Chapter 10: What Are You Staring For? Hurry Up and Cook!
The next morning.
Zenin Jinsuke, bare-chested, was training in the courtyard.
Even though the body granted by Heavenly Restriction was already strong enough, he still maintained a solid training volume.
The method for cultivating blood energy recorded in the scripture was very simple.
First, you needed a qualified body with no cursed energy.
Then you trained like a madman—train until total exhaustion. Only then would a faint thread of blood energy be born in the body. Using the superhuman perception granted by Heavenly Restriction, you guided it into your acupoints to nourish it.
Otherwise, the blood energy would quickly dissipate.
The method was simple, but doing it was far from easy.
With Heavenly Restriction, it was extremely hard for him to push his powerful body all the way to exhaustion.
He might not even reach exhaustion before Heavenly Restriction's recovery ability restored his stamina.
That was why, after all these years, he had only filled three acupoints.
Huff huff huff—
In the courtyard, Zenin Jinsuke was doing the simplest exercise: push-ups.
His whole body became an afterimage as he pumped up and down nonstop like a piledriver—rich women would go weak in the knees just watching.
This was his training method: make the recovery speed fail to keep up with the rate of consumption, and you could reach exhaustion.
Abroad, he usually trained with heavy weights.
But he had just returned and hadn't prepared any equipment yet.
Gulp…
While Zenin Jinsuke trained like crazy, near the wall connected to the Zenin Clan grounds, a small figure hid behind a big tree, peeking out and watching the man training with curiosity.
The gusts kicked up by Zenin Jinsuke's movements made it hard for the little one to keep their eyes open, so they raised a small hand to shield their face and watched through the gaps between their fingers.
About half an hour passed, and Zenin Jinsuke finally felt a hint of fatigue. His whole body was soaked in sweat, his blood churning, and threads of heat began to form inside his flesh.
With the pull of his acupoints, that heat flowed into them and was nourished there.
Hah…
Zenin Jinsuke exhaled a hot breath and stood up. In just that short time, his stamina was already rapidly recovering—like a perpetual-motion machine.
How did those people who claimed the physical strength from Heavenly Restriction was something any sorcerer could easily reach even think?
Did they truly understand Heavenly Restriction?
Forget sorcerers—Zenin Jinsuke suspected even Toji still hadn't fully developed Heavenly Restriction.
"Kid, what are you doing hiding behind the tree?"
Zenin Jinsuke walked toward the big tree by the wall.
From the moment the little one appeared, he had already noticed.
Since she'd been spotted, Zenin Maki stepped out from behind the tree, lifting her head. Her big, bright eyes stared at the man who looked like a monster.
"I just happened to pass by."
Plenty of Zenin clan members knew this courtyard belonged to Zenin Jinsuke. Not tearing it down was already giving the clan head face—who would come here?
Only Maki, who was also disliked and often bullied by older Zenin kids, would come to a place like this.
But when she arrived, she found someone was actually living here.
And it was that guy from yesterday—the one with no cursed energy too. He was supposedly her cousin.
Seeing it was Zenin Maki, Zenin Jinsuke crouched and reached out to pinch her shoulder with a big hand.
"Mm. Looks like you're not completely useless."
After feeling her bone strength, Zenin Jinsuke had a rough judgment.
Maki's cursed energy was extremely weak, and correspondingly, her body was much stronger than a normal person's—just not at Heavenly Restriction level.
A weakened version of Heavenly Restriction, basically.
"Someone lives here now. Don't come again."
Zenin Jinsuke pinched her cheek, then turned and walked into the house.
Zenin Maki rubbed her cheek where a red mark had formed and stared at his back. After a moment of silence, she ran home.
She was going to find out exactly why the clan members who mocked her were afraid of him.
After showering, Zenin Jinsuke found Toji.
He forcefully dragged him along to lead the way.
"Hurry up. Don't make me beat you."
"Don't pull me. I know how to walk."
Toji looked impatient, but inside he was inexplicably nervous. Originally, he hadn't planned to care about those two kids—he figured handing them to the Zenin Clan was enough. But now it seemed he couldn't just ignore it.
Zenin Jinsuke ignored Toji's attitude. Instead, he took out his last bit of travel money and bought some fruit and milk.
Kids were still growing.
Following Toji through winding paths into a sunlit alley, they went up some stairs and stopped at a door.
"This the place?"
Toji nodded, saying nothing.
Knock knock knock.
Zenin Jinsuke stepped forward and knocked.
With a click, the door opened. A spiky-haired kid stared wide-eyed at Zenin Jinsuke and Toji, wary.
"Who are you?"
"Uh…"
Zenin Jinsuke's mouth twitched. He glanced at Toji.
How long had this guy gone without seeing his own son? The son didn't even recognize his dad—interesting.
"It's me," Toji said, looking down at Fushiguro Megumi with a blank face.
Megumi frowned, studying Toji carefully, like he was thinking.
"Megumi, who is it?"
A clear voice came from inside. A girl much taller than Megumi walked to the door, leaning out. She was still wearing a cooking apron.
When she saw Toji, confusion filled her face. "Dad? You're back?"
Fushiguro Tsumiki was stunned. Hadn't this stepdad run off with her mom? Why was he back? Did he run out of money and come to take the savings her mother left for the siblings?
"Hello. I'm your dad's older brother. You can call me Uncle."
Zenin Jinsuke smiled and handed what he brought to Tsumiki, introducing himself.
"Uncle?"
"Hello. Um—why are you here?"
Tsumiki didn't refuse. She took the fruit, opened the door wider, and let them in.
"Megumi, pour water for Dad and Uncle."
"Okay."
Megumi listened to Tsumiki without question and quickly poured water, but his gaze wasn't friendly.
He was worried this unfamiliar father would do something bad—like separate him from his sister.
"Don't be nervous. Starting today, Toji will live with you. If you need anything, just tell him. If you need money, ask him. If you don't have food, make him cook."
"If he dares to refuse, come find me. I'll teach him a lesson for you."
Zenin Jinsuke made his intentions clear. Whether it was Tsumiki or Megumi, they were still too young and might not be able to take good care of themselves.
And besides, Tsumiki would be targeted by Kenjaku in the future. Jinsuke couldn't remember the exact timing, but with Toji watching them, it would probably be avoided.
"Huh?"
Tsumiki and Megumi looked completely confused.
"Hey, hey, hey—who gave you the right to decide my life for me?"
Toji looked furious.
"Because I'm your brother. Any problem?"
"This isn't up for discussion. It's decided. If I find out anything happens to my niece and nephew, you'd better be ready to get beat."
"What are you spacing out for? Hurry up and cook!"
Zenin Jinsuke lightly kicked Toji. For a brother this irresponsible, he had to fix his attitude properly.
"Tch."
Toji walked into the kitchen, clearly unwilling. He was furious inside, but somehow didn't dare refuse.
It reminded him of when they were kids, back when he was still under his brother's control.
Zenin Jinsuke: "Anything your big brother tells you to do, don't refuse."
Zenin Toji: "Why?"
Zenin Jinsuke: "Because I'm your big brother. If you refuse, you'll get hit."