In the blink of an eye, a full seven days had passed since Rowan led the others in killing Abe no Seimei.
During those seven days, Japan had been extremely lively.
However, none of that had much to do with Rowan.
He had spent the past few days digesting his gains.
Ever since he controlled the God of Death and had it swallow Abe no Seimei, he had begun dismantling Abe no Seimei's soul and plundering his memories.
Everything Abe no Seimei had accumulated over the past thousand years had fallen into Rowan's hands.
Rowan not only inherited Abe no Seimei's memories, but also mastered every jujutsu technique Abe no Seimei had learned over the past millennium.
If he wanted to impersonate Abe no Seimei now, absolutely no one would be able to spot a single flaw.
Rowan simply had no interest in doing so.
Through Abe no Seimei's memories, Rowan also finally understood exactly why he wanted to destroy humanity.
In the end, he had still been influenced by yokai.
As mentioned before, after Abe no Seimei mastered his longevity technique, he had to devour a yokai at regular intervals to maintain his existence. This caused his yokai nature to overpower his humanity.
As a result, his way of thinking became increasingly similar to that of a yokai.
Eventually, he fell into darkness and embarked on the path of exterminating humanity.
That led to the earth-shattering battle several hundred years ago—
the battle between Nurarihyon and Hagoromo-Gitsune.
As everyone knew, Hagoromo-Gitsune lost that battle.
According to Hagoromo-Gitsune's memories, Abe no Seimei had not appeared during the battle. Afterward, she questioned him about why he had not come to help her.
Abe no Seimei explained that he had been held back by his disciple Tengen and the Six Eyes.
That statement was true.
They had indeed held him back.
At the time, Rowan suspected that Abe no Seimei had been severely injured by the two of them, which was why he had kept such a low profile for the following centuries.
But in reality, Rowan had guessed wrong.
Abe no Seimei had not been severely injured.
Even after giving everything they had, Tengen and the Six Eyes were unable to do anything to Abe no Seimei, because he was simply too powerful.
However, Tengen had never intended to defeat Abe no Seimei.
She wanted to restore his humanity.
Therefore, at the most critical moment, she abandoned her physical body and merged into Abe no Seimei.
It was what one might call a reverse merger.
After entering Abe no Seimei's body, she truly caused his humanity to overpower his yokai nature.
As a result, Abe no Seimei no longer wanted to destroy the world.
But Abe no Seimei knew that this change in his thinking was unnatural, so for some time afterward, he began removing Tengen's influence from his body.
That was why Abe no Seimei did not continue trying to exterminate humanity during the following centuries.
Then several hundred years passed.
Abe no Seimei finally removed every trace of Tengen's influence from himself. Not only did he defeat Suguru Geto and take control of the Star Religious Group, but he also encouraged Hagoromo-Gitsune to return to her old profession.
He even colluded with a certain God of Death and obtained a small notebook from him.
However, just as his plan to exterminate humanity was progressing at full speed, Rowan arrived in this world.
Then Suguru Geto was killed.
Abe no Seimei found Kenjaku, had him take over Suguru Geto's body, and continued advancing the plan.
But before Abe no Seimei could breathe a sigh of relief, he suddenly discovered that his mother, Hagoromo-Gitsune, had also been captured by Rowan.
That was seriously infuriating.
However, Abe no Seimei was not angry.
He had already lived for several hundred years and possessed plenty of patience.
He planned to wait until Hagoromo-Gitsune reincarnated, bring her back, and continue advancing the plan.
It was only a little time.
Abe no Seimei could afford to wait.
What he never expected was that before he could retrieve Hagoromo-Gitsune, Rowan would charge in with a group of people shouting about bonds and hot-blooded passion…
Alright, Rowan did not actually shout any of those things.
He simply cut Abe no Seimei down, dragged out his soul, and ate it.
Once Rowan cleanly killed Abe no Seimei and dismantled his soul, Abe no Seimei ceased to exist.
The plan to exterminate humanity finally came to a complete end.
While Rowan was in seclusion digesting his gains, Japan was also extremely busy.
First, every member of the Abe and Gokadoin families was captured and imprisoned.
In the original story, these people disappeared after Abe no Seimei lost to Nura Rikuo.
But in this world, they were not so fortunate.
They directly became prisoners.
Even Kenjaku was completely killed after Gojo Satoru found an opportunity to finish him off.
Before dying, however, Kenjaku told Gojo Satoru something.
The real Suguru Geto had been killed by Rowan.
After hearing this, Gojo Satoru left without saying a word.
He knew that he could not avenge Suguru Geto, nor did he possess the ability to do so.
After all, Suguru Geto had already betrayed the jujutsu world and become a wanted criminal.
He could not possibly oppose Rowan for the sake of a fugitive.
That was impossible.
When the Japanese government learned that Abe no Seimei and Hagoromo-Gitsune were dead and that the Star Religious Group had been completely wiped out, they were overjoyed.
Without hesitation, they blamed the disappearance of Nijō Castle on the Star Religious Group.
They announced that Nijō Castle's destruction had been a terrorist attack planned by the Star Religious Group.
The Star Religious Group had done everything.
As for why the Star Religious Group had done it or how they had accomplished it, Japan offered no reasonable explanation.
Instead, they deployed the Ultimate Bowing Technique and declared that they would definitely investigate the matter thoroughly.
In reality, Japan had no intention of investigating at all.
They simply used delaying tactics, waiting until the public lost interest so the matter could quietly come to an end.
Of course, to make the public forget about the incident as quickly as possible, the Japanese government invested a huge amount of money into rebuilding Nijō Castle.
After learning about Japan's response, Rowan gave them a thumbs-up.
Yep.
This was definitely Japan.
After emerging from seclusion, Rowan also lost interest in continuing to remain in this world.
On one hand, the problems in this world had already been resolved.
On the other hand, he had already tasted almost all the food this world had to offer.
Therefore, Rowan planned to explore a new world.
Some time ago, the Golden Gate within his body had connected to another world. However, because of the matter involving Abe no Seimei, Rowan had not immediately entered it.
Now that everything had been resolved, he naturally wanted to see what the new world was like.
Before leaving, Rowan gathered Asuna, Nakiri Erina, and the others for a simple farewell.
Come to think of it, Rowan had not met many girls in this crossover world.
Aside from Asuna and Nakiri Erina, there did not seem to be anyone else.
Oh, right.
There was also Miko Yotsuya.
However, Rowan had only met Miko Yotsuya once. They could not really be considered friends, so naturally, he did not invite her to the farewell gathering.
It would have been inappropriate.
As for Nakiri Senzaemon and Nurarihyon, Rowan did not invite them either.
What kind of joke was that?
When he could dine with beautiful young women, who would willingly eat with a few wretched old men?
Even if Nurarihyon could transform into a handsome young man, Rowan was not interested in that sort of thing.
"Are you truly leaving, Lord Rowan?"
The farewell gathering was held at the Totsuki Resort.
Gin Dojima personally cooked an entire table filled with fine food and drinks for Rowan.
During the banquet, when Nakiri Erina heard that Rowan was leaving, reluctance filled her face.
Asuna felt the same way.
Rowan had helped her greatly. He had not only saved her life, but also shown her a colourful and extraordinary world.
Yet before she could repay him, Rowan was already preparing to leave this world.
Naturally, she felt reluctant to see him go.
Faced with Nakiri Erina's attempt to make him stay, Rowan cut into his steak and said, "The main reason is that there's nothing in this world worth keeping me here. Your cooking is good, but the ingredients are too ordinary."
"I plan to visit the new world and see whether it has any delicious food."
"Remember to keep the house for me. I'll occasionally come back to visit and bring you some fresh ingredients along the way."
Nakiri Erina nodded.
"Please rest assured, Lord Rowan. The house has already been transferred into your name."
Rowan looked at Nakiri Erina in surprise.
He had not even appeared in person, yet somehow another house had been added beneath his name.
Rich people truly knew how to get things done.
However, Rowan did not refuse.
He seriously finished his meal with the two beautiful girls, then hugged them goodbye.
The next morning, Rowan left the world.
However, this time, Rowan departed alone.
Medea did not follow him.
The reason was simple.
Rowan had gained a great deal from the battle at Aoi Spiral Castle, but Medea had also obtained plenty.
She had acquired large numbers of yokai and shikigami, so she was currently researching both types of power.
Naturally, she had no spare time to accompany Rowan on an adventure into a new world.
More importantly, Rowan's strength was no longer what it had once been.
Even without her, Medea believed that he could take care of himself.
Serie was the same.
She had not even participated in the battle at Aoi Spiral Castle and had remained completely absorbed in researching the secrets of yokai.
There was no chance she would accompany Rowan into a new world.
She had no interest in doing so.
As for Cosette, she was currently still at Totsuki Academy.
By now, she had already gone completely berserk within Totsuki.
She had absorbed vast amounts of culinary techniques and knowledge, causing her cooking ability to rise again and again.
She had effortlessly defeated several members of the Totsuki Elite Ten.
At present, she had already become the Second Seat of the Elite Ten.
Surpassing the First Seat and reaching the top of Totsuki was only a matter of time.
Of course, all of this was only temporary.
Because Nakiri Erina had not yet begun exerting herself.
Once Nakiri Erina became serious, Cosette might very well be knocked from her position.
When you had a cheat, you really could do whatever you wanted.
As for Nero, no one knew how Medusa and the others had persuaded her, but she had actually returned to the Fate world.
No one knew what she had gone there to do.
Therefore, Rowan could only explore the new world alone.
This left him speechless.
Before entering this world, several beautiful women had been beside him—
Yamato, Smoothie, Medea, Cosette, and Nero.
Because this world was unsuitable for Smoothie and Yamato, Rowan had been forced to send the two women back to the One Piece world.
He never imagined that by the time he left this world to explore the next one, he would be all alone.
He really was going backward the longer he lived.
~~~
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