[Gate of Healing: 38%] Looking at the progress bar that had shot up by a large chunk, Kamamara grinned, satisfaction appearing in his eyes.
At least risking his life to kill Akaoni had not been a waste.
He raised his head and looked toward the sky.
The sun had already set, leaving only a few strands of twilight over the earth.
It was the hour known in old tales as ōmagatoki, the time when demons and evil things began to stir.
Night was about to fall, and the monsters hidden in the dark would soon become active.
“I need to get moving.” Kamamara wasted no more time.
He quickly stood and scanned the battlefield.
On the ruined ground, the scythe handle broken in two and the scattered fragments of its blade were especially eye-catching.
That weapon had been completely destroyed in the fierce battle against Akaoni.
Kamamara planned to find a swordsmith and have a new weapon forged, so it was better to take these scythe fragments with him.
He bent down, picked up the pieces one by one, tied them together tightly with vines, and carried them on his back.
Then his gaze fell to the bottom of the crater, where a pitch-black iron club was lying half-buried beneath broken stones.
It had been Akaoni’s weapon.
After thinking for a moment, he stepped forward, gripped the shaft, and lifted it with some effort.
The heavy weight made his arm sink slightly.
Kamamara swung it hard once.
Even with his body strengthened by the panel, it was still difficult to wield.
The iron club was also far longer than he was tall.
If stood upright, it would tower over him by a large margin, making it awkward to use.
“Better than nothing.
At least it’s the only real loot.” Kamamara shrugged, hoisted the iron club onto his shoulder, and turned to leave.
But just as he took a step, he stopped again.
He reached into his robe and took out the Shikon Jewel, staring at it as it lay in his palm.
After thinking for a while, Kamamara casually tossed it into the deep crater behind him.
The Shikon Jewel rolled across the broken stones for a short distance before being stopped by a rock.
In the dim twilight, it gave off a faint violet glow.
Kamamara gave this jewel, the treasure countless yōkai and humans had fought over, one last glance.
Without the slightest reluctance, demonic power surged through his body.
A whirlwind rose from beneath his feet, wrapping around him, and his figure vanished into the depths of the forest.
Only the shattered earth and the Shikon Jewel flickering at the bottom of the crater remained behind.
— Kamamara soon found a natural cave on the side of a cliff.
He drove his demonic power into the wind and swept the cave clean, clearing out dust, animal droppings, bats, and anything else living inside.
He leaned the iron club against the stone wall of the cave, then set up a barrier at the cave entrance to hide it.
As someone who had received orthodox priestess arts from his mother, this kind of basic barrier was effortless for Kamamara.
It was no harder than turning over his hand.
Just as he lit a campfire inside the cave, the last trace of twilight outside disappeared completely.
Moonlight spilled over the earth, and night officially arrived.
At that moment, the demonic power inside Kamamara rapidly sank like a receding tide, retreating deep into his body until it vanished.
At the same time, his golden pupils instantly turned black.
His long silver-white hair was rapidly dyed with shadow, becoming jet-black.
“So this is what it feels like for a half-demon to lose demonic power and become human?” He clenched his fist, feeling the absence of demonic power inside him.
A trace of curiosity flashed through his eyes.
Although this change had happened many times in the previous owner’s memories, it was Kamamara’s first time experiencing it himself.
The feeling was very strange.
Unlike Inuyasha, who only became human on the night of the new moon, Kamamara changed into a human far more often, and for a much longer period.
When the sun rose, his demonic power returned and he became a half-demon.
When the moon rose and night fell, he became human.
In other words, he was a yōkai by day and a human by night.
His situation was very similar to a half-demon from the original story named Izumo, also known as Gyūō.
However, Gyūō had been human during the day and a yōkai at night, which was the exact opposite of Kamamara’s condition.
That was also the reason Kamamara had been so eager to finish off Akaoni before dark.
Once he lost his demonic power and became human, forget defeating Akaoni.
Whether he could even escape alive would have been unknown.
That was also why he had thrown away the Shikon Jewel earlier.
The mountain forest at night was far more dangerous than during the day.
Countless hidden yōkai would come out and roam.
If he lost his demonic power, became human, and still carried the Shikon Jewel through the mountains, it would be no different from holding a lantern in the middle of a wolf pack.
He would most likely be surrounded by yōkai drawn in by the jewel.
When he first transmigrated, he had spent an entire night peacefully with the Shikon Jewel and had not been discovered by any other yōkai.
But he had no intention of betting that he could be so lucky every night.
Knowing the plot, he understood that the Shikon Jewel was one enormous trap.
For powerful yōkai, it was like something tasteless but hard to throw away.
It had some use, but not enough to be worth the trouble.
For weak yōkai or greedy humans, although obtaining the Shikon Jewel could grant them power, they almost always ended up dying unnatural deaths for one reason or another.
As the core of the Inuyasha world’s story, the Shikon Jewel was tied up in too much karma.
Before he had enough strength, it was better to have as little to do with it as possible.
Otherwise, misfortune would probably find him sooner or later.
Kamamara skewered a few fish he had caught by the river and set them beside the campfire to roast.
Then he sat beside the flames, reached into his robe, and took out a small cloth pouch.
After untying the cord, a dozen copper coins rolled out, clinking as they fell into his palm.
“Only sixteen mon?” He counted them and showed a helpless expression.
From the previous owner’s memories, he knew that even the cheapest plain salted rice ball cost one mon.
If he wanted to eat his fill, one large rice ball would cost two mon.
In other words, the little money in his hand would not buy much of anything.
The reason the previous owner had only this pitiful amount of savings was partly because of his half-demon identity.
He had hidden in the mountains for years and rarely interacted with human villages.
Because of that, he had almost no use for money.
These copper coins had been taken from bandits he had run into not long ago.
The other reason was that in this era, which resembled Japan’s Sengoku period, copper coins were not widely circulated in rural areas.
Most transactions were done through barter.
Whether it had been his mother exorcising yōkai for villages as a priestess while she was still alive, or the previous owner occasionally hiding his identity and selling mountain goods in villages, most of the payment had come in the form of grain, vegetables, cloth, and other practical goods.
It was rare to receive copper coins, silver, or gold.
“Forget it.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll go to a nearby village first and figure out where I am.” Kamamara put the copper coins back into the pouch, tucked it safely into his robe, and reached out to turn the roasting fish over.
Unlike the previous owner, who had avoided humans because of his half-demon identity and hidden in the forest among yōkai, Kamamara did not reject his identity.
In fact, he was fairly satisfied with it.
He had the powerful strength of a yōkai, but he did not look strange or monstrous like most yōkai.
And he had no desire to hide in the mountains and live like a savage.
However, the time when he became human as a half-demon was rather troublesome.
Most yōkai preferred to move around at night, while humans were the exact opposite.
If he were like Gyūō from the original story, human during the day and yōkai at night, then whether he stayed in a human village or a forest full of yōkai, it would be much easier to hide his identity.
But Kamamara was a yōkai during the day and human at night, the exact opposite of both human and yōkai activity patterns.
During the day, when humans were active, he was a half-demon with demonic power.
If he stayed in a human village, he could easily be discovered by monks or priestesses, and would most likely be driven out or even hunted down.
At night, when yōkai roamed everywhere, he lost his demonic power and became human, making the forest extremely dangerous.
In the previous owner’s memories, every night he would hide inside a barrier until dawn.
If he was discovered by yōkai, he could only rely on the spiritual power inside him to drive them off or kill them, then immediately flee and find a new place to hide.
After all, once the previous owner lost his demonic power and became human, although he still possessed spiritual power that could restrain yōkai, he was nowhere near strong enough to fearlessly run through a nighttime forest filled with groups of monsters.
Kamamara stared at the flickering campfire and suddenly thought of something.
After Kikyo was resurrected in the original story, she seemed to often wander alone through the forest at night, never taking the yōkai in the woods seriously at all.
“The strength of the strongest priestess of the Sengoku era, huh?
No wonder she could ignore most yōkai.” He murmured softly.