"It looks like the Leopard Cat Tribe came out in force this time..."
Mingye casually slew a lesser demon and learned quite a bit about the fighting between the Dog Tribe and the Leopard Cat Tribe.
The battle was fierce, and the Leopard Cat Tribe's forces included many demons from the Eastern Country.
Long ago, after Tōga defeated them, the Leopard Cat Tribe had fled to the Eastern Country to recuperate and rebuild.
A hundred years later, at this very point in time, the Leopard Cat Tribe had regained its strength, brought more than half the Eastern Country's demon factions under its rule, and fought its way back into the Western Country.
Michinaga, the Leopard Cat Tribe's leader, was a Greater Yokai with considerable ambition. He rivaled Kir inmaru in the Eastern Country, each ruling half its territory.
But how could Michinaga be satisfied with that? He was determined to reclaim his position as overlord of the Western Country, and defeating Tōga had become an obsession.
Now he was leading more than half the Eastern Country's demon tribes into an invasion of the Western Country. He had even allied with another Greater Yokai to attack Tōga together!
This placed tremendous pressure on the Dog Tribe. Tōga was powerful enough to fight both enemies at once, but the demon tribes under his command simply lacked the numbers.
By now, the Leopard Cat Tribe had occupied considerable stretches of western territory, and the fighting had already reached the northern part of the Western Country.
"Michinaga, Flying Moth... and Ryūkotsusei, who has been lying low all this time... With so many enemies, no wonder Tōga was driven into a corner in the original story. Even his castle fell to a human army..."
Sitting on Mountain Ogre's shoulder, Mingye pondered the events unfolding at this point in time.
Although he had yet to see these legendary Greater Yokai in person, the original story had mentioned Tōga's fate.
Besieged by several Greater Yokai on his own level, even the Three Swords of Heaven, Earth, and Man could not spare him from death.
Every Greater Yokai possessed formidable abilities. Though Tōga wielded mighty weapons, he still struggled against so many opponents.
The Three Swords of Heaven, Earth, and Man placed Tōga at the pinnacle of the Greater Yokai. But of those three swords, only Sōunga, the mightiest and most sinister of them all, could give him the power to defeat his foes.
Sōunga was known as the evil sword representing the earthly realm. It could command the dead and open the Underworld Gate, but its wielder's mind was extremely susceptible to the ancient evil spirit within it.
Even Tōga could not control that evil sword.
By the end, the Evil Sword had probably reached a point where Tōga could no longer use it at all.
And with Tessaiga alone, Tōga would have struggled to defeat three Greater Yokai of his own level.
There were all sorts of unanswered questions here. Mingye knew that in The Sword of Absolute Power, Tōga appeared to have suffered grievous injuries.
Then Setsuna no Takemaru attacked the castle and killed Tōga's wife, Izayoi.
Despite his severe injuries, Tōga still rushed back to the castle and used Tenseiga to revive Izayoi.
And there, in that separate residence, he and the human general Setsuna no Takemaru perished together.
But that was utterly absurd. A Greater Yokai had ultimately died at the hands of a human general.
It made no sense, especially since Tōga still had Tenseiga. In the original story, Tenseiga's ability to protect its master had saved Sesshomaru several times.
Yet a healing blade like that had been unable to revive Tōga.
"Could Tōga have already died once!?"
An idea flashed through Mingye's mind. That was the only explanation for why Tenseiga could not revive Tōga.
At the beginning of The Sword of Absolute Power, when Sesshomaru demanded Sōunga from Tōga, he had said that Tōga would certainly die if he went back to save Izayoi.
That meant Tōga had already sustained incurable injuries. His life was about to fade, and nothing could reverse it. Even Tenseiga's power could no longer save him!
Only then did it make sense: Tōga had not been killed by Setsuna no Takemaru. He had simply been unable to live any longer.
"In the end, he wasn't strong enough..."
Mingye's eyes flickered. In his view, although Tōga was one of the strongest Greater Yokai, killing Michinaga and Flying Moth, then sealing Ryūkotsusei, had exhausted all his strength.
Accomplishing that much was already impressive.
But if Tōga had been strong enough to stand invincible among his peers, how could any of this have happened?
It all came down to him not being strong enough.
Still, Tōga was naturally far, far stronger than Mingye was now. Every Greater Yokai was a mighty being capable of shattering mountains and severing rivers.
Mingye's current strength was not enough. He still needed time to build it up; he had simply had too little time to grow.
"A Greater Yokai..."
Mingye murmured to himself. This world had no clearly defined cultivation ranks. All he knew was that only beings like Tōga could truly be called Great Yokai.
Those beneath the Great Yokai could only be considered lesser demons.
The strength of lesser demons was difficult to distinguish. The distinction was vague, but that was simply how things were.
Lesser demons varied in strength, and so did Greater Yokai.
"I still have a long way to go..."
Mingye sighed softly. The level of a Great Yokai was still far beyond him. Even Sesshomaru, who had the greatest innate potential in the original story, had trained for nearly two hundred years before truly becoming a Great Yokai.
Mingye was only a little over fifty now. The gap was enormous.
"Master, we've arrived."
Mountain Ogre suddenly spoke up to remind him.
This Mountain Ogre was reasonably intelligent and could speak the human tongue. That was why Mingye had spared him.
Mingye returned to his senses, stood up, and looked down over the forest below.
It was a gloomy forest, home to a swordsmith renowned throughout the demon world.
With a light step, Mingye descended to the ground like a noble young lord out on a spring excursion.
Across a clear, emerald-green stream stood a crude house, with waves of sinister energy emanating from within.
Mingye kicked open the wooden door. Inside, a short demon with a bald head, two wisps of mustache at the corners of his mouth, and a shifty gaze sat cross-legged on the floor, drinking fine wine.
The thunderous crash of the door drew the demon's attention to the entrance, where a tall shadow blocked the light.
"You've got some nerve, brat!"
Hairinbō's gaze turned icy, and the skull necklace around his neck rattled incessantly with an eerie clatter.
"Of course I do!"
Mingye suddenly moved. Before his words had finished, he was already upon Hairinbō. He spread his fingers and seized him, his fierce Demon Power instantly suppressing and sealing all the Demon Power in Hairinbō's body.
So fast! So strong!
Hairinbō's pupils abruptly contracted, and his heart raced. He had not even seen Mingye's movements clearly. His vision had blurred for an instant, and the man before him had already subdued him.
"May I ask who you are...?"
Hairinbō composed himself without even considering resistance. He was no match for the man before him.
"I heard you're a renowned swordsmith, Hairinbō. Naturally, I've come to have you forge swords for me!"
Mingye released his grip, letting Hairinbō fall to the floor as he spoke indifferently.
"What are your requirements?"
Hairinbō asked. Someone this powerful would surely want formidable swords. As a swordsmith, he naturally wished to forge the strongest blade possible.
"An evil sword, and a sword of lightning! Can you do it?"
Mingye described the requirements and designs for the swords. He wanted to melt down the Five Thunder Finger and forge it into a Thunder Sword, while using the bodies of the fairly powerful demons he had slain along the way to forge an evil sword.
One righteous, one evil. Those were his requirements.
"As long as the materials are good enough, there will be no problem."
Hairinbō spoke confidently. In swordsmithing, only Tōtōsai could rival him in this age. Evil swords were his specialty, and he was no less skilled at forging demon swords.
"The materials certainly won't disappoint!"
Before you continue