As mentioned before, Abe no Seimei was a renowned great onmyoji and an idol to many people.
Naturally, learning that their idol wanted to destroy all of humanity would leave them disillusioned.
Asuna was one of them.
Fortunately, she was not a fanatical admirer of Abe no Seimei, so she could still think rationally. If she had been one of his die-hard fans, she might already have started making excuses for him.
"I don't know," Rowan said.
"You don't know?"
"Hm? You don't know?"
"There's nothing I can do. This guy has hidden himself extremely well. I'm currently using bait in the hope of fishing him out, but unfortunately, he doesn't seem interested."
Several days had already passed since Rowan captured Hagoromo-Gitsune, yet Abe no Seimei had never appeared.
Rowan had no choice but to suspect that perhaps Hagoromo-Gitsune was not as important to Abe no Seimei as he had thought.
Perhaps after becoming more yokai than human, Abe no Seimei no longer regarded Hagoromo-Gitsune as his mother and merely treated her as a convenient tool.
Asuna fell silent.
Even Rowan, a world traveler, could not find Abe no Seimei?
"Then what do you plan to do next?"
"Keep fishing."
Rowan said casually, "His goal is to destroy humanity, so he can't remain hidden forever. Sooner or later, he'll make a move."
"Also, I suspect that Abe no Seimei is the leader of the Star Religious Group. You can ask Gojo Satoru to investigate."
Hearing this, Asuna raised her voice.
"Are you sure?"
She had not expected Rowan to possess another clue concerning Abe no Seimei.
Why hadn't he mentioned something this important earlier?
"I'm not certain, but there's a high probability that I'm right."
"I'll go find Sensei immediately."
Asuna impatiently bid Rowan farewell and went to find Gojo Satoru.
With humanity's safety at stake, she did not dare delay for even a moment.
Watching Asuna leave, Rowan smiled.
Barring any surprises, once Asuna returned, she would tell Gojo Satoru about this matter. Gojo Satoru would most likely pass the information on to the government.
If the authorities were not idiots, they would begin taking action.
Once the machinery of the entire nation began operating, Rowan refused to believe Abe no Seimei could continue hiding.
As long as he had needs and continued acting, he would eventually be exposed.
Thus, all Rowan needed to do was sit calmly by the fishing platform and wait for Abe no Seimei to be found.
However, another dozen or so days passed.
Just as Rowan had predicted, the machinery of the state began moving.
It was not only Gojo Satoru's people. Even the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division began operating, searching for Abe no Seimei so thoroughly that they practically dug three feet into the ground.
Yet they still failed to find any trace of him.
This guy was truly impressive. He had hidden himself unbelievably well.
Of course, Japan's exhaustive search was not completely fruitless.
For example, many hidden members of the Star Religious Group were uncovered.
Among them was the so-called important figure whom Tanaka Akira had dragged down. He was arrested on the spot and thrown into prison.
Many other concealed members of the Star Religious Group were also captured one after another.
For a time, the Star Religious Group's businesses and influence suffered a severe blow.
But it was ultimately useless.
The central figure, Abe no Seimei, never appeared.
Therefore, no one dared relax, fearing that Abe no Seimei might take advantage of a momentary lapse in vigilance to unleash something catastrophic.
Amid this tense atmosphere, Rowan's Golden Gate delivered another message.
The gate had connected to yet another new world.
However, Rowan did not immediately explore it.
He intended to leave it alone for now and investigate the new world only after resolving the matter with Abe no Seimei.
Since the government remained unable to locate Abe no Seimei, Rowan had no choice but to devise another method.
He decided to try using the evil spirits roaming the streets to search for Abe no Seimei.
Thus, Rowan used Soul Manipulation to transform the evil spirits throughout the city into his eyes and ears.
Besides evil spirits, he also modified cursed spirits.
With Rowan's strength, he could alter hundreds or even thousands of evil spirits and cursed spirits in a single day.
Once released, these modified spirits looked no different from ordinary evil spirits and cursed spirits.
In reality, however, they possessed their own intelligence.
They could serve perfectly as Rowan's spies.
By the third day, Rowan had modified more than three thousand evil spirits and cursed spirits, spreading them throughout every corner of Tokyo.
Then something interesting happened.
Rowan finally obtained a clue.
But strangely enough, it was not discovered by any of the three thousand newly modified evil spirits and cursed spirits.
It was discovered by the very first cursed spirit he had ever modified.
Back then, after Rowan obtained the training method for becoming a jujutsu sorcerer from Tanaka Akira's memories, he successfully became a jujutsu sorcerer and awakened his innate technique—Soul Manipulation.
The very next day, he used Soul Manipulation to fuse together all the cursed spirits that had attacked Asuna at school.
He then created a beautiful female cursed spirit and named her Number One.
Afterward, Rowan released Number One and allowed her to move freely.
Number One possessed the ability to devour other cursed spirits and strengthen herself.
After being released, she continuously consumed her own kind and gradually became stronger.
During this process, Number One came into contact with one of the fingers belonging to Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses.
Then she swallowed it without hesitation.
Anyone who had watched Jujutsu Kaisen knew that Sukuna's fingers not only contained tremendous cursed energy, but also housed fragments of his soul.
After Number One swallowed Sukuna's finger, a fragment of Sukuna's soul entered her body and attempted to seize control.
A fierce battle erupted inside Number One's body.
Sukuna was powerful.
But Number One, who had been modified by Rowan, was even stronger.
More importantly, the Sukuna fighting Number One possessed only one-twentieth of his full power.
In the end, Number One defeated Sukuna's soul fragment and devoured it, causing her strength to grow explosively.
This allowed Number One to taste the benefits.
She discovered that even Special Grade cursed spirits could not compare to Sukuna's fingers, so she deliberately began searching for more of them.
Because she had absorbed Sukuna's power, Number One possessed a certain degree of sensitivity toward his remaining fingers.
With the help of that connection, she truly found a second finger and then a third.
She swallowed them one after another.
Each time she consumed one, she fought another fragment of Sukuna's soul. But as Number One became increasingly powerful, defeating the fragments grew easier and easier.
Before long, Number One had consumed five of Sukuna's fingers.
Her power had long since surpassed that of a Special Grade cursed spirit and entered an entirely new realm.
Even if the true Sukuna revived and returned to his peak condition, he might not necessarily be a match for Number One.
The current Number One could be called the new King of Curses.
Yet even after becoming so powerful, Number One continued craving Sukuna's fingers.
She yearned to devour him completely, turn him into nourishment, and make herself even stronger.
However, at that moment, Number One encountered someone.
The deputy leader of the Star Religious Group—
Suguru Geto!
But the current Suguru Geto not only had a ring of stitches across his forehead, but another ring of stitches around his neck.
After finding Number One, Suguru Geto claimed that he possessed even more of Sukuna's fingers.
If Number One agreed to help him, he would give every one of them to her.
Thus, Number One agreed.
Suguru Geto then brought Number One to meet the leader of the Star Religious Group.
The leader effortlessly defeated Number One, permitted her to join the group, and rewarded her with additional fingers belonging to Sukuna, helping her become stronger.
Number One asked the leader what she needed to do.
The leader of the Star Religious Group calmly replied, "You are still not strong enough. Once you become stronger, I will naturally tell you what you must do."
And so, Number One remained with the Star Religious Group, refining Sukuna's fingers every day.
As everyone knew, Sukuna had four arms and twenty fingers.
At this point, Number One had already swallowed ten of Sukuna's fingers and was becoming increasingly powerful.
Some time later, Suguru Geto suddenly sought out Number One and informed her that the Star Religious Group had encountered some minor trouble and needed her assistance.
Number One agreed without hesitation.
"What do you want me to do?"
Suguru Geto said, "Many people are currently causing trouble for the Star Religious Group. I want you to eliminate the strongest jujutsu sorcerer—a man named Gojo Satoru."
"No problem."
Number One nodded and left the Star Religious Group's headquarters, preparing to travel to Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School and kill Gojo Satoru.
However, before she reached the school, she saw the streets filled with cursed spirits and evil spirits modified by Rowan.
As the first cursed spirit Rowan had ever modified, Number One was extremely familiar with his methods and aura.
She approached the modified cursed spirits and spoke with them, learning that Rowan had been searching for the Star Religious Group's whereabouts.
Number One immediately abandoned the mission to assassinate Gojo Satoru and went to find Rowan instead.
In Number One's mind, no matter how important the mission to kill Gojo Satoru might be, it could never compare to Rowan.
After all, Rowan was her creator.
…
To be honest, when Number One came to Rowan and told him that she knew the location of the Star Religious Group, he was startled.
Although it was somewhat unfair to Number One, the truth was that Rowan had completely forgotten about her after setting her free.
He had never expected that the thousands of cursed spirits and evil spirits he had painstakingly modified would fail to locate the Star Religious Group, while Number One—whom he had long forgotten—had actually infiltrated its headquarters.
What was this called?
One deliberately plants flowers, yet they refuse to bloom; one casually plants a willow branch, and it grows into shade.
This unexpected development had come far too suddenly.
It was an enormous pleasant surprise.
Rowan immediately examined Number One's memories and learned everything she had experienced since leaving him.
Naturally, he also saw Suguru Geto, whom Rowan had already killed.
However, the current Suguru Geto could no longer truly be called Suguru Geto.
From the stitches across his forehead and around his neck, it was obvious that this body had already been taken over by Kenjaku.