CHAPTER 22 – BLADE MAIDENS, DESPISED BY YOMI

“You saw me already?” Lily was shocked. Could it be that the Sakura Parasol was ineffective in the path to Yomi?

This was exactly what Lily was worried about. Although Sakura Parasol had great abilities, this was the path to Yomi, a realm between Yomi and Ashihara. She was no longer in her original world. Now, it seemed like Sakura Parasol couldn’t conceal her in this place.

With that, it would be even riskier for Lily to tread the path to Yomi. Still, Lily had also planned for this problem to occur.

The Yakshas were on alert. “Blade Maiden? Or…”

“I smell the stench of a female human! She… Is a female human!”

The Yakshas tossed the Blade Maiden soul aside and pointed their tridents at Lily. Both steel tridents emanated a bloodthirsty aura.

“Huhuhu, what a surprise. Legend has it that there’s a chance to meet a human female warrior on the path to Yomi. I can’t believe that’s actually true. We’re definitely lucky.”
“Tomaro, we’ll only earn chump change by transporting this Blade Maiden from half the world away. But this is a living breathing sexy female! That’s incredibly rare in our place. If we capture her and sell her, we won’t have to work for years!”
“Fine, Toban! We’ll capture her!”

Eldritch Energy instantly surged from both Yakshas and their muscles bulged up. The Blade Maiden that was chained up behind them was still dazed and confused.

“You want to catch and sell me? I am also in need of Anima.” Lily retracted Sakura Parasol and pulled out Yasutsuna, which glimmered in red Soul Patterns.

“What? She is also a Blade Maiden?”
“Hahahaha! A living Blade Maiden actually came to Yomi to die, all by herself! We’re so lucky! Fight!”

Both Yakshas suddenly moved. Their robust and strong bodies were incredibly quick. Despite being under such heavy gravity, they still appeared before Lily before the blink of an eye.

Both steel tridents arced with ominous electricity and stabbed towards her from both sides. Lily crouched instantly and dodged those attacks, while simultaneously slashing with her blade.

Crimson blade energy flashed, which pulsed like dancing petals.

Swish! A Yaksha had both his legs sliced off by Lily’s incredibly sharp blade.

“What?”

One Yaksha toppled onto the ground, while the other screeched and swung his trident towards her. Lily rolled away and dodged the attack.

Wham! The steel trident slammed on the ground and cracked the incredibly resilient rocky terrain. Gravel splashed everywhere.

Lily rolled behind the Yaksha and kicked out. Wham! Her slender legs stretched out and swept past the ground, her wooden clog actually created sparks as it did. She then suddenly stopped herself and swung again.

Despite being in an environment unsuited to using Purple Lunar Force, her slashing power at the strength of a pinnacle Throned Saint still cleaved open the second Yaksha’s robust back. Black blood and black smoke spewed out.

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“Agh!” The Yaksha howled.

Lily jumped up. With a somersault, she straddled the Yaksha’s with both legs and raised her Cursed Blade overhead. Stab! From up to down, the decisive stab entered the Yaksha’s neck and traveled deep into his chest.

Her Cursed Blade pierced his heart and completely destroyed his Spirit Sea!

With a jump, Lily leapt off the dead Yaksha.

On the other hand, the Yaksha without both legs held his steel trident as his legs were slowly regenerating. He slammed the ground with one hand which rebounded himself, and stabbed his trident towards Lily.

The trident carried a powerful pulse that came from the depths of Yomi!

Lily turned around and struck the trident with her sword.

Clang! Pushing the trident that arced with electricity to the side, Lily spun in a circle with sword in hand, turned around, and unleashed a wave of Lunar sword energy! With a swift motion, the Yaksha without both legs was amputated from waist down in mid-air.

Lily jumped up and closed the distance, her slender legs swung from above. With a bang, she slammed the Yaksha with half his torso left onto the ground.

Lily spun the sword and stabbed downwards, piercing into the Yaksha’s heart and Spirit Sea! It wasn’t easy, but neither was it too difficult. Lily had slain two pinnacle Throned Monarch Yakshas.

She realized that these Yakshas were physically stronger than any humans or humanoid beings living in the Heian Dynasty by quite a lot. Yet, they were still lacking when it came to battle instincts and weaponry. In a nutshell, they were still slightly weaker than the latter.

Before asking the bound Blade Maiden any questions, Lily absorbed their Anima first.

Then, she inspected their weapons. These tridents were incredibly tough but had little spiritual energy or intent. She estimated them to be poorly made weapons that were grade-nine or below.

In the Heian Dynasty, any weapons above grade-seven were exceedingly rare and expensive. None of them would be poorly-made items. Yet, there were actually poorly-made high-grade weapons in Yomi.

Including the ghost samurai that she killed just now. They also had poorly made grade-eight weapons. Of course, these weapons would still be more expensive than average grade-seven weapons.

However, the currency of the Heian Dynasty was now meaningless to her. Only Magatama had some value to her, mostly to summon her virtual projections. She no longer needed any Magatama in her training.

Lily continued checking. Both Yakshas had a dirty item storage sack. Despite being tattered, they contained a small house’s worth of storage space.

“These Yakshas are so poor.” Lily muttered.

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They had less than fifty Magatama in total. Some also contained dark attributes, and Yomi attributes. Although they were somewhat valuable, they weren’t much use to Lily.

In addition, each of them had dozens of copper-like coins that emanated a gloomy aura. They were much more unique and stronger when compared to typical copper coins. They were engraved with a horrifying demon figure and each of them had a different variation. With a glance, Lily noticed only a few of them had repeating figures.

“This… I suppose this is Yomi’s currency.”

Although Yomi currency was useless to Lily, this copper-like material was just too unique. Hence, Lily would naturally pocket them first. Generally speaking, she earned a lot less when compared to those Throned Monarch Archdemons in Ashihara.

“Perhaps these pinnacle Throned Monarchs have inferior positions in Yomi. That’s why they didn’t accumulate much wealth.” Lily assumed.

Turning around, she approached the Blade Maiden that was bound and tossed aside.

Lily’s blade flashed with two swift slash and destroyed all the spirit girl’s chains and cuffs. These chains seemed to have a unique power that could bind spiritual beings.

Despite being rescued, the girl’s eyes weren’t filled with joy. Instead, she seemed to be lost and helpless…

“Are you… Saving me? I should be thanking you, but… I’m already dead. You saved me from the Yakshas escorting me, but what’s the point?” The girl’s gaze was vacant.

“Even if I don’t save you, those demons won’t spare me. Of course, I never planned to spare them to begin with. You don’t have to thank me. I’m just a newcomer, and I have some questions.”

“I think you might have spent more time here than me. However, since we are of the same kin, I’ll tell you everything I know. I’m already dead, I don’t have to hide anything.” The girl seemed very depressed.

“As expected, you’re also a Blade Maiden. I’m Lily, from Heian-kyo. How about you?”

“Asuka Yasushi. Heian-kyo… Isn’t that the most beautiful capital city in Akitsu Shima1?”
“Akitsu Shima?”
“You people from the mainland have no clue about the places outside of it. The mainland, Akitsu Shima, is about 30,000 miles long, and is a vast piece of land that we call the mainland. I’ve lived all my life on an island called Iyo which is about 9000 miles long to the west of the mainland.”
“Iyo Island? I’m sorry, Miss Yasushi. I know Ashihara is formed by several mainlands and islands. But I’m not sure of their specific names and situation…”
“It’s normal. People in Akitsu Shima are like that.”

“Miss Yasushi, I… Frankly, I want to help you, but I don’t know what else I can do.” Lily said sorrowfully.

“Let me think… I was a warrior of the Asuka Tribe on Iyo Island. We were surrounded by demons when conquering Mount Shiso. My battle comrades abandoned me as they escaped and left me alone with the swarm of demons. In the end, I died from heavy injuries… After that, I don’t know what happened. When I regained consciousness, I realized I’m already dead. I couldn’t resist the summons from something deep within the ground and went inside, eventually coming here. I was then captured by Yakshas and was escorted to Yomi.” Yasushi said.

“Perhaps after everyone died, their souls would be escorted by such powerful demons?”

“I don’t know… I also died recently. But along the way, I heard the Yakshas say that mortal souls have a chance to be reincarnated after suffering torture in Yomi. Meanwhile, Blade Maidens will face the cruelest torture in the depths of Yomi that even the strongest soul would succumb to and eventually be destroyed.” Yasushi said.

“Why? Why does Yomi despise Blade Maidens so much?”

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Yasushi shook her head. “They kept torturing me along the way and beat me. Although I’m a soul, they still had methods that made me feel incredible pain. Why would they tell me the secrets of Yomi? They just want to scare me and make me suffer. I thought that I’ll have no need to be afraid of anything since I’m dead. But the pain and desperation that comes from the depth of my soul are so much more painful than anything I felt before!”

The spirit girl’s body trembled constantly, and became even paler. Lily couldn’t help but feel heartache.

“So, Miss Yasushi, what can I do for you?”

“Can you bring me back to life?” Yasushi stared at Lily with a gaze filled with desperation and irony.

Lily’s gaze was sorrowful. “I’m sorry, I… Can’t.”

“Then you can’t help me. But actually, you have already helped me. The torture along the way and knowledge of the fate we Blade Maidens face after dying have evoked great Resentment Energy within me. This is enough for me to resist the summons from Yomi towards deceased souls. Miss Lily, I think, if I’m lucky enough, I could follow the path and return to the surface. Although I can’t be resurrected, I’ll get to become a demon if I can find my Cursed Blade. Although that used to be what I despised the most, I’m still fondly attached to the world above. Better than disappearing forever in despair…”

References

Fun fact: The Nihon Shoki (Chronicle of Japan, compiled 720 AD) is a history of ancient Japan. It mentions dragonflies, which were called akitsu in those days. The Chronicle says that the first emperor, Jimmu Tenno, climbed a small mountain in Yamato (present-day Nara Prefecture), gazed down on the land he ruled, and said, “The shape of my country is like two akitsu mating.”
The Chronicle also describes an incident when the 21st emperor, Yuryaku Tenno, was hunting in an open plain in Yoshino (southern Nara Prefecture today). A horsefly landed on his arm and stung him. Just then, a dragonfly swooped down and took off with the horsefly. The emperor was so satisfied with this that he named the area Akitsu-no (Dragonfly Plain). The Chronicle says that these events gave Japan its old name, Akitsu Shima (The Dragonfly Isles).