“Sis!” When Kikyo heard Kaede calling from behind her, she looked back and saw Kamamara catching up, with Kaede on his back waving at her.
Kikyo frowned slightly.
“Why did you two follow me?” “To help you, of course.” Kamamara slowed his pace and walked to her side, smiling as he spoke.
“I may have lost my demonic power, but I’m not some ordinary person with no ability to fight.
I can still help clear out cannon-fodder yōkai.” “…Don’t stray too far from me.” Kikyo hesitated briefly, but in the end, she nodded and quietly warned him.
The three of them soon arrived at the place where the battle was happening.
A young woman dressed in priestess robes was fighting a swarm of yōkai with a naginata in hand.
The naginata in her grip was covered in dense spiritual power.
Even surrounded by yōkai, she swung it with airtight precision.
Every strike could cleave a yōkai into pieces.
What stood out, however, was that her priestess robes were not the proper red and white.
Instead, they were gray-blue.
Aside from the same general style, the colors gave her clothing a darker, colder feeling.
Tsubaki.
Seeing that familiar outfit, surprise flashed through Kamamara’s eyes.
He had not expected to meet this woman here.
“That person looks like… the priestess named Tsubaki?!” Kaede, lying on Kamamara’s back, saw the priestess ahead and murmured in surprise, confirming his guess.
From the original story, it was clear that Kikyo and Tsubaki had crossed paths several times, and had even fought side by side before.
But Kamamara had not expected to run into her here.
“Whoosh!” Kikyo pulled back her bowstring without hesitation.
A sacred arrow shot through the air and instantly killed the yōkai lunging toward Tsubaki.
When Tsubaki saw the familiar sacred arrow, her expression froze.
She turned her head and saw Kikyo drawing another arrow.
Tsubaki immediately slashed horizontally with her blade, cutting apart the yōkai in front of her, then moved toward Kikyo’s direction.
“Kikyo, why are you here?” Kikyo did not answer.
Sacred arrows flew from her hand one after another, helping Tsubaki tear open a gap in the yōkai encirclement.
Kamamara glanced at Kikyo.
He did not know whether Tsubaki had already placed that curse on her at this point.
But judging from Kikyo’s actions, she clearly did not harbor hostility toward Tsubaki right now.
That meant the incident probably had not happened yet.
At this point, Tsubaki likely had not developed much malice toward Kikyo.
Only later, after the two met several more times and Tsubaki realized that both her strength and her heart were inferior to Kikyo’s, would jealousy drive her to place that vicious curse on Kikyo.
“Kaede, hide beside your sister.
I’m going to help.” Kamamara set Kaede down, stretched his limbs, and a flicker of eagerness appeared in his eyes.
It was not easy to run into this many yōkai gathered together.
There was no way he would miss it.
All of them were progress for the Eight Inner Gates Formation.
“Be careful!” Kaede quietly warned him, then obediently ran behind a huge rock near Kikyo and hid there.
“Kamamara, you don’t have a weapon.
Just protect Kaede.” Kikyo noticed his movement and tried to stop him.
“It’s fine.
My fists are enough.” Kamamara clenched his fists, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile.
“Gate of Healing, open!” The moment his voice fell, he opened the first two Gates of the Eight Inner Gates Formation without hesitation.
His figure suddenly turned into a black blur, weaving through the moonlight as he charged straight into the swarm of yōkai.
A faint layer of glowing spiritual power covered his fists.
Every punch he threw blasted a yōkai into powder.
He did not open the third Gate, the Gate of Life.
First, opening it would put an obvious burden on his body, and his appearance would also change abnormally.
Second, these were only weak yōkai.
Even without demonic power, with the strength and speed of his reinforced body, opening the Gate of Healing was already more than enough.
On the other side, Tsubaki had already regrouped with Kikyo.
The two stood back to back, killing the yōkai closing in on them with practiced coordination.
Tsubaki watched Kamamara rely on speed so fast it was almost impossible to follow with the naked eye, using only his fists and feet to slaughter the surrounding yōkai.
While swinging her blade, she asked, “Kikyo, who is that man?
Is he your beloved?” “Only someone I met while traveling.” Kikyo’s sacred arrows did not stop, and her expression remained calm as she answered.
“Is that so…” Tsubaki spared a moment to glance at her, then said meaningfully, “A priestess can only bring out her greatest strength by abandoning mortal feelings.
And yet…” Before she could finish, a voice suddenly sounded beside her ear, making her entire body stiffen in fright.
“What are you two talking about?
Let me join in.” Tsubaki looked in shock at Kamamara, who had suddenly appeared behind her.
She hurriedly retreated several steps and stared warily at this strange man.
She knew very well that if this man had wanted to kill her just now, she would not have had the slightest chance to react.
Kamamara glanced at the wary Tsubaki and had no interest in dealing with this woman who would one day go mad with jealousy.
He turned and charged toward the remaining yōkai again.
Wasting time on a future lunatic like Tsubaki was not as useful as killing a few more yōkai.
Although these weak yōkai did not improve his progress much anymore, every little bit still counted.
If he accumulated enough small gains, they would eventually add up to a real change.
He stomped down and crushed the head of the last yōkai in front of him.
Watching the demonic power spill from the dead yōkai and flow into his body, Kamamara’s face showed a look of satisfaction.
While killing the yōkai just now, he had deliberately paid attention to Kikyo and Tsubaki’s reactions.
When the demonic power entered his body, neither of them showed any unusual response.
Clearly, they could not see the invisible demonic power.
That let him finally set aside his concerns and focus fully on killing yōkai.
On the battlefield, aside from broken yōkai corpses, no living yōkai came near them anymore.
Kamamara took the initiative to close the Eight Inner Gates.
A faint fatigue rose inside his body, but it was not serious.
This was also within his expectations.
Although he had lost his demonic power and looked human, a half-demon was still a half-demon.
His physical strength remained far beyond that of an ordinary person.
Even without demonic power, which meant his recovery speed was not as good as during the day, he was still far stronger than human monks or priestesses.
“Kikyo, thank you for your help.” After the battle ended, Tsubaki thanked Kikyo.
Then she turned to Kamamara, her eyes full of scrutiny.
“And thank you as well, monk.” Clearly, she was very curious about the relationship between Kamamara and Kikyo.
But neither Kikyo nor Kamamara had any intention of giving her a detailed introduction.
Tsubaki did not press the matter either.
After a simple farewell, she turned and left, offering no explanation for why she had appeared in the mountains at night or why she had drawn so many yōkai to her.
“That woman doesn’t seem like a good person.” Kamamara watched Tsubaki disappear into the night and spoke with deliberate meaning.
“Yes.
She does make people uncomfortable.” Kikyo also nodded, agreeing with him.
“Huh?
Why?” Hearing their opinions of Tsubaki, Kaede looked confused.
Kamamara reached out and rubbed Kaede’s head, explaining the reason.
“Dummy, it’s the middle of the night, and that woman ran alone into a deep mountain forest like this.
On top of that, she attracted so many yōkai.
One look is enough to tell she was doing something shady.” “So that’s why!” Kaede suddenly understood.
Then she asked in confusion, “Then why did we save her?” “Because that’s only our guess.” Kamamara raised his head and glanced at Kikyo, then explained to Kaede, “Kikyo obviously wouldn’t stand by and watch Tsubaki be killed by yōkai just because of an unrelated suspicion.” “That’s enough.
Let’s go back and rest.
We still need to travel tomorrow.” Kikyo did not refute him.
She turned and walked back toward their campsite.
“Let’s go, brat.” Kamamara lifted Kaede onto his back again and quickly followed Kikyo.
“Oh, right, Kikyo.” He suddenly spoke, his tone growing a little more serious.
“That woman doesn’t seem to have good intentions toward you.
Be careful around her.” “Yes.
I’ll keep that in mind.” Kikyo answered softly.
Clearly, she had also sensed Tsubaki’s malice toward her.