Prince Lianghong And The Demon Realm

That day, I was in my room at the Wallside Hall, using the alchemy furnace to spin Gōrō thread. Loud voices echoed near the entrance, and wondering what was happening, I headed there. Yingjie and Zengu came out with me as well.

When we went outside, Rikyou, the inner disciple, was standing there with several people I did not recognize. Yingjie spoke for us.

“Rikyou-shixiong, is there something you need?”

“This is His Highness Prince Lianghong of the Fang Kingdom. We are to guide him through the demon realm, so come with us.”

“Understood.”

Yingjie, Zengu, and I returned to our room to get ready. In the room, I took my mountain knife and White Wolf Warhammer, and put on the cut-resistant vest made of Gōrō thread under my outer clothes before going back outside.

This cut-resistant vest was a sweater shaped like a T-shirt, made by knitting Gōrō thread. It had been made slightly large, but since I was in my growing years, it would probably stop fitting my body soon enough. When that happened, I would likely have to unravel it and knit it again.

When I went outside, Yingjie and Zengu had already finished preparing and were waiting.

“You’re late. …Now then, let’s go.”

Rikyou took the lead and began guiding us. I was ordered to move beside General Shigou and keep watch on the surroundings. Rikyou seemed to be thinking of leading the princes to a hill a short distance ahead. From the top of that hill, one could get a good view of the surrounding demon realm, so he was probably planning to show them that scenery.

“May I ask your name?”

General Shigou spoke to me.

“I’m Kou, an outer disciple. Please call me Kou.”

“You look quite young. How old are you?”

“I turned eleven.”

“I had heard that Taoist practitioners are not the age they appear to be, but you really are exactly as you look. That makes me uneasy, though.”

“What are you uneasy about?”

“When we encounter yōma, can you really fight them?”

“I have experience, so there will be no problem.”

General Shigou looked surprised when he heard that. There were probably few people this young who had experience fighting yōma. After his surprise, he wore an expression that said he could hardly believe it.

Besides General Shigou, there were four other guards, and all of them had swords hanging at their waists. They were typical swords for fighting people, with blades about seventy centimeters long.

Rikyou led the princes to the eastern side of the outer edge of the demon realm. It was an area where there were only Fang Rabbits and Horn Wolves among the yōma. We went around behind Mount Gyorei and started descending the mountain path toward the demon realm.

Once we entered the demon realm, Prince Lianghong looked all around in every direction. Since it was spring, we were surrounded by youthful greenery. Yōma were lurking deeper within it, but Prince Lianghong had not noticed that danger.

As I kept my attention on the presence around us, I sensed something beyond the thicket on the left and drew my mountain knife. General Shigou noticed that and turned his gaze toward me.

“Kou, what is it?”

At that moment, the thicket rustled, and a Horn Wolf leaped out. As I avoided the Horn Wolf’s fangs, I swung the blade of my mountain knife into its shaggy neck as we passed each other and cut off its head. The wolf’s horned head spun through the air.

That head fell and rolled to Prince Lianghong’s feet.

“Wah!”

The prince cried out in surprise. General Shigou had drawn his sword the moment the Horn Wolf attacked, but the four guards only drew theirs after the Horn Wolf’s head had already fallen. To my eyes, the guards’ level of skill felt lacking.

Prince Lianghong looked back and forth between the Horn Wolf’s head on the ground and me, wearing a face of disbelief. General Shigou was also staring at me in stunned silence.

“So your appearance and your ability are different. This is what a Taoist practitioner is.”

General Shigou was impressed in a rather odd way. Prince Lianghong nodded.

“That was splendid.”

The prince praised me.

After that, Fang Rabbits and Horn Wolves attacked us several times. When we encountered another Horn Wolf, Yingjie used his thick-bladed longsword like a dance and cut off the Horn Wolf’s head. What Yingjie was using was the Jūsō Sword. It seemed he had learned it by reading a manual in the library.

When we encountered Fang Rabbits, Zengu pierced one through the chest with his spear. Having mastered Immortal Foundation Qi Combat Arts, Zengu had become able to move more sharply and powerfully than before.

“Lord Rikyou, we would also like to try fighting yōma.”

It seemed that after watching the battles with the yōma, General Shigou and the others had wanted to fight them as well. They were probably dissatisfied with being guards yet being protected by Taoist practitioners.

“…Very well. You may fight the next yōma we encounter.”

Rikyou allowed it after showing a troubled expression for just a moment. He had judged that if it was the yōma here, even General Shigou and the others would be able to defeat them.

After we had walked for a while, I sensed a yōma presence ahead.

“There’s a yōma up ahead.”

When I raised my voice, General Shigou and the others drew their swords and readied themselves. By the time we had fallen back to Prince Lianghong’s side, two Horn Wolves appeared from ahead.

The Horn Wolves attacked the guards. The guards’ swords met them head-on, trying to slash through their shaggy backs. But the coarse fur and sturdy muscles kept the blades from biting in deeply. Compared with a Gōrō, the Horn Wolves’ fur was on the weaker side, but even so, it was tougher than that of ordinary wild animals.

One of the guards was struck by a body slam and rolled across the ground. The other guards surrounded the beasts and struck at them, but they were struggling to finish them off. Meanwhile, General Shigou was facing one Horn Wolf by himself.

General Shigou dodged the claws of the leaping Horn Wolf and drove a slash into its back.

“Hm, it’s hard.”

Since he had failed to kill it in a single blow, he seemed to have realized just how tough a yōma was. After that, he struck it a second and third time before finally bringing the Horn Wolf down.

The guards also managed to kill their Horn Wolves, but even though it had been only a short battle, their breathing was ragged. Prince Lianghong looked unconvinced, apparently finding it strange that General Shigou and the others had taken so much trouble to kill them.

“Are yōma wolves that formidable?”

“Compared with ordinary wolves, their fur and muscles seem harder. Until one grows used to that hardness, one may struggle.”

“I see. So the Taoist practitioners are simply used to it.”

There was something I understood from watching that fight. General Shigou and the others seemed to use almost no qi. Only General Shigou seemed to be refining qi to strengthen his muscles, but the way he used it felt unrefined.

After that, without encountering any more yōma, we reached the top of the hill. The view of the demon realm from there was magnificent. I could see the great river called the Crystal Calamity River winding like a serpent through the center of the demon realm, and countless yōma lived in the forests spreading around it. Incidentally, there were formidable yōma near the Crystal Calamity River, so outer disciples were told not to approach it.

Prince Lianghong seemed satisfied when he saw that scene. Just as we were about to return to Gyorei Cave, I saw a yōma climbing up from below. It was a yōma that should not have been here—a Gōrō.