Thinking back to her last visit to the shrine, she felt somewhat powerless. One thing was certain: there really were things in that place she didn't know about, things she couldn't even sense.
Ghosts she couldn't see?
No, perhaps they weren't something as superficial as ghosts. Take Hana's Life Energy, for example. Miko's eyes didn't see it as clearly as an ordinary psychic's would. Her "sight" seemed to be selective—and very selective at that.
It was hard to say whether there was room for improvement.
The Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record naturally strengthened the senses. Aside from Spiritual Sense, eyesight was a major focus. Once she reached a certain level in the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record, her eyes would undergo wondrous changes. Those changes could be called "divine abilities."
Zhang Qiudao, the creator of the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record, had once analyzed the nature of Spiritual Sense. He believed it was the sum of a person's senses. Everyone had Spiritual Sense, but most people's was too weak and had been divided among the senses of their various organs. The powerful could project their Spiritual Sense outward and treat everything around them as part of their own perception. But because this perception lacked a physical foundation, it could only provide the host with information—highly abstract impressions such as "traces," "scent," and "quantity."
As Spiritual Sense grew stronger, however, the information it could convey would become more detailed. The Eye-Penetrating Incantation, for instance, strengthened this feedback, allowing Spiritual Sense to "see."
As Spiritual Sense strengthened, a person's natural sensory organs would also grow sharper. Applying Spiritual Sense directly to those organs could greatly increase their sensitivity. But this approach was reckless. It could throw off the body's overall analysis of an object and cause confusion in the person themselves, like motion sickness.
Strengthening all the senses in a balanced way wouldn't cause this sort of confusion, and it was also more likely to awaken the organs' supernatural properties. Zhang Qiudao called this "spiritual transformation." Ears that had undergone spiritual transformation could hear for a thousand miles and distinguish what should and shouldn't be heard, regardless of conscious intent. A nose could probe scents without being overwhelmed by foul odors. Eyes could see through objects and perceive what lay beyond. When spiritual transformation became a divine ability, it was called "Spirit Transformation."
In her current situation, Miko's eyes would probably be the first to undergo spiritual transformation. Her eyes could already see ghosts that even powerful psychics couldn't. She had no idea what kind of changes spiritual transformation might bring next. Could it mean... seeing even more ominous things?
The thought made Miko feel miserable. The ominous things she might see were probably even stronger than the ghosts she saw now, far beyond anything she could handle. Perhaps even the whole country would be powerless against them. Though, to be fair, modern technology couldn't deal with ghosts either.
She shook her head, casting aside the pessimistic thought, and sensed the amounts of Profound Nether Qi and spiritual energy in her Soul Repository. She realized she probably wasn't far from the next stage.
According to the Golden Core Path, which the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record was modeled after, she was still in the Qi Refining stage, probably in its later phase. Once her Spiritual Sense grew powerful enough to move objects, she could call herself a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
The fastest Foundation Establishment among orthodox cultivators had taken a hundred days, because they believed that a hundred days brought one to perfection and made it possible to attain the Great Way. Demonic Path cultivators, on the other hand, didn't accept the idea of taking a hundred days to establish their foundation. They usually didn't worry much about future development, since plenty of them could reach Foundation Establishment in just forty or fifty days. Miko's master, Zhang Qiudao, was an oddity in that regard, taking a full five years to complete Foundation Establishment. That wasn't because Zhang Qiudao lacked talent. Five years was perfectly normal; three years to reach Qi Refining and ten years to reach Foundation Establishment was a standard measure of cultivation in the Xuanhui Realm. Anyone who couldn't reach Qi Refining in three years or Foundation Establishment in ten was basically hopeless.
Orthodox cultivators could establish their foundation in a hundred days because powerful masters passed their cultivation on to them. As for the Demonic Path, it was even simpler: as long as they were ruthless enough to commit atrocities, they could gather resources from the outrage and hatred they provoked, making rapid Foundation Establishment perfectly normal. But that was also why the orthodox path had always kept the Demonic Path under its thumb. Orthodox cultivators who established their foundation in a hundred days had the steady support of powerful masters. Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Demonic Path were generally among the weakest. They usually had little hope of progressing further and could only count on reliably beating most Qi Refining cultivators. Why only most? Because there were plenty of Qi Refining prodigies. Even Zhang Qiudao, when he was in the early stages of Qi Refining, could effortlessly trick several to their deaths.
That was also why Zhang Qiudao hadn't gone to great lengths to align the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record with the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages. After all, Foundation Establishment didn't give one much of an advantage over Qi Refining. At most, it offered a little more spiritual energy and a few extra techniques. The real backbone of a sect consisted of Core Formation and Golden Core cultivators.
Still, Foundation Establishment had some weight to it. At least, it marked a change in one's level of cultivation.
Miko silently looked at the record of days taken to reach Foundation Establishment in the Xuanhui Realm and felt that she might be progressing too quickly. She had completed Qi Refining with ease. Because she could see, she hadn't needed the initial "Peering into the Nether" stage of the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record: cultivating a wisp of Profound Nether Qi on her own and opening her Spiritual Sense to perceive ghosts. That process could hold ordinary cultivators back for a long time.
Her surroundings had provided her with abundant resources, allowing her strength to rise rapidly. But Miko was starting to feel a little afraid.
"Maybe I need to slow down?"
Cultivation wasn't necessarily better the faster you progressed. Conflicts between cultivators often came down to connections and accumulated resources. Orthodox cultivators had the most of both, and their foundations were naturally deeper than those of the Demonic Path. That was what gave them the upper hand when fighting the Demonic Path. In Soul Nourishing Artifact Path Understanding and Soul Merging Artifact Casting Understanding, Zhang Qiudao had repeatedly emphasized how important this was. He believed in taking every precaution, which was why he had waited five years before establishing his foundation.
Still, people's circumstances differed. The Demonic Path cultivators who established their foundations quickly weren't unaware of the principles involved. They simply had no choice.
As for Yotsuya Miko, she hesitated for a moment, then sighed.
"If only I hadn't been able to see anything from the beginning."
It was like being trapped in a vicious cycle: the more she saw, the more she needed power. And the more power she needed, the more she could see.
Chapter 41: The Thoughts a Piece of Clothing Could Inspire
"Have you decided?"
Yotsuya Kyosuke watched his sister, Yotsuya Miko, still choosing clothes, and felt irritated that they were wasting so much time. If they hadn't been picking out a birthday present for their mother, he wouldn't have gone wandering around the department store with his sister.
"I wonder if this one would suit Mom..."
Yotsuya Miko looked at the light blue dress in her hands and asked her younger brother for his opinion.
"Kyosuke, what do you think?"
As she spoke, she held the dress up in front of him.
"Uh, I think it's nice."
That was what he said, but a second later he revealed his true taste.
"But I think a dress with lion embroidery would be cuter."
"Got it. Pretend I didn't ask."
As expected, she shouldn't have had high hopes for her little brother.
The saleswoman nearby noticed her hesitation and saw a chance to make a sale. She walked over to them and offered a suggestion.
"If you're considering it, we do have a fitting room available."
She spoke very politely, smiling as she gestured toward the fitting rooms nearby.
"We're buying it as a gift for someone else."
Yotsuya Miko had been about to refuse, but Kyosuke had been waiting for quite a while and was already getting impatient. He agreed with the suggestion.
"Your body type is almost the same as Mom's, so why not try it on?"
If she tried it on, they could save a lot of time whether they bought it or not. That was what Yotsuya Kyosuke thought. Even at his young age, he was already beginning to realize that shopping with women was a miserable experience.
At his words, Miko found it hard to refuse. Kyosuke had already said so.
She walked to a fitting room, chose one without any ghosts, pulled aside the curtain, and went inside.
"I'll wait here, then."
Yotsuya Kyosuke clasped his hands behind his head and turned his back to Miko, making a show of being polite. To others, though, the gesture just seemed childish.
The saleswoman standing nearby found the little boy's behavior amusing.
Like a little boyfriend. So cute.
She'd worked in sales for years and had seen plenty of couples come in to buy clothes together. Most of the time, it was just like this: the man stood outside the fitting room with nothing to do, occasionally urging his girlfriend to hurry up and try things on.
"It's nice to see a brother and sister shopping together. You two get along so well."
"It's nothing like that."
Yotsuya Kyosuke denied it. His feelings toward his sister were deeply conflicted. On one hand, he was annoyed by how she bossed him around. On the other, he didn't want her to distance herself from him. Sometimes, when he heard other people talking about his sister, he would grow unusually concerned, though he pretended not to care.
In short, he was very conflicted.
"It's because Mom's birthday is coming up."
Kyosuke scratched his cheek and offered an explanation.
But the saleswoman kept smiling, wearing an expression that said, "I understand." Having entered society not long ago and already been beaten down by it, she loved seeing happy moments between family, friends, and lovers—and also watching those relationships turn into something else.
Back in her day, she'd been famous in her circle as a shipper who lived for fluff. She knew all sorts of pairings and was great at spotting romantic subtext.
"Are you here to buy a gift for your mom? How thoughtful of you."
Although her imagination had already conjured up a few forbidden scenes, the saleswoman maintained her composure and kept chatting with the cute little boy. After all, fantasizing wasn't illegal. If she didn't say it aloud, who would know what she was thinking?
"It's... nothing like that."
Ah, I can't resist a boy who looks cool but is awkward around people.
As if realizing he wasn't good at talking, Kyosuke silently shifted the pressure onto his sister and urged Miko, who was still in the fitting room.
"Are you done changing? Can I open the curtain?"
Such a childish mood. The saleswoman made a note of it.
Yotsuya Miko, still changing inside, felt a little helpless. She'd heard what Kyosuke and the saleswoman had said, and she knew why he was suddenly rushing her. Anyway, she was almost done changing.
She straightened the edges of her clothes and pulled the curtain open herself.
"Are you done...?"
Yotsuya Kyosuke stared at Miko as she stepped out, momentarily stunned. Then, being the straightforward boy he was, he naturally blurted out a compliment.
"You look really nice in it, Sis."
"You look absolutely lovely in it."
Really?
Miko turned to look at herself in the fitting room mirror. She didn't feel much of anything. She preferred clothes that were more androgynous. And since becoming a demonic cultivator, she'd gradually started wanting a Daoist robe. After all, if you were cultivating immortality and didn't wear a Daoist robe, people might think you were from an urban-superpower story.
"I'll buy this one."
"Thank you for your purchase. I'm sure your mother will be very happy."
"Mm."
Yotsuya Miko nodded in agreement, then drew the curtain closed again and changed back into her own clothes.
She began wondering where she could find a Daoist robe. She didn't necessarily have to wear it out, but the thought of a demonic cultivator not using a banner as a weapon was just as disappointing. Oh, though Miko did in fact not use a banner.
Then she had an idea.
"I'll refine my clothes into a Daoist robe."
She searched through the knowledge in Soul Merging Artifact Casting Understanding and found quite a few techniques and blueprints for forging garments. It didn't take Yotsuya Miko long to find a suitable method.
Prison Spirit Remnant Soul Clothes.
The crafting process was extremely complicated. Unlike the inferior items she usually made, this one didn't require much in the way of materials, but to ensure it worked properly, at least forty-eight talisman patterns had to be inscribed on it. That was right: Prison Spirit Remnant Soul Clothes were an offshoot of the new talisman system and Artifact Refining, and a fairly high-end one at that.
At first, Prison Spirit Remnant Soul Clothes had no defensive abilities at all. They could only absorb remnant souls and grow stronger. But after absorbing enough remnant souls, they would gradually gain dozens of times the defensive power of a Soul Screen Talisman. They would also help the wearer cast techniques more effectively and reduce the delay before a technique took effect. However, this growth wasn't unlimited; it depended on the quality of the materials themselves.
But Miko, who was used to making inferior items, wasn't particular about her materials. First, she didn't have much money. Second, even if she did, many materials from the Xuanhui Realm didn't exist in this world, making it difficult to find substitutes. Third, the new talisman system had greatly reduced the demands on materials. It could draw greater power from saturated spiritual energy, and Miko, who cultivated the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record, had no shortage of spiritual energy. Among cultivators of the same level, she had some of the most.
All things considered, she realized that cultivating the Demonic Path was incredibly lucky. A cultivation path that didn't rely on materials, whose main ingredients were found everywhere, that progressed rapidly and had straightforward killing methods wasn't easy to come by. What did a few minor side effects matter?
Chapter 42: A Ghost in the Train Car
On the way back, she also bought a piece of clothing for Yotsuya Kyosuke.
Children's tastes were surprisingly easy to understand. Looking at the shirt Kyosuke had excitedly picked out, embroidered with a shark, then glancing at the T-shirt he was wearing, embroidered with a koala, Yotsuya Miko thought to herself.
"Aren't you going to feed the cat today?"
"No. That thing can look after itself."
Since Kyosuke had caught her making talisman patterns last time, Yotsuya Miko had simply used that as an excuse to work on them. The nonexistent kitten had already accounted for a sizable amount of her spending. Of course, she hadn't made talisman patterns outdoors. She'd prepared the "ink" needed to draw them in an alley, taken the little box of "ink" home, and drawn the patterns there. As for herself, she'd acquired a new hobby: calligraphy.
"What a strange cat."
Yotsuya Kyosuke muttered, carrying his new clothes. He soon forgot about the matter.
He'd really wanted to see the little cat his sister had mentioned, but Miko always brushed him off by bringing up the time he'd startled it. When he went alone, he never saw anything. After a while, he lost interest in visiting the cat and even began to wonder whether the little cat his sister talked about existed at all.
But then again, if it didn't exist, his sister wouldn't have been stupid enough to buy fish every few days and throw it away. She could show him the receipts for every fish she'd bought as proof.
So Kyosuke decided not to dwell on it.
As for Yotsuya Miko... she was considering paying for the fish herself. Practicing calligraphy was an excuse, but with her powerful Spiritual Sense and her experience drawing talisman patterns—far more troublesome than calligraphy—her calligraphy skills weren't bad. She might lack the "intent" and emotion behind the brushstrokes, but in terms of the shapes of the characters, she could manage. After all, she could copy the handwriting of any great calligrapher.
So she was considering entering some sort of calligraphy competition and winning prize money to pay for her talisman patterns. For now, it seemed quite feasible.
They boarded the train home. After their long day of shopping, Yotsuya Kyosuke was exhausted and soon fell asleep leaning against Miko, drooling slightly.
Yotsuya Miko silently took a tissue out of her pocket with her left hand, the only one she could still move, wiped his mouth, and gave his little nose a squeeze.
The Yotsuya family had good genes. Their mother, Yotsuya Touko, was a beauty, and Yotsuya Miko had inherited her good looks. Her younger brother Kyosuke had a pair of triangular eyes that made him look fierce, but because he was so young, they only made him look adorable. He was a child, after all...
And when he was asleep, with his eyes closed, his sleeping face was a striking contrast to his usual expression. It was hard to imagine that a boy who looked so fierce could sleep so badly and look so cute while doing it. She wondered which little girl would be lucky enough to end up with him.
Miko thought about it, then silently shifted her gaze from her younger brother to the ghost approaching along the railway. It was a powerful ghost. This was the first time she'd seen one carrying a weapon.
The ghost hid its body beneath a robe and carried a sack and an axe. It seemed to follow some kind of rule, making its way down the row of seats where Miko sat. It stopped in front of each person and swung its axe at their head, trying to pull something out of their body.
Pull out a ghost?
Yotsuya Miko coldly glanced at the passenger beside her. She'd sensed that there was a ghost inside them. She hadn't planned to get involved, but it seemed she had no choice now.
She silently took an iron pellet from her bag, dropped it to the floor, and activated the talisman pattern inside.
The pellet suddenly burst apart, releasing a buzzing sound that only ghosts could hear. The Axe Ghost, which had been using its axe to detect whether people had ghosts inside them, shuddered as if injured. Before it could react, the screams of several ghosts rang out from other train cars. The ghost possessing the passenger beside Miko suffered even more. Unable to maintain its human form, it staggered out of the passenger's body and fell to the floor.
A one-use item: Soul Scattering Sound Talisman.
For the sake of her finances and energy, Yotsuya Miko didn't plan to kill every ghost she encountered. Lately, her money hadn't been enough to keep making talismans, and her container for storing Soul Bodies was already full. She hadn't had time to make another one yet. Besides, those ghosts had little effect on ordinary people unless someone went looking for a haunted house. The passenger beside her might feel awful after being possessed, but it was no worse than catching a cold. Once their Life Energy recovered, the ghost would leave their body at once.
So she didn't bother with them. It wasn't as if she were a saint.
The Axe Ghost quickly recovered from the effects of the Soul Scattering Sound. It picked up the ghosts that had been forced out of their hosts and stuffed them into its sack, then moved to another car. It didn't keep acting like an idiot, going from person to person and performing brain surgery on ordinary people. If it had, Yotsuya Miko wouldn't have minded gaining a little more Profound Nether Qi. Her Soul Devouring Tribulation still hadn't completely dissipated, but she could handle a ghost of this size.
Still, a ghost like that was rare.
Yotsuya Miko silently watched it leave, wondering why it was doing this. What kind of role was it playing by clearing ghosts from people's bodies?
She still hadn't figured out the ghost buffet at Mrs. Donut's place, where countless ghosts were devoured by the frog ghost, yet more and more kept flocking there. Considering the frog ghost's strength, Miko hadn't been stupid enough to go there and deal with them. That monster, which had no telling how many ghosts inside it, would probably end her life.
From what she'd observed, that wasn't the only buffet of its kind. There were others, all hosted by ghosts she couldn't handle. The sheer amount they consumed was frightening. The ghosts she'd killed probably wouldn't amount to even a day or two's worth of food for one of them.
"I still feel like I can't understand the other side of this world."
Her strength wasn't enough to let her see more or meet more ghosts. The more she came into contact with ominous things, the worse her situation would get, but it was clear that she had no way to escape this predicament.
Before you continue