The ground was already littered with countless soldiers' bodies, buried haphazardly. The war a few months ago had added tens of thousands more, left unclaimed. The resentment of the soldiers' souls and the miasma from their rotting corpses had grown stronger and stronger.
Such conditions easily gave rise to powerful demons, but they still weren't enough to produce a great demon like Gashadokuro.
The reason a great demon had appeared was that a great demon named Shiranui had passed through and bestowed a spark of life upon the resentment and miasma here.
That was how the great demon Gashadokuro had come into being.
"Shiranui, where is it now?"
Yae Sakura asked impatiently. Her main quest was to defeat fifteen great demons, after all.
"Lord Shiranui is... on one of the islands off Kyushu."
"An island off Kyushu..." Kyushu here didn't mean the land of Shenzhou; it was a region in Eastern Island.
"I understand, Higokumaru... leave it to Kikyo." Now that she knew what had happened, she could let Kikyo purify it!
Yae Sakura only knew how to kill enemies. She couldn't do most other things. After all, despite being called a shrine maiden, she was actually a Valkyrie.
Although Kikyo had purified it, Yae Sakura still received fifty crystals as a reward for slaying Gashadokuro.
Only fifty crystals for a great demon? How stingy...
Even after Gashadokuro had been purified, the commission was still incomplete. Watching the miasma slowly fade away around them after Gashadokuro's death, Yae Sakura understood what was going on.
"Kikyo, can you purify all the resentment and miasma here?"
"I'll try." Kikyo didn't seem very confident either.
"Mm."
"Big Sis! Don't forget me. My Fox Fire can burn away the miasma too!" Seeing Yae Sakura talk only to Kikyo, Higokumaru hurriedly called out.
"Mm, I'll leave it to you, Higokumaru."
The resentment on the battlefield was intense. It took them all night to completely purify all the resentment and miasma.
Of course, Kikyo did most of the purifying. Yae Sakura only had to slay the demons, so she had it much easier than Kikyo.
And she earned quite a lot of crystals, too.
Yae Sakura had Kikyo take out the Jewel of Four Souls to draw nearby demons toward them. Then she could cut down dozens or even hundreds with a single slash. It was an easy way to farm.
With the battlefield purified, the daimyo's commission was complete.
After resting for a few hours, the three of them set off for home, back to Kaede Village.
"Kaede, are you ready?"
Yae Sakura looked at the little shrine maiden Kaede, who was clutching a USP45 in both hands, her face tense.
The USP45 was a pistol designed by H&K specifically for the United States military and law enforcement. Chambered in .45 ACP, it was accurate and reliable, with stable performance.
Kaede was only about ten years old, but the USP45 had relatively little recoil. She had also been training all along. Though she had little talent for it, she was still much stronger than most children her age.
Using the USP45 was no burden for her at all.
"I'm ready."
Kaede answered nervously, sweat on her face.
"Then let's begin!"
As she spoke, Yae Sakura picked up a stone about the size of an egg and tossed it into the air.
"Bang!"
The stone in the air was hit by a bullet.
Watching Kaede hold the gun and breathe hard, Yae Sakura couldn't help feeling surprised. Kaede wasn't much good with a bow, but she had an incredible talent for shooting. Too bad Yae Sakura wasn't Kallen. Otherwise, she could have taught Kaede the Kaslana family's Gun Kata.
Gun Kata made it much easier to deal with enemies.
"Keep going!"
As she spoke, Yae Sakura tossed three more stones.
"Bang... bang... bang."
Three shots rang out, but only two of the stones were hit.
"Sakura, I..." Kaede panicked and looked at Yae Sakura guiltily.
"Keep going..."
A few minutes later, Yae Sakura had run out of stones.
"You're still a long way from becoming a true gun-and-cannon shrine maiden. Keep practicing!" Looking at the little shrine maiden before her, Yae Sakura thought that although Kaede had some talent for shooting, it was still far from enough.
"Yes..."
Kaede sounded disappointed. She had failed the test, so she wouldn't get the powerful cannon weapon that Yae Sakura had shown her.
"But I'll give you these two guns anyway!"
Seeing Kaede's disappointment, Yae Sakura handed her two black M1911 pistols.
The USP45 in Kaede's hands was an unenhanced one-star weapon, while the M1911 was a two-star weapon with an effective range of fifty meters.
"Yes, thank you, Sakura."
Seeing the new weapons—and realizing they seemed much better than the ones she had—the little shrine maiden immediately cheered up.
"Keep working hard!"
Yae Sakura hadn't considered whether giving Kaede and the others these modern weapons might cause problems. But even if it did, she would have left by then.
"Big Sis, dinner's ready!"
Higokumaru rubbed her eyes as she walked over to Yae Sakura and Kaede.
"Mm, let's go eat first." Yae Sakura looked at Kaede.
"Yes."
More than ten days had passed since the battlefield was purified. Aside from clearing out the demons that had come for the Jewel of Four Souls, Yae Sakura had spent the rest of her time training and teaching Kaede how to shoot.
Yae Sakura wasn't much good with a gun herself, but she could still teach the basics.
"Have you packed everything? Are you planning to go alone to one of the islands off Kyushu to find the legendary Shiranui?" While they were eating, Kikyo suddenly asked calmly. There was no particular emotion in her voice.
But people in Eastern Island had a custom of not speaking while eating. Kikyo speaking up now was unusual in itself.
"Mm, but before that, I have to go somewhere else." Since Kikyo had spoken, Yae Sakura didn't care about the custom anymore.
"Where?"
"The canyon where the great demon Ryukotsusei was sealed." A few days ago, Yae Sakura had learned from a demon who had come for the Jewel of Four Souls where Toga had sealed Ryukotsusei.
"Ryukotsusei?"
As a great demon from a century ago, also known as Toga's archenemy, Ryukotsusei was a name Kikyo had heard before.
"Right. Kikyo, will you come with me?"
"Well... I'll have to think about it. Are you in a hurry to leave?" Kikyo hesitated. She needed to protect the Jewel of Four Souls, and ideally, she shouldn't leave the village.
But she didn't want to turn down Yae Sakura's invitation.
"I can leave in a couple of days." It didn't matter much. Toga's seal wasn't something just anyone could break.
There was no need to rush.
"Then I'll give you an answer in a couple of days..."
"All right."