After a brief silence.
Hagoromo Gitsune turned from the passenger seat, her vulpine eyes studying the rear-view mirror.
"Planning to maintain that illusion much longer?"
As she spoke.
The Luo Shu in the driver's seat began blurring, morphing into a massive humanoid indigo mist that dispersed throughout the vehicle's interior.
When the mist cleared, Hagoromo Gitsune saw the real Luo Shu sprawled across the backseat, a baseball cap covering his face.
Luo Shu lifted the cap and glanced at her. "Seems illusions of this level don't work well on your calibre."
Hagoromo Gitsune frowned at the cap-twirling man. "You maintained illusions the entire time we were inside Nura headquarters. Are you certain you're on good terms with them?"
Luo Shu caught the cap and spread his hands. "With you around, good terms turn bad. Right now, Nura Rihan's probably still stewing over your earlier remarks."
"Hmph." Hagoromo Gitsune scoffed but didn't deny it. Naturally attuned to human darkness, she was acutely sensitive to negative emotions—hence her deliberate provocation of Rihan earlier.
On one hand, she was genuinely angered by Rihan Nura and deliberately wanted to disgust him. On the other hand, she was intentionally planting a seed of discord between Luo Shu and the Nura Clan.
After all, if she didn't set this trap, she'd genuinely worry about being betrayed by Luo Shu and Rihan Nura joining forces.
This was Hagoromo Gitsune's reasoning.
Though Luo Shu didn't fully grasp Hagoromo Gitsune's thoughts, he understood the mindset of men like himself.
If the body of a woman he loved were taken by the enemy to flirt with another man, even going so far as to declare intentions of bearing children, Luo Shu would have long since drawn his blade to kill.
That Nura Rihan could endure it, even biding his time to probe further, with the worst being a few venomous words, truly marked him as a yokai of remarkable patience.
But to speak of casting aside prejudice and becoming intimate without reservation—if Nura Rihan uttered such words, Luo Shu would suspect treachery by the second sentence.
After all, stabbing someone in the back was the finest way to strike. Knowing this principle well, Luo Shu naturally kept his guard up.
He had been wary even of the women in his Familia before they signed their contracts, let alone someone like Nura Rihan.
"Still, I'm surprised you didn't tell Nura Rihan," Hagoromo Gitsune's gaze was full of mockery as she looked at Luo Shu. "You never mentioned that this body isn't actually his wife's."
Hagoromo Gitsune's previous body—the one that had belonged to Yamabuki Otome—was in fact crafted by Minagoroshi Jizō using Otome's ashes.
However, during their first encounter days prior, faced with Luo Shu's threats and desperate to regain her combat strength, Hagoromo Gitsune had abandoned that body, sacrificing Soul Power to fashion a new one.
As a reincarnating yokai, Hagoromo Gitsune had no fixed appearance. On Kyokotsu's suggestion, she had adopted a form similar to Yamabuki Otome's, albeit slightly younger.
Unaware of this, Nura Rihan still believed Hagoromo Gitsune was using Yamabuki Otome's body.
Luo Shu, who knew the truth, had deliberately withheld this information—a fact that puzzled Hagoromo Gitsune.
After all, had Luo Shu mentioned it, Nura Rihan's hostility wouldn't have been as intense as before.
Yet Luo Shu had chosen silence, stirring a peculiar thought in Hagoromo Gitsune:
"...Do you really enjoy toying with another man's wife that much?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu immediately retorted:
"Please refrain from slander, OK?"
Luo Shu clambered up from the back seat, then hunched over as he squeezed into the driver's seat:
"If I didn't clarify the situation, it's because I had my reasons."
"What possible reason justifies maintaining such a misunderstanding?"
Hagoromo Gitsune's derision deepened:
"Or is this some peculiar fetish of yours?"
Seated in the driver's seat, Luo Shu merely glanced at her before replying:
"At this rate, you'll think me no different from a pervert unless I explain."
"Fine, I'll give you a brief explanation then."
With a smile, Luo Shu started the car and said:
"Just as you strengthen yourself by absorbing the darkness in people's hearts through reincarnation, I too can grow stronger by bringing misfortune upon others."
"Of course, that's a simplified description. A more complex, more fundamental explanation... well, I'll have to beg your pardon for withholding that."
Hagoromo Gitsune's pupils contracted slightly at this—it was the first time she'd heard of gaining strength by inflicting misfortune upon others.
Yet every word Luo Shu spoke was true.
The Elite Rank Class of Calamity Bringer indeed grew stronger by spreading suffering, by inflicting physical and mental torment upon others.
And the stronger the afflicted, the greater the gain.
Therefore, when facing the hardship of being cuckolded, Nura Rihan, a top-tier expert among Hero Grade individuals, provided Luo Shu with a substantial amount of experience.
If the experience progress bar was at 100, then the act of deliberately concealing Hagoromo Gitsune's situation just now had contributed 10 points to Luo Shu's progress.
The resulting boost enhanced Luo Shu's control over misfortune by roughly 5%.
"So, you see~~" Luo Shu said with a smirk, addressing Hagoromo Gitsune, "do you really think I'd do something without any benefit? To offend people for no reason?"
Hagoromo Gitsune gave Luo Shu a deep look, pausing for four or five seconds before replying:
"So, proposing to team up with me against Nue was also because you needed it to grow stronger, wasn't it?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu's smile seemed to freeze for a moment.
He glanced at the panel provided by the Divine Pantheon Reconstruction System, eyeing the words "Calamity Bringer (Progress: 82%)" with a distinct sense of guilt.
After all, about 65% of that progress came from Hagoromo Gitsune's recent struggles, conflicts, and suffering.
In other words, most of Luo Shu's Calamity Bringer experience had been farmed from Hagoromo Gitsune—and the remaining 18% might very well come from her too.
Given this, Luo Shu naturally felt guilty.
At that moment, Hagoromo Gitsune said coldly:
"Drive. Take me back."
Clearly, through her ability to sense the darkness in people's hearts, she had detected Luo Shu's emotional shift and thus confirmed her guess was correct.
She really had become Luo Shu's fast-levelling NPC recently!
Hearing this, Luo Shu shrugged sheepishly and chuckled awkwardly:
"Such a convenient ability, sensing inner darkness!"
After a few more awkward laughs, Luo Shu used Mist Flame to create a letter, casually rolled down the car window, tossed it out, and drove away from the Nura Clan's main residence.
Shortly after the car left, amidst a few caws, a crow picked up the letter and swiftly delivered it to Nura Rihan.
...
Half an hour later.
Nura Clan's main residence.
Nura Rihan sat on the veranda facing the garden, holding the letter Luo Shu had left behind, explaining Hagoromo Gitsune's current physical condition.
He stared at it for a full half-hour before suddenly slamming it to the ground and shouting:
"Is this guy insane? Only telling me this now?"
"Damn it!"
Nura Rihan's composure shattered.