"Is that human?"
Kamo Michisada was genuinely baffled.
Uraume frowned at those words and turned to look at him.
"Lord Kamo, the Chief is carrying out a crucial step in taming a cursed spirit. Please show some respect."
Kamo Michisada smacked his lips, frowned at the brat whose expression had changed in an instant, then shook his head.
The Zenin Clan really was full of weirdos.
Yet Jianxia, who was currently engaged in a deep exchange with House-Maker, had not noticed anyone approaching.
House-Maker was a cursed spirit born from humanity's fear of displacement.
Jianxia had noticed something unusual when construction first began in Hiraizumi.
Whenever someone moved into a newly built house, House-Maker seemed to open its closed-off heart a little more.
When he won over Banquet of Fated Remnants, it had taken only an instant for their hearts to connect completely.
That might have been because Banquet of Fated Remnants was not very intelligent, making it effortless for Jianxia to win it over.
But House-Maker was a self-aware special grade cursed spirit, and Jianxia had realized early on that winning it over would not happen overnight.
Only today, when Jianxia fully completed the first phase of construction in Hiraizumi, had House-Maker opened its heart to him completely.
As the total amount of cursed energy within him rose, Jianxia closed his eyes and carefully felt the change.
His total cursed energy had roughly jumped from the level of a Grade 3 Jujutsu Sorcerer to nearly that of a Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer.
He was still somewhat behind Megumi Zenin, but combined with his cursed energy control, it was enough to perform certain feats normally possible only for a Grade 1 Sorcerer.
"Task ③ completed." "Reward issued."
Once he had won House-Maker over, the system had delivered its reward as promised.
After glancing at the messages, Jianxia put his phone back in his pocket. Only then did he notice the three people who had been standing nearby watching him for some time.
Jianxia: "..."
Tengen: "..."
Kamo Michisada: "..."
An eerie silence spread through the air.
"Chief, Lady Tengen and Lord Kamo Michisada, head of the Kamo Clan, have arrived."
It was Uraume who finally broke the silence.
Realization dawned on Jianxia. He immediately recalled House-Maker into the black substance and cleared the path ahead.
"Lady Tengen, long time no see. The Kamo Clan head looks human too-the clan head has been waiting inside for quite a while. Just have Uraume show you in."
Uraume sighed. While Kamo Michisada was considering whether to turn around and flee, Uraume stepped over to Jianxia and spoke quietly.
"The clan head said you must attend this meeting too, Chief. The heads of the Kamo Clan and Gojo Clan are important allies."
Jianxia nodded to show he understood, then turned to the still-hesitating Kamo Michisada. "Lord Kamo, Lady Tengen, please follow me. I'll take you to see the Zenin Clan head."
Tengen and Kamo Michisada dismounted and left their horses in Uraume's care, then followed Jianxia into the Zenin Estate.
Generally speaking, a clan's territory gave a good indication of its power.
Judging by his first impression, Hiraizumi was at least a major settlement in Mutsu Province. Kamo Michisada had assumed the Zenin Estate would be even more refined.
Only after entering did he discover how far it fell short of his expectations. Although the gate and roofs looked recently renovated, the estate as a whole was still only on the level of a rural noble's residence.
"Chief of Auspicious, might you tell me whether the Zenin Clan has encountered some difficulty?"
Before they came to Hiraizumi, Tengen had told Kamo Michisada that although Hiraizumi was not wealthy, the Zenin Clan had a legacy spanning generations and ought to have some reserves.
Their territory was so prosperous, yet the estate that symbolized their status was hardly refined. As a born-and-bred Heian noble, he found that difficult to understand.
The only reasonable explanation was that the Zenin Clan had suddenly run into trouble and sold off parts of their ancestral estate to weather the crisis without raising taxes.
For a clan that cared so much for its people, their allies in the Kamo Clan could not stand idly by, even if their own finances were usually rather tight.
All Jianxia needed to do was ask, and Kamo Michisada would send supplies to help the Zenin Clan.
To his surprise, however, Jianxia merely turned to give him a puzzled look, then glanced at the eaves beside the corridor.
"We haven't had any trouble-are you talking about these buildings? I renovated these few just a few days ago. The clan head told me not to bother too much, so I only touched them up a little."
With that, Jianxia pressed his hand against a nearby corridor pillar-and the entire building, floor included, began to change.
Only once the workmanship and materials had reached the finest standard Jianxia could imagine did he slowly remove his hand and nod in satisfaction.
Now that he had won House-Maker over, Jianxia could naturally activate the Clumsy House cursed technique himself.
Like Light Returns at Dusk before it, Jianxia's version of Clumsy House had its limitations. For example, he could only manipulate existing buildings, not create them.
However, his precise cursed energy control allowed him to attend to tiny details that House-Maker itself could not manage.
Kamo Michisada stared in astonishment as the building transformed, while Tengen sank into thought upon seeing Jianxia activate the technique.
After a while, once Kamo Michisada had recovered, Tengen spoke.
"Chief, were the changes in Hiraizumi also caused by your cursed technique?"
Jianxia realized what she meant and nodded. "That's right. All the houses outside-including the city walls-were made through my cursed technique."
"Even though they're products of a cursed technique, they can block cursed energy, and they don't disappear. Pretty amazing, right?"
If he had relied purely on cursed energy to build houses out of thin air, creating Hiraizumi on its current scale would have taken at least half a year.
But having other cursed spirits extract raw materials and place them at designated locations, then having House-Maker reshape them into houses, was countless times faster than working alone.
In other words, Jianxia was now a one-man construction crew-with captured cursed spirits serving as his workers.
"What an impressive cursed technique. It lets you command cursed spirits like tools."
Kamo Michisada sighed in admiration. He had initially harbored some doubts about the Zenin Clan's strength, but the value Cursed Spirit Manipulation had demonstrated already made one thing clear.
The Zenin Clan was unquestionably a reliable ally.
The Kamo Clan would be clinging firmly to this powerful backer.
But before he could celebrate, Jianxia stopped dead upon hearing his words.
He turned back to look at Kamo Michisada coldly, his gaze several degrees colder than Uraume's underwear.
"Lord Kamo, would you please take back what you just said?"
Although Jianxia gave off neither an intimidating aura nor any trace of cursed energy, his tone still made Kamo Michisada shiver involuntarily.
"Cursed spirits aren't tools to me. They're my dearest friends. My dearest friends!"
"My apologies, Chief of Auspicious. I didn't know you held cursed spirits in such high regard. Please forgive me."
Although Kamo Michisada seemed rather irreverent when interacting with Tengen, those were not occasions when he was handling serious business.
Having become a clan head at such a young age, Kamo Michisada could hardly fail to grasp what mattered when important issues were at stake.
He promptly chose to apologize. There was absolutely nothing to gain from angering a senior figure of the Zenin Clan at a time like this.
Seeing how readily he apologized, Jianxia said nothing more and continued leading the two toward the reception room.
Kamo Michisada wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, glanced at the helpless-looking Tengen, then let out a long sigh.
Sure enough, the Zenin Clan really was full of weirdos!
Before you continue