Anna Kyōyama.
A woman possessing the same heart-reading abilities as Hao Asakura from a thousand years ago, pursued by spirit bodies - the miko of Mount Osore in Aomori.
Her power is so immense that she can directly summon the dead from Hell, borrowing or even wielding their abilities.
After being trained by the Asakura family and gaining access to their vast collection of Guardian Spirits, she's indisputably considered the strongest after Hao himself.
Yet even so, the fact that she'd breached Luo Shu's divination blockade set up using the Mysticism Encyclopaedia to glean some information about him still came as a surprise.
After all, to penetrate the Encyclopaedia's defences, Anna's divination skills must have reached at least Demigod level.
What irony. He'd been using the Encyclopaedia's divination powers to pose as a master diviner, only to encounter the real deal now.
As Luo Shu mentally grumbled, he simultaneously used the Mysticism Encyclopaedia to divine information about Anna Kyōyama.
As expected, he obtained nothing.
Clearly, Anna had shielded her own information.
This was practically standard practice for any sorcerer skilled in divination.
Divination, after all, involved retrieving needed information from the world's data. The more powerful the diviner and their tools, the more they feared this omniscience-through-omniscience power.
Thus, a diviner's first lesson was always how to defend against others' divinations.
In this context, Luo Shu, relying on artefacts, stood little chance against Anna's innate abilities.
Normally, Abyss Artefacts tended to be slightly weaker than practitioners of equivalent rank. And when the user didn't meet certain conditions, their effectiveness could be even more diminished.
Those relying on tools could never match those who cultivated their own strength.
So Luo Shu wasn't surprised by his failed divination attempt.
What puzzled him was why Anna had noticed him at all, and why she'd specifically told Hidemoto Keikain that his target might be Yura Keikain.
To casually reveal his intentions while openly declaring her involvement - what could that woman be thinking?
Luo Shu couldn't fathom Anna's motives.
He'd assumed her divination worked similarly to his, capable of retrieving nearly all information.
In reality, Anna had only divined Luo Shu's purpose for visiting the Keikain family, receiving a vague revelation that his target might be female.
With Yura being the Keikains' only direct female descendant, Anna had simply deduced the obvious.
Unaware of this, Luo Shu mistakenly believed Anna's divination skills surpassed even the Mysticism Encyclopaedia's fragment of Knowledge Authority, filling him with wariness.
The very convenience of divination made him deeply cautious of others wielding similar power.
Although Hidemoto Keikain wasn't clear about the specifics, he could sense the change in Luo Shu's attitude.
After explaining the situation, Hidemoto Keikain said:
"That young lady wishes to meet you after the matter is concluded."
"Oh?" Luo Shu couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this.
After the matter was concluded? Did she mean after his promotion ceremony?
Could she actually divine clues about something like this?
Hiss!!
Could Anna Kyōyama be a Demigod specialising in divination? And a proper Demigod who ascended through ritual? Or perhaps she could borrow the power of a Guardian Spirit with such abilities?
Though it didn't seem like she bore any hostility, necessary precautions still had to be taken.
In that moment, Luo Shu recalled information about Anna Kyōyama.
Thirteen years old, proficient in necromancy, hobbies included cooking, sewing and ordering people about.
Though powerful and ill-tempered, she'd never met Luo Shu before, and there were no conflicts of interest between them.
Had it not been for the incident with Hidemoto Keikain, Luo Shu wouldn't have imagined any connection with her.
But now, Luo Shu automatically classified Anna Kyōyama as someone requiring serious vigilance.
After all, those skilled in divination were often skilled in scheming.
"If she wants to meet afterwards, then afterwards it is."
Truth be told, without sufficient strength, even with Kurumi Tokisaki accompanying him, Luo Shu didn't want to engage with someone who could threaten him.
Hah, the Asakura family, as descendants of Hao Asakura, seemed to take thwarting his ambitions as their mission, with many techniques created specifically to kill Hao.
Luo Shu had no desire to experience the assassination methods those Asakura ancestors had spent centuries perfecting to kill a Demigod like Hao.
Thus, regarding Anna Kyōyama, Luo Shu would avoid meeting her if possible, and only consider it after gaining sufficient strength.
Even though he was 99% certain Anna was also a suitable candidate for Familia.
From what he knew of Anna's personality, if she did become part of the Familia, she'd likely be the chief deity with Luo Shu as the subordinate.
She wasn't the type to peacefully coexist with other women!
Hearing Luo Shu's decision to discuss it later, Hidemoto Keikain forced a smile and asked:
"What about our matter then..."
Luo Shu glanced at him and said indifferently: "We'll discuss it later."
Hidemoto Keikain's mouth twitched as he silently cursed himself for speaking out of turn.
Even though he'd learned from Anna Kyōyama that Luo Shu had some designs on Yura, as long as he pretended not to know and went with the flow, the Keikain family could shake off both the Emperor and the burden of the Onmyou Agency, jumping ship to the SDS instead.
But now? One careless remark and everything was hanging by a thread!
Hidemoto Keikain barely concealed his frustration. At this moment, Luo Shu stood up and said:
"Thank you for your hospitality this time. However, official duties demand my attention, so I won't linger."
With that, Luo Shu didn't wait to see if anyone from the Keikain family would try to stop him. Accompanied by the attendant waiting outside, he left the reception room and departed the Katsura Imperial Villa directly.
Once Luo Shu was gone, the current head of the Keikain family asked his ancestor Hidemoto:
"Ancestor, it seems you've bungled things again!"
"Mind your tongue!" Hidemoto couldn't help rolling his eyes. "Always so talkative."
The elder Keikain pursed his lips, completely unfazed by the rebuke, then paused before asking:
"Why is that shrine maiden from the Asakura family also interested in him?"
Hidemoto fell silent for a moment before answering suspiciously:
"I'm not entirely sure."
"But judging by the Asakura family's habits, perhaps their divination indicated that Director Luo Shu could be beneficial to their campaign against Hao Asakura?"
Hearing this, the elder Keikain's expression turned peculiar:
"The Asakura family still hasn't given up on burying Hao Asakura? A thousand years ago, five hundred years ago - they've already killed him twice. Haven't they had enough?"
The elder couldn't comprehend the Asakura family's reasoning.
A thousand years ago, Hao's own child burying him could be understood - just another case of filial piety gone wrong, every family has its black sheep.
But five hundred years ago, Yohken Asakura led the charge to kill Hao's reincarnation. And now, five hundred years later, they want to do it again?
Was this family somehow fated to clash with Hao Asakura, compelled to kill him no matter what?
He was, after all, their direct blood ancestor. Why such intense hostility?
"Who knows? Perhaps killing Hao Asakura has been the Asakura family's millennium-long ambition," Hidemoto joked lightly before growing serious again.
"Still, failing to establish connections with the SDS this time does present some difficulties."
"An organisation that rises like the morning star in divinations - if we don't place our bets while they're still lying low, it'll be much harder to enter the game later."
"And whose fault is that?" The elder Keikain bristled at this remark.
Hidemoto gave an awkward chuckle before continuing:
"Hagoromo Gitsune's seal will break soon enough. In that case, let the youngsters gain some experience. We'll go easy, show them our sincerity first."
"Oh, and arrange Yura's schooling. After Kyoto matters are settled, send her to Tokyo for studies."
"I need to devise another way to get her into the SDS, preferably into that so-called Hidden Management Department!"
Hearing this, the elder Keikain sighed in resignation:
"Very well, we'll proceed as you suggest."
"The Keikain family can't withstand much more turmoil."
Hidemoto could only nod helplessly at this.
The curse of Hagoromo Gitsune was truly vicious. Despite four centuries of frantic procreation, the Keikain main family and all its branches still numbered fewer than two hundred souls.
Such numbers are insufficient to support the foundation of a great family.
Why did the Tsuchimikado family surpass the more powerful Gokadoin Family to become the leader of Yin-Yang Arts?
Simply because they had more people!
Between the main family and its branches, there were over 3,000 members who were familiar with the Yin-Yang Arts. Including those under their rule who shared the same surname, the total exceeded thirty thousand.
With such numbers, even in modern times, without Yin-Yang Arts, they could easily form an army, let alone anything else.
The Keikain family understood the principle that strength lies in numbers, but what could they do? They were cursed by Hagoromo Gitsune.
"Children born will inevitably die young"—this curse was truly vicious and so very Hagoromo Gitsune.
"Tch, that venomous fox obsessed with reproduction..."
Hidemoto Keikain muttered under his breath before sighing:
"Now, we can only see if there's a chance this time to lift the curse burdening the Keikain family."