Kōbe Hikaru ultimately failed.
After three consecutive days of attempts, he still could not sense the so-called Pure Qi.
It was not a matter of talent.
Kikyō had said it herself: his soul was intact, his will resolute, and his foundation was better than that of most human cultivators.
The problem lay with his body.
The Ghost Samurai shell inherently rejected Spiritual Power.
Whenever he tried to sense the faint specks of light drifting between heaven and earth, the Demonic Aura within his body would instinctively grow restless.
It was like pouring water into a boiling pot of oil.
The clash between Pure Qi and Turbid Qi completely shattered his pitifully weak connection.
“Still no luck today?”
Hikaru opened his eyes and looked at Kikyō in front of him.
The Shrine Maiden withdrew the hand she had pressed against his back and shook her head.
“Your Demonic Aura is too dense.”
“Unless you can find a way to suppress your Demonic Aura,” she explained, “it will be very difficult to sense the Pure Qi.”
“Is there a way?”
“There is.”
Kikyō paused for a moment.
“If I kill you, the Demonic Aura will naturally dissipate.”
“…”
Hikaru fell silent for two seconds.
“You are joking, right?”
Kikyō did not answer, simply turning around and walking toward the Shrine Hall.
But Hikaru could not shake the feeling that the corners of her lips had curled up ever so slightly.
‘Whatever.’
‘If I can’t learn it, I can’t learn it.’
He had never expected to master Spiritual Power in just a few days anyway.
That was something human Monks needed years of bitter cultivation to achieve.
A yōkai like him wanting a crash course?
‘I was overthinking it.’
‘But then again—’
‘Since I can’t learn Spiritual Power, I can’t just sit around doing nothing.’
‘I still need to grind the Jewel of Four Souls’ Affinity.’
Hikaru stood up from the ground and dusted himself off.
He was no longer wearing that battered Gusoku armor.
It was too conspicuous.
Although the villagers had reluctantly accepted his presence because of Kikyō, they would still take a detour in fear whenever they saw that bloodstained armor.
He was currently wearing a set of ordinary gray linen clothes, gifted to him by a kind-hearted old woman in the village.
She said they were the belongings of her late husband.
Hikaru had initially wanted to decline, but the old woman insisted that they were just gathering dust anyway, so it was better to let someone who needed them wear them.
Thus, he accepted the gift.
The clothes were a bit loose on him, but they were at least much more comfortable than that broken armor—even though the armor was actually manifested from his Demonic Aura.
However, precisely because of that, retracting it significantly lessened his burden.
Although the price was a decrease in defense, at the very least, in this village and by Kikyō’s side, there was nothing to worry about.
As for the Red Oni Mask, he kept it tucked away in a cloth pouch at his waist.
He did not wear it.
The villagers had already seen his face anyway, so wearing it again was pointless.
Besides, the two times he had worn it previously, that little girl Kaede would clamor for him to take it off, saying things like, “Big brother looks better without the mask.”
‘Kids actually have pretty normal aesthetic tastes.’
Hikaru walked down the stone steps and headed toward the eastern side of the village.
There was a small grove there, a place he had been visiting frequently lately.
Not for cultivation, but for—
“Hello there, how are you doing today?”
Hikaru stood in front of an old locust tree, speaking to its trunk.
If anyone saw this scene, they would probably think he had gone mad.
A yōkai, talking to a tree?
But Hikaru did not care.
Because the prompts on his system interface were very clear.
Yes.
He was grinding the tree’s Affinity.
The Affinity of the Jewel of Four Souls was increasing too slowly; relying solely on the Purification of slaying demons yielded limited efficiency.
But the system had stated that conversation and companionship could also increase Affinity.
Furthermore, all non-living entities, as long as they could be seen and perceived, could be subjected to Non-Living Entity Conquest.
Therefore, Hikaru decided to tackle both approaches simultaneously.
He wanted to try something he had never attempted before during his days of wandering without a fixed home.
While continuing to kill yōkai to grind the Affinity of the Jewel of Four Souls’ Straight Spirit, he would also cultivate relationships with the various non-living entities in the village.
This old locust tree was one of his targets.
It was said that this tree was over two hundred years old, making it the oldest existence in the village.
A two-hundred-year-old tree might just possess a trace of spiritual sentience.
If he could max out its Affinity, perhaps he could obtain some special ability?
‘Like…
controlling trees?’
‘Or…
photosynthesis?’
‘Forget it, the latter is useless.’
‘If it’s the former, I could try to integrate it and make it my Sixth Stage—but the probability isn’t actually that high.’
‘Unless it’s some kind of Sacred Tree.’
This was a rule Hikaru had deduced long ago: the more extraordinary the object, the stronger the talent it could provide.
Ordinary ones basically had little effect, better than nothing at best.
Otherwise, he would not still be stuck at the Five Stages up until now—because selecting useful ones was actually not an easy task.
“The weather is nice today, and the sun is very warm.”
Hikaru continued speaking to the tree, his tone peaceful.
“Your leaves are growing lushly; you look like you’re in good shape.”
“It rained a little yesterday.
You must have drank your fill, right?”
‘It went up.’
Hikaru nodded in satisfaction, turning around to head toward his next target.
…
On the stone steps of the shrine.
Kikyō stood beneath the Torii Gate, watching that gray figure in the distance.
She saw Hikaru walk up to the old locust tree and speak to its trunk for quite a while.
Then he walked over to a large rock and continued speaking.
After that, a water well.
An abandoned thatched hut.
A hoe that someone had carelessly tossed by the roadside.
For every single object, he would stop and earnestly say a few words.
Sometimes it was a greeting.
Sometimes it was idle chatter.
Sometimes it was even…
gratitude?
“You’ve stood guard here for so many years.
Thank you for your hard work.”
She heard him say this to that large rock.
“…”
Kikyō did not know what expression to make.
‘Is there something wrong with this yōkai’s brain?’
‘Talking to a rock…
can a rock even understand?’
Yet she had to admit that when Hikaru did these things, his expression was incredibly serene.
One could even call it…
gentle.
There was no perfunctoriness, nor any pretense.
It was as if he were truly communicating with those objects.
As if those objects could truly understand his words.
It was very…
unbelievable.
‘Are there really yōkai in this world who are not bloodthirsty or murderous, but instead cherish all things in creation?’
‘It is also true that he is more human than most people in this world.’
“Sister, what are you looking at?”
Kaede’s voice came from behind.
Kikyō withdrew her gaze and did not answer.
But Kaede had already followed her line of sight.
“Ah, it’s the handsome big brother!”
The little girl’s eyes lit up.
“What is he doing?
Is he talking to a hoe?”
“…”
Kikyō still remained silent.
“How strange.”
Kaede tilted her head.
“Has big brother gone silly?”
“No.”
Kikyō finally spoke.
“He is just…”
She paused, as if searching for an appropriate word.
Finally, as if giving up, she said, “He is just a little bizarre.”
“Bizarre?”
“Mhm.”
Kikyō looked at the distant figure nodding at the hoe, the corners of her lips twitching slightly.
“A bizarre yōkai.”
‘But…’
‘Not annoying.’
She added in her heart.
‘Perhaps it is precisely because of this that he was able to earn the goodwill of the Jewel of Four Souls and its Straight Spirit, right?’
The young Shrine Maiden in her white kosode and red hakama promptly withdrew her gaze, silently tightening her grip on the Jewel of Four Souls she carried with her.
Straight Spirit, Crooked Spirit.
Three days left.
That is, the night of the full moon, when Yin Energy overflows.
…
Evening.
Hikaru returned to the guest room.
He glanced at the system interface; today’s harvest was fairly decent.
‘Not bad.’
Just as Hikaru was about to lie down and rest, a new prompt suddenly popped up on the system interface.
Hikaru looked at this prompt, his brows furrowing.
‘Performing the seal alone?’
‘Yōkai within a hundred miles will be attracted?’
‘By herself?’
He stood up and walked to the window.
Through the gaps in the wooden window, he could see the direction of the shrine.
The vermilion Torii Gate cast a long shadow under the setting sun.
That figure in the white kosode and red hakama stood before the Shrine Hall, her back facing him.
Very upright, very resilient.
As cold and clear as the moon, upright and resilient like a winter plum blossom.
Yet also seemingly very lonely, blooming all by herself.
Hikaru watched for a while without speaking.
He did not go and ask Kikyō what the message conveyed by the Straight Spirit meant, because it could not be explained, and also because—
Since she did not want to say it, he would not ask.
Anyway, three days from now—
He would still be here.