Chapter 163: Riding the Wind and Breaking the Waves

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By the time the banquet ended, it was already late at night, and the demon-hunting ship had thoroughly penetrated the Pacific Ocean.

The crowd gradually rested. Minamoto Kiyomoto, as the only one who could sense the location of the “Coral Demon Moth,” came to the deck.

He hadn’t felt it inside the cabin, but when he came out, he discovered that a storm had already stirred up on the sea.

“My lord!” Amatsumara said loudly, “It’s a storm yokai!”

When a storm yokai attacked land, it would destroy buildings and bring all kinds of strange and dangerous creatures, but it wasn’t very harmful to practitioners.

The sky was dark, and the heavy rain hit their faces, so cold it pierced their bones.

The huge waves were like black mountains, pushing and collapsing against each other, endless.

It was also like countless yokai galloping and roaring, deafening, about to crush everything in the world into pieces.

In this boundless ocean, the demon-hunting ship that filled the entire Tokyo Bay was no different from a seagull.

The small demon-hunting ship was now like an angry goat, ramming its bow into one heavy wave after another.

Minamoto Kiyomoto stood on the deck, his legs as if cast from steel. No matter how the sea currents surged, he did not move an inch.

“What is that?” His eyes burned with black flames, and his heavenly eyes stared into the depths of the darkness.

Amatsumara looked in the direction he was pointing. The sky was dark, and he couldn’t see anything. He could only hear the roar of the waves in his ears.

“Stop the ship!” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s face suddenly darkened.

In the storm, in the depths darker than darkness, there was actually a wall of heaven.

Amatsumara couldn’t see clearly and was stunned for a moment. Then he shouted at the parrot on his shoulder, “Stop the ship!”

“My lord—”

A huge wave came crashing down. Before Amatsumara could finish speaking, he quickly followed Minamoto Kiyomoto and flew up the mast to avoid the wave.

Some practitioners on the deck who couldn’t dodge in time were instantly thrown upside down, lying on the deck as if they were climbing a mountain.

The higher they were, the more ferocious the power of the storm yokai became.

“There’s a wall in the sea ahead,” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at the wall of heaven. “What is that?”

“A wall?” Amatsumara’s face was full of doubt. “My lord, Japan rarely forms demon-hunting fleets. We know almost nothing about the sea.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto summoned his divine power, and his eyes shot out a soaring black light, like a sharp arrow, piercing through the waves and into the storm.

The black light scanned up and down, but he couldn’t see the end of the wall of heaven.

“Follow me!” Minamoto Kiyomoto pondered for a moment, then flew into the storm.

Amatsumara quickly followed.

The two of them, one with black divine power and the other with volcanic ash divine power, blended into the dark sky in the blink of an eye.

The storm became more and more fierce. Practitioners below twenty subjugations probably couldn’t even control the wind.

Amatsumara followed Minamoto Kiyomoto through the huge waves. After flying for three or four minutes, he still couldn’t see the wall that Minamoto Kiyomoto had mentioned.

He casually sent out a qi force, and a deep pit exploded on the sea surface. A giant shark that was about to bite was torn to pieces.

The bloodstains and the deep pit were washed away and filled by the waves in the next moment.

Minamoto Kiyomoto kept looking ahead. The deep-sea giant beasts they encountered along the way were all handled by Amatsumara.

After flying for another two minutes, just as Amatsumara was about to speak, he suddenly caught a glimpse of the wall.

The sky was covered with dark clouds, and lightning snaked like a giant dragon. The sea and the sky were a mixture of blue and purple.

In the blue and purple, the wall was like a giant screen in a movie theater, occupying an entire direction.

The electric light disappeared, and the rumbling thunder split into the human world, as if it were bombing the world.

The strong wind and the huge waves were like two giants fighting fiercely on the sea.

Minamoto Kiyomoto did not go any deeper. He stood between the sea and the sky, looking at the strange wall from afar.

The sky lit up again, and a bolt of lightning reached out to him with ill intentions.

The black divine power wrapped around his body was like a black snake that had seen a frog run into a cave. It excitedly pounced on it and swallowed the lightning completely.

“My lord!” Amatsumara controlled the uneasiness in his heart and said loudly, “The sea yokai are dangerous. Should we avoid them?”

Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded, “Let’s go.”

Just as they were about to return to the demon-hunting ship, the wall suddenly disappeared.

The two of them looked at this scene with disbelief. They even dived into the sea, but they couldn’t find any trace.

“Land only occupies 30% of the world. The strangeness of the sea, I’m afraid I’ll never figure it out in my lifetime,” even Minamoto Kiyomoto, who had encountered such a strange heavenly might on the first day, couldn’t help but sigh.

The two of them returned to the demon-hunting ship.

In the storm, Kamibayashi Miko stood on the mast, waiting for Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Minamoto Kiyomoto knew that he was going to be scolded again.

Amatsumara thought he was being tactful and walked away, commanding the giant ship to continue forward, letting him fly up the mast alone.

“I was just going to check the situation,” before he even landed on the mast, Minamoto Kiyomoto said flatteringly.

“You went to Yomijima Island to gain experience,” Kamibayashi Miko said.

“I know I was wrong,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a smile and leaned closer.

Kamibayashi Miko ignored him. He didn’t speak either. A black and a golden ball of light stood in the storm.

The waves came one after another, like a great army on an expedition, about to destroy some country.

When they reached the position of the strange high wall, they passed through without any abnormality.

Not long after, the demon-hunting ship left the range of the storm yokai. The pouring rain gradually turned into a drizzle.

After a while, the drizzle also stopped.

Many practitioners came to the deck. The shikigami were even more cheerful, and the parrot strutted on the deck.

“Look at it. Doesn’t it look like Shirako?” Minamoto Kiyomoto pointed at the parrot and said to Kamibayashi Miko with a smile.

Kamibayashi Miko glanced at it. That majestic and imposing look was very similar to Shirako. She couldn’t help but smile slightly.

Her gaze suddenly shifted to Minamoto Kiyomoto. Minamoto Kiyomoto wasn’t looking at the parrot, but had been looking at her all along.

She put away her smile, was silent for a moment, and said softly, “You’re not at ease with me going to find the Coral Demon Moth alone, I…”

She turned her head and looked at the night sky, where the dark clouds had scattered and the stars were scattered.

“…Do you think I’m at ease with you going on an adventure alone? In the future, when you do things, don’t just think about yourself.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at her silently. A different kind of emotion arose in his heart, and he wanted to pull her into his arms.

“Mhm,” he said softly. “I’ll listen to you in the future.”

A cry of surprise suddenly came from the deck.

“Look at the bottom of the sea!”

The two of them, who were in a daze, were afraid that something had happened to the ship and quickly looked down.

They saw that the sea was shining with starlight. Countless fluorescent plankton covered the entire sea surface, like a dream.

“If we get back safely this time, I’ll go on a date with you,” Minamoto Kiyomoto heard Kamibayashi Miko say softly.

“What did you say?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked up at her.

“Nothing,” Kamibayashi Miko looked at the horizon. The sleeves of her shrine maiden’s uniform fluttered in the wind.

“I heard you. Don’t you dare go back on your word!” Countless joy and excitement surged in Minamoto Kiyomoto’s heart, and he couldn’t help but smile.

Kamibayashi Miko gently poked his waist with her hand.

Minamoto Kiyomoto held her hand, and the warmth of their palms was transmitted to each other.

The demon-hunting ship sailed between the starry sky and the starry sea, like a page from a fairy tale picture book.

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Like a luxury cruise ship, the bedrooms of the Kasen-level practitioners didn’t look like they were on a ship at all. They were arranged like high-class hotel rooms.

A soft big bed, a bathroom where one could take a bath, a cloakroom, a meditation room, and so on, were all available.

The next morning, Minamoto Kiyomoto finished his morning class and walked out of the room.

His room was at the bow of the ship. To highlight his status, the sky was blue above, and there were no passengers in the cabin below.

In the same row were the bedrooms of Himegami Izayoi and the others.

For the nobility, a multi-story building like an apartment was a place where only the lower class lived.

With a floor in between, someone sleeping, bathing, or even going to the toilet above or below them was an unimaginable thing.

Minamoto Kiyomoto stood on the ship’s tower and looked at the morning sea.

If he had to describe it, it would be a very, very big morning—this was the morning of the sea.

The demon-hunting ship cut through the surging waves and sailed at high speed towards the southeast. A group of dolphins suddenly leaped up, as if escorting the ship.

The practitioner team on duty rode on deer, turtles, and sharks, treading on the wind and waves, and patrolled around the demon-hunting ship.

“Sea yokai! There are sea yokai at the bottom of the sea!” Three practitioners flew out from the bottom of the sea.

Immediately after, a sharp roar was suddenly heard.

The sound wave choked Minamoto Kiyomoto’s throat, making him feel suffocated.

The practitioners patrolling on the sea were even worse off.

This roar was like a heavy hammer hitting them, impacting their ribs, and like a sharp spear piercing their ears and brains.

The divine power blocked part of the impact. Even so, the sky was still dark, and they fainted one by one on the sea.

Those dolphins let out a strange cry like a baby. It turned out that they were not escorting, but surrounding.

“What’s wrong?” Kamibayashi Miko came to the corridor of the ship’s tower.

In a room farther away, the Hokkaido Miko walked out.

“A village-level sea yokai!” Minamoto Kiyomoto was not afraid at all, his expression excited.

He was about to jump off the ship’s tower when he suddenly stopped as if he had remembered something. He looked at Kamibayashi Miko sheepishly and flatteringly.

“Stay put,” Kamibayashi Miko didn’t even look at him and looked at the sea yokai.

Minamoto Kiyomoto could only stand obediently beside her.

In the time they were talking, five Kasen had already flown out from the cabin, throwing the fainted practitioners on the deck, and then with a “whoosh,” they dived into the sea.

The people on the ship, awakened by the roar of the sea yokai, cheered and screamed, rushed to the side of the ship, and held onto the railing with both hands, looking towards the bottom of the sea.

Itomi Yuki was still in her pajamas. Because of the sacred wood’s barrier, she was only woken up and not injured.

She and Hanyu Chika slept in her sister’s Kasen-level suite. Walking out of the room was the high and mighty corridor of the ship’s tower.

“What happened?” she sized up the human wall around the giant ship and asked curiously.

“It seems there’s a sea yokai,” Hanyu Chika was also not too sure.

The two of them looked at Itomi Sayaka. Itomi Sayaka yawned. This Kasen-level sister had not yet woken up.

The surface of the sea was dark blue, and deeper down it was pitch black. The crowd used spells, but they couldn’t see clearly.

“This village-level yokai was targeted by five Kasen. It should be dealt with in twenty minutes, right?”

“I bet ten minutes! Five million!”

On land, a village-level yokai would only be assigned one or two Kasen, and a large number of practitioners below the Kasen level.

The practitioners below the Kasen level were mainly responsible for dealing with village-level yokai, as well as battles between practitioners.

Everyone was both nervous and curious, discussing animatedly.

Suddenly, with a “bang,” the sea seemed to explode. The water surged, and some practitioners who couldn’t dodge in time were instantly drenched.

The seawater flew into the sky and then fell like rain. A rainbow was erected on the deck.

Itomi Yuki’s beautiful eyes widened as she looked at the rippling and boiling sea surface.

“Why is it so noisy?” Himegami Izayoi, who had really gotten drunk last night, walked out with a displeased face.

“We’re hunting a sea yokai!” Minamoto Kiyomoto explained.

The sea was churning with white foam, like a giant fountain.

It would occasionally explode, and the seawater would climb up the tens of meters high deck, flowing like it was washing the ground.

“Why didn’t you go down?” Himegami Izayoi was a little surprised and curious, and asked him with a smile.

She knew him so well. For this kind of thing, he should have charged up long ago.

Minamoto Kiyomoto stood with his hands behind his back, his head held high, and said, “I am the commander-in-chief of this demon hunt. How can I risk my life by being the first to charge?”

“Miko won’t let him go,” the Hokkaido Miko exposed.

“Hey,” Minamoto Kiyomoto shot a dissatisfied look at her.

“I learned from them,” the Hokkaido Miko referred to the Divine Medium and the Ise Miko. “They’re both against you.”

“How can that be,” Himegami Izayoi did not admit. “I listen to Master Kiyo the most, right, Master Kiyo?”

She thought that Minamoto Kiyomoto would definitely be on her side, but she heard him say, “I don’t feel it.”

“What haven’t I listened to you about? You say it, you say it!” Himegami Izayoi put her hands on her hips, her aura fierce, like a little girl who was angry and sulking.

“I was joking, teasing you. You listen to me, you listen to me,” Minamoto Kiyomoto quickly appeased her.

“Humph, as if I forced you to say it.”

“Then it’s the Divine Medium,” the Hokkaido Miko said again. “She’s against you.”

“He’s against me,” Kamibayashi Miko looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto with a smile.

The Hokkaido Miko pondered and murmured, “I seem to understand something.”

Just as Himegami Izayoi was about to ask her what she understood, the turbid waves roared, and the sea suddenly exploded, raising a nearly thousand-meter-high giant wave that covered the sky and cast a large shadow on the giant ship.

Amidst the exclamations of the crowd, a sea yokai with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a dolphin’s tail rushed out of the water and leaped onto the thousand-meter-high giant wave like climbing a waterfall.

The sun rose in the east. It stood on the crest of the wave, its dark blue eyes shining with an innocent cold light.

“Catch it alive! Catch it alive!” someone shouted.

“It’s a female sea yokai! I want it!” a Kasen charged up.

“Hahaha, whoever gets it first gets it!” In the blink of an eye, two more Kasen left the ship’s tower.

Not only the Kasen, but some practitioners with more than thirty subjugations also couldn’t hold back and stepped on the waves.

The cheers on the deck grew louder and louder.

Itomi Yuki was dumbfounded.

Hanyu Chika said to her, “This kind of thing happens often. The Shinto sect also has many men who keep female shikigami, and they are not even human-shaped. There are so many girls in the world, but they want humanoid monsters.”

“Can yokai be caught?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked curiously.

“What, you want one?” Himegami Izayoi, who had just said that she listened to everything Master Kiyo said, now said with a smile, chillingly.

“No, no, just curious.”

“Really?”

“Of course it’s true!”

Himegami Izayoi sized him up for a moment, snorted, and said, “From ancient times to the present, no one has ever subdued a yokai.”

“Then what are they doing?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was puzzled.

“The inherent evil nature of men.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto thought about it, and it was true.

He even had the idea of going up to join in the fun. Whether he could really subdue it was not important at all.

The female sea yokai let out a wail.

Its voice was like a whip, lashing at everyone, not even sparing the waves.

Some of the low-level practitioners on the giant ship were knocked to the ground by the sound wave, or were pushed away in the air and pressed against the wall.

A village-level yokai was originally equivalent to the strength of two Kasen. This female sea yokai occupied the geographical advantage of the sea. It had persisted for so long, but in the end, it was still imprisoned in the air by the Kasen.

When it came to dividing the spoils, no one had a solution.

Even Koyasan’s Manjaku-shonin, with his monks, chanted Buddhist scriptures, hoping to tame it.

All failed.

“Lord Tsukushi-no-Kimi,” Minamoto Nagatoku shouted to the ship’s tower. “You have countless spells. Please give it a try?”

Everyone looked over.

Kamibayashi Miko, Himegami Izayoi, the Hokkaido Miko, the Itomi sisters, and even Hanyu Chika and Yagyu Michiko were all staring at Minamoto Kiyomoto at this time.

Under their gaze, Minamoto Kiyomoto waved his hands repeatedly.

He wasn’t uninterested, but he couldn’t, which meant he didn’t dare.

Minamoto Kiyomi, Minamoto Kiyone, and other girls saw his predicament and giggled, at the same time mocking Minamoto Nagatoku for flattering the wrong person this time.

The female sea yokai was finally killed and turned into a complete remnant. The four broken pieces made the male practitioners on the ship sad for a whole morning.

The female practitioners were disdainful, but they were also discussing whether they could find a male sea yokai.

The flag embroidered with the “Coral Demon Moth” fluttered in the sea breeze. The giant ship, on this dangerous and interesting sea, rode the wind and broke the waves.