially integrate into his Six Transformations—though the probability was low. This was a rule he had long since summarized: the more extraordinary the object, the stronger the 'talent'it could provide. Ordinary items offered little more than trivial effects, better than nothing but hardly game-changing. It was why he was still at'Five Transformations'; finding truly useful abilities was no simple task.
"The weather is nice today. The sun is very warm," Hikaru continued, his tone calm as he addressed the tree. "Your leaves are growing quite lushly. You look to be in good condition."
"It rained a little yesterday. You must have had your fill, right?"
[Old Locust Tree: Favorability +1]
[Current Favorability: 4]
It went up.
Hikaru nodded in satisfaction and turned, walking toward his next target.
...
On the stone steps of the shrine, Kikyo stood under the towering torii gate, her gaze following the gray-robed figure in the distance.
She watched as Hikaru walked to the old locust tree and spoke to its trunk for a good while. Then he moved on to a large boulder and continued his one-sided conversation. After that, a water well. An abandoned thatched cottage. A hoe someone had left by the roadside.
He would stop at every single thing and earnestly say a few words. Sometimes it was a simple greeting. Sometimes it was small talk about the weather. Sometimes… it was even thanks?
"You've been guarding this place for so many years," she overheard him say to the large rock. "Thank you for your hard work."
"..."
Kikyo didn't know what expression to make. Is there something wrong with this yokai's mind? Talking to a stone… can a stone even understand?
And yet, she had to admit, when Hikaru was doing these things, his expression was utterly serene. One could even call it… gentle. There was no hint of perfunctory motion, no pretense in his actions. It was as if he were truly communicating with those objects. As if they could genuinely understand his words.
It was… inconceivable.
In this world, were there truly yokai like this? Ones who did not crave slaughter or blood, but instead cherished all things? It was true, then. He was more human than most people in this world.
"Sister, what are you looking at?"
Kaede's voice piped up from behind her. Kikyo pulled her gaze back, not offering an answer. But her younger sister had already followed her line of sight.
"Ah, it's the handsome big brother!" the little girl's eyes lit up. "What is he doing? Is he talking to a hoe?"
"..."
Kikyo remained silent.
"So strange," Kaede said, tilting her head. "Is Big Brother silly?"
"No," Kikyo finally spoke. "He is just..." She paused, as if searching for the right word to describe him. In the end, she seemed to give up. "He is just a bit strange."
"Strange?"
"Mm." Kikyo looked at the distant figure now nodding politely at the hoe, and the corners of her mouth twitched. "A strange yokai."
But… I don't dislike it, she added silently in her heart.
Perhaps it was because of this strange gentleness that he was able to gain the goodwill of the Shikon Jewel's Naohi. The young shrine maiden, clad in white and red, immediately withdrew her gaze and silently gripped the sacred jewel she carried.
Naohi. Magatsuhi.
Three more days. On the night of the full moon, when the world's Yin energy would overflow.
...
Evening fell, and Hikaru returned to his guest room. He glanced at the system panel, pleased with the day's gains.
[Old Locust Tree: Favorability 4]
[Large Stone: Favorability 2]
[Well: Favorability 3]
[Abandoned Hut: Favorability 1]
[Hoe: Favorability 1]
[The Naohi of the Shikon Jewel: Current Favorability 6 (Sprouting)]
Not bad at all.
Just as Hikaru was about to lie down and rest, the system panel suddenly flashed with a new notification.
[The Naohi of the Shikon Jewel has conveyed a message to you.]
["Three days from now, when the moon is full in the sky, the Magatsuhi will reach its peak."]
["At that time, the world's evil power and Yao Qi will erupt, attracting all yokai within a radius of a hundred miles."]
["The god-chosen shrine maiden will perform the sealing ritual alone."]
["She has no intention of telling anyone."]
Hikaru stared at the notification, his brows slowly drawing together.
Perform the sealing alone? Yokai from a hundred miles around will all be drawn here? By herself?
He rose from the floor and walked to the window. Through the cracks in the wooden frame, he could see the distant shrine. The vermilion torii gate cast a long, deep shadow in the light of the setting sun.
That solitary figure in white and red stood before the main hall, her back to him.
Her posture was perfectly straight, impossibly resilient. She was as cold and distant as the moon, yet possessed the unyielding strength of a winter plum, blooming alone against the frost.
And yet… she also seemed terribly lonely.
Hikaru watched her for a long time without speaking. He did not go to ask Kikyo what the Naohi's message meant. He had no way to explain how he knew, and besides—since she did not want to say anything, he would not ask.
Either way, in three days… he would still be here.
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