Two Worlds, Starting with Kaguya of Penglai Mountain

Youmu Konpaku couldn't understand why trying out the games that Kurokawa and Kazuya had created was so enjoyable and addictive.

She actually dislikes killing in real life, but in the game she always feels like she can't kill enough.

Especially after acquiring new skills, one can't wait to find a monster to kill.

Not only do they want to kill, they also think of special methods to meet various conditions and impose special restrictions on themselves before killing.

Not only do they want to meet special conditions, but they also want to shorten their completion time as much as possible to make their replays look cooler.

Then, after she had her fill of killing, she discovered that she seemed to have found a new skill in the exploration map, or perhaps she had met the unlocking conditions for a certain skill.

In short, it was a repetitive cycle, with each level completed repeatedly, until Youmu Konpaku had played through almost all the game content designed by Kazuya Kurokawa.

However, after playing through everything, Youmu can rewind the game and play it all over again.

In an era where entertainment is scarce, repeatedly handling the same thing is quite reasonable.

During the game, Youmu would share her thoughts with Kurokawa Kazuya, especially regarding the feel of defeating enemies, which Youmu basically figured out little by little through trial and error.

At the same time, the positive feedback loop that Youmu experienced was constantly being improved through her testing.

For example, after defeating a certain type of character using a special method, Youmu suggests that they should acquire a certain skill, and then Kurokawa Kazuya will consider whether to add that skill.

Of course, not every suggestion she makes will be approved.

But each time she succeeded, the girl felt a strange sense of satisfaction, as if she were participating in a career.

Youmu Konpaku: "Actually, if you don't consider the details, the game is already playable. Would you like to give it a try, young lady?"

The usually rigid samurai suddenly started promoting his idea.

Sharing is an instinct that everyone possesses. In the past, Youmu didn't really have anything to share with the young lady, but now she does have something to tell her.

Yuyuko, standing to the side, nodded in agreement as she looked at Youmu's expression.

Saigyouji Yuyuko: "Youmu, you can take me to see Mr. Kurokawa tomorrow."

Nowadays, the game can only be played on the computer that Banami manifests; it's practically impossible to play it outside.

Yuyuko nodded in agreement.

The serious samurai nodded at this moment, and almost without hesitation, she began to talk to Yuyuko about the game designed by Kurokawa Kazuya.

Youmu Konpaku: "According to Mr. Kurokawa, the scale of a normal side-scrolling game is definitely not as large as what we are making now. It is because the Saigyouji family provided a lot of manpower to help with the drawing that Mr. Kurokawa was able to produce all kinds of skills at a saturation."

Regarding the first game from "Refresh Co., Ltd.", Kazuya Kurokawa's strategy was simple and easy to understand: purposeful resource accumulation.

The amount of materials added to the skill quantity, the number of enemy types, and the characteristics of enemies.

The design of skills and enemies is actually not a headache for Kurokawa and Miyako; there is too much information to search in this extraordinary world.

With Youmu's help and assistance, choosing interesting skills and enemies to incorporate into the game is a relatively simple matter.

The only thing that gave Kurokawa Kazuya a headache was the procedural issues.

Youmu Konpaku: "Different types of enemies require different action tree designs. Simply put, it's about what actions they should take when they encounter the player."

Youmu Konpaku: "Besides this, combining different skills also requires related programming. Although currently players can only carry three combinations at a time in this game, these combinations still give Kurokawa a real headache."

The white-haired girl maintained her usual demeanor, telling her mistress about the information she possessed.

Yuyuko, listening to the words that were noticeably more numerous than usual by Youmu, also became slightly distracted.

When the two of them finally reached Yuyuko's boudoir, Youmu was still recounting her recent experiences.

It wasn't just about playing games; it also included the rapid changes happening in their town and some gossip about Kurokawa and Hanami that they were discussing.

Yuyuko was particularly interested in the last one.

She had originally intended to take the initiative to ask further questions, but her open mouth suddenly closed when she sensed something.

The gentle young lady shook her head at her samurai.

"Please have Youmu take me out to play tomorrow, I have other things to do."

Youmu Konpaku: "?!"

The samurai who had been talking suddenly realized what he had done.

Youmu Konpaku: "I'm so sorry, I've been talking to myself the whole time."

Saigyouji Yuyuko: "No, I'm very interested, but I have some things to take care of right now."

She shook her head at Youmu: "Keep watch for me tonight."

Yuyuko looked around her room and spoke like this.

Youmu followed her gaze.

The moment its gaze fell upon them, as if to announce its own existence, the oil lamp in the room was lit.

The orange light cast the shadows of the people in the room onto the paper window, revealing the silhouette of a long-haired woman.

Youmu was quite familiar with the other party's aura.

Although they had never met and had no idea who the other person was, the other person had come to see the young lady many times, and the young lady regarded him as a friend.

The samurai had no reason to pry into his lord's secrets.

Youmu, now back in battle mode, bowed slightly to her young mistress:

"I obey your orders."

After a few quick runs and leaps, the white-haired girl disappeared from Yuyuko's sight.

She began to patrol the surroundings on behalf of her young mistress, and also to check if any of Yuyuko's friends had attracted any unnecessary uninvited guests.

Saigyouji Yuyuko composed herself and slowly pushed open the door.

"Why did you suddenly come here today, Zi?"

She spoke gently as she walked inside.

Chapter 53 Purple: I heard you're going to marry a man.

The orange candlelight illuminated the room.

Her long, golden hair was casually draped behind her, and she wore a kimono with the Bagua (eight trigrams) patterned in the center. A long sword was tucked into her waist, and she exuded a sharp and fierce aura.

Yakumo Yukari, the mediator of demons, is the number one most ruthless demon in the Onmyo Pavilion who should not be provoked. Additional note: all missions can be considered automatically abandoned when encountering Yakumo Yukari, and no additional mission failure penalty will be paid.

The number of demons and humans who died at her hands far exceeded expectations.

Although Yukari Yakumo looked fierce, Yuyuko knew very well that the killing intent emanating from her had been subdued.

In her memory, when she first met him, the killing intent emanating from him was so strong that even Saigyouji Yuyuko, who was close by, felt a slight stinging pain in her body.

"It seems that you've settled down quite well during your time as a mediator, Zi."

The pink-haired young lady spoke with a smile.

Meanwhile, Yukari Yakumo, who was standing next to Yuyuko's desk in her room, put the book she was reading halfway back on the bookshelf.

Yukari Yakumo: "It's not that I've become more peaceful. In fact, my conflicts with others have actually intensified during this period. They're just afraid of being killed by me."

Despite uttering blood-soaked words, the blonde woman gave Yuyuko a gentle smile.

Saigyouji Yuyuko: "But it seems to me that you've become normal, Yukari."

Yukari Yakumo: "What humans consider normal doesn't apply to me."

The blonde woman approached Saigyouji Yuyuko and began to fix her hair: "However, the gap between demons is more troublesome than I imagined. The distance between demons is even greater than that between humans and demons."

Recalling her experiences mediating conflicts between yokai in recent years, Yukari Yakumo expressed these sentiments.

In a broad sense, human cultivators, including even the highest deities, are also a type of demon.

The strange and wonderful monsters on this land have completely opposite origins. To bring them together is, frankly, no different from climbing to heaven.

Saigyouji Yuyuko: "That's why your idea seems so strange, Murasaki. Why would you want to establish a unified alliance among youkai?"

Yukari Yakumo: "Perhaps I've seen too much and want to find something to do, or maybe I want to gather the power of the youkai to fight against the tide of this era?"

Yukari Yakumo: "But now it seems like I'm just indulging in wishful thinking."

Her long, golden hair swayed with her movements, and her delicate white fingers gently combed through Saigyouji Yuyuko's pink hair, as if she were lost in some kind of melancholy.

Yukari Yakumo: "A thousand years have passed. Humans have evolved from eating raw meat and drinking blood to what they are today, while the yokai, no matter what kind they are, look almost exactly the same."

Seeing this, Yuyuko simply took two steps forward and sat down in front of the dressing table, allowing Yukari Yakumo to better tidy her clothes.

The pink-haired young lady said nothing.

She knew very well that Zi was just trying to talk to her and didn't need a definite answer.

As expected, Yakumo Yukari continued talking without stopping, even as Saigyouji Yuyuko did so.

The blonde woman's eyes darted around, as if she were reminiscing while telling a story:

"The different origins of the monsters are not the real problem. The real problem is that even now they still don't know how to cooperate and pass on their knowledge, and only know how to seize everything by force."

"Humans, due to their own weakness, are oppressed by their own kind and by monsters. Over time, they learn to cooperate, which leads to the development of culture, inheritance, and society. But monsters don't need any of this. Monsters that are strong individually are unable to cooperate because of their own strength, which leads to them being surpassed step by step."

"The vast majority of them don't even take the initiative to learn; they just follow their instincts and act recklessly, like immature little kids in the human world."

As she spoke, it seemed that she was recalling some unpleasant memories, and Yakumo Yukari's tone became increasingly displeased.

However, this displeasure did not transform into the killing intent that Yuyuko was familiar with in the end; instead, it turned into a helpless sigh.

Yukari Yakumo: "I'm sorry, Yuyuko, I've talked to you so much again."

The blonde woman turned to the pink-haired girl behind her and spoke apologetically.

Saigyouji Yuyuko just smiled and said, "I made a promise with you to share the scenery you saw, so this should be my request."

Under what circumstances did Saigyouji Yuyuko and Yakumo Yukari first meet?

It was probably around two years ago, when most of the main members of the Saigyouji family had just died in an accident.

At that time, Saigyouji Yuyuko was sleeping in her room as usual.

The purple figure darted into her room, intending to take her hostage and force the Saigyouji family to provide cover for her injuries and temporarily become her place of recuperation.

Saigyouji Yuyuko blinked at this, indicating that the Saigyouji family had all died, and she was now the only one left in the main branch.

Furthermore, after she is killed, the cherry blossom tree in the courtyard, which has been modified by the Saigyouji family, will erupt without any restraint, turning the surrounding land into a dead zone and attracting all the Onmyoji in Heian-kyo to this place.

She even thoughtfully added to Yakumo Yukari's statement, telling her that even if the other party wanted to kill her on the spot, it was acceptable.

After all, only two members of the Soul Clan currently live in this area. Those two races are half-ghosts and half-human beings and are not affected by the aura of death.

The sensible young lady is not afraid of her own death.

Since she is not afraid of death, she is naturally not afraid of Yakumo Yukari, who brought her death.

She even asked Yukari Yakumo about the other person's story out of curiosity.

Faced with the fearless girl before her, Yukari Yakumo was also unable to use the methods of the past, so the two reached some kind of deal.

Saigyouji Yuyuko, who is about to die and will never be able to travel to faraway places, hopes that Yakumo Yukari can bring her news and stories from afar.

She would then cover Yakumo Yukari's presence, ensuring she had a safe base in the human city of Heian-kyo.

It's like the beginning of a legend in some stories.

A yokai from another realm and a girl destined to die begin to share their lives.

As they spent more time together, their relationship grew stronger.

In Yukari Yakumo's view, informing Yuyuko Saigyouji, who was about to die, about her own situation was not a risky thing.

After all, the other party was about to die, and the lifespan of a short-lived species was only a fleeting moment in her eyes.

Once the other person dies, everything about oneself will also vanish without a trace along with death.

then……

Later, Yukari Yakumo began to find all sorts of rare and precious herbs to help Saigyouji Yuyuko prolong her life.

However, this extension of lifespan has now reached its limit.

Yukari Yakumo: "How much longer does Yuyuko have?"

After a moment of silence, the blonde woman spoke to the pink-haired young lady beside her.