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Shimizu wasn’t overly sentimental like Lily. She was aware that the ancient spirits wouldn’t be able to hold Tamurakonoe for long. If she wallowed in pity and hesitation for the spirits, their sacrifices would only be in vain.
She endured the pain in her leg and sprinted with all her might, following the trail of fluctuations that urged her forwards.
Who am I? It doesn’t matter whose descendant I am. I just want to escape this place and find Sister Lily!
Shimizu hardened her heart and unleashed her black resentment, instantly doubling her speed.
After rushing through a curtain of fog, she found an ancient road paved with intermittent rocks. Although the abandoned road was long eroded and overgrown with weeds, it still provided sufficient foothold to further accelerate her speed.
“I can’t be caught! I absolutely can’t be caught again!” Shimizu didn’t fear death at all, but the thought of never seeing Lily again constantly haunted her mind.
The deeper she went into the mountains, the colder it became, but for some reason, the frigid air turned mild when she inhaled— no longer chilling her soul. It transformed into a slightly warm current that culminated in her lower abdomen and invigorated her spirit jade. Soon enough, Shimizu’s leg no longer hurt as she ran.
Suddenly, she sprung into the air and burst through the drifting mist, causing her sleeves to flutter as she rapidly descended the narrow hillside. After landing on the ground, she came to a wide and broken ancient road. Stone pillars lined either side of the rocky road, and incomprehensible words and symbols were engraved on their surfaces.
Many of the stone pillars were cracked and broken, but some were relatively intact. Ambiguous female statues also crowned the tops of the remaining upright pillars. The style exhibited a simple but vibrant artistic concept that reflected the rustic piety of the ancient people.
However, Shimizu had no time to appreciate these subtle details. Using her newly revitalized energy, she ran along the stone pavement until she saw a cave up ahead. The cave’s rocky entrance was matched with a triangular stone gate that seemed to invite her inside.
The artificially slotted cave looked like the tomb of some ancient king or a venerated person of an ancient civilization.
So is the holy land a tomb?
Regardless of this, Shimizu clung to the ancient spirit’s words that assured her safety in the holy land. The spirits had existed for thousands of years and surely possessed their own bizarre methods that could guarantee her protection. She showed no hesitation in rushing through the entrance of the tomb.
A gloomy and desolate wind blew from the depths of the tomb, but Shimizu didn’t experience any cold.
The surrounding dark energy bored into her pores and strengthened her body which was comparatively weaker than Uesugi Rei and Lily’s.
While walking through the rocky passage of the cold tomb, Shimizu started sweating.
“Uh, what’s going on?”
Usually, it was rare for her body to sweat as she had less stamina and a lower recovery rate than Lily. However, she could feel the cold dark energy gradually nourishing her body and improving her health. Although it was a slow and subtle process, the prospective benefits were considerable.
The fluctuations grew increasingly stronger as Shimizu traversed the dark tunnel, and from time to time, transparent spiritual figures would emerge from the walls. These figures were tall and well-dressed, looking similar to the ancient spirits she met before. One by one, they turned to look at her with kind eyes as if greeting a junior.
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In response, Shimizu slowed her pace and adopted a steady and respectful demeanor. She didn’t want to act rudely or disturb the ancient souls resting in the tomb.
After a while of walking, an open square hall appeared before her. The hall was surrounded by stone pillars resembling the ones outside and the ancient sculptures of men and women adorned their tops.
On the rectangular hall floor, paintings of ancient totems decorated the path that led up to a huge stone lock made of dark green jade. The stone lock measured more than ten meters high and didn’t seem to blend in with the surrounding hall. Residual golden light from an unknown source shone from the ceiling of the crumbling tomb and illuminated the dark green stone lock.
The stone lock seemed to have been transported here from some other place, but it was hard to imagine someone who could move such a large and heavy object. The pedestal supporting the lock was broken, and the cube-like heavy stone lock was titled and slightly buried in the debris. Despite this, the stone lock itself was still intact and entailed an aura of vicissitude.
“That’s the source. The fluctuations that summoned me here were emitted from this stone lock!”
Shimizu stepped into the hall and came under the huge stone lock. Every side of its surface was engraved with ancient characters.
Shimizu studied the ancient characters that exuded heavy pressure but couldn’t comprehend their meaning.
She looked around some more before gazing at the golden afterglow at the top…
The bit of light that touched her skin felt unusually cold and contained a turbulent sadness that assaulted her consciousness like a golden wave.
The whole hall trembled.
The words on the huge emerald-like stone lock radiated with a golden light one after the other, directly reflecting the true meaning of their intents into Shimizu’s soul!
“What—?!”
The ordinarily calm Shimizu couldn’t help trembling at this time.
“This…this…this…”
Shimizu’s eyes sparkled with unbridled golden light as if she was plunged into an ancient golden baptism. She had never been so shocked!
The golden words carried hints of a great ancient memory and were successively imprinted onto her soul, leaving no room for doubts in her heart!
“All this…could it really be true?”
Shimizu wasn’t sure when the golden hue dissipated, but her eyes remained dazed and sluggish.
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“Why? Why is it like this?!”
Shimizu knelt down with a resounding ‘puff’, her hands supporting her drooping figure from the floor. Her dark blue hair fell and coiled on the ground, and her hollow eyes reflected a lost mind clouded with excess information.
“Sis Lily…” Shimizu continued to kneel on the ground, her ample bosom undulating in rhythm to her tender breaths that echoed in the hard and cold tomb…
At this time, Tamurakonoe finally found the stone road leading to the conspicuous tomb. Since Shimizu ran away, he had to scour the forest for traces left behind by her footprints. Although he encountered many attacks from ancient spirits along the way, they could only serve to delay his arrival.
Tamurakonoe stood in front of the ancient tomb and hesitated on whether to enter or not. His spirit probes were proved ineffective once again so he could only try and step inside. However, just as he did, an icy wind battered against his body.
“Ah—!” Tamurakonoe clutched his chest, feeling his spiritual energy being eaten away by the cold. The overbearing pain prevented him from stepping even a single foot inside the tomb.
He hurriedly scrambled backward, his forehead covered in sweat.
“Horrible! Whose tomb is this? Even with my current strength, my soul will wither and die just by taking ten steps inside! How terrifying.”
Tamurakonoe retreated a few steps before falling to his knees and kowtowing towards the ancient tomb.
“This humble one, Sakanoue no Tamurakonoe, requests for senior’s pardon for mistakenly intruding upon your tomb. Please don’t find fault with me, senior; I’ll leave immediately.”
Whoosh—!
A cold gust of wind blasted through the mouth of the cave and ruffled Tamurakonoe’s hair and clothes, almost causing him to lose balance.
The strong wind soon dispersed, leaving him with a disheveled appearance. He quickly got up and left without looking back.
Whether or not Shimizu entered the tomb, Tamurakonoe dared not concern himself with it any longer. He bore no hatred with Shimizu, and just now, that great existence that must’ve died ages ago suppressed him with only a single gust of wind, nearly injuring his soul. If Shimizu really managed to enter the tomb, that meant that the great existence approved of her presence. Attempting an ambush on her would be tantamount to provoking death.
Before leaving this island, Tamurakonoe could no longer provoke or attack Shimizu as there was no benefit in such an endeavor and the risk was high.
“I still don’t understand why those ancient spirits blocked me but not her. What kind of secret does that woman have? Forget it, it has nothing to do with me anyway. If anything, I’ll think about it when I get out of here.”
Tamurakonoe was a person who had seen the world and accumulated his fair share of experiences. He understood that there were some entities in ancient ruins that one shouldn’t provoke, otherwise nine lives wouldn’t be enough to survive. Even if the tomb contained precious treasures, such power wasn’t something he could contend against. He no longer lingered and decisively left.
That night, in the cave where Lily was, the bonfire crackled and burned away the surrounding darkness.
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“Ah, it’s getting hot,” Ui who was sitting at the side suddenly said, “Are you hot?”
“Even if it’s hot, what can I do? I’m a captive right now so why should I care about such things?”
Ui looked over at Lily, only to see rills of sweat meandering her neck and chest area.
She swallowed involuntarily and walked over, casting a shadow over Lily who sat against the wall with her hands tied behind her back.
Ui’s chest heaved up and down as she retrieved the bamboo tube containing water from her waist, “Want a drink?”
“Why are you being so kind? You don’t really want to quench my thirst, do you?” Lily eyed Ui with a suspicious look.
“Hmph, if you want to drink it, act respectful and obedient!” Ui poured the water from the bamboo tube a little ways off from Lily’s mouth, causing it to spill onto her bare chest. The water splashed against her chest in a spectacular crystal clear hemisphere before flowing down her cleavage.
Lily wouldn’t stretch her neck to drink like some lowly servant so she didn’t move.
“You’re not drinking? What a waste.” Ui dawned a reproachful smile. She lowered her body while gripping Lily’s shoulders with her two small hands, and leaned her face against Lily’s soft chest. Ui then extended her small pink tongue and licked Lily’s chest.
“What are you doing?!” Lily shouted as a steamy blush suffused her face.
“What are you shouting for? You are my captive; can’t I take a sip? If I hold a beautiful female captive, isn’t it normal to do what I want with her? Why are you yelling?”
Lily turned her head and stopped paying attention to her. She really didn’t understand the mind of this girl. When Ui fell into her hands, she needed to spank her butt and teach the h̲o̲r̲n̲y little girl a lesson!