Inuyasha held his blade across himself and blocked. The crimson blade-light collided with the dark-green evil aura, letting out a corrosive hiss.
He was knocked back two steps. His foot slipped, landing in a crack between the stones, and he nearly fell.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine."
Inuyasha steadied himself and looked up toward the front left.
That dark-green heart was embedded in a rock at the bottom of the fissure.
It was clearer than when they had looked down from above.
And even more disgusting.
The pustules on the heart's surface kept writhing. Every time it beat, the pustules swelled, split open, and spewed out a gush of dark-green liquid.
The liquid ran down along the rock and seeped into the cracks in the ground.
And at the very center of the heart, there was a fist-sized dent.
That was where Sakura had smashed it with a stone earlier.
The flesh around the dent was slowly healing. The recovery was very slow, and dark-green liquid was still seeping out of the hollow.
"Its weak point is there."
Sakura stared at the dent, her voice very calm.
"Saku, can you sense the rhythm of its beats?"
"I can..."
Saku's voice sounded strained.
"The interval between each beat... is about three breaths... On the breath after it beats, the concentration of the evil aura briefly drops... That's the window."
"How long is the window?"
"Less than one breath..."
Less than one breath.
Sakura took a deep breath.
The evil aura entered her lungs with her breath, bringing a burst of burning pain.
She coughed twice and forced the pain down.
The Demon Blood in her body seemed to sense Sakura's current situation and began to boil.
She tightened her grip on the Qinglan Sword, and the pale-blue light on the blade suddenly