I transformed into a demonic spider lily.

[23 Gold Coins, 200 Jade, and 0 out of 10000 kills of R-rank or higher targets using "Murasame".]

Sorry to bother you.

The screen instantly shut down.

She has only killed a few dozen R-rank enemies so far, so it's absurd to expect to reach tens of thousands. Even if the resource requirements are less than those for a three-star Soul, the actual difficulty is several times higher than upgrading a three-star Soul.

Let's not think about it for now.

After reorganizing the system's overview, the spider lily finally opened her eyes. The time of encounter with the demons had ended, and it was now night. A few lights flickered around her, indicating that she had left the mountains but did not seem to be in a forest.

"Kikyo, where is this?"

She moved her arm slightly, and still felt a bit weak from the numbness, but she could still move it. It seemed that her self-repair during the near-death experience had been pretty good. She just didn't know where Kikyo had taken her for the past half hour.

"My home is Maple Village," Kikyo replied briefly after hearing the voice of the spider lily.

"Oh, ah?!" The spider lily, who had responded instinctively, suddenly realized something was wrong and hurriedly shouted, "You could have just thrown me into the forest when you passed by! When I got to my territory, a monster would have taken me away. Why did you bring me to your human village now?"

“If you want to pass through the forest, you have to cross the mountains no matter what, but if you come back here, you can take the safer path on the outside of the mountains,” Kikyo said matter-of-factly, leaving Higanbana with no reason to refute her.

"Don't you think about the people in your village? If they knew you brought back a monster, they probably wouldn't sleep a wink tonight!"

"The red spider lily said jokingly."

"It's okay, you won't hurt anyone."

How do you know I won't harm anyone?

Have you ever harmed anyone?

Kikyo turned around and glanced at the spider lily.

"I don't."

Could she possibly say "yes" at this moment? Although the Spider Lily has never harmed anyone, if she replied "yes," she would probably be sealed and defeated on the spot.

"Of course, although you won't believe it, I can vaguely sense the difference between the holy and the evil. Even demons have a holy aura, and even saints can have evil thoughts. But I can't sense any evil aura on you at all, so I'm sure your nature isn't bad. Besides, you helped me a lot today, didn't you?" Kikyo revealed a gentle smile, which wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a purification technique.

"Tch, that's ridiculous."

The red spider lily stopped arguing with her.

"We're here. This is my home."

As a renowned priestess, she did not live in a large courtyard, but in an ordinary wooden house. Bright lights flickered inside, and a figure kept pacing back and forth in front of the window.

"Put me down, I can walk by myself."

The other shore flower didn't laugh at this, since she already knew about the other person's condition. It would just be too humiliating for her to be carried in like this.

Upon hearing this, Kikyo put down the spider lily. The latter had just taken a step when it leaned backward and almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, Kikyo stepped forward in time to help it up.

"I hate that snake."

The spider lily couldn't help but complain, trying to cover up her embarrassment, while making a decision in her heart that she would definitely develop poison resistance in the future.

Then, she glanced at Kikyo beside her. Kikyo's support looked exceptionally gentle, and the touch seemed very pleasant, but because her senses were still numb, she couldn't feel it at all!

Their commotion outside the door was so loud that the figure inside paused for a moment, then rushed to open it. It was a black-haired girl who first looked at Kikyo, then rushed forward and exclaimed, "Sister! Why are you only coming back now?"

"Hmm~"

Seeing this, the other shore flower tilted her head. She first completely deleted her impression of a future mother-in-law from her memory, and then looked at the black-haired girl in front of her. She immediately felt that the other girl had become even more adorable. Sure enough, the older sister was already a beauty, so the younger sister would naturally not be too bad.

At this moment, the black-haired girl noticed that Kikyo was supporting the spider lily. After hearing a "drip, drip" sound, she lowered her head slightly and saw that scarlet blood was flowing from the spider lily's right hand to the ground.

Stunned and completely unable to recover, the black-haired girl was astonished by the amount of blood the spider lily was bleeding; in such a short time, it had probably filled a teacup.

At last……

"--what!"

She could only let out a scream.

Chapter Fourteen: The Immature Shrine Maiden, Maple

"Kikyo, is this your sister?"

Sitting in the four-and-a-half-tatami room of the wooden house, Higanbana stared intently at the black-haired girl in front of her, and despite knowing the other's identity, she still asked Kikyo a question.

Kikyo brought a basin of water from outside and instructed the black-haired girl, "Feng, could you please treat her wound a little?"

"Actually, there's no need to go through all that trouble. I'm quite confident in my healing abilities, but to be honest, this is the first time I've suffered such a severe injury. However, I don't think this time will be too difficult..."

The red spider lily persisted in her theory.

"...Can you just give me a quiet moment?"

However, before the other flower could finish speaking, the kikyo suddenly got angry and shouted, "I don't care what you think, I only care what I think. Right now, I think your injuries are very serious, so please lie down and recover!"

She was angry, extremely angry. Even though the other flower repeatedly emphasized that her demon body was extremely strong, Kikyo could only sense that the other flower did not value her life at all.

That's what really annoyed her.

Can't you just focus on recovering from your injury?

Wouldn't it be better to rest quietly?

Why do you have to cause trouble?

However, there's nothing wrong with yokai causing trouble, but Kikyo just can't stand it. She hates anything that disregards life, whether that life belongs to someone else or her own.

"..."

Upon hearing this, Higanbana swallowed hard and leaned back on the tatami mat. She, a mere yokai, was actually intimidated by the shrine maiden's imposing aura.

What kind of nonsense is this?

"Feng, I'm counting on you."

Finally, Kikyo gave the black-haired girl one last instruction before leaving the room and going outside.

"Okay, sister."

The black-haired girl named Feng also hesitated, clearly having never seen Kikyo so angry before, and was also curious about what the spider lily had done.

However, before that, we should find out if the red spider lily can be saved after bleeding so much. So Feng reached out and tried to pull open the other person's sleeve.

Seeing this, the spider lily raised her hand and, not feeling any pain, pulled open her sleeve without worrying about the force. Unexpectedly, the snake venom had an anesthetic effect, which startled Feng, who was standing next to her.

Maple looked up at the face of the spider lily, but the latter turned her head away and closed her eyes, giving a "whatever" response, clearly having listened to Kikyo's words.

Carefully wiping the blood from his wrist, revealing deep red marks beneath his fair skin, Feng couldn't help but tremble slightly. Was the wound perhaps reaching a major artery? How had he managed to hold on until now?

"Hey, little guy."

At this moment, the red spider lily suddenly spoke up.

"W-What's wrong?"

Feng thought she had hurt the other person.

"Your name is Feng, right? You're the Feng from 'Kimi no Momiji'." Higanbana smiled, while opening her eyes to examine Feng's abilities.

Real name: Maple (N)

[Level: 2]

Yeah, it's a bit disappointing.

It differs from the name of the bellflower by one number.

"There is no maple in the story of the ghost girl, Momiji."

Feng offered a slight rebuttal.

"No, no, no, there is. Maple leaves are redder than February flowers. Red leaves are maple leaves, just like you." The red spider lily's eyes remained fixed on the other.

"There's absolutely no connection, okay? I'm not some kind of monster," Feng said irritably, before tending to the wound on the other shore flower's waist.

"Since you're not a monster, I must say you're really brave." The spider lily kept hinting at the other party, and her smile became increasingly eerie.

What are you talking about?

Feng didn't notice the expression on the other shore flower's face, but he felt that the other person was still able to laugh at this time, so this person's mentality was quite resilient.

"Hey you, even if your spiritual power is incredibly weak, your eyes shouldn't be damaged yet, right? Haven't you noticed that I'm prettier than the average person?"

The red spider lily offered a slight hint.

"Yes, that's true, but Kikyo is also very pretty." Maple didn't feel anything was wrong; at most, he just thought that Higanbana was a bit narcissistic.

Although what he said was the truth.

But to be honest, it doesn't conflict with narcissism.

"My God, are you really Kikyo's sister? Hasn't she ever taken you to exorcise demons?" Higanbana was completely speechless. She knew that the other party was a fan of Kikyo, but it was outrageous that she still hadn't realized it.

Your sister brought a monster home!

The other shore flower really wanted to tell her this directly.

"Yes, when monsters appear near the village, my sister will take me there. The monsters are usually very large worms or insects."

Feng even boasted about it.

"I understand now," the spider lily finally understood.

The other party's knowledge about yokai is not very comprehensive, but that makes sense. The dungeon that Kikyo can lead newbies to level up can't possibly be one that has already taken human form like her, otherwise they might have failed halfway through.

"If I were you, seeing someone covered in fatal wounds yet still chatting with you, I would definitely keep a proper distance and be wary of them. Don't you really feel that I'm a little less than human?"

The other shore flower almost explicitly states this.

Upon hearing this, Feng suddenly realized something was amiss. Although he still didn't quite understand the situation, he sensed something strange and asked nervously, "What should I do?"

Don't ask me!

This child is beyond redemption.

Taking a deep breath, Biyanhua suppressed her emotions and continued, "First of all, you should carry a knife behind your back. You should at least have a decent weapon, and you can't let the other party notice anything unusual about you."

"Wait a minute! I'll go find a knife."

Feng quickly got up and left the room.