IW: Chapter 245 - Sesshomaru: Women only slow down my sword draw. Bai Ye: You're not strong without women!
"I didn't say I didn't want to eat today..."
Before Bai Ye could even finish his sentence, a sudden, ice-cold shiver ran down his spine. The ambient temperature in the room plummeted as a tangible, concentrated wave of murderous aura locked onto him from behind.
Turning his head slowly, he saw Chae-Rim leaning casually against the doorframe. She was smiling—a brilliant, sickeningly sweet smile that didn't reach her eyes at all—as she tilted her head and spoke in a gentle, melodic coo.
"My dear husband absolutely needs to eat. I went to a great deal of trouble to prepare a mountain of delicious, nutrient-rich food especially for you today. You appreciate your wife's hard work, right?"
Gulp.
Bai Ye swallowed hard, a cold sweat breaking out across the back of his neck. Chae-Rim was genuinely becoming more and more terrifying by the day. Though her lips were curved upward, the sheer pressure of the killing intent radiating from her silhouette left absolutely zero room for negotiation. He was entirely certain that if a single syllable of refusal left his mouth, he would be sleeping in a ditch tonight.
"I'll eat! Of course I'll eat, sweetheart!"
Bai Ye snapped to attention and bolted up from his seat. Beside him, little Mai tilted her head, her big, curious eyes shifting between her parents in utter bewilderment. Is Mama really that scary? She's clearly smiling.
"Mai, be a good girl and come to the table," Chae-Rim called out, her voice instantly softening into a warm, doting tone.
"Mhm!" Mai nodded quickly. Okay, maybe Mama was a little scary.
The little girl obediently dragged over her small wooden stool and sat down directly next to Bai Ye. Leaning over slightly, she shielded her mouth with a tiny hand and whispered with an old, worldly wisdom that completely belied her age. "Papa... you really should try to make Mama angry less often in the future."
...What?
Bai Ye stared down at his daughter, completely flabbergasted. You're barely old enough to reach the table and you're already lecturing your own father?! Listening to her precocious advice, he was left momentarily speechless.
"Don't speak with your mouth full, young lady!" Bai Ye grumbled defensively, trying to salvage a shred of parental authority.
"Oh!" Mai nodded, quickly stuffing a piece of rice into her mouth, but her eyes kept darting back to Bai Ye, shooting him subtle, meaningful glances. She was practically begging him to just read the room.
As Mai reached out her chopsticks toward one of the central platters, Chae-Rim gently intercepted her hand. "Sweetie, don't eat those specific dishes. Those are special medicines made strictly for your Papa."
...Again with this.
Bai Ye looked down at the array of highly specialized, stamina-enhancing, and vitality-boosting dishes Chae-Rim had arranged in a neat semicircle around his bowl. For a brief second, he wanted to weep.
It was glaringly obvious that her determination to have a second child had reached an ironclad, immovable level.
Ever since Bai Ye had successfully acquired the legendary Pure Gold and gifted it to her, the final, agonizing knot in Chae-Rim's heart had been thoroughly untied. Before the gold granted her eternal youth and halted her biological clock, she had spent years plagued by a suffocating, silent anxiety—terrified that time would violently tear her away, leaving Bai Ye and Mai completely isolated in a world where he would never age. But now that the fear of mortality was gone, she was entirely focused on expanding their family. And unfortunately for Bai Ye's lower back, an immortal wife possessed an infinite amount of energy.
There was a period when she had tried to convince herself to accept it, but no matter what, she kept thinking about it.
"It's for Papa again!"
Mai pouted. Why couldn't she eat it?
"Be good, you can't eat these!"
Watching her small ears twitching non-stop, Cui Zi knew Mai was a little upset about her favoritism.
But she wasn't wrong; these things weren't for little girls to eat.
"Actually, I don't think I need to eat."
Bai Ye muttered. Did he really need to eat?
It seemed he wasn't the one suffering after every meal.
Not necessarily…
Perhaps he only thought she was suffering; maybe she didn't think so at all?
"No, you must eat, and we still have to go see Father later."
Cui Zi couldn't let Bai Ye not eat a single bite.
Anyway, Bai Ye had to eat, and he had to go see Inu Daisho with her later.
After the war between the Inu-yasha and Leopard Cat Clan ended, Inu Daisho also chose to leave Inu no Kuni, handing over the position of Inu no Kuni Lord to Bai Ye, and went wandering himself.
On one hand, he had indeed been tied up by clan affairs for many years, and many of his own matters remained unfinished.
On the other hand, he also felt that Bai Ye had grown up, so he handed the position to Bai Ye.
It was just a pity that Bai Ye seemed to have little interest in this; originally, he didn't want to accept it, but later, surrounded by everyone, he ultimately chose to agree.
However, all the matters here were left to Sesshomaru.
Inu Daisho, while traveling the world, also investigated some information about Seimei and the people from above.
"That old geezer is really carefree!"
Bai Ye complained. He had figured it out; Inu Daisho probably wanted to run away a long time ago.
When he was still the Demon King, he had so many things to be responsible for every day, yet this guy could still find time to flirt with a princess. It was truly outrageous.
"What?! Do you want to find another one too? Zou Ji seems to like you quite a bit, doesn't she? Oh, right, and that cat demon elder sister, Dong Lan, right? I think she seems to have some interest in you too. And Chun Lan is also pretty, maybe you can even get a buy one get one free deal."
Cui Zi counted on her fingers for Bai Ye.
Didn't these three also seem more carefree than Inu Daisho?
"Is Father going to find me a concubine?"
Mai looked disgusted. This was a concubine! She definitely had to stand on Mama's side!
The Sengoku period was not monogamous.
However, no one wanted an extra concubine.
But Aunt Zou Ji was very good to her, and even that cat demon named Dong Lan seemed quite polite to her.
Mai scratched her head, feeling a headache coming on.
"I haven't done anything, so why am I being arranged to find someone else?!"
He was exasperated.
He hadn't done anything! If someone liked him, could he really go up to them and say, 'Please don't like me'?
"I didn't arrange anything for you. Originally, I thought, if I were to die, then you might as well find Dong Lan. After all, you are both demons, and she likes you, so it would be good for her to take care of you in the future, this way—"
"Stop!"
Bai Ye directly raised his hand to interrupt Cui Zi's words. Can you stop testing me?
He knew very well that Cui Zi was just testing him here.
"Really? Actually, I think Zou Ji really likes you."
She had indeed thought that before, only blaming herself for having a different lifespan from Bai Ye, unable to accompany Bai Ye for a lifetime.
Cui Zi had actually seen it when they were on Penglai Island.
Now Zou Ji still guarded Penglai Island, though not like before, protecting everyone.
For those who wanted to leave, Zou Ji allowed them to, rather than forcing them to stay.
They had seen Zou Ji once these past few years, bringing Mai along. When Zou Ji saw their child, she knew there might be a trace of sadness in her heart.
"Actually, I've thought about it very seriously. It's not possible right now, at least… you have to let me get over this hurdle in my heart…"
Cui Zi also knew that sometimes it was better to say things directly.
At least for her current self, she couldn't accept it, and she didn't know if she would in the future, but she definitely couldn't do it now.
"How come you've been thinking about these things every day since you had a child?"
"Isn't this me doing some mental preparation?"
Cui Zi rolled her eyes at Bai Ye, speechless. She had been doing mental preparation all along, even though she still hadn't crossed that hurdle.
Seeing her like this, Bai Ye finally understood how disgusting it was that Inu Daisho had started this trend, and he had to take the blame for it.
Truly a heinous crime, Inu Daisho!
Not rushing to save you on the battlefield back then was truly a wise choice!
"Aren't you not supposed to talk while eating?!"
Mai looked at the two of them resentfully. They had just taught her that, but then they turned around and didn't follow it themselves?
They kept talking endlessly!
She wanted to go see Grandma.
Every time she saw Lingyue Xianji, she would give her many good things.
When she heard Cui Zi say they were going to see Inu Daisho, she also ate a little faster.
"Yo, no need to eat so fast!"
Outside the door, Inu Daisho's voice came, followed by Lingyue Xianji, Izayoi, Inu-yasha, Sesshomaru, and the little attendant Jaken.
"Eating, are we? Just in time for a few bites!"
Seeing the three people inside the house looking at him.
Inu Daisho greeted them casually and then sat down next to Bai Ye.
"I didn't cook for you!"
Bai Ye moved away in disgust. He had just been lectured quite a bit because of Inu Daisho.
Speaking of which, why did he come here?!
And he brought the whole family with him?
"Don't look at me like that. I just felt like the family hasn't eaten together in a long time, so I called them all over. We didn't disturb you, did we?!"
What do you think?
Bai Ye muttered in his heart. He hadn't expected him to deliberately ask the obvious.
"No, not at all. We were just about to go look for you. I can prepare some more food."
"No need, we've already brought some."
Bringing their own food when visiting was something else.
However, this also saved them the trouble of cooking later.
"Grandpa, Grandma, Second Grandma, Uncle, Second Uncle, and Little Demon Cap."
"My name is Jaken!"
Jaken waved his hands, a wave of resentment in his heart.
Ever since Bai Ye called him "Little Demon Cap," that had become his name.
But he had his own name!
However, after speaking, Jaken also lost his previous momentum.
Because he also realized that his resistance seemed meaningless!
"Hanyo and humans…"
Sesshomaru looked at Bai Ye twice, his expression a bit strange, and he stiffly nodded as a response.
He had always wondered why anyone would choose to be with humans.
Can demons and humans truly be together?
However, after Bai Ye obtained the pure gold, he no longer had the previous thought that humans would eventually die.
If they had pure gold, then Bai Ye and Cui Zi could indeed be together forever.
But he still didn't understand why he chose a human.
"Long time no see, Mai!"
Compared to Sesshomaru, Inu-yasha, also a Hanyo, was much more lively.
Not to mention that both of them were Hanyo and shared a common sense of belonging.
Just the fact that Bai Ye also gave Izayoi a piece of pure gold made him quite grateful to Bai Ye.
Because of Bai Ye's changes, Inu Daisho didn't die, and Inu-yasha naturally wasn't bullied when he was young. He also enjoyed his parents' love from a young age, and his relationship with Sesshomaru wasn't very awkward.
Although Sesshomaru never understood it, he still accepted Inu-yasha as his younger brother.
After all, at this time, there was no situation where he had to shoulder the burden alone, and Inu-yasha was still in a love-struck relationship with a shrine maiden, and then was sealed.
In fact, in the anime, before this incident happened, Sesshomaru and Inu-yasha's relationship wasn't very strained. Sesshomaru had always regarded Inu-yasha as his younger brother.
However, after being sealed by Kikyo, Sesshomaru became very disappointed with Inu-yasha.
"Inu-yasha Uncle, did you bring me a gift?"
…
She really took after her father; she truly had no shame at all.
He really hadn't prepared a gift.
Where would he get a gift?
"Next time for sure… Next time for sure!"
What else could he say?!
Besides "next time for sure," Inu-yasha was so choked up that he couldn't say another word.
"Just kidding!"
Mai patted Inu-yasha's shoulder. She was just saying it.
"Sesshomaru, it looks like you can also go find a girl."
Lingyue Xianji chuckled softly, then walked over to Mai and picked her up. She liked her more and more.
Hanyo seem pretty good too.
The saying about a grandparent's love is truly accurate. There are times when she finds her rebellious son, Sesshomaru, quite annoying, but when she sees Mai, she feels like ants are crawling all over her if she doesn't see her for a day.
"Heh, I don't have such thoughts. I want to become the strongest demon. Women will only slow down my sword draw speed."
Sesshomaru refused without a second thought.
What a joke!?
He won't look for one until he becomes the strongest demon!
No!
Even if he becomes the strongest demon, he won't look for one!
"Sesshomaru, you've fallen into a dead end!"
Bai Ye mumbled, always feeling that the current Sesshomaru was saying one thing but doing another.
However, he was also very curious. It seemed that the original story's conflict of the brothers fighting over Tessaiga, and Inu-yasha cutting off Sesshomaru's arm, wouldn't happen now.
So, could he still meet Rin?
Thinking this, that famous scene seemed a bit difficult now. Only foolish Hanyo would be with humans. Let's go, Rin.
"What dead end!?
Sesshomaru knew from Inu Daisho that Bai Ye had already surpassed Inu Daisho.
On one hand, Sesshomaru was surprised, but he also thought that he might be able to surpass Inu Daisho as well. He also had a chance, after all, if Bai Ye could, why couldn't he!?
So, he still cared about Bai Ye's opinion.
"Look, what does cultivation have to do with finding a wife? My foolish Otouto, you always say women hinder you, but you weren't that strong even when you didn't have a wife!"
Pfft!
Inu Daisho almost couldn't hold it in. He had received professional training and generally wouldn't laugh.
But in this situation, he really couldn't hold back.
Sesshomaru was being attacked directly and couldn't refute it. After all, Bai Ye's strength was indeed stronger than his, undeniably so. And it was true that after having a wife and daughter, his strength had increased so much.
"That's true, Sesshomaru, you should learn from your brother."
Lingyue Xianji said it more directly than Inu Daisho.
She hadn't felt anything before, but ever since she had little Mai, she found herself liking her more and more.
Indeed, Sesshomaru used to always talk about wanting to become stronger and how he would do this and that.
But now that Bai Ye had pointed it out, Lingyue Xianji also realized that he didn't seem that powerful before!
"Will this scene turn into a fight later?!"
Jaken kept looking back and forth between the few of them.
He always felt the atmosphere was a bit oppressive. He subconsciously glanced at Sesshomaru, and after seeing Sesshomaru's icy gaze, Jaken instinctively shivered, then quickly withdrew his gaze.
"Sesshomaru, why aren't you speaking?"
Do you have to rub it in so much?!
Seeing that Bai Ye seemed to have no intention of letting Sesshomaru go, Inu Daisho couldn't help but inwardly complain.
But deep down, he hoped Bai Ye would keep talking like that.
After all, in Inu Daisho's opinion, Sesshomaru definitely shouldn't walk this domineering path.
Regarding the personalities of the three brothers, although Bai Ye was a demon, he possessed humanity and compassion. At the same time, he also followed his own domineering path. In Inu Daisho's eyes, he was the most perfect demon, and he considered him his most outstanding child.
Inu-yasha, on the other hand, due to being a Hanyo, although he hadn't suffered much bullying since childhood because he was by his side, he was inherently lacking. After all, his strength couldn't compare to the full demons Bai Ye and Sesshomaru.
And Sesshomaru was strong, but he lacked compassion; he only had his demonic nature.
Inu Daisho sometimes wondered if it would be great if Sesshomaru could be like Bai Ye.
He wouldn't worry about him so much then.
As for Sesshomaru, who always pursued power, Inu Daisho had always wanted to correct him, but he could never find an opportunity.
He seemed to have fallen into some kind of obsessive dead end.
Inu Daisho was truly afraid that Sesshomaru would stop at nothing to pursue power in the future.
So he thought that Bai Ye should be more effective than himself, after all, Bai Ye had truly beaten Sesshomaru since childhood.
Whenever Sesshomaru had any strange ideas, Bai Ye truly laid hands on him.
"What am I supposed to say?!"
Sesshomaru looked up at Bai Ye. He really didn't want to say a word.
But Bai Ye kept pressing him to speak!
He didn't want to talk, so what could he say?!
"Forget it, my foolish Otouto, it's normal that you don't understand yet."
"Papa, why do you say Uncle Sesshomaru doesn't understand? But aren't demons usually very rarely like Papa?"
Mai asked curiously.
After she asked this question, Sesshomaru suddenly felt that his niece seemed quite good too.
"That's right, Mai, let me tell you, some yellow-haired guys among demons and humans are very, very bad, so you should stay away from them, understand?"
"Yellow-haired?"
"It means men with bad intentions!"
...
Everyone present was originally listening to what Bai Ye was going to say.
You just blurted out something like that?
"Then aren't you considered yellow-haired?!"
Cui Zi, who had just entered with the prepared dishes, glared at Bai Ye without warning.
This guy had just advised Sesshomaru to find someone, but when it came to his own daughter, he started being a hypocrite.
If you're talking about yellow-haired, aren't you also considered yellow-haired?!
Yellow-haired was just a term. Just as Cui Zi was about to say a few more words, she saw Bai Ye's strange gaze, and then something came to her mind involuntarily.
If you look at it that way, it seems like she was the yellow-haired one, right?
After all...
She was the one who initiated it back then!
Ah...
As soon as she thought about how she used to call Big Dog this and Big Dog that, asking him to kiss her, asking him if he wanted to try that...
Cui Zi's sense of shame suddenly surged, and she lowered her head, not daring to look at Bai Ye or say another word.
"Mai, you're still young, don't worry about this. Sesshomaru, I think you'll meet someone you like in the future. But when you understand what you truly want to protect, that's when you'll be at your strongest."
Protect what?!
Sesshomaru listened to Bai Ye's words, and his thoughts drifted to the past.
Inu Daisho seemed to have said similar words to him back then.
What do I want to protect?!
Sesshomaru had never been clear. He had always believed that he had no one or nothing he wanted to protect. Sesshomaru lived for himself, not to protect anyone.
But from their words, did it really mean that he had to have someone to protect to become stronger?!
"Why?!"
Sesshomaru looked up earnestly at Bai Ye. He wanted to know the answer from Bai Ye.
Why did he have to have something to protect to become stronger?
Couldn't he just become stronger for the sake of becoming stronger!?
"Don't you understand yet?! Unrestrained power is just that of a beast. Sesshomaru, isn't your power meant to fight to protect everything you cherish? There's nothing wrong with fighting for yourself, but you don't even have anything you want to protect..."
It wasn't necessarily about making Sesshomaru choose a person to protect, but about having something in Sesshomaru's heart that he would become stronger for.
Did he not even want to cherish himself?!
To become stronger, he could do anything, seemingly not even caring about himself...
Bai Ye also suddenly realized that when he had tried to change Sesshomaru before, he had always been moving towards Rin's direction.
But he had overlooked that Sesshomaru himself might not have any other thoughts in his heart right now?!
"Alright, alright, let's talk about these things later!"
Seeing this, Inu Daisho quickly urged them to stop.
Looking at the two brothers like this, he was afraid that Bai Ye would beat Sesshomaru again later.
After all, Sesshomaru's defiance of Bai Ye was already a foregone conclusion. If they continued talking, he would probably get beaten.
"Why don't you let them fight?"
Are you really not afraid of making things worse?
Inu Daisho touched his cheek, recalling Lingyue Xianji's personality, and then felt that this was something Lingyue Xianji could indeed say.
No!?
Aren't these two your sons?!
Why do you want Bai Ye to beat Sesshomaru so badly!
"It's been a long time since I saw Sesshomaru being beaten by Bai Ye. It was better when he was little; Sesshomaru would always be beaten to the point of almost crying!"
At that time, Sesshomaru's icy, aristocratic personality was already well on its way to being fully formed, but Bai Ye had made a habit of routinely thrashing him in combat. To make matters worse, while casually handing the young lord his own tail, Bai Ye would ruthlessly needle him with verbal insults. It was a brutal ego bruising. Lingyue Xianji vividly recalled several occasions where her proud son looked like he was right on the absolute verge of tears.
To this day, she firmly maintained that Sesshomaru had never been more adorable.
Standing just a few paces away, Inuyasha's ears twitched as a bizarre, profoundly amused look flashed across his face.
No way.
This walking block of ice actually used to cry?!
"I did not!" Sesshomaru hissed, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. He felt a sudden, massive headache coming on.
What in the world did she mean he used to cry?! He had done no such thing! It was a gross misinterpretation of tactical frustration!
"Oh, Sesshomaru really is too cute," Lingyue Xianji giggled, completely ignoring his deadly aura. She turned a sparkling gaze toward the traveler. "Bai Ye, hurry up and make him cry again!"
"..."
"How incredibly tragic. Are you really staring at your own mother with such an idiotic gaze?" Lingyue Xianji sighed dramatically, rubbing her forehead with a delicate hand as if deeply wounded.
From her perspective, she hadn't said a single thing out of line. Why on earth was her son looking at her like she was completely unhinged? It truly was a universal truth: sons lose every shred of their charm the moment they grow up.
Meanwhile, the rest of the room had completely checked out of the conversation. They had spent more than enough time around Lingyue Xianji to know that reacting to her theatrical antics was a waste of energy, so they chose to simply let the bickering slide.
"Alright, that's enough trivial chatter. Let us not lose sight of the primary reason we gathered here," Inu no Taisho interjected, his commanding voice instantly cutting through the domestic chaos.
The Great Dog General turned a deadly serious gaze toward Bai Ye. "Tell me... do you still remember the exact state of the Shikon Jewel at the moment of Abe no Seimei's demise?"
The memory was dark and heavy. Back during that catastrophic clash, Seimei's grand, twisted design had been to forcefully refine both Bai Ye and Chae-Rim into the core components of the Shikon Jewel to cement his own immortality. But his calculations had failed him. Thanks to a series of chaotic variables and sheer martial dominance, he was thoroughly defeated by Bai Ye—and in a twist of poetic justice, his own soul was forcefully dragged down to become the catalyst for the Jewel itself.
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