<h4>Volume 8 - Higanbana: Chapter 12 – Peak-stage Permanence</h4>


    “Then, what do we have to do to treat Lady Kimiko’s wounds? What if Lady Ayaka or grandpa Mitae here? Can they treat her?” Lily asked.


    “All three of us have our strengths, but I think… even if the three of us work together, the chances are still slim… unless…”


    “Unless what?”


    Shinsenen looked out the window at the skies outside, “It is said, up in Takamagahara, there is a particrly gorgeous dance that some celestial maidens can perform, if you can obtain a certain item when those celestial maidens dance then there might be a possibility. The item is called the Celestial Pure Water, it is said this liquid can heal any injury possible, besides bringing the dead back to life, there is nothing it cannot cure.”


    “Celestial Pure Water? A type of celestial maiden dance?” Lily’s eyes were wide open in shock, if it was just a celestial maiden dance, then she knew a few, but a dance that had healing powers? And what was this celestial pure water? Lily had no idea.


    “That is only a legend, miss Lily, it might just be nothing but wishful thinking… Celestial maidens no longer descend into this world so where would we look for celestial pure water… but don’t worry, I will do my best. Even if I cannot cure Tamamo, with her powerful vitality, I can still maintain her life for ten years, no, twenty years. Only… that’s still a very short time for a nine tailed fox, far too short… and if her wounds are not cured, then it will be difficult for her to regain her previous strength…”


    Lily let out a breath, although the situation was still serious, as long as Tamamo could live. Within ten to twenty years, she would definitely find a method to cure her! The time she had spent training had not passed a year and she had improved so much!


    “Then I shall offer my thanks for madam Shinsenen’s efforts to heal Lady Kimiko.”


    Once again, Rei and Natsu bowed in gratitude.


    “The treatment process will need a month, everyday at a specific time for two hours, at that time there can be no disturbances, I will need you to arrange guards.”


    “Allow me to guard Lady Kimiko.” Rei stood up.


    Lily’s eyes met Rei’s as she nodded.


    “Then I shall start the treatment now, I will need someone to prepare some water and other necessities, the others, please leave.”


    “Allow me.” Natsu spoke up.


    After saluting, Lily and Rei left the room.


    “Lily, what is Lady Ayaka’s situation now?”


    Lily shook her head, “Without Lady Kimiko’s assistance, the voice transmission orb cannot establish a connection…”


    Either way, Tamamo should temporarily be out of danger. Shinsenen seemed to have extraordinary methods and it was true that if she wanted to harm Tamamo, there was nothing they could do, there was no need to go through such an borate ploy to trick them. Lily felt that Shinsenen really wanted to heal Tamamo, also this woman gave her a veryfortable feeling.


    Ayaka’s side was more concerning, she could get no news.


    Lily felt that Ayaka was still alive despite being in a disastrous situation. For women like her and Ayaka, being alive was one thing, but if captured then the consequences would be ruinous.


    Lily had originally nned on requesting Tamamo’s aid to help rescue Ayaka, but that was impossible now. Even so, she had to act!


    “Sister Uesugi, please take care of Lady Kimiko. I have something to do, afterwards, I shall depart for Heian-kyo tonight.”


    “…you have decided? You should know just how weak you alone arepared to that dark force in Heian-kyo.”


    “I will not face them head on. Against something capable enough of taking out Lady Ayaka, even if I put my life on the line it would be nothing more than suicide. My goal is not to destroy the enemy but to rescue Ayaka, for this, I will use all methods.” Lily’s tone was firm, she had long made the resolution.


    Rei nodded, “Lily, you know I want to go with you and fight beside you! But…”


    “Sister Uesugi, I understand.”


    Lily knew that Rei wasn’t scared of fighting any opponent, what she was scared of was holding Lily back and bing a burden, but with Rei’s pride, how could she say such words.


    “Lily… I will wait for you to return.”


    Lily looked into Rei’s beautiful eyes before resolutely nodding, “Mm.”


    Lily would always fulfill what she had promised to her sisters, including returning! But this time, when she returned, she would be bringing Ayaka with her. Definitely.


    ……


    The task of guarding the mansion was left to Uesugi Rei. As Rei owed her life to Tamamo, she would definitely fulfill her duties.


    Lily went to the wooden house in the backyard. This used to be the dojo where Tamamo would train. The entire ce was filled with the bewitching and carefree presence of the foremost arch-demon, Lily couldn’t help but feel sentimental.


    “There’s no time, I must elerate my training and refine these anima.”


    This time she had absorbed too many anima, she had to settle her mind to absorb and refine.


    Approximately ten hourster… Within Lily’s spirit pce, above the empty skies, misty moonlight glowed with faint purple light, she had recovered some purple lunar force.


    Under the moonlight, the vast spirit sea stretched, boundless to the eye, but if measured, would reach a diameter of nine thousand miles. The spirit sea faintly glowed before condensing, the spirit power within was more powerful and profound than it had been.


    Peak stage permanence!


    Advance fromte-stage to peak-stage permanence was only a matter of umting and transforming spirit power, there was no difficulty. However, for Lily the amount of anima required was a terrifying number.


    Lily had absorbed so many anima in the previous battle, enough for her to reach peak-stage permanence.


    She had absorbed one hundred fifty six thousand anima in that battle, most of which came from the sacrificial annihtion hound, of course in that battle there were arge amount of anima the hound had consumed and plenty more lost during its copse, Lily had no time to collect them all.


    Just advancing to peak-stage permanence had cost her one hundred thousand.


    This number had shocked Lily, the number of anima she required was really outrageous but more than 80% of those anima were regr fifth to seventh stage awakened soldier souls and anima of that level had minimal effects for her, but quantity was a thing, so they were still useful.


    Within the anima she had absorbed, there was around ten thousand of the spirit jade stage, and within that there were around two thousandte-stage spirit jades.


    As for permanence staged anima, around a thousand, within that there were only two hundredte-stage to peak-stage permanence animas.


    Throned general anima, only seven.


    Above that, there was that one big dipper anima she had absorbed and refined during the battle, that one anima was equal to thirty percent of all the other animas she had gathered!


    Her realm was now at the peak-stage of permanence, just one small step away from the throne realm, but how to breakthrough to the throne realm, Lily had not considered yet, after all it was said that the breakthrough to the throne realm was a heavenly barrier!


    This was shown in the proportions of the anima she had absorbed. Minamoto no Yoritomo’s army had a disproportionately high number of experts, but this came at the cost of many individuals sacrificing their lives to be ghost samurai. Despite this, the number of permanence realmed warriors was still considerably higher than the number of throned anima, which were all among the weakest of the throned generals!


    This highlights the difficulty of attaining the throne realm.


    “There’s no time, breaking through to the throne realm is easier said than done. I’ll consider it on the road, if there’s hope then I’ll learn, if there’s no hope then I’ll put it aside. This time in Heian-kyo, I’ll have to rely on strategy.” Lily mused. “No matter what methods I use, I must rescue Ayaka! Even if I can’t beat them, I will still rescue her


    ¹!”


    At night, Lily visited Tamamo onest time, it seemed that Shinsenen’s treatment was effective, her wounds had stabilized.


    She didn’t say farewell to Rei, this was not the time for emotions but she could feel that Rei knew she was about to leave. Lily left the house silently, traveled down the stone steps to the great torii gate where a woman with a veiled bamboo hat stood.


    “Madam Shinsenen?” Lily had the feeling that Shinsenen was perhaps, waiting for her.


    “Miss Lily, it’ste, are you going out?” Shinsenen’s voice was soft, but processed a tone as if she could see through everything.


    “Yes…” After pleading with Shinesenen to save Tamamo, Lily knew she shouldn’t be hiding anything, “I don’t know if Madam knows, but an emergency has urred in Heian-kyo, my sister, Lady Fujiwara no Ayaka was knocked unconscious by some dark faction and trapped in the Chief Advisor’s mansion. The protective formation is barely holding, I need to go to Heian-kyo and rescue my Lady Ayaka.”


    “Huhuhu.” Shinsenenughed sympathetically, “Since Miss Lily knows Ayaka was knocked unconscious by that faction, do you think you can do anything with your current realm?”


    “I know that my chances are miniscule, but I still must go. If I can increase sister Ayaka’s chances by a hundredth of a percent, then it’ll be fine.” Lily’s response was firm.


    “I admire Miss Lily’s resoluteness and bravery, but I really don’t want to see another beautiful woman


    ² go down the path of no return for a beloved person…”


    “Another?”


    “Miss Lily, looking at you is just like looking into the past at a young… no, it’s nothing, it’s all in the past, and… it can’t be undone…” Shinsenen’s voice wasden with mncholy, “Miss Lily, I really don’t want to see you fall into the hands of that devil! But… I know you will still go no matter what I say.”


    “Madam Shinsenen…”


    “In that case, I will show you a path!” <h4>References</h4>


    Yuki: Isn’t this line of thought what caused all that trouble in Mount Hei, costing Tamamo so much?


    Yuki: You implying you’ll happily watch if the woman looks normal?