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The village on Lake Biwa’s shore welcomed the veil of night and both Lily and Shimizu had now quietened down to engage in their respective training as they weren’t aware of the specifics of Biwa Palace’s imminent opening.
Lily intended to wait for 10 to 15 days. If the palace didn’t open within this timeframe, she planned to continue her journey west instead of waiting. The reason she had made such a compromise was that the treasure was a prospective assurance in her journey west.
“Which esoteric spirit power art are you training in, Sister Shimizu?”
“The Genji Training Art,” Shimizu continued, “However, the art I have only allowed the practitioner to attain the 7th-stage Awakened level. It would have been impossible to break through to the Spirit Jade level if I hadn’t awakened as Lord Kamakura never imparted the related method to us.”
“How about switching to the esoteric art I’m training in, Sister Shimizu? It’s called Lunar Blossom and is a genuine esoteric ascension art! The Tsukuyomi Swordstyle, too! I’ll teach it to you!”
“You can try teaching me the Tsukuyomi Swordstyle, but it’s impossible to change the spirit power art once you’ve chosen to train in it. I don’t have the resources to retrain in the Lunar Blossom Art and am also unable to do so as our spirit palaces’ have distinct forms and pulses that are attuned to the characteristics of the art that we train in. It’s not something that we can change as we like.”
“I see… is there a continuation to the art you train in, Sis?”
“Of course there is. The art I train is Genji’s ‘Hachiman Divine Soul Art.’ This art is only imparted to the direct descendants of the Genji, so it’s natural that you’re unaware of it. Lord Kamakura, as well as Lord Yoshitsune, both trained in this art. However, I only have the first half…” Shimizu explained.
Lily nodded weakly, “Kansai is the Genji’s homeland, so we may be able to find the second half there, Sis.1”
“Mhm,” Shimizu nodded, “The process of training in an esoteric spirit power art is a long one, so it has a negligible effect on our current journey.”
“Let’s train in the swordstyle first then, Sis. Are you feeling better now?”
“It’s fine. The ribbon you gave me works quite well, and it’s soft and comfy on top of that. It also seems to have a curative effect on the physiological side, so you have my thanks for it.”
“Good, then. Let’s go, Sis. I’ll teach you the Tsukuyomi Swordstyle.”
Shimizu nodded with slightly complicated feelings welling up inside her. After all, it was quite embarrassing for an older sister to have the little sister teach her.
As Shimizu didn’t wish to enter the mirror space, Lily and Shimizu were forced to visit an open space in the woods behind the village. It was deep into the night right now and the open space was 100 m away from the village, so they believed no one would disturb them.
Lily performed the first and second movements of Tsukuyomi Swordstyle’s First Path.
“Train along with me, Sister Shimizu.”
“Alright,” Shimizu nodded.
However…
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Shimizu, who possessed a constitution that made her sweat rarely, ended up with a sweat-drenched body in the middle of the night because of the training.
Her sword fell to the side, and she kneeled down weakly.
“It’s not working. Is this swordstyle really effective? How come I’m not feeling any results at all? I also feel an energy drain whenever I practice and feel so fatigued. It fills me with discomfort, too…”
“That’s not possible, Sis. This is the real Tsukuyomi Swordstyle. The more I train in it, the better my body becomes. It feels quite pleasant and also boosts my womanliness…”
Lily wasn’t trying to persuade Shimizu. In fact, she could feel that she had gained the comprehensive qualities of a celestial maiden after perfecting the Tsukuyomi Swordstyle’s First Path. If she were a man, she believed that the body she possessed right now would’ve captivated her wholly.
“Is it really that better?” Shimizu asked with flushed cheeks.
“Yes, Sis. I’ll perform it for you once again. Look carefully.”
Although Shimizu’s talent was slightly worse than Lily’s, she was undoubtedly a peerless genius, so it was quite easy for her to memorize a sword art.
She focused her mind and practiced the Tsukuyomi Swordstyle wholeheartedly once again and replicated Lily’s movements tenaciously without compromising even if she felt discomfort.
However, Shimizu felt an ancient and unfathomable power suppress her whole body when she did so and felt a chill in the depths of her soul.
“Pfft!” Shimizu spewed out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the earth weakly.
“Sister Shimizu!” Lily rushed over to hug the fallen Shimizu, “What happened to you?!”
Shimizu’s complexion had paled, “I tried to perfectly replicate the movements and rhythm you showed me, but I felt my blood flow reverse along with a shiver in my soul… it felt as if a fearsome power was on the verge of devastating my body… I can’t train this, Lil’ Sis! I can’t train this swordstyle no matter what happens. I have a feeling that I might place my life in danger if I train it forcibly. I’m also unable to sense the power fluctuations at all…”
“How could it be like this…”
Lily also became convinced that Shimizu couldn’t train in the Tsukuyomi Swordstyle after seeing how she had ended up.
This is too unbelievable. It’s one thing to fail in learning the swordstyle, but why did she end up like this? I am able to practice the Tsukuyomi Swordstyle as if it were made for me, so why is Sister Shimizu unable to learn it at all and why did she suffer such a powerful backlash? She’s still able to practice the fake mystic swordstyle version, so why is she unable to learn the real Tsukuyomi Swordstyle? Is it possible that it can only be trained by the women who possess the real mirrors?
Lily had no clue about the exact reason for this. She helped Shimizu back to their room in the inn after that. Shimizu lied down on the bedding quite weakly.
“I’m going to rest for a while, Lil’ Sis Lily. You can train first…”
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Shimizu had bled out consecutively on this day. The first was blood loss from below and the second was throwing up blood, so she was in a pretty feeble condition right now.
“I’m sorry, Sis. It’s all my fault… I caused you harm because I thought it was a clever suggestion…” Lily stated worriedly with guilt.
“Yes, it’s all because of you. I’ll spank you once I get better.”
“Sis… just forget about spanking my butt,” Lily’s cheeks blushed hard. Lily’s mindset had gradually changed along with the elevation of her strength and status. After becoming a powerful, responsible and dashing samurai woman, she found it harder and harder to accept being punished and disciplined like a feeble woman as in the past. The elevation in strength also elevated the level of shame she felt through punishment, so she felt a lot more reluctant to undergo it.
However, Shimizu’s teasing words worked to reassure Lily’s mind a little. It suggested that Shimizu wasn’t really miffed at her and that the backlash wasn’t that grave. Lily believed that Shimizu would recover after getting some proper rest.
Lily fetched a basin of water and wiped Shimizu’s body for her, after which the latter fell asleep soundly while Lily returned to begin her training.
Lily entered the mirror space and felt ashamed after seeing her boy soul look prettier and sexier than a girl in the translucent, revealing outfit that she was dressed in. She escaped into the room that had the Lunar Blossom monolith immediately as she didn’t wish to talk with Kagura at the moment.
Lily had attained the Spirit Jade level, so she could continue training Lunar Blossom further now and continue from the 3rd book. Lily had finished going through the 1st book which was an introduction to spirit power and the 2nd book which detailed the process of forming the spirit jade. However, she had just given them a careful look over as it wasn’t necessary to understand their contents deeply to train Lunar Blossom. As such, the 3rd book described the training process from the Spirit Jade level onward.
The so-called 3rd book was just a paragraph of characters engraved on the monolith from bottom to top in the form of lines that conformed from the 3rd line to the 9th line.
The lines contained somewhere between a few tens to hundreds of characters variably.
Lily sat in seiza before the monolith and began reading the characters on it. The indisputable yet graceful intent infused in the engraved characters was quite helpful to understand the meaning of the characters in the 3rd line.
To perfect the 9th line was to hit the limit of the Spirit Jade level, which was then followed by the most difficult trial after the Heavenly Gate for a blade maiden on the pathway to ascension, breaking through to the Permanence level!
However, Lily didn’t need to worry about this much as she would have to deal with it in the distant future. She focused her mind on training in the 3rd line instead.
The mirror space boosted her training speed incredibly, so she chose to train with her consciousness inside it.
However, some parts required her to come in contact with moonlight physically, so she disrobed her outer garments and bathed in the moonlight that cascaded into the room and shifted her consciousness back into the mirror space to train. Lily began sensing the training’s effects on her outside body and the soul inside the mirror space gradually.
The feeling of the distant moonlight originating from Tsukuyomi in the sky assimilating into her skin gradually enlightened Lily about the mysticalness and beauty of the moon.
The moon was second only to the sun in this world and an eternal existence with authority over the night. It possessed unfathomable power that exceeded the limits of mortals, monsters and the whole Heian mainland!
In order to gain enlightenment of this eternal existence’s power, it required one to observe and comprehend the moon and feel the moonlight.
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This was the essence of Lunar Blossom. It allowed the practitioner to comprehend the divine power of the Eternal Moon!
A lot of unimaginable powers existed in the natural world and some humans were enlightened to fire while some were enlightened to life itself. There were also some who gained inspiration by watching rainfall. In the same manner, Lunar Blossom was a means to comprehend the moon and feel its waxing and waning, rise and fall, brightness and darkness. It was the same as understanding a part of the vast, majestic, flawless and elegant Goddess Tsukuyomi’s life.
Absorbing even the tiniest bit from all this provided huge benefits.
The source of lunar force, its means of condensation and its flow, these were the fundamentals of training moonlight spirit power!
The increase in spirit reserves was just a part of the ascension process as ascending to the next level and increasing the depth of perception were the truly important aspects of it.
Lily began to truly sense the vastness of the Moonlight Pathway from the 3rd line onwards as the 1st book just described the foundational art to absorb spirit power.
It was only possible to induce a gradual change in the magatama inside her body by gaining deeper enlightenment of the moon and ultimately absorb spirit power infused with minute amounts of lunar force.
If this were achieved, just an iota of lunar force would give her access to tremendous power.
However, this was too difficult to achieve.
Lily could only feel the moonlight fuzzily right now.
Lily opened her eyes and discovered that dawn had arrived. There wasn’t much sense in training Lunar Blossom without the moon and Lily also sensed that different phases of the moon influenced her training and enlightenment differently.
A new moon filled her with emptiness and a full moon raised her body’s sensitivity as well as her perception to the highest degree while the waxing and waning moons made her susceptible to gain enlightenment about sorrow.
Lily had just begun training in the Moonlight Pathway of the Eternal Moon and had vaguely found the direction she needed to take under the guidance of Lunar Blossom’s 3rd line with a night-full of enlightenment. However, she was still quite far from ascending to the next level and gaining access to the lunar force.
Lily had the mirror space and was also blessed with highly perceptive powers, so she possessed a truly monstrous ascension speed in the East despite taking it step by step!
Lily couldn’t bear to wake up the still asleep Shimizu, so she came to the window and watched the multideck ship still moored at the shore. Lily also spotted a lot more samurai and powerhouses on the street than last night since it was dawn now.
Although the water of Lake Biwa was quite pretty, Lily couldn’t take a bath in it with so many people present outside, so she just went to the women’s bath in the back of the inn to wash up.