Three days.
It took Hikaru three whole days to finish the journey from the interior to the exterior, traversing these several mountains.
It wasn't that his legs were slow, but that there were too many 'roadblocks' along the way.
The aura of the shikon jewel was like a signal tower that never went out, attracting a wave of demons every few steps.
Big ones, small ones, strong ones, weak ones, individuals, and swarms.
Every variety and species imaginable was there.
Most were coming for the shikon jewel, but some were just passing by and got drawn in, while others heard the screams of their own kind and ran over to watch the fun, only to become screams themselves.
In short, it was incredibly hard to deal with.
Hikaru had already lost count of how many he had killed.
He only knew—
[demon blade muramasa: Current Favorability 72]
In three days, the weapon's favorability had risen by twenty-two points.
This efficiency wasn't actually that high, but it was consistent.
And at this moment.
Now.
"Almost there."
Hikaru stood on a hilltop, looking down at the plains in the distance.
The plains stretching before him were vast and boundless, a completely different sensory experience from the previous continuous mountain ranges. Beneath the sky was a lush green, and amidst the swaying vegetation, he could see dozens of thatched wooden huts at the edge of his vision. They were clustered into a village that wasn't large—one could even call it small, with only a few dozen households—yet it was the most common type of human settlement in this era.
It was evening, and the sun was setting.
The Hour of Demons.
There was a wooden fence around the perimeter of the village, with several exorcism talismans hanging on it, glowing faintly in the sunlight.
In the center of the village stood a shrine, its red torii gate standing out prominently amidst the green leaves of a massive sacred tree.
That was the territory of Musashi Province.
It was the destination mentioned by that old man from the Demon Slayer village.
It was also where Kikyo was.
"Finally here."
Hikaru breathed a sigh of relief.
He had barely rested for the past three days. Although the body of an Ghost Samurai did not tire, the consumption of Demonic Qi was very real.
If he kept draining himself like this, even if he wasn't bitten to death by demons, he would be hollowed out by his own Demonic Qi usage.
For a corpse that relied entirely on Demonic Qi to move, running out of it would inevitably lead to collapsing on the spot. And the consequences of collapsing in the wilderness were easy to imagine.
Fortunately, he had endured and held on.
Even better, he had arrived.
He took a few steps down from the hilltop, his gaze scanning the plains.
Then, his footsteps stopped.
No, something was wrong.
Around that village—
There was something.
A lot of things.
Hikaru's pupils suddenly constricted.
His [Sharp Eye Transformation] played its role at this moment, pulling the distant scene closer, magnifying it, and making it clear.
In front of the wooden fence surrounding the village, a massive number of figures were crouching densely.
Gray-green, dark red, bluish-black.
Blue-skinned Oni, One-eyed Demons, Snake-bodied Demons, Bird-headed Monsters, Centipede Spirits...
Demons of all kinds surrounded the entire village like a tide, making it impenetrable.
Looking down from the hilltop, it looked like a mass of squirming, filthy gray-green mud, wrapping the small village right in the center.
A rough estimate—
Three hundred?
No.
Five hundred?
Still not right.
"...At least seven or eight hundred."
The corner of Hikaru's mouth twitched.
This formation was even more ridiculous than the wave that had been hunting the old man three days ago.
It was almost the sum total of all the demons he had encountered along the way.
But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was—they were already attacking.
The demon swarm was surging toward the village from all directions, letting out earth-shaking roars and screams.
All sorts of attacks poured down like a rainstorm—bone club strikes, clawing tears, venom sprays, and Demonic Qi impacts.
And in the face of this overwhelming offensive, what blocked them was a light.
A layer of pale white, translucent Barrier.
Hemispherical, it shrouded the shrine in the center of the village and a range of twenty zhang around it.
Inside the Barrier was a clear and bright world.
Outside the Barrier was the foul Demonic Qi.
It was as if there were two worlds, clearly divided.
"This is... a Barrier?"
Hikaru looked at the curtain of light, inwardly astonished.
Three months ago, the Demon Slayer village chief had also displayed a similar ability—using spiritual power to form a light film to protect himself.
But that film could only protect one person at most, and it would collapse before long.
But this Barrier... it covered a radius of twenty zhang, encompassing the entire shrine and dozens of villagers.
Moreover, under the frantic attacks of seven or eight hundred demons, it remained as steady as a rock, showing no signs of wavering.
Whoosh—!
A cold white light shot out from inside the Barrier.
It was the Sacred Arrow commonly used by priestesses, carrying powerful spiritual energy specifically targeting Demonic Qi, capable of purifying all filth.
The arrow pierced through the curtain of light without any hindrance and directly hit a Blue-skinned Oni that was climbing the top of the Barrier.
The Blue-skinned Oni let out a miserable scream and turned into ash.
The Barrier seemed to be one-way.
It only blocked attacks from the outside but did not affect the output from within.
Immediately after, a second arrow, a third, and a fourth were shot in succession.
Each one hit at least one demon with a booming sound.
Every demon hit died on the spot, some even exploding directly from the inside out, breathing their last.
String sounds, arrow out, hit, dead.
All in one smooth motion.
In just a few dozen seconds, over twenty demons had already fallen to the arrows.
Hikaru's gaze passed through the layers of demon shadows and fell on the core position of the Barrier.
On the high stone steps of the shrine.
A figure stood there.
White robes and red hakama, with black hair cascading like a waterfall.
Her hands were pressed together, her eyes slightly closed, and her lips were moving gently, as if she were chanting some kind of incantation.
Pale white, transparent spiritual power flowed continuously from her body, turning into the nourishment that sustained the Barrier.
At the same time, a bow and a quiver were placed by her right hand.
Every few seconds, she would open her eyes, nock an arrow with one hand, and fire.
She didn't even need to open her eyes fully.
Just by relying on spiritual perception, she could lock onto the position of every demon.
Hikaru didn't even have to think to recognize that it was Kikyo.
And beneath her bowstring, within those half-open, clear eyes, the demons that were roaring, howling, and trying their best to break through the Barrier were nothing more than moths.
Moths to a flame.
"As expected of the strongest priestess of the Sengoku period..."
Hikaru murmured.
The Demon Slayer village chief was actually the strongest human spiritual power user he had seen before this. That man's ability to deploy a Barrier by himself would already be considered powerful among human mages.
Ordinary mages who wanted to cast a Barrier would need to set up an altar and perform a ritual, or even call upon'Shikigami' for help.
But even so, compared to Kikyo, it was simply the difference between a firefly and the bright moon.
The power of one person.
A Barrier spanning twenty zhang.
Protecting all the young and old of the village.
While simultaneously maintaining a continuous output of Sacred Arrows to counterattack.
Both offense and defense combined.
It was powerful to a ridiculous degree.
However, he also understood—the priestess before him was likely not yet in her prime. At least, she wasn't at the peak state of the Priestess Kikyo in his memory.
She could still be stronger.
But even so...
Seven or eight hundred demons.
Even if most were small fry, their sheer numbers were overwhelming.
Enough ants could bite an elephant to death.
And—
Hikaru's gaze scanned the demon swarm, and at the very front, he captured a few figures that were clearly different from the rest.
Those were not small fry.
They were true threats.
But at this moment, he didn't have time to carefully observe those few special existences.
Because he had more important things to do.