In two months, Kanoru practiced daily, and his strength improved significantly.
He could now endure the energy from the sixth gate for 15 hours.
His sword skills also advanced. By combining the five sword styles and deepening his understanding of the way of the sword, he created his own technique.
The technique consisted of three moves, still imperfect, but each one tripled his attack power.
Now, even without opening the sixth gate, he could fight and defeat newly promoted higher-rank opponents.
He also reached proficiency in the war song technique. When he performed it, he could bless his group with the power of wind, enhancing their speed.
Now, he only needed to master it fully to comprehend the nature-sound.
Additionally, he had advanced to mid-ranked priest.
With all these improvements, his combat strength doubled from before.
After arriving in Qinhui City, they stayed for one night before continuing their journey toward Ren County City.
However, halfway through, they were forced to stop—a large army of invaders blocked their path.
Without hesitation, they joined the local forces battling the invaders.
Their group, now a formidable force of 200 combatants, was strong enough to fight independently.
Kanoru, capable of opening the sixth gate for 15 hours, could maintain it for the entire day's battle.
With this, he could fight higher-rank monsters without danger and even slay weaker ones with ease.
However, he soon encountered sentient monsters, which were far more difficult to defeat.
Previously, higher-rank monsters fought like mindless puppets, but after slaying too many, Kanoru drew the attention of sentient monsters whose strength matched his own.
The war dragged on for six months, with neither side gaining an advantage.
The battle turned into a stalemate, with equal strength on both sides.
Seeing this, Kanoru and his group chose to leave the army and take an alternate path to Ren County City.
On the way, they came upon a besieged city, which had fallen to the invaders.
The local forces surrounding the city were attempting to retake it, but neither side had spirit realm experts.
The arrival of Kanoru's group tipped the scales, overwhelming the invaders.
The city was soon reclaimed.
Afterward, they continued their journey, fighting sporadic battles against small groups of monsters until they finally reached Ren County City.
From Qinhui City, it would have taken 10 days to reach Ren County, but due to the monsters infesting the region, it took them eight months.
Upon arriving in Ren County, they learned that while the cities and towns were still under the Ming Empire's control, the regions outside were dominated by monsters, making it impossible to travel directly to Ren County City.
Thus, they joined forces with the towns and cities, helping them clear out nearby monsters.
After another month of continuous battles, they finally reached Ren County City and entered it.
There, they met Bai Yue's mother, who was now the commander of all forces across Ren County.
They quickly obtained the Hundred Herb Pill for Asuna's mother.
After consuming the pill, Asuna's mother finally awakened from her long slumber.
To their surprise, they learned that although she had been asleep, she could hear everything happening around her.
Thus, there was no need to explain the current state of the world to her.
They then received a shocking revelation about the war's situation.
To Kanoru and the others, the war had seemed like a stalemate, with both sides appearing equally strong.
However, they discovered that their side was gradually losing.
During the first day of the invasion, the invaders had captured many of the world's nodes.
These nodes were the pillars regulating the world's spiritual energy flow.
The invaders sought to corrupt the nodes, altering the world's laws to favor their race.
If they failed to reclaim at least half of the captured nodes within 200 years, their world would be doomed.
One such node was located in Ren County, in the valley where the Evergreen Sect was once situated.
However, two spirit realm experts from the invaders were stationed there, preventing any direct attack.
Although the world's rules suppressed the invaders, the presence of two spirit realm experts made it impossible for Bai Yue's mother to defeat them alone.
She devised a plan:
First, they would clear out all the monsters across Ren County.
Then, they would surround the valley and launch a large-scale attack.
While Bai Yue's mother held back the two spirit realm invaders, the thousands of cultivators would slaughter the monsters below.
Once the battlefield was cleared, they would join forces with Bai Yue's mother to overwhelm and kill the two spirit realm invaders.
Although spirit realm experts were overwhelmingly powerful compared to lower cultivation realms, more than a thousand cultivators attacking simultaneously could force even a spirit realm expert into a defensive position.
With Bai Yue's mother's support, they would have a greater chance of defeating the two spirit realm invaders.
Kanoru and his group joined forces under Bai Yue's mother, fighting for three years until they successfully reclaimed the valley.
During this time, Kanoru advanced to Higher-rank Samurai, fully transforming the energy of all six gates into his chakra.
His body was further strengthened, allowing him to endure the energy behind the seventh gate for two years.
Though he remained a mid-ranked priest, he mastered the war song technique, which enabled him to step into the doorway of wind elemental energy.
The veil concealing the wind elemental energy lifted before him, granting him direct control over the wind.
Unlike before, he no longer needed a sword to harness the wind, as the element no longer harmed him.
This mastery made him invisible to spirit realm experts for two hours.
After comprehending nature-sound, he chose not to pursue nature-heat or nature-cold.
Instead, he continued to deepen his understanding of nature-sound, realizing that his comprehension was still superficial.
He discovered that many sounds were beyond the range of human hearing, existing in the realm of the invisible sound.
Determined to unravel the mysteries of these hidden frequencies, he continued comprehending the imperceptible sounds.
While doing so, their group set off for Xinghai City.
Kanoru and Asuna's family were worried about their loved ones in Mori Family territory, prompting them to battle relentlessly.
They fought battle after battle, taking five years to finally reach Xinghai City.
By then, Kanoru's cultivation had reached the limit of the samurai realm.
Now, he only needed to break through the Eighth Death Gate to become a spirit realm expert.
However, breaking through the Eighth Gate was extremely dangerous—failure could result in death.
Even though he had more than ten years before he needed to advance, he chose the safer path.
If he could comprehend at least 1% of the rule of wind elemental energy, he could safely advance to the spirit realm without risking his life.