Impression in His Eyes

His stamina and mental energy surged through his body like a mighty river rushing toward an unknown distance, its waters pouring endlessly downward and vanishing at the end, as though swallowed by an unknown downstream.

Gu Mo could feel that he was calling out to some existence on the other side of space and time. It was a connection he had been able to sense ever since obtaining his Guardian Spirit... a subtle, mysterious link established on the level of perception and the mind, something he could simply feel without any reason.

It allowed him to sense the Guardian Spirit's definite existence and naturally understand that, although the Guardian Spirit appeared to follow at his side, it was actually more like a projection.

Thus, it could normally only provide constant protection, like an aura buff that granted passive bonuses of no great or minor magnitude... If he wanted to actively wield the Guardian Spirit's tremendous power and directly interfere with the material world, he needed to consume spiritual power.

He possessed no miraculous power such as spiritual energy, Yokai Power, or magic, so he could only use a human's own stamina and mental energy as compensation.

It came from beyond and arrived in this world, its noble form wrapped in swirling wind and blazing flames, mysterious and beautiful like some legendary mythical beast.

It had the form of a fox, with nine tails and crimson fur covering its entire body...

It was fairly enormous, perhaps because it was itself a very large fox, no less imposing than predators such as lions and tigers. Its nine massive tails swayed slowly behind it like burning flames, making it seem even larger.

It was as though the blazing mythical beast emerging from the endlessly overflowing dazzling radiance had occupied all the space, making the corridor suddenly feel narrow.

Its gaze was sharp as it proudly stood before the one it protected, seeming to look down upon Nurarihyon charging toward it—a five- or six-meter-long half-human, half-serpent yokai engulfed in flames.

At that same instant, the rapidly charging creature abruptly slammed on the brakes. Due to its speed, momentum, and weight, it plowed a long, deep furrow into the corridor floor before finally stopping. Its hateful, venomous gaze was instantly replaced by terror and disbelief.

But it was already too late.

The elegant nine-tailed fox did not appear to move at all. It was as though an invisible shockwave swept through the air, or as though an enormous laser beam flashed through the corridor... In any case, Gu Mo, standing behind the great fox, was not quite sure. He could not see clearly.

The five- or six-meter serpent froze in place, locked in that strange emergency-braking posture as if its entire body had stiffened and turned to stone.

Then, in the very next instant, it shattered without warning. Its body burst into tiny fragments and collapsed into a pile of ashes where it stood...

At some unknown moment, the entire serpent had been reduced to charred carbon from the inside out. Its body had not merely been roasted—it had been incinerated, as though that invisible ripple cutting through the air, or that laser beam flashing through the corridor, had turned it to ash at the cellular level in an instant!

Silence fell without a sound.

Only the crackling of distant wood splitting in the flames could be heard.

Such terrifying lethality left Gu Mo stunned. He had thought there would be an exciting duel and hunt, or at worst, that the Nine-Tailed Fox would command flames and flash effects all over the place before stylishly one-shotting this Nurarihyon that could disguise itself as a human.

But who could have expected this? It was as though the great fox had merely glanced at it, and every enemy in a straight line ahead had been burned into charcoal at the molecular level, scattered across the ground as ash from burned-out inorganic matter.

However, the rapidly draining energy quickly brought him back to his senses, and his expression changed slightly.

The intense consumption from summoning the Guardian Spirit, coupled with Perpetual Darkness constantly draining his energy, made the double expenditure extremely hard to bear. Especially since he had already consumed a considerable amount earlier, he now felt as though he was about to collapse.

Gu Mo made a swift decision. Just as he was preparing to seize this precious time and have the Guardian Spirit race toward the center of the battlefield he had only recently left, he suddenly felt his body grow lighter.

The black-and-white-toned space shed its underworld filter...

The Spider Lilies scattered across the ground did not bloom again after withering...

Everything in his field of vision returned to its normal colors and appearance, no longer resembling a world walked through inside an ink-wash painting. Perpetual Darkness had suddenly receded at this very moment.

Had the powerful yokai that created this Perpetual Darkness domain been slain by Axiu at precisely this juncture?!

Gu Mo immediately understood. Though he felt some regret at not snatching the last hit, he did not hesitate in the slightest to end the sustained summoning of his Guardian Spirit. The sensation of floodwaters pouring through an opened sluice gate finally stopped, and his stamina and mental energy no longer plummeted wildly.

Surrounded by flames that did not harm him in the slightest despite being so close, the great nine-tailed fox turned around and sat quietly there. Elegant and noble, its calm eyes reflected his figure.

After several breaths, as though it had lost its point of contact with the present world, the edges of its outline began to blur. Its form gradually became transparent and insubstantial before finally disappearing from the present world... Of course, that was what happened objectively. What Gu Mo himself saw was not like that.

Because he had always been able to see his Guardian Spirit and feel that warmth and heat that did not exist for others, the scene before him did not change at all. To him, the great fox was still there, quietly watching him.

Not minding the dirt on the floor, he sat down with a plop beneath the fox's gaze, feeling greatly at ease, then took out that verdant bamboo tube again and gulped down a large mouthful.

A cool sensation spread through him, driving away the fatigue in his limbs and bones with refreshing chill. He let out a long breath and felt much better after resting for a moment... Then he looked at his Guardian Spirit, then at the pile of ashes in the distance. Nurarihyon had been precisely eliminated at a fixed point, yet not even the surrounding environment had suffered any splash damage.

He could not help tugging slightly at the corner of his mouth.

It really was powerful, but the duration was far too short. Though that was partly because he had already consumed a great deal earlier, and because he had been inside Perpetual Darkness.

Still, it seemed he could not even last ten seconds before being drained dry. That really was a problem...

To solve it, he either had to keep investing points, since adding points could solve every problem, or quickly master special powers similar to spiritual energy or magic.

Thinking it over carefully, if he wanted to fully tap into the Nine-Tailed Fox's potential and wield its immense power for himself, it would be best to pursue both approaches at once. This thing had limitless potential, but it was not something he could control at present... It was like a child swinging a sledgehammer—looking fierce, but actually far beyond their control, and likely to hurt themselves with one careless mistake.

Because the Nine-Tailed Fox was an exceptionally powerful Guardian Spirit.

Each of its nine tails contained immense Yokai Power. It was even said to be an existence that could bring either an age of chaos or an age of peace, and that whenever it appeared, the political situation would soon see a turning point...

Perhaps that was not mere boasting. Not only did the system vouch for it, but the information Gu Mo knew and the things he had just experienced all pointed to the same conclusion. Guardian Spirits were a broad category, seemingly varied and all-encompassing. Most were rather conventional, but the select few at the very top possessed utterly broken powers.

—Like Minamoto no Yoshitsune's Guardian Spirit, Kurama Tengu, which could travel through space and time...

—Like Ōtakemaru's Guardian Spirit, Baku, which could read its protected person's thoughts and continuously offer assistance to fulfill their wishes...

—Or like William's Guardian Spirit, Saoirse, which could grant its host the ability to return after death, allowing them to die and revive again and again with almost no limit...

Compared to these Guardian Spirits, each more unreasonable and terrifying than the last, things like Yaobikuni granting eternal youth, Heavenly Eye Peacock foreseeing the future, or Six-Tusked Elephant controlling celestial phenomena to affect battlefield weather were minor tricks despite being supernatural gifts ordinary people could only dream of.

The Nine-Tailed Fox was probably the same. Its abilities might not be as broken as those above, perhaps only subtly affecting fate, but the power it possessed was undoubtedly enormous.

Especially from what Gu Mo had felt just now, he seemed to have become one component of some mysterious ritual. His body had completely become a circuit linking spirits and matter. Amid the violent consumption of spiritual power, places beyond the human world were connected, forming a brief passage.

This allowed an infinitesimal fraction of the immense power from that unknown dimension to be forced into reality...

It was like using his existence as a base station to transmit the signal from there to this side.

It was simply that his "communication technology" had serious issues. The bandwidth, latency, and everything else were catastrophically bad, greatly limiting the transmission of that signal... So although he had called upon the Guardian Spirit's power, he could only call upon a tiny bit of it.

In other words, although the great fox summoned by the Guardian Spirit had manifested in the present world, it was still not its entirety, merely the tip of the iceberg... Yet even with only that tiny fragment summoned, his energy could not sustain it for long.

Clearly, he still had a long way to go.

"And it can still be upgraded..."

Recalling the submenu the Idiot System had listed for Guardian Spirits, Gu Mo's mouth twitched. His vision swam, and he felt a faint ache in his liver. If the Nine-Tailed Fox were upgraded through his hands with the help of the Idiot System, it would surely become even stronger—so would its usage requirements rise accordingly?

He was going to grind himself to death...

Crisp footsteps sounded as the black-haired girl hurried over. Seeing him seated on the floor, she instinctively let out a breath of relief. Though she had kept part of her senses focused on the fluctuations of his aura and knew that nothing had happened to him, she could only truly confirm it upon seeing him herself.

Looking toward the burning room at the end of the corridor, where the fire showed signs of spreading, Hidechiyo lightly raised an eyebrow.

A gigantic shadow resembling a shark swam around her body as if through empty space, then leaped into the blaze with a splash... If ordinary people had been present, they would likely have discovered that, though nothing seemed to be done, the spreading flames were gradually suppressed. The fire grew smaller and smaller until it finally went out.

"No need to go back. Someone as clever as Tokichiro will definitely come looking for us once he notices that Perpetual Darkness has faded..."

Hearing the girl stop beside him, Gu Mo lifted his head from his thoughts and waved lazily. "Let's rest here for a while. The yokai along the way have mostly been cleared out anyway. The soldiers can rest here too—they must be exhausted..."

Listening to him speak with such righteous conviction, as though he were thoughtfully considering his subordinates, then looking at him sitting on the ground with exhaustion impossible to conceal between his brows, Hidechiyo sighed as well.

Who was really the one who was exhausted and needed to rest...

Still, she had grown used to this companion's strange remarks. Besides, he was merely tired and not seriously injured. That was good enough... The girl did not want to see another scene like the one in Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village, though recalling it now gave her a subtle feeling that she had been deceived.

"By the way, Axiu, do you really not want some? Even if you're not tired, you should at least have a drink of water, right?"

Gu Mo raised the bamboo tube in his hand toward the girl and gave it a light shake. The clear liquid inside sloshed softly.

"Don't worry, this tube hasn't been opened yet! It's brand new!" Seeing the girl about to shake her head out of habit again, he emphasized, "I haven't drunk from it. You really don't need to avoid it."

The black-haired girl was still somewhat hesitant. Gu Mo shrugged helplessly and was about to pull it back when, in the next moment, he saw her hesitantly reach out. Her fair, slender fingers gently accepted the verdant bamboo tube he offered.

He let out a breath, feeling slightly gratified.

That counted as progress, didn't it?

The scattered footsteps were noisy and disorderly, accompanied by the clanging and scraping of armor. Just as Gu Mo had said, after Tokichiro saw Perpetual Darkness vanish, he immediately led his men inside. Following the traces along the way, they quickly found the group deep within the residence.

Monkey shouted loudly. Seeing Gu Mo sitting on the ground, he was alarmed and rushed over to fuss over him. Only after confirming that he was unharmed did he finally relax.

A short while later.

As the soldiers found places to rest, the three gathered together to discuss their current results.

They had fought their way up the mountain, taken down who knew how many yokai along the path, and swept through this residence as well, temporarily resolving the problem... Tokichiro believed that they should next mobilize the army to drive out and exterminate the other scattered yokai on the mountain.

"We can discuss that later. Right now, we should thoroughly inspect this residence, inside and out. There may be some stragglers, and we also need to investigate why these yokai appeared..."

Gu Mo shook his head, holding a different opinion.

The Viper's Divine Realm scenario should not be over yet, because there was an unknown space inside the mountain. It was simply different from the game, where Saito Dosan's residence was a single building and one only had to enter, turn right and left a few times, then exit through the back door to step onto the path leading to the caves inside the rocky mountain—

In this real world, the residence on the mountain occupied a huge and complex area, and no one knew where the hidden doors and secret passages into the mountain had been concealed... Of course, that was normal. If they could be seen the moment one entered, Saito Dosan could hardly claim to be hiding his secrets here. He would have to think everyone was an idiot.

Gu Mo had no way to explain it, so he could only hope that a careful search would trigger this clue.

"Yes, yes, yes, the residence is the top priority..."

Monkey nodded like a pecking chick. At the thought of it, his face wrinkled into a bitter expression.

"We must resolve this matter beautifully and find out exactly what happened. At the very least, we'll need to explain it to Lord Dosan later... Sigh, we only arrived at Sagiyama Castle recently, and this disaster just fell out of the sky. Brother Gu Mo, if Lord Dosan blames me later, you have to put in a few good words for me."

"You should ask Axiu for that, shouldn't you? What's the point of telling me..." Gu Mo blinked and glanced at the slightly uncomfortable black-haired girl beside him.

"Ahahaha, well... Isn't telling you the same as telling Miss Axiu?" Tokichiro laughed awkwardly.

"How could it be the same? That rotten old man already doesn't like the sight of me. He might even take his anger out on me this time, so don't count on me to say anything for you..."

"How could that be?! Lord Dosan values you greatly, Brother Gu Mo!"

Tokichiro hurriedly shook his head. He had also been involved in part of it and had heard Saito Dosan's words, so he had roughly inferred something. He knew that although the Viper disliked the man before him because of his daughter, he objectively thought highly of him.

"Give me a break. Who knows what kind of image I have in his eyes..." Gu Mo waved his hand.

Tokichiro spoke somewhat anxiously, putting all his eloquence to use:

"I know what Lord Dosan thinks. He told me before that he believes you have great ideals and ambitions, but that alone is not enough! Because you are going to make enemies of countless people, Lord Dosan hopes that beyond determination, you will also persevere. You must have unwavering resolve, put in effort through concrete action, and never become discouraged or shaken even if you fail..."

"Mm... Great ambitions, unwavering determination, putting in effort through concrete action, not being discouraged by failure, and having to make enemies of countless people?"

Gu Mo stroked his chin and thought it over.

"Why does that sound so familiar... Wait, so in his eyes, my image is that of the final boss?"