"Kikyo? It's actually Kikyo?! Has she really come back to life?"
Inuyasha was utterly spellbound.
His eyes held nothing but Kikyo. There was no room for Kagome at all.
Seeing this, Li Xia couldn't help sighing inwardly.
Inuyasha's love for Kikyo really was single-minded. At least for now.
Kagome's appearance, on the other hand, carried a hint of a third party intruding.
Yet how innocent was Kagome?
As someone with her own independent identity, didn't she have the right to pursue her own happiness?
In the original timeline, the love between her and Inuyasha had blossomed from the bond they built through shared hardships, day after day! Throughout that process, she had merely admired Kikyo, never spoiling even a fraction of the beautiful relationship between Inuyasha and Kikyo. Instead, she had quietly accepted everything about him!
That fifteen-year-old girl had only felt admiration, never jealousy.
How incredibly broad-minded was that?!
If Inuyasha failed to cherish such a strong, understanding girl and kept hurting her, then Li Xia wouldn't hold back.
Besides:
"Everyone has the right to pursue beautiful things. Why shouldn't I?"
Li Xia narrowed his eyes as he looked over, an uncertain light flickering in them.
If he were to have children with a human woman in the future, that woman would surely be Kagome, with her immense potential as a Miko.
That was a father's responsibility toward his own descendants.
It was how he, as a father, would take responsibility for his future children.
Just imagine: Kagome's talent as a Miko was bound to pass down to her daughter. If he raised his daughter properly, the little girl would become another Miko with considerable potential. Whether in this Demon World or the modern world on the other side, personal strength was the foundation of everything. Without power, even pursuing happiness meant depending on other people's approval. Having lived in a branch family of a cultivation clan, he understood that all too well.
And if he were to have children with a nonhuman being, his partner would most likely be the clone on Mount Penglai after Kikyo's soul inhabited it.
The clone that Great Turtle, the youngest of the Four War Gods, had spent decades cultivating with Kikyo's blood could no longer be considered purely human. Otherwise, the real Kikyo wouldn't have killed her with a Sacred Arrow in the original timeline. The arrow's demon-purifying nature made the implications obvious.
But even as a nonhuman, she would still possess limitless possibilities.
Once Kikyo's soul merged with her, she would, in a sense, be a brand-new Kikyo.
Joining with her...
Having children...
Their potential wouldn't be low, either.
All right, enough about the distant future. What mattered was the present.
In this unfamiliar ancient era, where people could be devoured without so much as a bone left behind, Li Xia needed other people's goodwill and trust.
Winning either Kagome's or Kikyo's approval and trust would mean gaining a tremendous source of support.
Whether he considered the present or the future, whether from an emotional standpoint or a practical one, winning the two women's goodwill offered more benefits than drawbacks.
Especially right now.
Li Xia appeared to be showing kindness to Kagome, but in truth, he was showing kindness to Kikyo as well.
He hadn't forgotten how, during the Flying Demon Moth movie's events, Kikyo had told Kagome to return to her own world and stop interfering with the Warring States Demon World! That had been both a small test for her present-life incarnation and a clear indication that she knew Kagome came from the world on the other side of the Bone-Eater's Well!
She clearly knew something about that other world!
Which raised a question...
How had Kikyo learned about the modern world beyond the well?
Given the circumstances, one possible explanation was that a small portion of Kagome's soul remained inside Kikyo's Clay Body after leaving Kagome's flesh. By absorbing the memories within that fragment, Kikyo had learned many things about Kagome and the world on the other side!
That would neatly explain not only why Kikyo knew Kagome came from the modern world, but also why her attitude toward Kagome changed at different stages! It explained why she had gradually gone from rejecting Kagome to acknowledging her existence.
"In the middle and later stages, Kikyo was practically paving the way for Kagome!"
Testing Kagome during the Flying Demon Moth incident...
Guiding Kagome during the ordeal in the demon cave...
Leaving behind her Miko's Longbow during the Mount Penglai incident...
When Kagome purified the wounds on her Clay Body, she had told Kagome how she viewed Inuyasha and Naraku, as well as what she intended to do next!
Put all those things together, and they pointed to one thing: paving the way!
"I'm just a stranger. If I want to win the goodwill of the more mature, levelheaded Kikyo, earning the relatively innocent Kagome's goodwill first might let me kill two birds with one stone!"
Really, was there anything wrong with pursuing beautiful things?
Besides, all he wanted was to survive and live a little better...
"Higurashi...!"
Li Xia held Kagome in his arms, his eyes full of anxiety.
He checked the girl's pulse and was even more alarmed to find that her heart had almost stopped.
He hurriedly began performing chest compressions on his classmate.
"Beat! Start beating again!
Come on, beat!"
Chest compressions were an emergency measure for patients whose heartbeat and breathing had suddenly stopped. He had already shared this first-aid technique with Inuyasha and the little demon Shippo a few days earlier, so none of them found Li Xia's actions strange.
(Anyone thinking about mouth-to-mouth was taking things a little too far. Ahem.)
Urasue, however, gave a sinister cackle at the sight.
"It's useless. That girl has already become an empty shell without a soul! She'll never wake up again!
In a little while, I'll mix her with herbs, add some seasoning, and eat her!
She was Kikyo's reincarnation, after all. The power within her must taste delicious!"
If Demoness Urasue really did that and successfully ate Kagome's physical body, she might truly gain complete control over Kikyo's Clay Body.
Those Wrathful Souls, left with no other choice, would be forced to reside within Kikyo's Clay Body.
"You old hag, you're asking for death!"
After handing Kagome over to the teary-eyed little fox demon Shippo, Li Xia swiftly put on the Great Katsura Tree Mask and applied several talismans to himself.
With the Great Katsura Tree Mask enhancing him, Demon Power flowed through every limb and bone!
His strength reached one star.
Once the Premium Talismans that boosted strength, speed, reflexes, and other attributes took effect, his strength, speed, and other capabilities skyrocketed severalfold!
His strength leaped from one star to the two-star level.
The reason he acted so courageously was that he knew perfectly well that Kagome wasn't actually dead at this point!
She was even fully conscious!
Her eyes were simply vacant. The soul that had reincarnated from Kikyo had left her body, making her unable to express herself or communicate with the outside world.
In fact, the girl could hear everything happening around her.
Why was that?
Because Kagome's soul had never consisted solely of the resentful, Wrathful Souls supplied by Kikyo's reincarnation! She also possessed a pure True Spirit that belonged not to Kikyo, but to Kagome alone! That True Spirit was Kagome's real soul power! It was the power the Shikon Jewel feared!
And precisely because the Shikon Jewel feared it, the jewel had sealed it away!
Only when Kagome's emotions changed violently and her True Spirit was stimulated would the seal loosen, allowing a portion of her truly hidden power to be drawn out and released.
Perhaps that was behind every sudden surge of power Kagome had displayed in the original story.
At the same time, Kaede nocked an arrow and drew her bow, supporting him from the side.
"Urasue, you hag! How could you use my sister Kikyo's remains to do something like this...?"
Her heart was a turmoil of conflicting emotions.
Although she wished to see her older sister again, she could never accept sacrificing Kagome as the price.
She would rather forgo that reunion.
"Hehehe, you're right! I used the highest-level Demon Art to resurrect the Miko Kikyo! In other words, I, Urasue, am the parent who gave Kikyo a second life! Kikyo will act according to my wishes! Come, Kikyo! Use your power to get rid of all these nuisances!"
As the old hag spoke, she dodged Li Xia's and Kaede's attacks and moved to Kikyo's side.
That immediately left Kaede at a loss as to what to do.
Li Xia, meanwhile, gritted his teeth.
"Give Higurashi her soul back!"
His furious roar snapped Inuyasha out of his daze. Li Xia was about to charge forward and attack, but Two-Dog grabbed him.
"What is it, Inuyasha? Would you rather sacrifice Higurashi just to protect this counterfeit Kikyo?
What does Higurashi even mean to you?
Hmph! Don't stop me! Let me smash that clay fake and release Higurashi's soul..."
That was what he said, but inwardly, he was praying:
Stop me, stop me, hurry and stop me!
I sure as hell don't want to face Urasue and Kikyo together!
I could die!
Urasue's Demon Power was conservatively at two stars, possibly even three.
He couldn't say exactly how strong she was, but she was unquestionably far more dangerous than he was.
And beside her stood Kikyo, who roamed around even while barely clinging to life, yet could still use a Sacred Arrow to break the High-Level Purple Barrier of Naraku, the six-star, fully evolved final boss after Mount Hakurei! She was indisputably one of the greatest Miko alive.
At present, she ranked below only Midoriko, the creator of the Shikon Jewel.
So, Inuyasha, you'd better damn well hold on to me!
Li Xia's heart was pounding.
At first, after hearing those mocking words, Inuyasha's grip had loosened a little. That secretly made Li Xia nervous.
But when he saw Kikyo slowly open her eyes, revealing a pair of clear irises, Inuyasha immediately couldn't bear it and tightened his grip on Li Xia again.
"Mr. Xia, don't! That's Kikyo!"
Before you continue