"Hm? Did we just open a treasure chest?"
Staring at the ancient, thread-bound book with its yellowed cover, Retsu's eyes lit up with surprise. This was clearly a legendary cultivation manual. He hadn't expected such an unexpected gain.
He carefully took the book out and glanced inside the wooden box. Aside from this volume, there was nothing else.
Setting the box aside, he eagerly flipped open the pages.
The text was written entirely in traditional characters. Fortunately, he could recognize most of them. And even if he ran into unfamiliar ones, Kikyo would definitely understand.
To be honest, it was a little embarrassing. As a transmigrator, he had always used simplified characters. When it came to traditional script, he actually knew less than Kikyo, who lived in the Warring States era.
In this era's Japan, Chinese characters were widely used—not only in official documents, but also in sutras and monks' writings.
For a shrine maiden like Kikyo, literacy in classical texts was essential. Ritual manuals, talismans, and barrier formulas were all recorded in characters like these.
Retsu quickly flipped through the entire book. Many of the obscure cultivation terms left him confused, but from the title alone—The Blood Sacrifice Wood-Nourishing Art—and the repeated mentions of "human offerings" and "blood feeding," he could tell it was definitely not an orthodox technique.
"This thing is too cryptic. I can't make sense of it."
He handed the manual to Kikyo without hesitation.
"Take a look. Tell me what it says."
As the strongest shrine maiden of this era, and a master of barriers and rituals, she was far more qualified to decipher it.
Kikyo took the book and shot him a helpless look. She returned the few pages of the "immortality medicine" formula to him, then lowered her head and began reading carefully, her fingers lightly tracing the text.
Retsu casually stuffed the formula back into the box. He had zero interest in that kind of scam.
After closing the lid, he stood quietly to the side. Before he realized it, his gaze had drifted to Kikyo's profile.
At this moment, she had shed her battle-hardened sharpness. Her lashes were lowered, her eyes gentle and focused. A calm, serene aura surrounded her, completely different from her usual self.
"Beautiful people really do look good no matter what they're doing," Retsu couldn't help but remark honestly.
Kikyo's ears immediately turned faintly red. She shot him a sideways glare, then quickly refocused on the book.
Perhaps unable to endure his overly direct stare, her reading speed noticeably increased. Before long, she closed the book and tossed it back into his arms with mild annoyance.
"Heh."
Retsu laughed it off and put the manual back into the box, storing it together with the scroll containing Peach Immortal's head in his Kamui space.
Before he could ask, Kikyo took the initiative to explain:
"This Blood Sacrifice Wood-Nourishing Art is extremely evil. It's divided into three main parts."
"The first is called 'Blood Sacrifice to Form a Demon.'
It describes using humans as nourishment to cultivate ordinary trees into demon trees like the human-faced fruit tree. During the process, the cultivator must repeatedly offer their own blood essence to nourish it, eventually forming a symbiotic relationship similar to a shikigami.
It even records special methods for cultivating the 'human nutrients,' so they can provide maximum nourishment."
"The second part is called 'Borrowing Wood to Become Immortal.' This section is actually very useful."
A smile appeared on Kikyo's face, her tone tinged with excitement.
"It explains how to combine the demon power of the human-faced fruit tree with a human's spiritual power, fusing them into so-called 'immortal power.'
With this, one can gain a lifespan comparable to the tree and control its demonic techniques.
You once said that demon power is essentially natural energy. The fusion method described here perfectly solves the problem I've had with integrating natural energy into my own spiritual power."
"So this trip really wasn't for nothing!"
Retsu's eyes lit up, genuine joy spreading across his face. He had no interest in cultivating demons with human lives, but this method of energy fusion was exactly what they needed.
"The third part is called 'Substitution and Rebirth.' That should've been Peach Immortal's original plan."
Kikyo glanced at the withered stump nearby, her voice growing heavier.
"Cultivating the tree and becoming 'immortal' takes decades. By the time it succeeds, the human body would already be old and decayed.
So this section describes letting the demon tree absorb one's original body, then having a disciple eat the so-called immortality fruit.
The real goal is to use the disciple's young body to seize and reincarnate."
"Classic… way too classic."
Retsu smacked his lips in disbelief. He'd already known Peach Immortal was shady, but he hadn't expected such a textbook evil cultivator套路.
In his previous life's novels, nine out of ten evil cultivators raised disciples just to possess them later. The last one used them for alchemy.
"It was probably the Shikon fragment that ruined his plan," Retsu said with a grin after thinking it through.
"The fragment strengthened the demon tree, which then rebelled, controlled Peach Man, and turned Peach Immortal into fertilizer. That's why his possession scheme failed."
"Mm."
Kikyo nodded in agreement.
"Huh? Peach Man is dead."
Retsu suddenly raised his brow. He sensed that the Peach Man he had restrained with Wood Release had lost all vitality.
Kikyo followed his gaze.
The Peach Man trapped inside the tree trunk was lifeless. His once-bloated body was rapidly shriveling, shrinking into a dried husk.
She frowned.
"Just as Peach Immortal said, he was already controlled by the demon tree. His power came from it. Now that the tree is dead, this is only natural."
Retsu nodded, about to reply, when—
Crack!
A sharp sound rang out.
He turned toward it. The gourd he had tossed aside earlier had shattered completely, fragments scattering everywhere after losing its magical support.
Seeing this, his expression shifted. He immediately looked toward the building that housed the bonsai world.
Sure enough—
Boom!
A deafening roar echoed through the valley. The half-embedded structure suddenly collapsed from within.
Mud, rocks, broken trees, shattered beams, and even panicked human figures surged outward with the debris, instantly covering the cliffside in chaos.
"The bonsai lost its demonic support. Everything inside has returned to normal and burst out!"
Kikyo's expression changed slightly as she instantly understood what had happened.
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