Yoshika rushed to Ienaga’s side. Jia put pressure on her wound to staunch the bleeding while Meili removed the gag preventing her from speaking. Master Ienaga coughed, wincing in pain as the motion aggravated her injury.

“Girls...I wish you hadn’t come here, but I can’t say I’m not happy to see you.”

Jia shook her head.

“Don’t talk yet, this is a serious wound and you don’t have the ki to regenerate it even if it wasn’t coupled with spiritual damage.”

Yumi grunted in acknowledgement. Once Eui was finished confirming that Rika was okay, she left her in Kaede’s hands to go help their master.

“Stay still, I’m going to get rid of these restraints first...”

She flooded the shackles with Destruction essence, disrupting the enchantments and disintegrating the restraints themselves. It was a dangerous way to handle formations, but Yoshika was in a hurry, and just forcibly suppressed the backlash with her domain.

Eui circulated Wood essence through her Tranquility of the Verdant Marsh technique and began to infuse Master Ienaga’s body with its life-giving power. Through the technique’s feedback, Eui gained a sense of Ienaga’s condition, furrowing her brows.

“I can forcibly repair the damage to your organs, but the spiritual damage is another story. The damage left by that sword disrupted your spiritual body, the flesh itself effectively isn’t you anymore until you can fix it.”

Master Ienaga gritted her teeth and sighed.

“I’ll live.”

“You might not. Your spiritual body is rejecting the ‘false’ shape of your physical form. It’s hard to heal because it’s trying to revert into your true shape—with a big hole in your side and half your guts destroyed.”

Eui’s power had closed the wound and stopped the bleeding, but the only thing keeping it from opening itself back up was the fact that Ienaga’s essence was almost completely exhausted. Jia produced the best neutral mana crystal they had in their soul realm and offered it to Master Ienaga.

“Here. It’s hard for you to cultivate without external aids, right?”

Ienaga eyed the crystal with surprise and wonder.

“That's...a very valuable item you’re offering.”

“It’s not more valuable than you. Just be careful—you need to repair your spiritual body before you do any other cultivation or your wounds will reopen.”

Her master frowned.

“That’s going to leave me vulnerable.”

“The alternative leaves you dead! Don’t argue!”

Yumi chuckled.

“You’ve grown impertinent since I last saw you.”

Jia rolled her eyes.

“Don’t argue, please, master.”

“Better.”

Kaede shook her head, leaving Meili to treat Rika as she took in their surroundings.

“Jokes aside, we’re still trapped deep within enemy territory. Yu Meiren isn’t dead, and I don’t think she’s going to let us leave without a fight. What the hell happened here?”

Yumi staggered to her feet, clutching the mana crystal in her palm and already using her combat meditation techniques to slowly repair the spiritual damage.

“Shogun Hayakawa has thrown his lot in with Sovereign Longyan. I’m not sure when exactly it started, but I can at least confirm that the city itself hadn’t yet fallen when we escorted you to the Bloody Sovereign’s tomb.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t already in league with each other. I had wondered how the demonic forces managed to infiltrate their fiend allies into Qin. If they had my father’s cooperation, then it makes more sense.”

Yumi nodded.

“I think that also explains the unusually large number of beast waves from around that time as well. A way to foment conflict along the border, perhaps?”

“It doesn’t matter now. How were you captured?”

“The shogun met me on the way back from Jiaguo. I gave myself up thinking that I could simply argue my case once brought back here to the capital, but once I agreed to his terms, that demon’s domain entrapped me, and I was ambushed by her and Longyan.”

Jia grimaced bitterly.

“The demon lord is here too? We’re in bigger trouble than I thought...”

Ienaga furrowed her brows and clenched her teeth.

“This is my fault! If I hadn’t been so naive, you would never have needed to rescue me. I brought you into this with the naive hope that Hayakawa and my father could be convinced to make peace with you, when all they ever want is more power and greater conflicts in which to earn their glory. I’m sorry.”

Meili dropped to one knee and wrapped their master in a warm embrace.

“Don’t say that. You did the right thing. You couldn’t have known that our father was working with the demons.”

Kaede nodded.

“Besides, casting blame gets us nowhere. What matters now is how we escape. The method we used to get here was a one way trip, and the more we dally the more time Yu Meiren has to recover.”

Eui finished treating Rika’s injuries, standing up and wiping her brow.

“We should have used the kamikiri we recovered from Kurokawa—I bet that would have left a real mark.”

Jianmo scoffed.

“I don’t hate sharing, but are you trying to make me jealous? I can do anything that old trinket can do and then some.”

She raised her eyebrow at the demonic sword.

“You’ve never mentioned that before.”

“You never asked! Besides, what part of ‘soul devouring demon blade’ do you not understand? If you want to really put the hurt on your immortal foes, let me take a bite out of them!”

“How?”

The sword grunted.

“It would have been easier if you were still a demon, but I suppose my old master managed just fine. Extend your essence through my blade the way you already do, but instead of just sending power out, try to draw it in as well. Try to remember the hunger you felt as a demon.”

“So like dual cultivation?”

“Oooh, I don’t hate that dirty mind of yours, but no, not quite. You’re not drawing essence from me, you’re drawing it from the things I cut. Not just destroying, but reclaiming.”

Eui scowled.

“That doesn’t sound very compatible with my Destruction element.”

“Honey, please—I’m practically made of the stuff. It’ll work just fine with a little practice.”

Before they could go any further, Yumi cut in, her face twisted into a deep frown.

“Hold on, did you just say you had one of the kamikiri? How?!”

Kaede withdrew the blade from her Soul Realm. She frowned at the unusual amount of effort it took, but shook it off and presented it to her master.

“Here—we recovered it from Lord Kurokawa after we defeated him in a duel. I think it was left in his hands as a sort of threatening message.”

Ienaga took the blade and examined it closely, scrutinizing every detail.

“You’re right that it was a message, but perhaps not the one you think. This isn’t a kamikiri—or perhaps I should say it’s not an original kamikiri.”

Kaede blinked.

“What do you mean?”

“There were originally only two godslayers—well, three, but one was destroyed. This is a replica.”

“But I can feel the power in it—equal to or even greater than the sword you used to carry.”

Yumi nodded.

“It’s a very good replica. Perhaps even comparable to the originals, but it’s newly made. My master’s work, I’m certain of it.”

“We knew Murayoshi was missing, but do you think he’s working with them?”

She frowned.

“Not by choice. But...it would be far from the first time my uncle was coerced into doing something distasteful against his will.”

“We’ll figure it out later. For now, let’s make an escape plan.”

Yoshika started by evaluating the situation. Their greatest immediate threat was Yu Meiren. Though they’d driven her off for the time being, her presence still lingered. Yoshika could sense her through the twisted snarl of a connection that their domains had formed after Yu Meiren had declared her grudge a year prior.

The demon was predictable. She would use whatever tactics she could to force Yoshika to hesitate. Targeting Ienaga and Rika was obvious enough, but if pushed she would resort to threatening innocent civilians or worse. Yoshika wasn’t sure what worse meant, but she was certain that Yu Meiren would find a way.

Protecting them was therefore top priority. Once Rika was nursed back to consciousness, she was the first to offer a potential solution.

“Can’t we just hide in your soul realm? Or actually, your soul realm is connected to Jiaguo, can it not act as a pathway back there?”

Jia wobbled her head uncertainly.

“Eh, sort of? It could, if we still had a physical presence there, but all of our bodies are right here.”

“What about your spirit-form?”

“It’s just a simulacrum—a puppet we use to represent ourselves when we need to be ‘Yoshika.’ If it was a real part of us, then it would have ended up here too.”

Rika scowled and scratched her head.

“But we can still enter your soul realm, right?”

Jia smiled apologetically.

“Well...you can. Maybe.”

“What does that mean?”

Before she could answer, Jianmo chimed in from Eui’s hip.

“Oh, I know this one! I used to have a soul realm myself, before it was so rudely torn out of me. Our dearest Yoshika has made a bit of a mistake by keeping her core hidden away in the spirit world. How did it feel to pull out that sword earlier?”

Jia scratched her cheek awkwardly.

“Not great. It was weirdly...heavy?”

“Heavy’s a good word for it. Everything has a spiritual ‘weight’ to it, and moving things to and from your soul realm requires your soul to carry that weight across the threshold from one world to another. You’ve been able to cheat so far by making sure one of you stays both physically and spiritually close to your core, but now that you’re all here, hundreds of miles away, you’re feeling the weight.”

Rika shook her head.

“I’m not following.”

Yumi adjusted the belt on the robe Yoshika had lent her, pursing her lips.

“I think I understand. The weight needs to be carried across both the physical and spiritual distances. Yoshika is always spiritually close to Jiaguo, but right now she is physically distant. Thus, the effort required to move things is much greater.”

Jia nodded.

“Things with a lot of spiritual energy are harder to move, like enchanted weapons, or anything with a soul. Rika might be weak enough that we could manage it, though it would be exhausting.”

Rika winced.

“Ouch. I mean, I know I’m falling behind, but it hurts to hear.”

“Sorry! But Master Yumi’s soul is far too heavy for that. Until we get back to Jiaguo, we can’t bring her into our soul realm.”

Ienaga’s eyes widened.

“‘Master Yumi’?”

“Oh! I’m so sorry, that was disrespectful!”

She shook her head.

“No, I think I like it. It pays deference to our history as master and student, while acknowledging that we are also friends and peers. May I use your given names as well?”

Yoshika nodded in unison.

“Of course!”

Rika chuckled and rolled her shoulder.

“Well that’s heartwarming and all, but I think we’ve wasted enough time. If Master Ienaga’s stuck out here, then I’ll stay too. No sense letting you wear yourself out just because I’m too weak to manage on my own.”

Jia knew that she’d only insult her friend even more by arguing, so instead she made a compromise. Reaching deep into her soul realm, she opened the Bloody Sovereign’s hidden vault. She’d been keeping its existence a secret for Jiaguo’s entire lifetime, letting the artifacts sit idle within.

No more. Her friend and master were in danger, and she wasn’t going to hold anything back to keep them safe.

The artifacts were too powerful to bring out en masse. Jianmo was right, she really had messed up by keeping her core sequestered away in the spirit world—not that she had much of a choice with it attached to the sovereign’s tear. She was only strong enough to manage two—a pair of hand wraps for Rika, and a curved blade with a similar style to Yamato weapons for Yumi.

Jia wiped a bit of sweat off her brow as she presented the items to them.

“Take these. I’m...not sure what they do, exactly, but they are divine artifacts. They should help keep you safe.”

Master Yumi accepted the sword, a look of wonder on her face.

“Where did you...? No, never mind. You can tell me later. I’ll do my best not to hold you back.”

Rika just grinned as she wrapped the enchanted cloth around her hands and wrists, the power within surging through her.

“That’s our Yoshika—the moment you think she’s done surprising you she pulls a stunt like this.”

She punched her fists together, psyching herself up.

“Alright! There’s six of us, and only a few hundred demons in our way. The poor things have us outnumbered. Let’s show them just how strong Jiaguo’s fearless leader really is!”

Yoshika couldn’t help but giggle at her enthusiasm, forced though it may have been.

She’d do her best to live up to Rika’s confidence.