"That's true. Hana, you really do get hungry easily."
Yotsuya Miko nodded in agreement. She thought about the various techniques and talismanic patterns she had in hand, but she really didn't have any good way to help Hana. After all, Life Energy was stronger than that of ordinary people and required more food to replenish, even though most of that powerful Life Energy went to waste.
In the Xuanhui Realm, there were plenty of people with unusual constitutions like Hana's. Because of their constitutions, they were better suited than ordinary cultivators to practice certain paths. Someone like Hana would probably excel at body cultivation. However, Miko only had one cultivation manual, the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record, and it was only suitable for her. Besides, becoming a body cultivator might make Hana's life even harder than it was now, since body cultivators needed to consume a terrifying amount of energy. In this world, the cost of keeping a body cultivator fed for just a few days could probably buy a house.
Miko's current idea was to find a way to collect Life Energy and use it as a power source for talismanic patterns. That would reduce waste and strengthen the protective measures around Hana. As for Hana's appetite... Miko had no idea what to do about it.
After all, demonic cultivators weren't babysitters. They had very little expertise in medicine and other such fields, having specialized instead in combat and survival. Even techniques and talismanic patterns in related fields came with serious limitations and side effects. For example, one of the techniques Miko was learning could turn Ghosts into food to sustain the body, but its side effect was irreversible damage, such as the loss of one's senses. After all, it involved eating ghosts. It was like trying to quench your thirst with seawater.
In the section on that technique, Zhang Qiudao had also included a rather amusing little story about its founder. The demonic cultivator who ate ghosts had been troubled by his lack of food, so he came up with the idea of making do with what was at hand. He gradually made a living by eating ghosts, until his body grew so weak he was barely recognizable. And yet, he gained a reputation as a womanizer, with countless women in the Demonic Path eager to get close to him. This was precisely because he had lost his senses but still retained his sexual function.
Yotsuya Miko couldn't see what was funny about it. She only stared in bewilderment, then made a note of the side effect that caused one to lose one's senses.
The Soul Nourishing Artifact Path Understanding contained no shortage of techniques with side effects. They were all products of the astonishing ideas of the Demonic Path's many eccentrics. Their side effects were severe, but they also had many uses. Afraid of the risks, Miko chose only relatively ordinary techniques, most of which Zhang Qiudao had compiled from his own experience. The more she learned about the Demonic Path's circumstances and techniques in the Xuanhui Realm, the more respect she felt for a master like him.
It was no wonder Zhang Qiudao was called the Myriad Transformation Devil Venerable. He had spent his entire life improving the techniques of the Demonic Path, combining the techniques of the righteous and demonic paths and testing them against his own experience. He had created several of the most exceptional techniques in the Xuanhui Realm. And yet, he had ultimately entrusted some of them to an outsider, an ordinary person who didn't even understand their value.
Still, a genius of such boundless talent had eventually fallen. His death had brought a cultivator from another world into the picture. Miko didn't know what to make of it.
Yotsuya Miko had no lofty ambitions. She certainly didn't have the same devout dedication to seeking the Dao as the Myriad Transformation Devil Venerable. Rather than seeking the Dao, she was someone troubled by her ability to see. The power of the Ghosts had forced her to make herself stronger.
And she firmly believed she wouldn't change because of it.
At least, not for now.
There wasn't much to say about the classes that followed. Like any ordinary student, she found them dull and tedious. She did find herself looking forward to the bell, though. Its ring announced that noon had arrived, which meant it was time to eat.
Little groups of students walked out of the classroom together, chatting and laughing. Miko and Hana were one such pair. Hana was even more excited than usual for lunch, because she really did get hungry easily, and hunger was unbearable for her—extremely painful.
For Natsukawa Yuki, on the other hand, noon had become an ordeal, a test of her mettle. She waited nervously in the conference room for several people to arrive, sitting in silence.
After the morning, several calls had come through to her phone, asking strange, pointed questions that she couldn't understand and even found inhumane. She had hung up on them one by one. Then came the principal's notice.
"Click."
Yuki looked toward the opening door. Several formally dressed people walked toward her at a leisurely pace, wearing kind smiles and speaking in gentle, soothing tones.
"Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Natsukawa Yuki."
They spoke, their eyes betraying curiosity, scrutiny, and arrogance, though their words and behavior suggested otherwise.
They had come to talk.
Yuki gripped the hem of her clothes tightly and stood up awkwardly to return their greeting, but her vow came to mind.
She had fulfilled her request. So... what was the price?
People had always wanted to gain something without paying the price. She was no exception, and the people before her, each representing their own interests, were even less willing to pay.
But she was more reverent and afraid than they were.
That price had already begun to weigh on her heart.
No god would casually promise blessings unless it desired something from you. That was what Natsukawa Yuki thought, and history had shown the same.
In other words, she was already beginning to regret it.
Tono Zen and the Cat
On her way home, she encountered a child-sized Ghost trying to disguise itself as a human. It seemed unusually intelligent and quickly realized from Yotsuya Miko's gaze that she could see it. Then it bared a ferocious grin.
A streak of black light flashed by, and half its face was torn away, exposing an empty skull. The menacing grin frozen on its face, it toppled over and crumbled into pieces.
"So some Ghosts really are this intelligent?"
Yotsuya Miko used her spiritual energy to reclaim the little Ghost's Soul Body, then continued through the park.
The events of the day had, more or less, come to an end. It had been an ordinary day, except for the trouble Yurikawa Hana had caused because she hadn't eaten enough that morning.
But although she was on her way home, she still had something to do first: follow Mr. Tono Zen.
Using a technique, she had finally managed to pinpoint Tono Zen's location. Now she was following him at a leisurely pace, trying to find out what he was doing.
Was he torturing cats, or getting up to some other unsavory business?
It would be best if she could record it all.
Yotsuya Miko thought this as she gripped her phone, its camera already on, and watched Tono Zen in the distance with a cold gaze. The law required the camera to make a fairly noticeable sound, but Miko wasn't worried about what would happen if he caught her.
At the very least, he'd have to beat her first.
And that was... hardly worth considering.
She silently dealt with a Ghost blocking the roadside. Her Spiritual Sense had already picked up a faint presence in the tunnel beneath the bridge ahead. It was obviously a young cat.
So she hadn't been wrong after all?
Miko slowly walked up to the tunnel and saw Tono Zen about to make his move. Without hesitation, she pressed the shutter on her phone.
"Click."
The crisp sound was completely out of place in the empty space at dusk. Tono Zen's hand froze. He slowly turned around to look behind him.
"What are you doing?"
"I should be the one asking you that."
Miko lowered her phone. She spoke politely, but without the slightest hint of respect.
"Coming to a place like this doesn't really suit you, Mr. Tono."
"..."
Tono Zen slowly stood up. The kitten that had been beneath his feet had sensed something was wrong and had already run over to Miko.
Seeing the hostility in Miko's expression, Tono Zen paused, then quickly understood why.
"I came to take in a stray cat."
He spoke slowly, as if describing something entirely ordinary. His expression didn't change at all.
"So please give me the cat."
Yotsuya Miko didn't believe him. She simply picked up the kitten and refused to back down.
"If you're taking the cat in, then show me what you mean by that."
"..."
Even a man like him, who didn't care much about the people and things around him, finally felt a little troubled by the girl's firmness. He sighed and nodded.
"I understand. You're...?"
"Yotsuya Miko."
"Yotsuya, then. Come with me."
His response caught Miko a little off guard, but she followed him anyway, taking a series of precautions first. She also prepared a few safeguards for the cat in her arms.
They left the deserted area and returned to the main street. Miko's guard eased a little, and when Tono Zen spoke, she answered him without quite as much distance.
"Yotsuya, I think we've met once before, at the park. You didn't give me the cat then, did you?"
"That's right. I handed it over to an owner I trusted more."
"An owner you trusted more...?"
Tono Zen paused, then changed the subject.
"Why were you following me?"
"For the same reason."
Miko didn't intend to hide how she felt about him. From Tono Zen's expression, she already had a pretty good idea of what kind of person he was.
"I don't trust you. Your emotions are off, Mr. Tono. I even feel like you don't want to teach us at all, and that you're only doing it because it's a hassle to refuse. That feeling... makes it hard for me to trust you."
She spoke softly, holding the tiny life in her arms.
"I don't think you have any reverence for life."
Tono Zen said nothing. That alone left him unable to argue. Everything that had happened to him had made it impossible for him to take the things before him seriously anymore.
"We're here."
Before silence could settle in, he arrived at a small veterinary clinic.
Just as he entered, a man in a white coat came out.
"Oh? It's not every day you bring someone along, Zen."
The young man wore glasses and approached with a smile. When he saw Miko behind Tono Zen, surprise flickered across his face, but he quickly recovered.
He patted Zen on the shoulder, then looked at Miko.
"You've brought me another problem, huh? This little cat?"
He turned to Miko and readily asked to take the kitten.
"Give it to me. I'll disinfect it, check its health, and find it a good owner. You can trust me, miss."
Yotsuya Miko hesitated, then sighed and handed the kitten to the veterinarian.
"I still don't really trust you, but you seem more reliable than my teacher."
"Teacher? Ha ha, are you Zen's student?"
The veterinarian laughed, teasing his friend.
"You could at least make your students trust you a little, you know."
"Whatever. It doesn't matter, Cong."
Tono Zen's expression remained unchanged.
"Instead of talking about that, you should take care of the cat."
"Fine, fine. Honestly, all you ever do is make me handle this kind of thing."
Cong carried the cat into his clinic, then looked back at the two of them.
"Since you went to the trouble of bringing someone along, why not sit down for a while? I'm sure the young lady wouldn't feel at ease otherwise."
He said that, and Miko finally relaxed. Now that he'd gone that far, it would be rude of her to stay on guard.
"Then I hope I'm not imposing."
"What about you, Zen?"
Tono Zen said nothing. He simply turned around and walked off, as if he didn't care about the kitten at all.
"That's just how he is... Forget it. I can't be bothered to say anything."
Cong set the kitten down on a cushion, then looked back at Yotsuya Miko.
"I can see why you wouldn't trust him, with a teacher like that."
Yotsuya Miko didn't reply. She simply looked in the direction Tono Zen had gone.
"Does Mr. Tono Zen hate cats?"
"No. He just... wants to atone."
"Atone..."
"That's right. Atone."
Cong looked at Yotsuya Miko. As Zen's friend, he felt it was only right to clear up any misunderstanding she had about him.
"We've been friends since elementary school."
"It's hard to imagine... My teacher has a friend like you."
"Fair enough. That guy really isn't interested in people. I bet he can't even remember your classmates' names."
"Yeah, that's right."
"Zen's always done what he can for cats. Just the other day, he called to tell me that one of the cats he'd rescued had given birth. But in the end, I was the one who had to take them all in."
As he spoke, Cong seemed to remember what had happened then, and a bitter smile appeared on his face.
Before you continue