Hojo Ujiyasu clenched her fists.
Kyoto. The Shogun. The Onmyo Bureau. These seemingly distant existences were still very much influencing the war situation in the Kanto region.
"Then what about your people?"
Hojo Ujiyasu asked suddenly: "Those monsters under your command—the likes of Yamagata Masakage, how many more are there?"
Takeda Shingen glanced at her. She smiled. It was a smile neither deep nor shallow, carrying a hint of playfulness.
"You will know in the future."
"That is not what you should be worrying about right now."
She stood up, the front of her yukata slipping slightly, and the exposed part made Hojo Ujiyasu avert her gaze once again.
"First, reinforce your northern defense line."
"As for Imagawa—"
"She will not move for the time being."
It is not that she dares not, nor that she cannot. It is simply that she will not.
...
Musashi Province, Kaede Village. Twilight was approaching.
Unlike the blood and fire of the battlefield hundreds or thousands of miles away, this small village still maintained a rare tranquility, counting as a sanctuary in the chaotic Warring States period.
The rice ears in the fields hung their heads heavily, smoke rose from the rooftops, and occasionally, an ox cart would creak past on the village road.
The shrine was situated at the highest point of the village.
The light of the Barrier shimmered faintly in the air; the compound Barrier set up by Kikyo was still operating stably—defense, warning, and purification, three layers superimposed, enveloping the entire village within.
But outside the Barrier, on a hill to the north, a figure was standing and watching.
White robe and red hakama. Miko attire. Tsubaki. Alone.
She had not brought her fellow junior sisters, the red and white miko, Momiji, and the blue and white miko, Botan.
She had only taken a step ahead, arriving here in advance.
Although she had prepared how to deal with Kikyo and Kanbe Hikaru, Tsubaki did not rush directly into the Barrier.
She merely lifted her head here and looked toward the direction of the shrine.
A meticulously crafted smile hung on her beautiful face, and the upward curve of her eyes carried arrogance.
Her hands were hidden in her sleeves. In her sleeve, she held a small porcelain bottle.
The liquid inside the bottle was dark red. Demon blood.
The blood that had splattered when that immortal demon attacked outside the Demon Slayer Village last time. After the battle ended, Tsubaki had secretly collected some.
As a miko, her combat ability was certainly not top-tier. Compared to the terrifying spiritual power of Kikyo—who could kill high-level demons with a single arrow and even threaten Great Yokais—she was far behind.
But she possessed the top-tier talent of a normal miko, or rather, a standard human mage. As long as she was given enough time, she could also devise many methods to deal with powerful enemies.
Over the past month, she had conducted exhaustive experiments on that bottle of demon blood.
She had no way to break the demon's immortality—the nature of that regenerative ability, which had nothing to do with demons, exceeded the scope of her common understanding. It wasn't Demonic Qi, nor was it spiritual power; it was more like an unsolvable disease... or, a medicinal effect?
But she had discovered one thing. High concentrations of demon blood had an extremely strong attraction to their own kind.
Within a hundred miles, as long as this bottle of blood was exposed to the air, those evil demons hiding in dark corners would swarm over like sharks smelling blood.
In the meantime, Tsubaki looked at the faint light of spiritual power above the shrine in the distance. She could feel that this Barrier was very strong. The spiritual power contained within it was even purer. Kikyo's strength was also greater than when they last met; she had improved again.
But it didn't matter. What she wanted was not to defeat Kikyo head-on. What she wanted was—to make Kikyo 'kill'. More precisely, to make others believe that Kikyo was killing people.
Demons were not yokai. Demons were existences formed by humans who had been infected and mutated by special blood. In the perception of the Tahoto miko, the life aura of a demon was extremely similar to that of a human—because they were originally humans. They were patients. Patients eroded by a disease, unable to turn back.
If Momiji and Botan arrived and saw Kikyo standing among a pile of human corpses—then all the lies she had fabricated before would all come true.
"Fallen miko." "Accomplice to a ruthless, murderous demon." "A wicked woman who would even kill the sick."
As long as she could make Kikyo waver for an instant... she would have a chance.
Tsubaki's fingers stroked the mouth of the porcelain bottle, and the curve of her lips deepened.
Momiji and Botan were still on the road, and she had deliberately set out a day early. Because she needed time, she needed to set the stage for this play before her two junior sisters arrived.
"Kikyo, oh Kikyo..."
She whispered, a cold, sinister smile appearing on her beautiful face: "This time, you cannot win."
The twilight deepened.
Tsubaki's figure retreated into the thicket beside the mountain path, vanishing outside the sensory range of the Barrier.
She was waiting.
Waiting for nightfall.
Waiting for those evil demons, having smelled the scent of their own kind's blood, to crawl out from the darkness in every direction.
Waiting for them to swarm toward Kaede Village.
Waiting for Kikyo to be forced to act.
Waiting for Momiji and Botan to see the most 'appropriate' scene at the most 'appropriate' moment.
Her plan had only just begun.
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