Miko the Demonic Cultivator

This was terrible.

Even while eating sweets, she could barely taste their sweetness. The Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record reminded her at every moment that she was no longer an ordinary person, but something abnormal.

"Will I become a monster?"

Standing before the window, she truly wished that when she looked out at the world again, all those terrible, unsettling things would have vanished. Yet reality was that she could see everything clearly—the appearances of those Ghosts, even the clothes they wore. Nothing about them was blurred, as though they had always been a part of this world, rather than inhabitants of some other realm separate from humanity.

Even now, as she looked down through the window, the wandering Ghosts blended into the passing crowds, though neither side ever touched the other. But to her, who knew they existed and could hear their voices, it felt as though she were one of them.

"Why did something like this have to happen to me?"

As she spoke, crystal tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. Her voice began to tremble, filled with grievance.

The Namu Amida Butsu Potty in her hand no longer tasted quite so good. This donut, bestowed with the name "Namu Amida Butsu," was ultimately just a donut. How could it possibly drive away Malevolent Ghosts like Buddhist Prayer Beads?

"They're so scary... those things."

She began taking huge bites of the donut in her hand, as though venting every bit of grievance she had suffered onto it. Sugar crumbs and flakes scattered all over the floor.

"So scary... those monsters."

She finished the donut without the slightest bit of ladylike manners, leaving sugar crumbs on the corners of her mouth, her face, and her fingers.

But after finishing that donut, Yotsuya Miko wiped away her tears. The corners of her eyes, which had not cried too badly, were not red or swollen.

She pulled some tissues from the cabinet and wiped the sugar crumbs from her face and hands. Looking at the two remaining donuts in the dessert box, she silently closed the lid.

She opened her door and headed toward the kitchen.

"Hmm? Miko, what's wrong?"

Yotsuya Touko, who was making dinner in the kitchen, glanced at her and vaguely sensed the gloom on her face.

"Did something happen?"

"It's nothing. I just accidentally scattered crumbs everywhere while eating a donut."

Yotsuya Miko shook her head and took a broom and dustpan from the corner.

"...Honestly, we're about to eat dinner."

Touko sighed. Watching Miko walk away, she remembered something.

"Oh, right. Call Kyosuke out of his room. Don't let him keep playing."

"Okay."

Miko answered, returned to her room, and swept up the food crumbs that had fallen onto the floor. Looking at the closed dessert box, she fell into thought.

In the end, it turned into a long sigh.

"I really can't just pretend none of this happened."

Following her mother's instructions, she called her younger brother Kyosuke out of his room, then casually found an excuse to give him the unfinished donuts.

"For me?"

Yotsuya Kyosuke wore a puzzled expression. Before he could ask what was going on, he saw his sister leave the room with a gloomy look.

"Yeah, they're for you. I can't finish them."

What was wrong with her?

Yotsuya Kyosuke wondered, his fierce triangular eyes filled with enormous confusion.

Did she get dumped?

That confusion only deepened during dinner.

No matter how dull-witted someone was, seeing Yotsuya Miko eat silently without saying a word would make them wonder what was going on with her.

"Miko?"

Yotsuya Touko called out worriedly.

"Did something bad happen at school?"

"No. I'm just thinking about something."

Yotsuya Miko shook her head, set down her bowl and chopsticks, and stood up to leave.

"I'm full."

"?"

Looking at the half bowl of rice she had left, Touko and Kyosuke exchanged glances at the same time.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Did Sis get dumped?"

They did not understand. They really did not understand. Such a scene was rare in the Yotsuya household.

Meanwhile, Yotsuya Miko, completely unaware of her current state, silently closed her bedroom door and took a deep breath.

"Since I've already taken this step, I can only face it."

She focused her mind on the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record. Looking at this sinister cultivation technique, she finally made up her mind.

Miko understood that she had nowhere left to retreat. Even if she wanted to keep avoiding this cultivation method, the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record would continue eroding her consciousness every moment. And those Malevolent Ghosts would not vanish simply because she chose to avoid them, no matter how frightened she was, no matter how much she cried over it.

Tears and fear could not help her escape this predicament, but this cultivation method that "ate ghosts" and even "ate people" could. After all, she had truly skinned and swallowed a Malevolent Ghost alive with this method.

Besides, things might not be without a turning point.

Thinking back to the man accompanied by two Bakeneko, perhaps she was not the only abnormal being in this world. Maybe gods really did exist.

Refine the soul and transform into a god; gods live forever.

Yotsuya Miko recalled the old man's words. That was precisely why she had chosen the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record from among those three cultivation methods—because it allowed one to become a god.

"To become a god, do I first have to become a Nine Nether evil soul?"

After repeatedly brainwashing herself with all kinds of reasons, Miko took another deep breath and focused her consciousness on the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record.

From now on, she would cultivate the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record.

Even if it meant facing even greater danger.

If the righteous path followed the natural laws of how things developed, the common principles of all things, then the Demonic Path was the exact opposite.

The Demonic Path went against normal development, and one of its foremost principles was rapid advancement.

When Yotsuya Miko followed the method described in the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record and began cultivating "Profound Nether Qi," a powerful force guided the tiny particles within her body. They began rotating within her at an extraordinary speed according to a particular rhythm. In just a single breath, they traveled through her entire body and surged into her heart.

These tiny particles were produced after Malevolent Ghosts died and were known as "Soul Extract." The Soul Extract of weak Ghosts was impure, with terrible taste and color. The more powerful the Soul Body, however, the brighter and more vivid its Soul Extract, with an indescribable deliciousness.

The Soul Extract accumulated in her body served as nourishment for cultivating the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record. Under the guidance of the cultivation method, this Soul Extract would gradually be condensed into a dark purple gas: Profound Nether Qi.

Profound Nether Qi was the foundation of the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record. This substance extracted from Soul Bodies nourished one's Spiritual Sense and served as the energy source for casting spells. Yet consuming it would not cause the Profound Nether Qi to disappear. That was because only the "source" within the Profound Nether Qi was used as energy, while its "form" remained in the body. It was like a battery: what was used up was the electricity inside, not the battery itself. On the contrary, the battery could be recharged.

It was precisely because of this characteristic that Profound Nether Qi was difficult to refine. In the Xuanhui Realm, without an abundant supply of Spiritual Qi, it was difficult to cultivate even a wisp of Profound Nether Qi within several days. Yet devouring large numbers of Soul Bodies could quickly produce Profound Nether Qi, because it took advantage of Profound Nether Qi's nature by using Soul Extract as its "form." Although the Profound Nether Qi condensed this way was often exceedingly impure, depending on the quality of the Soul Extract, Demonic Path cultivators did not consider that much of an issue.

Very quickly, using the Malevolent Ghost's Soul Extract, Yotsuya Miko cultivated a wisp of Profound Nether Qi within her heart. Dark purple gas curled around her heart, constantly releasing pale purple Spiritual Qi. This Spiritual Qi was the "source" of Profound Nether Qi.

In the Xuanhui Realm, every cultivation method refined Spiritual Qi into a higher form, because only then could Spiritual Qi be stored within the body and endlessly replenished. Those higher forms of qi, like Profound Nether Qi, acted as the form of a battery and imbued Spiritual Qi with their own properties—such as fire, poison, or metal.

And the Profound Nether Qi created by Myriad Transformation Devil Venerable Zhang Qiudao, who had ruled the Xuanhui Realm alone for a thousand years, was naturally extraordinary. Not only could it be rapidly condensed using Soul Extract, it could also contain dozens of times more Spiritual Qi than the qi of an ordinary cultivator. The Spiritual Qi it produced also carried extremely rare properties: spirit-nurturing, nether-communion, and myriad thoughts.

The myriad thoughts property was precisely why Zhang Qiudao was known as the Myriad Transformation Devil Venerable.

However, in this world, where Spiritual Qi was so scarce, and in the hands of someone like Yotsuya Miko, who knew absolutely nothing about cultivation, Profound Nether Qi was inevitably greatly diminished.

"So this is... Profound Nether Qi?"

Though she could not see inside her body, Yotsuya Miko sensed an additional wisp of gas within herself that she could control as easily as an arm or finger. With her mind, she could guide it through every part of her body and make it release another kind of gas.

The change felt somewhat unbelievable to her.

"So something this miraculous really exists in the world?"

Without continuing to marvel at the wonders of Profound Nether Qi, Miko followed the description in the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record. She moved the Profound Nether Qi from her chest to her mouth, then from her mouth to her brain, allowing that wisp of Profound Nether Qi to slowly release Spiritual Qi.

Strands of pale purple Spiritual Qi quickly enveloped her brain and seeped into it. As the Spiritual Qi flowed in, her consciousness became clear. It was as though she had eaten a mint, and all five of her senses had become much sharper. This was the effect of the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record's soul refinement—or rather, its most basic effect.

Unlike the righteous path, which properly gathered qi in the Dantian, the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record placed the qi-gathering location in the human mind, opening up a space within the brain known as the "Soul Repository." Naturally, in order to enable the rapid use of Spiritual Qi, nearly all the spells in the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record created by Zhang Qiudao were activated through the mouth, nose, eyes, tongue, ears, and Spiritual Sense. These spells also brought out the characteristics of Profound Nether Qi and even embodied the Demonic Path's spirit of pragmatism.

For example, even Miko, who had cultivated only a wisp of Profound Nether Qi, could now use the first spell available to her: the Soul Collision Art.

The righteous path generally did not prepare many offensive spells for disciples in the early stages of qi refinement. Even if they did, their meager Spiritual Qi made such spells difficult to cast. Usually, by the time one had mastered an offensive spell, one would already be in the late stages of qi refinement, or even entering Foundation Establishment.

The Demonic Path, on the other hand, was very straightforward. They generally did not consider whether using offensive spells during the Qi Refinement stage would damage a disciple's foundation. Many Qi Refinement spells were designed with the mindset of killing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of one's own.

Take the very orthodox Demonic Path spell, the Soul Collision Art. Its main effect was to use Spiritual Qi to tear off a portion of one's own Spiritual Sense, then use it as a one-time explosive to directly launch a mental attack against an enemy. Its effect varied based on the amount of Spiritual Sense torn away. Generally speaking, one-tenth of an ordinary person's Spiritual Sense could blast a Qi Refinement cultivator into a vegetative state, or even scatter their soul entirely. It was even more effective against Soul Bodies; often, less than a tiny fragment of Spiritual Sense was enough to kill a Ghost outright. But the negative effect was equally obvious: the torn-away Spiritual Sense would be lost forever.

However, for the soul-refining Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record, that probably counted as negligible.

"A cruel spell, but it really is... effective."

Miko calculated how many times she could use the Soul Collision Art each day without excessively depleting her Spiritual Sense, and finally arrived at a number that left her at a loss.

"Twice."

While enduring the pain of tearing apart her Spiritual Sense, she could use this spell to kill two Malevolent Ghosts a day, and she would certainly kill them and convert them into nourishment. That nourishment would then rapidly transform into Profound Nether Qi, strengthening her Spiritual Sense. By then, the number of times she could use the Soul Collision Art would no longer be limited to twice a day.

Like a snowball rolling downhill, once the qualitative change from zero to one was complete, the subsequent growth would eventually produce a terrifying result.

Fortunately, Miko understood one principle quite deeply: the more easily something could be obtained, the greater the price that needed to be paid.

Now that she had begun cultivating the Nine Nether Profound Soul Treasure Record and was starting to see Malevolent Ghosts as food, what would happen afterward?

But even so, she could only steel herself and continue onward.

The cawing of crows accompanied the descending dusk. They perched in a row on an unattended fence, noisily waiting for food to appear.

A bright gleam shone in the eyes of those loathsome black birds, as though they could see far more than ordinary people.

Having once again made it through an entire day without incident, Yotsuya Miko walked out through the gates of Nanatsumisaki Academy High School with the gradually thinning crowd. Her companion was still her friend, Yurikawa Hana.

The orange-haired girl seemed to possess endless youthful energy and was always filled with deep affection for food.

"Hey, I heard Mrs. Donut has new items. Want to go take a look together?"

"Really?"

However, Yotsuya Miko seemed somewhat distracted. Her golden eyes glanced toward something ahead of her before returning to her friend, and she gave an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Hana. I have something to take care of today."

From her perspective, those unpleasant, horrible Ghosts were there again. They seemed especially active around this time of day.

These Ghosts, wreathed in gray-black mist, with distorted features and grotesquely warped forms, had practically become part of her life. Still, she probably did not like these things that could put her in danger at any moment.

Being able to see them was dangerous for ordinary people.

These Ghosts seemed to exist specifically to deal with those who could see them. Once they realized someone could see them, they would reveal their ferocious side and harm those humans.

"Is that so?"

Hana was a little unhappy, but seeing the apology written across Yotsuya Miko's face, she still smiled in understanding.

"Then let's hang out another time."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

"Bye-bye."

With that, she waved to Miko over her shoulder, schoolbag on her back, and left without hesitation.

Yotsuya Miko watched her leave. The agreeable smile on her face gradually faded as she turned her gaze back to the Ghosts wandering before her.

These inhuman creatures seemed extremely sensitive to such stares. One Ghost that still barely resembled a person twisted its neck, stretching its elongated head toward Miko.

"Can... you see me?"

There was no response.

Miko merely adjusted the shoulder bag resting against her shoulder and silently walked toward home.

Within her mind, a wisp of deep-purple Profound Nether Qi continued to emit faint-purple Spiritual Qi, nourishing her Spiritual Sense.

The Profound Nether Qi converted from Soul Extract carried traces of the Ghosts' aura, granting her Spiritual Sense this ability as well. Even without using her eyes, her Spiritual Sense could vaguely alert her to where Ghosts were present. Moreover, compared to vision, that hazy Spiritual Sense could roughly distinguish the strength of those Ghosts.