Inuyasha’s Journey to Immortal

The matter of the vengeful spirit Mayu had come to a close.

Li Xia neither had the power nor the standing to ask the three clan elders to help an unfamiliar ghost girl ascend to heaven.

Since that was the case, all he could do was quietly bide his time and develop himself.

With the elders gone, they had left behind a precious legacy. What they didn't know, however, was that on the other side of the Bone-Eater's Well existed a terrifying yet opportunity-filled world of demons—had they known, they would never have handed that legacy over so easily.

"Fourth Uncle, please help me collect some soul-nourishing wood that's at least a hundred years old…"

Soul-nourishing wood was the main material for crafting spirit shrines for shikigami.

Li Xia had set his sights on contracting a shikigami to assist him.

And the target he had in mind was—Nikusen Noh Mask.

The Nikusen Noh Mask was originally a demonic mask made from a massive laurel tree infused with the Shikon Jewel's power.

Its main ability was to attach itself to a creature's face, devour the host's brain and soul, and take control of its body. It could also split into multiple autonomous forms. The only way to kill it was to destroy the mask itself. Otherwise, it could regenerate by consuming new hosts.

Both humans and most bloodline-possessing demons were valid hosts.

However, the human body couldn't withstand its power for long—the flesh would quickly rot and decay. So, in the original story, the mask aimed to acquire more Shikon shards to create a perfect body that could contain its full power.

Li Xia, however, had other plans:

He wanted to tame and contract the mask as a shinigami (just like how Tsubaki, the dark priestess in the original, cultivated the shinigami White Snake and Giant Fox).

He then planned to use the mask to devour demons, thereby gaining powerful demonic bodies for the mask to inhabit.

As a human, Li Xia found it difficult to gain direct access to high-level demonic power. But through the mask, he could develop a powerful bodyguard at the level of a great demon via the shikigami system.

He even considered—while the Dragon Bone Demon lay sealed and dormant—attaching the mask directly to its face...

The possibilities were... exhilarating.

Following the transportation arrangements made the previous day, the Li family delivered half a vat of spiritual liquid.

With spiritual liquid in hand, Li Xia didn't waste a moment.

Before resting, he divided the liquid into three portions.

Two small portions were placed respectively in Mayu's old, fire-damaged home and a school storage locker—disguised as several bottles of "spare mineral water."

He placed the items and immediately left.

The remaining majority of the spiritual liquid was enhanced using the power of seven Shikon Jewel shards. After waking from a nap and learning that the three elders had returned to the peninsula, he began his seclusion to draw talismans.

As for school? He didn't care at all!

It was just a piece of paper!

Soon, bachelor's degrees would be a dime a dozen. A degree from an average university would be no better than toilet paper. Besides, he didn't plan to live off it anyway! So he requested leave—again and again—eventually taking a full two-week break.

As for attendance requirements from Suishan Middle School? He'd deal with those later.

Right now, drawing talismans is a top priority.

He had to prepare properly for entering the demon world beyond the Bone-Eater's Well.

In truth, even now, he hadn't fully made up his mind about venturing into that world.

After all, with the backing of the Li family on the peninsula, his life was lavish and secure—he could live in luxury without a care in the world. If he wanted beautiful girls for companionship, or even to turn a celebrity into a plaything, he'd only need to speak the word once he reached adulthood. If he ever wanted to settle down, a line of fair maidens, heiresses, or even lonely noble widows could stretch for miles outside his door for him to pick from.

This was the hidden privilege of being a cultivator from a great clan.

Living a peaceful and indulgent life wasn't such a bad deal, was it?

Now contrast that with the feudal demon world of Inuyasha on the other side of the well.

There, even a low-tier demon like the Centipede Woman could fly and tunnel through the earth, wreaking havoc on fully armed villages like Kaede's and causing massive casualties.

Or take the case of the juvenile Corpse Dance Crows, trash-tier demons that could easily slaughter a bandit leader and take over his crew to terrorize an entire region.

And that's just the small fry.

One of Sesshōmaru's lesser minions, a mountain demon, could strike a mountain with a single palm and shake loose a whole swarm of minor demons. If that was just one mountain, who knew how many low-level demons were lurking in the wilderness across the entire country?

Speaking of which, even Jaken, that tiny toad demon, had been a petty leader of a local band of demons before joining Sesshōmaru.

He had hundreds—if not thousands—of similar minor yokai under his command.

And this was only the low-tier demon population.

When it came to truly dangerous threats, they were the mid- to high-level demons with two- or three-star power levels—some even reaching four or five stars, classified as great demons.

Take, for example, the stronger brothers Hiten and Manten of the Thunder Beast Tribe. With just a few moves, they effortlessly annihilated two armies belonging to Japanese feudal lords—each consisting of hundreds, if not nearly a thousand, troops.

Or Koga, who, in the early part of the story, was by no means a benevolent demon. He directly ordered his wolf pack to slaughter a village, taking little Rin's life in the process.

Then there were the Iron Chicken mother and daughter, who casually destroyed entire villages or even cities.

The Soul-Eater demon, driven by hunger, devoured 500 mounted soldiers from a Japanese human army in a single gulp.

Ginkotsu and Kinkotsu, two brothers from the Band of Seven, engaged in internal conflict, but even their collateral damage claimed countless human lives.

The Bat-Demon Clan regularly raided and destroyed nearby villages—it was a routine affair for them.

In the Ghost Head Castle, a female ghost specifically targeted spiritual practitioners like mages and shrine maidens. In less than a month after Naraku's disappearance, she had already slain 99 spiritual practitioners before the protagonists even arrived. Other demons roamed the wild disguised as caves, ambushing demon-slaying priests and shrine maidens.

Floral Monarchs and their ilk fed off human sorrow—only after gorging on despair would they kill their victims.

And this doesn't even include super-level demons like Moth of the Skies or Dragon Bone Demon, who could wipe out nations with ease.

The demon world on the other side of the Bone-Eater's Well was not as "safe" as it seemed through the eyes of the main characters! Just because the main cast always survived impossible odds didn't mean he could recklessly follow in their footsteps.

If anyone else had gone through the main group's experiences, they'd be lucky to survive even a hundred times—that would still be considered conservative!

That's why he had always hesitated about whether to venture into that world.

It's not easy to voluntarily leave a life of comfort and walk into the true terror between life and death. Just imagining it makes you realize how hard that choice is.

"Still… whether I decide to pursue immortality over there or not, I need to arm myself first."

That was Li Xia's conclusion.

After two days of seclusion for talisman crafting, he had added several more finished talismans to his collection.

These were not ordinary—each one had been created using materials enhanced by seven Shikon Jewel shards, making them the equivalent of mid-tier talismans in quality.

"Back in the day, I could only make one low-grade talisman a month! Now I can produce three to five per day! That's more than a tenfold increase in efficiency!"

If not for his dwindling supply of materials, he felt he could've kept up this retreat for another ten days—maybe longer.

The feeling of steadily growing stronger, of visibly increasing his foundation, was incredibly addictive.

After coming out of seclusion, Li Xia went to find his Fourth Uncle.

This elder brought him both good news and bad news.

"Xia'er, should we go through with it?"

The good news: They had found soul-nourishing wood that was several hundred years old—a rare treasure, perfect for crafting a Shikigami spirit shrine.

Miss this chance, and they might never find another like it.

The bad news: The wood was in the possession of a North American cultivator who, by unfortunate coincidence, had ties to the main branch of the Li family. Word was, this soul wood was about to be traded to a promising young heir from the main family. Mishandling the situation would be akin to snatching meat from a tiger's jaws.

As such—

Being just a mortal outsider within the family, Fourth Uncle didn't dare act without permission.

Instead, he told Li Xia everything and let him decide for himself.

"Uncle, do you know why that person wants to meet me?"

Li Xia's gaze was sharp and probing as it landed on the middle-aged man.

The man avoided direct eye contact, bowing slightly with a smile as he guessed:

"Most likely, he intends to purchase some of our Li family's talismans at a relatively low price."

The Li family of the peninsula was well-known for its specialization in talisman arts—a widely known fact within the magical community. Naturally, they couldn't hoard all the resources for themselves.

Occasionally selling some to outsiders was a form of self-preservation.

(End of Chapter)