Volume 4, Chapter 80 – The Death Of Kyubozu

Volume 4, Chapter 80 - The Death Of Kyūbōzu

Translator: LazyButAmbitious

The carp spirit— an archdemon who dominated the waters of Lake Biwa for a generation of a hundred years had just died.

He didn’t expect to be killed by Lily in a water environment where he held the most advantage.

A variety of factors played into his unexpected death. Firstly, he underestimated his enemy’s overall strength and oozed panic in the face of the supposed Throne Stage cat demon. Secondly, Lily’s fortuitous gain of soul energy on the deserted island served a pivotal role in vanquishing the carp spirit’s soul.

If Lily hadn’t infused Crescent Moon with the power of countless phantom soul bodies, she would’ve only been able to drive the carp spirit away, even with the added help of the cat demon and ice domain. With the carp spirit’s thick defenses and strong regenerative abilities, killing him using only physical attacks would’ve been a near-impossible endeavor.

Even if Lily managed to inflict a fatal strike, the carp spirit would’ve simply run after assessing the situation.

Lily’s victory over the peak Permanence Stage carp spirit could be attributed to a bit of luck. Of course, the power harvested from the phantom soul bodies was the result of her own life and death struggles on the deserted island.

This trump card allowed her to directly exterminate the opponent’s soul without room for escape or counterattacks.

“It’s a pity that I couldn’t get my hands on the anima of a Permanence Stage powerhouse...” Lily felt a little greedy for thinking this way. After all, she was still able to acquire his huge, cyan spirit jade which was suffused with the water attribute.

If it was a normal fight, it would’ve been difficult to obtain the complete spirit jade after marring the carp spirit’s strong vitality. Furthermore, if he had used the surrounding water to transform or escape, Lily possessed little means to restrain him. The magatama fragments sustaining the four-tailed cat demon also wouldn’t last forever. After she lost its support, her travels across Lake Biwa would’ve been grueling, to say the least.

Fortunately, I was able to kill the carp spirit in the end

Lily felt that the reserve of phantom soul energy in Crescent Moon was reduced by 10% compared to before. It couldn’t be helped. The soul of a Permanence Stage archdemon was extremely formidable and required a substantial consumption of soul energy to destroy it. Lily also didn’t have any secret methods relating to soul manipulation, strengthening, or consumption reduction.

“My soul attack is very helpful in a lot of battles, but it seems that I need to use it more sparingly.” Checkk new novel chapters at novelbin(.)com

After all, except for the deserted island, Lily didn’t know where else to replenish this phantom soul power.

At this time, Kyūbōzu was still being ravaged by the four-tailed cat demon. Its sharp claws tore severe wounds into his skin and flesh, splattering green blood all over the ground— it was horrible. He tried to run on many occasions, but the cat demon was so swift that escaping on land was impossible. Finally, Kyūbōzu chose to smash the ice with his head and fled underwater. The cat demon dug into the ice with its claws but didn’t continue its chase into the water. Although the cat demon was a mere incarnation, it retained the habits of its original self and was unwilling to enter deep water.

“I won’t allow you to escape so easily!” Lily stuffed the blue orb between her lips and dove into the crack.

Lily wasn’t bloodthirsty enough to kill every single demon, but she definitely needed to kill Kyūbōzu lest he sought revenge for the carp spirit later on. She still had a long journey ahead and any vengeful retaliation by the kappa would cause major trouble.

After Lily sunk into the water, she saw Kyūbōzu who was fleeing for his life. His speed was already faster than Lily’s, and upon seeing her approach, he immediately used his water escape art to turn into a stream and escape.

“Not good!” Kyūbōzu was getting further out of reach and she couldn’t catch up at all.

“Sakura-Clad Moon!” Lily brandished Yasutsuna and waved a purple crescent light towards Kyūbōzu’s predicted location.

Whether it hit or not, Lily had no idea, but it was better than not trying.

Suddenly, a dark green blood mist trailed from the stream of water that was escaping into the distance. The speed of the stream gradually eroded until the seriously injured Kyūbōzu reverted to his original shape.

He was currently in a dying state and had exhausted his last lifeline of escape. Now that his injuries were further exacerbated by Lily’s attack, he was akin to a fish on the chopping board.

Compared to the carp spirit’s goodies, Kyūbōzu only had one dark green life-recovery magatama and eight ordinary magatamas. As a Permanence Stage archdemon, this was quite shabby— wasn’t he ashamed?

The carp spirit was worthy of being the overlord at the bottom of Lake Biwa. In his storage pouch, there were two eight-grade water-attributed magatamas, five life-recovery magatamas, and thirty-two ordinary magatamas! In addition, there were many plundered treasures from the carp spirit’s many scourges over the years. Whether they were swords, armors, tea utensils, or jewelry, most of them ranged between the sixth and seventh grades. Although they weren’t really useful to Lily, they could be sold for some good money in the future.

Moreover, the storage pouch itself was a seventh-grade treasure and it was pretty rare. Even if one had the money, they couldn’t necessarily get ahold of one.

The carp spirit’s long-handled sword was also a top eight-grade sword. It was his most valuable treasure, and Lily definitely didn’t plan on leaving it behind.

She turned to look at the carp spirit again. After thinking for a while, she said, “Yuki-Onna, I want to ask for another favor.”

“Ah, what’s wrong this time? You’re such a nagging woman.”

Lily waved her hand and transferred the huge carp into the storage room of the mirror space.

“Yuki-Onna, please make some ice and snow inside the storage room so we can preserve the carp...”

“Huh? What do you want to do with it?”

Lily’s ‘little woman’ problem seemed to have reasserted itself. She blushed, “Such a big fish must be a rare thing in Lake Biwa. I wonder if I can take it to Heian-kyō and sell it.”

“...”

Although Lily was beaten unconscious by the carp spirit that night, got swept to the deserted island, and endured many dangerous battles, she not only killed the carp spirit and Kyūbōzu, but also emerged with a lot of booty and rewarding experience in the end.

The ice and snow soon melted, and Yuki-Onna returned to the mirror along with the demon hound.

Lily took out the canoe and stood atop its narrow frame as it drifted into the waters of Lake Biwa. After retrieving the paddle, she made her way towards the west bank.

Clouds rolled in the sky and a storm seemed nigh at hand.

Lily stood alone on the canoe as it rocked with the increasingly turbulent lake, her hair fluttering in the wind. Hints of worry rippled through her eyes, “Sister Shimizu, where exactly have you gone to begin your path of advancement?”

...

...

At this time, at an unknown place far southwest of Heian-kyō and the distant Lake Biwa...

The sky and moon were obscured by huge trees all year round. No matter whether it was day or night, there was not much of a difference in this place. Everywhere was saturated with a dark green color, shadowed by towering trees as huge as mountains. The trunks and intertwined root systems of these trees were like ridges that emerged out of the land, surrounded by dense shrubs and grass. The ground was dotted with patches of thick lichen, and little spots of light floated like forest spirits around the dark shrubs. They glowed with a mellow hue, seemingly born from between rich soil and swaying leaves. Sometimes they floated up to the tree canopies that covered the sky like billowing clouds.

Shimizu lay limply on the damp and thick lichen plants, her inky blue hair scattered all over. Her complexion looked a bit flushed, but her expression was serene and a bit melancholy. Though her eyes were quietly closed, her pink lips were slightly open, allowing faintly rushed breaths to pass in and out along with the movements of her chest.

Under a nearby giant tree, there was a sudden noise from the bushes. A tree frog standing upright as tall as a child appeared. It had smooth, emerald-green skin and wore a plain grey cloth. Its big black eyes turned to survey the fainted girl.

“Tsk, is this another woman who came to find the ancient jade? How troublesome. Let’s take her back to the village first.”

The tree frog extended its slippery hand that was spotted with suction cups and grabbed Shimizu’s slender feet, dragging her into the dark green mist.