At the foot of Mount Hakurei.
When Li Xia saw the travel-worn Kagome and noticed how much thinner her pretty face had become, his eyes narrowed.
What happened?
What could have left this classmate of mine so haggard?
"Xia..."
Pouting, the girl lunged forward, about to throw herself into his arms.
However, someone who had experienced something similar once before swung his fist on instinct, almost without thinking:
"Hi-yah!"
If that punch had landed squarely, Kagome would certainly have been in a terrible state.
The sudden turn of events left the girl stunned.
She stood rooted to the spot, utterly at a loss.
This scene also caught Bankotsu, who was nearby, off guard, making his eyelids twitch wildly.
Was his boss really this ruthless?
"Hmph, Naraku, you fiend, trying to fool me again? I won't fall for it this time. The same trick won't work on me."
Though Li Xia said that aloud, inwardly, he was shaken by lingering fear.
There had been nothing halfhearted about that punch. He had even used his left fist rather than his right; even if the person before him had been a burly, iron-boned man, his Kirin Arm would have blasted him into a red mist on the spot.
Good grief, wasn't that reflex a little too strong? I nearly killed Kagome in one hit.
As for why he was so certain the girl before him was Kagome?
The reasoning was actually simple.
This was Mount Hakurei.
And they were inside the Sacred Barrier.
Even with the Demon-Blocking Wall concealing his demon aura and evil aura, Naraku was still a conglomeration of enormous masses of evil aura. If he forced his way into the Sacred Barrier, he would still be forcibly purified.
Since the girl before him could enter Mount Hakurei unhindered by the