Lily got up. At this point, she couldn’t care less about anybody’s face. There had to be something wrong with this secret method. It was better to wrongly accuse Master Tsubiro than to take any more risks!
She needed to get out of here first.
At this time, Lily’s purple lunar force was still relatively abundant and her strength had basically recovered. Those few disciples just now wouldn’t be able to stop her.
However, just as Lily got out of bed, a tall figure at the entrance of the cave blocked almost the entire exit.
Tsubiro stood outside the entrance.
“Lily.” He had a cold expression and his voice was low.
Lily was startled. Although she had regained her senses at this time, she swayed upon seeing Tsubiro and used her hands to support her body on the bed. She gently brushed aside her hair, her eyes a little lost, “Master…”
Lily’s voice sounded like she was in a daze.
This place was narrow and her opponent was extremely strong. If he blocked the entrance of the cave, she would be in an extremely disadvantageous position.
Lily made a decision the moment Tsubiro appeared, which was to make sure that the other party didn’t know she had regained her senses.
“Lily, how’s your progress on the celestial power conversion method?”
“Master, your disciple…has already practiced everything, but this dizziness symptom still hasn’t gotten any better.” Lily replied.
“That’s okay, come with me. It’s time to teach you celestial arts and also help you to heal this incessant dizziness.”
Tsubiro’s words were obviously a bit strange. He had never said that he could cure this dizziness before. Lily guessed that he assumed she would obey his instructions no matter what he said.
At present, his motives were unknown.
It couldn’t be completely ruled out that Tsubiro was genuinely trying to teach her celestial arts.
“Yes, Master.” Lily continued to feign obedience and followed behind Tsubiro.
Tsubiro didn’t look back at Lily as he led her through the dark cave.
Lily walked slower and slower, eventually leaning against the wall for a bit while touching her forehead, “Master, I feel like the world is spinning.”
“Hold on, you’ll be fine when you get there.” Tsubiro said.
“Ah…hmm.” Lily followed after him with great difficulty, swaying and wobbling as if she could fall down at any time1. She moved very slowly, making it seem very difficult for her to catch up.
Tsubiro, who was walking in front, turned to assess Lily’s condition as she followed him. He couldn’t help but turn his face away to hide the sneer that appeared on his thick face. To him, it seemed that Lily had really completely practiced the method he gave her and even became so obedient to him.
As for Lily who was walking behind, she continued her performance and thought to herself, If this secret method is really a technique to convert celestial power, why hasn’t Master tested the level of my strength yet?
Was it because this secret method couldn’t convert celestial power in the first place, so he didn’t even bother to try? Or maybe, Tsubiro himself hadn’t practiced this secret method, so he couldn’t test it?!
The two gradually entered the depths of the cave and came to a cavern illuminated with magic lights. In this cavern, there was a large formation, and three skinny old men wearing clothes similar to Tsubiro’s stood around it.
The large formation was inscribed with ancient jōmon patterns, which Lily naturally couldn’t understand at all, but she felt that this formation exuded an evil aura.
“Go on, Lily, stand on that large formation. I want to first see how much celestial power you have.” Tsubiro turned around and said.
Why was such a large formation needed to measure the amount of celestial power one had, not to mention needing three old men with decent strength to operate it? Did they really take Lily for a fool?
“Master…Lily feels a little nervous seeing such a large formation. Is this really used to measure celestial power?” Lily covered her mouth and said, her head lowered.
“Yes, of course. Lily, hurry up and stand in the middle of the formation.” Tsubiro ordered. The three old men around him also showed grim expressions, waiting for Lily to enter the large formation.
Lily staggered to the edge of the large formation and put one foot in. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a kind of twisted excitement on the faces of the old men around her.
So Lily gently drew back her foot, “Master, Lily doesn’t want to shame you and trouble these few esteemed immortals to measure my power. May I ask Master to please demonstrate how to use this large formation to detect celestial power?”
“As long as you stand inside, I will teach you. Lily, you don’t have to worry.” Tsubiro stood on the other side of the large formation, his breathing obviously a little rushed.
“Master, Lily has never seen you use celestial power. Can’t you open the eyes of your disciple?” Lily asked, pretending to be delicate.
“Lily, when we finish checking your celestial power, your master will first treat your dizziness, and then, there will be plenty of chances to demonstrate it to you. Be obedient and stand in the middle over there.” Tsubiro’s usually calm voice seemed a little impatient.
Lily suddenly swayed and took two steps back, “I, I’m a little tired. How about we resume the test tomorrow?”
“No! Test it now! Lily, aren’t you going to obey my orders anymore? Walk into the large formation right now!” Tsubiro’s voice was thunderous and carried a coercive pressure that, even though she was sober, gave Lily a hard time resisting. If it had been before, she would have definitely obeyed his orders.
Lily, however, still seemed to be hesitating at the edge of the large formation.
“Kagami Lily, hurry up! Why won’t you listen to my orders?” Tsubiro scolded again.
“Master, Lily is…really, really not feeling well today. It’d be better to test it another day…” Lily said as if the world was spinning, walking unsteadily towards the entrance of the cave.
When she reached the entrance of the cave, an invisible barrier suddenly hit her forehead.
With a delicate cry, Lily was knocked back and fell to the ground.
“Master? What…what does this mean?” Lily weakly raised her head, using her arms to lift herself off the ground. She revealed a bewildered expression as she asked.
“Hehehehehehehe…”
“Kekekekekekekeke…”
“Hahahahahaha…”
There were peals of laughter all around Lily.
“Master, this woman is no longer cooperative. Don’t mind her; let’s get started!” An old man said.
“Come in, men!”
Two male disciples walked in.
Tsubiro immediately ordered, “Drag her into the formation.”
The two male disciples, one on each side, grabbed Lily’s arms and pulled her seemingly soft and weak body towards the large formation.
Just then—
Lily suddenly flung her long sleeves2, “Get lost!”
A strong force threw a male disciple directly into the large formation!
The large formation suddenly radiated light, and dozens of bizarre ghostly hands of different shapes and sizes stretched out from the ancient jōmon patterns, grabbing the male disciple!
The ghostly hands seemed to possess enough power to imprison a Throne Stage powerhouse, much less a male disciple no stronger than the Spirit Jade stage. His hands, feet, and body were immediately grabbed by those ghostly hands.
The male disciple howled under the siege of ghostly hands as the terrifying spiritual energy they contained invaded his body, causing him to twitch a few times before remaining still.
“What?!” The other male disciple was frightened when he saw this scene. He subconsciously let go of Lily and stumbled to the ground before attempting to escape.
Pffft! An old man released a spirit arrow that shot through the disciple, sending him sprawling on the ground near the entrance.
“Master? What’s going on here?” Lily fell to the ground, looking terrified.
“Hmph, Kagami Lily, if you were obedient, your two innocent brothers wouldn’t have died and you would have suffered less!” Tsubiro’s thick face suddenly showed a fierce expression as he said.
“Master, what are you talking about? Lily doesn’t understand.”
“Shut up, b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲! Who is your master!” Tsubiro suddenly revealed his true nature. His eyes were wide open like that of a ferocious evil spirit and his long, curly, silver hair and beard were blown about because of the rising spiritual energy.
“Do you really think that this is a good place that teaches celestial arts for no reason? Hahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahaha! Actually, if you had only passed the red ghost face’s test or your qualifications were a little worse, you might have been fine! After all, a dignified person like me doesn’t want to take a woman’s body!” Tsubiro shouted, his voice sounding as reckless and rampant as thunder.
“What??! Take my body?” Lily was startled and covered her chest subconsciously.
“Hahahahaha! How hopeless! In hundreds of years, you are the most qualified youth I’ve met, even better than those other good candidates! I am approaching the end of my life, and if I continue to practice like this, I am afraid that there will be no hope of breaking through to the Big Dipper Stage. Then, I’ll only have less than ten years to live! Unless—” Tsubiro looked at Lily’s body with longing eyes, “Unless, I can get your body which possesses a talent far beyond that of ordinary people! Moreover, with such a young body, I will be able to extend my life by hundreds of years! Not to mention the possibility of reaching the Big Dipper Stage and ascending to Takamahagara! You, Kagami Lily, are a gift from heaven to me! Although I am extremely reluctant to use a woman’s body, it doesn’t matter as long as I can reach the Big Dipper Stage and obtain great power. At that time, anything is possible!”
Hearing this, Lily’s pupils constricted, “What are you saying? Master…you, you actually want to take my body? Then, what about me?”
“You? Who cares about you, you stupid woman?! Do you really think this grandpa is immortal? S̲h̲i̲t̲! Would an immortal be afraid of death? Would an immortal still have a limit? Although I can be considered a near invincible existence that stands on top of the world, I am still leagues away from immortals! You greedy, short-sighted woman, in order to learn celestial arts, you actually believed my words and foolishly practiced that technique. A stupid woman like you deserves to be seized by me. Let me tell you, that technique isn’t some immortal conversion method, but a way to prepare your body before I can seize it!”
Tsubiro looked at Lily like a greedy demon and said, “It’s preparation! Hahahahaha! Because this technique cannot be forced upon people to practice and would only be effective if practiced voluntarily, I deliberately set up such a ruse! Otherwise, after I measured your aptitude, I would have subdued you immediately and forcibly taken your body! Unfortunately, that is impossible. This seizing secret method that I practice has prerequisites. As for what happens to you, I’m too lazy to answer such a stupid question. Kagami Lily, what will happen to you if I take your body? How can I control your body without destroying your soul consciousness first?! Stupid woman3! Hahahahahahahahahaha!”
