"No need. In my current state, I'm beyond saving," the Peach Immortal said with a slow shake of his head. His voice was heavy with sorrow, yet his gaze unconsciously flickered toward the ceramic pot nearby.
"…Right."
As if suddenly remembering something, he hurriedly added, "You may take the medicine in that pot with you. It's a failed attempt at the elixir of immortality created by the Peach-Fruit Person."
"While it cannot grant immortality, drinking it will heal wounds instantly. Its effects far surpass ordinary herbs,it should prove useful to you."
Kagetsu glanced at the ceramic pot before speaking calmly.
"Didn't you say that eating the human-face fruit causes a person to fall under the control of the man-faced fruit tree?"
"As long as you don't eat the fruit itself,or the pit inside it,you'll be fine," the Peach Immortal replied quickly, a faint urgency creeping into his voice.
"Is that so?"
A hint of interest appeared on Kagetsu's face.
Seeing this, the Peach Immortal felt a surge of excitement. Just as he was about to urge the two to leave quickly,
Kagetsu's expression suddenly changed.
The crimson Mangekyō Sharingan appeared instantly in his eyes.
"Too bad," he said coldly. "I don't believe you."
Before the last word had fully left his lips, the Mangekyō spun rapidly. An invisible genjutsu instantly enveloped the Peach Immortal.
His body stiffened.
His eyes went blank.
In an instant, he fell completely under the illusion's control.
Swoosh,!
At the exact moment the Peach Immortal was caught in the genjutsu, the previously motionless man-faced fruit tree began to tremble violently.
With a deafening crack, the ground split open.
A thick root shot out like a venomous serpent, stabbing toward Kagetsu's chest with a piercing whistle.
Just before it could strike,
Kagetsu's figure vanished like a phantom.
At the same moment, Kikyo had already drawn her bow to its limit.
A Demon-Slaying Arrow streaked through the air like a falling star, radiating brilliant purifying light.
It struck the trunk of the man-faced fruit tree with perfect accuracy.
Boom!
A powerful burst of sacred spiritual energy erupted.
The massive tree snapped in half.
The severed canopy crashed heavily onto the cliffside. The human-faced fruits hanging from its branches tumbled loose, rolling and bouncing before scattering down the steep slope.
"Decisive move," Kagetsu said with a teasing smile as he appeared beside Kikyo. "Looks like we're perfectly in sync."
Kikyo lowered her bow and shot him a sharp look.
"A story full of holes like that could only fool a child."
Kagetsu chuckled.
The Peach Immortal's tale had indeed been riddled with flaws.
In his version of events, he was the betrayed master, while all the evil deeds were committed by his disciple,the Peach-Fruit Person.
He claimed everything had begun only a month ago when the Peach-Fruit Person discovered the Shikon Jewel shard.
But a tree of this size could never have grown in just a month.
Moreover, when he and Kikyo had stood at the bottom of the cliff earlier, they had seen the rotting human-faced fruits scattered there.
Those remains had clearly been there for far longer than a month.
In other words, long before the Peach-Fruit Person obtained the Shikon Jewel shard, the Peach Immortal had already been feeding human victims to the man-faced fruit tree.
And there was more.
The miniature landscape inside the house,the villages, plants, and flowing river,could never have been created in only a month.
Those things had obviously been constructed by the Peach Immortal himself.
The Peach-Fruit Person had merely continued the same methods after him.
Most importantly of all,
Through Sage Mode, Kagetsu had sensed that the Peach Immortal's aura shared the same source as the man-faced fruit tree.
In fact, the connection between them was even deeper.
That was precisely why he had stopped Kikyo earlier from destroying the tree immediately.
"…Hmm?"
Suddenly, Kagetsu's brow twitched.
He sensed the Peach Immortal's aura inside the ceramic pot rapidly weakening.
His gaze shifted to the man-faced fruit tree.
Now only a broken stump remained.
It appeared merely snapped in half,but in truth, its demonic power had already been completely purified by Kikyo's spiritual energy.
The tree was dead.
And because of that, the Peach Immortal clearly wouldn't survive much longer either.
Kagetsu immediately rushed to the Peach Immortal, who was still trapped within the genjutsu.
"What is the Immortal's cultivation method?" he demanded urgently. "Is there a manual? Where is it hidden?"
"Hidden… beneath… the roots… of the man-faced… fruit tree…"
The Peach Immortal finished the sentence in broken breaths.
Then his life force abruptly vanished.
The small peach tree beneath him began to wither rapidly, its decay spreading upward from the roots.
Seeing this, Kagetsu condensed chakra at his fingertips. With a swift flick, he severed the Peach Immortal's head along with the large peach blossom.
Taking out a sealing scroll, he sealed it away.
If he couldn't find the cultivation manual, he planned to attempt summoning the Peach Immortal later using the forbidden technique,Impure World Reincarnation.
"Did he say it was hidden under the roots?" Kikyo asked, having heard the Peach Immortal's final words. She frowned as she looked toward the tree stump by the cliff.
"Should we find tools to dig it up?"
"No need to go through all that trouble."
Kagetsu smiled.
He formed a quick series of hand seals before slamming his palm onto the ground.
"Earth Release."
He wasn't performing a complicated ninjutsu,only manipulating the earth using chakra.
Soon, the soil and rocks around the stump began to churn like flowing water.
The broken trunk of the man-faced fruit tree, along with its massive root system buried deep underground, was forcibly lifted up and exposed before them.
"Over there!" Kikyo said sharply.
Her eyes had already spotted something unusual within the tangled roots.
She pointed toward a spherical hollow formed by the interwoven roots.
Through the gaps between them, the faint outline of a wooden box could be seen.
Kagetsu immediately stopped channeling chakra.
The two of them walked over.
Condensing chakra at his fingertips like a blade, Kagetsu sliced apart the obstructing roots and reached inside, pulling out an ancient wooden box.
It wasn't locked.
Only a simple latch held it shut.
The two exchanged a glance.
After taking a steady breath, Kagetsu flipped open the latch and lifted the lid.
At the top of the box lay a stack of worn papers covered in dense writing and countless corrections.
Picking them up, Kagetsu quickly realized they were notes describing how to refine an "elixir of immortality" from the human-face fruits.
He curled his lip in disdain and tossed the papers to the curious Kikyo.
Then he looked back into the box.
Beneath the recipe lay a yellowed, thread-bound ancient book.
Five characters were written on the cover:
Blood Sacrifice Tree Nurturing Method.