News of Ryukotsusei

The underground was already filled with countless soldiers buried haphazardly. The war from a few months ago had added tens of thousands more corpses that no one had come to collect, and the resentment of the soldiers' souls combined with the miasma produced by the rotting bodies grew ever stronger.

This situation easily gave birth to powerful demons, though it was still far from enough to create a great demon like Gashadokuro.

The reason a great demon was born was because a great demon named "Shiranui" had passed by and bestowed a spark of life-fire upon the resentment and miasma here.

Only then was the great demon Gashadokuro born.

"Shiranui, where is it now?"

Yae Sakura asked impatiently; her main quest was to defeat 15 great demons, after all.

"Lord Shiranui is on... an outlying island of Kyushu."

"An outlying island of Kyushu..." The Kyushu here did not refer to the vast lands of the mainland, but a region in Japan.

"Understood. Higokumaru... hand it over to Kikyo." Now that the matter was clear, she would leave it to Kikyo to purify it!

Yae Sakura only knew how to kill enemies; she was incapable of most other things. After all, while she was called a shrine maiden, she was actually a Valkyrie.

However, even though it was purified by Kikyo, Yae Sakura still received 50 crystals as a reward for slaying Gashadokuro.

A great demon was only worth 50; that was truly stingy...

After purifying Gashadokuro, the commission was still not complete. Watching the miasma slowly dissipate following the death of Gashadokuro, Yae Sakura realized something.

"Kikyo, can all the resentment and miasma here be purified?"

"I will try." Kikyo did not seem very confident.

"Mm."

"Big Sister! Don't forget me, my Fox Fire can also burn away miasma!" Seeing Yae Sakura only speaking to Kikyo, Higokumaru quickly shouted aloud.

"Mm, I'll leave it to you, Higokumaru."

The resentment on the battlefield was heavy. It took an entire night to completely purify all the resentment and miasma.

Of course, it was mostly Kikyo doing the purifying, while Yae Sakura was only responsible for slaying demons, which was much easier than what Kikyo was doing.

She had also earned quite a few crystals.

Because Yae Sakura had let Kikyo take out the Jewel of Four Souls to attract the surrounding demons, she had been able to cut down dozens or hundreds with a single slash, farming them quite easily.

After the battlefield was purified, the daimyo's commission was completed.

After resting for a few hours, the three of them began their journey home to Kaede Village.

"Kaede, are you ready?"

Yae Sakura looked at the young shrine maiden Kaede, who was holding a USP45 in both hands with a nervous expression.

The USP45 was a pistol specifically designed by the H&K company for the U.S. military and law enforcement departments. It featured .45 ACP caliber, reliable accuracy, and stable performance.

Although Kaede was only about ten years old, the USP45 had relatively low recoil, and since Kaede had been training all along—though her talent for cultivation was poor—she was still much stronger than children her age.

She had no burden at all using the USP45.

"I'm ready."

Hearing this, Kaede answered nervously, sweat on her face.

"Then, begin!"

As she spoke, Yae Sakura picked up an egg-sized stone from in front of her and threw it into the air.

"Bang!"

The stone in the air was struck by a single shot.

Watching Kaede, who was holding the gun and catching her breath, Yae Sakura couldn't help but feel surprised. Kaede's archery wasn't anything special, yet her talent for marksmanship was actually this good. It was a pity she wasn't Kallen, otherwise, she could have taught her the Kaslana family's Gun Kata.

Using Gun Kata to deal with enemies would be even easier.

"Continue!"

Yae Sakura threw three more stones.

"Bang... bang... bang."

Three shots rang out, but only two stones were hit.

"Sister Sakura, I..." Kaede panicked instantly, looking at Yae Sakura with a guilty conscience.

"Keep going..."

A few minutes later, the stones in front of Yae Sakura were gone.

"You are still far from being a true gun-wielding shrine maiden. Keep practicing!" Looking at the little shrine maiden before her, although her talent for marksmanship was quite good, it was still far from enough.

"Yes..."

Hearing this, Kaede felt a bit disappointed. She hadn't passed the test and couldn't get the powerful artillery-type weapons Yae Sakura had demonstrated for her.

"However, I'll give you these two guns as well!"

Seeing the disappointed Kaede, Yae Sakura handed her two black [M1911] pistols.

At this moment, the [USP45] in Kaede's hand was an unrefined one-star weapon, while the [M1911] was a two-star weapon with an effective range of 50m.

"Yes, thank you, Sister Sakura."

Looking at the new weapons, which seemed much more powerful than the one in her hand, Kaede immediately became happy.

"Keep working hard!"

Yae Sakura hadn't considered whether giving these modern weapons to Kaede and the others would cause any problems, but even if it did, she would have long since left.

"Big Sister, it's time to eat!"

Higokumaru rubbed her eyes and walked to the side of Yae Sakura and Kaede.

"Mm, let's go eat first!" Yae Sakura looked at Kaede.

"Yes."

More than ten days had passed since the purification of the battlefield. During these ten days, aside from clearing out the demons that came for the Jewel of Four Souls, the rest of the time was spent on her own cultivation and teaching Kaede marksmanship.

Although Yae Sakura's own marksmanship wasn't anything special, she could at least teach the basics.

"You've packed your things; are you preparing to go to the outlying island of Kyushu alone to find the legendary Shiranui?" While they were eating, Kikyo suddenly asked calmly, her tone devoid of any particular emotion.

However, there was a custom in Japan that one should not speak while eating; the fact that Kikyo had spoken now was already unusual.

"Mm, but before that, I have to go to another place." Since Kikyo had spoken, Yae Sakura didn't care about any rules either.

"What place?"

"The canyon where the great demon Ryukotsusei is sealed." A few days ago, Yae Sakura had learned from a demon that came for the Jewel of Four Souls where Toga had sealed Ryukotsusei.

"Ryukotsusei?"

As a great demon from a hundred years ago, also known as Toga's arch-nemesis, Kikyo had heard of him.

"Yes, does Kikyo want to come with me?"

"This... I need to think about it. Are you in a hurry to leave?" Kikyo hesitated. She needed to guard the Jewel of Four Souls, and logically speaking, it was best not to leave the village.

But she didn't want to refuse Yae Sakura's invitation.

"Leaving in two days is fine too." This didn't matter; Toga's seal wasn't something just anyone could break.

There was no need to rush.

"Then I will give you my answer in two days..."

"That works too."