"Be careful, I'll use a Shadow Clone to scout ahead first." Retsu reached out and stopped Kikyo, who was about to step forward, saying cautiously.
..."Hmm, alright." Kikyo paused, turned to look at him, a hint of surprise in her eyes. "Why have you suddenly become so cautious? This isn't like your usual style."
"Do I really seem that reckless in your impression?" Seeing Kikyo's "unusual" expression, Retsu rolled his eyes and couldn't help but retort.
"Yes." Kikyo nodded seriously, her tone blunt. "That's right, normally, you would have charged straight in."
"...Uh, alright." Retsu was speechless, so he had to honestly explain, "Actually, I'm worried that this 'Immortal' might have some strange and bizarre spells."
He did have some concerns. From the plot, once one approached this bonsai, their body would be forcibly shrunk, and they wouldn't be able to recover on their own even after leaving the bonsai.
To undo the spell, either Peach Fruit Person had to do it, or he had to be killed to nullify the spell.
In the story, Kagome returned to normal after being captured by Peach Fruit Person, while Miroku and Shippō only escaped their shrunken state after Peach Fruit Person's death.
After explaining the reason, Retsu formed hand signs.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A puff of white smoke flashed, and a Shadow Clone identical to him appeared beside him.
The Shadow Clone made no extra movements and walked straight into the room.
Retsu and Kikyo stood outside the door, observing quietly.
The Shadow Clone first inspected the room, and after confirming there was no obvious danger, it casually opened a few ceramic pots in the corner, finding that they contained human face fruit soaking in an unknown liquid, nothing special.
And by the wall near the entrance, many messy weapons were piled up, but many were damaged due to long-term lack of maintenance.
Apparently, they were left by the people captured by Peach Fruit Person and thrown into the bonsai.
Next, the Shadow Clone walked to the back of the room, where an upward staircase seemed to lead to the upper floor of the building, with no movement from above at the moment.
To prevent any accidents, while the Shadow Clone was searching, Retsu silently absorbed the surrounding Natural Energy and quietly entered Sage Mode.
Under the perception of Sage Mode, the surrounding auras became incredibly clear.
There were several faint demonic auras upstairs, likely the minor demons used as servants by Peach Fruit Person in the story.
And on the distant cliff edge, there was a relatively powerful demonic aura, most likely the human face fruit demonic tree.
Below the demonic tree, there were two other strange auras. He guessed they were Peach Fruit Person and his Immortal Master, whom he had turned into a bonsai.
Confirming that Peach Fruit Person was not upstairs, the Shadow Clone turned and walked towards the bonsai in the center of the room, looking down into it.
Inside the bonsai was a complete village scene, with miniature houses, farmlands, roads, and even tiny human figures moving within it, lifelike, like a real microcosm.
The moment the Shadow Clone approached the bonsai, even without entering Sage Mode, he keenly sensed a peculiar energy surging from the bonsai. It was a special power formed by the mixture of Natural Energy and some unknown force, sweeping towards his body.
The Shadow Clone immediately understood that this was the spell power that could shrink a human body and pull it into the bonsai.
But to his surprise, this power was not very strong. With his Chakra intensity, he could disperse it and break free from its influence by unleashing his full power.
Realizing this, Retsu felt relieved. He had thought this shrinking spell was unsolvable.
Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered a detail from the story: when Kagome, Miroku, and Shippō were shrunk and pulled in by the bonsai's power, all of Kagome's items shrank with her, except for the shard of the shikon jewel in her pocket, and even the bottle containing the shard was not affected by the spell.
Moreover, the samurai captured by Peach Fruit Person had also said that anyone in the bonsai who mastered even a little bit of magic would immediately be used as nutrients to feed the human face fruit demonic tree.
Clearly, the effect of this shrinking spell was not absolute. Peach Fruit Person was deliberately clearing out people who became stronger in the bonsai, fearing that if they learned magic and grew stronger, they would be able to Dispel spell effects, or even escape his control.
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