So it's Zenin

"Seriously?"

Megumi Zenin's sliding grovel snapped Jianxia out of his post-nut clarity.

He stared at her sea-urchin hairstyle, delicate features, and massive rack... uh, he supposed she counted as a woman.

But taking her as a whole, aside from her sex, almost all her defining traits were identical to Megumi Fushiguro's!

Jianxia ventured, "Megumi...?"

Megumi Zenin was startled, then thrilled.

"I'm Megumi, Megumi Zenin! You know my name, sir!"

She looked at Jianxia with sparkling eyes, like a puppy.

Jianxia felt reassured.

No wonder she'd tried to summon Mahoraga. It was Megumi.

That explained it.

That explained it.

At the end of the day, Megumi was a girl's name to begin with.

Only a dirt-cheap dad like that Monkey King Fushiguro, who couldn't even remember his own child's sex, would give a boy a name like that.

Jianxia suspected that the name had already been corrupted by the will of heaven.

Having the Ten Shadows Technique plus the name Megumi automatically triggered the self-destruct skill.

"Zenin, huh? As long as it's not Fushiguro."

Megumi Zenin paused. "Who's Fushiguro...?"

Jianxia shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Forget it."

Then, under Megumi Zenin's sparkling gaze, Jianxia swept back his hair with one hand and pulled out his phone with the other to check the system.

"Jianxia"

"Current era: Heian Era"

"Innate cursed technique: Cursed Spirit Manipulation"

"Subjugated cursed spirits: Grade 2 Cursed Spirit"

"Advanced techniques: None"

"Mission objectives: ① Participate in the Culling Game ② Breed Kenjaku ③ Romance the subjugated cursed spirits"

Sure enough, the system had one more field than it had at the start.

This Grade 2 Cursed Spirit had to be the one that had been exorcising Megumi Zenin earlier.

Although he'd lost consciousness earlier, he felt fantastic after landing a Black Flash, and even his missing memories had returned.

"I can absorb them directly without turning them into cursed spirit orbs?"

He could subjugate cursed spirits and get intimate with them without having to taste a filthy rag used to wipe up vomit.

From this moment on, Jianxia would cease all slander against Cursed Spirit Manipulation.

How could you blame the machine when the pilot wasn't up to scratch?!

Our Cursed Spirit Manipulation had always been an overpowered technique! If you couldn't become super special grade, how about looking at your own shortcomings?!

"Suguru Geto, you're nothing but an... ordinary man born in an era without me."

Watching Jianxia lose himself in his own world and let out one sinister chuckle after another, Megumi Zenin hesitated over whether to speak again.

"Um... sir."

Megumi Zenin spoke anyway. "Thank you for helping me, but I'm terribly sorry I failed to recognize you."

Since he knew the Zenin Clan and even knew her name, Megumi Zenin should logically have met him before.

Yet Megumi Zenin had no recollection of him whatsoever.

Could he be an acquaintance of one of the family elders?

"Oh, no need to apologize. This really is our first meeting. But I've known your name for a very long time."

Jianxia waved a hand. He really had known about the instant-self-destruct guy, Megumi Fushiguro, for a long time, and this really was his first meeting with Megumi Zenin.

But to Megumi Zenin, his words only confirmed her guess.

He'd known my name for a long time, and this was our first meeting...

Could he have been keeping an eye on me for ages, and come here to see my abilities for himself?!

And when he charged out from the sidelines earlier, he'd said "Lord Zenin."

In other words...

Megumi Zenin closed her eyes, bit her lip, and prostrated herself before Jianxia!

"I'm terribly sorry to have disappointed you, sir! I came alone to exorcise this cursed spirit, without any family elders accompanying me!"

He must have seen me losing to a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit, assumed an elder was accompanying me, and come out to stop them.

And he must have done that to help me improve!

At that thought, tears spilled from Megumi Zenin's eyes.

"I failed to meet your expectations. I'm such a useless jujutsu sorcerer..."

She didn't dare keep asking who Jianxia was, either. In her eyes, failing to accomplish her objective and then pestering him with questions was a sign of utter incompetence.

But Jianxia saw things differently.

"Are the Zenin Clan's genes kicking in?"

He watched Megumi Zenin crying and prostrating herself beside him.

For a moment, he couldn't help worrying that the Zenin Clan's freak genes had already been active in the Heian Era.

"Get up, get up. I'm worried you'll crack under the pressure again and summon Mahoraga."

Jianxia helped Megumi Zenin up while gathering cursed energy in his free hand.

The system wasn't entirely useless. At least, after Jianxia had traveled to the Heian Era, he'd immediately grasped rudimentary cursed energy control and how to use his cursed technique.

For Jianxia, using Cursed Spirit Manipulation was now as natural as breathing.

Cursed Spirit Manipulation was a piece of cake!

Black matter flashed behind him, and then the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit that Divine Dog: Totality had just turned into sashimi appeared again.

There wasn't a single wound on its body. It looked freshly born-indeed, it was in even better condition than before the battle began.

Grade 2 Cursed Spirit [Factory fresh]

Megumi Zenin was just about to invoke Furube when Jianxia raised a hand to stop her.

"This is my cursed technique, called 'Cursed Spirit Manipulation.' It lets me use the cursed spirits I've absorbed. This cursed spirit is already completely under my control."

Under Megumi Zenin's admiring gaze, Jianxia stroked the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit's large, exposed white teeth.

Then Megumi Zenin's expression grew increasingly remarkable as she watched Jianxia actually press his face against the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit's huge teeth and hug it.

"See? See? This kid's very well behaved. It won't hurt anyone now."

As if to prove it was completely harmless, Jianxia even had the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit open its mouth and stuck his entire head inside.

Megumi Zenin's face twisted. "Seriously?"

"Don't you find cursed spirits disgusting at all, sir?!"

Jianxia's gaze sharpened, and he pulled his head out of the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit's mouth.

"How do you decide whether something is disgusting?"

Faced with that question, Megumi Zenin scratched her head and answered.

"Curses that look really weird like this are disgusting."

"Then if a human curse user as beautiful as an angel wantonly slaughtered jujutsu sorcerers and ordinary people, would that mean they weren't disgusting?"

Jianxia's reply left Megumi Zenin silent.

She really had never thought deeply about that question.

To jujutsu sorcerers, cursed spirits were curses that needed exorcising, and naturally they were disgusting. That was all there was to it.

Jianxia stood in front of the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit, folded his arms, and looked seriously at Megumi Zenin.

"Megumi, cursed spirits are born from the negative emotions that overflow from humans, such as fear, hatred, regret..."

Megumi Zenin swallowed and listened intently to his lesson.

"You could say that compared to humans, who disguise themselves and hide things, cursed spirits are utterly pure... though they're made of pure negative energy, they're undeniably genuine."

Hearing that, even the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit welled up with tears and involuntarily began clapping.

"So, whether we're talking about cursed spirits or humans, you can't judge whether they're disgusting by their appearance. You have to look at their actions."

Jianxia gently stroked the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit's large face, his eyes brimming with tenderness. Their bond was as steadfast as that between Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu.

"Now that I've subjugated this Grade 2 Cursed Spirit, it's become an ally of justice. It's the truly human one!"

Watching Jianxia deliver his impassioned speech while snuggling ever closer to the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit, Megumi Zenin couldn't help marveling.

What a pair of star-crossed lovers...