"It seemed word of my return had spread faster than I'd imagined."
Luo Zhen thought so.
He had assumed that, no matter what, it would take several days for news of his return to spread. Even if it spread throughout Tokyo immediately, it should still have taken some time to reach other cities.
But Luo Zhen hadn't expected that, over the past year and a half, the Onmyo Agency had expanded its authority and status under Kurahashi Genji's direction, drawing far more attention from those monitoring developments in the jujutsu world than before. The news reporters had also been keeping a close eye on this area.
Luo Zhen's return had happened to land him right in the crosshairs. It was only natural that the news had spread so quickly.
"If that's the case, then many events should happen even sooner than I expected."
Muttering to himself, Luo Zhen turned toward the window.
He immediately used the power of the Insightful Eye, even concentrating his mind to sense his shikigami contracts in an attempt to locate Natsume and Suzuka.
Unfortunately, Luo Zhen couldn't "see" Natsume and Suzuka's spiritual energy. The contract's response was also hazy, making it impossible to determine their locations.
"Forget the contract's response. It's the original, outdated version, so naturally it would become like this once we're far apart. But I didn't expect even the Insightful Eye to fail to 'see' Natsume and Suzuka's spiritual energy."
This should be due not only to Natsume and Suzuka being relatively far from Luo Zhen, but also to both of them using fairly high-level Invisibility Techniques, right?
Natsume and Suzuka were, after all, wanted criminals just like Luo Zhen. Returning to Tokyo, the Onmyo Agency's headquarters, was tantamount to venturing back into the tiger's den. It was impossible for them not