No desire to kill Naraku? Xu Zhiqiu froze for a moment, then quickly regained her composure. "How could that be! Aren't you afraid Kikyo will notice you being so brazen? She lives right next door!"
Naraku's lips curled into a smile. "Heh, that priestess went to the shrine to purify the Shikon Jewel. Her mind isn't on the Shikon Jewel right now, so how could she possibly purify it?" The Shikon Jewel needs to be tainted to reveal its beauty.
Well, well. So he'd come prepared.
Xu Zhiqiu exhaled, steadying herself. "What do you want?"
Cool fingers stroked her neck, sending tingles through her skin.
His touch made Xu Zhiqiu's heart tremble again and again.
Then he said lightly, "To send you to the Underworld, of course." Once Xu Zhiqiu died, Onigumo's attachment would disappear.
!
Xu Zhiqiu should have expected this outcome long ago, but he had her restrained, leaving her unable to move. Her body felt weak and limp. Clenching the Jade in her hand, she gritted her teeth. "Naraku!"
Naraku's eyes turned cold, and his nails lengthened. Without a shred of mercy, those sharp nails stabbed toward Xu Zhiqiu's throat.
But before they pierced her skin, a brilliant light burst from Xu Zhiqiu's body. The tentacles wrapped around the chair snapped. Sensing danger, Naraku darted aside and watched as a blue-green glow enveloped Xu Zhiqiu. Then, right before his eyes, she vanished.
Only a chair and the tentacles, shriveled by the light and fallen to the ground, remained in the courtyard.
Watching her vanish into thin air, Naraku couldn't put a name to what he felt. All he knew was a dull sense of frustration.
The night breeze blew through, turning those tentacles to ashes. He stood there for a while before finally leaving.
Xu Zhiqiu, where might you be?
Just as Naraku was about to strike, Xu Zhiqiu's fierce desire to survive had sent her traveling through worlds again.
No, it wasn't quite traveling through worlds. She had simply been moved somewhere else.
Holding the Jade in her hand, Xu Zhiqiu looked around. She was somewhere remote, and the familiar old buildings nearby almost brought tears to her eyes. Wasn't this the land where she had grown up?!
"Who are you?" Opposite her stood a girl with an East Asian face, dressed in coarse hemp clothing, her hair tied up with bangs over her forehead. She held a stick.
When fellow countryfolk met far from home, both their eyes brimmed with tears.
The girl warily eyed the woman who had suddenly appeared in such "revealing" clothes. But when she saw the monster behind the woman, her eyes widened, and fear immediately took hold. "B-behind you."
"Behind me?" Xu Zhiqiu froze. Turning around, she saw a massive humanoid monster with a vicious face and a rhinoceros horn on its head standing behind her.
"Roar!" The monster bellowed, spewing a ball of fire from its mouth straight at Xu Zhiqiu.
Xu Zhiqiu clenched the Jade at her wrist and, without thinking, unleashed a Jade Blade slash at the rhinoceros monster.
No Jade Blade appeared. Xu Zhiqiu frowned, wrapped an arm around the girl behind her, and nimbly dodged aside.
The fireball shot straight into the building ahead.
With a crash, the flimsy building instantly collapsed.
The monster seemed to be nearsighted. It craned its head this way and that, unable to spot Xu Zhiqiu. But it could sense humans nearby, so it prowled around the area, refusing to leave.
This couldn't go on.
Standing on a tree trunk, Xu Zhiqiu surveyed the scene below, then looked down at the girl beside her, who was still holding her stick. "Hey, kid, lend me that stick."
"Oh, here." Having witnessed Xu Zhiqiu's immense internal power, the little girl figured she must be an immortal from somewhere. She obediently handed over her weapon.
Xu Zhiqiu took the stick, looked down at the rhinoceros monster, and drew a deep breath. Then she leaped down, raising the stick and bringing it straight down on its head.
With a crack, the stick broke in two.
Recovering from the blow, the rhinoceros monster spat fire at Xu Zhiqiu in an even greater rage.
Fuck-
Xu Zhiqiu hurriedly dodged the fireballs, leaping from tree to tree. But under the relentless barrage, her shoulder inevitably suffered some burns. Her strength was draining, and she was struggling to keep going.
She jumped back onto the original tree trunk and wrapped an arm around the little girl's waist. With a serious expression, she said, "I can't deal with that demon. Let's avoid it and get out of here first."
"Okay." The little girl nodded.
Only then did Xu Zhiqiu leap toward another tree with the girl in her arms.
Noticing that Xu Zhiqiu was trying to leave, the humanoid rhinoceros monster charged straight into that tree without hesitation, blocking their escape.
The entire tree began to shake, and Xu Zhiqiu nearly lost her footing. She steadied herself and jumped to the next tree.
"Fairy sister, go left," the girl said, tugging at Xu Zhiqiu's clothes. Her little face was solemn, and a little sweat appeared on her forehead. All she could do now was try. Would it work?
"Okay." Xu Zhiqiu headed in the direction she indicated.
Soon, she felt herself pass through a thin membrane and landed on the ground.
The rhinoceros monster caught up and lunged at Xu Zhiqiu, but something like a protective shield blocked its advance. Instead, it was thrown back dozens of meters.
Xu Zhiqiu released the little girl and watched the rhinoceros monster on the other side of the Barrier. Unable to get through, it hesitated for a while, then finally chose to leave.
It just left like that?
Xu Zhiqiu looked down at the girl beside her and asked gently, "What is this place?"
The little girl blinked and answered, "This is the Dark Domain Forest. We're on its outskirts right now."
"The Dark Domain Forest? What dynasty is it now, then?"
"The Great Ming." The little girl stared at Xu Zhiqiu as she answered, then her gaze grew determined. "Sister, you're an immortal, aren't you? Can you save my parents and my people?"
"Huh?" Xu Zhiqiu was bewildered.
The little girl dropped to her knees right in front of Xu Zhiqiu. "Please, I'm begging you. My parents and my people were all killed by those demons. Only an immortal can bring the dead back to life. Please save them!"
Xu Zhiqiu was dumbfounded when the girl knelt before her. She bent down and said solemnly, "I'm not an immortal. I'm just an ordinary person. If I were an immortal, I wouldn't have let that demon get away."
"But..." Of course the little girl knew that. But she was just so heartbroken.
Xu Zhiqiu frowned, forcing her tone to sound cold and stern. "No buts. I'm not one, and that's that. The dead have departed; the living must carry on. Make the most of the life you have now."
"Waaah..." The little girl still burst into tears.
Xu Zhiqiu sat nearby, quietly listening to her cry, and looked up at their eerie surroundings. Since this was the Great Ming, the timeline should match the one back in Inuyasha's world. But she had suddenly disappeared, and she had no idea what Kikyo and the others would think. And then there was that scheming bastard Naraku!
Really, truly, if her jade pendant hadn't transported her somewhere else, that bastard Naraku would have killed her.
But she remembered what Naraku had said to Inuyasha in the original story. When he had schemed against Kikyo back then, he hadn't struck to kill. He had only wanted to leave her utterly disheartened so she would be with him.
Although those words had partly been meant to provoke Inuyasha, when she compared that with her own situation, Naraku had outright intended to kill her. He wanted her dead. It left her a little hurt and a little miserable.
Ah, she never should have been such a sucker for a pretty face. She'd admired Naraku's looks and couldn't bear to kill him. And now look where that had gotten her. How frustrating.
Before you continue