Guard

For foxes, perhaps charm is an innate ability that is hard to conceal, especially for foxes with cultivation. For example, even though Tsuruha is pure-hearted, abstinent, loyal, and steadfast, her transformed form is still an incredibly stunning beauty.

As for Seimei, his demonic appearance was clearly influenced by the half-fox bloodline within him, giving him immense charm towards the opposite sex even at a young age. Miketsu had silently marveled at this when she first met Seimei, but thankfully, not being an 'original' maiden, she was quite resistant to Seimei's face. Yura, however, was different...

Looking at the handsome young man's face before her, Yura's brain froze for nearly ten seconds before she stammered.

“Ah ah... I... I... I'm not... I'm fine!! Thank you, thank you! I'm very well! I'm fine! Hahahaha...” Her words were stuttering and incoherent, her eyes were swirling, and her thoughts were a mess. Yura herself had no idea what she was saying. When she finally managed to regain a tiny bit of thought and logic, she realized she was still being held in Seimei's arms.

Suddenly, Yura's face flushed crimson, and white steam rose from her head. That tiny bit of reason she had just regained vanished completely. She then let out a shout and struggled, almost falling off the White Crane's back after breaking free from Seimei's embrace, saved only by Seimei pulling her back at the crucial moment.

Seimei offered a wry smile, expressing his helplessness towards the girl who reacted so strongly to him. Then, his expression hardened, and he made the White Crane execute a sharp turn, dodging a demonic flame Bullet that shot straight down from the sky. The demonic flame Bullet slammed into the ground, creating an earth-shattering sound.

The sound startled Yura, who was still in her dazed state. She suddenly realized she was still on a battlefield, and now was not the time to be distracted.

As Yura awoke, she happened to see Toga, gravely wounded, lying on the ground not far away. In the sky above, Kaen had already conjured a cloud of fire sweeping towards him.

“Save him quickly!”

Yura pointed in Toga's direction and shouted. Seimei, without a second thought, directed the White Crane to fly swiftly towards Toga. Before Kaen's fire cloud could engulf Toga, the White Crane grabbed Toga with its talons and continued to soar straight into the sky.

“Where did this brat come from!”

Seeing Seimei rescue Toga, Kaen became enraged and manipulated the fire cloud to rush directly at the White Crane. At the same time, the dark fox demon also shot demonic flame Bullets.

Carrying three people, the White Crane's speed noticeably decreased. Facing the continuous onslaught of fire clouds and demonic flame Bullets, it couldn't reach its fastest speed and struggled to evade. Seeing this, Seimei decided to first settle Toga and Yura, which required a suitable location.

Finally, Seimei found a suitable spot. He quickly directed the White Crane to fly straight there and land. It was clearly a cave entrance on a rocky mountain cliff, where the platform in front had been blown to smithereens.

Because this cave entrance and the nearby rock face were blessed with the Vermilion Bird Seal's prohibition, they did not collapse in the recent explosion; only the platform in front had been shattered.

The moment he landed, Seimei immediately turned, looking at the fire clouds and demonic projectiles assaulting his position from the sky, and formed a hand seal.

“Kotodama – Guard!”

A translucent, ethereal shield made of spiritual power appeared in front of Seimei. The demonic flame Bullets and fire clouds crashed against it, creating deafening explosions, but they did not shake Seimei's shield.

At the location Seimei chose, with the rock cave and mountain wall behind and to the side, he only needed to defend against attacks coming from two directions.

“How amazing... Is this... Onmyojutsu?” Yura exclaimed, mouth agape, as she watched the ethereal shield almost completely neutralize the attacks from the dark fox demon and Kaen. It was her first time seeing such a powerful defensive Onmyojutsu.

“Mere trifles... hardly worth mentioning,” Seimei said with a smile in response to Yura's comment. He then shook two white paper figures from his sleeve. The paper figures burned in mid-air, and from the flames emerged a small boy and a small girl, one blue and one orange, with wings on their arms and dressed in splendid clothes. The moment they appeared, they bowed to Seimei in unison, saying:

“Lord Seimei.”

“Donan and dojo, you two are responsible for guarding the barrier here and healing the wounded.”

“Yes.” The two shikigami, resembling a brother and sister, immediately began to carry out Seimei's orders after their brief response. The boy spread his wings, reinforcing the barrier, while the girl went to Toga, who had just been severely ambushed and injured by the dark fox demon. Her wings emitted an orange-yellow light, healing Toga's wounds.

“Ugh... much better. Thank you very much, young Onmyoji. May I ask who you are...” Feeling his wounds recover, Toga thanked Seimei.

“My name is Abe no Seimei. You don't need to thank me for these things; I am merely doing what I ought to do.” Seimei said, looking up at the sky at the now irrational dark fox demon.

“Tonight... I will not let you kill anyone, nor will I let you accumulate any more sins...” Seimei finished, then looked at Yura and Toga behind him.

“You two can slowly recover here for now. Them, leave to me...”

With that, Seimei once again mounted his White Crane, soared through the barrier, and flew towards the dark fox demon and Kaen in the sky.

...

Deep beneath the Lake Island, within a vast cavern, the forging work on the Vermilion Bird Seal altar was nearing its end.

On the altar, shattered materials were scattered everywhere, and countless tools like hammers and tongs lay haphazardly. The ethereal spiritual flames that had once risen from the Vermilion Bird Seal had now extinguished.

Currently, on the bronze disc of the Vermilion Bird Seal, two streams of energy, one purple and one blue, were steaming. These two streams were like two giant snakes, coiling and biting each other, seemingly in constant struggle, utterly incompatible. Within these two energies, two katana blades, not yet fitted with guards, floated and spun.

Totosai and Fujiwara no Kanehira were currently seated on opposite sides of the bronze disc, their hands resting on the disc. One was injecting demonic power into it, and the other was injecting spiritual power. Both wore solemn expressions and were drenched in sweat. Although the forging was nearing its end, there was not a hint of joy on their faces.

“No... it won't work...”

“Still... can't they merge?”

Just as Totosai and Fujiwara no Kanehira were struggling and looking troubled, a beast's roar suddenly erupted from the entrance of the massive cavern. A giant leopard cat, charred black, covered in wounds, and with several ice cones stuck in its body, burst forth, howling as it charged directly towards the Vermilion Bird altar.

Seeing the giant leopard cat suddenly enter, Fujiwara no Kanehira and Totosai were both startled, but at this moment, they absolutely could not stop what they were doing and were helpless against Torin's assault.

Closely following behind Torin, Miketsu arrived, trailing a long blue light. Facing Torin, who was about to rush onto the altar, Qin Xin transformed, and the Earth Spider Mask manifested on Miketsu's face.

Miketsu shot out two strands of spider silk, sticking them onto Torin. Then, Miketsu retracted the silk, pulling herself onto Torin's back, and left several Exploding Talismans on him. By this point, all of Miketsu's Paper Crane Exploding Talismans were completely used up.

As Miketsu swung away using the silk, the left-behind Exploding Talismans roared. Torin let out a wail; the explosions on his back caused him to lose balance momentarily, and he fell to the ground.

Seizing this opportunity, Miketsu continuously shot countless strands of spider silk at Torin, binding him tightly to a massive stalactite. Torin, covered in wounds and utterly exhausted, had just sustained another severe injury to his back. Struggling to break free from the spider web, Miketsu began chanting a spell. Just as Torin completely broke free from the web, Miketsu pointed her finger at him.

“Divine Golden Light Demon Subjugation Spell!”