Three days.
It took Kōbe Hikaru three whole days to traverse the mountain ranges from the inside out.
It wasn’t that he was slow, but rather there were too many obstacles blocking his path.
The aura of the Jewel of Four Souls acted like an eternal beacon, drawing in a fresh batch of yōkai with every stretch of road he traveled.
Big ones, small ones, strong ones, weak ones, solitary ones, and packs.
All shapes, sizes, and species.
Most came for the Jewel of Four Souls, but some were simply drawn in while passing by, and others came to watch the commotion after hearing the screams of their kin, only to end up screaming themselves.
In short, it was an absolute nightmare.
Hikaru had lost count of how many he had killed.
All he knew was—
In three days, his weapon’s Affinity had increased by twenty-two points.
The efficiency wasn’t exactly high, but it was steady.
And now.
At this moment.
“Almost there,” Hikaru muttered, standing on a mountain peak and looking down at the distant plains.
The plains stretching out before him were vast and boundless, offering a completely different sensation from the endless mountain ranges he had just crossed.
Beneath the sky lay a lush expanse of greenery.
Amidst the swaying vegetation, at the very edge of his vision, he could see dozens of thatched wooden houses.
They formed a rather small settlement—only a few dozen households—yet it was the most common type of human village in this era.
It was dusk, the sun setting in the west.
The Twilight Hour.
The outskirts of the village were ringed by a wooden fence adorned with warding talismans that faintly shimmered in the sunlight.
In the center of the village stood a shrine, its red Torii Gate standing out vividly against the lush green canopy of a massive Sacred Tree.
That was within the borders of Musashi Province.
The destination spoken of by the old man from the Demon Slayer Village.
And the place where Kikyō resided.
“Finally made it,” Hikaru breathed a sigh of relief.
He had barely rested over the past three days.
Although his Ghost Samurai body felt no physical fatigue, the drain on his demonic power was very real.
If he kept burning through it like this, even if he wasn’t bitten to death by yōkai, he would drain himself dry.
For a corpse animated entirely by demonic power, running out of it meant collapsing on the spot.
And the fate of collapsing in the wilderness was easy to imagine.
Fortunately, he had pushed through and held on.
Even better, he had arrived.
He took a few steps down the mountain, his gaze sweeping across the plains.
Then, his footsteps halted.
No, something was wrong.
Around that village—
There were things.
A lot of things.
Hikaru’s pupils sharply contracted.
His [Sharp Eyes Transformation] activated at that moment, zooming in, magnifying, and clarifying the distant scene.
Crouching densely in front of the village’s wooden fence was a massive horde of silhouettes.
Gray-green, dark red, and bruised black.
Green-Skin Demons, One-Eyed Demons, Snake-Body Demons, Bird-Head Monsters, Centipede Spirits…
Yōkai of all kinds surrounded the entire village like an impenetrable tide.
Looking down from the mountain peak, it resembled a writhing, filthy mass of gray-green sludge enveloping the tiny village in its center.
A rough estimate—
Three hundred?
No.
Five hundred?
Still no.
“…At least seven or eight hundred,” Hikaru’s mouth twitched.
This lineup was even more absurd than the wave that had hunted the old man three days ago.
It was almost the sum total of all the yōkai he had encountered along the way.
But that wasn’t the worst part.
The worst part was—they were already attacking.
The yōkai horde surged toward the village from all directions, unleashing earth-shattering roars and shrieks.
A torrential downpour of attacks rained down—smashing bone clubs, tearing claws, spewing venom, and crashing demonic auras.
Yet, standing against this overwhelming assault was a single light.
A pale, semi-transparent barrier.
Hemispherical in shape, it shrouded the central shrine and a radius of twenty zhang around it.
Inside the barrier was a world of clarity and peace.
Outside the barrier was a foul stench of demonic aura.
It was like two entirely distinct worlds, sharply divided.
‘Is this…
a barrier?’ Hikaru thought, secretly astonished as he looked at the curtain of light.
Three months ago, the Elder Village Chief of the Demon Slayer Clan had displayed a similar ability—using spiritual power to form a shield of light to protect himself.
But that shield could only cover one person at most, and it would collapse before long.
But this barrier…
it covered a radius of twenty zhang, enveloping the entire shrine and dozens of villagers.
And under the frenzied assault of seven or eight hundred yōkai, it remained as steady as a boulder, showing not the slightest sign of wavering.
*Swish—!*
A piercing white light shot out from within the barrier.
It was an Exorcism Arrow, commonly used by shrine maidens, carrying potent spiritual power specifically targeted at demonic auras to purify all corruption.
The arrow pierced through the curtain of light without any hindrance, directly striking a Green-Skin Demon climbing the top of the barrier.
The Green-Skin Demon let out a miserable shriek and turned to ash.
The barrier seemed to be one-way.
It only blocked outside attacks but didn’t impede outgoing strikes.
Immediately after, a second arrow, a third arrow, and a fourth arrow were fired in rapid succession.
With a booming impact, every single arrow struck at least one yōkai.
Every yōkai hit was killed instantly—some even exploding from the inside out, dead on the spot.
The bowstring twanged, the arrow flew, the target was struck, and the enemy died.
Done in one smooth, continuous motion.
In just a few dozen seconds, over twenty yōkai had already fallen to the arrows.
Hikaru’s gaze pierced through the overlapping shadows of the yōkai, landing on the core of the barrier.
On the high stone steps of the shrine.
A figure stood there.
Dressed in a white top and red hakama, with black hair cascading like a waterfall.
Her hands were clasped together, her eyes half-closed, and her lips moved slightly as if chanting some sort of incantation.
Pale, transparent spiritual power continuously overflowed from her body, transforming into nourishment to sustain the barrier.
Meanwhile, a bow and quiver rested by her right hand.
Every few seconds, she would open her eyes, draw the bow with one hand, and loose an arrow.
She didn’t even need to open her eyes fully.
Relying solely on her spiritual perception, she could lock onto the position of every single yōkai.
Hikaru didn’t even need to think to recognize her; that was Kikyō.
Beneath her bowstring, and within her half-open, crystal-clear eyes, those roaring, howling yōkai desperately trying to break through the barrier were nothing more than moths.
Moths drawn to a flame.
“As expected of the Strongest Shrine Maiden of the Sengoku Period…” Hikaru murmured.
The Elder Village Chief of the Demon Slayer Clan was actually the strongest human spiritual power user he had seen prior to this.
Being able to deploy a barrier on his own already made him quite powerful among human Monks.
Ordinary Monks who wanted to cast a barrier needed to set up an altar and perform rituals—or even summon a Shikigami for help.
But even so, compared to Kikyō, it was like comparing a firefly to the bright moon.
The power of one person.
A barrier covering twenty zhang.
Protecting the young and old of the entire village.
All while continuously firing Exorcism Arrows to counterattack.
Flawless in both offense and defense.
It was absurdly powerful.
However, he also understood something else—the shrine maiden before him was likely not at her peak yet.
At the very least, this wasn’t the strongest state of the shrine maiden Kikyō from his memories.
She could still grow stronger.
But even so…
Seven or eight hundred yōkai.
Even if most were small fry, the sheer numbers were overwhelming.
Enough ants could bite an elephant to death.
Moreover—
Hikaru’s gaze swept over the yōkai horde, catching sight of several distinctly different figures at the very front.
Those weren’t small fry.
Those were genuine threats.
But right now, he didn’t have time to carefully observe those special entities.
Because he had more important things to do.