48 The Swordsman Has a Soul: The Sword Soul

The demon that had tormented generations of shrine maidens in the Land of Demons grew extremely weak after all external threats were eliminated.

Moryo had expended a great deal of power on the Ghost Army, and his own strength was not infinite.

Baiyu had destroyed so many Stone Puppets that even with his immense power, he had suffered a heavy blow.

Now, trapped in the seal, he clung to life and tried to regain his strength.

"Damn it! Damn it!"

"That foolish woman Miroku actually refused to work with me! If I perish, the shrine maidens' plans spanning a thousand years will all come to nothing! We are two halves of one whole. If I live, she cannot die! Does she intend to claim the body for herself? Damn it... Why was I sealed away here?"

Moryo was in agony. Ever since the First Generation Shrine Maiden died, the conviction passed down through the generations had gradually changed into something else.

The First Generation Shrine Maiden had created Moryo and separated him from her body. Aside from making herself stronger, she had also meant to leave herself a fallback.

Otherwise, how could Moryo have grown stronger with each passing generation, despite being sealed by the shrine maidens?

"My body... If I had a body! Why would I be afraid of some little brat?"

Moryo cursed incessantly. Trapped in the seal, there was nothing else he could do.

Now he was like a turtle trapped in a cage, with his life or death left to fate.

Creak...

The sound of a stone door opening made Moryo's eyes light up. He looked toward the entrance to the Underground Palace with eager anticipation.

The person who entered... was Miroku!

That familiar scent, that familiar presence!

"Miroku! Miroku! You're finally here. You've agreed to my proposal, haven't you?"

"As long as we join forces, the whole world will be ours. You can have anything you want..."

After suffering a setback, Moryo had reined in all his arrogance. Now he was desperate for Miroku to help him.

The entire seal had been constructed by the shrine maidens, and Miroku understood it inside and out.

"I want my daughter. You can't give me that!"

Miroku gave him a gentle smile, which gradually turned cruel.

This demon had tormented her all her life. She hated him to the bone, and now she could settle both old and new scores.

From childhood, Miroku had been raised on her mother's belief that sealing the demon came before everything else in life. She had never been allowed a moment of happiness.

After becoming a mother, Miroku didn't want her daughter, Shion, to live the same way she had.

So Moryo had to die.

"Where do we start?"

Baiyu gathered together all the poison he had left, about a liter in total.

He carried it in a large water jug.

Itachi followed behind him, holding a Kunai. A faint dark-green sheen on the blade showed that it was no ordinary weapon.

"Once I open a gap in the seal, pour it straight into the sealing array."

Miroku explained. After learning from Baiyu that poison could counter Moryo, she knew the task would be much easier.

"Sealing Technique: Shrink!"

Miroku formed a series of hand signs, compressing the array that sealed Moryo and gradually containing it in one corner, leaving an opening like a glowing doorway.

One of Moryo's tentacles poked through the opening. Seeing it, Uchiha Itachi swiftly swung his small hand and severed it.

The poisoned Kunai inflicted immense pain on Moryo.

"Ow! Oh! This... this is pain? It feels like being burned by flames... I can actually feel pain again. After being sealed for so long, I'd forgotten what it felt like."

Moryo's pained howls carried a hint of delight.

It seemed this pain gave him a peculiar sensation.

Was he... enjoying it?

As they hesitated, another small tentacle poked through the opening...

Itachi seized the chance to strike again. His blade flashed, and the movement was swift and clean.

The severed tentacle fell to the ground. Its cut end split open, while the remaining piece turned into a little earthworm and tried to burrow underground.

A Reverse-Blade Sword dropped down, pinning the worm to the ground.

"Still trying to run?"

Baiyu sneered. This concerned his hundred thousand sword draws. How could he possibly let Moryo escape?

The seal limited Moryo's power, and after the Ghost Army had drained him, Miroku had him completely suppressed.

"Come on, time for your medicine," Miroku said with a soft laugh.

Baiyu lifted the jug and poured its contents straight through the opening.

Inside, Moryo's body was nothing but tentacles. When they touched the poison, a foul stench rose, and wisps of green smoke curled off their purplish-red surface.

Moryo's pained howls gave way to frantic cries. The despair in his voice was unmistakable.

Unable to stretch out in the cramped space, he was steadily consumed from within by the poison, which corroded him like sulfuric acid.

"Is poisoning Moryo what it means to be a swordsman?"

"Swordsman! If you don't trust the sword in your hand, how can you train with it?"

All at once, something shifted in Baiyu's Sword Heart, and the sword's trembling followed.

In a daze, he seemed to hear a long sword lamenting.

Baiyu stopped pouring, leaving half the poison in the jug.

Miroku looked at him in surprise and asked, "Why stop? Moryo is about to die. I can already feel him growing weaker. If you keep pouring, he'll surely perish."

She had never even dared to imagine killing Moryo before, and now she was on the verge of doing it.

A radiant smile couldn't help but spread across Miroku's face.

"Break the seal."

Baiyu summoned the Kusanagi Sword, smeared poison along its blade, and spoke to Miroku.

Miroku asked in disbelief, "Are you crazy? Or has Moryo taken control of your mind?"

"Moryo is no longer a threat. Give him a quick death!"

Baiyu gripped the Kusanagi Sword. The three-foot blade gleamed with a dim blue light, shining brightly in the dark palace.

The sword held firm.

If he abandoned the sword once, he would do so again.

To feel ashamed of the sword, doubt it, distrust it, or leave it unused.

"Sealing Jutsu: Release!"

Miroku watched Baiyu for a long while, then finally released the seal.

Whatever the reason, Baiyu, standing nearby, exuded an overwhelming confidence.

No one who saw him would doubt his strength.

Man and sword, one as a whole.

Even if a god stood before him, Baiyu would still strike with his sword.

Once the seal was broken, Uchiha Itachi hurriedly led Miroku out of the palace.

"He seems to have grown stronger again," Itachi murmured. Every time he went on a mission with Baiyu, he could see clear signs of growth.

This growth wasn't reflected in his ninjutsu or chakra, but in a change in his very presence.

Feeling this, Itachi couldn't help but feel a competitive urge.

I can't fall behind either!

He had been a genius since childhood, and he had never felt this way before. Now the thought had quietly taken root in his heart.

"Ding! Sword Heart stabilized! Comprehended Sword Verse: 'You trust me, and I will not fail you.' Reward: Selfless Sword Qi. Note: A swordsman has a soul. Without a soul, the sword path remains unseen and the divine path blocked."

The Kusanagi Sword had no soul, but a sword could have a soul. The only thing a swordsman could trust was the sword in his hand.

People might betray you, but a sword would not.

To trust the sword in your hand was to trust yourself.

At that moment, Baiyu's understanding of the sword path reached a new level.

Sometimes, a shortcut in battle was not a true shortcut.

You could take shortcuts in battle, but not in cultivation.