EPISODE 23 – SOLDIERS ESCORTING THE PROCESSION
At the fork in the road to the depths of Yomi.
“Miss Yasushi, you… Do you know how to get back?”
“If I can resist the summon from the depths of Yomi, I’ll get to return… Miss Lily, you are a human and I’m a spirit. We have different paths to walk.”
Lily nodded. “I hope you’ll get to find your Cursed Blade… Good luck.”
Asuka Yasushi nodded. “Miss Lily, I finally understand now. A Blade Maiden is born with extraordinary battle prowess. Yet, their journey has no end. Because the end of our journey is something that not a single woman could accept… We rely on souls to gain power because our own souls will never find respite… Perhaps the only place that we can hide is the Cursed Blade that accompanied us. Being controlled and consumed by our Cursed Blade might be the best ending for us.”
Lily’s gaze was sorrowful and helpless. “Miss Yasushi, perhaps, if you actually became a demon. I hope… You won’t commit evil… With that, it might not be a bad ending for you… Relative to the current situation…”
“Don’t worry, Miss Lily, I won’t. I’ll do my best… I still can’t see things from the perspective of a demon right now.”
“Miss Yasushi, there are also very kind and powerful beings among demons.”
Yasushi smiled in response. “I hope I’ll become someone like that as well. If we are fated to meet, Miss Lily, come find me on Iyo Island. Our Asuka Dynasty used to be a failed and exiled tribe a long time ago. But now, we have metallurgy and technology that far surpass the current Heian Dynasty1. Iyo is the true home for Blade Maidens!”
“Lady Yasushi… I’ll go. I hope I can meet you by then.”
Asuka Yasushi was relieved and then nodded sadly. She turned around and floated away, towards the path that she came from.
The Asuka Tribe? Could Asuka Yasushi be a direct descendent of the legendary Asuka Tribe? In the history of the Heian Dynasty, the Asuka Tribe was royalty that reigned long before the Heian Dynasty and was already extinct.
However, it seemed like they were simply exiled to a very remote location. The Asuka Tribe was exiled to Iyo Island, the home of the Blade Maidens?
“Do I still have a chance to go there in this lifetime?”
Lily couldn’t find an answer. Currently, she was only concerned about the path to Yomi. Within the path, any demons she stumbled upon randomly were already so powerful. Meanwhile, Sakura Parasol seemed to be ineffective in Yomi.
Lily knew that she had to be even more careful if she wished to enter deeper. Yet, she had no idea where exactly the path to Yomi ended. Could it be Yomi itself? That was obviously not the place that Lily wished to go. Then, why would Shizuka Gozen ask her to tread this path?
If this was a trap, then wasn’t it too ineffective? Why wouldn’t she be captured immediately? Instead, she was allowed to slowly explore the place. She had no idea where she was going, but Lily knew the direction.
Which was, forward. Forward without hesitation. Lily continued walking forward cautiously. The winds ahead became even hotter, with an aura of suffering.
Yes, suffering, intense suffering. It wasn’t Resentment Energy. It seemed like the hosts who went to such suffering no longer had the right to even be resentful.
Lily slipped and nearly fell over. She balanced herself as she slid down the incline that suddenly became steep.
“Huff!”
Fortunately, Lily finally managed to catch her balance before she could fall into a deeper and wider underground space. Lily’s toes were no longer touching solid ground. She grabbed the tall stalagmites and looked down.
There was an underground passage that was wider than a path that she came from. It was hundreds of meters high and over a thousand meters wide!
On the surface of this incredibly large passage, Lily saw countless souls that glittered like stars. They queued up in several lines and slowly walked forward, like a river of lost souls.
The aura of endless suffering originated from these souls.
They were dead and had no spiritual bodies. These were all mortals or weak adepts who failed to reach the Spirit Jade Stage.
Lily noticed several five-meter-tall demons with extremely fair skin and bloated bodies, like massive sumo wrestlers. They traveled on both sides of the procession and escorted them. These obese demons had inhumanly ugly faces, making Lily realize that they were Vengeful Spirits instead of actual ugly sumo wrestlers.
Moreover, they were armed with heavy and menacing weapons like machetes, mauls, and spiked bludgeons, which were stained with blood.
Each of those fat demons had varying strengths. Most were within the Throned Sovereign Stage and Throned Monarch Stage.
“Looks like these are foot soldiers that escort ordinary souls.”
Lily hid in a cave opening on the steep incline and slowly waited for them to pass. She wasn’t stupid enough to interrupt ordinary souls from returning to Yomi. Life and death, and the journey to reincarnation, were the rules of nature. Lily wouldn’t antagonize Yomi for enforcing such a fundamental rule.
Suddenly, a painful wail was heard.
An obese demon was walking while casually grabbing a couple souls, then consuming them.
“Eat less! Do you want to be punished? Hima’asa?”
“Ohhohoho. If I don’t eat more than ten percent, the higher ups won’t figure out.”
Two low and guttural voices interacted. Those lost souls could only tremble and moan in pain, unable to say any comprehensible words. They were also in a constant daze, feeling nothing but horror that came from the depths of their soul.
“How unfortunate… Without personal strength, these souls could only rely on luck in order to reincarnate after dying. If they were eaten by these ugly demons out of sheer boredom, they would truly be dead forever… The weak are so helpless…”
Everyone would eventually die.
Lily was still very young. However, no matter how long it took, she would eventually face this reality.
“If my soul is to be enslaved by those guys helplessly, to be raped and consumed without any control? Or would I be taken to the depths of Yomi like that Blade Maiden, to suffer eternal torture until I collapse and disappear? No way!”
Lily’s heart was filled with overwhelming determination.
Adepts pursued power in order to avoid a tragic fate for themselves and the ones they cherished. This was why most people did it. It was in order to escape all suffering in this world, and achieve true freedom!
Lily was also afraid of death.
“I will never become such a helpless and barely conscious being. My fate must never fall into the hands of these dirty and cruel agents of Yomi!”
Lily felt an unprecedented force of will.
She came from a world of peace. She had unparalleled talent and trained all the way for her senior sister’s sake, and for her sisters. She had never thought about herself or done anything for herself.
However, the moment she thought that she would someday end up like this, she was instantly repulsed! At this moment, for the first time, Lily truly understood another reason to train. To escape the cycle of reincarnation!
She would never allow her and her sisters’ soul to suffer such humiliation and enslavement! Never!
Despite being filled with spite, Lily suppressed her emotions and waited silently.
The procession of souls was long and they traveled slowly. She waited for an entire day before they left. Meanwhile, Lily jumped down after the procession had gone far away, and walked in the direction they left in.
Where would the path to Yomi lead to?
It was impossible to source a map, hence Lily could only follow her instincts. Yomi Hirazaka laid between Ashihara and Yomi. Since those souls were being escorted to Yomi, they would definitely pass by Yomi Hirazaka.
The surroundings were incredibly hot and stuffy here. The terrain was vast and dark. Sharp stone stalactites reflected eerie light.
After the second night when Minamoto no Shimizu entered Heian-kyo, the black-armored soldiers in the city had dramatically decreased. This meant they faced less danger during curfew.
Minamoto no Shimizu, Shimadzu Inari, and the Jade Maiden who came from the mysterious rainforest from thousands of miles away occupied an abandoned manor. With sisters guarding it in shifts, they were temporarily safe, as long as they remained careful and didn’t go out. It seemed like the black-armored soldiers wouldn’t barge into every single residence and kill people.
This manor had been abandoned for many years. It was initially occupied by four Spirit Jade Stage Vengeful Spirit. They tried to launch a sneak attack on the sisters but were eliminated by Inari and Shimizu.
Although Inari seemed like an airhead, she still had the strength of a middle Permanence Stage. Her strength was second only to Shimizu among the rest of the sisters.
Being able to settle down temporarily, Shimizu started investigating the truth of what happened in Heian-kyo. She ordered Inari and the rest to remain in the manor, while she snuck out by herself to scout.
She was completely unfamiliar with Heian-kyo.
She remembered that Lily told her to meet Fujiwara no Ayaka. Hence, she asked around for the Chief Advisor’s mansion. It wasn’t a hard task despite the curfew since it was well known. It was just as easy as asking for the Royal Palace’s location in Heian-kyo.
Carefully approaching the Chief Advisor’s mansion, Shimizu then realized it was already surrounded by an army. Onmyojis and spell formations were everywhere. It was virtually unapproachable.
She climbed up a building far away and observed the massive defensive formation in the Chief Advisor’s mansion. With her strength, she didn’t understand the formation at all, but only felt that it was extraordinary.
“Why? The Imperial Army seems to be besieging the Chief Advisor’s mansion?”
Shimizu saw a woman levitating on top of the mansion’s defensive formation. For some reason, that woman was bound by ropes of light and was unresponsive. Despite that, she felt an intense and profound aura coming out of that woman.
It was definitely much stronger than hers! No, it wasn’t worthy of comparison at all!
“Such a powerful woman. Could she be the chief advisor, Fujiwara no Ayaka? Why is she looking like this? What actually happened here?”
While Shimizu was observing the situation on the rooftops.
Yagyuu Shiu, who was worried about Ayaka’s condition, came to investigate once again. She and Shimizu were actually on opposite sides of the same wall.
Shiu carefully looked around the alleyway, only to see Shimizu standing on the rooftops on the other side of the wall under the moonlight…
“Sister… Shimizu?”
Shimizu also instantly noticed Shiu. She gracefully jumped onto the wall and jumped down2.
“You are… Yagyuu Shiu? Why are you here? Where’s Lily?”
Robinxen: Oho? Interesting. Robinxen: IS this finally an arc for the supporting cast?!
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