"Deliberately making noise to draw people over, yet acting like you can't see them... Ah, is this that thing? A tactic to get attention? It's kind of cute," Sū ěr said with a grin. The dog demon didn't smell of bloodlust or cruelty; rather, he seemed a bit silly.
"What did you say!!! I'll kill you!!!" The white-haired dog demon snapped his eyes open in a rage. Though he didn't know what "cute" meant, he guessed it wasn't a compliment. "Do you dare let me down!!"
This reverse psychology was a bit too simple; anyone with half a brain wouldn't fall for it.
"If I remember correctly, you are the second son of the Great Dog General [Inu no Taishō]? I believe the name was... InuYasha?" Yukari rubbed her chin. "The dog demons of the West fell into decline after the Great Dog General died. Neither of his two sons has reached his level. Now it seems even commanding the yōkai of the West is difficult. How disappointing."
"What did you say!!!!"
The white-haired dog demon began to struggle violently. Yukari's few airy words had dealt him exponential damage.
So, it's a 'fallen nobility' setting? Sū ěr nodded understandingly. He heard Think calling him from the other side.
"Is it that well?"
"Yes," Think nodded. "As for the rest, better ask those people over there."
She and Sū ěr turned their gaze to a nearby thicket. After a moment of silence, a person stepped out—the elderly woman in priestess clothing who lacked spiritual power. Frankly, the outfit only served as a deterrent on her; the eye patch over one eye made her look quite fierce.
"Our village has nothing. Yōkai, leave," the elderly priestess said.
"You misunderstand. We just want to ask about this well and this tree. Does your village have any records?" Sū ěr asked politely, understanding her wariness. "If you are willing to answer, we will leave a sufficient amount of food as a reward when we go."
"That well... we call it the Bone-Eater's Well." The elderly priestess visibly relaxed a bit. She looked at the well with some trepidation, then glanced at InuYasha, who was still arguing with Yukari. "Because so many yōkai died down there, the bottom is full of bones, so it was named thus. It is a well that devours yōkai."
Since these yōkai were willing to show a friendly attitude, she naturally wouldn't be uncooperative and force a potentially friendly talk into a confrontation.
The elderly priestess waved her hand behind her, signaling the other villagers to return to the village. The rustling in the thicket went silent.
"Does it have any special abilities?" Sū ěr steered the topic to the main point.
"Special abilities?" The elderly priestess looked confused. "Does the ability to attract yōkai count? Lately, more and more yōkai seem to be fighting here, forcing everyone in the village to be careful."
At this, her expression turned somber. She sighed and said, "If only my sister were still here. If it were her, she would surely know the reason."
Given her age, it sounded like her sister was dead. Sū ěr had no desire to poke at someone's grief. According to her, the ancient well had never exhibited time-traveling powers in front of these humans.
To the humans living here, yōkai simply fought here for mysterious reasons, and their bones rotted in the well. They didn't know that among these wretches, some lucky ones had traveled to another era.
Lucky ones, perhaps.
Most who traveled through recently were crushed by the barriers Think set up. As for those who traveled over the past centuries... they were likely crushed by human Onmyōji, or by yōkai like Nura Nurarihyon, or they simply blended into society.
"Are there no legends? About this tree," Sū ěr asked after some thought.
"...I don't know... Isn't it just a Goshinboku?" The elderly priestess was lost. "It was here when I was a child."
In an era where recording information was difficult, it was too hard for commoners to know about the past. Although this woman was a priestess, a priestess guarding a tiny village wasn't much different from a commoner.
Ultimately, the elderly priestess returned to her village. Sū ěr promised her that no yōkai would run to the village to harass them in the short term. The tsundere dog demon pinned to the tree was not let down; Sū ěr believed everything sealed had a reason for being sealed. Since the white-haired dog didn't feel like explaining, he could stay pinned.
Think, her research heart ignited, became busy. Her experimental instruments, facilities, and spells spread across two worlds. Forget Sū ěr, even Jibril was ordered around as an assistant to help with important tasks, and Jibril actually agreed.
Yukari's request from that day was seemingly ignored. Sū ěr attitude was clear, but Yukari didn't give up. She was intensely active at the research site every day, once nearly being killed by a spell Think had laid.
Even Sū ěr, who currently had a "retirement" mindset, felt involuntarily tense. The mirage-like time portal at the Higurashi back mountain in the modern world had expanded again, nearly covering half the mountain.
Was it the array Saigyouji laid that caused some strange metaphysical reaction with the ley lines or this world after his death?
Why did the portal only appear at the Yin site of the array, rather than next to the cherry tree at the Saigyouji home?
Nothing related to the laws of the world was simple. It was normal for decades or centuries of research to yield no results. However, the current situation required a plan to stop the two worlds from gradually overlapping, and that burden fell solely on Think.
Think was quite irritable during this period.