Chapter 52: The Main Storyline Begins

The incident at Motochika Temple had finally come to an end.

Hyakusuke could finally breathe a sigh of relief, and he noticed that the return journey was far smoother than the trip out.

"The Night-Walkers have been following our movements the whole way."

Old Man Matsudaira told him this. Throughout their journey, they had been secretly monitored by the Night-Walkers of the Shadow Lattice Mechanism.

"It must have been secretly ordered by Kugutsu Ikki. Who knows what kind of schemes he's plotting this time..."

The old family retainer held a deep grievance against Kugutsu Ikki.

However, Hyakusuke knew very well that the old man was simply overthinking it. Kugutsu Ikki had likely feared they would encounter further danger along the way and sent the Night-Walkers to provide a full escort.

"Thanks to that, I was able to relax a little."

In his dreams, Hyakusuke met the Snow Yaksha Princess once again and explained everything he had experienced during this period.

"Is that so... So the situation has developed to this extent?"

The Snow Yaksha Princess muttered to herself a few times before readjusting her posture.

"By the way, how was it?"

The Lake Master, Kuku, smiled. "How were the results of my special training? Oh right, you should have used it once already, haven't you? That technique of the Spear Saint..."

"Indeed."

Hyakusuke was also extremely puzzled.

"I only saw it once, yet it seemed as though I had learned that spearmanship... Even the trajectory of the spiritual energy flow appeared to be within my grasp. What on earth is going on?"

He looked at the Lake Master, suspecting she had meddled with something.

"No, I did not interfere."

The Snow Yaksha Princess lit her pipe and took a deep breath.

The rising smoke wafted and twisted, exhaling delicate smoke rings from her beautiful lips painted with vermilion.

"This is your own inherent power, known as the 'Power of Mirror Reflection.' Such a talent is extremely rare, though it has appeared a few times throughout history. It is said that those who possess this talent can easily imitate the skills of others."

The Lake Master slowly explained: "This is a terrifying skill, whether it is spells painstakingly researched by practitioners, swordsmanship bitterly cultivated by swordsmen, fist arts refined through countless trials by martial artists... or innate extraordinary abilities, divine techniques, demonic arts, or miracles. Anyone with a flawless Power of Mirror Reflection can master them in an instant."

"As exaggerated as that?"

Hyakusuke was dumbfounded.

"However, your 'Power of Mirror Reflection' is not that miraculous. From what I can see... your mirror reflection talent is solely concentrated in the field of spearmanship."

The Snow Yaksha Princess asked: "In the past, you should have noticed that you possess a unique knack for spearmanship, far surpassing your proficiency with any other weapon, shouldn't you?"

"That's right."

Hyakusuke nodded.

"In fact, only those with the 'complete Power of Mirror Reflection' can achieve that level of flawless theft of others' techniques, even reproducing their innate talents and extraordinary abilities."

The Lake Master clarified: "A half-baked Power of Mirror Reflection like yours can only reproduce techniques within a specific domain. Your ability is strictly limited to spearmanship."

"I see."

Hyakusuke nodded.

This must be a skill specialization exclusively for "spearmanship."

"That is why I had you challenge the Spear Saint."

The Snow Yaksha Princess continued.

As long as you continually engage in combat with the Spear Saint, you will be able to comprehend the Spear Saint's unparagoned spear techniques. However, learning the application of the Spear Saint's spearmanship is only part of it; the crucial point is to grasp the 'combat method' utilized by the Spear Saint back then."

"A combat method?"

"Precisely. The Spear Saint's combat method is of vital importance to you."

The Lake Master said leisurely: "You must have experienced her overwhelming strength when fighting the Spear Saint~~ Heh heh, but what I am about to tell you next might be hard for you to accept. In reality, even after being weakened twentyfold, the gap in spiritual energy between you and the Spear Saint, when discounted, is only about twofold."

"Th-That's impossible, isn't it?"

Hyakusuke found it hard to believe. According to the Snow Yaksha Princess, the Spear Saint's total spiritual energy was only twice his own. How could such a thing possibly exist?

"This is the brilliance of the Spear Saint's combat method."

The Snow Yaksha Princess explained: "Due to a certain accident in the past, the Spear Saint could not fully exert her own power and was constantly restricted... Therefore, she almost never exerted her full strength, and issues such as excessive consumption and depleted spiritual energy during battle practically ceased to exist for her."

This was an extremely dangerous omen during combat. The Spear Saint had also discovered her own weakness, and to solve this problem, she specifically developed techniques for "refining spiritual energy."

It likely took three hundred years, with the Spear Saint pouring all her energy into it. In her later years, she developed a combat technique where "skill is ten parts, and raw power is zero parts."

This was a combat method that pursued victory over the strong through weakness, and victory over brute force through superior skill. After creating this combat method, the Spear Saint's own technique advanced further, reaching a realm beyond the mortal and entering the sacred.

"When attacking, the Spear Saint consumes almost no extra power. Each strike only releases spiritual energy at the exact moment of eruption. Her attacks are exceptionally precise, accurate, and devoid of a single shred of wasted power."

The Snow Yaksha continued: "This is because the Spear Saint honed her internal spiritual energy to the absolute limit. Every one of her strikes is propelled by the minimal amount of force necessary. Moreover, her mastery of force exceeds human comprehension, which creates the illusion that while she performs these exaggerated maneuvers, she actually expends very little energy."

"To reach this realm, the Spear Saint cultivated for hundreds of years. Generally speaking, ordinary people cannot learn her techniques because they take far too long. Your mirror reflection ability, however, allows you to skip this phase and gradually acquire this technique by exploring her spearmanship."

"Furthermore, the Untimely Fragrant Fruit you swallowed can help you forge a spiritual core, and combined with mermaid meat which enhances your spiritual energy recovery rate, once you master the Spear Saint's methods of 'honing and refining spiritual energy' and her combat style of overcoming the strong with the weak, your strength will break through your current bottleneck and enter an unimaginable realm."

"Wait a moment."

Hyakusuke interrupted her.

"Isn't your statement mistaken? Didn't the Spear Saint die after the great war a hundred years ago?"

"Not at all~~"

The Lake Master laughed heartily.

"That fellow didn't die that easily... After the great war, she found an opportunity to fake her death and is probably living quite comfortably hidden away somewhere. Among the Four Saints, only the Bow Saint truly passed away, as that person had no attachments to the mortal world. The remaining three—the Sword, Spear, and Fist Saints—are all still alive and well."

This, this truly was a massive secret.

The game plot of "Gleaming Moon" contained no explanation of this because the active period of the "Four Saints" was an event from a hundred and fifty years ago. Aside from the Sword Saint, Kifune Kuryusai, who made a single appearance... the other "three Saints" remained mere background figures.

"I see..."

Hyakusuke crossed his arms and asked another question.

"However, if I learn the Spear Saint's spearmanship and happen to encounter the Spear Saint herself, or perhaps disciples and successors she once took in, will there be trouble?"

He had heard rumors of certain island nation martial arts schools being extremely protective of their traditions. If someone were to steal a school's techniques, they would send assassins to hunt them down or directly eliminate the thief.

"It's fine."

The Snow Yaksha Princess waved her hand dismissively.

"The Spear Saint herself doesn't care much about traditions or lineages... Come to think of it, she did establish a school in the past, but unfortunately it was destroyed in the wars, and the disciples she instructed have probably all passed away after so much time."

This Lake Master seemed quite familiar with that Spear Saint and knew many inside stories.

"In fact, due to a certain event several centuries ago, the Spear Saint never took on any disciples again and refused to teach anyone the spearmanship she created... I don't think you'll ever have the chance to run into her, and even if she discovered you could execute her spearmanship, she likely wouldn't mind at all."

Suddenly, the Snow Yaksha Princess seemed to recall something, her expression darkening slightly.

"However, it is still necessary for me to warn you... The Spear Saint spearmanship you are learning will not bring you any trouble. But if you ever encounter a man who, just like you, is capable of executing the Spear Saint's spearmanship, you must remember the words I am about to say—"

The Lake Master's gaze suddenly turned serious as she spoke.

"Run."

"You must run. Run as far as you can... Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to fight that fellow."

...

Although he didn't understand why the Lake Master said such things, he firmly engraved this warning into his mind.

During the return journey over the next few days, every nightfall, the Snow Yaksha Princess would arrange for him to enter the mirage to engage in fierce battles with the Spear Saint.

No, to call it a fierce battle was an exaggeration; it was purely a sequence of being instantly killed.

Upon waking up, he would instinctively touch his chest. In the dream, the pain of his heart being pierced as if torn apart by a spear blade still lingered within his body.

"However, the Spear Saint's attacks differ slightly each time. Thanks to this combat style, I really have learned a thing or two."

Hyakusuke looked at his right hand.

To be precise, he was sensing the "spiritual conduits" of this hand—those were the channels through which spiritual energy flowed and circulated, similar to the meridians spoken of in traditional medicine—except that the game stated these were innate organs unique to spiritual practitioners.

Ordinary people lacking spiritual energy still retained residual spiritual energy within their bodies, but that was merely the lingering momentum emitted by life energy. Without spiritual organs like spiritual conduits, complete circulation of spiritual energy was impossible, meaning combat and spellcasting were fundamentally out of reach.

"The circulation of the Spear Saint's spiritual energy is truly bizarre. It's as if she compresses her spiritual energy to alter its direction and enhance its efficiency... or perhaps not quite."

Hyakusuke could only make some speculations based on his intuition.

All in all, if the spiritual energy flowing through an ordinary person's spiritual conduits was like a water current, the spiritual energy in the Spear Saint's conduits was like thin, delicate threads... Her application of force was also extremely peculiar, and he felt it would take a considerable amount of time to truly master.

'After all, the Power of Mirror Reflection only allows me to learn the spearmanship; the more concrete combat methods still require exploration...'

A few days later, the party finally returned to the territory belonging to the Kurohime Mountain clan.

Hyakusuke thought to himself that he might finally be able to rest well for a period after returning.

However, not long after his return, Hyakusuke was summoned by the ninja leader, Takamasa.

"Good work..."

Takamasa sat at his desk without even raising his head.

"Your report has already been transmitted through the messaging shikigami. You did a good job with this mission."

He held a writing brush in hand, scribbling rapidly across a scroll, and said indifferently: "Normally, after this assignment concluded, I should have allowed your people to rest for a little while... However, there is now an important matter that requires your personal presence."

Takamasa stopped what he was doing and placed the brush on its rest.

"Speaking of which, Hyakusuke, you should have heard the rumors regarding Dewa Province, specifically about the Heavenly God Cherry Tree, shouldn't you?"

He explained calmly: "That is a divine cherry tree that blooms once every decade, and it is also Dewa Province's most powerful guardian deity... Every time the divine cherry blooms, Dewa Province holds a grand festival. For reasons unknown, this time the divine cherry has bloomed ahead of schedule, which is considered an auspicious omen."

"The authorities in Dewa have expressed a desire for the Kurohime Mountain clan of Mutsu Province to participate in this festival and have extended an invitation to the clan. After urgent discussions within the clan, it was decided to dispatch a delegation to Dewa Province, and this time, Lady Kuzuhana will be leading the party."

"—Hyakusuke, you shall accompany Lady Kuzuhana on this trip to Dewa..."

What kind of joke was this?

'Why did the Heavenly God Cherry Tree bloom ahead of schedule?'

Hyakusuke was nearly paralyzed with shock on the spot. He clearly remembered that in the original main storyline, Dewa's Heavenly God Cherry Tree was supposed to bloom next year. Had even the main storyline been advanced this time?

'Damn it... The protagonist Yakei's "extraordinary ability" hasn't even been activated yet. If we actually run into the main storyline events, how on earth are we supposed to fight?'

He once again realized the harsh reality that events would never unfold according to his expectations.