In the original story, Shrine Maiden Miroku possessed greater power than any shrine maidens before her.
Facing the escaped Moryo, she paid with her life to seal its physical body and soul separately within the ancestral hall of the Land of Swamps and the underground palace of the Land of Demons.
But now, still earlier than the timeline in the original story, since Moryo had not yet broken free, naturally its soul and body remained united as one.
Both were sealed within the underground palace behind this shrine.
After entrusting the Land of Demons to Kei Yamanaka, Shrine Maiden Miroku led him into the shrine.
She opened the gateway at the back of the shrine connected to the cliff face.
Then they descended toward the underground palace.
The underground palace was one of the ancient subterranean palaces built by Moryo—massive in scale.
They walked downward for nearly a hundred meters until reaching a vast cavern filled with magma and the smell of sulfur, where Kei Yamanaka finally saw the entire underground palace illuminated by the blazing glow of molten rock.
As an existence who once nearly conquered the world,
Moryo controlled countless terracotta-like puppets and commanded tens of thousands of followers. It certainly wasn't known for frugality.
Inside the massive underground palace were many ruined buildings already damaged beyond repair.
The carvings and decorations on these structures, though time had worn away their former splendor,
still faintly revealed how much manpower and resources had been consumed during their construction.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A violent tremor surged from below their feet as large rocks rained down from above Kei Yamanaka and Miroku's heads.
Crashing into the magma below, creating surging waves of blazing lava.
A shrieking roar, like that of wailing ghosts, echoed from the ruins of the distant grand hall.
The seals left behind by generations of shrine maidens, radiating dazzling golden light, firmly blocked Moryo trying to break free below!
Seemingly sensing Kei Yamanaka's arrival,
the already frenzied Moryo instantly increased its impact force more than double!
That originally mist-like body composed of dark purple energy suddenly solidified, transforming into numerous dragon heads of purplish-black hue, continuously slamming against the seal overhead.
Shrine Maiden Miroku pressed her palms together, forming grotesque hand seals.
The halo upon her forehead emitted glimmers of golden light, resisting the corruption of dark energy while maintaining the seal's stability.
"Miroku! If I die, you die too! And those shrine maidens merged with me—Their souls will be lost to eternal darkness forever! What about your mother?! Don't you miss hearing her voice? She misses you so much!"
The almost hysterical screech from Moryo did not cause even the slightest fear or wavering in Miroku.
Instead, it caused a subtle smile to appear on her lips.
Moryo… feels fear!
"Up until now, even the shrine maidens themselves have long lost count of how many lives were sacrificed... Let this end with me! The fate of the shrine maidens ends here! Moryo! Vanish along with me!"
Stepping forward calmly before the seal, determination and resoluteness filled Miroku's eyes.
Her right and middle fingers extended parallelly in front of her chest, pressing together. Purple-red mask-like markings appeared across her face, as she pushed her power to its absolute limit.
Crack!
"What did you do that for?"
Kei Yamanaka channeled spiritual energy into his hands and, using his Yin-Yang Release ability, slapped the back of the head of the shrine maiden Miroku.
He abruptly interrupted the secret shrine maiden technique she was about to perform.
"Weaken... reduce Moryo's power."
Miroku spun around in shock to face Kei, one hand steadying the crown that nearly flew off from the force.
She clearly couldn't understand why she had suddenly been hit.
But…
He actually smacked her on the head!
Was he treating her like a child?
"If you're bored, go stand over there and cheer. After all, it's just a naturally occurring energy cluster that accidentally became self-aware."
Kei pointed with an extended finger toward the open flat platform to one side.
After seeing Moryo's true form, he already roughly understood what this thing essentially was.
In short, it was simply a gathering of extreme malice mixed with degraded natural energy, which had probably gained individual awareness by coincidence—similar to tailed beasts.
Because it could absorb all kinds of extreme malicious intent and transform it into its own energy, normal methods couldn't eliminate it easily.
If its strength were reduced now, wouldn't his [Star Devourer] get less energy?
"J-Just... cheer?"
Miroku stared blankly at Kei.
Her mind instantly filled with images of various cooking oils used in food preparation.
"Just go over there."
Kei visualized a cheerleading squad in his mind, recreated the image using Yin-Yang Release, then snapped his fingers and projected the vision straight into Miroku's forehead.
As she stood dazed, he clapped both hands together.
Utilizing the Yin-Yang Release jutsu passed down by the Sage of Six Paths, he cut the connection between her and Moryo.
"Eh...?"
Miroku felt the link between herself and Moryo being severed. Her pupils slightly constricted as instinct drove her to run toward the position Kei indicates.
So she wasn't going to die after all?
But... was this dance some kind of special sealing empowerment ritual?
"Do you crave the power of darkness? This is the ultimate force—the one capable of ruling the world... a power able to fulfill every wish, overturning past and future alike..."
Moryo, sensing its connection to Miroku broken, panicked beyond measure.
Without hesitation, it tried using those tempting words to sway Kei's resolve.
[Six Paths – Silencing Seal!]
Kei clapped both hands together again, sending a Six Paths-level sealing formula into the seals previously set up by generations of shrine maidens.
Moryo's mouth flapped open several times, but not a single sound escaped its lips.
At last, the annoying noise vanished.
Activating Otsutsuki Teleportation, Kei tore through the outer seal and plunged inside!
Facing Moryo who looked like it had seen a natural enemy and instinctively attempted to flee underground,
He raised a single hand and unleashed the power of [Devour Spirit]!
Buzz—
The seal trembled violently. Moryo writhed unnaturally as torrents of purplish-black energy surged uncontrollably into his palm!
From the base of the seal, countless corrupt masses congealed into over a hundred snarling dragon heads, surging forward like soul-piercing arrows and lunging to devour Kei!
Yet, before they could close within ten meters of him—
All the energy inside had been completely drained, turned to dust, and vanished into the air!
Over thousands of years,
Innumerable humans were born, and Moryo gathered an immeasurable amount of extreme negative emotions, converting them into untold quantities of secondary Natural Energy.
Kei Yamanaka needed a full hour to absorb it all.
Only then did he devour every last bit of the opponent's energy!
"0.4 units of planetary energy—does that even *sound* right? This damned Fragile Little World just keeps getting more ridiculous by the minute!"
Kei Yamanaka raised his hand and cleanly absorbed the seals engraved by the shrine maidens.
As the seal shattered, the illusory space around him cracked like broken glass.
He reappeared before Miroku once again.
"Fight! Fight! Fight! \^(•°•^)\ Come on! Co—... Wait, is it already over?"
Miroku, the shrine maiden, had been dancing energetically for a full hour, sweating profusely as she cheered on. Upon seeing the seal break and Kei emerge, she quickly stopped.
Sensing the complete disappearance of Moryo's presence,
She sat there stunned for a few seconds, silently opening and closing her mouth, unsure of what to say.
"Nice dance."
Kei Yamanaka slightly raised his eyebrows. He really hadn't expected Miroku to take him so literally!
When she said "Jiayou," she really *meant* Jia ya!
Besides...
No wonder she's a professional shrine maiden who often prays and performs rituals with the 'Kagura dance'!
She dances even better than those dance influencers he used to follow!
Shrine maiden outfit plus cheerleading...
Round goes to the shrine maiden!
"Kami-sama... wuwuwu..."
Miroku buried her face in her hands, her body slowly sinking to the ground as she started to sob.
What a beautiful moment in life indeed.
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