The man widened his eyes in shock as no words could escape his mouth.
"M-Monster!!" were the only words he could cough out before fainting on the ground in terror. Asura probed around his body, using her foot, a bit impolitely. She sighed as she asked Miko, "Why did he call us brothel women? How are we like them and why not just call them prostitutes?" Miko simply shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Probably have to ask my brother... I think its because it sounds nicer than prostitute?"
"No it dosen't... Its longer and it means the same thing. Its supposedly offensive calling them both ways... Sigh, how confusing." Asura sighed before swiftly plucking the plant and covering it with her power to preserve it. She waved her hands and manipulated space magic to open a small space in front of her. She threw the plant in before promptly sealing it. In space, the plant would not age, remaining fresh and better preserved. It would also not risk being damaged if they encountered a situation later.
Asura waved her hand as purple wisps and asagao petals appeared in a puff of glitter. Asura was using divine magic - specifically soul magic. A cloud of purple appeared over the man's head as the incidents that happened previously were blured. Asura and Miko's faces blured as everything turned black and white, devoid of any colour.
"Are we letting him live?" Miko asked. After all, it made sense to kill him so that he would not spread word of them to high ranking cultivators, which could endanger all the beasts.
"Hehe... since when were you so lenient?" Asura chuckled, "Of course he's staying alive. He has to tell the other villagers so that they will stop being foolish like him and dying stupidly, like him if we had not spared him. Imagine if his family came to look for him... such a headache..."
"But what about those powerful human cultivators? Also, don't we also tresspass to their world to take resources?" Miko asked. Asura sighed as she started to explain, " I am sure the protection barrier that was created for our village would be powerful enough to withstand their attacks. I doubt anyone of them would be able to break a goddess's barrier. And yes, we do take their resources, but we don't hunt them do we? Killing them is simply pay back for those beasts who lost their lives." Miko finally understood how much the world had changed. Asura patiently explained to her the current world situation, and how much beasts, as a whole, not just in their continent, has declined. After the war a hundred and twenty years ago, humans gradually started hunting them. Many beasts were killed for their prized body parts, or enslaved. If the females had a beautiful form, they would likely be forced into marriage with a powerful human, or simply sold as sex slaves in the unsavoury industry. Males were usually tasked to do hard labour and fight in gambling dens. If the humans thought a captured beast to have nothing of their interest, they were simply killed.
At this time, the goddess Inari decended from the heavens by the sakura tree. Seeing the state of the beast and kitsunes as a whole, she felt that it was unjust. She created a protection barrier around the village, allowing only kitsunes and those invited by them to enter. It was not only the goddess of the foxes that performed such an act. Many other gods performed this to protect their own beast kind. As much as they wanted to stop the humans, they were unable to. Someone was instigating them to do so behind the shadows. They had tried to warn the humans, which eventually came to nought after many years of them not listening. As a result, setting the barrier was the only thing they could do to help their kind.
The gods also found themselves getting weaker. This was mostly due to their shrines being removed. The power they drew from prayers were diminishing a tiny bit, as fewer went to pray there sincerely, and infrequently on top of that. Only few humans bothered to pray at the new location of the shrines, which were at very inconvienient places. This was where the emperor demanded for them to be moved to, seeing they cannot be destroyed or he will be dethroned by Amaterasu herself, and bring major harm to his rule. Amaterasu also noticed this loophole in her law for the royal family, but could not amend it while the king was still ruling. Now, the only evidence the shrines were previously present was their residue energy at the places they once resided.
Miko finally understood why she could not find the shrines she was looking for before. They had been moved! She also understood why the beast race hated humans now, but she could not wrap her head around why the humans were like this. After all, to keep their diminishing power a secret as it could threaten their lives, the gods did not tell of this to anyone else. They also kept the fact that someone was controlling the humans under wraps. It seemed that this evil being was bent on toppling the balance of the world, and seemed to have been growing his power, where even the gods are unable to stop him, and can only wait to fight him head on when he is ready, although it might be too late.
"Understand now?" Asura asked, her face serious and gloomy. Things have not been looking good for the beast race, and they need to start treading carefully. One mistake might end their lives or ruin their sanity. The fox race was especially sought after. With their soft coat and magical gems as well as their ethereal beauty, it was no wonder.
"Yes," replied Miko, "Although, why do we resemble brothel women?" Asura sighed as she decided not to answer that question. It was not important and all Miko needed to know was to stay far away from humans. The further, the better. Still, Miko couldn't help but be curious although she soon dismissed the thought. Actually, the man said that because with the silk kimono robes they were wearing coupled with how short it was and how they were barefoot, it was easy to mistake them as prostitutes. They tried to flaunt their bodies as much as possible, hoping to attract men to spend money on them. This meant removing whatever cloth that could be removed from their backs while not showing all of them such that men were still curious about them. However, beasts do not have such mentality. They simply wear what they feel comfortable with, usually meaning no shoes. Which beast wore shoes in their true forms anyway? Beasts also did not care much about how much skin they showed anyway, and only covered what had to be covered. Shame means to beast completely different what it means to humans, so it was pointless to compare their versions of disgrace and shame.
After a long day, it was clear nightfall was arriving. The sky was a deep orange hue as faint stars began to appear. The sun was hanging on the horizon, such that it looked like a semicircle in the distance. Miko and Asura had been extremely productive, having picked up all of the herbs they were looking for today. They had manged to even dump that young and ignorant herb gatherer outside the forest where there was at least a chance that other humans could find him. As for why he entered the forest, he was either ignorant or desperate for 'rare' herbs to sell. They did fetch a good price usually. Maybe next time, that would teach him about entering the forest without cultivation. With his vague memories, he would be able to warn the others with his story, while not letting the village become a threat to Miko and Asura if they decided to revisit soon.
Miko and Asura started heading to the plum hill. The spring there was extremely relaxing, since the air there was crisp, the scenery good and most importantly, the temperature just right.