Don't force me to use my right fist.

Or perhaps, the two people who were qualified to meet can no longer see each other.

Saya glanced at the torii gate, which had been reduced to ashes along with the shrine, and silently turned his head away.

The atmosphere became quiet for a moment. When Zuoyou looked down, he found that the girl, who should have been enjoying her parents' love at home, had fallen into a deep sleep against his waist. The traces of blood and tears under her eyes were enough to make his heart ache just by looking at her.

With another sigh, Saya gently scooped the girl up in his arms like a mother hen, letting her little head rest on his shoulder. Even without knowing all of the girl's past experiences, seeing her like this, Saya couldn't bring himself to let her continue crying.

But soon, Sawa realized that these troublesome guys weren't worth dealing with one by one.

Carefully lifting Ai's arm and turning her to the side, she saw Kikyo approaching her without her noticing.

The girl's face, which was usually covered with a layer of frost, had never looked so ugly. Zuoyou could even sense a kind of anger, like the rage before a volcanic eruption, in her half-closed eyes.

Pointing to the remnants of the Shikon Jewel in Ai's hand, which had turned into a pile of white powder due to the birth of the Three-Eyed Spider, Kikyo lowered her voice to avoid...

She failed to notice the little guy's unusual behavior, and while she bears some responsibility for stealing the Shikon Jewel from his hand, shouldn't the majority of the blame fall on this girl?

But seeing Ai's innocent sleeping face, Kikyo couldn't bring herself to direct her anger at her. So, the only one left was Saya, the culprit who brought her here.

Perhaps there was some element of misplaced anger involved, but Kikyo clearly couldn't care less about that.

"Shh, maybe we should find a quieter place to discuss this."

Saya put a finger to his lips, pointed to the girl in his arms, and then explained to the priestess who had been inexplicably tricked by him.

But before leaving, Sawa couldn't help but turn back to look at the ruins that had been burned to ashes.

After a moment of contemplation, Zuoyou waved his hand, and a brown magic circle appeared above the scorched earth.

At the same time, the surrounding obsidian walls gradually crumbled, revealing the sunlit scenery outside.

No matter how ugly, evil, and human nature there may be, after death, everyone should return to dust and ashes, and they should all be given a final ending.

The soil fell from the magic circle in the sky, covering the entire scorched earth, which also meant that the village would never exist again.

Saya and Kikyo quickly left the village and found a clearing near a water source. He even thoughtfully placed some woolen scraps on the ground before gently laying the sleeping girl, who was nestled in his arms, on the ground.

"Now you should be able to explain to me what exactly happened, right? The Shikon Jewel, which has been guarded by the priestesses of Higurashi through the ages, has become a god because of that girl. Don't you have any clue?"

Kikyo watched as Saya, like a loving father, settled Shibata Ai down before following him to a spot where they wouldn't wake the girl. She looked at him with a mixture of confusion and anger and said...

To be honest, Kikyo herself can hardly believe how many strange things have happened in such a short period of time.

First, a newborn god hatched from the Shikon Jewel that she had always protected. Then, Saya also transformed into a god, and with a mere gesture, completely erased the most insidious and vicious Naraku demon who had troubled her for years from this world. She also questioned him somewhat willfully.

"Well said. I didn't expect the Shikon Jewel to react so strangely either. I'm not some all-powerful genius, so I can't answer your question, can I?"

Saya shrugged, completely baffled by the fact that a three-eyed spider had popped out of the Shikon Jewel. This had never happened in the original story, which only showed that this world itself was abnormal.

But just as Kikyo said, the disappearance of the Shikon Jewel was indeed inseparable from Shibata Ai. In fact, if we really had to say, the blame should fall on him, the guy who handed the girl over to Kikyo right away.

"So what do we do now?"

Kikyo also seemed to have lost her purpose. It could be said that the mission of the priestesses of Higurashi Shrine throughout the ages was to protect the Shikon Jewel from being taken away by evil demons, but now that the jewel itself had come to life, what was there left for her to protect?

We can't just capture it again and put it back into the Shikon Jewel, can we?

The only thing to be thankful for was that the demon Naraku, who had always felt extremely threatened and whose target was the Shikon Jewel, was finally eliminated—that was a good thing.

The bellflower cannot know the answer.

Chapter 493 I should thank you, right?

Compared to Kikyo, Saga was even less likely to guess the answer.

"Shouldn't this be a relief for you? Without the Shikon Jewel, you won't have to worry about it being used by evil monsters anymore. Anyway, you've never relied on that thing to do anything, right?" It's not a good thing.

The problem is that this thing is a constant source of worry and trouble for her; it serves no purpose other than to bring her endless trouble.

The main purpose of placing it in a shrine is to make it a target for monsters.

If it were Sawa, he would have flushed this thing down the toilet long ago. Now that he's hatched a god from it, perhaps in a sense, it's like freeing her from her shackles, liberating her from the so-called responsibilities of a priestess. Now she doesn't have to worry about other youkai using the Shikon Jewel for evil purposes—isn't that a good thing?

"You mean I should thank you?" whl

Kikyo looked at Saya coldly. Although there was some truth to what Saya said, she still felt like she had been tricked for no reason.

Kikyo had also considered that once she retrieved the Shikon Jewel from Naraku, she would want to destroy it completely.

This power is extremely easy to attract people who are inherently greedy, and the Shikon Jewel will be corrupted by people's desires, further amplifying their desires.

To put it bluntly, it's not a good thing.

Kikyo also considered finding a way to destroy it, but firstly, the Shikon Jewel contains enormous energy, and once it is destroyed, no one knows what will happen.

Furthermore, Naraku has already collected most of the Shikon Jewel shards, so even if she wanted to, she would have to wait until all of them were collected before she could do anything about it.

What Saya is doing now is simply bringing forward what Kikyo wanted to do, but she certainly won't thank Saya for it.

"It's not about thanking me or anything. You insist on making me take responsibility or whatever. Let's just call it even, okay? You owed me a lot of favors before, so consider this a case of me tricking you once. We're even now, how about it?"

Saku waved his hand; judging from Kikyo's expression, she didn't seem to harbor any particular resentment towards him for the destruction of the Shikon Jewel. The matter was settled.

In other words, while this thing is very important to her, the important point is that she doesn't want it to fall into the hands of other people.

Sawa nodded at her, as if he wanted to simply let the matter drop.

"You scoundrel."

Kikyo didn't know how to scold Saku for his shamelessness, so she could only shake her head helplessly and put down the longbow in her hand.

Just as Saya said, she is truly free in a sense, and what to do next is something she needs to think about slowly.

Kikyo stood beside Saya, and Saya wondered if it was just his imagination, but it seemed that once Kikyo was no longer bound by the Shikon Jewel, her cold demeanor softened considerably.

"To be honest, she helped me once. She was also the first human to lend me a helping hand after I came into this world."

Looking at Shibata Ai, who was still sleeping not far away, Saya couldn't help but wonder how she had turned out so badly over the past thousand years, when he thought about how she would become Enma Ai, the emotionless, hellish girl who loved wearing kimonos.

As for why she joined Hell Correspondence, Saya has a slight clue. After all, she was burdened with the sin of wiping out an entire village, so being recruited by the Three-Eyed Spider afterwards is quite in line with the original story.

Consider it her redemption of her soul and a release from resentment; in this respect, Sōyū felt he didn't need to help her change.

Only she herself can understand these things and find relief; as an outsider, he really can't help much.

"Just because of that? I originally thought she was your sister."

Kikyo listened to Saya explain his relationship with Shibata Ai, and became even more confused.

If it's just a normal relationship, why would Saya go to so much trouble for her? I didn't think that much about it at all. I just wanted to do it, so I did. There were no demands, and it wasn't because they had any intimate relationship with Saya; it was just that Saya wanted to do it, so he did it.

"It's a strange reason, but it does sound like something you would say."

After listening to Saiyu's words, Kikyo fell into a brief moment of contemplation. If it were someone else, she might have doubted their motives, but since it was Saiyu, she didn't feel anything was amiss.

After all, that's the kind of person Sawa is.

Since the topic had turned to that girl, Saku seemed to have thought of something, patted his forehead, and held up a finger towards Kikyo.

"You've destroyed the Shikon Jewel that I was protecting, and you still have the nerve to ask me for a favor?"

Kikyo became slightly curious about Saku's audacity in bothering her again. Judging from his tone, was it related to the girl behind him?

"I'm sorry, but it seems like you're the only one who can help me."

Saku glanced at Ai, who was still asleep, and scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly.

"That child's relatives are all gone. I hope that after I leave, you can help me take her in for a while. It doesn't need to be too long. Once she is able to live independently, she can choose her own path in the future."

As if making arrangements for his funeral, Saya said to Kikyo with an embarrassed smile.

Chapter 494 Just Spoil Her

"Where are you going after you leave?

Kikyo sensed something amiss in Saya's words. His tone sounded like he was entrusting his son to someone else. She remembered him only saying he wanted to go back; could it be that he would never be able to return?

"Well, to be honest, I don't really belong to this world. My roots aren't here, so I have to go back eventually."

Sōyu scratched his head, making no attempt to hide anything. His presence here was somewhat unexpected, and he definitely needed to go back.

Fortunately, there wasn't anyone he particularly cared about here. The only person he was a little worried about was Shibata Ai.

...Can't I come back?"

Kikyo pondered for a moment, and the thought that she would never be able to see Saya again made her feel a little melancholy.

"Probably not. Coming here was an accident, and just getting back took me so long."

Zuo You pursed his lips. His method of returning to the past was quite grand, consuming the power of five gods. It seemed too difficult to replicate it again.

Even if he wanted to go back, he might have to pay a heavy price. It mainly depends on whether Shiki would help him. If she didn't cooperate, it wouldn't be so easy for Sawa to go back.

Therefore, this departure should be a final farewell.

"I understand. I can help you with this, but you have to explain it to the child yourself."

Kikyo sighed and nodded, agreeing to Saya's request. After all, with the Shikon Jewel gone, she would have no more responsibilities to bear, and raising a child wouldn't be a problem.

In addition to Ai's immense spiritual power, Kikyo was genuinely worried about letting her venture out alone. If she encountered any monsters or something, she could be easily exploited.

Finding Feng a playmate of the same age would also be a good option.

At least in the village where Higurashi Shrine is located, with Kikyo's protection, this girl shouldn't have to worry about being discriminated against and bullied again.

This is why Sasuke insisted on choosing Kikyo.

After hearing Kikyo's reply, Saku turned around following her gaze, only to see that the girl who had woken up at some point was already standing behind him—her blood-soaked red eyes staring intently at him, tears welling up in her eyes.

Sōyū has become almost the only pillar that allows this girl to keep going.

Especially now that her parents, who protected her, have died, and the remaining villagers have been destroyed by her own hands, Saku, the person who pulled her out of hell at the most critical moment, is the person she cherishes most.

He was the only person she could rely on, and Zuoyou was also the only one who kept his promise to her and never betrayed her.

After being ruthlessly abandoned by Sentaro once, Ai knew very well how rare it was to have someone like Saya who protected her with genuine sincerity and without any ulterior motives.

And because of this, love's dependence on him became even stronger.

However, after overhearing Saya and Kikyo's conversation, this outcome felt like a bolt from the blue for her.