Miko Becomes a Demonic Cultivator

"You're finally up?"

"You overslept again."

Kyosuke complained as their mother placed the prepared breakfast on the empty seat in front of him, while their father, Masamori, offered a greeting.

"Good morning, Miko."

It looked like a perfectly pleasant scene, but Yotsuya Miko pressed her lips together and silently sat down in her chair.

"So, I heard you've been feeding a stray cat?"

Her father seemed interested in the matter, while her mother urged her on.

"Come on, eat your breakfast quickly, or you'll be late."

"You'll be late."

The family pet, like a parrot, sidled up beside her and repeated the phrase.

If the thing didn't slobber all over her food like an idiot, Miko would have had a much higher tolerance for it.

Staring at the breakfast set before her, even though she knew ghosts couldn't directly touch physical objects, it was clear this thing had already made it impossible for her to eat.

"By the way."

Her younger brother, Yotsuya Kyosuke, looked at her and remembered something else.

"There are two puddings in the fridge. Are they yours, sis?"

"Yeah."

Yotsuya Miko nodded, then cast a sidelong glance at her father.

"If you don't write your name on them, they might get eaten again."

"Hey, Kyosuke, let's not bring that up."

"Dad ate your pudding back then, and you two had a huge fight over it."

"Stop digging up old grudges from last year."

Her father played the part of an ordinary man, picking up on his son and wife's conversation, enjoying himself.

And Miko's mood soured a little more. Maybe she shouldn't have bought those two puddings. Then she wouldn't have been reminded of the past.

"Sis, you were really like a malevolent ghost back then."

"...You can't just say something like that and expect me to let it slide."

"Huh?"

Yotsuya Miko pushed the breakfast in her hands toward Kyosuke, then pulled herself up from her chair.

"I'm going to eat the pudding. I don't have much appetite today."

"Then don't give it to me."

"Kids should eat a little more."

As she spoke, she opened the fridge. Staring at the two puddings inside, she let out another sigh.

"Are you sure it's okay to only eat two puddings for breakfast?"

Her mother, Touko, looked worried as she watched Miko come back with the two puddings. As for Yotsuya Kyosuke, he silently ate the extra portion of breakfast.

"No, just one."

Ignoring the pet, she silently pushed the other pudding toward her father, Masamori.

"For him."

Even without her saying it outright, Kyosuke and Touko understood.

"For Dad?"

Touko looked toward the empty seat. She couldn't see ghosts, but in the moment Miko handed over the pudding, she felt as if someone was there.

"For me?"

Her father put down his newspaper and turned his gaze to Miko. But Miko lowered her head, silently peeled open the pudding's seal, and took small bites.

When a person dies, they cannot come back to life.

After Zhang Qiudao and the other demon cultivators delved into the study of soul bodies, they gradually clarified one question: what was the True Spirit, what was the Soul Body, and what was the essence of a person.

The True Spirit was the root of a person. No matter how similar two people were, even if they were split from the same divine soul, the True Spirit could not be divided. Because the shattering of the True Spirit meant the shattering of the very concept of "person." And the moment a person died, even if their Soul Body might form, their True Spirit was already completely gone.

In other words, the father before her was nothing more than a counterfeit constructed from memories.

No method could mend a shattered True Spirit—not even Zhang Qiudao could.

But no matter how much she tried to convince herself, Yotsuya Miko still couldn't treat the father before her as a monster that merely possessed her father's memories.

"...I see."

After a moment of silence, "Yotsuya Masamori" seemed to finally realize that the person before him couldn't see him.

"I'm sorry. I ate it without permission last year. I've always wanted to apologize to you, but I could never bring myself to say it. In the end, we never got to make up."

He spoke, pouring out the original owner's memories, the original owner's emotions, and the original owner's regrets.

Yotsuya Miko bit her lip, forcing back the tears threatening to fall from her eyes, but—

"Miko,"

Her mother silently walked to her side and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry, for making you recall unpleasant things."

"It's not that. I just... suddenly missed him a little."

Miko shook her head, eating the pudding in her hands one bite at a time, all of it dissolving into relief.

"I'm full."

"Mm."

"I... I'm full too."

Yotsuya Kyosuke looked at the breakfast before him, having managed to eat about seventy or eighty percent of it—out of guilt.

"Sorry, Sis, I didn't know that pudding was..."

"Kyosuke."

Yotsuya Touko suddenly spoke. She released her hold on Miko and began clearing the dishes from the table.

"You two should get going to school."

She placed the dishes one by one into the kitchen, then picked up the pudding from the table, her gaze landing on Miko.

"I'll take it to your father for you, okay?"

"Mm."

Miko nodded, her spirits low.

Kyosuke, once again realizing his mistake, finally dared not say another word. He slipped on his shoes and hurried out the door. But he glanced back at his sister one more time. For some reason, he felt she still seemed off today.

Was it because she was too upset?

Yotsuya Miko walked to the door, put on her shoes, and looked back one last time.

"Be careful."

"Take care."

"The pudding..."

Her father and mother said so, and so did the pet.

"Mm."

Miko took a deep breath and put on a smile for them.

"I'm off."

Watching Miko leave, Yotsuya Touko silently closed the front door and walked into a room.

She looked at the portrait of her husband Masamori, placing the pudding before it.

"The kids missed you today, honey."

She said.

Chapter 26: The Scapegoat—Yuria

Although the new talisman system developed by Zhang Qiudao and his fellow Demonic Path cultivators was indeed weaker in power than the old talismans that emphasized Talisman Paper quality, it wasn't that far off.

If quality control was lax, both new and old talismans would suffer a significant drop in power.

Miko now understood this lesson deeply. She realized she shouldn't have half-assed it with just one fish. The Evil Banishing Talisman she had now could be used, but not fully—only a little.

Watching the ghosts merely avoid her within a radius of less than five meters, Miko silently turned her gaze to the plush toy "Eye-Eye." Although the new talismans could enhance the talisman pattern's power by increasing Spiritual Qi input, this move was not only costly but also shortened the talisman pattern's lifespan.

Most importantly, the amplification wasn't unlimited; it generally depended on the quality of the talisman pattern.

Better than nothing, she supposed.

Miko comforted herself with that thought. Today, she was still going out shopping with her friend Yurikawa Hana, heading to the shop that sold those mochi.

The streets were peaceful as usual today, except that the fortune-telling shop run by the Godmother had closed—seems like the ghosts had affected her. As for the posters on the street, they were still ads for various shows, like Mr. Cave Bear.

Ever since she was "rescued" by Mr. Cave Bear last time, she had become a devoted fan of that muscular old man. That move—the Great Serpent Offensive—still left a deep impression on her.

She steered Hana away from a ghost in their path and, using an excuse, handed Hana a plush toy she had bought earlier but hadn't finished making due to time and materials—a Ram Rabbit, Hana's favorite.

"Wow, thank you, Miko!"

"Mm, it's nothing. Let's go eat some Butt Mochi."

Building on the success of her first talisman pattern, the Evil Banishing Talisman Miko made this time was much stronger. After all, this one used quite a few fish, and she had even slaughtered several decently sized ghosts for it. Its coverage reached twenty meters, but she had to recharge it with Spiritual Qi once a day, and it wouldn't last a full day anyway.

At the end of the day, it was still because the materials were too poor.

Maybe she should craft a device to process ghosts, Yotsuya Miko thought. Naturally, the demonic cultivators had considered this problem too. They had pushed all sorts of bizarre solutions—for example, with Evil Banishing Talismans, you could reprocess the ghost used as the Talisman Base and forcibly strengthen it by infusing Spiritual Qi.

As she pondered, a sense of being watched came through her Spiritual Sense again. After the incident with Kyosuke, she had focused a bit more on figuring out how to lock her Spiritual Sense onto an ordinary person's gaze. Soon enough, she found a technique in the Soul Nourishing Artifact Path Understanding called the Eye-Penetrating Incantation, which allowed her Spiritual Sense to function like eyes—no longer just a vague sense of presence, but actual images.

Practical enough. Several times, she had spotted the watchers—mostly men—staring for tens of seconds or even minutes, only to never cast another glance once she looked back. But today was strange; it was a girl.

"Watching" the golden twin-tailed girl leaning against a building in her Spiritual Sense, Miko felt a slight confusion, then quickly dismissed it. As long as the peeping didn't interfere with her normal routine, it was fine—just like those previous watchers who had the desire but not the nerve. Could you really say they were breaking the law?

Walking along the road, chatting and laughing with Hana, she once again enjoyed some delicious daifuku, just like a normal girl.

Come to think of it, there hadn't been any powerful ghosts appearing lately...

Yotsuya Miko thought to herself. Without strong ghosts, the power of the talismans and artifacts she crafted was far too diminished. Moreover, since last time, she hadn't practiced the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record at all, because she basically hadn't encountered any worthwhile prey. Even if her strength was lacking, at least she could have done something like that previous ghost—blowing the Prayer Beads apart.

In the following days, wandering around again, she still didn't encounter any ghosts that could serve as materials, leaving her somewhat disappointed. She wondered if she should artificially create one, but after thinking it over, she decided that having no powerful ghosts was actually a good thing. After all, who doesn't like a peaceful environment?

Incidentally worth mentioning, that watcher was still there. She was a student from her school, Futamido Yuria from another class. During the days Yuria had been watching her, Miko had also managed to pry information about this girl from others.

How to put it—probably a pitiful person. The students around her seemed to be isolating her, and there were rumors that she liked muttering about mysterious things.

Miko didn't quite understand what this girl's purpose was in targeting her. She could only wait and see what this lonely peer wanted to do.

The opportunity came quickly enough.

"Um,"

In the indoor gymnasium, Yotsuya Miko, resting against the wall after a volleyball match, turned her gaze toward Yuria, "What's the matter?"

"Could I trouble you for a moment?"

The petite girl held a volleyball in both hands, "Could you help me collect the volleyballs?"

"Sure."

Yotsuya Miko nodded, thinking that today might be a bit lucky for her. Not only had the watcher finally approached her, but also...

She turned her gaze toward the storage room—there was a big one inside.

Following Yuria to tidy up the volleyballs and toss them into the wire frame, the girl leaned against the door and expressed her thanks to her.