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Early in the morning, Lily went to the forest near the shrine to practice with her sword.

Compared to the dojo, she preferred this place. First, she was waiting for the certificate and it wasn"t convenient to ask Sakiko to help her with anything. Second, she got something she didn"t want the others to see.

Nanako had washed the clothes pretty late last night so she was still sleeping. Lily didn"t wake her up. She went out alone to practice.

"My sword-play, compared to my Penetration Force and Spirit Power is far too weak. Currently, I"ve reached only the basic level of the Matsuda Clan," said Lily.

Of course, the "Genji Swordstyle" was what Lily wanted to learn the most. However, only the members of the Genji Dojo could buy and learn it after they had become samurais.

After receiving her certificate for pa.s.sing the test and managing her spoils of war, she would go and buy the "Genji Swordstyle" ma.n.u.script. That was what Lily had planned.

"Master, you"ve woken me up that early. What do you want?" the Sakura Parasol leaned against a rock, talking in a low-spirited tone.

"How can a parasol possibly feel sleepy? Oh right, you"re a Shikigami."

At first, Lily used her blue spirit power to wield the sword. Then, she said, "Sakura, I"m using my spirit power to practice with the sword."

"Um, yeah." Sakura replied, "Seems you"ve practiced your Moon Grace well."

"Yes, I"ve mastered the contents of the first Moon Grace book. But it"s not the most important point. First, watch."

Lily urged the red spirit power from the mysterious s.p.a.ce under her lower abdomen she had gotten from Soul Eater.

"Kiaaaa—!" It was a sudden slash. A faint, charming aura emitted from her body. However, the Penetration Force was incredibly strong it made a gust of wind expanding, blowing the gra.s.s.

"Master!" Sakura immediately flew up. "It is… It"s demon fury! The red spirit power"s demon fury!"

Hearing that, Lily was a little bewildered. She retrieved her sword, asking. "It"s what bothers me. I"m obviously a human girl. Why can I… use demon fury. Moreover, it"s even stronger than my common spirit power… Is it… Is it true that I"m a monster but didn"t recognize it myself? Could I be some fox spirit or something…"

"Hehe, Master, you got a coquettish, charming appearance. No wonder you would be mistaken as some fox spirit."

"Who"s coquettish!" Lily blushed, turning anxious.

"Alright, Master, no more joking. First, I"m sure you"re a human, an ordinary human, a female human that can surely give birth and breastfeed. Your reproductive functions are healthy. At this point, you don"t have to worry."

"… You could just say I"m a female human," Lily said with a dark face. Why everybody wants to tease me that much? Am I really attractive?

"Anyway… How a human has demon fury. It"s… Um… I think I know it!"

"Oh? Why?" Lily"s big eyes twinkled, antic.i.p.ating.

"But I can"t remember."

Lily arched her brows. Instantly, she put the Sakura Parasol on the rock and straddled it. Then, she reached her hand back to grab the top of the parasol. It looked like she was attempting to break the parasol!

"Ouch ouch ouch. Master, it hurts… Please don"t sit on my shaft…Master, you smell good!"

"Eh?!" Lily finally recognized it was something wrong the way her body contacted the parasol"s shaft. She hurried to get up and hurl the Sakura Parasol away. "Sakura! You big bully!"

"Sigh, Master…" Sakura shook the shaft as if it hadn"t been satisfied yet. "Alright, Master, no more joking. I can"t remember. You know my memory is insufficient… But I know that red spirit power. That"s demon fury. It"s the basic knowledge of spirit powers anyway."

Lily despondently sat on the rock. "Tell me, I"m listening."

"Master, the red spirit power contains demon fury because it carries resentful fixations."

"Resentful fixations?"

"Yeah, using the harmonious state of nature to absorb the spirit power released by nature, it will be faint blue. But this sort of energy is rare. Everything in the natural world produces a little of it. The red spirit power can be obtained by charming, sucking, and robbing spirit powers of the surrounding living things. Afterward, those living things will wither and die. Although this sort of spirit power will be purer than the natural spirit power, it contains the resentment and fixations, even the unwillingness of things when they die. The fixations seep into the power, making it red."

"Anyway, your spirit power"s nature seems dissimilar to that red true essence. It"s purer with a more genuine red hue. I don"t know why, but it could be because of taking in the red true essence."

Lily remembered that night. Her power rocketed but her surroundings withered and died. Was she really a monster? Or some bad woman?

"Sakura, I used to absorb the red true essence, and I did make things withered and dead. But it was my unconscious behavior. I didn"t want to destroy those innocent flowers and trees."

"Master, your nature is kind-hearted, gentle, and beautiful. Sakura knows it. You don"t need to blame yourself. Things grow unceasingly. Fate comes and goes. It"s the rules of the world. Many kind Shikigamis absorb true essence at a moderate pace. Those withered bodies are all rich sources of nutrition to the soil. The flowers will bloom again in the coming year."

Lily shook her big b.r.e.a.s.t.s, exhaling in relief. "Sakura, I feel better when you said so. Ah, right, this time I went to the mountain to hunt the Mountain Imp, I had absorbed the Mountain Imp"s anima. It"s strange. When the anima container sucked it, it was blue; but when I absorbed it, it was red."

"Master, it"s the resentful spirit."

"Resentful spirit?" Lily felt somewhat scared when she heard that.

"Red spirit power from the flowers, trees, mountains and rivers, when it"s absorbed completely, it becomes true essence. And, when you forcefully absorb the animas, of course, they aren"t willing at all. With vehement resentful fury, they become resentful spirits. The anima containers have some way to delude the souls so they won"t turn resentful. For the Shikigamis, because of our special features, most of the souls we eat will become resentful spirits during the Soul-eating procedure," Sakura explained.

"Oh… Turns out… It happens like that… But the spirit power from the resentful spirits" true essence seems more powerful than the ordinary spirit powers."

"Of course, all the true essence and the monsters" souls are much purer and stronger than the scattered spirit power you can find anywhere in this natural world! Especially animas! That"s why most of the Shikigamis can cultivate fast with the premise that they can capture a lot of animas."

"On the other hand, absorbing true essence of the plants and flowers is to destroy nature, which will acc.u.mulate more and more resentful fixation or energy. It"s harmful to the body for sure and makes it turn more malicious. And, absorbing true essence from wicked monsters with a lot of grave sins, the acc.u.mulation of resentful energy seems very little. Perhaps, it"s the balance between good-doing and evil-doing in this earth and heaven."

"So, if the Shikigamis aren"t starving, we will not go as far as absorbing the true essence of all living things in this natural world. If we do that, the acc.u.mulation of sins will grow. That"s why we go hunting for monsters. We use soul-eating skill to strengthen ourselves. It"s the right and just path to go."

Lily"s bright eyes sparkled. She nodded. It"s true that listening to the Lord"s words for one time is much better than spending ten years to read books.

"Sakura, you know many things! It will be really good if you can recover your memory fully. I wonder what level of anima could help restore your memory?"

"I also forgot about that, Master."

The next several days, Lily and Nanako stayed in Chrysanthemum Inn to practice or study the knowledge in this parallel world. She got benefits from Nanako, indeed. Before Taihara and the others left, they had brought Nanako"s luggage here with so many books her mother had requested her to read to practice martial arts.

Lily really loved reading. Perhaps it was because senior sister was born in a family with a literary reputation. Anyway, Lily couldn"t study the ancient martial arts of Nanako"s family, which was the Kodachi. It wasn"t good to look over other family"s secretly transmitted techniques. Lily was simply Nanako"s master. She didn"t think that she could explore the Saikanji House"s secrets.

Eventually, after one week staying in Chrysanthemum Inn, the notice finally arrived, asking Lily and Nanako to visit the Dojo tomorrow to receive the certificate of being qualified.

Finally, Lily could take the status of a female samurai. Although her competence had soon surpa.s.sed the ordinary samurais, when she received the notice, she was still somewhat excited.