Yotsuya Miko Becomes a Devilish Cultivator

What if that weak Miko wasn't as strong as herself, what would be the outcome?

Like that pitiful little kitten? Dying in the hands of a human who abused it.

Like the person important to Rom, whom she still didn't know about? Even though she knew the Mountain God killed that person, she could do nothing, and even forced herself to endure the pain to persuade others not to enter the mountain.

She extended her right hand again, looking at the scar where blood had long since clotted. Yotsuya Miko's eyes gradually became distant.

"Kyosuke, do you know where there's a calligraphy competition?"

Kyosuke, who was sulking beside her because of his sister, was startled for a moment, but he still honestly answered her question.

"I remember there seems to be a competition nearby."

Chapter 45: Fearing Death

If we talk about calligraphy, perhaps in this small country, there's still a bit of heritage left. For them, calligraphy is like tea or cherry blossoms, a part of life.

"Is this the place?"

Yotsuya Miko looked at the building in front of her, comparing it with the navigation on her phone again.

Calligraphy competitions are usually popular among students, or rather, admired. Many universities hold regional competitions, followed by national ones. Of course, there are also small private competitions, but they usually don't receive much attention. Yotsuya Miko's school also has official calligraphy competitions, but the autumn calligraphy competition for this year has not yet arrived.

After a moment of hesitation, Miko walked into the registration point and filled out a registration form under the guidance of a staff member. After that, she just had to wait for the competition to start.

"Calligraphy competition..."

Even after leaving the registration point, her mind was still not entirely clear. She didn't know why she had done this, yet she felt a sense of solace from it. However, thinking in a more positive direction, if she won this competition, there would be tens of thousands of prize money.

Comforting herself like this, she brushed past a lifeless woman beside her.

Glancing at the ghost attached to her, she silently threw an iron pellet at her. Just consider it a sudden act of kindness.

In her spiritual perception, the ghost was mercilessly annihilated, leaving no trace. The woman who had been possessed by it suddenly froze, patted her face, and felt a bit more spirited.

"This is..."

Before she could react, a staff member who came to guide her set aside her doubts and led her to the calligraphy competition registration desk.

Only after completing all of this did she come back to her senses and silently take out a small, silvery-white ball from her pocket.

"What is this?"

The young career woman, deeply troubled by insomnia and depression, repeatedly squeezed the small ball. No matter how she looked at it, it seemed ordinary, yet the heavy burden she felt seemed to have been completely lifted.

"A gift from the gods?"

The somewhat fanciful young woman carefully placed the small ball into her wallet, treating it as a protective charm. She had a premonition that this small ball would always protect her.

"Has anyone else experienced something like this?"

Naturally, she thought, and posted a question on a certain social media platform.

Yotsuya Miko, having done all that, didn't have much mood to care about such things. Her mood was still not good, and she even politely declined Yurikawa Hana's invitation. She just dragged her body and walked aimlessly down the street. When she saw a ghost, she would kill it directly. When she saw a ghost attached to a person, she would throw an iron pellet at them. A large portion of the iron pellets she had accumulated was wasted in this meaningless way.

She didn't care.

It wasn't until the sun began to set and her stomach growled with hunger that she seemed to wake up from a dream. She let out a long sigh and dragged her body towards home. The scar on her right hand had long since clotted, and the not-too-deep cut was no longer visible, leaving only a faint line. Recalling the scene from before, even though the grinning face of the cat abuser appeared in her mind, her anger had significantly subsided.

As Rom had said, that guy could no longer gain a foothold in society. Exposed by the media, he was loathed by others, fired by his company, and even scorned by his wife. He finally ended his life by jumping from the company building in despair. Just as he disrespected the cat's life, he also disrespected his own.

The subsequent media, using this incident, continued to elaborate, bringing up the issue of the heavy workload of employees in society. Thus, it transformed from a cat abuse incident into a social issue. Countless people, looking at the long-dead cat and the long-dead person, turned their attention to labor laws, to unscrupulous companies, and incidentally, to high-ranking politicians.

As a result, Yotsuya Miko felt an even greater sense of oppression.

"Is death such a trivial matter to them?"

Ghosts mixed among humans, and for a moment, Yotsuya Miko was so annoyed that she wanted to kill those humans mixed with the ghosts as well. However, she still felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

"I finally made up my mind to live well, and I've been treating those guys with all my effort..."

Miko lowered her head and looked at the considerable number of iron pellets in her backpack.

Drawing talismans was difficult. Each new talisman required hours, or even more than ten hours, of exploration. She had learned over thirty talismans and was still learning. Every night, using her sleepless hours, she practiced in her room, accumulating them.

Whether it was for Hana or for Yuria's dolls, she had spent a large amount of time and effort optimizing the placement of every single talisman within them before she could finally create a passable product.

But... why?

Clearly, ordinary people couldn't see ghosts, and at most, they would be weakened for a few days if possessed by a ghost. Yet, why did they have no hope of even living? Why did they even trample on the lives of others?

"Even though... I'm also scared to death..."

Yotsuya Miko murmured, clutching the "Eye-Eye" doll in her hand. The first time she used the Soul Collision Art, she was afraid the ghost wouldn't be killed, but instead realized it could see her emotions. At that moment, she knew she was afraid.

When the Soul Devouring Tribulation erupted, she was also afraid, afraid that the side effects would turn her into an uncontrollable monster. Even when she possessed the strength to protect herself, her heart was still filled with fear, fearing the appearance of stronger ghosts.

The kimono ghost that appeared later made her feel uneasy, as if her imagination had come true.

She had nightmares about what would happen if she had arrived late at that Cursed Building. She feared that even after using all her means, the ghost would still struggle and lash out with its sharp claws, tearing her body to shreds.

She thought she was afraid of her own weakness, but she never realized that she had been afraid of death all along.

The moment she saw the dead cat, her emotions began to spiral out of control. The desire to avoid death, once it resonated with the reality unfolding before her, irrevocably began to bind her.

"I must... make more talismans..."

However, perhaps it's time to use the Mountain God chapter to completely awaken her.

Chapter 46: Tono Zen

"Hey, hey, did you guys hear? There's a new urban legend recently."

"What? You're not talking about the Guardian of Silver Balls, are you?"

"Eh—you've heard of it too?"

The classroom buzzed with the chatter of enthusiastic high school girls, sharing topics they were experts in, and things they knew or didn't know.

"Hey, I heard they hired a young male teacher to replace Ms. Arai."

"Really?"

Their conversations meandered, carelessly jumping from one topic to another completely unrelated one.

Within one of the small groups, Yurikawa Hana wasn't particularly interested in the gossip. She unconcernedly ate the bread in her hand. The girls around her were already accustomed to her large appetite, and simultaneously envied her figure. These young girls had to admit at times that being able to eat, and for it to be converted into the right places, was also a skill.

Out of envy for Hana's figure, they didn't really ostracize her for her eating habits. After all, if they were being honest, Hana was probably a more outstanding presence than them, not to mention the girl beside her, Yotsuya Miko.

If this weren't a girls' school, surely many boys would be pursuing Yurikawa Hana and Yotsuya Miko. The chatting girls thought so, and their conversation briefly steered towards the two of them before drifting off somewhere else again.

Yotsuya Miko, the subject of their discussion, didn't have much interest in hearing about herself. She simply stared blankly at the desk in front of her.

Last night, she hadn't slept well again. Ever since becoming a Devilish Cultivator, she'd rarely had a full night's sleep. Most of the time, nighttime was the best time for drawing Talismans. And thanks to her spiritual sense, she'd been drawing from night until dawn, only allowing herself twenty to thirty minutes of sleep in bed.

Even with her powerful spiritual sense, she couldn't quite manage with such little rest.

"Miko?"

"Mm... What?"

Yotsuya Miko rubbed her throbbing head, forcing a smile towards Hana.

"Are you okay?"

Hana wasn't a very observant person, but Miko's condition couldn't be described as merely "bad." Seeing her pale face, Yurikawa Hana grabbed her shoulders worriedly.

"Don't you really need to go to the infirmary?"

"No, I'm fine."

Miko shook her head, composing herself. She had been trying to draw a new Talisman last night, but her scattered thoughts had prevented her from making much progress, even by the time school started. Without even the twenty to thirty minutes of rest, she had rushed to school. Right now, she was probably doing better than the third-year high school students in China, at least she wouldn't lose consciousness the moment she closed her eyes.

Just as she was thinking about how to dismiss Hana's concern, the bell for class suddenly rang. The previously chattering students quickly returned to their seats, awaiting the new Japanese literature teacher.

The original teacher, Ms. Arai, had already applied for maternity leave yesterday. Today was the first day for the new teacher to report. They were very curious about this new teacher. After all, young males were a rarity in this girls' school, and it was unusual for a young male teacher to be lecturing here.

Yotsuya Miko, who hadn't been paying much attention, suddenly felt as if she'd been doused in cold water from head to toe after her spiritual sense detected a certain presence. She was completely awake now.

Cat evil spirits, so many cat evil spirits...

And... a ghost.

She stared intently at the red-haired man walking towards the door. This was a man she had seen before.

Are you also someone who abuses cats?

Miko's expression suddenly turned somewhat grim. The moment the ghost and the cat evil spirits on the man tried to attach themselves to him and enter the classroom together, their bodies began to crack and corrode.

This seemed to be a situation the female ghost hadn't encountered before. It let out an enraged howl, trying to forcefully reach the red-haired man's side. However, the closer it got to the classroom, the heavier the effect of the anti-ghost stance became. As for the cat evil spirits that had attached themselves, they were long gone, annihilated. Whether they could achieve Buddhahood or not was irrelevant.

"Zen—!!!"

The ghost stretched out its arm, attempting to grasp something, but Miko watched coldly. For such a ghost to try and enter the area she had designated for Hana's doll, it was somewhat overestimating its own strength.

Besides, it was too annoying.

As she thought this, a black light shot out from her fingertip, completely dispersing the attached ghost.

"Because Ms. Arai has started her maternity leave."

Unaware of everything that had just happened, the man called "Zen" by the ghost wrote his name on the blackboard, his back to the students.

"From today onwards, I will be your homeroom teacher."

With that, his name was written on the blackboard. Zen then turned around, looking at all the students with dull, lifeless eyes.

"My name is Tono Zen."

"Please take care of me."

His eyes showed little emotion. Yotsuya Miko's spiritual sense quickly detected his emotional abnormality.

A demon... No, it doesn't seem like it. Rather, it's a kind of dead, stiff rigidity.

Did this guy also choose to kill cats because of his emotions?

Looking at Tono Zen, who had no ghosts behind him anymore, Yotsuya Miko didn't do anything extra. Judging a person based solely on her feelings wasn't a rational act. She silently took out an iron pellet from her backpack, waiting for an opportunity to throw it at Tono Zen.

Rather than doubting whether this guy abused cats or figuring out what the ghost entangled with him was all about, there was one thing she wanted to know more: why did this guy have such a dead, stiff demeanor, as if he had no fear of death?

Why?

Yotsuya Miko had been troubled by this question for many days, so much so that she had even started to obsessively consider causing a scene at that Mountain God's place. However, the emotion of fear still overpowered her irrationality, forcing her to face the current reality, clearly and painfully.

And now, there was finally someone who might be able to give her an answer.

Tono Zen...

The new teacher maintained a strictly professional demeanor, initiating his class with a stiff, robotic cadence.

"Alright, let's begin with attendance."

Ignoring the girls' excited chatter, he called out names from his roster one by one in a detached tone.

Perhaps this aloofness was precisely why the all-girls school was willing to hire this young male teacher. Compared to male teachers who were flustered by young girls or even embarrassed by their behavior, this Tono Zen's performance couldn't just be called adequate.

He was, in fact, excellent.

Chapter 47: Silver Ball and Person

"Hey, I feel like I've seen that new teacher, Tono-sensei, somewhere before."

After class, Yurikawa Hana, chewing on a mouthful of bread, voiced her thoughts about the new teacher.

It felt like a long time ago, and she had a vague impression, but she couldn't recall anything specific.

"Ah, I have seen him too."

Yotsuya Miko answered her question. She touched the healed scar on her right hand, feeling a sudden itch.

"We met at the park when I was looking for a home for a kitten. But I refused his offer to adopt it because I didn't think he seemed like a good person."

She stated this frankly, her words flowing like a gentle stream, as if the coldness Tono Zen displayed during class was only natural.

"Tono-sensei is cold and rigid."

"That's so mean, Miko." Hana, quickly swallowing the last corner of her bread, puffed out her cheeks, displeased with the comment.

"Didn't you say yourself that you can't judge a book by its cover? And besides, isn't that disrespectful to Tono-sensei?"

"Sorry, I'll stop talking then."