The Final Cleanup

Just as expected...

Gu Mo let out a long breath. If the previous level-up had merely caught his attention, this one confirmed it completely.

A classic RPG setting—

The moment a character leveled up, they were restored to full condition, with all debuffs removed. No matter how battered they had been, even if they had been only a breath away from death, they would instantly regain full health and mana. Not only would they return to peak condition, but even their Status Panel would improve somewhat.

Because they had leveled up...

As for whether the NPC monsters on the receiving end of all this were cursing their mothers in utter frustration, no one cared.

With the weight in his heart finally lifted, his red-and-black vision quickly cleared as well. Gu Mo watched his reflection in the water and let out a long breath. The nerves he had kept taut suddenly relaxed, followed by a wave of mental exhaustion.

Losses such as "stamina" and "Mental Power" seemed to be replenished by the system through leveling up, directly restoring him to full condition.

But losses like "attention" and "focus" apparently received no such benefit. Perhaps those were psychological effects, and even the Idiot System had no way to make such a subjective conversion?

Thinking this, Gu Mo resisted the urge to lie down immediately. It was not that he was truly exhausted enough to fall asleep on the spot; he had simply been wound too tightly just now and desperately wanted to relax.

More than anything, it was because of this damned sense of security...

Glancing at his reflection in the water, he could see the black-haired girl standing beside him, staring blankly at him as though she were too shocked to speak. It was largely because of her presence. After all, her performance throughout this journey had been incredibly reassuring.

Gu Mo had no doubt that even if he fell asleep right now, nothing would happen.

That was why he could relax so much...

But precisely because of that, the girl's image had gradually become more vivid in his mind throughout their journey. She had become flesh and blood, no longer merely the thin, flat "game character" from his memories—or rather, not merely that... Based on the character setup he understood, she had become far more real.

His thoughts were somewhat muddled. As Gu Mo drifted off in thought, he closed the level-up screen and began washing the blood from his hands and arms.

As the sky gradually brightened, the river was no longer as black as ink. He could vaguely see that the water was clear, but with his movements and the rippling sounds of the current, dark crimson blood still spread across the surface—some of it his own, some of it yokai blood.

Since nearly half his body was covered in blood, it was difficult to clean himself thoroughly under these conditions. Once he realized that, he could only selectively wash what he could.

He cleaned his hands, wiped his face, and washed the area around his chest—

That had originally been where his injuries were most severe, a mangled mass of flesh and blood just moments ago.

Although the wounds had directly healed after he leveled up, just as his torn clothes had not been restored, neither had the blood and shredded flesh that had spilled out earlier been removed. Hardened clots and mangled bits of skin and flesh were all stuck together, making him feel particularly awful... and disgusted.

After quickly washing himself clean, he stood and looked at the torn front of his clothes with a sigh.

So be it. Fortunately, he had added a little to his Strength attribute. His physique was not especially impressive, and he did not have eight-pack abs or anything, but at least he had no excess fat, and there were some muscle lines... Mm, perhaps if he added a little more Strength later, he might get eight-pack abs?

Judging from the rate of growth, that was entirely possible. Even if 12 points of Strength were not enough, 13 points would definitely surpass that threshold.

Shaking the water from his hands, he turned around and made another spirited sweep of his arm—

"Alright, I'm fine now. Still, thanks, Axiu."

"..."

"..."

The black-haired girl behind him looked at him with an extremely strange expression. She felt as though this scene was full of déjà vu, as if it had happened once not long ago. The only difference was that last time, he had been too tired and had become full of energy after simply washing his hands.

This time, he had clearly been on the verge of dying, yet he had forced himself to the riverbank to wash his hands and immediately became lively again. There was not the slightest sign that he had ever been injured...

With those thoughts swirling in her mind, Hidechiyo's strange gaze could not help wandering back and forth between his chest and arms. Not to mention the terrifying wound on his chest that had nearly exposed his heart, she clearly remembered the bizarrely twisted angle at which his arm had been bent.

But now, there was nothing. Everything from before seemed as though it had never happened.

"Cough, don't stare at me like that. I get embarrassed too..." Feeling somewhat awkward, Gu Mo turned sideways. He was not used to having his chest and abdomen exposed like this, so he made a lame joke to cover it up. Naturally, the black-haired girl did not laugh.

She maintained a slight frown, apparently bewildered and uncertain about everything happening to the person before her. How could an ordinary human possibly display such astonishing abilities?

She had more right than most to speak on the matter. As a Half-Yokai, her recovery ability was already incredibly impressive. Ever since she had been young, she had supported herself alone by hunting yokai. If one often walked by the river, how could one avoid getting their shoes wet? Yet she had still survived until today.

But even with her experience, she found this scene a little surreal. Yet no matter how she looked at him, there was no Yokai Energy or Yokai Power on his body. He truly seemed to be nothing more than a pure human.

"Oh, right. Axiu, do you want to wash your hands too?"

Feeling uncomfortable under the girl's gaze, Gu Mo tried to divert her attention.

Subconsciously glancing at the river beside them, Hidechiyo, whose thoughts had been interrupted, gently shook her head. She knew she could not possibly achieve that sort of result, and she also knew the river water itself was definitely not the issue. There was no need to attempt something so foolish.

"Not washing? Mm, I suppose you really don't need to... Then what do we do now?"

Gu Mo coughed lightly and continued pretending to be clueless. Of course, he knew what the girl was currently struggling with, but it would be difficult for him to explain it, so he simply chose not to.

In a world where Demons and Monsters existed, it was better to let Axiu come up with a reasonable explanation herself than for him to fabricate a rushed excuse full of holes... Besides, since the girl had not asked, he could just pretend he did not know.

The thoughtful black-haired girl raised her eyebrows. After hesitating slightly, she still turned to look toward the back mountain. Under the faintly brightening sky, the dark outline of the forest carried an air of mystery. In her vision, a mass of Yokai Energy still lingered within the temple halfway up the mountain.

There was still one place left uncleared. Some stragglers remained there.

Giving someone a deep look, Hidechiyo knew he was unwilling to explain the secret behind washing his hands to restore his health. She no longer dwelled on it and cast the matter aside, deciding to resolve the village's problems first.

Seeing that the girl was no longer staring at him so intensely and had instead turned toward the mountain path they had used to come down, apparently intending to retrace their route, Gu Mo sighed in relief and hurried after her.

But looking at the girl's slender back and thin shoulders, he hesitated. Recalling certain signs he had noticed and the plot he knew, he could not help asking:

"Should we... rest for a while first?"

Though he knew there probably would not be any problems, he had noticed that the girl's condition seemed somewhat unstable. For example, in the Ancestral Hall not long ago, she could have dealt with those yokai demons much faster, but had failed to do so. In the end, when the Ape Fiend launched its vicious, desperate counterattack, she had nearly lost control of the situation.

Considering that she could easily defeat the Ox-Head Demon, there was no reason for the Horse-Headed Demon at the end of the plot to instead be able to put her in danger...

There had to be some deeper reason behind this, so Gu Mo was somewhat worried.

The black-haired girl did not speak. She sensed her Yokai Bloodline and found that it no longer seemed as restless as before. The violent instincts and impulses had apparently settled completely. There should be no problems next, and in any case, there was no third Perpetual Darkness within the temple just now.

Fighting twice in quick succession within the Perpetual Darkness domains of yokai demons had made her Yokai Bloodline increasingly active... It had not been much of an issue when she was younger, but for the past two years, she had been troubled by it. As a Half-Yokai, the yokai side of her nature seemed to be growing stronger as she matured.

Each time her Yokai Bloodline became active, her Yokai Power would increase greatly, and her physical abilities would become more and more inhuman, but...

The violent brutality hidden deep within her bloodline, the madness that seemed capable of destroying and shattering everything, made her vaguely aware of the true nature of her Yokai Nature. Instinctively, she suppressed that process.

Following the mountain path back to the Ancestral Hall, Gu Mo took the opportunity to inspect the yokai demon corpses scattered across the courtyard, hoping to see whether they had dropped anything useful.

He had actually seen the Item Light Spots appear earlier, but he had not had time to pick them up then. He could only have Axiu take him down the mountain to the river as quickly as possible to wash his hands. Now that they had returned, he found that the Item Light Spots had not disappeared, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.

Apparently, leaving the battlefield would not make the loot despawn, and the party system did indeed exist. Although he did not know whether experience could be shared, at least "teammates" could make monsters drop items.

It was just a pity that the person involved could not see them...

After glancing at the black-haired girl's expression and gaze, Gu Mo casually reached into the air and grabbed the few Item Light Spots.

Only—

The fact that Axiu had clearly killed the monsters, and the items had clearly dropped from Axiu's kills, yet she could neither see nor touch them—these unidentified spoils seemed not to exist for her at all, and all of them ended up benefiting him instead...

Mm, the more he thought about it, the more something felt wrong. It seemed he was living off her more and more. Gu Mo smacked his lips. This was truly wonderful... Cough, cough, it truly left a bitter taste in his mouth.

And there was another matter. Was Axiu incredibly lucky? Or was he simply unbelievably unlucky?

He had fought from one end of the village to the other and had only gotten a single Lesser Spirit Stone... So why had this tiny courtyard dropped an entire pile of items? Looking at the inventory only his special "vision" could see, which had suddenly gained five new items, Gu Mo fell into deep thought.

No, it had to be because he had been farming cannon fodder Lesser Hungry Ghosts, while the monsters Axiu had beaten were higher-level yokai demons, so their drop rate naturally improved.

Hidechiyo did not know what the strange client was doing again, but she had become somewhat accustomed to it. After quickly inspecting the Ancestral Hall and confirming that there were absolutely no stragglers left, she hurried out of the courtyard and continued upward along the mountain path.

The freeloader followed closely in the expert's footsteps while checking the loot he had just obtained.

Of the five new items, three were Spirit Stones...

The remaining two were an Ape Fiend Soul Core and an ordinary yokai demon Soul Core...

They resembled crimson fruits wrapped in blood, yet they also beat like hearts. With every beat, they inhaled and exhaled Yokai Power... These were the heart cores of yokai demons, the condensed essence of their power. According to their descriptions, both were crafting materials.

And they could also be used as Skill Badges.

Gu Mo's eyes immediately lit up. Did that mean that through the system's conversion function, he was actually no different from Axiu in this regard? Could he control the Soul Cores of defeated yokai and turn the powers of countless yokai demons into his own?

As he pondered this, the road ahead came to an end. Accompanied by the dull groan of heavy gates being pushed open, the courtyard of the sealed temple at the end of the mountain path appeared before them.

An impossibly massive cherry blossom tree revealed itself to Gu Mo and the black-haired girl as dawn arrived.

Its trunk was so thick that even three to five people joining arms could not encircle it. Its spreading canopy was like a boundless canopy in the sky, covering the entire temple grounds. Blush-colored petals scattered in great swathes beneath the early morning breeze like goose-feather snow, creating a breathtaking sight.

The scene was stunningly beautiful. Gu Mo even felt the urge to take out his phone and photograph it for a wallpaper—

If not for the enormous horse-headed monster beneath the tree slowly turning its head toward them, while stopping its repeated sawing of the mountain of villagers' corpses with the enormous serrated blade in its hand, the scenery at that moment truly would have been flawless.

Hidechiyo gritted her teeth, her expression changing slightly as she quickly drew her blade and charged forward.

At the same time, the horse-headed monster straightened from its crouch and turned around. Rising upright, its long horse face opened its sharp-fanged maw in a roar. It was as though invisible pressure exploded from its center, and the entire world rapidly fell from the human realm into a demon realm.

Colors faded toward black and white. Spider Lilies rapidly bloomed and fell. The air became as heavy and dark as water...

—In the tiny Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village, the third lord of Perpetual Darkness in succession unfolded the Yokai Power domain it had previously withdrawn!