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Chapter Fifty-Five Dog Demon

Royal sacred tree?

Inevitably, I thought of the giant tree behind Higurashi Shrine. If I think about it carefully, there doesn't seem to be much difference between that tree and this cherry blossom tree... Apart from the species, other things like the thickness of the trunk are extremely similar.

Could it be that tree?

Their eyes darted around them. Suer, Xinke, and Jibril all immediately thought of the same thing: if the sacred tree was indeed an ancient tree that corresponded to this cherry blossom tree, then they might have found a clue to the cause of the time-space change they were looking for.

However, before that, the matter of the Time Gate must be kept from Yukari Yakumo. Suer has no curiosity what would happen if two Yukari Yakumos were put together.

“Take us there,” Xin Ke said calmly, “to the place you mentioned that corresponds to this cherry blossom tree.”

Silently, she picked up the pink-haired girl who was clinging to her arm and put her back in the house. Yakumo Yukari then opened a gap leading to the outside world, opposite which stood a giant tree.

It only takes one glance to identify the identity of this giant tree. Suer has already found the shimenawa hanging on the sacred tree in a familiar place. However, these ropes look very new compared to how they look hundreds of years later.

Some say that Suer and his companions are more familiar with this area behind the Hiyori Shrine than with the house he rented, since there wasn't much stuff there to begin with, and the ancient well was also found along with it. Suer's face darkened immediately.

They swarmed together like a swarm of ants, the monsters rushing into the well. And far away, Suer noticed some humans spying on them, led by... well... an old witch?

I didn’t sense any strong spiritual energy fluctuations from her body. Her shrine maiden outfit seemed to be just decoration. The shrine maiden who appeared in this place was the predecessor of Higurashi Shrine.

Is it a bit much to think that she can physically exorcise monsters by relying on the old farmers with hoes and sickles around her? Can she really be considered a shrine maiden?

"What's going on here?" Sur asked Yakumo Yukari, "It has to be said that it's really disgusting to see these weird and deformed monsters gathered together."

“This is the Yin Land.” Although she covered her mouth and nose with some disgust, Yukari Yakumo was not surprised by what she saw here. “The cherry blossom tree in the Yang Land is worshipped by the Saigyouji family, but the sacred tree in the Yin Land is worshipped by youkai.”

"...passive," Yukari Yakumo said with a sarcastic smile, "Just as taro fruits grow in the soil, this sacred tree will also bear sweet fruits. The spiritual energy crystals extracted from the earth's veins, which only grow in shady places, are a great tonic for any youkai... but only one will appear every fifty years."

"How could someone change a formation that has lasted for hundreds of years with their own power without any cost or burden?" Yakumo Yukari recounted everything she had investigated in order to save Saigyouji Yu. "The youkai who crave power have come here to fight, but in the end only one youkai will take away the prize, while all the other youkai who die here will become part of Saigyouji's original plan... to fill the void in this land."

One in, one out; one loss, one gain; one yang, one yin.

“It’s all an open conspiracy. Even though many yokai saw through Saigyouji’s scheme, they were still drawn to power and full of confidence in themselves, so they would eventually choose to step into this trap. They didn’t even need to do anything special; they just needed to fight here,” Yukari Yakumo said with a bitter smile. “Impressive, isn’t it? Even I have to admire humans for snatching the most succulent piece of meat from the hands of the yokai.”

"That's not all, is it? As long as this tree is still here, the cherry blossom tree on the other side can never become a monster," Xin Ke said casually as she looked down at the completely different formation in the future world. "The monster battle that happens once every fifty years is enough to erase any vague consciousness that the cherry blossom tree might have given birth to, simply by transmitting the fluctuations through the earth's veins."

Even Xin Ke had to admire the monk Saigyouji's vision and the courage to execute it. To do something so significant so quietly in a world occupied by monsters made her glance at the guy next to her.

Are all humans like this?

A hero like this appears every now and then.

"Hello! Hello? Hello!"

Just as Suer and the others were chatting and waiting for Xin Ke, the only intellectual present, to come to a final conclusion, a strange shout came from somewhere, and it seemed that the voice was calling out to them.

Do those monsters locked in battle even have the leisure to exchange greetings?

"Ah, I know who it is," Yukari Yakumo suddenly remembered a funny little guy she had seen when she explored this place before. "There's a dog demon sealed in that tree over there. Maybe it's because his appearance is too ridiculous. Although I don't know when he was sealed here, no other demons have kindly taken him down. Instead, quite a few passersby have been laughing at him."

"Hey!!! I heard you!! Auntie!!" The voice on the other end was clearly angry, and even deliberately used a term that would be a critical hit to a woman.

However, it won't affect Yukari Yakumo at all.

“Age is the true measure of a yokai’s strength. If a little guy like you could understand that, you probably wouldn’t be pitifully sealed here, would you?” Yakumo Yukari replied with a smile, raising her voice.

"A dog demon? And it's sealed on the sacred tree?" Su'er suddenly became interested. He had already seen the monster: white fur, dog ears on its head, and wearing a red robe.

It was much weaker than he had imagined... Did this kind of thing really need to be sealed away?

Anyone with even a little bit of spiritual power could kill it, right?

Wouldn't it be better to use the sealing skills to seal some indestructible monsters?

With a single click, the fighting monsters over there were deleted. Apart from Xin Ke, who was not interested in this weak dog demon and was still carefully studying the earth vein formation under her feet, the others who could not help had arrived at the foot of the sacred tree. From here, they could see that the little demon had been shot through the chest by an arrow and nailed to the tree, which was really quite pitiful.

"Hey, what did you do to be sealed here?" Su'er threw a stone at the head of the dog demon who deliberately closed its eyes and ignored them after seeing them coming.

"Are you looking for death?!"

There's a dog barking.

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Elderly Witch

“Deliberately making noise to attract others, but then pretending not to see them... Ah, is this the one? The way of deliberately attracting attention is quite cute,” Suer said with a grin. This dog demon didn’t have any ferocious or bloodthirsty aura; instead, it was rather adorable.

"What did you say?! I'll kill you!!!" The white-haired dog demon opened its eyes in a rage. Although it didn't know what "cute" meant, it knew immediately that it wasn't a nice thing. "Dare to put me down?!"

This tactic of provoking someone is far too simplistic; anyone with a modicum of common sense would likely fall for it.

“If I remember correctly, you should be the second son of Inu no Taisho, right? I think his name is… Inuyasha?” Yakumo Yukari stroked her chin and said, “The dog demons of the Western Lands declined after Inu no Taisho died. Neither of his two sons could reach his level. Now it seems that they can’t even command the demons of the Western Lands. They are really disappointing.”

"What did you say!!!!"

The white-haired dog demon began to struggle violently; with just a few light words, Yakumo Yukari inflicted exponential damage on him.

So, is it a story of a family falling into decline? Su Er nodded knowingly. He heard Xin Ke calling him over from the other side.

"Is it that well?"

“Hmm,” Xin Ke nodded, “As for more information, you should ask those people over there.”

At the same time, Suer turned his gaze to the bushes on the other side. After a moment of silence, a person emerged from the bushes. It was the old woman dressed in a shrine maiden's outfit but without any spiritual power. To be honest, the shrine maiden's outfit only served to intimidate her, and the eyepatch over her single eye made her look much fiercer.

“Our village has nothing, monster, leave,” the old shrine maiden said.

“You misunderstand. We just want to inquire about this well and this tree. Is there any record of them in your village?” Understanding her wariness, Suer asked in a friendly manner, “If you are willing to answer our questions, we will leave you plenty of food as a reward when we leave.”

“That well…we call it the Bone-Eating Well,” the old shrine maiden seemed visibly relieved. She glanced at the well with some apprehension, then couldn’t help but look at the dog demon arguing with Yukari Yakumo. “It’s called that because so many demons have died down there, it’s all covered in bones. It’s a well that can devour demons.”

Since these monsters in front of her were willing to show a friendly attitude, she naturally couldn't adopt an uncooperative attitude and force those who could have had a friendly conversation to the opposite side.

The elderly witch waved her hand behind her, signaling the others to return to the village first. After a rustling sound, the bushes fell silent.

"Does it have any special abilities?" Suer steered the conversation to the main point.

"Special ability?" The old shrine maiden looked somewhat puzzled. "Does the ability to attract monsters count? Recently, it seems that more and more monsters are fighting each other here, which has forced everyone in the village to be careful."

At this point, the old priestess's expression turned somber, and she sighed, saying, "If only my sister were still here, she would know the reason for this."

Judging from her age, it sounded like her sister was already dead. Suer naturally had no interest in touching on other people's painful memories. According to her, this ancient well had at least never demonstrated the power to travel through time in front of these humans.

To the humans living here, the monsters just fight each other for no reason, and then their corpses fall into the well to rot. Little do they know that some of these creatures are lucky enough to travel to another era.

They're probably just lucky guys.

Those who traveled through time at this point in the year have mostly been destroyed by the barrier set up by Xin Ke. As for those who traveled through time in the past few hundred years... they were probably destroyed by human Onmyoji, Nurarihyon, or other yokai, or they were directly integrated into society.

"Didn't you leave behind any legends about this tree?" Suer asked after thinking for a moment.

"...I don't know...isn't this the Sacred Tree?" The old shrine maiden asked, bewildered. "It's been here since I was a child."

In an era where information and knowledge cannot be easily recorded, it is still too difficult for ordinary people to know about the past. Although the old woman in front of them is a shrine maiden, there is not much difference between a shrine maiden who protects a small village and an ordinary person.

In the end, the old witch returned to the village she was protecting. Suer assured her that no monsters would come to the village to harass them for a while. The arrogant dog demon who had been pinned to the tree by an arrow was not taken down. Suer believed that everything that was sealed had a reason for being sealed. In any case, the white-haired dog did not intend to explain, so let him stay pinned there.

Xin Ke, whose research interest had exploded, became very busy. Her experimental instruments, facilities, and ubiquitous spells spread throughout both worlds. Not only Su Er, but even Jibril was ordered around to assist her with some important tasks, and Jibril actually agreed.

It was as if Yukari Yakumo's request that day had not been heard, and Sue's attitude was also very clear, but Yukari Yakumo still did not give up. She remained highly active in the research site every day, and once she was almost killed by the spell set up by Shinko.

Even someone like Su Er, who could be said to have entered a retirement mindset, unconsciously became nervous, simply because the mirage-like portal to the back mountain of the Higurashi Shrine in modern society had expanded further, to the point that it was almost covering most of the back mountain.

It was the magical array set up by the monk Saigyouji that caused this to happen after his death, due to some kind of mysterious metaphysical reaction between the earth's veins or the world.

Why does the portal that allows one to travel through time only appear in the dark corner of this formation, instead of next to the cherry blossom tree in the Saigyouji ancestral home?

Anything related to the rules of the world is not a simple matter. It is quite normal to not achieve any results even after decades, hundreds, or even thousands of years. However, the current situation requires a solution to be developed as soon as possible to stop the two worlds from gradually overlapping. This heavy responsibility has fallen on Xin Ke's shoulders.

Yes, Xinke has been quite irritable lately.

Chapter 57 Araragi Koyomi Makes a Decision

When are researchers most irritable?

That's naturally when research is not progressing smoothly, but someone keeps urging you to produce results.

"So, this is your excuse for slacking off and not doing any work?"

"No, how can you call it slacking off? I'm just dealing with things that need to be dealt with... Let's not talk about that anymore. Do you still have the same thoughts as before?"

"Should I regain my human body, or live with a human mindset as a vampire?"

Sul put his arm around Araragi Koyomi's shoulder tightly, listening to the cracking sounds of his bones as he tightened his grip, and gave him a friendly smile.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Let go!!"

Araragi Koyomi begged for mercy at the speed of light. Although his vampire body would allow him to heal his injuries at the speed of light, the pain caused by the injuries would not be reduced in the slightest.

"...According to Rikuo, the world will only become more and more turbulent, right?" Araragi Koyomi sighed deeply. "In this situation, if humans who have reverted to being completely devoid of supernatural powers encounter any evil yokai, they will be completely helpless."

"So your conclusion is to keep things as they are?" Sue raised an eyebrow. "To protect your loved ones, to protect your family?"

“…Hmm,” he nodded in acknowledgment. Strangely enough, Araragi Koyomi thought he would feel heavy-hearted and tormented when he said such words, but he found himself surprisingly calm.

It was as if he had already accepted this situation deep down.

"So you're also prepared to eat humans? Like Kiss-Shot, using humans who have committed unforgivable sins as food to sustain your life?" Although it sounded like a serious question, Sue actually had no aversion to this choice.

Why waste your extra sympathy on those who no longer consider themselves human? Keeping them around will only drive up the price of rice; the resources spent on them should be used for those who truly need them.

Only by removing the bad and cutting away the rotten flesh can the body regain its health—Sul always understood this principle.

Therefore, he had nothing to preach to Araragi Koyomi.

As for the idea that once someone eats another person, they will eat another person for life, and that the standards will gradually decline... that's just overthinking it. All we need to do is draw a line and only eat people who have been sentenced to death by law.

After all, human society no longer wants them, so what's wrong with making use of them?

He shared this idea with Araragi Koyomi, and was met with the boy's astonished gaze.

“You’re right,” the new vampire nodded, then chuckled somewhat sheepishly. “But actually, it’s not necessary to eat people. Rikuo said that if I need to drink blood, I can just drink his monster blood. After all, monsters aren’t human, and they won’t easily die from blood loss. There’s no need to make things so complicated for myself.”

"Huh? That little rascal?" Su Er didn't expect Araragi Koyomi to give such an answer. He glanced at Araragi Koyomi with a strange expression and looked at him, uh, behind him, with particular attention. "You drank the monsters' sanqi wine with him? Speaking of which, you two seem to be on very good terms now."

"No, no, no, that's not true," Araragi Koyomi firmly denied drinking the nuptial wine with a man, but he didn't deny that he had a good relationship with Nura Rikuo. "...Okay, actually, I do have some relationship with Rikuo when I don't turn back into a human."

Suer began to squint.

“I…I envy the way yokai interact, and Rikuo really is a lot like me. I’ve seen what he looks like during the day. Even though his way of speaking and personality seem like a completely different person, I know he’s still himself,” Araragi Koyomi recalled. “Compared to yokai, he is definitely more like a human.”

"And it was Rikuo who advised me to keep my strength to protect the important people. I think he's right. When facing danger, it's best to have the strength to protect yourself. There's no need to ruin yourself for some sentimental reasons," Araragi Koyomi said calmly. "And I also want to help him. He wants to become the new Lord of Demons and Monsters."