Chapter 32: Tanaka Spinal Sword! Complete!

Well, Hyakusuke did not hear a single word of those cursed remarks.

"Please... do not do that." He quickly interrupted Fuyumushi. "That is not what I am thinking at all. Furthermore, I have an important matter for which I require your assistance, Miss Fuyumushi."

Hyakusuke hurried to return to the business at hand. He had to leave the post station town tomorrow, so this matter had to be settled tonight; time was of the essence. Moreover, he would need his strength for the battle ahead, and he had no intention of wasting his energy.

"In fact, there is a place called the Plain of the Unliving, thirty miles west of this town. The locals built a cemetery there, but the place is frequently haunted." He explained his intentions to her. "If you wish to repay me, Miss Fuyumushi, could you help me find a way to eliminate the restless spirits causing trouble there?"

"I am sorry," Fuyumushi shook her head. "I am willing to repay you, Master Hyakusuke, but I am not an exorcist, and my spiritual power is not strong enough to deal with such spectral beings."

"No," Hyakusuke waved his hand with a smile. "I will handle the spirits. You only need to do one thing, Miss Fuyumushi."

"What is it?" she asked, puzzled.

"Can you not play the *kokyu*?" Hyakusuke said. "That is all you need to do."

...

The main plot of the side quest "Secret Vow of the Fairy Lake" was simple. After receiving support from the NPC Fuyumushi, the goal was to dispel the vengeful spirit of an ancient court noble at the "Plain of the Unliving Graveyard."

This court noble was obsessed with playing the *biwa* and possessed the ability to summon vengeful spirits and skeleton soldiers. Average exorcists were no match for him, and should a powerful exorcist appear, he would flee in advance, making him extremely difficult to deal with.

Upon completing the mission, one would receive a "token." By taking this "token" to the Snow Yasha Lake, one could obtain a reward from the Lord of the Lake.

"Basically, it is not very difficult. If it were the protagonist, they should be able to reach level 10 or higher according to the original plot. With Tsukigara Yomei’s strength, this battle would not be too hard."

Of course, that was assuming the male protagonist. Hyakusuke estimated his own strength to be around level 8. Moreover, he was not like Tsukigara Yomei, who had received elite training since childhood; besides mastering several arts, she had also learned the "Oborotenzuki Style Swordsmanship" passed down through her clan for generations.

According to the original setting, Tsukigara Yomei started with the full mastery of the Oborotenzuki style. However, due to her personality, she was naturally averse to fighting and harbored an aversion to war; she had no fighting spirit in the early stages, and her performance in actual combat was quite poor.

"If it were the old me, this battle at the Plain of the Unliving Graveyard would have been somewhat difficult," Hyakusuke thought. Fortunately, he had made preparations before coming.

The Seven-Section Spear, a boutique-grade long spear once used by Matsudaira Inomaro. The spear could be divided into seven segments, allowing it to be long or short at will. In game terms, it was likely a C+ grade weapon; although it lacked enchantment or special effects, it was a fine spear.

The Demon-Breaking Gauntlets, a "gift" from the second miss. These gauntlets were inlaid with a "precious orb," and one of the main materials used in their creation was the skin of a demon known as a "Crone's Hide."

Hyakusuke also possessed a newly issued ninja sword. Since it was issued to a mid-level ninja, it was much better than the one he had as a low-level ninja. The blade was coated in black to prevent reflection and treated with toxins, with several runes carved into the edge.

Additionally, his versatile waist pouch contained several talismans, as well as antidotes, healing salves, and painkillers. He had also equipped two smoke bombs and a newly developed "flash bomb," which functioned based on spiritual arts rather than chemical explosives.

Before departing, Hyakusuke checked his equipment very carefully.

"Master Hyakusuke, is there anything I need to prepare?" Fuyumushi asked again.

Hyakusuke did not answer her question, but instead asked one of his own: "Miss Fuyumushi, you know how to use the 'Silent Shadow Kill' technique, do you not?"

Fuyumushi hesitated only slightly before nodding earnestly. "Yes, I am capable of using it."

Hyakusuke thought to himself that this could be called a "divine skill" for an assassin. In this world, the vast majority of people actually possessed spiritual power within them, because from another perspective, spiritual power was the refined product of life energy. Even ordinary people who could not use magic or supernatural powers had "spiritual vessels" within them that conducted the circulation of life energy.

Powerful exorcists, even if blind, could use their spiritual power to sense individuals who possessed such energy—utilizing this characteristic, even those with weak spiritual power could be detected. Ghosts, demons, and spirits were also well-versed in this method.

However, the "Silent Shadow Kill" technique developed by the Kagemokume Organization could reduce the traces of a person’s spiritual energy circulation to a point where others could not perceive it. When faced with this, demons and exorcists who relied on spiritual perception would subconsciously ignore the other party’s presence. When developed to its limit, this technique could restrain all of one’s aura, making one seem like a lifeless stone under spiritual perception.

"That will be enough." Hyakusuke looked at the sky outside. It was dusk, and the sun was about to set. "It is getting late; we should be off."

...

"For now... I had better not go back." Tsukigara Yomei rubbed her bulging stomach.

She had eaten too much. There was no helping it; the delicacies at the post station market were too numerous, especially the snacks and pastries. She found it hard to resist the temptation and had truly eaten too much. Oddly enough, she did not know why, but her appetite had become unusually voracious lately. Moreover, compared to the past, she noticed her self-discipline had waned.

The final result was the current state of being overstuffed. Ayaka seemed to have prepared dinner, but she really could not eat another bite.

"If I go back now, I definitely won't be able to eat what Ayaka cooked, and that will only upset her." Considering she would likely be scolded by her foster sister if she returned now, she decided to walk off the meal outside.

The streets at dusk were quite beautiful. Bathed in the orange glow of the sunset, they seemed filled with the colors of a lonely mountain. As she admired the scenery, Yomei sat on a tree branch. To avoid her foster sister searching for her, she had let Matsudaira Inomaro use a *shikigami* to find her, and while hiding in the tree, she used an invisibility spell to conceal her presence.

"I will go back in an hour; she shouldn't be too worried... Besides, I need some private space occasionally." She yawned and stretched lazily.

Suddenly, she caught something in her peripheral vision. "Eh? Isn't that Master Hyakusuke?"

She narrowed her eyes to focus, noticing a familiar figure—the man wearing a straw hat. Where was Master Hyakusuke going? It was already getting dark.

He was the one who had saved her. Yomei wanted to thank him from the bottom of her heart. And... for some reason, after coming into contact with him, she always felt an indescribable sense of familiarity toward Hyakusuke.

"Where exactly have I... No, now is not the time to think about that. Also, who is that woman?" Yomei then noticed a woman walking alongside Hyakusuke; she appeared to be a wandering shrine maiden.

"Is... is that not a wandering shrine maiden? Why is Master Hyakusuke hanging around with such a woman?"

Wandering shrine maidens did not have a high social standing. Some of them engaged in prostitution, and in the earliest days, the term for such women referred to shrine maidens who later became performers in kabuki troupes, often soliciting outside the stage. Of course, there were genuine wandering shrine maidens with spiritual power who acted as folk exorcists, but there were also many who were mere impostors.

Tsukigara Yomei was surprised that Hyakusuke would associate with such a person. He had, after all, been promoted to the ranks of the retainers; being seen with a wandering shrine maiden during a mission would inevitably lead to gossip.

"Could it be... is he planning to buy her company?" She swallowed, her feelings becoming somewhat complicated. Or rather... she felt a small sense of disappointment.

"No... but Master Hyakusuke is a man, after all; such things are inevitable." Yomei thought to herself that she was a man too, and while prostitution was not exactly good, she could somewhat understand it.

She tried to convince herself, feeling a bit sullen as she pursed her lips. She had thought he was a more hardened man. Eh... but what exactly was I expecting?

Yomei wanted to get rid of the strange knot in her heart. However, driven by an impulse like a hundred claws scratching at her chest, she pulled out a *shikigami* she carried.

"Go! See what those two are up to." She gritted her teeth and tossed the paper *shikigami*. The paper figure fluttered into the air and vanished in the blink of an eye.

...

The Plain of the Unliving Graveyard.

There had originally been a bamboo grove here, which was later cleared to be converted into a cemetery. This graveyard occupied a vast area in the deepest part of the bamboo forest. The path leading to the graveyard was lined with stone Buddhas erected by nearby villagers and townspeople.

Buried here were unknown wandering ghosts and many nameless corpses that had been left to rot on the streets. In the dead of night, the graveyard was a desolate sight, filled with moss-covered tombstones and wooden grave markers. Every night, vengeful ghosts haunted the grounds, shrouded in mist, and passersby dared not approach.

Suddenly, the sound of music playing strings drifted from the void, faintly vibrating the mist and the air. Then, from another direction, the sound of a *biwa* emerged. The two melodies intertwined, as if confronting one another.

Deep within the thick fog, a figure suddenly dashed into the heart of the graveyard. He had chosen the moment when the *biwa* and the *kokyu* were locked in their standoff to charge in.

"It should be around here, right?" Hyakusuke rushed in with his spear. The moonlight was strong, but the eerie fog in the graveyard made it difficult to discern the direction.

"It is here." He sensed it now and scanned the ground.

*Crackle! Crackle!*

Dozens of pale hands reached out from the ground, stretching toward the world like bones of flowers.

"Can we finally begin?" Hyakusuke gripped his spear tightly. A sinister, icy aura permeated the air.

Skeleton after skeleton crawled out of the graveyard, their bodies coalescing with chilling spiritual energy. Hyakusuke, however, sneered at these skeletons and swung his long spear, smashing them to pieces.

"Do not get in my way; you are not who I am looking for."

Hyakusuke ran directly toward the center of the skeleton soldiers. Along the way, he smashed the skulls of any minor demons that obstructed him. The skeletons in the graveyard regenerated constantly; there was no way to kill them all. On the other hand, they were weak and not difficult to defeat, but over time, they would drain one's stamina and spiritual power.

"Found you." His gaze locked onto a skeleton warrior that had just crawled out.

This was a "Skeleton Warrior," the leader of these skeleton soldiers in the Plain of the Unliving Graveyard and one of the subordinates of the vengeful court noble. However, as a leader, its strength was not high—only slightly stronger than a minor demon. Yet, if one killed it directly, it would summon a general known as the "Gashadokuro," which would cause the difficulty of the battle in the graveyard to skyrocket.

Of course, Hyakusuke had no intention of foolishly confronting it. He kicked the rusted sword out of the hands of the rising skeleton warrior, then swept his spear, slamming the mini-boss to the ground.

"Sorry, but I am going to have to trouble you..."

Hyakusuke stepped on the skeleton warrior's armor, skillfully severing its limbs while keeping only its spine and head intact. The skeleton's jaw hung open, and cold blue phosphorous flames burned in the depths of its dark eye sockets; the skeleton warrior was clearly in a state of impotent rage.

However, this was meaningless to Hyakusuke. He lifted the "Skeleton Warrior," now reduced to only a spine and head.

"Tanaka Spinal Sword! Complete!"

The next second, he swung this new weapon, crushing the skeleton soldiers that kept popping up around him.