Lily couldn’t help but worry when she saw the sword mikos in the pavilion chatting and laughing with rather excited expressions, and there were even a few among them who had been rescued by her last night.
These women really didn’t remember their lesson!
Or were they really that persistent?
Ijuin was obviously their leader. She brought Lily over and introduced her to everyone, attracting quite a few sword mikos who were previously practicing to gather around.
“So the person who saved us was Kagami Lily who has been getting a lot of attention in Heian-kyō recently!”
“It is said that she cut off the Rashomon spirit’s arm with one slash, causing him to be defeated by the Imperial Guard Division and the Bureau of Justice!”
“It is said that she also has a series of legends in Eastern land!”
“The day before she came to Heian-kyō, she killed that martial saint’s son who was also known as the world’s fastest sword, Sakanoue no Tamurakonoe!”
The girls were discussing and crowding around Lily, which made her feel sensitive and embarrassed.
Ijuin put her hands on her hips as if Lily’s addition to the group caused her own strength to soar, “Now, with Miss Kagami joining us, our branch’s strength has increased unprecedentedly. We will be able to crusade against those evil spirits entrenched in deeper places!”
“Eh?” Lily looked at Ijuin in shock. Just yesterday, she was beaten into pissing herself, so where did she get today’s confidence from? Has she really lived long enough?
Seeing Lily’s expression, Ijuin said, “I know that our attack yesterday was too rash, but aren’t we all fine? This means that the heavenly way is secretly protecting us, doesn’t it? Otherwise, how could Miss Kagami appear so coincidentally1?”
“…” Lily really wanted to hold her down in the pavilion and whip her a̲s̲s̲ in public! She decided to save them after repeated struggles and even risked so much, but this woman said it was divine providence. Lily was simply left speechless.
“However…” Ijuin said after some contemplation, “We must do a better job in investigating the target in the future. Although the heavenly oracle is directed towards the three archdemons, it is impossible for us to challenge them head-on with our current strength. We should start from the minions of the three archdemons and the four great vengeful spirits, slowly weakening their power little by little.”
Ijuin spoke the truth and Lily had to admit that her tactics, in general, sounded correct, but she was still overestimating their own strength.
“Miss Ijuin,” Lily said, “I think we should be wary of those evil spirits and archdemons that have been entrenched in the depths of Heian-kyō for many years. Those archdemons are not only powerful, but their methods are very bizarre. We can crusade against those evil spirits and demons that are doing a lot of evil things at this time, but I don’t think we should provoke those ancient, dormant evil spirits. They may have done bad things in the past, but most of them were aimed towards their enemies rather than attacking innocent people indiscriminately. Since they don’t provoke humans, why should we take the initiative to fight them and let our sisters die in vain?”
“Miss Kagami, although you are extremely powerful and have a righteous heart, your thinking is too narrow. If we refuse to fight because they don’t provoke us, then what is the difference between us and those cowardly people in the court? The demons are thriving and the heavenly way is furious. If we don’t eradicate the demons and evil spirits, the heavenly way will continue to collapse. When that time comes, wouldn’t humans be the ones to suffer a loss? If I were a demon or a vengeful spirit, I would naturally lie dormant and wait for the heavenly way to completely collapse. When the extended night becomes longer, eldritch energy will become even more prevalent and the human race will decline. By then, they can easily destroy us! The demons can wait, but we can’t! Miss Kagami, do you know how much food production will decrease in a month-long extended night and how many people will die?” Ijuin retorted righteously.
“Eh? This…” Lily suddenly realized that the other party seemed to make sense and she couldn’t refute.
“Miss Kagami, young women are responsible for the rise and fall of the world! Do you not understand this truth?”
Lily blushed at that comment. Had she become a superficial woman for the sake of life and death and the purity of these sisters?
Although Lily couldn’t refute this statement, she always felt that something was wrong.
“Miss Kagami, tonight, we are going to attack the vengeful spirit of the Hashiki residence. Will you come with us?” Ijuin asked. Apparently, Lily had just joined the team and it was necessary to test her loyalty to the organization.
“Do you know what kind of vengeful spirit it is exactly?” Lily inquired.
At this time, Keiko’s sword miko sister, the female ninja named Kasuga, stepped forward and took out a paper scroll, “According to the bounty information sent to me from the upper levels of the Moon Shadow Clan, a man-eating evil spirit has recently appeared in the mansion of Lord Hashiki, the seventh junior supervisor in the imperial court. This evil spirit is very strange and only eats the servants in the manor, but never hurts the Lord. Lord Hashiki was very helpless and had no choice but to issue a bounty. This bounty was almost snatched up by the tsunaga sisters as soon as it came out, but fortunately, it was taken by the seniors of the Moon Shadow Clan with great difficulty.”
Lily listened and said, “So, the vengeful spirit in this Lord Hashiki’s residence can be considered evil. In that case, I agree to join this crusade!”
“Great!” Hearing that Lily would also participate, some of the timid and weaker sisters were relieved. Although many of them hailed from famous and powerful families, their family backgrounds were relatively weak. They only wanted to mix in the upper-circle of young ladies to prevent being looked down upon, so their hearts were not as radical as Ijuin’s. However, because of the herd mentality, they still reluctantly participated in crusades again and again.
While other young ladies were fighting to save the heavenly way, they were hiding at home embroidering, wouldn’t that be embarrassing?
“By the way, Miss Kasuga, what did you mean just now when you mentioned the tsunaga sisters?”
Kasuga replied, “The name of tsunaga sisters has only been spreading in the last few days. Nowadays, there are more and more groups of sisters consisting of sword mikos, jade maidens, and mirror girls. I heard that recently, the mirror girls found an ancient stone tablet at the foot of Izumo Mountain which referred to the combined force of the mirror girls, sword mikos, and jade maidens as the tsunaga sisters. This news spread and the sisters gradually began to use this as a newer and more suitable name.”
Ijuin clapped her hands, “Well, I also think that the name is good. Originally, we were the strongest sword mikos, but now that Miss Kagami is here, we can be called the tsunaga sisters!”
Lily smiled and nodded slightly.
It was a moonless night. The sky looked gloomy and stuffy as if it would rain at any time, and the dark clouds in the distant sky occasionally flashed with lightning.
Lily, Ijuin, Kasuga, and the others, which consisted of a group of more than thirty sisters, came outside the Hashiki manor.
“Do we need to bring so many people?” Lily asked.
“We must concentrate our strength and eliminate the evil spirits that are alone to minimize the casualties of the sisters.” Ijuin said.
Lily looked at Ijuin Reira’s petite body with a touch of emotion. Although these women were deluded by others, they really dared to sacrifice themselves for the sake of heaven. When Ijuin said such diligent words, Lily couldn’t help feeling a little sad.
Most of them were good girls at heart, but they were deceived by others. To deceive such good girls and send them to their deaths, the person behind the scenes was really hateful!
“Ijuin, don’t worry. As long as you stay with me, at least you’ll be safe.”
But what about the other tsunaga sisters who were fighting all over Heian-kyō to save the so-called heavenly way? What could she do about them?
The girls had already agreed with Hashiki that some of the sisters would be on guard outside to prevent the evil spirit from escaping. Meanwhile, the strongest group consisting of Ijuin and Lily entered the courtyard.
Lily would have preferred to use her domain to find the vengeful spirit and directly kill it herself, but she was feeling somewhat sentimental and felt that this battle belonged to them. Her mission was just to protect them2.
Everyone walked into the courtyard and the onmyojis began to cast arcane arts which constructed formations to detect eldritch energy. After a while, a dense concentration of eldritch energy was detected in the depths of the courtyard!
Everyone carefully approached and several female onmyoji began to scatter spell talismans in the courtyard which emitted strange buddhist scriptures, trying to force the evil spirit out.
Suddenly, a strong wave of resentment came from behind a rockery and a ghostly light flashed by. A female vengeful spirit wearing tattered clothes with a hideous face and pale white hair revealed herself. She howled, causing the souls of the ordinary sisters to tingle. The female vengeful spirit extended her claws and pounced towards a female onmyoji who was casting a spell
“So noisy! How dare you disturb me! Women, women are the most hateful things!” The female vengeful spirit grabbed at the onmyoji and her samurai sister rushed forward to protect her, only to be swatted away with a claw!
“Not good! This vengeful spirit is very strong— in the middle stage of Spirit Jade!” This was the highest limit of power that Ijuin could perceive. She rushed towards the vengeful spirit and slashed it from the side.
Pfft! The vengeful spirit flashed and flew away, retreating from Ijuin’s sword which also possessed evil-slaying power. However, this slash wounded the vengeful spirit and made her even madder!
“Women! Hateful women, you were born to frame me and won’t even spare me after my death!” The female vengeful spirit went into a frenzy, causing her power to soar as she attacked Ijuin frantically.
The strong claw winds tore Ijuin’s clothes into pieces.
“What a little b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲! Go to hell!” The vengeful spirit flicked away Ijuin’s sword with one claw and pierced towards her lower abdomen, aiming for the vitals of a female adept!
At that moment, Lily immediately struck.
Two ice blades appeared, one knocking away the vengeful spirit’s sharp claws and the other hitting her chest. The ice blades contained the power of the moon. Its ability to slay evil was extremely terrifying and it directly blew a hole in the vengeful spirit’s chest.
At the same time Lily unleashed her arcane arts, she darted over and lifted a foot. The ninth-grade wooden sandal infused with a touch of moonlight kicked the face of the vengeful spirit, sending her flying into the rockery and shattering it.
Although Lily was only in the mid Spirit Jade stage, just a causal strike from her severely injured this vengeful spirit. The vengeful spirit was no longer able to condense her body and it was only a matter of time until her soul scattered.
Knowing that she was about to die, the vengeful spirit stopped resisting and instead lay there trembling. She picked up the pieces of rockery and tried to reassemble it, though that was no longer possible.
“Lord Hashiki…Lord Hashiki… Woooooo…” Before the vengeful spirit faded, she actually cried sadly, “Why, Lord Hashiki, don’t you recognize Noriko? Do you still remember those nights under this rockery, your tryst with Noriko3…?”
