Kikyo glanced at him.
"Do you still want to continue?"
"Of course."
Kobe Hikaru said matter-of-factly, "I already said I want to learn; how could I give up after just one try?"
Kikyo was silent for a moment.
"...Suit yourself."
She turned and walked toward the Shrine Hall.
Her white robe and red trousers were particularly striking in the sunlight.
Kobe Hikaru watched her retreating figure.
Although his purpose for learning spiritual power was indeed to become stronger.
But if he could be in such close contact with Kikyo every day...
Then it wouldn't be a loss.
He shook his head and suppressed the thought.
He turned and walked toward the empty house at the entrance of the village.
Volume 1: Chapter 19 - The Bizarre Yokai in Kikyo's Eyes Who Likes to Talk to Himself, Though the Bizarre One Is Not Annoying
Kobe Hikaru ultimately failed.
After three consecutive days of attempts, he was still unable to sense that so-called "pure energy."
It wasn't a problem of talent.
Kikyo had said it herself: his soul was complete, his will was tough, and his foundation was better than most human practitioners.
The problem lay in this body.
The Oni Samurai's vessel naturally repelled spiritual power. Whenever he tried to sense the faint specks of light drifting between heaven and earth, the Demonic Qi within his body would instinctively stir.
It was like splashing water into a pot of hot oil.
The pure energy and the turbid energy clashed, scrambling his meager sense of connection to pieces.
"Is it not working today either?"
Kobe Hikaru opened his eyes and looked at Kikyo in front of him.
The shrine maiden withdrew her hand from his back and shook her head.
"Your Demonic Qi is too dense."
She said, "Unless you can find a way to suppress the Demonic Qi, it will be difficult to sense the pure energy."
"Is there a way?"
"Yes."
Kikyo paused, "Kill you, and the Demonic Qi will naturally be gone."
"..."
Kobe Hikaru was silent for two seconds.
"You're joking, right?"
Kikyo did not answer, just turned and walked toward the Shrine Hall.
But Kobe Hikaru always felt that the corners of her mouth seemed to curve up slightly.
Forget it.
If he couldn't learn it, he couldn't learn it.
He hadn't expected to master spiritual power within a few days anyway; that stuff required years of hard cultivation even for human mages. A yokai like him wanting a crash course?
He was overthinking it.
However, having said that—
Since he couldn't learn spiritual power, he couldn't just sit around idly.
He still had to grind for the shikon jewel's favorability.
Kobe Hikaru stood up from the ground and brushed the dust off his body.
He no longer wore that tattered armor.
It was too flashy.
Although the villagers reluctantly accepted his existence because of Kikyo, they would still be scared and take a detour whenever they saw that blood-stained armor.
He was now wearing a plain gray hemp robe, a gift from a kind old woman in the village.
She said it was a keepsake from her late husband.
Kobe Hikaru originally wanted to refuse, but the old woman said it was just sitting there anyway, so it was better to let someone who needed it wear it.
So he accepted it.
This outfit was a bit loose on him, but at least it was much more comfortable than that broken armor—even though that armor was actually also formed from his Demonic Qi. However, precisely because of that, putting it away significantly reduced his burden.
Although the cost was a reduction in defense, at least in this village, by Kikyo's side, there was no need to worry about anything.
As for that crimson Oni mask, it was still kept in the cloth bag at his waist.
He wasn't wearing it.
Anyway, the villagers had already seen his face, so there was no point in wearing it again.
Plus, he had worn it twice before, and that girl Kaede would clamor for him to take the mask off every time she saw him, saying things like, "Big Brother looks better without the mask."
A child's aesthetic sense was actually quite normal.
Kobe Hikaru walked down the stone steps and headed toward the east side of the village.
There was a small grove there, which was a place he frequently visited lately.
Not for cultivation, but for—
"Hello there, how are you doing today?"
Kobe Hikaru stood in front of an old locust tree and spoke to the trunk.
If anyone saw this scene, they would probably think he was crazy.
A yokai talking to a tree by himself?
But Kobe Hikaru didn't care.
Because the prompt on the system panel was very clear.
[ old locust tree: Current favorability 3 (Sprouting) ]
[ It conveyed a vague message to you: "Your voice is very gentle, I like listening to you speak." ]
Yes.
He was grinding the tree's favorability.
The shikon jewel's favorability increased too slowly; relying solely on 'purifying' by slaying yokai had limited efficiency.
But the system had said that conversation and companionship could also increase favorability.
Furthermore, all non-living things, as long as they could be seen and perceived, could be 'conquered.'
So Kobe Hikaru decided to tackle both.
Trying things he hadn't attempted before when he was wandering around without a fixed home.
On one hand, continuing to slay yokai to grind the shikon no tama: naohi favorability, and on the other, cultivating relationships with all sorts of non-living things in the village.
This old locust tree was one of his targets.
It was said that this tree had a history of over two hundred years and was the oldest existence in the village.
A two-hundred-year-old tree might already have a trace of spirituality.
If he could max out the favorability, maybe he could obtain some special ability?
For instance... controlling trees?
Or... photosynthesis?
Forget it, the latter was useless.
If it were the former, he could try to integrate it and make it his Six Transformations—but the probability was actually not high.
Unless it was some kind of 'divine tree.'
This was a rule Kobe Hikaru had summarized long ago: the more extraordinary the object, the stronger the 'talent' it could provide.
Ordinary ones basically had little effect, better than nothing.
Otherwise, he wouldn't still be at 'Five Transformations' until now—because choosing useful ones was actually not an easy thing.
"The weather is nice today, the sun is very warm."
Kobe Hikaru continued to speak to the tree, his tone calm.
"Your leaves are growing very lushly, you look in good condition."
"It rained a little yesterday, you must be full, right?"
[ old locust tree: Favorability +1 ]
[ Current favorability: 4 ]
It went up.
Kobe Hikaru nodded with satisfaction and turned to walk toward the next target.
...
On the stone steps of the Shrine Hall.
Kikyo stood under the torii gate, watching the gray figure in the distance.
She saw Kobe Hikaru walk to the old locust tree and talk to the trunk for quite a while.
Then he walked to a large rock and continued talking.
Then a water well.
An abandoned thatched cottage.
A hoe someone had left on the side of the road.
At every single thing, he would stop and earnestly say a few words.
Sometimes it was a greeting.
Sometimes it was small talk.
Sometimes even... thanks?
"You've been guarding this place for so many years, thank you for your hard work."
She heard him say that to the large rock.
"..."
Kikyo didn't know what expression to use.
This yokai, is there something wrong with his brain?
Talking to a stone, can the stone understand?
But she had to admit that when Kobe Hikaru was doing these things, his expression was very calm.
One could even say it was... gentle.
There was no perfunctoriness, nor was there any pretense.
It was as if he were truly communicating with those things.