Pilgrim Omnibus 2: (Books 4-6), page 1
PILGRIM
Omnibus II
(Books 4 - 6)
By Harmon Cooper
Copyright © 2023 Harmon Cooper
Copyright © 2023 Boycott Books
Box set cover art by Yulia Volska
Books 4-6 covers by Daniel Kamarudin
Interior art by Sor Cooper
Map design by Chaims Cartography
Books 4-6 font design by Shawn King
Omnibus font by Sarah Anderson Vivien
Edited by Celestian Rince
Proofed by Adam Luopa and Andi Marlowe
www.harmoncooper.com
writer.harmoncooper@gmail.com
Twitter: @_HarmonCooper
All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Table of Contents
Contents
Table of Contents
Map of the Kishu Kingdom
Pilgrim Cultivation System
Pilgrim Recap
.Book Four.
Part One
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Two
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Three
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Four
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Five
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Six
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Seven
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Eight
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
.Book Five.
Part One
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Two
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Three
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Four
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Five
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Six
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Seven
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Eight
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
.Book Six.
Part One
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Two
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Three
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Four
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Five
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Six
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Seven
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Part Eight
.Chapter One.
.Chapter Two.
.Chapter Three.
.Chapter Four.
Back of the Book
Map of the Kishu Kingdom
(Click to enlarge)
Pilgrim Cultivation System
Pilgrim Recap
(Contains spoilers for Pilgrim Books 1-3)
Book One
An orphan raised to be an assassin, Danzen Ravja has had enough. After twenty years working as a trained killer for the Diyu Brotherhood, Danzen, an incredibly powerful man who has a boomerang sword and a harrowing occurrence that takes place whenever he draws blood, decides to retire after an assassination attempt on his own life. Knowing nothing of his past due to being raised by the Brotherhood itself, Danzen spends two years wandering the countryside and avoiding contact with people.
Arriving in Suja Village, he takes refuge in a monastery outside of the village and is eventually called into action to help the villagers deal with mythological creatures known as yokai. His first mission is for Elder Sonders, and Danzen is sent to the nearby city of Chutham to find a drunken man named Shedrup, the Elder’s nephew, who seems to recognize Danzen’s power and understand what he truly is. Later, he befriends two yokai who become instrumental in his story, a shifty, shapeshifting bakeneko named Jelmay, who can morph into any human he encounters but generally stays in his humanized cat form; and Kudzu, a white kitsune who can morph into the form of a woman but rarely does so.
He continues to interact with the villagers, who help him fix the monastery into a proper home and invite him into their community After rescuing a child named Enkhmaa from a terrifying yokai, he’s also given a glaive known as the Blade of Darkness, which later allows him to utilize shadows to extend the power of his blade.
After two villagers are injured, Danzen and his two yokai companions, Kudzu and Jelmay, journey to the Tavern at the Edge of the World to save the villagers’ souls. Along the way back he learns from Abbot Monpo, the leader of the fox shrine, that his father is Tengir Gantulga, the ruler of Diyu, which means Danzen is half-blooded, which explains why demons are unleashed when he breaks his skin. He also learns that his mother is named Shodren Ravja, and that she is alive and well, living at a nunnery outside of the village of Odval. Danzen is presented with the opportunity to begin bending his echo to grow stronger, yet he declines.
Upon returning to the village, he is ambushed by two assassins, Soko, a former lover, and Norwin Dawa, who attacked him two years ago. Danzen kills Norwin Dawa but Soko gets away. He assumes that the people of Suja Village will never want to see him again, and is surprised to find them at the abandoned monastery the next morning for a picnic, indicating that the villagers have officially accepted him into their community.
Book Two
With monsoon season set to come, Danzen is attacked by several sugawara that he swiftly kills. He takes their armor before burying them. Heading to town to sell the armor sends him on yet another adventure to cure Khamdo the carpenter and a man named Oktai. They have their first encounter with the jade rabbit, Usagi, who can help but will only do so for a price. Once they have dealt with the lead sugawara, Usagi helps them heal Khamdo and Oktai.
Still wanting to deal with the contract put out on him by the Diyu Brotherhood, Danzen and his companions head west to the city of Sainshand. Along the way they encounter bandits, and Danzen has some work done by a blacksmith named Kunta who once betrayed him. They are able to successfully infiltrate the Diyu Brotherhood, and Danzen kills his former instructor, Biren Yeshe, who tells him that his brother will be visiting him soon.
Before Birin Yeshe dies, Danzen asks him where Nomin is, knowing full well that the blind female assassin would like to kill him. Danzen goes to the nunnery outside of Odval alone to encounter Nomin. They fight, Danzen’s demons are unleashed, and Nomin dies.
He finally meets his mother, the nun named Shodren Ravja. Shodren promises that they will meet again. He journeys back toward Genshin Valley to finally start bending his echo, and once again joins Kudzu after a brief encounter with Elder Sonders, the Suja Village elder and uncle of Shedrup, the former town drunk who is suspicious of Danzen.
Once he is with Kudzu, the echo cultivation portion of the second book starts up, with Danzen learning more about the power within him and testing his current level at the fox shrine, which is run by Abbot Monpo, where he learns he is at the Golden Adept level. Danzen vows to get even stronger.
A monsoon uncovers the head of one of the stone lion dogs that guard the monastery, Danzen already having named one of the statues Yama. This sends him on another mission to figure out a way to attach the head to the body, which puts him in direct contact with Usagi again. Through this mission, which involves collecting the head shears of a yokai named Monobake, Danzen encounters an orachi named Idzuma, which is a water-bound yokai with several heads, her back covered in trees that make her look like an island. Once the mission is completed, Danzen is able to
From there, they travel to the Floating Candle Festival in Arsi alongside Kudzu, where Danzen is sure he will encounter Soko. Danzen hopes to tell her that the contract on his life has been nullified by the death of his teacher Birin Yeshe. This doesn’t go according to plan. Soko tells him that there is a new contract out on his life, one funded by Sumi, who is getting revenge for the death of her father, a man that Danzen killed two years ago and which started his journey of redemption. Soko battles Danzen, unleashing his demons among the crowd of the Floating Candle Festival.
Danzen flees with Kudzu, and once he reaches Chutham he is told that madam Eva Yin has a message for him. She wants him to deliver a letter to a hermit named Dalan whom he has met several times before.
Upon leaving the pleasure house, he is attacked by Thane, an old instructor of his, and Danzen is forced to kill him in the streets. He doesn’t know this at the time, but later, Thane’s three students will attempt to avenge his death. Danzen also takes Thane’s bladed gauntlets, which he will use later on. Traveling into the Panchen Mountains to deliver the letter, Danzen learns that Eva Yin is Dalan’s sister, and that she has a sickness that he is able to ease using herbal medicines. To get these medicines, Danzen and Kudzu must get a particular kind of yokai that congregate around mushrooms.
They return to civilization and deliver the medication to Eva Yin, who has moved from Chutham to Suja Village to check on one of her pleasure houses. Upon leaving, Danzen is attacked by his half-brother, Nomtoi. He is beaten pretty badly, and Nomtoi takes some of the villagers with him as hostages. In an effort to recover he consumes a remnant, which goes against his beliefs to some degree. He is also challenged by Shedrup, Elder Sonders’ nephew and the former town drunk, who is much stronger than Danzen once believed him to be.
Realizing he doesn’t have much time, Danzen makes a decision to grow as strong as he can in four days so he can rescue the villagers from Nomtoi. Rather than fight Shedrup, he recruits him to go to Diyu and bring the villagers back. He journeys to the fox shrine to get instructions from Abbot Monpo, who tells them to go after a remnant in an abandoned shrine somewhere in the Asura Forest.
Alongside Kudzu and Jelmay, Danzen returns to Idzuma’s pond and learns of an abandoned remnant, one that is embedded in a skull. To get it, he ends up killing an aquatic yokai in an underground cave. Abbot Monpo has Danzen wear this remnant as a necklace to give him more power in the fight against his brother.
Danzen, Kudzu, Jelmay, Abbot Monpo, Usagi, and Shedrup venture to Diyu to rescue the villagers that Nomtoi has killed. Danzen still doesn’t know that there is a three-legged raven tracking him as they journey once again through the Panchen Mountains.
They encounter Nomtoi, who has summoned several of Danzen’s former enemies, all assassins, including Nomin, the blind assassin later switching sides and fighting alongside Danzen.
Danzen and Nomtoi square off, and their father, Tengir Gantulga, arrives on the scene, finally meeting his half-blooded son for the first time. Tengir Gantulga returns the villagers to the mortal world; Danzen and his companions appear at the front of his monastery as if nothing has happened. Danzen is surprised to see that his mother, Shodren, has journeyed from her nunnery to meet him. Once Danzen and his companions leave to check on the villagers, it is revealed that the three-legged raven that has been tracking him all along has been working for Danzen’s mother.
Book Three
With Danzen’s mother now living at his monastery, there has been an increase in religious devotion in the Suja Village. She tells Danzen that she wants to do something about his father, and that she’d like Danzen to be the one to do it. One morning, after Danzen has tried to help the ungrateful jade rabbit Usagi deal with a demon bear, Danzen is called to Suja Village to investigate a yokai attack, one that has left several dead bodies at a man named Panchen’s home.
It is decided that the yokai that did the killings are known as yamachichi, and after some conflict with Usagi, he tells them how to kill the yamachichi. To do so, they must destroy their nests with an explosive made from the Satorikai root and the leaves of a Tobikura tree. That night, they are able to use Jelmay as bait, and destroy the yamachichi’s nest. They later return to the monastery to find his mother speaking with the leader of the fox shrine, Abbot Monpo. The abbot asks Danzen to join him in the mountains.
Once they are alone, Abbot Monpo morphs into Tengir Gantulga. Danzen tries to attack his father and fails. His father tells him that he wants to challenge him, and his first challenge is to kill a yokai known as a kappa. At first Danzen doesn’t want to, but he decides to honor his father’s request since he fears his father could do something to his companions. He is later joined by Kudzu, but he keeps his father’s appearance a secret from her as they hunt down the kappa.
He kills the kappa and they return to his monastery, where he lets his mother know his father visited her the previous day in the form of Abbot Monpo. Shodren reveals that he must challenge his father for the throne and rebuild Sunyata that way and Danzen declines. He decides to head west, to get away from the valley, visit other monasteries, and deal with Sumi and the contract she’s put out on him that has been picked up by Soko. He also fears Thane’s three students may try something, and doesn’t want it to happen at his home.
Sure enough, on his way to visit Eva Yin alongside her brother, Dalan, he’s attacked by Thane’s three students, Tensei, Sonin, and Yato. He manages to injure Yato and the other two leave her behind. He travels to Arsi with Yato as their captive, hoping to lure out Soko, who has taken the three students under her wing. Danzen and his two yokai companions end up getting along with Yato, who later joins them after an ambush from Soko in which Kudzu is injured.
They head north to Odval, where they spend some time helping an innkeeper named Oiwa find her son, Shimaru, while Kudzu recovers. They end up rescuing Shimaru from an abandoned temple that has been possessed by a demonic yokai. From there, they meet with Kudzu and head to Danzen’s mother’s nunnery. Danzen has improved his ranking, and it is here that he makes his final decision to allow Yato to join them. Danzen’s father appears with a new task for him. His father wants him to kill a demon in the Outer Regions known as Shutendorji. Once he begrudgingly does so, his father rewards him by bringing the blind assassin known as Nomin back to life, who goes off on her own for a while.
Once he’s back at the nunnery, Danzen sets out yet again, this time to look for remnants and deal with the Penumbra Clan after being told of their appearance in the region by a kitsune named Bawa, who has a glowing orb at the tip of his tail. Danzen once witnessed a demonstration of shadow-power from a man named Jinkai, the founder of the clan, and he has been given contracts to deal with them in his former life as an assassin. Penumbra is interested in remnants for consumption and talisman purposes, which puts them in direct conflict with Danzen, who insists on collecting remnants to ultimately rebuild Sunyata.
Danzen and his companions are able to deal with the Penumbra clansmen, and they return to the nunnery with more remnants for their collection. From there, they plan to head back toward Arsi, but are ambushed by Soko and the Witch of Diyu in Odval. They are all poisoned and imprisoned, but Danzen is eventually able to free himself by utilizing his demons. This officially opens a new mode of being for Danzen, one in which he can actually command his demons. It also leads to the betrayal of the Witch of Diyu by Soko, but not before Jelmay is able to stab her.
This event also completes the arc for Sumi, the teenager left orphaned after Danzen killed her father. While he didn’t want to kill her as well, it becomes inevitable after she has prevented his Demon Speak influence using remnants. Danzen kills Sumi to prevent her from hiring more assassins to hunt him. His group heads back to Genshin Valley, and upon arriving in Chutham, they’re roped into the disappearance of a local man and one of Eva Yin’s pillowers. This sends them to the Asura Forest, where they eventually find the couple, who later tragically take their own lives. Yato gets a talisman during the affair, which amplifies her speed.
After more interactions with Usagi and some of the other yokai in the Asura Forest, including the winged wolf known as Galzo, the third book ends with an epic showdown at Danzen’s monastery. He fights Nomtoi alongside his companions and the blind assassin Nomin, who has decided to join him. His mother intervenes, and Danzen’s father appears. Tengir Gantulga kills his mother and the three-legged raven appears, striking Tengir, who vanishes. The raven introduces himself as Sansar, and he believes in Danzen’s vision to rebuild Sunyata.
