Book 1: Chapter 49: Mountain Imp Colony

Book 1: Chapter 49: Mountain Imp Colony

A young girl was forcing her way through under the boundless night sky. In her hands was the heirloom of the Daidouji Clan.

Even if she gave the treasure back to them after getting caught, there was still no way she would be left alive. If she could escape, Lily would treat this family heirloom as her own treasure without the slightest hesitation.

Behind her was a mountain road covered by dead leaves and the trees’ shadow. There was also Daidouji Akira, who chased after her like a mad bull.

Noboru was overwhelmed by the four Martial Monks and one onmyoji. Although he did everything he could to stop them, he was still gravely wounded after all. His power depleted quickly just from dealing with the five of them. He was all but powerless to stop Akira.

The enmity between Noboru and Akira lasted for one whole generation, but from Akira’s view of point, Noboru was already on his last straw. And Lily, on the other hand, looked like a helpless little girl before him. But she actually went and cut off the arm of his dearest son! With only one arm, his son would be handicapped for life! Not only that, she still dared to take his family heirloom and made a run for it! It was only natural that his hatred towards Lily was now at the peak!

That Akira was a High-tier Martial Monk. Although speed was not his specialty, he was still a little faster than Lily if he ran like crazy.

Lily jumped off the road and charged into the forest. She was hoping to restrict Akira’s huge body by using the shrubs as obstacles. However, Akira was like a mad bull and simply charged into the shrubs, sending the branches and leaves flying all over the place. His speed was not affected at all!

And because Lily needed to avoid those shrubs and potholes, her speed did not increase in the slightest.

The distance between the two was shrinking at a visible pace!

One Akira caught up, that would be the end of her. Lily could feel from their exchange just now, Akira was a lot stronger than her. Moreover, he had masterful techniques and ruthless moves. She had no way to deal with him!

“Damn! This guy is so persistent!” Lily constantly changed directions with the darkness as her ally. She kept threading her way through deserted regions with uneven paths. Her kimono was torn in many places and revealed her spotlessly white skin. She had slight difficulty to breathe due to that attack just now, but now even more so.

Lily kept predicting the possible outcome as she continued to run. If this kept up, she would be caught sooner or later. Even though Daidouji Akira was far more powerful than her, even he wouldn’t remain unscathed if she was able to cut him! If there was really no way out, then she would have to bet everything on an all-out attack!

The night was dark, and Lily who only focused on escaping suddenly stepped on empty ground. Her body felt weightless and in the next second, she went sliding down!

Lily wanted to grab onto something in the midst of falling, but there were only shrubs and weeds in her surroundings. Moreover, it was extremely steep and slippery under her foot. Soon after, she fell into a deep valley.

Seeing that Lily had lost her footing and fell into the valley, Akira slowed down to take a look from above. The red-clothed Lily looked like a small flower in the deep valley. The valley was estimated to be at least a hundred meter deep.

He was unable to determine whether she was alive or dead. However, as ruthless as Akira was, he didn’t care about such trifling matter, he would go down the valley and finish this woman off with his own hands. But he suddenly discovered a countless number of eyes spying upon that woman from behind the trees and shrubs!

Akira felt a chill run down his spine. He soon renounced the idea of going down to teach her a lesson and left with a sneer at the corner of his mouth.

As for Lily, she was lying on the valley floor and gradually recovered from the dizziness. She protected her body with Spirit Power during the fall. Even though her clothes were torn to the point that barely covered anything, there were only indistinct red marks on her skin. It looked like she had only been whipped lightly and didn’t sustain any injury. However, her remaining Spirit Power was not looking so good.

She grasped the katana and used it to push her body up from the ground slowly. Her back felt drafty, so she reached out to her back and found that a large area of her clothes was torn. Her back was completely exposed and the Sakura Parasol was nowhere to be seen!1

‘This is bad! The parasol must have fallen somewhere when I rolled down from the slope!’

Lily touched her lower stomach and found that although the mirror was slightly displaced, it was still there. She adjusted the position of the mirror and turned around to look at the top of the slope. This slope was at least a hundred meter tall, but Akira was no longer there. It was unknown whether he thought that Lily had fallen to her death and left, that or he was looking for a detour.

Regardless of which, she must find that Sakura Parasol at all cost. Not only was that an extremely important item, but Sakura was also her partner and friend!

However, just as she started to wonder how to climb up the slope, she felt a chill creep up her spine. It felt just like the watchful eyes of many creatures who wanted to eat her up.

Lily turned on the spot and what she saw left her frozen stiff.

There was a countless number of shining eyes staring straight at her in the darkness behind.

High upon the pitch-black tree branches, there were monsters. Rows and rows of monsters. All bearing a striking resemblance to apes and monkeys.

Mountain Imps! A colony of Mountain Imps! Looking from afar, they looked just like black crows crowding together in the woods. There were at least several hundreds of them all together!

1. Oh ⓢⓗⓘⓣ, worst case scenario would be that Akira found the parasol.