Renovation

The Zenin Clan had been submerged in a sea of shit.

Although Jianxia and "Banquet of Fated Remnants" immediately activated "Light Returns at Dusk" to send some of the filthy water back into the sewers, cleaning up such an enormous volume would still take considerable effort.

Gojo Gen could do nothing about it. He could only stay atop a wooden post and wait for Jianxia to finish.

By the time Jianxia had more or less cleaned up the mess, everyone still inside the Zenin Estate had been thoroughly soaked in filthy water.

Jianxia had never expected that an entire clan of Zenins couldn't muster a single person who could swim.

Only Uraume, the child he had taken in, knew how to swim, and thus avoided gulping down filthy water until a food coma knocked them out.

Although none of the others in the Zenin Estate could swim, fortunately, they at least still showed signs of life.

At Tengen's suggestion, Jianxia moved everyone he had coaxed to sleep into a large, vacant house in Hiraizumi, temporarily removing them from the foul-smelling place.

Tengen then erected a barrier to block outside interference, allowing everyone to digest the filthy water in their stomachs undisturbed.

As the instigator, Jianxia naturally shouldered the responsibility of cleaning the Zenin Estate.

Gojo Gen, meanwhile, wanted no part of it. He went strolling through Hiraizumi with Tengen instead-they said they had to wait until Kamo Michisada and Shinji Zenin woke up before deploying the Great Barrier.

Fortunately, Uraume, ever the loyal hound, was still willing to follow Jianxia back to clean.

"The day I left, not a single clan member was willing to follow me..."

Jianxia gazed forlornly at the bright moon overhead. He had already taken off the Wooden Armor, leaving him fully exposed to the pungent stench of the Zenin Estate.

"Lord Jianxia, everyone in the Zenin Clan is still unconscious. They can't follow you." Standing beside him, Uraume said softly, "But you don't need them at all. Having Uraume is enough."

It sounded a little unsettling, but considering it had come from Uraume, Jianxia felt it was fairly normal.

Apart from the underground forbidden storehouse protected by a barrier, practically the entire Zenin Estate had been soaked in filthy water. It would hardly be an exaggeration to say the whole place was a write-off.

That forbidden storehouse was pretty smart-Jianxia's cursed spirit had barged straight in earlier, yet not a single drop of filthy water had gotten through afterward.

Has the Zenin Clan run into some difficulty?

For some reason, the words Kamo Michisada had spoken that afternoon lingered in Jianxia's ears.

He didn't know much about architecture, but he had noticed it as soon as he entered the Zenin Estate-the entire property was far too old and lacked maintenance and repairs.

That went double for Kamo Michisada, a bona fide aristocrat of the Heian Era with an elite pedigree. Perhaps he genuinely thought the Zenin Clan had fallen on hard times.

Otherwise, their residence surely wouldn't have been so shabby.

Since he had to clean the estate from top to bottom anyway, he might as well use this opportunity to give it a complete makeover with the "Clumsy House" cursed technique.

"Uraume, stay here for now. Come over when I call you."

After settling Uraume, who had followed him, Jianxia summoned "House-Maker" from the black substance and began working on two fronts.

In truth, Jianxia had no idea what an aristocratic residence from the Heian Era was supposed to look like.

Even if someone asked him to draw up a design, he would most likely produce some mishmash of Eastern and Western styles, ancient and modern.

But as an internet troll who had once frequented all sorts of video platforms, Jianxia had scrolled past plenty of fascinating architectural complexes that even modern technology couldn't build.

-Twelve Zodiac Signs, choose your shelter.

And as it happened, with his precise control over cursed energy, the "Clumsy House" cursed technique could easily recreate those things.

With an idea already in mind, Jianxia rubbed his hands together and began renovating the Zenin Estate.

The night passed quickly, and autumn sunlight awakened Hiraizumi.

A group of guests was staying at an estate in the southeastern part of Hiraizumi.

Megumi Zenin had a nightmare.

She dreamed that her home had become the entire city's cesspit.

Anything passing by could drop its pants and take a nice, satisfying dump inside, while she could only run around like a helpless husband, pleading with them to stop.

"Please stop shitting. I'm scared."

Only when she dreamed of being engulfed by a mountain of crap did she jolt awake.

She first checked herself over, only relaxing after repeatedly confirming there were no traces of excrement on her body.

Then Megumi Zenin realized this wasn't her room. She carefully pushed the door open and poked half her head out to inspect her surroundings.

The sunlight outside was lovely. Birds swept across the sky, and a few clear chirps drifted over from afar.

A breeze passed through the courtyard, gently stirring the grass beside the wall. Shinji Zenin stood beneath a willow tree, watching the goldfish compete for food in the pond.

"Father, where are we?"

Megumi Zenin straightened her clothes, put on her shoes, and shuffled up behind Shinji Zenin, asking in a gentle voice.

"Megumi, you're awake. This is a vacant estate in Hiraizumi." Shinji Zenin turned around. He first twitched his nose, making sure there was no strange smell before continuing, "It seems Lady Tengen washed you quite thoroughly... How much do you remember about yesterday?"

His expression grew hesitant, as though he was debating whether to bring it up at all. "I mean what happened after the Chief won yesterday?"

Megumi Zenin was puzzled, but she still put her mind to work and thought carefully.

Half a minute later, she shook her head. "Father, I can't remember anything."

Unexpectedly, Shinji Zenin let out a long sigh of relief at her answer. "Good, good. Let's leave that aside for now-are you hungry? Yagen has already gone to prepare a meal."

Shinji Zenin's attitude made Megumi Zenin curious.

What exactly had happened after yesterday's battle? Why had her father asked her that question? And why was she here rather than at home?

But since her father didn't want to discuss it further, he surely had his reasons. Megumi Zenin stopped asking.

"I'm not hungry at all-even though I always wanted something to eat when I woke up before." Megumi Zenin rubbed her stomach. It felt as though she had overeaten yesterday.

Shinji Zenin rubbed Megumi Zenin's head and smiled at her. "It's fine if you aren't hungry. Just now, I worked with the heads of the Gojo Clan and the Kamo Clan to successfully help Lady Tengen deploy the Great Barrier of Japan. We'll be able to go home shortly."

"Huh? Father, you've already set up the Great Barrier?"

Megumi Zenin's eyes widened in surprise. Lady Tengen had been talking about it for a month, and it required the combined efforts of all three clan heads-she had assumed it was a task that would take a very long time.

She hadn't expected that, while she slept, the Great Barrier that played such a crucial role in the plan would already be complete.

"That's right, but there will still be a lengthy adjustment process afterward, and it will require constant maintenance."

Working with Tengen this time had brought Shinji Zenin's understanding of Barrier Technique to a new level.

"Lady Tengen has also decided to stay in Hiraizumi. This estate will later be incorporated into her Void Barrier-in other words, a Pure Barrier."

The Void Barrier was the pinnacle of Barrier Technique. Its creator could freely define the environment within it, and every movement inside would be monitored by the person who established it.

In layman's terms, it was a little world.

A Pure Barrier, meanwhile, was a slightly inferior top-tier barrier. It could be considered infrastructure that sustained the Great Barrier, as essential as the load-bearing walls of a house.

Megumi Zenin didn't know much about Barrier Technique. Shinji Zenin's explanation left her thoroughly confused, but she kept nodding all the same.

Just then, hurried footsteps came from the corridor behind them.

They both turned to look. The newcomer was Uraume.

Uraume had already bathed and changed into clean clothes, and their face shone with irrepressible delight.

"Clan Head, Miss Megumi-Lord Jianxia has finished renovating the estate and invites you to return and inspect it."