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CHAPTER 45 – CELESTIAL BATTLE MAIDEN’S MINE
Lily rushed into the mine, only to realize that there were many paths ahead. They all seemed to have been artificially excavated. She simply chose a path based on her instincts and rushed in.
However, soon enough, Lord Hiei, Lord Honganji, and their subordinates entered the cave with torches. They were also stunned by all the diverging paths ahead of them.
They had never entered this cave, so they had no idea what was inside.
“This… Which way did that woman go?” Lord Hiei probed with his spiritual energy.
“What?”
Spiritual energy failed to penetrate the walls inside this cave. A small turn inside this cave was enough to ruin his detection. He had no idea which tunnel Lily entered. Lord Honganji was also flustered. He had a share of the loot in this place as well.
“Lord Hiei, if we chase willy-nilly, it will be difficult to catch up to that woman. That woman is quite powerful. Aside from you and me, I’m afraid anyone else here isn’t her opponent if they chose to chase her. But if we enter a tunnel and that woman runs out with the treasure, it will be very troublesome!”
Lord Hiei then spoke, “That’s right, while there are a lot of paths in this cave, there is only one exit, which is here1. Why don’t we stay here and wait for Lord Ibaraki to arrive with his Archdemons? Wouldn’t that woman be caught by then?”
“Yes! Excellent idea!” Lord Honganji also nodded. “We still have some strength left in us. Let’s prepare some formations at the entrance! Hehe, it may be easy for this woman to enter. But to come out? Dream on!”
Lord Hiei ordered, “Then I’ll guard the entrance with the Masters of Honganji Temple with the formations they brought. Gold horn, split the rest of the demons into three groups and enter the cave to find the treasure. Don’t fight that woman if you find her, just focus on bringing back the treasure!”
“Understood!” The gold-horned demon led some demons into the cave.
“Fuyuki! You also lead some Martial Monks to help them out.” Lord Honganji was worried. He feared that the demons would claim a bigger portion of the treasure, so he sent out a team of his own.
Lily sprinted in a tunnel for a while before slowing down in order to carefully investigate her surroundings. Spiritual energy and her Domain couldn’t pierce the stone walls here, so she could only scout it out step-by-step.
Lily sensed that no one chased her from behind. She also deduced that her opponents didn’t know which tunnel she entered, so they chose to stand guard at the entrance while waiting for Ibaraki’s arrival.
“I must be quick! It would be very troublesome if Ibaraki came along with the other Archdemons. Besides, I don’t know if they recognized me. If they did, even Shuten Doji himself might show up!”
Lily continued along the tunnel. The place was pitch black. She took out Sakura parasol, which had turned dark blue at this moment. The Sakura flowers on top of it actually started glowing, it was beautiful.
Unknown objects were floating in the cave. They reflected massive amounts of light after receiving a little of it.
They glowed like stars. Lily seemed to be walking through space with her parasol open.
“I didn’t expect that the cave would become so beautiful under Sakura Parasol’s illumination.”
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Upon entering the inner section, Lily discovered many caves that were interconnected and also had diverging paths. It was super-duper complex.
From the books she read, Lily knew that there were no caves recorded in the books of the Heian Dynasty that were one-tenth the complexity of this cave.
“It’s incredible.” Lily said.
However… Such a complex cave was barren. There were only scattered rocks and signs of excavation everywhere. No treasure was in sight2.
“Such a massive mine naturally won’t be filled with treasure. However, which way should I go? I can’t I can’t waste too much time also.”
Lily walked along the cave as she held her parasol.
“Huh?” As she went deeper into the cave, Lily gradually felt an ancient pulse. This pulse was ethereal and divine, it didn’t complement this rough-looking cave at all.
“The demons call this place the Celestial Maiden’s cave. Could it be that this pulse was left behind by a Celestial Maiden?”
“Master!” At this moment, Kagura inside the mirror spoke, “This cave belongs to the Celestial Battle Maiden! I can feel it. I sense a presence here that I miss dearly. ”
“Celestial Battle Maiden?”
“I’m afraid this mine is incredibly ancient. Back then, the Celestial Battle Maidens had to find precious minerals birthed from the world itself to forge their weapons. Looks like this place has minerals that they need. Master, if we go deeper into the cave to search, we might just find some minerals! The minerals that they needed are nothing short of divine treasures in the current era.”
“Kagura, if there were actually such precious minerals here, wouldn’t this cave be filled with traps and contraptions?”
“If it does, I would have reminded you long ago. If the only defense mechanism was that seal on the entrance, then I’m afraid those Celestial Battle Maidens were already gone a very long time ago.”
A hint of grievance were heard in Kagura’s voice.
“Kagura, your original master, Suzuhiko-hime, was one of the Celestial Battle Maidens, right?”
“Indeed. My master had a very high status among the Celestial Battle Maidens. Master, since this is a mine, the minerals on the shallow places are definitely excavated by now. Let’s go deeper.”
“Yes.” Lily traveled deeper while following the pulse that she felt in her heart. She kept going to places where the pulse was even stronger.
“Who excavated this mine? Was it the Celestial Battle Maidens?”
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“How is that possible?” Kagura said, “Celestial Maidens won’t do these menial labors. It’s probably done by the Tenson Clan members enslaved by them3.”
“Tenson Clan?”
“Master, look at the wall over there…”
Lily approached the cave wall with a parasol in hand and illuminated it using the light.
There were many ancient mural paintings on the cave walls. The painting style seemed very primitive. Still, she could see Celestial Maidens in flowing robes forcing men to excavate the mine using swords and whips. There were also special vehicles that transported the minerals.
Lily followed the wall and kept watching, only to see a mural featuring a pile of minerals and a Celestial Maiden. Her hand was seemingly glowing as those minerals were being absorbed within.
“That must be a storage tool used by the Celestial Maidens.”
“Kagura, are those miners from the Tenson Clan?”
“That’s right. These are ancient humans. They can also be considered the ancestors of humans in the current Heian Dynasty. It is said that the first divine Emperor in human history, Divine Emperor Jinmu, hailed from the Tenson Clan.” Kagura said.
With that, Lily somehow made sense of things. In ancient times, Tenson Clan members lived here. After the Celestial Battle Maidens discovered this mine, they forced the enslaved members to serve as miners.
Lily continued walking down the dark cave with her parasol open. Despite seeing lots of scattered rocks, no minerals were found.
Up ahead, Lily found an incredibly ancient bronze minecart with only 1 wheel intact.
“This bronze minecart must have been used by the Tenson Clan back then to transport minerals.”
“Master, this isn’t just bronze. This is Murray Bronze. According to current standards, this is considered a grade-nine pinnacle bronze!” Kagura said.
“What? grade-nine pinnacle bronze? Used to make minecarts???”
Lily was dazzled. If even the minecarts were made of grade-9 pinnacle bronze, then what sort of minerals were excavated in this place?
“Master, this minecart is indestructible.”
Lily took out a tempered grade-nine machete that she plundered and slashed at the minecart.
Clang! Sparks splattered all over her and her hands became numb.
There was only a faint mark on the minecart.
“It’s actually so tough!”
Lily tried pushing it, it was very heavy. Even Lily needed to invest some strength in order to push it.
This minecart was probably tens of thousands Kans heavy! (>37500 kg)
Lily waved her hand and took the bronze minecart4.
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“Master, why are you taking it?”
“This minecart has tens of thousands of kans’ worth of grade-nine bronze, right? It’s probably worth an astronomical amount.”
“That’s right. But I don’t know if there’s still a way to smelt Murray Bronze in the current era.”
“Forget it. We can worry about that later.”
Lily discovered that there was an excavated stone chamber beside that minecart. She used her parasol to illuminate the interior. Only to discover an incredibly ancient looking skeleton.
Despite being used to dealing with demons and monsters, she was still slightly startled after discovering it.
She checked with her spiritual energy. “These bones are incredibly strong. It’s way stronger than any mortal nowadays. I’m afraid this senior will have the strength of an early-stage Throned Sovereign just with his physical strength alone!”
This man had been dead for countless years, so Lily couldn’t identify his actual strength. But his body alone was on par with a Throned Sovereign. Absolutely shocking. However, based on the little fragments of clothing remaining on that skeleton, he seemed to be someone with very low status.
“Master, look at these bones. The arms and finger knuckles are especially large. I’m afraid he’s just a miner.”
“Miner?” Lily was shocked. Someone with a body as strong as a Throned Sovereign… Was a miner?
“Huh?” Lily suddenly noticed that words were inscribed on the stone wall beside the skeleton.
Lily checked it out. It was ancient writing!
Unlike the current written language, it seemed closer to hieroglyphs. However, when Lily was reading Fujiwara no Ayaka’s book collection, she studied these texts. After all, the current written language evolved from this very language, so Lily could somehow identify them.
Although she didn’t recognize some of those words, but the approximate meaning when she read the entire sentence was:
“Ever since I met her, there seemed to be a glimmer of sunlight in this cave of infinite darkness.
I’d rather let her whip me as long as I can spend more time alone with her.
Perhaps, she’ll never understand why I was always the best miner when other Celestial Maidens were supervising. But every time she comes, I’ll never achieve my goal. I just want to spend more time with her.
However, I know that this is impossible. She’s a Celestial Battle Maiden soaring in the skies, while I’m a lowly mortal. The lowest intelligent lifeform in this world. If I confess to her, those Celestial Maidens will surely execute me. I can only spend more time with her by being whipped.
However, one day, the Celestial Battle Maidens left. There are clearly some mineral veins in the depths of this mine that are still intact, but they still took all the mined minerals and left. They brought us all out of the cave, gave us a lot of treasure, and told us to leave.
But I didn’t. I hid in the depths of the mine. They didn’t discover me because they left in a hurry. I’m here because I thought that she might return one day. Although my strength is limited, if I continue excavating the minerals here, she’ll be happy if she returns. I’ve always made her angry. Although she’s just as beautiful when she’s angry, I still want to make her happy once…
However, I don’t know how much time has passed, but they never returned.
There are still mineral veins left. But why wouldn’t they return? Could it be… Did something happen?
I was very worried about her. But in the end, they never returned…
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I can’t remember how many years I’ve stayed here. I’m about to die, so I have the courage to write these things down.
My gift to you is right there in the final mineral vein. You’ll know.
If you ever return one day, I hope you’ll see it, Bishamonten…”
References
Robinxen: Is this… an intelligent plan?!Robinxen: She wants the shiny.Robinxen: Good to know that even the maidens are trash.Robinxen: Fun fact, near where I live there were two authentic minecarts on display as a memorial for the coal mine that used to operate in the region. Not long after they were displayed both were stolen and sold for scrap. This is why we can’t have nice things, too many Lily’s in the world.