give it all to miss machima

Machima's eyes lit up immediately—maybe this could be a bit of fun.

"Machima, don't do this, put on your cloak."

Over this period of time, Kikyo had also figured out Machima's wicked nature.

—Machima wouldn't do anything inappropriate in front of her, but she would deliberately wear gold and silver to lure those with ill intentions to their doom.

In addition, since neither of them seemed to pose much of a threat, they encountered many groups of people along the way who wanted to rob them of their money, their virtue, or both. Sometimes they even encountered several groups of people with ill intentions in a single day.

Unfortunately, the two of them were incredibly strong fighters, and this kind of entrapment was almost always successful, which made it a pastime for Machima.

After several such incidents, Kikyo instructed Makima to wear a cloak whenever she encountered people, to keep a low profile as much as possible, and to avoid causing trouble.

Even though the latter repeatedly protested, claiming that he was doing this for the people, Kikyo was not convinced.

After all, she knew that people's hearts are the most vulnerable to being tested.

Kikyo believes that it is absolutely wrong to exploit other people's desires and deliberately lead them to commit crimes.

The two sides met a few minutes later.

Just as Chunlan said, they looked like a group of traveling merchants, with several donkeys carrying loads of goods in the procession.

Upon seeing the two people surrounded by three unusual large cats, the other party became very respectful and humble, addressing Kikyo, who was dressed as a shrine maiden, as "Shrine Maiden."

It is evident that in this year rife with demons, ordinary people still maintain a sense of awe towards clergy.

Kikyo initially seemed indifferent, but then, as if suddenly realizing something, she asked the leader:

Is there something wrong with the road ahead?

"Hey, really? Why are you suddenly asking that?"

Machima looked puzzled, while Kikyo explained:

"This road, as you can tell, used to be a bustling trade route, but now there are very few travelers. However, I haven't heard of any bandits or robbers robbing people nearby, so... could it be that a monster has appeared in this area?"

The traveling merchants exchanged glances and quickly told the two men the truth—according to them, there used to be a prosperous village a dozen miles ahead, which provided cattle, horses, and post stations.

However, due to war, it quickly declined again. Not long ago, it was said that a monster had appeared, and the entire village was destroyed. Some people even said that the demon was still lingering there and refused to leave.

Since there were demons, Kikyo couldn't ignore it. After asking for directions, she took Machima and headed out.

The latter was slightly surprised—she hadn't expected Kikyo to be able to observe such details and draw conclusions.

As it turned out, Kikyo told him that she had actually sensed a strange aura coming from ahead all along.

"You mean...there's a demonic aura?"

"No, it's more like... an aura of extremely dense resentment."

"Resentment?"

"Correct."

Kikyo nodded, and along the way, she shared with Machima the knowledge she knew about priestesses.

"The human soul can be divided into the lucky soul, the harmonious soul, the wild soul, and the strange soul... Among them, the wild soul is most prone to resentment, and if enough resentment accumulates, it can give birth to wild ghosts and demons."

Machima had never heard Kikyo mention this before, so she couldn't help but be curious:

"Are people... really divided into four souls?"

"It's just a way of putting it to be easier to understand. The soul is actually one, and everything in the world, whether human, animal, or plant, does have a soul—it's just a matter of degree, strength, or lack thereof..."

"The Four Souls themselves are neither good nor evil. The Aragami can also represent symbols of emotions such as courage. Therefore, if the Four Souls are used for positive purposes, they will become righteous spirits and may even give birth to guardian spirits. Conversely, if they do a lot of bad things, the Four Souls will be used for evil purposes and may even turn people into evil spirits... such as... Naraku."

Kikyo's eyes sharpened when she mentioned that name.

"His wild soul is probably extremely powerful, capable of fusing with countless demons. I even doubt whether my conventional exorcism methods are sufficient to completely eliminate him."

"Don't worry, Naraku will definitely be defeated. The problem is what we're facing now..."

Machima looked at the village shrouded in a thin mist in the distance and raised an eyebrow—even she felt that the atmosphere in the village ahead was very strange.

"What did those traveling merchants say this village was called again?"

"It seems to be... Sakura-kaku Village?"

Chapter 182 Ox Head and Spirit Stone

It was daytime, but as we approached the village, the sky inexplicably darkened.

The village is surrounded by a wooden fence, some of which has collapsed and looks as if it was smashed by something, but the wooden gate is intact.

Machima kicked the door open, and a mixture of smoke, blood, rotting corpses, and various other strange smells rushed out.

From here, you can get a general idea of ​​what the village looks like. A significant portion of the wooden houses have collapsed, and there are traces of fire everywhere.

Along the way, Machima saw many villages abandoned due to war, but this was the first time an entire village had been destroyed by demons.

Several strange demons roared and pounced on the two of them after hearing the noise. They were only the size of children, but had heads that were disproportionately large to their bodies. Their bodies were so thin that they were almost just bones, but their bellies were inexplicably swollen like balls.

Faced with such a small monster, the three cat demons did not make a move for the time being, after all, they all knew that this was Lady Machima's toy.

The latter casually tossed out a few ice blades to test the waters, pinning the first one to the spot.

Somewhat surprisingly, seeing their companion being attacked, the remaining monsters swarmed forward and instantly devoured their companion who was not quite dead. Then each of them swelled up a little and pounced on the two of them again.

"This is an evil spirit, not an ordinary monster."

Kikyo raised the Machima Spinal Bow and fired a demon-slaying arrow, which was instantly annihilated by powerful spiritual energy.

"It is said that they are the dead who have fallen into the realm of hungry ghosts, suffering from the hunger of eternal wounds, and will appear in places with a large number of corpses... This village is probably devoid of living people."

The commotion attracted several more demons, but this time Kikyo didn't need to lift a finger. Makima unleashed a single ghost fire, shredding the demons and burning them to ashes.

"Physical attacks are quite effective, but these small fry shouldn't be the culprits that destroyed this village, right?"

No sooner had they finished speaking than a series of heavy footsteps approached from afar. The two looked over and saw a monkey with horns on its head and a body larger than a chimpanzee, wielding an iron spear that it had somehow stolen, charging towards them.

Good heavens, these things are practically monster infantry. If there were a dozen or so of them, clad in armor, they could easily rout a small army of this era. And in a forest environment, the danger would be even greater.

"It's an ape demon, but this one seems a bit strange..."

Kikyo had already drawn her bow and nocked her arrow, but since it was rare to find a living creature for Machima to amuse herself, she naturally wouldn't miss it.

"Let me do it."

Condensing an ice sword in her hand, Machima charged forward with a slash to the ape's side. The ape angrily swung its iron spear at Machima, but was parried and countered, causing it to stagger slightly. Clearly, it hadn't expected this little sprout to have such strength.

Machima instantly froze the opponent's feet with ice, then raised her hand and condensed frost.

"Divine Flow - Frost Annihilation!"

Several sharp spikes made of ice coalesced together and then drilled forward like a drill. The ice crystals cut through the skin and shaved off flesh. The ape demon let out a miserable howl before being pierced through.

The battle ended instantly. Kikyo stepped forward, looked at the corpse that had been pierced through with a large hole, and shook her head helplessly.

—Machima always shouts out incomprehensible move names, seemingly imitating some skills she has seen, in order to kill enemies in various ways.

Although it was somewhat cruel, she had killed neither bandits nor demons who had tasted human blood, so she didn't say anything.

Of course, if it were up to her, Kikyo would prefer to eliminate the enemy cleanly and efficiently.

Upon closer inspection of the monkey demon, Kikyo indeed discovered something strange.

"The horns on its head... are very peculiar."

Machima manipulated the hair to cut it off, and upon obtaining it, she discovered that, judging from the material, it was more like a kind of stone than the skeleton or keratin of some kind of creature.

Given its golden sheen, Machima was a little worried that it might be radioactive.

After confirming there was no danger, Makima handed it to Kikyo. As soon as Kikyo took it, the golden horn underwent a strange transformation in her hand.

—The light seeped into Kikyo's palm like water, and the entire horn quickly lost its luster, then turned into a puddle of gray powder.

"...???"

Machima stared blankly at Kikyo, whose body seemed to shimmer slightly.

"Are you... alright?"

"I'm fine..."

The latter shook his head, looked at the ashes in his hand, and a knowing expression appeared on his face.

"This thing... is somewhat similar to the Shikon Jewel. It contains a trace of spiritual power and cannot be generated from the body of a yokai."

"……That?"

"This should have originally been some kind of spirit stone. This ape must have transformed into a monster by the power of the spirit stone."

Kikyo shook the dust off her hands and gave a slight smile.

"This item does have some use for me; it can replace the girl's dead soul."

"Great! Let's go kill a few more and see if there are any left!"

The two continued forward and soon discovered a huge bull-headed monster in the open space ahead.

This thing was even more exaggerated in size than the previous ape demon, and it was wearing a heavy suit of armor like a samurai. Its eyes were flashing with bloodlust, and it was pacing back and forth under a cherry blossom tree, pulling a nail-headed iron hammer as thick as a tree trunk in one hand.

More importantly, the horn on this guy's head, just like the previous ape demon, was shining with a golden light.

"Leave it to me!"

With the three cats in charge of protecting Kikyo, Makima enters her Silver King form—though this time she's not that big, just on par with the enemy.

The odd rider versus the odd footman, the advantage is mine!

Wielding a wrist-bone lance, Machima launched a devastating charge against her opponent.

The latter had more brute force than agility. He swung his big club but could not hit the nimble Machima no matter how hard he tried. Even with two horns on his head, he could not catch up with her swiftness.

After a few rounds, Machima killed him.

With practiced ease, Makima severed the opponent's horn and returned to Kikyo's side:

"Is this okay too?"

The spirit stone quickly turned to ashes in Kikyo's hands, but the latter seemed lost in thought:

"Something's strange... Why did so many monsters obtain spirit stones? And then destroy this village together? These spirit stones... should be quite precious."

After Kikyo said that, Makima also vaguely felt that this matter... seemed to be more complicated than it appeared.

However, she still shrugged:

"Didn't the Shikon Jewel still turn into countless stars and scatter in all directions? Perhaps these spirit stones also fell out for some reason and were obtained by these monsters."

She reached out her hand to Kikyo:

"Let's go, let's clean up this village first. If you're interested, we can investigate and maybe we'll find some clues."

Chapter 183 Horse-faced Demon and Soul Core

Machima instinctively picked up Kikyo, but then realized that her size didn't allow her to support Kikyo with one hand this time.

It's possible to carry someone with one hand, but it might not be very convenient during a fight.

After thinking about it, Machima placed Kikyo on her back.

The latter was somewhat embarrassed:

"This... I think I'll keep going, I just feel a bit..."

"Oh, it's nothing. I don't care how slowly you walk, so why do you care?"

And sooner or later, I'll ride you back!

Carrying Kikyo on her back, Machima charged straight ahead, beginning her all-out effort to wipe out the demons in the village.

The two soon discovered that, apart from some evil spirits and undead warriors who resembled skeleton soldiers, the village was mostly populated by humanoid demons.

They appear to be dressed as warriors, but their bodies are also fused with spirit stones of very low purity. Although they retain some martial arts skills, they are incapable of rational communication. As soon as they see Machima, they will howl and rush over.

Machima increasingly felt that the destruction of the village seemed premeditated and organized.

After clearing out the enemies in the village, the two were about to continue their journey when Machima suddenly felt that the world before her eyes seemed to have become darker, as if a thick, dark filter had been added to all the scenery.

"What...what's going on?"

At the same time, she felt her Silver King body as heavy and weak as if it were filled with lead, and even her breathing became rapid involuntarily.

Makima had actually had a vague feeling about this when she was facing that minotaur, but it returned to normal after she killed it, so she didn't pay much attention to it.

But now, that feeling is several times stronger.