With Obsidian, the token of the Wolf Demon Tribe's tomb guardians that Ayame had given them, Sesshomaru, Han, and Shun Ye finally passed through the sealing array of the Six Pillars in the West of the Land and returned to their original world-to Sannai Maruyama, the Wolf Demon Tribe's forbidden grounds.
The six towering stone pillars gradually faded around them. The gray-white stone array showed no trace of the fifty years that had passed. Perhaps, for the trees in these mountains, those years had meant nothing more than growing a little lusher. Their long lives rendered time almost meaningless. The three slowly walked out of the stone array.
The sky was a clear azure blue, dotted with soft, cotton-white clouds. Harmless little birds, some endearing and others fierce-looking, chirped sweetly as they darted overhead. Now and then, a bold, slow-witted one settled quietly on a branch, tilting its head to study the creatures that had suddenly emerged from the stone array.
Shun Ye gazed at this fresh, vibrant world, deeply moved. There was no murky, filthy gray-purple sky, no vicious, cold-blooded demons blotting out the sun, no swamp traps lurking everywhere. Instead, this was a world that treated them gently.
"At last. At last, we're back." As an elder of the Spirit Clan, Shun Ye ought to have maintained his mature, composed bearing, but the instant he saw his homeland, the emotion surging through him was too urgent to contain.
Deep in the quiet mountains, there was only the rustling of leaves and the calls of birds and insects. Shun Ye raised both hands and tilted his face slightly upward. Warm, gentle sunlight filtered through the dense foliage, dappling his face. The member of the Wind Spirit Clan gave a contented sigh, wearing an unguarded smile Han had never seen