Minamiya Chiya had finally obtained the kind of overpowered cheat every transmigrator was supposed to have.
He had technically gotten a system a year ago, sure, but if one were talking about a true game-changing "hack," then today was the real beginning.
Just compare it to the beginner gift pack he had received right after transmigrating.
There had only been four things inside: a basic Dao sword, a basic spirit-breathing technique, a bottle of basic spiritual pills, and a basic compendium of Daoist arts.
But now, two hazy images like drifting mist had appeared before his eyes.
The image on the left showed Chiya as he currently was, dressed the same as always, except in that picture he was holding a Dao sword and sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion while breathing in spiritual energy. Floating above his head were several glittering golden words:
Level 3 Exorcist(The current world's cultivation power ranking)
P.S. Level 3 Exorcist, Level 2, Level 1, Soldier Rank, General Rank...
The image on the right was a large storage space.
Its bottom could not be seen clearly, while above it floated fifty slots in total. Three of them currently held the rewards from this exorcism commission, and one more contained the elemental aura fragment left behind after the female ghost's death.
[One Year of Hard-Cultivated True Qi: Can be infused into the host's body at any time!]
[One Bottle of Healing Spirit Pills: Can treat injuries of various degrees, including both internal and external wounds!]
[Protective Talisman: Can defend the wearer against sorcery from minor ghosts and below, protecting them from harm for five minutes!]
[Earth and Water Attribute Fragment: All things in heaven and earth possess attributes. Absorbing them into oneself can strengthen the Five Element spiritual meridians~]
Nice. Very nice. This is the feeling... It's getting more and more like that rebellious little cultivation mobile game.
And the earth and water attribute fragment that dropped after killing that little female ghost... that's basically the foundation for using Five Element Dao arts later on. It really is just like that mobile xianxia game.
Chiya's thoughts stirred, and he immediately began experimenting.
With a single mental command, the earth and water aura fragments left behind by the female ghost instantly flowed toward the human figure on the left side of the system panel. Threads of black and pale yellow attribute energy quickly poured into the image.
Right after that, Minamiya Chiya felt the changes in his own body.
Within him, the radiance of earth and water attributes began to flicker faintly.
Of course, the aura fragments from that female ghost were nowhere near enough to fully light up the earth and water meridians. If anything, they had only covered about one percent of the total.
Even so, just that tiny amount had already brought about a noticeable change in his body.
Especially in terms of absorbing the spiritual energy of this world, his efficiency had improved by nearly twenty percent compared to before.
More importantly, he could now use stronger earth- and water-aligned Daoist arts.
That said, he would still need to practice those two elemental techniques a lot more later.
Next, Chiya infused the reward labeled One Year of Hard-Cultivated True Qi into himself.
In an instant, his cultivation advanced by another step. On the left side of the panel, the words Level 3 Exorcist transformed into Level 2 Exorcist.
So taking requests from adult-anime heroines and then killing ghosts makes me stronger?
Not bad at all.
If that's how it works, then I'll need to find more special characters, accept their missions, and conveniently kill ghosts along the way. That way I'm profiting from both ends... heh. I can flirt with girls and strengthen myself at the same time. This is an absolute win.
In this world, Minamiya Chiya needed the surrounding spiritual energy in order to use Daoist arts.
That meant the more ghosts he killed, the stronger he would become. The power of the techniques he cast would also keep rising, because he would be gathering more and more elemental aura fragments.
...
Out on the street, Hoshizuki Kaede was still clinging to him from behind.
The kind of cling where her whole body was pressed tightly against his.
The girl was still trembling a little, probably because the female ghost's face had frightened her badly just now. That soft shiver running through her body created a very pleasant sensation for Chiya. Those soft, springy curves kept rising and falling against his back in a way that was extremely difficult to ignore.
"Ahem. Little Miss Hoshizuki, that ghost has already been cut down. If you keep hugging me like this, I'm going to start charging extra, you know~"
Even though Minamiya Chiya was thoroughly enjoying the feeling of Hoshizuki Kaede pressed against him, this matter was not completely over yet.
There was still lingering ghostly residue on her arm.
If he did not help her clean that off tonight, then she could forget about getting a proper night's sleep for at least the next three days.
These filthy things were highly damaging and disruptive to ordinary humans.
That was precisely why regular people had no way of dealing with demons and ghosts.
Under normal circumstances, most people never even got the chance to see such things. More often than not, a ghost would mark them or do something to them without them ever noticing. In that regard, both China and this island nation were the same.
As for the so-called "eight million gods" of the island nation, many of them were, in truth, just demons and spirits called by another name. Quite a few had even developed out of myths and supernatural tales originally rooted in China, only to be localized and passed down over centuries until they became part of the island's own traditions.
And because some monsters were so widely known, they had become especially powerful.
For example, Tamamo-no-Mae, Yamata no Orochi, and Shuten-doji.
As for whether great monsters like those truly existed in this world, Minamiya Chiya did not know yet.
Still, he had already been wary of that possibility from the very beginning.
That was why, after arriving in this world, he had mostly kept his activities confined to Osaka. Places like Tokyo and other major urban regions were still beyond what his strength could safely handle.
But now, with his cheat finally waking up properly, once he developed in secret for a while, even the island nation's great monsters would be beaten into crying for mercy.
"Master Minamiya... you're teasing me again."
When Hoshizuki Kaede heard him say that, she finally came back to her senses. Only then did she let go of him and step away from the broad, warm shelter of his back.
When she had been pressed there just now, it had felt warm.
Safe.
"Has that filthy thing really been completely removed, Master?"
As she spoke, Hoshizuki Kaede stood on tiptoe and glanced toward the streetlamp. Once she saw that the terrifying white-clothed, black-haired female ghost had truly vanished, her heart finally settled.
"Mm. More or less, yes. The overall problem is solved. There's just still a small issue on your body, but I'll deal with that for you too."
As he spoke, Chiya snapped his fingers toward the streetlamp and formed another hand seal, summoning back the basic Dao flying sword lying on the ground.
Now that the amount of true qi in his body had increased, using this kind of sword control barely consumed anything at all.
So naturally, he took the chance to show off a little in front of Hoshizuki Kaede.
Showing off was pretty fun sometimes.
"Wah...!"
Seeing the sword fly back to him, Hoshizuki Kaede's eyes practically lit up with hearts.
Her understanding of this young exorcist master's strength rose by several more levels. In her eyes, a method like this was already no different from divine power.
After retrieving the Dao sword, Minamiya Chiya once again took hold of Hoshizuki Kaede's pale arm without ceremony. Her face turned a soft red, her moist eyes shimmering as she looked at him.
"There's still some residual aura left on you. I'll need to prepare a Daoist medicinal bath to cleanse your body. You'll come back to my courtyard with me for now."
"Okay, Master Minamiya! Oh, right... about the payment..."
Only then did Hoshizuki Kaede remember.
Minamiya Chiya had just saved her life, yet the two of them had never actually discussed his fee.
"Oh, the payment is... let me go to your house and have a home-cooked meal first."
"And not just once. I'll probably be coming over regularly for a while. Can you agree to that, Little Miss Hoshizuki?"
Wearing a faint smile, Minamiya Chiya lightly rubbed her fingers in his hand as though he were stroking a piece of smooth, precious jade.
"Ah? That simple?!"
Hoshizuki Kaede did not even notice that he was quietly taking advantage of her.
She had originally assumed Minamiya Chiya would ask for a large sum of money. After all, she had heard before that this exorcist master cared very much about money. Otherwise, how could he have managed to buy such a massive property in the city center within just one year?
That kind of information had already spread in small circles online.
If her younger sister had not been especially curious about strange supernatural stories and bizarre rumors like these, Hoshizuki Kaede might never have thought to ask an exorcist like Minamiya Chiya for help in dealing with the paranormal incident surrounding her.
"You call that simple? Then I guess I'll have to eat at your place quite a few times."
"Oh, and your cooking isn't terrible, right?"
Minamiya Chiya raised an eyebrow, holding back a laugh.
Go ahead, be happy about it now. Once I've eaten both you and your little sister clean, let's see if you'll still be saying 'That simple?'
...