Transformed into the leader of an esoteric sect in Japan

Hidden inside the man-faced spider's torn body, she and the spider's corpse continued to fall helplessly downwards from the web.

After killing the spider, the shadow girl relinquished control of her body and returned it to Kurosawa Shizuki without hesitation: "Don't die again. I don't have any more black matter to revive you. Eat this monster."

In the final moments before falling into a coma, Kurosawa Shizuki almost instinctively mobilized her remaining black matter. She had consumed too much black matter, and if she didn't replenish it, she would indeed not have a chance to be resurrected, just as the Shadow Girl had said.

As she fell, clumps of black matter began to seep into the massive body of the human-faced spider. Although the human-faced spider could also be transformed into shadow servants, Kurosawa Shizuki only needed to replenish her body in large quantities, and she didn't have that much black matter to use to transform enemies.

[Congratulations on having devoured the gray-faced humanoid giant spider...] As the system notification grew increasingly distant, Kurosawa Shizuki finally fell into a coma.

P.S., this chapter is entirely using up my saved drafts, but I'll try my best to keep updating.

PS2, I've written a hundred chapters, but it feels like I'm only halfway through the first volume. It's really frustrating. When I was outlining, I thought I could finish the first volume in ninety chapters...

PS3, thanks to Yato-gami @Tohka's Soap.

No update today for Chapter 101.

I worked overtime and didn't get home until 11 pm. That's all. I'm too tired to type anymore, so I stopped today.

P.S.: Thanks to myself for tipping myself. I shouldn't have opened the 88 RMB treasure chest. I only got 15 Salted Fish Spikes. What a huge loss.

Filling in the word count:

On the tranquil, dark surface of the water, where the stars sleep.

The white Ophelia floated like a large lily.

It floated very slowly, nestled in her long, flowing scarf...

—A hunter's horn echoed from the distant woods.

More than a thousand years have passed, and the melancholy Ophelia

Like a white ghost flowing through this long black river;

For over a thousand years, her gentle madness

She hummed her love songs softly in the evening breeze.

A gentle breeze kissed her breasts and lifted her long scarf.

Scattered like a flower crown, the water ripples gently swaying it;

The trembling willow branches seemed to weep on her shoulder.

Reeds cascaded over her dreamlike, expansive heaven.

Broken willow branches surrounded her as she sighed deeply.

She had startled the birds' nests in the slumbering alder trees.

A slight tremor of wings escaped from within:

—A mysterious song falls from the golden stars.

Chapter 101, Section 102: Sand and Yongzi

Kurosawa Shizuki thought she might be unconscious for a long time this time, but only a few minutes passed from unconsciousness to waking up.

The excruciating pain forcibly woke her up again because someone had pulled the tree branch that was piercing her lower abdomen without hesitation.

Opening her eyes, all she saw through her blurry vision was Asakura's face so close to hers. The excruciating pain made Kurosawa Shizuki want to scream, but Asakura Yuki covered her mouth before she could utter a sound:

"Shh, we're not the only ones in the forest, don't make a sound," Asakura said in a low voice. "It's really careless of you to get into such a mess. If you die here, it will be a lot of trouble."

The current Asakura Yuki is no longer as spotless as when we first met; she is covered in grime. However, she seems to be luckier than Kurosawa Shizuki, as she did not encounter any strange creatures such as spiders.

She and Asakura were now in the dark woods, surrounded by towering, decaying ancient trees. The soil was damp and dark black, the shrubs were withered and barren, and they could vaguely hear strange sounds from all directions, coming from various unknown life forms, as well as ever-changing shadows swaying uncertainly.

Asakura placed his hands on Kurosawa Shizuki's wounds. Kurosawa Shizuki felt the warmth of Asakura's palms, and strands of translucent Yang Flame flowed into her wounds. Together with the slowly recovering black matter within her body, it first stopped the bleeding and closed the wounds. Then, it repaired the various terrible injuries on her body one by one. Logically speaking, Kurosawa Shizuki should have died. It seems that before she died completely, she successfully devoured the spider and replenished the black matter that could sustain her life.

"Thank you," Kurosawa Shizuki replied weakly, biting her lip to avoid making too much noise from the intense pain.

“There’s no need for thanks between us,” Asakura laughed heartily, then his expression turned somewhat gloomy. “I really miscalculated this time. Getting out of here will probably be very troublesome.”

"Should we still destroy this forest territory?" Asakura used Yangyan to heal her injuries. Kurosawa Shizuki recovered her energy very quickly. After all, she also possessed a fairly strong immortality. As long as she was not dead and had enough black matter, even the most serious injuries could be repaired sooner or later.

“Of course, we are now deeply trapped in this forest, and we only have two choices to leave—first, the owner of the forest opens the door for us; second, we have no choice but to completely demolish the forest,” Asakura said with a wry smile.

"The owner of the forest will definitely not open the door for us, so do we have to destroy this domain from the root?" Kurosawa Shizuki felt that this was almost impossible. Let alone finding the core of the forest and destroying it, she and Asakura alone could not deal with the countless winged creatures above their heads.

“Although the chances of success are slim, we have no choice but to bite the bullet and do it—every realm is a prototype of history created by the gods. As long as it is history, there must be rules for ‘ascension’. What we need to find next is the principle of ‘ascension’ within this forest. If we act according to this principle, perhaps we can unlock the core of the forest without triggering its warning mechanism.” Asakura’s thinking was very flexible; she had already come up with a plan for the next step. However, Kurosawa Shizuki felt that the success rate of this plan was also very slim.

Within the woodland, the so-called "ascension" belonging to Mizuki is clearly also related to the transformation of the Divine Society. "Are we going to turn into two large moths and fly up to the sky to meet the gods of the woodland?"

"All deities ascend through two paths. The conventional ascension should be the path of transformation you mentioned. However, we don't necessarily have to take the conventional path. Perhaps we can try a reversed ascension. In ancient times, reversed ascension was always for those who, despite being mortals, awakened the will of an apostle. Even in this realm, there must exist a path to divinity that allows mortals to meet the gods."

"Why are you so sure there's a 'back door' in the woods that we can use?" Kurosawa Shizuki thought Asakura's idea was too optimistic. She didn't think the Shindai Society would leave them, these malicious invaders, a way out. For the Shindai Society, the best outcome would be to trap them in the woods, thus crippling two fourth-tier high-level combatants of the Black Sun Cult and rendering the King of Blazing Sun unable to move. This would undoubtedly be the best situation for the Shindai Society.

“Because Fujiwara no Kage has the status of an immortal, but she has not completed the transformation path of Kirie Izumi, there must be an apostle path for her to walk. What we need to do is find this path she once walked and walk it again.” While Asakura was talking with Kurosawa Shizuki, although the hidden injuries in her body were difficult to heal, Kurosawa Shizuki had at least regained her ability to move.

With Asakura's help, Kurosawa Shizuki shakily stood up. His royal robes, which were covered in blood and mud, were restored to their original state and once again flowed with a strange radiance, untouched by any dirt.

Just as Kurosawa Shizuki was about to continue talking to Asakura, Asakura once again pressed his finger to her lips, signaling her to be quiet.

Before Kurosawa Shizuki could even realize what Asakura was up to, Asakura dragged her into the bushes to hide without a word.

"Bang!" Just as the two had taken cover, they heard a sharp gunshot. Someone had fired a shot into the trunk of an old tree not far from them, sending countless fragments flying.

Then came the sound of two people stumbling and panting as they ran. Through the gaps in the bushes, Kurosawa Shizuki saw two adorable little girls with terrified expressions running out from the depths of the woods.

The two girls looked very similar, with long, flowing dark brown hair, like twins. They were both dressed in very simple, worn-out dresses and looked to be at most ten years old. They held hands and seemed to have a great understanding of each other, even keeping the same pace as they ran.

The woman on the left is wearing a red dress and a butterfly hair clip; the woman on the right is wearing a purple dress and a thunderbird hair clip.

They were running away in a panic, their cloth shoes were worn out, and their bodies were covered with small cuts from vines and thorns. Judging from their terrified expressions, there was clearly a very scary threat chasing them.

"Ah!" The little girl on the left suddenly stepped on something, letting out a terrified scream, and fell to the ground, tripping her sister on the other side as well.

Kurosawa Shizuki saw that the little girl in the red dress had her right foot caught in a rusty animal trap. The trap was hidden in knee-high weeds, less than six meters from where Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura had been. Kurosawa Shizuki didn't know if Asakura had noticed the trap. If they were caught, it would probably cause quite a bit of trouble.

What surprised Kurosawa Shizuki even more was that there were actually humans in the woodland territory constructed by the Shindai Society? No matter how Kurosawa Shizuki observed the two girls, she felt that they were pure humans from head to toe, and she could not see any signs of the Shindai Society's transformation and alienation.

"Sand! Don't panic, I'm here to save you!" The little girl in the purple dress scrambled to her feet, bent down, and tried to pry open the bear trap. However, she couldn't budge it an inch, and the serrated edges of the trap cut her delicate little hands.

Kurosawa Shizuki found it very strange. In this area, the little girl was speaking a language she couldn't understand at all, but when she was in the woods, she could clearly understand what the two little girls were talking about.

"Yongzi, don't worry about me, I can't escape anymore—" The little girl in the red dress, called Shazi, pushed away her sisters who were crowding around her and said with a look of despair, "Run! Daddy's catching up!"

"Bang!" From somewhere not far away, another sharp gunshot rang out. The little girl in the purple dress named Yongzi almost instinctively lowered her head, and the gun shot flew past her head.

“Sand and Eiko, two beautiful little angels,” a hoarse and unpleasant voice rang out from the source of the gunshot, “where do you think you’re going to run off to?”

Yongzi jumped up as if by reflex, not even glancing at her sisters whose legs were caught in animal traps, and turned to run. However, she hadn't even taken a few steps.

"Bang!" Another shot was fired without hesitation, this time hitting Yongzi's left leg as she was running, breaking it off. Yongzi let out a cry of pain and fell forward to the ground.

Kurosawa Shizuki was certain she hadn't misread it. Not a single drop of blood had flowed from the broken left leg of Eiko. Her body was filled with cotton-like material, yet the little girl, whose body was stuffed with this stuff, acted and spoke no differently from a living person.

A tall and menacing man emerged from the shadows of the woods, a cruel smile on his face. He was dressed as a hunter, wearing a straw hat and leather boots, and held a double-barreled shotgun that seemed to be an old-fashioned model that required reloading gunpowder after each shot, dating back centuries.

What shocked Kurosawa Shizuki even more was that the man the two little girls called "Dad" actually had the head of a dark brown wolf. The wolf's head displayed a cruelly human-like smile, revealing rows of sharp fangs, and constantly dripping steaming saliva.

“You’re trying to run away without a word. This makes your father very sad. You are my property. If you just run away like this, I will be very distressed.” The father with the wolf’s head slowly walked up to the two little girls who had lost their ability to move. He slung his hunting rifle over his back and picked up one of the little girls in each hand.

"Dad, you can take me with you, but let my little sister go! I'm enough to satisfy the fairy in the forest!" the sand on the left sobbed.

"Daddy, let my sister go! The fairy in the forest prefers obedient children like me!" Yongzi on the right cried loudly.

"Stop dreaming! None of you can escape! Not one of you can be missing... Only in this way can I please the forest fairy to the greatest extent and obtain wings..." The wolf-headed "father" said with a sneer. He picked up the two little girls as if they were two exquisite dolls, and turned to walk into the shadows deep in the forest.

Asakura and Kurosawa Shizuki exchanged glances, almost simultaneously recognizing each other's thoughts in each other's eyes.

Get rid of this "father" who seems difficult to get along with, and then try to extract information about this area from the two seemingly harmless little girls.

"Let me do it." Asakura stopped Kurosawa Shizuki from making a move.

Asakura snapped her fingers, and a semi-transparent phantom appeared behind her. It was another crimson goldfish, which floated leisurely in mid-air, its body shimmering with a peculiar light.

After the first goldfish, more and more goldfish of various colors appeared, swaying their graceful bodies. However, such a scene in the woodland was not pleasing to the eye, but rather chilling.

All the Yangyan Goldfish looked at the wolf-headed figure who had his back to Asahi and Kurosawa Shizuki. Strange smiles, like those of living people, appeared on their faces. The corners of the goldfish's mouths were rows of sharp serrations. Rather than saying that Asahi created goldfish, it would be more accurate to say that they were piranhas.

"Who is it?" The wolf-headed man was extremely sensitive to danger. He threw the two little girls aside, turned around, picked up his hunting rifle, and aimed it at the goldfish that were surrounding him from all directions. Even he had probably never seen such a sight before.

The wolf-headed man raised his hunting rifle, the barrel of which was engraved with a glaring lion, its blade imbued with sacred power.

The wolf-headed man fired at the bubble formed by the condensation of sunlight.

P.S., thanks to Tohka Yatogami for the soap support.

Chapter 102, Section 103: The Invitation of the Woodland Spirits

The wolf-headed man's gunfire shattered the silence of the woods, yet it was merely chasing an illusion, passing through the unreal form of the Sunfire Goldfish and shooting into the bushes.

"Damn it, a false spirit, where did this black substance come from?" The wolf-headed man had surprisingly sharp eyes and saw through Yang Yan's true nature at a glance. He attached a silver-white bayonet to the barrel of his lion-patterned hunting rifle, and the eyes of his vicious black wolf head flashed with hatred.

The wolf-headed man held the hunting rifle in his mouth, lay on all fours on the ground, and casually rolled over, transforming himself into a ferocious black giant wolf.

The giant wolf let out a threatening growl. Instead of retreating, it charged forward, meeting the countless fanged "goldfish" that Asakura Yuki had raised. Despite being only the size of a wolf, it held a hunting rifle with a bayonet in its jaws and wielded it like a master of close combat. The silver blade was even able to wound the black flesh. It fought its way through the sea of ​​goldfish with fluid grace, its movements not brutal but rather rhythmic like music.

"How interesting. Hidden within the woods are 'sacred weapons' that have long since vanished in reality." Asakura gazed intently at the lion-patterned hunting rifle wielded by the giant wolf, and Kurosawa Shizuki felt that she seemed somewhat tempted.

However, the giant wolf's resistance was ultimately futile in the face of the siege of countless goldfish, just as powerless as Asakura and Kurosawa Shizuki were against the insectoid attack. Soon, goldfish finally managed to bite the giant wolf's body through the curtain of blades. The first, the second, the third, and more and more... Hot blood began to flow from the giant wolf's body, and it let out a painful howl, but the fighting did not slow down in the slightest.

Anyone could see that if things continued like this, the giant wolf would eventually be torn to shreds by the countless goldfish. Now it had completely turned into a blood-red wolf.

The giant wolf, teetering on the brink of collapse, was being torn apart by countless goldfish formed from condensed yang energy. Yet, its murky eyes were fixed intently on Sha Zi and Yong Zi.

Sako and Eiko were helped up by Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura Yuki, who both had friendly smiles on their faces.

“Little sisters, you’re alright now. We’re here to help you. You can trust us.” Asakura Yuki lowered her head and gently rubbed Sako and Eiko’s little heads. Kurosawa Shizuki felt that her actions were like comforting two small animals.

Sha Zi and Yong Zi completely ignored Asakura and Kurosawa Shizuki, staring blankly at their father. Kurosawa Shizuki discovered that as time passed, their bodies were automatically healing, just like hers. The wounds that were originally terrifying showed signs of healing in the blink of an eye. Could it be that people in this world heal their injuries particularly quickly?

No, are these two little girls, whose bodies are filled with complex structures like dolls, really human?