/
Lily and the others fled deep into the mountains to the northeast just like that, without even stopping for a moment’s rest. Lily pulled Yukiko to make her run fast and after running for about half-a-day, she discovered that Yukiko’s stamina was pretty high. Contrarily, the first to run out of stamina turned out to be the youngest among them, Shiu.
Perhaps because their escape went pretty smoothly, neither Tokugawa nor any other pursuers came after them.
“We were able to escape just like that?” This smooth escape instead made Lily feel restless, but she too chalked it to probable good luck.
The place they had fled into was relatively north within the Heian Empire and had overcast weather with chilly winds blowing across the late-autumn woods, resulting in the rustles of withered leaves.
There were also showers of rain from time to time as well.
The four women found a cave within the mountain to hide from the rain.
Lily flung her wet hair back and gazed at the rain falling outside the cave, and the fresh rainy air that greeted her face made her close her eyes in delight.
Shiu started a bonfire within the cave and the burning pinewood branches gave rise to a balmy scent along with crackling noises.
“Come over and warm yourself by the fire, Sister Lily. It’s cold outside,” Shiu suggested.
“Oh… Yeah…” Lily didn’t wish to let Yukiko and Yumi know that the mirror in her possession could store items, which was why she hadn’t taken out the parasol until now.
The girls huddled around the bonfire and their clothes as well as hair dried down a bit gradually.
“We should’ve escaped from Tokugawa’s pursuit by now,” Lily stated, “Can we go look for the treasure now, Yumi?”
“Eh?” Shiu interjected, “Aren’t we going to return to our territory first?”
“There might be an information leak if we return to the territory now and Tokugawa might send people to monitor us, which will make it much more difficult for us to return to Kai Province. Also…” Lily didn’t finish her words. She didn’t want to wait any longer as she needed magatama urgently. Even if the treasure didn’t have magatama, it would bound to have a considerable amount of wealth, so she wanted to use some of that wealth to advance to the Spirit Jade Stage as soon as possible and embark on a journey to Kansai.
“The treasure…” Yumi stated, “Understood. Let’s rest in this cave tonight and set off towards the treasure’s location tomorrow.”
Yukiko looked at Yumi with slight astonishment as if she had something to say, but she refrained from doing so in the end.
Lily saw the two making signals with each other’s eyes and found it to be a little fishy, but she wasn’t afraid of Yumi and just reminded herself to be a bit more cautious as she had to undertake this danger in order to obtain the treasure even if she held doubts regarding it.
Night arrived, yet the rain and wind still blew with the same ferocity as before.
Lily made Shiu sleep on her inner side intentionally while she rested her back against the cave’s wall. Although her eyes were closed, Lily was able to keep up her spirit perception even when she was asleep. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been possible for Lily to adventure outside so many times as even practitioners needed sleep and rest.
However, Lily entered a deep state of sleep again on this night…
Lily saw the woman donned in erotic and immodest garments perform a noble and solemn dance within the darkness again.
But there weren’t any demons around her this time.
“Who are you, Big Sis…” Lily tried to ask, but the tall and mature woman didn’t answer her and simply didn’t even seem to notice Lily’s existence.
A cloud of black mist rose from the ground suddenly and just like an octopus’ tentacles that had come to life, the black mist coiled around the woman’s fair feet and traveled upwards, binding her entire body and hoisting her up in the sky1.
It seemed that the woman loathed these tentacles very much but unlike ordinary women, this woman showed exceptional fortitude and resisted them unceasingly with her slender and powerful limbs albeit wearing a dejected expression. Her entire body became drenched in sweet-smelling sweat moments later, and this womanly sweat seemed to excite those misty tentacles even further, making them hoist the woman higher and higher with even more intense and wilder movements.
“B̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲s̲! You disgusting demons! Release me, I say, release me! Don’t let me find your source, or else you’ll never come out unscathed!” The woman claimed in a low voice while resisting with grave and righteous words.
However, besides the noble and awe-inspiring aura, the woman didn’t seem to possess any substantive battle strength in this black dream and could only put up a pointless struggle.
The tentacles even curved around her overly bountiful breasts and coiled around her slim and long neck.
“Argh! B̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲s̲! Perverts! Release me! I say, release me!” The woman’s face flushed up uncontrollably, but she still wore a solemn expression and resisted righteously with her brows furrowed, biting her lower lips to endure the humiliation.
A deep yet piercing voice that sounded both like a man’s and a woman’s echoed in the darkness suddenly, “Tell us! What is the Mirror Girl’s mission?! What is it?!”
“Tell us!”
“What’s the Mirror Girl’s secret?!”
A few tentacles even slithered towards the mature beauty’s lips with the intention of humiliating this seemingly noble and indomitable woman as if there was only value in subjugating this staunch woman little by little.
“Don’t you think mghf—!”
The moment the woman was about to retort back, a black tentacle invaded her mouth suddenly!
“Argh!” Lily woke up with a start and, sweating all over.
It’s that dream again.
I fell into a deep sleep and experienced that mature and staunch woman’s dream again!
Lily tried to get up at this moment, but she discovered that she was unable to move at all.
Only then did Lily discover that her limbs were actually tied up. Lily tried to break free using her spirit power immediately, but she was astonished to discover that she couldn’t2!
“You don’t have to struggle so much, Mirror Girl,” a slightly malicious voice reached Lily’s ears and in the next moment, Yumi sashayed in front of Lily, “You are bound with the spider silk rope of the dead Genja. Even you can’t break free from it.”
Lily came to a sudden realization and looked aside, discovering a bound and muffled Shiu looking at Yumi with a hurt expression.
“Hmph!” Lily sneered, “As expected. I kept wondering why a woman like you chose to cooperate with me. So, it was a scheme of yours and Tokugawa?”
“Hmph! You’ve got it half-correct, Mirror Girl. You really did fall for a scheme, but it’s mine alone and unrelated to Tokugawa.”
Yumi slouched down and approached Lily, “Actually, not everything I said were lies as the truth was mixed within the lies, if not, how would a crafty woman like you take the bait? It’s true that I wanted to rescue my sister with your help, but my plan was to incapacitate you while we look for the treasure after she’s rescued and then offer you to Lady Haihime in exchange for a pardon! I’ll definitely be able to regain Lady Haihime’s trust if I offer you to her and also be able to ensure my sister’s safety. I’ll be killing two birds with a single stone like this, isn’t that so? Hehehe.”
“Hmph! I knew it was impossible for a woman like you to actually turn over a new leaf!” Lily retorted unyieldingly.
“Slap!” but what welcomed her was a slap from Yumi.
“Stop it, Yumi!” Yukiko, who sat to the side, stated in a baffled tone, “Just what are you planning to do, little sister? Miss Lily helped rescue me in spite of the danger, so why are you treating her like this?”
“I’m doing all this for you, Sis! Even if Lily really keeps her promise, would she really be able to protect us from the combined pursuit of the Hundred Demons and Tokugawa? She just agreed to help me in exchange for the treasure, so who knows whether she would really protect us with her all after obtaining the treasure. You’ve changed, Sis, and become someone who depends on others. However, if you want to survive without getting betrayed in this world, you can only rely on yourself, got it?”
“Yumi…” Yukiko shook her head in a sad and pained manner.
Shiu shed tears of grief and tried to say something, but the words wouldn’t leave her mouth.
Her eyes were full of disbelief and perplexment about why her childhood idol had become someone like this.
“Yumi!” Lily stated in fury, “You despicable b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲! How dare you use Shiu’s naivety to deceive me?! I will never forgive you for this!3”
“Hehe. I plan to offer you to the Hundred Demons. Do you think your forgiveness matters to me? However, I do have to admit that you are quite an amazing woman, Kagami Lily. Your talent and advancement speed make even me terrified, but unfortunately, your legend shall come to a stop here. Also, it’s not like you’re an idiot, right? If it weren’t for Shiu and the risk of losing my chastity, as well as letting you look at that place of mine that I’ve never shown to anyone in spite of the shame, you wouldn’t have believed me that easily, right?” Yumi smiled proudly.
“W̲h̲o̲r̲e̲!” Lily cursed out bluntly.
“W-What?!” Yumi’s face flushed up, “W-Why do you call me a w̲h̲o̲r̲e̲?!”
“Hmph! As someone who offered their chastity to achieve their purpose shamelessly, what are you if not a w̲h̲o̲r̲e̲?” Lily smirked.
“Shut up!” Yumi grabbed Lily’s hair and brought her katana forward, revealing a wicked smile while pushing its handle against Lily’s lips.
“Hmph! Let’s see who’s the filthy w̲h̲o̲r̲e̲ here, then!”
Yumi forced Lily to breathe using her mouth by pinching her nose and pushed the handle inside Lily’s mouth immediately.
“Mgfh!” Shiu struggled forlornly but she was powerless in this situation.
“Hehehehe! What an immodest expression you have right now, Kagami Lily, and you dare call me out of being immodest! Mhm, a chaste girl would never do what you are doing!”
Yumi shoved the handle of her katana in and out of Lily’s mouth forcefully, making Lily receive it in anguish, the drool overflowing from her mouth depicting a poignant and unbearable scene.
“Stop it, Yumi… even if you plan to offer her to the Hundred Demons, there’s no need to humiliate her like this, right? After all, she helped us!” Yukiko was unable to take it any longer and tried to persuade her sister, “Also, why are you calling her ‘Mirror Girl’? Is she really from that ill-fated clan?”
Yumi pulled the wet handle out from Lily’s mouth and turned Lily’s head towards her sister, “Yes. She’s the Mirror Girl, the real one, a woman the Hundred Demons wish to eliminate at all costs.”
Lily gasped for breaths, unable to prevent her translucent saliva from dripping on the katana’s handle and turned her head away in shame.
“What should I do now?” Although Lily felt feverish all over, her mind was still pretty composed. Yumi’s unreliableness was actually already within her expectations and she was at least half-assured that Yumi was lying to her. She wasn’t afraid of Yumi playing any tricks on her initially as she had confidence in her strength and vigilance initially, but she never expected to enter deep sleep and experience that mature sister’s nightmare again… leading to Yumi tying her up while she was completely unconscious.
Thus, her only choice was to use the escape arts to shed the bindings, and she had to do it without Yumi noticing it, which would take time. Fortunately, Yumi hadn’t conspired with Tokugawa, so she would have to make a long journey to the Land of Hundred Demons while taking Lily along, which would inevitably provide Lily with an opportunity to shed the bindings.