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Within a dimly lit cold stone room, Lily and Uesugi Rei were carrying out a secret training.

“Un, just like that… no, that’s not right! That’s not how you do it, Sister Uesugi, you do it like this…”

“Eh, that’s strange, how come I can’t get free at all?” A long time had already passed and Uesugi Rei was drenched in sweat. She still couldn’t break free since she was prohibited from using spirit power and only relied on a woman’s innate strength. As such, she gazed at Lily somewhat bitterly.

“Um, but…” Lily also felt helpless, “that shouldn’t be possible.”

Likewise, Lily was also sweating buckets, “C-could it be that Sister Uesugi… don’t have talent in this aspect?”

“Huuuuh?” Even though she was bound to the wooden bench, Uesugi Rei still forced herself to lift her head. It looked quite taxing on her but she still laughed brightly, “Hahahahahaha, this is fun, so very fun.”

“How is this any fun?”

“To think I actually have moments like this. Since birth, I’ve been able to do anything perfectly, but this escaping technique is beyond me, it seems that I am not as good as Lil’ Lily,” Rei said as her ponytail slid down her shoulder.

“I doubt it, Sister Uesugi seems to get lost easily.”
“Hehe, I guess you’re right. Oh well, it seems that I have no talent in this, let’s just stop here for today. Care to release me now?” Uesugi Rei urged.
“Sure.”

As Lily gazed upon Uesugi Rei who lay atop the bench in a messy fashion, she couldn’t help but lament about the beauty of a yukata-clad Sister Uesugi being bound by the rope.

“You obviously have talent in another sense,” Lily grumbled in her heart.

“Um…” Lily suggested, “Maybe it’s my fault, how about we try binding you in a different way?”

“Huh?” Uesugi Rei was surprised for a moment, but then she smiled, “Fine then.”

Lily took out a long and thin hand towel from her bosom.

“What will you do with that towel?” Uesugi Rei asked with a smile.

“Sister Uesugi, just maybe… you couldn’t understand the true essence of this escaping technique because you are always so confident and free-willed? Or perhaps it’s just because you don’t feel even a bit nervous?”

“Heh? Well, it’s true that I don’t feel nervous at all though.”

Lily felt helpless in the face of Uesugi Rei’s self-confidence, that’s right, she’s always like this, there’s no way she would show her nervous side to me.

“Sister Uesugi, I wouldn’t be able to teach you if you keep that mindset,” Teaching wasn’t Lily’s forte to begin with, to teach under this circumstance was already kind of forcing it.

“There, there, don’t be angry, big sis is just joking with you. I’ll take it a little more seriously now, alright?” Uesugi Rei tried to soothe her.

This actually made Lily feel more frustrated. Getting consoled by a woman who she had bound really made her a bit furious.

“Lil’ Lily, how should we do it? Big sis will coordinate with you ok? You can do it any way you like so long as big sis can learn it.”
“Any way I like?”
“Mhm, that’s right, as long as it’s you, I won’t mind it.”
“Fine then.”

Lily got up and approached Uesugi Rei’s back, then she lifted her skirt to expose her sexy buttocks without saying anything. Covering her nether region was a slightly translucent black G-string with a cute flower print that didn’t fit Uesugi Rei’s image.

Uesugi Rei was also caught off guard at this sudden action. She turned her head around and shouted with a frown, “What are you doing?! You dare to lift big sis’ skirt?”

Seeing Uesugi Rei panic like this, Lily felt more relaxed for some reason, she only said with a delicate tone, “Didn’t Sister Uesugi say I can do it however I want? Just for your information, if Sister Uesugi really gets caught, do you think those bad people will let such an alluring and haughty prey go? What I am doing is already quite mild, if big sis can’t even adapt to this, how will you be able to use the escaping technique? What then?”

“Urk… that’s reasonable, then… let’s do it,” as headstrong as Rei was, even she was starting to blush a little.

Lily then proceeded to use the towel to cover Rei’s mouth.
For a split second, Lily could feel Rei’s body shaking.

Lily bent down and whispered in Rei’s slightly flushed ear, “Sister Uesugi, I will repeat the escaping method to you one more time, then I will go out to meditate by the waterfall for a while. I hope that when I get back later, Sister Uesugi will have already learned the escaping technique.”

Rei tried to speak, but since her mouth was covered by a towel, she could only let out muffled sounds. This was a huge contrast to her usual self, therefore she stopped making any sound and frowned. However, to not show Lily such a nervous appearance, she stopped frowning and nodded slightly.

With that, Lily left her there by herself. However, when Lily took some distance and saw her beautiful side profile, a feeling of reluctance welled up in her heart. Such a powerful woman was lying helplessly before her eyes and it was such a rare chance that she got to order her around like this, for a moment, Lily felt that Uesugi Rei belonged to her and even had the urge to kiss her face.

“No! No way! Just what am I thinking! It’s only natural that I help Sister Uesugi to practice, but it’s a crime to think I can kiss her just because she’s unable to resist! I would have not just betrayed Sister Uesugi’s trust but also failed to live up to Sister Rinne!”

Ignoring Rei’s somewhat doubtful gaze, Lily quickly ran out of the underground prison and tightly shut the door!

After she left the building, Lily came before the waterfall and let the mist splash on her face to cool down.

“The falling flowers are yearning for love, but the heartless brook ripples on.”¹

She was the brook and her only destination was the ocean, there’s no way a brook could just stop and linger at the same place.

As she calmed down, Lily sat cross-legged before the waterfall and watched the flowing stream. Yet the image of cherry blossoms gently floating down was reflected in her heart. With the contrast of her feelings and the scenery before her, she had a new realization in the midst of her struggle and suffering.

“Although it’s not love, it is a fact that I have feelings for Rei. Or at the very least, a very favorable impression. This might be wrong, but that’s my true feeling, it’s not something I can reject.”

Lily lifted her head to look at the roaring waterfall. Uesugi Rei caused the waterfall to freeze once, but as the spirit power dissipated after a short while later, it had naturally returned to its original state.

“Sister Uesugi, rather than lying to myself… I must admit that I do have some friendly feelings for you and maybe I even like you a bit, especially with what happened earlier… But just because I feel this way doesn’t mean I should indulge in these feelings! Even if my heart pounds for Sister Uesugi, I have to endure it and maintain my loyalty to Sister Rinne. Only then would I have truly passed the test of love! Lily will endure all the temptations this world throw at me, I will restrain myself and use this as an opportunity to temper my mind!”

“Though joy may come for a fleeting moment, in the end it will fade like the inevitable falling of a flower’s petals.“²³

“Lily’s that kind of lonely, pitiful woman who’s stupidly in love with Sister Rinne.”

Lily’s passionate and sorrowful feelings had somehow touched upon a very subtle yet marvelous aspect of the world’s spirit power.

Cherry blossoms appeared from thin air as they drifted between the waterfall.

A lot more blossoms manifested compared to the “Sakura Fall”⁴ from last time. The range was also wider and their colors appeared twice as poignant under the dim light of night. They were quite similar to… those short-lived tiny snowflakes.

It was at this time Lily suddenly realized she had touched upon the starting point of the “domain”. Though it was still very vague and indistinct at the moment. Naturally, she had already grasped the principle of the “intent”.

It was true that Lily had good opinions of Sister Uesugi, but the stronger her feelings, the more she had to restrain herself. It was mainly because she wasn’t really an ordinary girl from this era.

Her sorrow, helplessness, and melancholy had inadvertently prompted Lily’s “intent” to evolve into a higher level. It was more distinct and stable now, she could spread it out further than ever. Now, Lily was just one step further from manifesting her own ‘domain’.

I wonder what kind of domain will mine be and just what kind of scenery my mind will manifest in the outside world?

1. An idiom: one side is willing, yet the other one remains indifferent (usually of unrequited love)
2. Silva: Got help from Ren of WuxiaWorld to translate. Tried asking in QQ, the author doesn’t even remember writing this part, they be like: Huh, d-did I write this? I was about to ask who wrote such a great poem, and it turns out that was “me”. *Smug*
3. Interesting fact from a Chinese fan, might contain a slight spoiler, read at your own discretion:

   In this context, it’s referring to a premonition of sorts.
   That line means that she feels she wouldn’t have anything left if not for this feeling for her senior sister, so she didn’t dare to love someone else even though she knew she couldn’t remain like this.
   It’s just like Hui Yueji; Bayi Yonglin had been her companion for thousands of years, and she was her emotional support. However, in the end Hui Yueji feels that she likes Tengyuan Meihong, but this would be unfair for Bayi Yonglin. Therefore, she could only suppress her feeling for Meihong.
   (I’m not sure if these characters are from an entirely different novel or if they will appear in future DSM chapters)
   If we link this chapter of [Sword Maiden] to the later chapters, we can assume that the senior sister is Lily’s emotional support at this time, and also her shackles.
   If she gives up on her senior sister, the Lily at this timeline would have nothing left to strive for.
   She will have nothing left, that’s why she’s distressed.
   Later on, when Lily found some other emotional support, her train of thoughts will change.
   This, in my opinion, is [Sword Maiden]’s selling point.

4. Refer back to chapter 152