Got It!

(This book is not a modern urban novel. These two storylines existed in the original; their inclusion here serves only as a transition.)

Finding out which school Souta attended was not difficult.

Tracing the clues through Souta's classmates to find the fire-damaged house where Little Gō's family had once lived was even easier.

Considering that the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit would eventually bring Mayu back to this house to open a passage to Hell, and that he did not want to reveal the Shikon Shard's existence in front of Kagome, Li Xia brought the three elders here to lie in wait.

Sure enough.

Just as it had in the anime and manga he had watched and read in his previous life, the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit brought Mayu's soul back to the scene of the incident.

It was walking straight into their trap.

In the blink of an eye, both entered the trap the three Clan Elders had laid.

"Did it work?"

Li Xia's eyes widened.

The Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit restraining Mayu was now enveloped by a Golden Light Curtain that had suddenly risen around it. This was the Intermediate Barrier Curtain the three elders had constructed using the Intermediate Talismans they had arranged beforehand.

The curtain formed a cage, attempting to imprison the demon and the little girl.

On the surface, everything seemed to be going splendidly.

But in the next instant.

Purple radiance flickered all over the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit's golden-yellow body. Then a Purple Light Curtain ignored the golden barrier the three elders had built with talismans, forcefully penetrating and enveloping it.

Their surroundings changed from the ruined aftermath of a fire to the scene of the blaze several months earlier. The entire house was engulfed in flames.

In a single instant, the four of them were dragged onto their opponent's home ground.

"What's going on?"

Li Xia was startled.

The Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit looked harmless and was considered a relatively benevolent being, yet it possessed such an incredible spatial ability.

"Something's wrong. I've lost contact with every talisman I placed inside and outside the rooms. I can't sense any of them at all."

One Clan Elder's expression changed drastically.

He felt as though the space he now occupied had been severed from the real world.

Another elder nearby also paled, his expression growing grave:

"I'm afraid the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit has dragged us into a dimensional space leading to Hell. Ancient texts record that it can open a passage to Hell, but before doing so, it brings children burdened with deep resentment and lingering obsessions back to the places where they died for a final trial."

"If the child remains unable to resolve their anguish, and their soul cannot ascend during that time, this space will collapse. Then the passage to Hell will appear..."

At that point, the Clan Elder could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

Fortunately, the eldest and strongest Clan Elder, who was leading this operation, remained calm throughout.

"Rest assured! Even if the little ghost cannot be delivered in time, this dimensional space won't collapse entirely. It will merely split open, creating a fissure that leads to Hell. The Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit will then drag the child's chain-bound soul through that fissure into Hell, never to be reborn!"

"The Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit only targets those children's souls. It won't affect us."

"As long as we leave through this house's front door in time, we'll return to the real world the instant we step outside this house suspended between reality and illusion."

Clearly, this elder knew a great deal about the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit.

And the facts were indeed as he had described.

The four of them were now in a dimensional world between reality and illusion. Since they had nothing to do with the accident several months earlier, they were not the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit's targets. They were all "spectators," and for the moment, faced no danger.

Indeed, the flames burning around them did not harm these four outsiders in the slightest, as though the fire did not exist.

Furthermore, they only needed to open the door and leave normally. There were no additional restrictions.

Only if they forcibly interfered with the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit's actions would it attack them.

"All right, first we find the child whose resentment still lingers. Once we find them, we can follow the chains on their body and draw out the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit behind them..."

The child the elder spoke of was, naturally, Mayu.

At that moment, Mayu was trapped inside the wardrobe in her younger brother Little Gō's room.

The wardrobe was pitch-black inside, and Mayu hid there, trembling. Outside, fierce flames spread rapidly.

However, the seemingly deadly blaze had no effect whatsoever on the four of them. Apparently, the only person these flames could burn or hurt was Mayu herself.

"Someone, please save me... Mom..."

Curled up in a corner inside the wardrobe, Mayu's eyes were filled with terror.

The red chains wrapped around her grew tighter and heavier, making her deeply uneasy.

Just then.

Someone pulled the wardrobe door open from outside with a clatter.

Outside stood three elders and a youth.

The elders wore kindly expressions.

The youth looked even more approachable.

"Who are you?"

Mayu asked warily.

"So it's a little girl ghost."

After seeing Mayu, the three elders' smiles grew even warmer and gentler.

It would not be difficult to follow the chains wrapped around Mayu and force out the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit behind her. And since its target was Mayu, it had no defenses against the three Clan Elders.

In other words, the three elders could ambush the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit at minimal cost.

Of course, they would have one chance to strike... and only one.

Once the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit reacted, the four of them would face a spatial demon's counterattack.

"Stand back. Leave the rest to me."

As he spoke, the lead elder took out a thick stack of talismans.

At a glance, Li Xia recognized them as precious Intermediate Spirit-Sealing Talismans, with several Advanced Spirit-Sealing Talismans mixed in.

They had been accumulated by successive generations of the elder's branch of the family.

Because ghosts and demons were rarely seen in the End of Dharma Age, their predecessors would always have a few valuable items left over when they passed away. Those Advanced Spirit-Sealing Talismans were most likely legacies of the Li Family's forebears.

Li Xia could not help stealing several more glances at them.

Good stuff. I want some too.

"Little ghost, don't move... We're here to save you..."

The three Clan Elders soothed her while coaxing the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit into revealing itself.

The instant this relatively benevolent demon emerged, an Advanced Spirit-Sealing Talisman and roughly a hundred Intermediate Spirit-Sealing Talismans landed on its body. Meanwhile, the lead elder traced a talisman in midair, using it as a catalyst to fully activate the power of all the talismans.

"Watch closely, youngster! This is how you use Spirit-Sealing Talismans together with spell incantations!"

The Clan Elder offered him guidance.

Every movement was fluid and seamless as he treated the empty air before him like talisman paper, tracing upon it. As the elder exerted his power, dazzling white arcs of electricity abruptly filled the entire room:

"Spirit-Sealing Chains, manifest...!"

As his voice fell, countless white arcs condensed into chains of magical power that wrapped around the Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit. A powerful binding force erupted, catching the demon off guard just as it was about to go berserk.

"Give me a hand..."

"Seal."

The three elders spoke in unison as they exerted their power together.

Their combined efforts seemed to form the faint outline of a formation.

In the end, the white chains dragged the demon into the Advanced Spirit-Sealing Talisman, and its outline appeared on the talisman's front.

Clearly.

The demon had failed to withstand the combined force of the chains and had been sealed inside the advanced talisman.

The supple talisman's radiance faded, and it turned into an illustrated card as stiff as cardboard.

The Demon-Worshipping Child Spirit had been captured!

The three elders were overjoyed at the sight!

Originally.

At this point.

The matter should have been over.

Yet the three Clan Elders immediately turned on Mayu, capturing the little girl with a Spirit-Sealing Talisman as well.

Mayu was completely unprepared and was captured on the spot.

"Clan Elders, what are you..."

Li Xia raised his brows.

Beside him, the three elders were too excited to notice the slight change in their junior:

"Youngster, you've rendered a great service to the family this time. You'll certainly receive an additional reward when we return. Didn't you want to learn how to form contracts with Shikigami? I'll teach you personally afterward."

"Indeed. Not only did you provide accurate information, but you also let us capture a little ghost with tremendous potential. That's quite a pleasant surprise. The reward we offered before clearly isn't enough..."

Hearing this, Li Xia fell silent.