Why can't humans do it too?

“That’s right. Favorable weather and suitable climate are just the most basic changes. More importantly, since then, many humans with naturally high spiritual power have appeared on this land. When they come of age, they will join in the act of suppressing monsters,” Yukari Yakumo sighed. “But how could such a good thing not come at a price?”

“Spiritual power is spiritual power; in the end, it’s just a kind of alien power. Trees need sunlight, water, and fertilizer to grow, but unless they transform into spirits, they don’t need spiritual power at all. Rooted in the earth’s veins, it’s more like a conduit driven into the earth by the Saigyouji family. The spiritual power flowing into its body is like poison that causes its heartwood to crystallize and wither,” Yukari Yakumo said expressionlessly. “Under these circumstances, how could this tree possibly grow to this height without taking some other measures?”

Following Yakumo Yukari's words, Su Er and the others' gazes fell on Saigyouji Yu, who was already drunk and lying on the ground.

Chapter Fifty-Four: Selflessness

"...you mean?"

"Each head of the Saigyouji family would pour all of their spiritual power into the tree before they died, but this was just imitating the behavior of their ancestors and was not a written family rule. In history, there were indeed a few heads of the family who did not do this for various reasons."

"Even if they didn't do it, there would be no punishment or condemnation. At most, they would just be criticized by some clansmen in private. However, there is a rule in this family that has been in place for hundreds of years without ever being wrong or delayed."

Yakumo Yukari recounted everything expressionlessly, but Suer noticed that the female demon had unconsciously clenched her fists.

"Theoretically speaking, this cherry blossom tree should have died hundreds of years ago, and the only reason it has survived until now is because the Saigyouji family extended its lifespan... I'm sure you've already guessed it, right? Yu is the sacrifice," Yakumo Yukari said with a self-deprecating smile.

"Since this tree was planted hundreds of years ago, the Saigyouji family has used a secret method to bind the life of one of their family members to this tree. No, perhaps it should be compared to using that person's life as the soil for this tree to live. This is the reason why this tree has been able to live to this day, hundreds of years later."

"When one person's life comes to an end, will a second person take their place? In other words, its lifespan has actually already come to an end, and what is being used now is Saigyouji Yu's lifespan?" Xin Ke nodded knowingly.

“That’s right. Each time it was filled in, it was the person with the purest and strongest spiritual power in the Saigyouji family at that time. Only such geniuses could satisfy the tree’s long-term extraction. On the contrary, only those with second-best spiritual power could only be relegated to the position of family head,” Yukari Yakumo said sarcastically. “If you keep going like this, even I think Yukari’s status is too high. Who can blame her when her spiritual power has surpassed everyone else’s?”

"...Do you think there's a connection?" Su Er turned his head to look at Xin Ke. What he was asking was, of course, whether the Saigyouji family's actions were related to that portal.

Although it might be unfair to say this to Yakumo Yukari, the truth is quite clear once you do the math.

The Saigyouji family adopted a strategy of producing only one person per generation. Even if you counted at most, they had only produced a hundred people over several hundred years. However, in return, the entire region enjoyed favorable weather and was free from natural disasters. You should know that in ancient times, even wars did not result in many deaths, but famine and plague could cause vast areas to be deserted.

As the population increased, so did the number of people with spiritual power. These people with spiritual power seized more land and the right to live from the rampant monsters. From this perspective, what the monk Saigyouji did back then can be described as a meritorious deed for the present and a benefit for future generations.

The Saigyouji family has never broken the vow of their ancestors, and to this day they are still active on the front line of fighting against monsters and protecting humanity, fully living up to the worship and love that Suer discovered for them when he was exploring this land.

Suer also saw many small temples that people had built specifically for the Saigyouji family, and even had them enshrined in their own homes. This is what is meant by "Buddha in every household".

If he were just an ordinary human living in this era without any spiritual power, then everything the Saigyouji family had done gave him the confidence to farm in the fields without worrying about being eaten by monsters, which was undoubtedly something to be praised and grateful for.

Suer believed that Yakumo Yukari was not unaware of this principle, but what this female youkai wanted was also very clear—she just wanted Saigyouji Yu, whom she knew, to live.

Having realized this, Suer was less inclined to get involved in the matter.

If this situation is destroyed, what will he do if droughts, locust plagues, or demons run rampant? If he walks on the road at that time and sees people of this era dying without even the strength to cry out, or scenes of people exchanging children to eat each other... can he bear it?

So, let's eliminate that portal to another time and space as soon as possible.

Let the past be the past, and the present be the present.

"I don't know. I need to check the spell at the bottom of this tree and the flow of the earth veins first, since this is the first time I've encountered something like this... It'll be an interesting subject~", Xin Ke smiled easily, seemingly unconcerned about the matter.

This attitude made Yukari Yakumo furrow her brows even more, even though she didn't know what Su and the others were talking about.

But Suer still felt a little reluctant.

"You monsters didn't cause any trouble in this kind of situation? That shouldn't be the case," Su'er said, somewhat puzzled. He had only brought up a topic that could lighten the mood.

Given how much Yukari Yakumo values ​​Saigyouji Yu, it's impossible for this female youkai not to cause some disruption or break the current situation. Even if Saigyouji Yu herself has no opinion about her fate, it won't change the youkai's mind.

Yukari Yakumo didn't forcefully take Yuu Saigyouji away because the life of this girl from the Saigyouji family was already connected to the cherry blossom tree by the magic. Forcibly taking her away might only result in the death of both the girl and the tree. But what other methods were there?

Or perhaps the appearance of the portal to time and space, the past curling towards the future, is precisely because of Yakumo Yukari's attempt?

"...Humans always produce some incredibly talented and audacious individuals...like that Saigyouji monk who brought all this to fruition," Yukari Yakumo sighed with a wry smile, unaware of Su'er's thoughts. "When he planted this tree, he foresaw that a youkai would come to destroy it, so he directly used the location of this tree as the yang point and planted another tree in the opposite position, which is the yin point."

"Based on these two points, the monk Saigyouji set up a formation that relies on the earth's veins. Over the past few hundred years, there have been demons who have tried to disrupt this situation, but even the most powerful demons have had no choice but to give up when faced with a formation that protects them with the power of the earth's veins... This is also why I wanted to ask Lord Suer to take action."

Yukari Yakumo had personally witnessed Sul using the power of heaven and earth to overturn the world. If she had to find one being among all those she knew who could change the course of the world, it could only be this man.

"If all else fails... even if it's just to free Yu from this fate, that would be good enough."

Yukari Yakumo prayed, all she wanted was for the drunk girl beside her, who was now clinging to her arm in a daze, to live.

But Suer noticed another point hidden in her words.

Another tree?

Chapter Fifty-Five Dog Demon

Royal sacred tree?

Inevitably, I thought of the giant tree behind Higurashi Shrine. If I think about it carefully, there doesn't seem to be much difference between that tree and this cherry blossom tree... Apart from the species, other things like the thickness of the trunk are extremely similar.

Could it be that tree?

Their eyes darted around them. Suer, Xinke, and Jibril all immediately thought of the same thing: if the sacred tree was indeed an ancient tree that corresponded to this cherry blossom tree, then they might have found a clue to the cause of the time-space change they were looking for.

However, before that, the matter of the Time Gate must be kept from Yukari Yakumo. Suer has no curiosity what would happen if two Yukari Yakumos were put together.

“Take us there,” Xin Ke said calmly, “to the place you mentioned that corresponds to this cherry blossom tree.”

Silently, she picked up the pink-haired girl who was clinging to her arm and put her back in the house. Yakumo Yukari then opened a gap leading to the outside world, opposite which stood a giant tree.

It only takes one glance to identify the identity of this giant tree. Suer has already found the shimenawa hanging on the sacred tree in a familiar place. However, these ropes look very new compared to how they look hundreds of years later.

Some say that Suer and his companions are more familiar with this area behind the Hiyori Shrine than with the house he rented, since there wasn't much stuff there to begin with, and the ancient well was also found along with it. Suer's face darkened immediately.

They swarmed together like a swarm of ants, the monsters rushing into the well. And far away, Suer noticed some humans spying on them, led by... well... an old witch?

I didn’t sense any strong spiritual energy fluctuations from her body. Her shrine maiden outfit seemed to be just decoration. The shrine maiden who appeared in this place was the predecessor of Higurashi Shrine.

Is it a bit much to think that she can physically exorcise monsters by relying on the old farmers with hoes and sickles around her? Can she really be considered a shrine maiden?

"What's going on here?" Sur asked Yakumo Yukari, "It has to be said that it's really disgusting to see these weird and deformed monsters gathered together."

“This is the Yin Land.” Although she covered her mouth and nose with some disgust, Yukari Yakumo was not surprised by what she saw here. “The cherry blossom tree in the Yang Land is worshipped by the Saigyouji family, but the sacred tree in the Yin Land is worshipped by youkai.”

"...passive," Yukari Yakumo said with a sarcastic smile, "Just as taro fruits grow in the soil, this sacred tree will also bear sweet fruits. The spiritual energy crystals extracted from the earth's veins, which only grow in shady places, are a great tonic for any youkai... but only one will appear every fifty years."

"How could someone change a formation that has lasted for hundreds of years with their own power without any cost or burden?" Yakumo Yukari recounted everything she had investigated in order to save Saigyouji Yu. "The youkai who crave power have come here to fight, but in the end only one youkai will take away the prize, while all the other youkai who die here will become part of Saigyouji's original plan... to fill the void in this land."

One in, one out; one loss, one gain; one yang, one yin.

“It’s all an open conspiracy. Even though many yokai saw through Saigyouji’s scheme, they were still drawn to power and full of confidence in themselves, so they would eventually choose to step into this trap. They didn’t even need to do anything special; they just needed to fight here,” Yukari Yakumo said with a bitter smile. “Impressive, isn’t it? Even I have to admire humans for snatching the most succulent piece of meat from the hands of the yokai.”

"That's not all, is it? As long as this tree is still here, the cherry blossom tree on the other side can never become a monster," Xin Ke said casually as she looked down at the completely different formation in the future world. "The monster battle that happens once every fifty years is enough to erase any vague consciousness that the cherry blossom tree might have given birth to, simply by transmitting the fluctuations through the earth's veins."

Even Xin Ke had to admire the monk Saigyouji's vision and the courage to execute it. To do something so significant so quietly in a world occupied by monsters made her glance at the guy next to her.

Are all humans like this?

A hero like this appears every now and then.

"Hello! Hello? Hello!"

Just as Suer and the others were chatting and waiting for Xin Ke, the only intellectual present, to come to a final conclusion, a strange shout came from somewhere, and it seemed that the voice was calling out to them.

Do those monsters locked in battle even have the leisure to exchange greetings?

"Ah, I know who it is," Yukari Yakumo suddenly remembered a funny little guy she had seen when she explored this place before. "There's a dog demon sealed in that tree over there. Maybe it's because his appearance is too ridiculous. Although I don't know when he was sealed here, no other demons have kindly taken him down. Instead, quite a few passersby have been laughing at him."

"Hey!!! I heard you!! Auntie!!" The voice on the other end was clearly angry, and even deliberately used a term that would be a critical hit to a woman.

However, it won't affect Yukari Yakumo at all.

“Age is the true measure of a yokai’s strength. If a little guy like you could understand that, you probably wouldn’t be pitifully sealed here, would you?” Yakumo Yukari replied with a smile, raising her voice.

"A dog demon? And it's sealed on the sacred tree?" Su'er suddenly became interested. He had already seen the monster: white fur, dog ears on its head, and wearing a red robe.

It was much weaker than he had imagined... Did this kind of thing really need to be sealed away?

Anyone with even a little bit of spiritual power could kill it, right?

Wouldn't it be better to use the sealing skills to seal some indestructible monsters?

With a single click, the fighting monsters over there were deleted. Apart from Xin Ke, who was not interested in this weak dog demon and was still carefully studying the earth vein formation under her feet, the others who could not help had arrived at the foot of the sacred tree. From here, they could see that the little demon had been shot through the chest by an arrow and nailed to the tree, which was really quite pitiful.

"Hey, what did you do to be sealed here?" Su'er threw a stone at the head of the dog demon who deliberately closed its eyes and ignored them after seeing them coming.

"Are you looking for death?!"

There's a dog barking.

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Elderly Witch

“Deliberately making noise to attract others, but then pretending not to see them... Ah, is this the one? The way of deliberately attracting attention is quite cute,” Suer said with a grin. This dog demon didn’t have any ferocious or bloodthirsty aura; instead, it was rather adorable.

"What did you say?! I'll kill you!!!" The white-haired dog demon opened its eyes in a rage. Although it didn't know what "cute" meant, it knew immediately that it wasn't a nice thing. "Dare to put me down?!"

This tactic of provoking someone is far too simplistic; anyone with a modicum of common sense would likely fall for it.

“If I remember correctly, you should be the second son of Inu no Taisho, right? I think his name is… Inuyasha?” Yakumo Yukari stroked her chin and said, “The dog demons of the Western Lands declined after Inu no Taisho died. Neither of his two sons could reach his level. Now it seems that they can’t even command the demons of the Western Lands. They are really disappointing.”

"What did you say!!!!"

The white-haired dog demon began to struggle violently; with just a few light words, Yakumo Yukari inflicted exponential damage on him.

So, is it a story of a family falling into decline? Su Er nodded knowingly. He heard Xin Ke calling him over from the other side.

"Is it that well?"

“Hmm,” Xin Ke nodded, “As for more information, you should ask those people over there.”

At the same time, Suer turned his gaze to the bushes on the other side. After a moment of silence, a person emerged from the bushes. It was the old woman dressed in a shrine maiden's outfit but without any spiritual power. To be honest, the shrine maiden's outfit only served to intimidate her, and the eyepatch over her single eye made her look much fiercer.