Miko Becomes a Demonic Cultivator

"Miko... Miko?"

Yotsuya Miko stood outside the gate, her gaze sweeping sharply toward the ghost behind Hana—that kimono ghost.

"If I'd come even a little later, you'd have eaten those and gotten even stronger."

The moment she saw this "Cursed Building," Miko had already realized what triggered her sense of crisis. After devouring the entire building, this kimono ghost would indeed grow far more powerful, leaving her unable to fight back.

"But I won't let you have your way."

"What are you even talking about, Miko?"

Yurikawa Hana, completely in the dark, walked toward her, her face twisted with even deeper fear. She had no idea why her friend, who was supposed to be waiting for her, had shown up here—let alone what Miko meant by any of this.

"Miko?"

"Hana, get behind me."

Yotsuya Miko didn't bother explaining. It wasn't something she could clarify in a few words, and the situation left no room for slack.

The ghost latched onto Yurikawa Hana's back finally realized the human before it could see it. It let out an inhuman roar and lunged straight at Miko.

But Miko was ready. Staring hard at the rapidly approaching ghost, a streak of black light shot from between her brows, carrying an ominous aura and striking the ghost's eye at even greater speed.

"This is the Cursed Building. You've got a ghost on you."

As the ghost froze from the hit, Miko quickly explained, then, before the kimono ghost could react to the pain, she pulled several items from her backpack and scattered them around.

A closer look revealed a few iron pellets, wreathed in gray mist. The moment they hit the ground, they burst open, releasing the mist in all directions. In Hana's blind sight, the mist clung to the numerous ghosts like strong acid, corroding their bodies. Countless wails rose up. But the fully spread mist left them no room to dodge—and it wasn't just them. The mist crawled onto Yurikawa Hana's body too, only to be neutralized by her intense life energy.

"Wha—"

"Get over here, you idiot!"

Yotsuya Miko cursed, but her hands never stopped. These measures were just the opening move against this ghost—barely enough to scratch the kimono ghost. She still needed time to unleash a more powerful technique and wipe it out in one go.

Around her, countless strands of Spiritual Qi circulated in orderly patterns, merging and splitting before her. Normally, such a technique wouldn't require such a complicated process, but her internal Spiritual Qi was far too insufficient, forcing her to cast it this way.

No matter how reckless demonic cultivators were, at the Qi Refining stage, the offensive techniques available were few—let alone a self-contained system like the Soul Nourishing Artifact Path Understanding. Though it incorporated many techniques, unleashing their true power required reaching the Foundation Establishment or Core Formation stages, comparable to the Golden Core Path. The Qi Refining stage wasn't built for slaughter; the offensive techniques usable at this stage demanded far too much Spiritual Qi, and those that didn't rely on it came with severe side effects. The Soul Nourishing Artifact Path Understanding wouldn't include techniques with such heavy drawbacks unless their power far outweighed the cost.

For Yotsuya Miko right now, she wasn't without other options. When Zhang Qiudao created the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record, he also included some Spiritual Sense-related offensive techniques. The Soul Collision Art was one of them. The second technique she could use now would be enough to kill the kimono ghost, but the price was one she couldn't pay.

Tearing apart half her Spiritual Sense to forge an independent entity separate from herself—this strange creation would take on her face as a template, master the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record's cultivation method, devour ghosts to grow stronger on its own. Even a freshly condensed entity would have no trouble killing the kimono ghost before her.

But the cost of this technique, called the Nightmare Refining Art, was that this creation wouldn't harm its host—but it also wouldn't obey her. And the Soul Devouring Tribulation from cultivating the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record would fall entirely on the host.

Even without that price, Miko, with half her Spiritual Sense torn away, couldn't avoid being devoured by the accumulated Soul Devouring Tribulation.

"Wyaaaaa!!!!"

The kimono ghost let out a bloodcurdling roar, standing firm in the gray mist. Its eyes, previously sealed by threads, snapped open, breaking the cords and spilling gray-black fluid. The kimono wrapping its body was corroded by the mist, revealing a chest covered in countless fissures that opened wide—each one a blood-red eye. Sensing danger, the ghost unfurled its inhuman form.

And this was only the beginning. Ghosts untouched by the gray mist were grabbed by its sharp claws, slowly fed into its mouth, and chewed. With each swallow, its mutation deepened.

Yotsuya Miko didn't counterattack during this moment. She simply looked at Hana, who had finally woken up and was jogging toward her, and shoved a plush toy into her hands.

"It wards off evil."

With that, she refocused on the technique forming in her hands. If she could finish it before the ghost fully mutated, it would all be over.

"Done."

Taking a deep breath, she channeled all her Spiritual Qi into the small sphere before her, then hurled it straight at the ghost.

"Ten Afflictions."

Chapter 34: What Should Be a One-Sided Battle

Did it hit?

Through her Spiritual Sense, she felt the sphere land on the kimono ghost with almost no deviation, sinking into its body with slight resistance.

The Spiritual Qi suppressed inside the sphere erupted, chaotic streams of energy flowing through the ghost's body, carrying a corrosive aura. Under Miko's technique, the Qi's properties had been twisted into something vicious and ominous. No matter what substance this Qi touched, it would slowly rot and erode it—let alone being injected directly into the ghost's body.

Because of this, the technique was called "Ten Afflictions," infamous even in the Xuanhui Realm.

But with her limited Spiritual Qi, what Miko had just used could barely be called "One Affliction," couldn't it?

The kimono ghost, wounded by "One Affliction," was soon riddled with holes from the malignant Qi inside it. Even trying to devour other ghosts to replenish itself was impossible. It collapsed weakly to its knees, letting out an even more miserable howl.

Watching the ghost rot into a nauseating mess, Yotsuya Miko breathed a slight sigh of relief. Just as she was about to explain to Yurikawa Hana, the aura her Spiritual Sense detected made her face change.

Tenacious vitality...

The fading presence was slowly recovering. Even under the effects of such a vicious technique, its aura was growing stronger instead—rising from the dead.

As expected, its transformation hinged on Hana and the Cursed Building...

Narrowing her eyes at the kneeling kimono ghost, she saw the kimono, once corroded by gray mist, being stitched back together by black energy. Thick black smoke poured out, steadily countering the gray mist's effects. The ghost's form began to swell violently. Its gray, cracked skin, once torn with black wounds, started to heal. Then another eye split open, glaring venomously at Miko.

"Wgaaaaaa!"

It shrieked again. The eyeballs on its face tore loose from their sockets, dangling by fleshy roots, all swiveling toward her with unmistakable malice.

Struggling to its feet, its towering form scraping the ceiling, it loomed over the tiny human. Its long, sharp claws pressed vertically to the ground. Through the loose kimono, its exposed chest was covered in ruptured eyes, writhing, all fixing their gaze on the human below.

But even this powerful form couldn't suppress the boiling, churning Spiritual Qi inside. The chaotic energy still churned through its body, occasionally bursting a hole in its flesh, spilling thick gray-black fluid.

"As expected... such a hassle."

Sensing the meager Spiritual Qi remaining in her body, Yotsuya Miko couldn't help but sigh. Then she once again pulled some other tools from her backpack and gripped them in her hands.

After all, low-level cultivators could only use techniques of this caliber on their own; in most situations, they had to rely on powerful external objects.

To prepare for the worst-case scenario, after returning home and napping for barely twenty minutes, Miko got back up and busied herself with crafting work, using all the ghosts she had hunted that night as materials. As a result, her head was still throbbing.

Yin Thunder Talisman.

She tossed several Iron Pellets toward the ghost's face again. Aware that these things were trouble, the Kimono Ghost raised both hands to block and tried to swat the small iron bullets back. But the moment its sharp claws touched the iron pellets, a chain of explosions rang out. A flash of black light—trademark of the Demonic Path—erupted, black mist scattered, flesh and blood flew. One hand was reduced to half a palm and three-quarters of a palm surface, while the other hand was simply gone.

Fragments of Soul Body debris landed in front of Miko, at her feet. Showing no discomfort at all, she tossed out a few more pellets.

Soul Severing Talisman.

Midair, the pellets were pulled by Spiritual Qi into arcing black blades that slashed toward the ghost. The creature, having lost both hands, tried to resist again, but the black blades cut straight through its arms without any resistance, then sliced into its chest. The remaining blades struck various parts of the ghost, nearly carving it into separate chunks of flesh—or rather, soul chunks.

But even this wasn't enough to kill the ghost outright. Because of the Soul Severing Talisman, the Kimono Ghost, having lost most of its body, still stared at her with burning resentment. It suddenly charged straight at her face, leaving Miko no time to pull out another tool—declaring this a turn-based game.

Then, its plan failed.

Soul Screen Talisman.

Glancing at the ghost closing in, a Small Ornament at her waist burst apart, signaling the end of its lifespan. As the ornament shattered, a thin, pale black screen appeared before her, though it showed slight signs of cracking.

"It could have blocked more attacks... what a waste."

Muttering words of regret, just as the black screen was about to shatter completely, she pulled another iron pellet from her backpack.

"Thank you. Thanks to you, I managed to draw out all these talismans through sheer perseverance."

Miko looked at the ugly ghost before her and said with genuine sincerity, "By the way, you're weaker than I expected. Maybe I got here just in time."

Calamity Breaking Talisman.

The last few iron pellets struck into the ghost's body. The moment these pellets touched the chaotic Spiritual Qi inside it, they began to explode—yes, in fact, the previous pellets hadn't exploded yet.

These talismans, named Calamity Breaking, would react violently the moment they encountered anything that could be called "calamity," like adding mentos to cola. They could indeed break "calamity," but usually at the cost of completely destroying the item tainted by it.

For example, the ghost before her.

"Hiss..."

With the sound of gas hissing and spraying, the ghost swelled like a balloon, expanding rapidly until it reached a critical point.

Yotsuya Miko silently shifted her gaze to Yurikawa Hana, "Here it comes..."

"BOOOOM!!!"

Pausing, confirming that no sticky liquid had splashed onto her, Miko's gaze softened as she looked at Hana.

"Sorry, Hana."

"What... just happened?"

Having witnessed all of this, Yurikawa Hana still couldn't understand what had happened before her eyes because she couldn't see it. But soon, she wouldn't need to understand.

Womb Talisman.

Silently channeling Spiritual Qi to activate another talisman embedded in Hana's plush toy, Yurikawa Hana lost consciousness the next moment and collapsed onto Miko.

"...Heavy."

Supporting her unconscious friend, Yotsuya Miko turned her gaze toward the Cursed Building. The Kimono Ghost's aura had completely vanished from her Spiritual Sense. The pervasive gray mist had corroded its Soul Body clean away. Even if the gray mist hadn't corroded it, the Spiritual Qi and Calamity Breaking Talisman she had driven into the ghost's body had rendered its Soul Body unusable—a complete waste of resources.

"Still need to clean up the mess... Let me see where those iron pellets flew off to."

Saying this, she waved her hand, using Spiritual Qi to recall the used but not yet fully destroyed iron pellets into her palm, then looked toward the Big Dog cowering in the corner.

"Hmm... Your name is Kiko, right?"

Yotsuya Miko smiled, but the Big Dog let out a whimper, then ran past her to the outside.

"..."

Chapter 35: The Matter Comes to an End

Yurikawa Hana felt like she had a strange dream. In it, she was on a stage. On one side was Yotsuya Miko in a gym uniform, and on the other was a tall, blurry figure.

Miko walked toward that person, used a smooth grappling technique to lock their throat—a familiar move, exactly Mr. Cave Bear's "Great Serpent Offensive." A fierce aura rose from Yotsuya Miko as she roared loudly, locking her opponent in place, trying to crush them with overwhelming restraint.

But her opponent was also very strong. Within just a few breaths, they broke free from the "Great Serpent Offensive," and the two tumbled into a scuffle again, trading blows back and forth. In the end, Yotsuya Miko had the slight edge. She caught her opponent when they were exhausted and used the "Great Serpent Offensive" again, this time completely defeating them.

Then, she woke up.

"You're awake?"

The first thing her open eyes saw wasn't a blue sky or a familiar yet unfamiliar ceiling, but Yotsuya Miko's face. Her golden eyes were looking at Hana, and somehow Yurikawa Hana felt there were many bloodshot veins in them.

"Miko?"

Sitting up from her reclining angle, Hana realized she had been lying on Yotsuya Miko's lap—or rather, resting her head on Miko's thighs.

"What happened to me?"

She scratched her head in confusion, trying to recall something, but couldn't find any helpful memories. So she turned her pleading gaze to Miko.

"You got scared unconscious."

Yotsuya Miko's face showed helplessness as she recounted what had happened to Hana bit by bit.

"Do you remember what happened this morning? You ran into the Cursed Building looking for a dog."

"Looking... for a dog..."

Those words quickly brought some memories back to Yurikawa Hana, and she hurriedly looked at Miko.

"Did you find the dog? Did you give it to that kid?"

"Yeah, that kid expressed his thanks to you."

Yotsuya Miko looked at her, still wearing that helpless expression.

"If I hadn't realized something was wrong and come looking for you, you might have been lying in the Cursed Building all day."

"Huh? Did I really get scared unconscious?"

Yurikawa Hana felt a bit embarrassed, thinking it was too shameful to admit.

"Maybe you passed out from hunger, I don't know, because you were already unconscious when I got there."

Yotsuya Miko pointed at her stomach, then stood up from the park bench.

"But right now, it's already late. Time for lunch."

Dragging her somewhat tired body, she felt she had probably managed to gloss things over.

Even though explaining her identity to Hana might not necessarily be a bad thing, Miko still didn't want to drag Hana into it—into that world she was never meant to touch.

Hana was very timid.

For that reason, she could only use the talisman to block out what had happened today, covering it up so she would never know.

In the end, today's fight had been caused by her own lack of strength.