Demon Sword Maiden

CHAPTER 24 – LORD OF MOUNT HIEI

“You should already know, why bother ask?” Lily coldy responded.

The demonic monk stood up, his height reaching six meters. Each step he took seemed to shake the ground. He picked up his heavy staff and lifted it in front of him, completely blocking the entire road.

“Ehehe, though I have such a big head, my brain isn’t that good. If you said you weren’t, perhaps I would have let you go?” That big demonic monk had a deep low voice.

“I don’t remember knowing a foolish guy like you. Speak, who is your master and why have you come looking for me?” Facing such a big powerful demonic monk of the mid-late stage throned sovereign stage, she did not fear, but remained vigilant. Such a powerful monster had made a special trip to await her in holy lands controlled by the royal family, then he must’ve known her whereabouts. The ones who could know that information must be a high-ranking human, it would not be this strong demonic monk in front of her.

“Clever, what a smart little girl. I shall speak then, I am the lord of Mount Hiei, my master is his highness, Lord Shuten Doji. As per his orders, I invite you to Mount Ooe to talk with my master. As you should know, Lord Shuten Doji’s invitation is something no woman can refuse. Kagami Lily, after you.”

Hearing that name, Lily felt a chill run down her spine. She had originally thought this demon was someone sent by a colluding random force, but to think he was one of Shuten Doji’s subordinates.

No wonder a throned sovereign arch-demon was dispatched so fast, among humans, she was probably the only one to receive such treatment.

Lily had fought in the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons and met Shuten Doji. Back then she was weak and had survived by the skin of her teeth, but she had still risked it all to steal Shuten’s Blood Spirit Magatama…though Shuten should not know of this.

Then why did Shuten send such an arch-demon to deal with her? And on top of that, it didn’t sound like the mission was to kill her, but to capture her alive?

She felt that this was perhaps an advantage if Shuten did not desire her death for the time being.

After seriously considering, she answered lightly, “I refuse.” Of course, what she was considering was not whether to surrender or not.

“What?” The lord of Mount Hiei’s small golden eyes glowed with terrifying light, “I thought you were a smart girl, but to think you’re stupider than me! Fine, then I can only insist on your attendance!”

The powerful energy of a throned sovereign erupted from him and the mountains and forests trembled as his big hand swung his heavy staff at Lily!

Lily turned into a crimson afterimage as she evaded the blow, the powerful aftershock blew her long skirt and hair.

“Hahaha, good movements!” Lifting his heavy stick, he smashed it towards her again.

“Boom——!!!” A deep crater was smashed into the ground as Lily evaded to the side before jumping into a tree.

“If I just consider physical strength, this lord of Mount Hiei is superior to that of Yaiba, but he’s not as ferocious.” Lily observed the powerful demonic monk and thought, “If I don’t use my violet lunar energy then I won’t be able to match him, but I’ve only recovered a third of my violet lunar energy. Even if I use it all, I may not be able to kill him, and that would expose my secret.”

“And, this road is towards the main peak of Izumo Mountain, who knows what other dangers await me. I cannot waste my violet lunar energy here.”

Lily suddenly hollered out, “To think that Fujiwara no Renbo would collude with demons!”

“Fujiwara no Renbo? What are you talking about? I don’t know, all I know is that I need to capture the beauty and take her back alive, as much as possible…ehehehe.”

“……” Lily had thought to test out the waters, but looking at the reaction of this blockhead demonic monk, it didn’t seem like he knew anything. She couldn’t tell if the Fujiwaras were in collusion with Shuten Doji.

“Could it be that it wasn’t the Fujiwaras who leaked my location?”

“No, it must be them. Right now, not only am I their greatest enemy, I’m also the one who killed Fujiwara no Renbo’s son, vassals and ruined their plans. They must hate me the most and only they have the motivation and ability to locate me. As for the royal family, that cloistered emperor looks like he has some plan for me, though disturbing, it’s not enough to murder me…as for the emperor, it’s even more impossible. I never imagined that the Fujiwaras would collude with Shuten Doji, there must be some demons or humans in the middle making this collusion possible. I must report to Lady Ayaka as soon as possible!”

“But, why would Shuten Doji be willing to be used by the Fujiwaras? Is it…to deal with Lady Ayaka?”

Suddenly Lily understood, those scumbag leeches were willing to collude with demons for some benefits! No wonder the Heian-dynasty had fallen to this point!

Though she was angry, she remained calm and rational. A dynasty corrupted from within could not be saved by the efforts of one person! Why could Lady Ayaka not understand that?

“I just want to rescue Senior Rinne as fast as possible, and only desire the safety of my sisters. As for anything else, even if I am hated, there is nothing I can do.”

Lily surged her domain, Sakura Blizzard!

Her Sakura Blizzard supported by Unmelted Snow could hurt the lord of Mount Hiei, but not suppress him.

But looking at that block-headed appearance, he shouldn’t be proficient in domains.

“Little girl, are you trying to suppress me with a domain? In front of my overwhelming power, that’s all useless!”

Grabbing his rosary beads he flung them at Lily, each black brown bead was hard, and as heavy as a boulder.

With the interference of her domain, Lily easily evaded the rosary beads, but after smashing the tree to pieces they turned and once again flew at Lily.

Only then did Lily realize that the lord of Mount Hiei was a demonic monk and not some simple muscle blockhead. He probably had many different arcane artes, if she wasn’t careful, she could eat a loss!

She could not kill such a thick skinned, mid-late stage throned sovereign demonic monk with tricky arcane artes and treasures. It was meaningless to fight. Escape!

With a shout, she sent out three sakura-clad moons flying at the lord of Mount Hiei. Each strike containing the power of a middle-staged throned sovereign.

Waving his heavy stick, the lord of Mount Hiei batted the blows aside. Boom! Boom! Boom!

Taking advantage of the violent collision of spirit power, Lily ran sideways on the ancient trees, jumping from tree to tree bypassing the lord of Mount Hiei in an arc path and ran off without looking back and ran at her fastest speed towards the inner regions of Mount Izumo!

“What?” By the time the lord of Mount Hiei reacted, Lily had already run far away. He had never imagined that Lily would just up and run like that, such actions were very rare among the samurai of Heian-kyo.

Samurais were warriors who would prefer to fail and fall than run away!

And as far as the lord of Mount Hiei knew of Lily’s previous battles, there was no instance of escaping before.

“You bitch! Don’t run!”

Shuten Doji knew that Kagami Lily was very likely the woman who killed Yaiba of the Yamato’s Eight Legion. He sent out the lord of Mount Hiei who was of equal strength and provided him with plenty of treasures to deal with her.

But Lily had fled without hesitation before a single treasure could be activated!

The lord of Mount Hiei chased after her, but he was too big, too heavy, his speed was hampered by Lily’s domain, and he had a late start, it was impossible to catch up!

The lord of Mount Hiei furiously chased for ten miles, creating a path of destroyed ancient trees and rocks before finally giving up. Lily had long escaped without trace.

“I’ve never seen a samurai flee the moment a battle starts! Kagami Lily, so shameless1! So brazen!” He stomped his feet in anger!

Lily kept running until she couldn’t feel the lord of Mount Hiei within the far reaches of her domain. Looks like he had given up chasing, afterall he couldn’t catch her.

Though she had escaped, she kept her vigilance. She didn’t fear the lord of Mount Hiei, but she was worried about Shuten Doji. That was an ancient existence, one equal to Tamamo-no-Mae as a member of the three great Arch-demons.

She had intercepted sister Ayaka’s scroll and destroyed a conspiracy, but she had ended up a target of Shuten Doji, but she didn’t regret it. If she was asked what she would do if she could redo it, her answer would be the same.

To protect her sisters, she was willing to risk any danger, whatever was necessary, she would do it!

Taking deep breaths, her collar was open and her chest was covered in fragrant sweat, “A randomly dispatched demon was so powerful, Shuten Doji’s power and means must be unimaginable. It’s far too early for me to oppose such an enemy. I must take all precautions!”

After confirming the lord of Mount Hiei was no longer chasing, she pulled out a map and confirmed her location, but it was night and fog was covering everything. Even after climbing the treetops, the mountains weren’t visible. It was impossible to determine her location.

“This is bad, am I lost?”

She had run too fast and hastily. Even though her opponent was slower, she still had to run as fast as possible to escape him.

Calming herself, she started sensing the surroundings. All she could feel was that the surrounding forests and mountains were strange, and the mist covering everything seemed to emit random bursts of killing intent.

“Where am I? And where’s this killing intent coming from?”

Her map didn’t show much of the inner regions of Mount Izumo, she had no idea where she was now.

“Either way, reaching the main peak won’t be a journey of a single day. I should contact Lady Ayaka first and report the movements of those Fujiwaras.”

After inserting spirit energy into the sound transmission bead, Lady Ayaka answered immediately.

“Li…Lily…?” The transmission was jumbled, though Ayaka’s voice had breaks, her concern was there, and Ayaka’s image was blurred, flashing and disappearing from time to time.

It was as if there was some energy in Mount Izumo hindering the ability of the sound transmission bead.

“Lady Ayaka, it’s me, can you hear me?” Lily shouted into the bead, Ayaka’s voice was stuttering and insatiable, but hearing that magnetic and beautiful voice of sister Ayaka made her feel warm and at ease2.

Robinxen: She’s shameless but for a different reason than this. Robinxen: For now.