(Manami POV)
I looked up at the tall torii gate that marks the entrance to our village.
Before I was crippled, I had a Cultivation Technique inscribed on the torii gate that took me about a half a decade to perfect and finish.
Without the village guardian or the leader's permission, the village will remain hidden behind an illusion. Of course if someone strong enough were to come by and knew the exact location of the village, they could still dispel such an illusion with enough effort.
The bear monster that had attacked us before had an excellent sense of smell which allowed it to locate our village and attack it. But normal humans should not be able to see through it.
I stepped through the gate boundary, letting the illusion fade and the village appearing before me.
A few of the foxes who had been close to the gate stopped in their tracks when they saw me.
I made sure that all my tails were on full display as I sauntered into the village, giving those who had shunned me that little faceslap.
One of the girls ran up to me, her six tails trailing after her.
She was a little shorter than me and her waist length hair was a dark maroon colour. Her tails matched her hair colour and unlike me who prefers wearing kimonos, she wore a simple robe and pants.
"Manami! You've returned!"
I glanced at the girl without slowing my speed, "Yes Shizuri, I have returned. Is there something you're after by coming to me?"
"Hmm? Can't I just welcome my fellow sister back?"
"Ara? I do not remember us being sisters."
She pouted at me, "How mean, Manami! Do you not remember the fun times we had together?"
"I most definitely do not remember having fun with a rabid dog."
"Ehehehe~ You're making me blush."
I spun on my heel, my palm shooting out to stop her hand from coming closer to me. Gripped tightly within that hand was a knife inches away from my abdomen.
"Would the rabid dog mind not disturbing me? I'm on a very busy schedule today and have no time for putting down useless things like you."
"Ehehehe~~ But I really, really, really like you, Manami. Won't you bleed a little for me?"
"You really should have that head of yours checked. Last I remembered, you had not even bothered to help the village leader when she was captured."
"Hmmm? Why should I care about her? I'd very much rather you had went there and gotten yourself mauled by those monsters. It would have been such a beautiful sight!" She exclaimed, holding her flushed cheeks with both her hands.
Yes, this girl has an extremely weird obsession with bleeding me. She's a psycho, basically.
I turned back, resuming my approach to the village leader's house.
"Eh~~ Are you ignoring me Manami? Don't be so mean! I want to know about your destined mate! Let's talk abou--"
My tail pierced through her chest, flinging her against the wall nearby.
Her body slid onto the floor when my tail retracted back, slumping down on to the ground lifelessly.
Ugh... I'm going to have to wash my tail thoroughly later.
I pushed open the door to the village leader's house, finding a girl smaller in size than Cai Hong with pure, white hair sitting on an elevated platform at the end of a spacious room. Her single tail straightened up behind her back when she saw me enter.
She put down the book she had been holding in her hand, "Welcome back Manami... How is your mate?"
"Master is as well as he can be, thank you for your concern, Shiro."
"Think nothing of it, I do owe him my life. I assume that you've come back here for something you need?"
I sat down in front of her, tucking my legs under me, "Yes. Heaven Sect will be holding a New Year Festival soon, we need girls to perform."
Shiro raised an eyebrow at me, "You are thinking of..."
"Indeed, it's a good chance for the girls to find their mates, they will surely jump at the opportunity."
Shiro scratched her chin in thought, "That would certainly benefit us... Could I know what the festival entails?"
I fished out the list of activities Master had planned for the event, passing it to her.
She glanced through the list quickly, nodding her head at the contents, "This is indeed quite an event. I am unaware that the famed Master Lin has such an ability in entertaining the masses."
"I had been unaware of this fact as well. Master is truly a Divine Being beyond our understanding."
She raised an eyebrow at me, "Don't you think you're overpraising him a little?"
My tails waved in the air behind me.
"Point taken," Shiro sighed.
While I hold no enmity towards her, I am not exactly cordial towards her either. With how she had abandoned me when I was crippled, it was hard to maintain a friendly facade. She is well aware of that fact too, another reason why she had let me go so easily, even if it meant losing the strongest village guardian in our village's history.
When I was crippled, I had to live outside the village in a cave some distance away in the blistering cold.
Shizuri was placed second in terms of strength in the village after me but she also possessed a certain special constitution unique to her.
When I still had my full strength, I could still fend off her crazy advances easily enough. But after I was crippled, no one would help me stop her or protect me from her.
Most of the other villagers had also turned to scorn me for my mistake as well.
Of course, things are different now after Master had restored my tails.
For the one who had pulled me out of my half a century of misery, Master can only be my god.
"I will inform the other girls of this and send them your way. You can take them to wherever you need to then. Please try not to be too harsh on them."
"Ara ara? Since when have I been such a brute to my fellow sisters, Shiro? I don't abandon my sisters."
Shiro bowed her head to me, "For what it's worth Manami... I really regret not being able to help you in your time of need... For that, I am deeply sorry."
"Fufufu~~ It's all water under the bridge now, little Shiro. After all, it was because of this that I've met my destined mate and I will never give that up for anything in the world."
Although I say little, she's at least a few decades older than I was.
"I must also mention that if Shizuri were to choose to go... I won't be able to stop her."
"Ufufufu~ Let her come then, I'll kill her as many times as I need to."
She said nothing to my mention of killing her, raising her head back to stare at me silently.
"I shall stay at my old cave for a few days," I stated, standing back up on my feet. I did not want to stay here longer than I have to.
"Do send the interested girls to me, won't you?"
Shiro nodded, "Please send my thanks and regards to Master Lin."
I gave her a backwards wave before stepping out of the room, walking straight into Shizuri who was looking up at me fondly with her robes stained red with blood. A pair of knives were grasped in her hands, ready to stab at me.
"Ehehehe~ Are you done with the meeting already, Manami? Could we perhaps play no--"
I sliced my hand across her neck, the Astral blade that formed cutting her head clean off. That should take her a few hours to come back from.
Ah yes, an explanation.
This demented fox had received a 'gift' from some similarly demented god at a birth, making her unable to die permanently. She's an undead, basically.
No matter what happens to her, she would reform back wholly intact after some time.
I have tried dismembering her and tossing her body parts in several different locations, but she just reforms up all intact at where her head had been, the other limbs disappearing from their thrown locations.
Unfortunately, she uses this to her advantage to constantly bug me which I could do nothing about.
I shouldn't have accepted her request back then to please each other.
She had bitten me during one of her climaxes and apparently got hooked on the taste of my blood.
I'm just glad that she hadn't known I returned back to the village for the Sect Request with Master on that day.
Though the thought of consulting Master about her curse had crossed my mind, I felt it was inconsequential and Master shouldn't trouble himself with such trivial matters.
Oh well, now I just need to keep this crazy little girl away from Master if she decides to show up for the festival.
Unlike before, I can take care of her myself now.
Besides, I have more important matters to attend to right now.
