There was a limestone cavern on the Back Mountain of the Demon Slayer Village.
A powerful, "living" barrier stood at its entrance.
"Is this the place? How do we get in?"
Li Xia looked at little Kirara, who had led the way.
The little creature bounded along on her four short legs and passed straight through the barrier without any obstruction.
Everyone's eyes lit up at the sight.
"She wasn't stopped?"
"Perhaps this barrier won't reject anyone pure-hearted and kind! The ones it keeps out are those with ulterior motives..."
As they spoke, Inuyasha, Miroku, and the others followed Kirara inside.
After walking a dozen or so meters, Kagome happened to glance back. Only then did she notice that Li Xia, who had brought up the rear, was still standing at the entrance, looking thoughtful.
"Mr. Xia, why are you still outside? Are you thinking about something important?"
The girl asked with concern.
"Yes. I was just testing whether this barrier could stop the demons that might attack the village."
Li Xia answered with a smile.
Then he set aside certain distracting thoughts and nervously took another tentative step forward. This time, the barrier no longer blocked him, and he stepped smoothly through its transparent surface.
He let out a soft sigh of relief. Thank goodness!
Otherwise, his image would have taken a hit.
It seemed his idea of gathering materials from Midoriko's mummified body to make a clay figurine really was unacceptable.
"Mr. Xia, what did your test show? If demons really attacked, could the villagers take shelter in this cavern?"
"Absolutely! This barrier won't admit anyone with evil thoughts. Even if someone slips inside by chance, the moment they develop malicious intentions, this practically living barrier will forcibly throw them out."
That was right.
The cavern was long, stretching three or four hundred meters.
Interestingly, everyone could see inside even without torches.
Everything within seemed to give off its own sheen.
The group hurried deeper until they reached an enormous chamber at least three hundred meters in diameter.
An astonishing number of demon remains lay piled here!
"So many demons..."
Kagome exclaimed.
"There are dragons, Earth Spider, all kinds of powerful Demons... hiss... none of them were ordinary!"
Miroku and Grandpa Myoga's eyes widened, their shock beyond words.
Shippo hid behind Inuyasha, cautiously peeking out with only half his body exposed. After looking around, he not only failed to calm down but even began to tremble.
"Does anyone else feel uncomfortable?"
"What's wrong, Shippo?"
"I feel really uncomfortable here..."
Even after hundreds of years, even though these demons had been dead for centuries, some of their corpses still exerted an inexplicable pressure on him!
Especially the petrified skeleton of the fusion demon in the center.
A single glance at it made his skin crawl.
"Huh? Is there someone on the fusion demon's head?"
Everyone looked over at those words. Studying it closely, they soon spotted a human woman warrior with half her body swallowed by the demon.
"Is that Lady Midoriko, the legendary strongest Miko?"
"Did she destroy this demon army, the strongest and most evil in history, all by herself? That's truly incredible!"
"Her lower body has already fused with the demons..."
"Look at her chest. There seems to be a large hole..."
Midoriko, the Miko, was the creator of the Shikon Jewel.
The invisible barrier at the cavern entrance originated from her.
Midoriko was a human Miko who had lived several hundred years ago. In her era, this land in the Island Nation was controlled by numerous feudal lords and nobles, and wars frequently broke out as they fought for power and profit.
War meant casualties, and casualties meant vast numbers of corpses.
As a result, the number of demons that fed on human remains rose sharply.
With so many demons, the survival of the fittest inevitably produced powerful individuals.
Originally, that would not have been a problem. Demons and humans had long hunted one another, maintaining a balance between the two sides! The problem was that Midoriko was far too exceptional. She was practically the perfect counter to every demon, including great demons and even supremely powerful ones.
Midoriko could forcibly extract any demon's soul from its body, then purify and destroy it.
It was an outrageously powerful ability.
Normally, when demons died, their souls went to the Demon Graveyard before proceeding into the depths of the underworld. Midoriko, however, eradicated them at the root, once and for all. That had made the entire Demon World wary of her. After all, no one could guarantee that Midoriko would not come knocking to deal with them.
What could they do?
How could they counter Midoriko's ability?
However hard they thought, the elites of the Demon World could find no way to solve this enormous problem on their own. If they could not solve the problem, their only choice was to do everything possible to eliminate the person creating it.
Thus, unwilling to sit and await death or be picked off one by one, the elite demons of the evil faction stepped forward! They decided to unite into a super army to deal with Midoriko, who had become a constant source of dread, and remove this enormous threat to the Demon World.
Soon afterward.
A battle lasting seven days and seven nights erupted.
It took place on the Back Mountain of the Demon Slayer Village.
Midoriko was powerful, but even human strength had its limits! Eventually overwhelmed by sheer numbers, she exhausted her strength. Just before the Super Fusion formed from countless demons could swallow her, she used her remaining power to extract their souls and combine them with her own four souls, forming a jewel within her heart.
That was the Shikon Jewel.
After the jewel burst out of her chest, it wandered the outside world for centuries, passing through who knew how many owners-dozens, hundreds, or even thousands.
Eventually, Kikyo met her tragic fate, and the jewel followed her reincarnation. In the end, Kagome brought it back to this era of this world.
"It's hard to imagine how brutal the battle Lady Midoriko fought back then must have been..."
"Damn it, did Lady Midoriko really fight alone for seven days and seven nights? Was there no one to help her?"
Kagome felt indignant.
"Higurashi, take a closer look at this cavern. Doesn't something seem strange?"
What did he mean?
"Everyone, look carefully. Are there traces of demon skeletons inside the surrounding stone walls too?"
After a brief examination, they exchanged looks. "Yes, and quite a lot of them!"
Once Inuyasha and the others confirmed it, Li Xia shrugged.
"Then the answer is clear!
"This cavern, perhaps even this entire mountain, was most likely part of the body those demons formed when they fused! Lady Midoriko was probably dragged inside the fusion's body to fight, leaving the monks and Miko outside unable to help her! Lady Midoriko was worn down until she died!"
At Li Xia's words, Inuyasha, Miroku, and the others turned pale.
Every one of them felt their scalp prickle.
"What?"
"This entire cavern, hundreds of meters long, and even the whole mountain, over a thousand meters across, were formed from those demons' bodies?!"
"How could such a thing happen?"
Was he joking?
"Nothing is impossible!
"The Shikon Jewel's power was no accident, either!"
Li Xia exhaled a long breath, his own shock making his scalp prickle as well.
In the original story, similar situations had occurred with both Naraku at Mount Hakurei and the enormous flying spider much later on! The others could not comprehend it now simply because they had yet to encounter anything like it.
"All right. Now we can leave the village without worrying and head into town to find the Village Chief and the others!"
After Kikyo died, her sorrow and resentment remained within her ashes and reincarnated soul. That was precisely why she could be revived in a clay body.
Midoriko, too, must have felt immense sorrow and unwillingness as she faced death.
Those lingering feelings remained within this cavern and actually "manifested," becoming the Spirit Barrier at its entrance.
Humans without malicious intentions could pass freely through the barrier.
In other words, the villagers of the Demon Slayer Village could treat this place as a safe zone.
The fallback Li Xia had chosen for the Demon Slayer Village was this enormous cavern chamber.
"There's plenty of room to move around here, and Lady Midoriko's barrier protects the entrance. In other words, as long as the villagers stockpile some food, fresh water, and firewood here beforehand, they'll have no trouble supporting themselves for several days, or even dozens of days."
It was the principle of always having somewhere else to retreat.
Everyone's eyes lit up at his words.
"That's right. If a horde of demons attacks the villagers, they can move here in time and take shelter for a while, then come back out once the danger has passed. That would prevent unnecessary casualties."
"Good idea!"
"Mr. Xia, the way you think really sets you apart from others your age. Even though I'm two or three years older than you, I still fall short in many ways! Impressive..."
Miroku praised him sincerely.
"It really does."
A different glimmer briefly flashed through the girl's eyes.
If one examined that glimmer closely, it would have given them something to ponder.
Li Xia naturally caught it, but he did not think much of it, dismissing it as a fifteen-year-old girl's fleeting interest.
"In an age where demons run rampant, we're better off being cautious. Besides, this isn't my achievement. It's Lady Midoriko's gift."
Having confirmed that such a cavern existed, Li Xia finally felt at ease.
He then headed straight back the way they had come.
As he passed through the barrier at the entrance, he once again sensed her sorrow and unwillingness.
Wait for me!
It won't be long!
Before you continue