"Retsu, come with me and save them!"
Seeing the panicked figures mixed among the falling rocks and broken trees, Kikyo called out urgently and was about to rush forward.
"No need to make it so troublesome."
Retsu shook his head. Before she could move, he clasped his hands together and let out a low shout.
"Wood Release!"
The ground immediately surged, and countless flexible branches burst forth from the earth.
Guided by his precise Sage Mode perception, the branches deftly avoided falling rocks and shattered wood. They wrapped around each person rushing out of the bonsai world and gently tossed them onto an open area nearby.
After confirming that everyone had been rescued safely, Kikyo stopped, turned back, and walked to Retsu's side.
"Let's go. We're leaving."
"I thought you'd take them out of the mountains," Retsu said in surprise.
Kikyo glanced at the people in the distance, who were still shaken.
They were well-dressed and strong, far healthier than ordinary villagers suffering from war and famine.
She withdrew her gaze and said softly,
"Although they were raised as nourishment for the demon tree, they lived comfortably in the bonsai world. Some even had the chance to cultivate and become 'immortals.'
We destroyed everything they relied on. They may not be grateful for being saved. Instead, they might resent us."
Retsu looked at her in surprise. He hadn't expected her to see things so clearly.
Kikyo seemed to sense his thoughts and spoke calmly,
"Things like this are very common in this world. Because I often help strangers, I understand human nature better.
After all, Naraku was once just Onigumo, who became what he is today because of the darkness in his heart."
"Then let's go."
Retsu reached out and held her hand. The familiar warmth flowed through his fingers. With a thought, he activated Flying Thunder God. Their figures vanished instantly.
"So this is spiritual power…"
Retsu opened his eyes and murmured softly. A hazy white glow slowly appeared in his palm.
The power was gentle and pure. Unlike chakra, which was formed from physical and mental energy, spiritual power originated from the depths of the soul.
Nearby, Kikyo sat cross-legged, following the methods recorded in The Blood Sacrifice Wood-Nourishing Art, trying to fuse natural energy with her own spiritual power to form so-called "immortal power."
Sensing the fluctuation from Retsu, she looked up with a smile.
"Congratulations. You're officially a practitioner now."
Retsu looked at the faint glow in his palm and laughed at himself.
"Looks like talent really matters when it comes to spiritual power.
I've practiced according to the manual for so long, and I only managed to condense this little bit. Then again, this method was meant for 'nutrients' in the first place, so its effect was limited."
He dispersed the light and stretched lazily.
"But it doesn't matter. I don't rely on spiritual power in battle. Weak is fine, as long as I can use it to cultivate immortal power."
The only reason he had managed to produce spiritual power at all was thanks to the special method in the manual, designed for humans raised as fertilizer.
It forcibly stimulated spiritual power in people with no talent.
However, the tiny amount he now possessed had almost no offensive capability. At best, it could perform minor tricks. It was useless in real combat.
Moreover, once spiritual power was formed, this method stopped working.
As mentioned before, in this world, spiritual power couldn't be actively cultivated. It normally grew naturally with age.
How long it would take for his artificially awakened spiritual power to become combat-ready was unknown.
But he didn't plan to fight with it anyway. His goal was to use it as a foundation to fuse with natural energy and form immortal power.
After studying the manual for some time, Retsu now understood the principle behind becoming an "immortal."
It was the fusion of demon power and human spiritual power, creating a new energy that granted long life and access to demonic techniques.
In essence, these "immortals" were just humans who had fused with demon power. They weren't truly powerful like legendary immortals, but they gained demon-like longevity.
The immortals of this world were the opposite of Sage Mode in the ninja world.
Sage Mode granted immense power but barely extended lifespan.
Here, immortals had strength comparable to ordinary demons, but could live extremely long lives.
And that was exactly what Retsu wanted.
In the ninja world, achieving immortality was incredibly difficult. Here, by following this method and forming immortal power, he could gain a demon's lifespan.
As for why the technique chose tree demons instead of other demons, the reason was simple.
Human-faced fruit trees, born from corpses, lacked full intelligence. Compared to other demons, they were easier to control and made the safest "containers" for demon power.
However, neither Retsu nor Kikyo intended to follow the original method.
Raising a demon tree through blood sacrifice would take decades. Even if successful, it would create a fatal weakness.
If the tree were destroyed, the cultivator would suffer severe backlash. And there was always the risk of betrayal.
For them, it was far safer to skip demon power entirely and directly fuse natural energy with spiritual power.
Since returning to the shrine, they had been experimenting nonstop.
Kikyo could sense natural energy, but she was still inexperienced at absorbing and controlling it. Fusing it with her spiritual power was slow, and she hadn't succeeded yet.
Retsu, on the other hand, was proficient in Sage Mode and could easily control natural energy. But he had lacked spiritual power before, making fusion impossible.
That was why he had focused on cultivating spiritual power using the "fertilizer method." After long effort, he finally gained his first trace.
Kikyo walked over and sat beside him.
"With my spiritual power, controlling external natural energy is just too difficult. Even if I bring it into my body, it refuses to merge properly."
"Don't rush it. Just keep trying."
Retsu smiled reassuringly.
"Luckily, failure here isn't dangerous.
You don't know—when I practiced Sage Mode before, one mistake and I'd turn into a stone toad."
"I'll probably need more time," Kikyo said softly. "I'm just too curious about this 'immortal power.'"
She looked at him expectantly.
"Quick, try it. See if you can fuse them!"
To Read 130+ advanced Chapters, head over to P@treon
patreon.com/DarkVerse146