The night outside the cave was very quiet, unnervingly so.
Hikaru had not walked ten steps from the cave entrance before he felt something strange.
It was the shikon jewel.
It was glowing.
The thumb-sized bead in his bosom was emitting a faint purple light through the cloth wrapping, soft but impossible to conceal.
That light pierced through the rough linen, pierced through his tattered armor, and was like a lantern in the night.
No, it was even more conspicuous than a lantern.
Because that light was mixed with a unique aura.
A mixture of spiritual power and Demonic Qi.
To humans, this aura might just be an indescribable sense of mystery.
But to demons—it was a piece of meat.
A piece of fragrant, glowing, succulent meat that would make any demon drool.
"Damn it."
Hikaru cursed under his breath.
He should have thought of this earlier.
The reason the shikon jewel was being hunted by those demons was not just because of its legend, but also because it was a massive signal source itself.
As long as it existed, and as long as it wasn't sealed, it would continuously release its aura.
Just like an eternal bonfire, attracting all the moths within a radius of dozens of miles.
"Heh—"
A low roar came from the distance.
Hikaru looked up; at the edge of the woods, countless eyes lit up in the darkness.
Red, green, yellow, purple.
Dense, like stars.
Those eyes were moving rapidly, converging toward his direction.
"Here they come again."
Hikaru pressed his left thumb against the tsuba of his sword, lowering his center of gravity.
The system panel popped up automatically.
[Detected a large number of hostile targets approaching.]
[demon blade muramasa: Mood turned to 'Excited', it conveyed a message to you: 'Time to eat again'.]
"Your attitude is quite good."
Hikaru's mouth twitched.
Before he finished speaking, the first wave of demons had already rushed out of the woods.
Leading the way were three One-eyed Demons.
They were a zhang tall, had only one huge eyeball on their heads, their skin was a rusty dark red, and each wielded a thick iron club.
"Found him!"
The leading One-eyed Demon let out an excited roar.
"The shikon jewel is on that Ghost Samurai!"
"Seize it!"
The three One-eyed Demons exerted force simultaneously, the soil beneath their feet exploded, and their huge bodies pressed toward Hikaru like three mountains of flesh.
Hikaru did not retreat.
The body of an Ghost Samurai did not know fear, and naturally, it would not be intimidated by this level of pressure.
He just calmly observed the enemies' movements, looking for openings.
The leader's iron club was raised the highest, exposing the gap under its armpit.
That was it.
Hikaru's Demonic Qi surged under his feet.
[Ghost Step].
His figure disappeared from where he stood.
The next moment, he appeared to the left of the leading One-eyed Demon.
Drawing his sword.
A black blade light slashed from bottom to top, precisely cutting into the exposed armpit.
Clang—!
The blade pierced through the One-eyed Demon's armpit, went all the way up, split its shoulder blade, and finally broke out from the neck.
This slash almost severed its entire left arm along with half of its body.
The One-eyed Demon's single eye widened, and before it could even scream, it crashed to the ground.
"Big Brother!"
The remaining two One-eyed Demons were stunned for a moment, then erupted into even crazier roars.
Two iron clubs smashed down from both left and right sides, forming a pincer attack.
Hikaru did not dodge.
His body tilted forward, and he slid along the ground, passing through the gap between the two iron clubs.
The iron clubs smashed into empty space, creating two large craters in the ground.
Hikaru had already appeared behind the One-eyed Demon on the right.
With a backhand slash, he stabbed into the back of its knee.
The tip of the blade pierced through, bringing out a spray of blood.
The One-eyed Demon's knee went soft, and it knelt on one leg.
Before it could react, Hikaru had already leaped onto its back, his blade cutting horizontally.
The head hit the ground.
The third One-eyed Demon saw this and turned to flee.
Hikaru jumped down from the One-eyed Demon's corpse, his left hand forming a spell seal.
Sorcery: Will-o'-the-Wisp Fireflies.
A mass of eerie blue flames shot out, accurately hitting the One-eyed Demon's back.
The flames exploded, and the One-eyed Demon fell to the ground with a miserable scream.
Hikaru walked over and finished it off with a single strike.
Three One-eyed Demons, in less than thirty breaths' time.
[demon blade muramasa: Favorability +1]
[Current Favorability: 28]
But this was only the beginning.
More eyes were emerging from the woods.
Blue-skinned Oni, Snake-bodied Demons, Centipede Spirits, Bird-headed Monsters...
And some hybrid demons whose names Hikaru didn't even know.
They swarmed in, surrounding Hikaru in the center.
"It's him!"
A familiar voice rang out from the demon crowd.
Hikaru looked toward the sound and found it was the same group of demons that had been hunting the old man earlier.
Or rather, the remnants of that group.
The leader was a larger Blue-skinned Oni, a head taller than the average one, with a layer of coarse scales covering its skin.
Clearly, it was their chieftain.
"It's this Ghost Samurai who stole the shikon jewel!"
The Blue-skinned Oni chieftain pointed at Hikaru and shouted to the surrounding demons.
"Kill him! The shikon jewel is ours!"
"It's ours!"
The demon crowd erupted in a world-shaking roar.
Hikaru scanned his surroundings.
A rough estimate: at least two hundred of them.
Even more than the wave outside the cave before.
It seemed the attraction of the shikon jewel was truly no joke; it had drawn in demons from several nearby mountains.
"You really are a trouble magnet."
Hikaru muttered under his breath, his right hand tightening around the hilt.
The shikon jewel in his breast pocket still emitted a faint purple glow, completely unresponsive to his complaint.
[shikon jewel: Current state 'Dormant', Favorability cannot be unlocked.]
It wouldn't even say a word.
Even harder to please than that blade.
"Fine then."
Hikaru let out a breath.
He looked up at the encircling demons; his inverted black-and-white eyes held no fear, only indifference.
"Since you insist on delivering yourselves to my door..."
He drew his blade.
The blade gleamed coldly under the moonlight, its hamon pattern faintly shimmering with purple.
"Then don't blame me for being ruthless."
The demon crowd seemed intimidated by his aura for a moment, but greed soon overrode their fear.
"Attack together!"
At the Blue-skinned Oni chieftain's command, over two hundred demons charged simultaneously.
Hikaru met them head-on.
Carving out a bloody path.
That was his only choice.
Amidst the humming sound, Hikaru swung his blade forward, slash after slash.
Slash, slash, and slash again!
[Favorability: 30]
[Unlocked Trait: Resonance with Blood]
[Unlocked Bond Dialogue (2): It tells you that it is very satisfied with today's meal and reveals a secret—its creator was a swordsmith named 'muramasa', and every blade that man forged carries a 'Bloodthirsty' curse.]
[Within your line of sight, all blood shall become your 'eyes', allowing you to resonate with blood and dance with slaughter!]