Hearing this voice, Kejoro's heart tightened, and she quickly replied, "Supreme Commander, a human child and a yokai of unknown origin have come outside, saying they are looking for you."
"Looking for me?"
"A yokai of unknown origin?"
Nyanko-sensei had lived this long and had never suffered such humiliation. He bit down on Natsume's hand, and the instant Natsume cried out in pain and loosened his grip, Nyanko-sensei pounced toward Kejoro.
Today, he absolutely had to show Kejoro how powerful he was. A younger generation actually dared act so presumptuously before him and call him a yokai of unknown origin. It truly enraged him.
Behold my wild scratching.
"That hurts!"
Because Kejoro was answering the Supreme Commander's question, she was somewhat distracted. Caught off guard, her face was actually scratched by Nyanko-sensei.
Blood flowed down her cheek.
"How about that? Now you know how powerful I am, right?"
Nyanko-sensei said smugly.
Kejoro said nothing. She raised her slender fingers and touched the blood on her cheek. Strands of yokai aura began radiating from her body, and her beautiful hair danced wildly in midair.
Women were creatures who cared about their faces, and Kejoro, even after becoming a yokai, was no exception.
Her face had been scratched by a strange yokai. At this moment, Kejoro had completely surpassed anger. There was only one thought in her mind: tear this yokai into pieces.
"Calm down, Kejoro."
Just as Kejoro was about to erupt completely, a withered hand grabbed her arm.
Kejoro immediately calmed down.
"Supreme Commander."
"Supreme Commander? Who are you, old man?"
When Nyanko-sensei heard Kejoro call a short, bald old man with a long head the Supreme Commander, he was completely confused.
Wasn't the Supreme Commander of the Nura Clan Nurarihyon? Who was this little old man holding a pipe?
Nurarihyon took a puff from his pipe, exhaled a smoke ring, and his gaze fell on Nyanko-sensei.
"Aren't you here to find this old man? How is it that you don't even recognize me?"
"Huh? I came to find Nurarihyon. Who are you?"
"This old man is Nurarihyon."
Nurarihyon looked down at Nyanko-sensei from above and asked, "And who might you be?"
Hearing this, Natsume felt that something was wrong. He hurried forward and picked up Nyanko-sensei, who was sprawled on the ground, and whispered, "Nyanko-sensei, didn't you say you were friends with the Nura Clan's Supreme Commander? But it looks like you two don't know each other at all."
Nyanko-sensei panicked. Being doubted by Natsume was absolutely intolerable.
"Who said I don't know him? Back then, I drank with Nurarihyon. How could I not know him?"
"Hey, old man, I'm looking for Nurarihyon. Hurry and have Nurarihyon come out."
"This old man already said that this old man is Nurarihyon."
Nurarihyon looked suspiciously at Nyanko-sensei.
"You said you drank with me. Who exactly are you?"
Natsume looked speechless.
"You really don't know each other at all, do you?"
He had estimated that Nyanko-sensei was unreliable, but he had not expected him to be unreliable to this extent.
"Calm down, Natsume."
Nyanko-sensei smacked Natsume's face with one paw, making Natsume grimace in pain.
After Natsume calmed down, Nyanko-sensei turned to look at Nurarihyon, while Nurarihyon also widened his eyes and looked back at him.
Both yokai wanted to find some familiar trace in each other.
"Old man, are you really Nurarihyon?"
"That's right. The genuine article."
As he spoke, Nurarihyon deliberately released a thread of yokai aura.
Feeling this yokai aura, Nyanko-sensei finally confirmed that this long-headed bald old man before him was the Nurarihyon he knew. An appearance could be faked, but yokai aura could not.
"It really is you! Hahaha, Nurarihyon, oh Nurarihyon, you actually turned into a bald old man. You're killing me!"
Nyanko-sensei really could not hold it in.
"It's only been a few hundred years, and you actually turned bald. Hahaha, hahaha! Baldy Nurarihyon, Baldy Nurarihyon! No, I'm dying of laughter, baldy!"
Hearing the other party call him baldy again and again, one baldy after another, a vein could not help appearing on Nurarihyon's forehead.
"Who exactly are you? This old man doesn't seem to know you, and I've never drunk with a pig like you."
This time, it was Nyanko-sensei's turn to break.
"You old swindler who cheats food and drink! Who are you calling a pig?"
"I'm talking about you."
Seeing Nyanko-sensei lose his composure, Nurarihyon became happy.
"Are you a pig or a cat? Or are you some new breed that came from who knows where?"
"Who are you calling a new breed, baldy?"
In a fit of anger, Nyanko-sensei transformed back into his true form with a poof.
It was a white yokai with a fox-like head, yellow-green vertical pupils, a cane-shaped red mark on its forehead, and two red marks beneath each eye.
It was majestic, yet also extremely beautiful.
"Now do you recognize me, baldy?"
Even his voice had changed from its earlier high-pitched tone to a deep one.
Seeing this, Kejoro was startled. Who could have imagined that the cat had such a majestic appearance? That frightening yokai aura was even comparable to the Supreme Commander's.
Without question, this was another powerful yokai.
Fortunately, when she had wanted to act earlier, the Supreme Commander had stopped her. Otherwise, things really would have been hard to explain.
When Nurarihyon saw Nyanko-sensei's true form, he was first stunned, then laughed loudly.
"So it's you, Madara. Long time no see."
"Long time no see, Nurarihyon. I didn't expect you to turn into a baldy."
Madara's deep voice carried unprecedented amusement.
Nurarihyon's face darkened. Yokai aura spread, and in an instant, he transformed from an old man back into a handsome young man with a full head of hair.
This was exactly what Nurarihyon looked like when he was young.
"Who are you calling a baldy, Madara?"
Seeing this, Kejoro was deeply shocked. This was the Supreme Commander? He was too young, too handsome.
He looked a lot like the Second Heir.
As expected of father and son.
"Isn't this much better?"
Madara said in a deep voice.
"This appearance is far better than that bald old man look from earlier."
However, in the next second, Nurarihyon seemed to deflate like a punctured ball. In the blink of an eye, he changed from a handsome man back into an old man.
"No good. Time spares no one."
He took a puff of his pipe and slowly said, "After being heavily injured by Hagoromo-Gitsune back then, it has become very difficult for me to maintain my youthful form."
Seeing this, Madara simply changed back into Nyanko-sensei's appearance and landed on Natsume's head.
"I see. So that's how it is. No wonder you became like this."
Nurarihyon's gaze followed Nyanko-sensei and landed on Natsume.
"Who is this human child, Madara?"
Nyanko-sensei said, "His name is Natsume."
Natsume quickly said, "Hello. I am Natsume Takashi."
"Natsume?"
Nurarihyon froze for a moment, then asked curiously, "What is Natsume Reiko to you?"
Natsume said, "She is my grandmother. Does the Supreme Commander know my grandmother too?"
Nurarihyon shook his head and said, "I never met her, but I heard of her. After all, your grandmother was a famous person in our yokai circles. Quite a few yokai were defeated by her and had their names taken."
"There were even many yokai who came to me, requesting that I uphold justice for them."
"It was also at that time that I learned there was such a strange person among humans. She clearly had not undergone any training, yet she possessed the strength to defeat yokai."
"Even some great yokai lost to her."
"I was very curious at the time, so I had someone pass along a message. I wanted to talk with her."
"In the end, the yokai who came back told me that this human called Natsume Reiko actually wanted to challenge me and take the position of Lord of Pandemonium from my hands."
Natsume listened with fascination. It was his first time learning that his fearless grandmother had actually wanted to challenge the Lord of Pandemonium. He had never heard of this before.
It seemed that his grandmother was far bolder than he had imagined.
"And then?" he could not help asking.
Nurarihyon sighed and said, "After that, I waited and waited, waited and waited, but I never waited until Natsume Reiko came. Gradually, I forgot about the matter."
At this point, he looked rather regretful, because at that time, his son Nura Rihan still had not found a beloved girl.
He had originally wanted to match Nura Rihan with Natsume Reiko.
Perhaps the union of the two could have produced even stronger descendants.
In the end, Natsume Reiko had broken her appointment.
Natsume was also somewhat disappointed. He had originally thought he could learn more about his grandmother, only for it to end so suddenly.
At the same time, Nurarihyon suddenly realized that it was not good to make guests stand at the gate, so he invited Natsume and Nyanko-sensei into the sitting room and had someone serve two cups of tea.
"Tell me then, Madara. Why did you bring Natsume to find me this time?"
Nyanko-sensei said, "It's Hagoromo-Gitsune. She sent people to seize the Book of Friends. We could only come here and seek your help. After all, this kid Natsume can't compare to Reiko."
"The Book of Friends? That book recording the true names of yokai?"
"That's right."
Natsume took the Book of Friends out from his arms and placed it on the table.
"This is the Book of Friends."
Nurarihyon glanced at it, then withdrew his gaze and murmured, "Looks like the rumors are true."
"Rumors? What rumors?" Nyanko-sensei asked.
Nurarihyon lifted his tea and took a sip, then slowly said, "Recently, there have been rumors that Hagoromo-Gitsune wants to enter Tokyo and stage a Night Parade of a Hundred Demons there."
Nyanko-sensei suddenly understood. He was a clever yokai and instantly understood Hagoromo-Gitsune's methods.
"No wonder she wants to seize the Book of Friends. So she needs a large number of cannon fodder to pave the way for her."
"But why is she doing this?"
Nyanko-sensei could not make sense of it no matter how he thought. Hagoromo-Gitsune's base was in Kyoto. Her connection to Tokyo could not be called unrelated.
It could only be called completely unrelated.
What benefit would occupying Tokyo bring Hagoromo-Gitsune?
"Who knows?"
Nurarihyon exhaled a smoke ring.
That was also what he found strange.
~~~
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