In the original story, Miroku possessed power far greater than any of her predecessors. Facing the wraith that had broken free, she sacrificed her life to seal both its body and soul, separately, in the shrine of the Land of Swamps and the underground palace of the Land of Demons.
However, if this took place long before the events of the original story, when the wraith had yet to escape, then its soul and body naturally remained intact as one.
Both were sealed in the underground palace behind the shrine.
After entrusting the Land of Demons to Kei, Miroku led him into the shrine. She opened the gateway at the back of the shrine, which connected to the cliffs, and proceeded deep into the underground palace. The underground palace, one of the grand subterranean palaces built by the wraith long ago, was vast.
Descending nearly a hundred meters, they entered a massive cavern filled with magma and the pungent scent of sulfur. Under the scorching glow of the magma, Kei finally glimpsed the full scale of the underground palace.
For a being that had nearly ruled the world... Controlling countless puppet soldiers akin to the Terracotta Army, along with tens of thousands of followers, the wraith was not one to practice frugality.
The massive underground palace was filled with numerous structures, though most were already in ruins. Even with time's erosion, the engravings and decorations on the buildings, though faded, still bore traces of the vast manpower and resources once poured into their creation.
Rumble—
A violent tremor shook the ground beneath their feet, as large chunks of rock tumbled down from above, nearly striking Kei and Miroku. They crashed into the magma, sending up waves of molten fire. From the ruins of the grand hall in the distance came a shriek, eerily like the wailing of vengeful spirits.
The seal left behind by generations of shrine maidens shone with radiant golden light, holding firm against the wraith desperately trying to break free.
Sensing Kei's arrival... The already frenzied wraith instantly doubled the intensity of its attacks.
Its body, originally like a dark purple mist formed of sinister energy, solidified in an instant. Dozens of black-and-purple dragon-like heads emerged, ramming the seal above them with relentless fury. Miroku pressed her hands together, forming a strange hand seal.
The golden light of her forehead diadem flickered as she resisted the wraith's corrosive dark energy, stabilizing the seal.
"Miroku! If I die, you die with me! The shrine maidens who merged with me, their souls will be doomed to eternal darkness! Your mother! Don't you want to hear her voice?! She longs to see you!" The wraith's hoarse, almost hysterical screech failed to shake Miroku in the slightest.
On the contrary, a faint smile appeared on her lips.
The wraith... was afraid!
"For generations, even we shrine maidens have lost count of how many have sacrificed themselves... Let it all end with me! The fate of shrine maidens ends here! Mōryō—vanish with me!" Miroku took a determined step toward the seal, her gaze resolute.
She raised her index and middle fingers, crossing them before her chest. Dark red facial markings emerged on her face as she pushed her power to its very limit.
"What are you doing?" Kei gathered spiritual energy in his palm, infused it with Yin-Yang techniques, and smacked Miroku on the back of the head.
He directly interrupted her attempt to unleash her secret shrine maiden technique.
"W-weakening its power…" Miroku clutched her diadem, which was nearly knocked off by the hit, and turned to look at Kei in shock.
She clearly had no idea why she had just been smacked. And… Did this guy just hit her on the head?! Did he think she was a child?!
"If you have that much free time, just stand over there and cheer. It's just a mutated, self-aware aggregation of corrupted natural energy." Kei casually pointed to a spacious, flat platform on the side.
After seeing the Mōryō's true form, he had already figured out its essence. Simply put, it was an amalgamation of extreme malice and degenerated natural energy—an entity that, through some twist of fate, had developed a consciousness, much like a tailed beast.
Since it could absorb all forms of extreme malice and convert them into its own power, conventional means couldn't truly destroy it.
If it got weakened… wouldn't that mean [Star Devourer] would have less energy to consume?
"Ch… cheer?" Miroku blinked in confusion, staring at Kei. Her mind immediately filled with images of various cooking oils used in food preparation.
"Just go over there first." Kei recreated the mental image of a cheerleading squad using Yin-Yang Release and flicked it into Miroku's forehead.
As she stood there in a daze, he clapped his hands together. Using the Yin-Yang Release technique learned from the Sage of Six Paths, he severed the connection between her and the Mōryō.
"Uh…" Miroku felt the link between herself and Mōryō break, her pupils contracting slightly as she instinctively ran toward the location Kei had pointed out.
Wait… Did this mean she didn't have to die? But… was this dance some kind of special sealing ritual?
"Do you desire the power of darkness? This is the ultimate force capable of ruling the world… a power that can grant any wish, overturn the past and future—"
Realizing its connection with Miroku had been severed, Mōryō panicked completely. Without hesitation, it attempted to sway Kei with its manipulative words.
Kei clapped his hands together, sending a Six Paths-level sealing technique into the barrier set by the shrine maidens of generations past.
The once incessantly chattering Mōryō opened its mouth several times, only to find that it could no longer make a single sound.
Finally, no more annoying noise.
Harnessing the power of Yomotsu Hirasaka, Kei passed directly through the outer seal and entered the sealed chamber.
Seeing him as though it had encountered its mortal enemy, Mōryō instinctively tried to flee deeper underground. But Kei simply extended a single hand.
Activating the power of [Star Devourer]!
Voom—
The entire seal trembled as Mōryō's frantically escaping form twisted and distorted. Streams of dark purple energy were forcefully pulled toward his palm.
From the depths of the seal, countless murky, sludge-like masses morphed into a hundred ferocious dragon heads, shooting toward Kei like a rain of arrows, attempting to devour him.
However, the moment these dragon heads came within ten meters of him, their energy was instantly drained away, disintegrating into dust before vanishing into thin air.
Over thousands of years, countless humans had been born. Mōryō had accumulated immeasurable negative emotions, converting them into an unfathomable amount of corrupted natural energy.
It took Kei a full hour to completely devour all the energy contained within.
"0.4 units of planetary energy? Does that even make sense?! This damn little planet… everything here is more ridiculous than the last!" Raising his hand, Kei absorbed the sealing formation carved by the shrine maidens.
As the seal collapsed, the surrounding illusory space shattered like a broken mirror. He reappeared before Miroku.
"Go, team～ヾ(◍°∇°◍)ﾉﾞ Go, team～ Go— wait… it's over?"
After cheerleading for a full hour, drenched in sweat, Miroku saw the seal break and Kei emerge. She immediately stopped her movements.
Sensing that Mōryō's presence had completely vanished, she stood frozen for a few seconds, opened her mouth hesitantly, yet found herself at a loss for words.
"The dance wasn't bad." Kei raised an eyebrow slightly. He honestly hadn't expected Miroku to take his words so literally.
He had told her to cheer, and she actually did it. And honestly… As expected of a professional shrine maiden, whose rituals and prayers often involved sacred dances. Her moves were even more graceful than those of the top-tier dancers in his past life!
A shrine maiden in traditional attire doing cheerleading... This was next-level culture.
"Kami-sama… sob… sob…" Miroku covered her face with both hands and collapsed weakly to her knees, tears silently falling.
Life was dazzling. And simply being alive… was already the most beautiful scenery in the world.