A Demonic Cultivator Named Miko (End) (cont.)

After escaping the Xuanhui Realm, the Demon Prison Hall Master used the Netherworld as his foundation and the Demon Prison Hall as his form to sign contracts with many worlds. Thus, the humans of these worlds were nominally marked with the Demon Prison Hall's seal, their True Spirit remaining intact due to the Demon Prison Hall's power, allowing them to reincarnate in various worlds. Among them were those whose True Spirit awakened, reincarnated with memories of their previous lives, bringing many changes to their original worlds or the other worlds they were reborn into.

Naturally, the Demon Prison Hall also has its own vested interests in doing this, namely the authority over the cycle of life and death. These worlds that have signed contracts with the Demon Prison Hall are outsourcing their own difficult-to-perfect authority over the cycle of life and death to the Demon Prison Hall. In the form of concessions, they allow the Demon Prison Hall to take on the responsibility of dealing with external beings such as the Heavenly Demons and sorting out the authority over life and death that they themselves cannot sort out.

Many worlds initially did not readily agree to the Demon Prison Hall's plan, but ultimately succumbed to its clutches due to the Demon Prison Hall Master Demon Prison Hall Master's domineering actions. However, as the benefits of cooperating with the Demon Prison Hall have become apparent over the years, their initial resistance has gradually dissipated, and they have even begun to be willing to deepen their cooperation with the Demon Prison Hall, establishing branch halls of the Demon Prison Hall on their own territories, managed by personnel sent by the Demon Prison Hall.

The Demon Prison Hall welcomed this move and began accepting humans from these worlds as Ghost Official, appointing reincarnated humans from these worlds as Ghost Official and hall masters of branch halls. Of course, this cooperation had only just begun.

After all, the Demon Prison Hall has only existed in the world for a mere ten years.

"Lord of the Palace."

After leading the young man to the main hall of the Demon Prison Hall, Zhao Zuoyi bowed and took his leave, not inquiring further about the young man's future plans. He had his own affairs to attend to, and the fact that he had taken most of the day to explain the Demon Prison Hall to this young man showed how much the Demon Prison Hall Master valued him.

That's true...

As Zhao Zuoyi stepped outside, he suddenly nodded. Before meeting this person, he had read about his background. He had actually cultivated to the Golden Core realm in a world where low-level magic had just begun to materialize. If this were in the previous Xuanhui Realm, reaching the Golden Core realm in ten years would have been astonishing, let alone reaching such a realm in a world far inferior to the Xuanhui Realm.

"Making this person the branch hall master would be perfect; it probably wouldn't be long before his cultivation level catches up with mine."

Muttering to himself, when he returned to his office and looked at the endless stream of living souls in the main hall where he was, even though he was immortal, he felt weary.

The duties of the Demon Prison Hall seem incredibly prestigious, but in practice, they are nothing but a bunch of muddled and confusing matters.

For example, registering the world where a soul resides, recording its information from its past life in the archives, erasing its abilities cultivated with that world, dispersing its memories of that life, registering newly issued True Spirit of the World Consciousness, killing celestial demons or other alien beings that invade these worlds, punishing humans who defy the cycle of life and death, and so on. Originally, when it only governed a few worlds, it was fine, but as the Demon Prison Hall expanded, the number of worlds it had to govern suddenly increased, and the entire Demon Prison Hall became very busy.

If these initial Ghost Official hadn't been relatively powerful, focusing their skills on efficient work, their small numbers wouldn't have been enough to manage so many human souls even working twelve hours a day. Establishing a branch of the Demon Prison Hall and recruiting new members was now an urgent matter.

Perhaps sensing their suffering, the temple master who had single-handedly created the Demon Prison Hall finally spoke about establishing branch halls and personally appointed a person in charge of one of the branch halls.

"The name is just a bit strange."

The languages of each world are different, and there is no common language. Even the Demon Prison Hall only translates and converts common words, and for personal names and place names, it simply imitates the pronunciation of that world.

"What was it called again?"

Zhao Zuoyi frowned, but there was no time left for him to think. The Ghost Official who were writing furiously looked up and saw him standing at the door. An old man even reached out and grabbed his hand without any politeness, pulling him into a seat in the main hall.

"What are you dawdling for? Do you want me to take over your position?"

"... snort."

Zhao Zuoyi snorted, finally focusing his attention on his official duties and taking over the task the old man had entrusted to him.

The old man walked unhurriedly toward a large hall: it was his turn to rest today.

He was supposed to be the one to receive the young man, but he had no interest in doing so, so he switched duties with Zhao Zuoyi.

"Ten years have passed..."

The old man sighed; these ten years were far more indescribable than his previous hundreds of years. Now, the title of the Supreme Elder of the Profound Sky Sect Supreme Elder had completely vanished with the destruction of the Xuanhui Realm, leaving only the title of Deputy Hall Master of the Demon Prison Hall.

"Has it not been resurrected yet?"

The old man knew a great deal. Even though the Demon Prison Hall Master hadn't explicitly stated it, he vaguely guessed why the Demon Prison Hall Master Demon Prison Hall had been constantly expanding the world it contained over the past ten years—all for one person, someone very important to the Demon Prison Hall Master, someone who had also played a crucial role in the destruction of the Xuanhui Realm.

"Yotsuya Miko."

Upon learning the young man's name, it immediately came to mind, and memories flooded back like a tidal wave.

In the tenth year since the establishment of the Demon Prison Hall, this former elder of the Profound Sky Sect suddenly remembered the day when the Demon Prison Hall Master said he was going to save people.

"... You haven't sought the Way either."

(Final dividing line)

"You are the Demon Prison Hall Master?"

The young man named Yotsuya Kyosuke asked the question without any respect, his gaze fixed on the strange man in front of him who wore Wrathful Ghost Mask and a black robe.

Even so, he sensed the vast difference in strength between himself and the master of the Demon Prison Hall.

"Yes."

A hoarse voice responded to his words; the master did not rebuke his rudeness.

"I am the master of the Demon Prison Hall, the one who holds the power of life and death and reincarnation. However, there are some deaths that even I cannot avert."

He paused suddenly as he said this.

"You are the one I have appointed as the head of the Demon Prison Hall branch. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. Afterwards, you should assume your post."

"If we're talking about doubts, I do have one."

Yotsuya Kyosuke didn't stand on ceremony; he tore off an item from around his neck.

"Who gave me this talisman?"

He was incredibly powerful. As he grew older, he came into contact with Ghosts, extraordinary organizations in his world, and even organizations like the Demon Prison Hall that transcended the world. However, his strength did not come entirely from himself; most of the credit should be attributed to the amulet around his neck.

This talisman gave him cultivation techniques, Magic Treasure, and other items that were completely incompatible with the cultivation system of his world.

Therefore, he began to be curious about the origin of this amulet and realized that it was of great significance.

This is also why he was willing to become the head of a branch hall of the Demon Prison Hall Master's Palace and come before the Demon Prison Hall Master —he wanted to exchange his position for the origin of the talisman, which definitely contained Xin Mi he did not know.

"It's your older sister."

"What?"

Yotsuya Kyosuke was somewhat skeptical of the information he had heard, his triangular eyes widening in disbelief.

"Impossible, I didn't do that at all..."

As he was speaking, a series of fragmented thoughts suddenly flashed through his mind, and a blurry figure appeared out of nowhere in his countless memories—a figure that should have been absent, but whose consciousness told him should exist.

Who is that?

His mind was in turmoil, filled with intense confusion and bewilderment. He looked at the Demon Prison Hall Master again.

The strange man simply sighed softly.

"This is a very long story, a story about your sister."

"On a rainy night, a girl is experiencing a major turning point in her life."

She stroked the dark purple token in her hand. Even after spending a full ten years and exhausting the essence of dozens of worlds, the result was still...

"Her name was Yotsuya Miko, and at that moment, she became a demonic cultivator."

"The story begins on that day."

The True Spirit of the Demon-Prisoner's Palace No Longer Exists: Author's Closing Remarks

Honestly, this must be a pretty bad story, right?

I initially planned to write a lighthearted Miko about Miko, but it ended up looking like this without me even realizing it. I can only say that my skills are lacking.

Many plot points felt drawn out, and several parts that should have been climaxes were poorly written, which was a problem with the writing. As a result, the book began to feel empty towards the end.

While writing Volume 5, I often thought, "Who am I? Why did I write it like this?" As a result, my motivation to write decreased significantly, and it took me almost half a month to finally finish the ending. I can only say that I wasn't mature enough. When it came time to finish, there was no other way but to slowly grind out the plot bit by bit.

As for the ending, I initially planned to write it as a happy ending for everyone. However, after thinking about it all night, when I was writing it today, I suddenly felt reluctant to write it. I felt that writing it that way would truly ruin the image of Yotsuya Miko that I had created.

As I wrote, although I'm sorry, the core of this thing is indeed a genuine tragedy.

From the very beginning, when she was schemed against by Tiandao and Zhang Qiudao, Yotsuya Miko's fate was already different from the original story. She was like a character performing on a stage, and from that heavy rain onwards, her life was dominated by various things.

She was not a steadfast seeker of the Way, but rather someone pursued by the Way, someone who drifted further and further away from her own beliefs. Volume Four marks her farewell to her own life. Volume Five is the beginning of destruction.

The Demon Prison Hall Master, who was also another one of Miko, saved her body, but could not change her will to die.

Therefore, in the end, Yotsuya Miko sacrificed herself entirely to the demon who Soul Splitting Flesh Crushing Nail, leaving only a wisp of her life within the token. And this wisp of life was not enough to save her.

As for the amulet given to Yotsuya Kyosuke, it's just an amulet now; there's no possibility of reviving her.

The definition of death is the True Spirit; when the True Spirit is completely dead, that is true death. Zhang Qiudao was able to survive because he still had a remnant of his True Spirit that transformed into a celestial demon, attempting to forcibly prolong his life through merging with the Dao. As for Yotsuya Miko, she sacrificed her entire being to the celestial demon.

The character development for other roles is also sporadic.

Several distinct characters were created in the series, such as Hua, Yuria, Yotsuya Touko, Yotsuya Kyosuke, Oune Tatsu Yotsuya Masamori, Okita Qishen, and the Amamiya family. The creation of these characters took up a lot of space, which made it difficult for Yotsuya Miko's character to stand out.

Especially Yuria, I don't even know why I'm describing her in such detail.

So much so that when I went to write the love triangle between Yuria, Hana, and Yotsuya Miko, I always felt a little uneasy. Oh well, I've already finished writing the love triangle anyway.

I know this ending won't be very satisfying, and I myself won't be satisfied either, but it's precisely because of this regret that the story feels slightly different.

Fanfiction about Yotsuya Miko gets good and fast ratings on websites, and mine is the worst performing among them. Why? Because I wrote a strange story. I didn't write a romance-themed fanfiction, nor did I write a fanfiction with Yotsuya Miko as the heroine. Instead, I wrote a Miko that mixed in elements of cultivation.

Clearly, this is a very incompatible combination. In fact, when I was writing this, a bunch of authors bluntly said that my book was bound to flop, or at best, die a horrible death.

They are right because the compatibility is indeed very poor, but if I were to write fanfiction like Genshin Impact or Honkai Impact 3rd, adding a system and a protagonist to the main storyline, and then collecting a bunch of harem characters, I couldn't write it.

Everyone has their own thoughts and ideas, and everyone has their own choices. Writing is not something to be pursued as a career, but rather something that brings me joy.

I really like Yuria and Yotsuya Miko I created, and that's enough. Besides, I made a little money from this book, and that's enough too.

Finally, thank you to all the readers who made it this far. If you've made it this far, you must have maxed out your poison resistance (laughs).

Miscellaneous Volumes: No new books published.

I've been really stressed out by my thesis lately. When I don't know what to do after finishing it, I might start a new book.

Of course, the content itself was the least interesting.

I want to write something scathing.

And, write about things other than knives. By the way, is the supernatural trend popular these days?

If it's a fire, I think we should drag Zhang Qiudao out and whip his corpse.