Chapter 28: The Journey

Not long after leaving the shrine, the three of them were stopped.

“During non-battle periods, the use of divine power in public places is prohibited!”

Opposite them were also three people. The leading woman was about the same age as Minamoto Kiyomoto’s group, and her blue divine power drifted towards the sky like smoke.

The other two looked very young, about the same age as Itomi Yuki.

Minamoto Kiyomoto’s left hand rested on the hilt of his sword, and his right hand stroked his chin as he looked up at the divine power of the leader opposite him.

It seemed that when a cultivator encountered an anti-human cultivator, they would immediately send their divine power into the sky like smoke, and other cultivators would come to their aid based on this signal.

Last time in Chiba, he had fought with that anti-human cultivator for so long, but no one came. Was it because of this?
“Lady Divine Miko?” The person was stunned when they saw Kamibayashi Miko’s golden divine power, then said respectfully, “Lady Divine Miko, do you have permission?”

Kamibayashi Miko flicked the sleeve of her miko outfit, and a scroll, wrapped in golden divine power, floated in mid-air and opened in front of the person.

The person glanced at it, “So you’re the same as us. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Kamibayashi Miko put away the scroll and threw it to Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at her with confusion.

“Someone will definitely come and ask along the way. You’re responsible for showing it to them,” she said.

“I’m not a handyman,” Minamoto Kiyomoto brought the scroll to the tip of his nose and sniffed it. “Miss Kamibayashi’s body fragrance.”

In the wide eyes of the three people opposite him, he tucked the scroll into the collar of his kimono.

Himemiya Izayoi thought of how this guy had been playing with her hair just now, and now he was smelling Kamibayashi Miko’s things. She reached out and pinched his waist.

“Hiss!” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s expression changed in pain. “Izayoi, what are you doing?!”

“Does she smell better, or do I?” Himemiya Izayoi asked with a smile, her hand still squeezing hard.

“I’ll have to smell to know,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s face moved closer to her snow-white neck.

“You little pervert!” Himemiya Izayoi retracted her hand from his waist and pressed her fingers against his forehead, not letting him get close.

Kamibayashi Miko ignored the two of them and asked the three people opposite, “Are you also going to Hakone?”

“Yes,” the leader with the blue divine power nodded.

“Then come with us,” Kamibayashi Miko said. “It’s faster to go with divine power.”

“Is that okay? Thank you!” the other party replied happily.

The six of them raised their divine power and flew towards Shinjuku in mid-air.

After a simple exchange, they exchanged names.

The one with the blue divine power was called Amamiya Noa, and this was her first time leading newcomers.

The two high school girls behind her were the newcomers who had just debuted this year. There was originally another one, but she had died when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom in April.

Of these two newcomers, one was called Amamiya Mari, Amamiya Noa’s younger sister, and the other was called Asamiya Sakura.

Most of the time, their gazes were on Kamibayashi Miko, and occasionally they would secretly glance at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Along the way, they met people from time to time. Like Amamiya Noa, after seeing the document, they all retreated.

Taking into account Minamoto Kiyomoto and the two newcomers, the speed of their wind control was not fast, but because they were going in a straight line, it was a little faster than taking a car.

When they arrived at Shinjuku Station, the platform for the Odakyu Romancecar was full of cultivators in strange costumes.

“Lady Divine Miko, there’s still some time before the next train,” Amamiya Noa asked someone she knew and said to Kamibayashi Miko.

They had only been standing there for a short while when people started coming over to greet them one after another. In the end, there were so many people that it could be described as “surging.”

At first, Minamoto Kiyomoto thought it was because the Divine Miko and the Twelve Miko were amazing, but after observing for a while, he understood:
These people just wanted to get their faces known. In case they were in danger during a battle, if the Divine Miko or a miko saw them, they might save them on a whim.

Amamiya Noa stood on the side, enthusiastically helping with the introductions. Perhaps she also had such thoughts in her heart.

The two Lady Miko dealt with them indifferently until the clear voice of a female announcer came from the station broadcast.

“The Romancecar train bound for Hakone is about to enter the platform!”

The train rumbled over.

The platform was like a bow, and the train was an arrow. The arrow was gradually drawn, and the air was suddenly tightened, as if it would break at a touch.

“Let’s go,” Kamibayashi Miko said to Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded lightly.

The three of them sat in a corner and waited for a while. When only the staff were left on the platform, the train began to move slowly.

“Clang, clang!” Before the wheels had made two sounds, the train horn suddenly sounded.

All the trains in Shinjuku Station whistled at this moment.

The Romancecar began to accelerate. Minamoto Kiyomoto looked back through the window.

On the platform, the staff in uniform were lined up, bowing to see them off.

Kamibayashi Miko had been paying attention to him and asked, “Did you ask for leave?”

“Leave?” Minamoto Kiyomoto retracted his gaze.

“School.”

“Ah!” Minamoto Kiyomoto slapped his forehead.

He took out his phone and called the school.

“Leave? Reason? How long?” the other side asked.

“I recently got my driver’s license and suddenly want to drive around Honshu. As for the time, I’ll be back before June. It might be early, it might be late, depending on my mood.”

“Understood. Okay. Remember to inform your family.”

“Thank you.”

After hanging up, Minamoto Kiyomoto called his mother in Shikoku again.

“Mom, I told you a few days ago that I got my driver’s license, so I took a month’s leave and plan to drive around Honshu.”

“Alone?” his mother asked.

“Mmm—” Minamoto Kiyomoto deliberately replied with a hesitant voice.

“Hahaha!” his mother’s cheerful laughter came from the other side. “The girl you went to see the cherry blossoms with last time?”

“Yes, mother,” Himemiya Izayoi leaned over and said obediently and playfully.

“Eh? Hahaha!” his mother’s laughter became even more cheerful, and he could vaguely hear the inquiry of his childhood friend Moe’s mother.

Minamoto Kiyomoto pressed his hand on Himemiya Izayoi’s shoulder and pushed her away.

Himemiya Izayoi pouted her pink lips, her face full of dissatisfaction.

“Do you need money?” his mother’s voice was still full of laughter.

“No, I’m on a budget.”

“Tell me if you’re short of money.”

“Okay, okay, have it ready for me.”

“By the way, don’t go to Hakone. I saw on the news that there might be a volcanic eruption there.”

“The roads there are all blocked. I can’t go even if I want to. I’ll go the other way. My first stop will be Chiba. I’ll go around Tokyo Bay, then around and around and around, all the way to the northernmost tip of Aomori, and then around and around and around… anyway, it’s a trip around the island.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto’s voice was full of excitement for the upcoming trip.

“Don’t go to remote places. Watch the news more.”

“I know, I’m hanging up.”

Putting away his phone, Minamoto Kiyomoto looked up and saw Himemiya Izayoi’s smiling eyes and Kamibayashi Miko’s otherworldly face, as cold as ice and snow.

“If my mom knew that the ones accompanying me were beauties like you, and two of them at that, she might be so happy that she would give a discount to the guests at the inn.”

“You’re deliberately not talking about it,” Himemiya Izayoi said.

“What’s there to talk about?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

Himemiya Izayoi said with a smile, “Your mother reminded you not to go to Hakone and also told you to read the newspaper more.”

“A mother worries when her son travels far. What’s there to talk about?”

“You little rascal,” Himemiya Izayoi sat back comfortably in her chair, her elbow on the armrest. “If you don’t say it, I won’t say it either. There will be a day when you beg me. At that time, I want you to be my dog. When you hear my voice, you’ll drool like that Pavlov’s dog.”

“Why would I drool? Are you going to eat it?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked with a smile.

“Pah! It’s more like you’ll eat my saliva.”

“I—”

‘I don’t mind’ was on the tip of his tongue. Minamoto Kiyomoto’s gaze turned to Kamibayashi Miko, and he changed his words, “I’m devoted to Miss Kamibayashi. If I’m going to eat anyone’s saliva, it will be hers.”

Kamibayashi Miko closed her eyes. As the train moved, the light and shadow flowed across her small, snow-white face, blooming with a faint radiance.

It was so dreamlike that one would ignore everything around her and just want to gaze at her figure under the light and shadow.

“She has everyone in her heart, but not you,” Himemiya Izayoi’s laughter, mixed with the clanging of the train, entered his ears.

“To Miss Kamibayashi, I am undoubtedly special,” Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded.

“Aren’t you a little too confident?” Kamibayashi Miko opened her eyes, her voice like water from a melting snow mountain.

“Is it not okay to be optimistic?”

“…” Kamibayashi Miko opened her mouth, seemingly not knowing what to say.

Himemiya Izayoi let out another heart-stirring laugh.

The train left Tokyo and sped towards Mount Hakone, which was 1438 meters above sea level.

Between Hon-Atsugi and Hadano, the view outside the window was a vast expanse of green barley. Besides that, there were only high-voltage power line towers.

“I heard you can see Mount Fuji on the way?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked out the window. “By the way, have any yokai ever appeared on Mount Fuji?”

“Mount Fuji…” Just as Himemiya Izayoi was about to continue, her eyes suddenly flashed, and she stopped.

Just as Minamoto Kiyomoto thought she was going to make him drool like a dog, the train clanged, as if it had been heavily stepped on by a giant.

“What’s going on?” someone asked loudly.

That person subconsciously wanted to stand up, but the next moment, a huge aura poured into the carriage, forcing him back down.

Under that aura, everyone except Kamibayashi Miko and Himemiya Izayoi felt as if they were walking against a category 12 typhoon, and even breathing became difficult.

A large hole opened in the roof of the car, and a group of people jumped in.

More than a dozen people, all wearing slim-fitting silver-white armor, helmets that covered their faces, capes, and steel longswords at their waists.

Only the leader wore golden armor and no helmet, openly revealing his face.

“It’s Shintoism!”

“Don’t panic, it’s the third group!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto saw many people let out a sigh of relief and couldn’t help but feel confused.

“Shintoism is an organization of anti-human cultivators,” Himemiya Izayoi’s lips were close to his ear, breathing out hot air. “Everyone has a different reason for joining. They just gathered together to resist the officials. The people in the third group are for…”

She paused and said in a low voice with a hint of a smile, “You can listen for yourself. They’re about to start their lecture.”

The man in the golden armor had a majestic face. He walked to the front of the carriage with the gait of a dragon and the stride of a tiger.

He looked around at the crowd and said loudly, “Gentlemen, most of you are already old friends. I’ll be brief.”

“You, with a monthly salary of 500,000, risk your lives to participate in a subjugation, but it’s only 10 million. You have to participate ten times to buy a high-end apartment in Tokyo.”

“Join our third group, and you can easily enjoy a large amount of wealth and create a new world of high welfare for cultivators!”

The leader of the third group of Shintoism was very much like someone soliciting investment, constantly talking about the benefits of joining the third group.

His voice, under the effect of divine power, was sent to different carriages like the wind.

Minamoto Kiyomoto, who was confused, only heard the beginning and couldn’t help but complain in a low voice, “Damn it, I don’t have a base salary, and I only get 500,000 for participating in a battle.”

Kamibayashi Miko looked over and said with her eyes: Don’t use profanity.

‘Yes, ma’am,’ Minamoto Kiyomoto replied with his eyes.

After the leader of the third group finished speaking, he asked loudly, “Are there any brothers willing to create a new world together?”

No one answered.

“I know, you’re afraid of becoming anti-human cultivators and being wanted by the government, but think about it carefully.”

The leader of the third group raised his arm, which was wrapped in golden armor, and pointed at the head of the train, which was still moving at high speed.

“Now, if you go to Hakone, can you survive?”

“Even if you can survive, you’re still sitting in this coffin-like carriage, going to your own grave.”

“Join us, and you can at least live freely for this month!”

“Join us, overthrow the government, and end this ascetic life together!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked around. Many people really showed a look of being moved, probably all of them thinking that they wouldn’t survive this time.

“I’ll join!” a man in modern clothes, who looked to be in his thirties, stood up.

“Kikukawa, are you crazy!” someone who knew him shouted.

“Heh,” the man named Kikukawa laughed as if he were relieved. “Anyway, I’m going to die. Isn’t it better for me to have fun this month? Why should I go to Hakone and wait for death?”

“Good!” the leader of the third group shouted, and his fierce and domineering divine power shook the entire ‘Romancecar’.

Minamoto Kiyomoto was shocked. He didn’t expect this person to be able to exert such power with just his divine power and a single voice, without using any curses.

“Lady Divine Miko!” someone looked at Kamibayashi Miko.

Hearing ‘Divine Miko,’ the leader of the third group’s earthy yellow divine power, like a fire sprayed with oil, suddenly burned.

The domineering aura almost squeezed all the air out of the carriage.

The anti-human cultivators in silver armor behind him also roused their divine power and stood ready.

Kamibayashi Miko sighed lightly, and the aura that had been suppressing everyone was suddenly cleared. Everyone was like they had been pulled out of the water, gasping for breath.

“So Lady Divine Miko is also here,” the leader of the third group let out a hearty laugh. “Our third group, except for the official extermination battles, will never oppose everyone. The Divine Miko is going to Hakone now, and she doesn’t want to get hurt, right?”

“Can you hurt me?”

As soon as Kamibayashi Miko’s light words fell, countless golden lightning bolts rumbled from the windows on both sides of the ‘Romancecar,’ and the lightning bolts moved forward alongside the train.

The lightning turned the carriage into a golden ocean. They seemed to be riding in a car, walking through a thundering and flashing night.

The leader of the third group was not impressed, “Lady Divine Miko won’t be hurt, but others will. And I’m not the only one who came this time.”

He slightly moved his majestic body, and a slender figure walked out from behind him.

A black women’s suit uniform, her slender legs wrapped in black stockings, a white coat over it, and a white cat-face mask on her face.

“It’s the leader of the ninth group!”

“Another Kosen-level!”

After a brief commotion, the carriage fell into a deathly silence. The occasional sound of swallowing was very harsh.

“Divine Miko, please rest assured. Everyone, please rest assured. The ninth group will not oppose everyone either,” the processed voice sounded charming and lazy. “I came this time just to ask everyone a question: does anyone know who killed my subordinate ‘Gray Mouse’ in Chiba Prefecture? If the person himself is also here, that would be for the best.”

“You’re not taking me seriously,” Kamibayashi Miko finally stood up.

“Boom!” A torrent of thunder poured down, a bolt from the blue.

On the fields outside the window, a sky full of golden lightning chased after the ‘Romancecar’.

On the wires between the high-voltage power line towers, one could see electric light crawling.

“Wait!” the leader of the third group blocked the leader of the ninth group. “If you want to avenge that idiot, you can bring your own people. My life and the lives of my brothers are for creating a new world!”

The leader of the third group asked the carriage again, “Are there any other brothers willing to contribute to the new world? Join the third group, and your monthly salary will be 100,000 US dollars! Commission is extra!”

He shouted twice, but no one answered.

The leader of the third group was not discouraged, “A trickle of water can become a river. As long as cultivators exist, the third group will never be destroyed.”

“Lady Divine Miko, sorry for the disturbance. Brothers, let’s go!”

“Hah!”

This group of people in armor, like cannonballs out of a cannon, flew out from the top of the carriage, piercing holes.

“Kikukawa!”

Just as he was about to fly out, Kikukawa looked back at his friend and showed a crazy smile, “I’m going to drink and pick up girls!”

With a “bang,” Kikukawa also disappeared from the roof of the car, leaving only a hole through which one could see the white clouds.

Only the leader of the ninth group was left.

“I remember now. You were also in Chiba that day,” she narrowed her eyes, her gaze as sharp as a wildcat’s.

“It seems you plan to die here,” Kamibayashi Miko’s tone was calm.

The leader of the ninth group raised her hand, and a wave of aquamarine divine power easily clasped the head of a cultivator who was trying to resist. That person happened to be Amamiya Noa.

“You can’t kill me, but I can kill everyone here except you.”

“Lady Divine Miko!” Even though she had experienced six yokai subjugations, Amamiya Noa was still afraid.

“Sister!” “Noa-nee!” Amamiya Mari and Asamiya Sakura’s voices were full of terror.

“Everyone is destined to die, and I am no exception,” in Kamibayashi Miko’s voice, the tattered roof of the carriage was directly lifted.

A golden giant python condensed from lightning raised its eyes and looked down at everyone in the “can” with a ferocious and divine gaze.

A strong wind poured in, and the sound of thunder was endless.

“Then let’s try,” the leader of the ninth group’s coat swelled, her tone unwavering.

“Although everyone will die, it’s better to live a little longer if you can,” in Himemiya Izayoi’s voice, except for the location of the golden giant python, the entire sky turned red, and flames burned.

Through the mask, one could not see the expression of the leader of the ninth group, but one could vaguely sense her solemnity.

A short and long silence.

“I didn’t expect there to be another Kosen-level expert… forget it, I’ll take revenge next time,” her tone, which had been unyielding just now, suddenly became lazy, like a wildcat that had lost interest in a sparrow.

Casually throwing aside Amamiya Noa, the leader of the ninth group’s figure transformed into a wave of water and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

The thunder scattered, the flames disappeared. Except for the missing roof of the carriage, it was as if nothing had happened.

But the strong wind blew in, Amamiya Noa was helped up, and the man named Kikukawa was gone forever.

(End of Chapter)