24, it is because you have a weak constitution.

"Slap—"

The shoji screen slid open again. Rihan, having recovered his senses, appeared once more, still wearing the frivolous smirk characteristic of the Nura clan—though now it looked somewhat twisted.

"She’s my stepmother?!" Rihan was baffled; Rihan was deeply shocked.

He reached out and hoisted Hanami up like a cat, setting her aside.

A single thought crossed Hanami’s mind: *The boy has impressive arm strength.*

"She’s just a child," Rihan said, turning to his father with rare seriousness after putting Hanami down.

He wouldn't have minded his old man frequenting pleasure districts or finding another woman; after all, he wasn't a little kid anymore, and his mother had been dead for nearly two hundred years—he couldn't expect his father to remain a widower forever.

But—

He could not accept a stepmother younger than himself.

Rihan cast a quick glance at Hanami. Yokai judged age by their demonic power or bone structure, and this snake-woman was clearly only a short time past adulthood.

Barely an adult!

He had been an adult for over a hundred years!

Rihan was genuinely amused by his father’s shamelessness.

Hanami poked her head out and, seeing the dark, sinister smile on Rihan’s face, asked with mischievous curiosity, "Are you embarrassed that I’m going to be your stepmother?"

"You really want to be my wife!?"

"You really want to be my stepmother!?"

Both Nurarihyons exclaimed in unison, thoroughly startled.

In terms of age, Hanami was more than a century younger than Rihan.

Hanami feigned shock: "Are you two playing with a snake’s feelings?"

She was already considering whether Rihan could beat Sesshomaru; after all, in the natural world, beauties often required male rivals to compete for them.

"..." Rihan glared at his unreliable father.

Who was Nurarihyon? Aside from being the Supreme Commander of the Pandemonium, he was notorious for his shamelessness and for being the most generous yokai in the pleasure district. Unfazed, he stroked his chin and narrowed his eyes. "You want to be my wife that badly?"

"Give it a rest, old man." Rihan couldn't even bring himself to complain properly. *Didn't you smell the dog scent all over that snake?* Honestly, he didn't like interacting with the Dog tribe; those guys were... capable fighters and fiercely protective of their own.

Little did he know, others felt the exact same way about the Nura Clan.

"It’s not that I want to, it’s mostly that I want gold and jewelry." Sticking to her policy of being sincere, Hanami happily flicked her snake tail. She was decked out in jewels, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. "So, as long as I cure you, do these become mine?"

As a snake with principles, Hanami knew that one shouldn't receive rewards without merit. Therefore, she was determined to secure the debt of gratitude from the Nura Clan!

Upon hearing this, the two yokai lowered their heads in perfect synchronicity. It was the first time they had ever seen a yokai wear earrings attached to their scales.

They looked at the excessive amount of jewelry on her head and then at her rigid posture; she looked like a display rack for trinkets—altogether... hopelessly gaudy.

"..." *Is there something wrong with this girl's head?* Rihan and Nurarihyon thought at the same time.

"Can you actually cure me?" Rihan asked, holding no hope. Raising a little good-for-nothing was better than having a stepmother younger than himself.

Rihan sized up the snake, thinking to himself: *If it were the Snake God from a few hundred years ago, perhaps, but this one?* Highly unlikely.

Hanami thought about it seriously. She felt like she had memories regarding this—some sort of yokai inheritance?

Speaking of which, in the *Inuyasha* setting, as long as a yokai pushed past their limits, they could regenerate severed limbs—refer to Sesshomaru once he obtained the Meido Zangetsuha.

The Nurarihyon world-view didn't have that setting, but since the two worlds had merged, it was only natural for the settings to be shared, right?

Although she hadn't figured out exactly what to do, Hanami lived by the philosophy that a poor student needs plenty of stationery. She used her demonic power to conjure a doctor’s white coat and a stethoscope, and put on a face mask.

She was full of eager anticipation.

Putting on an air of effortless expertise, she raised the stethoscope. Hanami, the sexy and enchanting doctor, smiled slightly: "Actually, we can start by doing some research."

The two Nurarihyons: ...

They had a very strong, bad premonition.

"Don't worry, no yokai will die. If Nurarihyon dies, you can kill me to be buried with him." Knowing that Nurarihyon lived into the modern era, Hanami bluffed with reckless abandon.

Rihan was shocked: "You even want to be buried with this old man?"

Nurarihyon began to doubt if this snake was truly in love with him, his expression turning bizarre: "So, you harbor such intentions?"

Hanami: ???

She looked at the two Nurarihyons and said seriously: "Overthinking is a disease; it needs treatment."

In any case, forced into the role, Hanami began to stir up trouble quite naturally.

...

On the other side, Sesshomaru, who had been tracking the yokai’s scent, arrived at the mountain range to find it completely deserted.

The target had already departed, leaving behind a faint, fishy stench in the air.

Standing against the wind, the breeze brought him much information.

Sunlight filtered down, and fine dust motes danced in the air. To a dog yokai, this faint scent of the sea was quite distinct.

His gaze was drawn to something glittering in the air. Sesshomaru raised his hand, and a pinch of white powder appeared on his fingertips.

Scale powder?

He rubbed his fingers together; the powder left a white trace before vanishing.

The sky remained as clear as if it had been washed, and the scent lingering in the air was not just that of the Sea Clan... there was also the smell of moths.

Crushing the powder on his fingers, he flicked his sleeve. A flash of killing intent crossed Sesshomaru’s eyes, and his voice remained as calm as ever: "The Moth tribe, is it?"

It seemed the war in the Western Lands was far more dangerous than he had anticipated, with even the Sea Clan and the Moth tribe getting involved.

"Hmph—" A cold snort vanished instantly.

With the yokai’s tracks gone, Sesshomaru had no intention of continuing the chase. Without hesitation, he turned and flew toward the half-demon village.

His demonic power had not yet recovered, and there were still yokai lurking in the shadows, waiting for a chance to kill him. With the addition of the Sea Clan and the Moth tribe in the vicinity, it seemed that not only the Western Lands but also the West Sea Road were no longer peaceful.

To the east of the West Sea Road lay the San’in and San’yo regions. The San’in region was the territory of the Nura Clan, while the San’yo was guarded by human monks.

The Western Lands were to the west of the West Sea Road. Sesshomaru immediately mapped out the distribution of the current yokai powers in his mind.

The White Dog clan had been attacking the Western Lands for a long time without success; the Sea Clan must have intervened. The West Sea Road was near the ocean, and the Leopard Cat clan had always collaborated with the Sea Clan.

Perhaps this was the reason his mother had thrown him into the San’in region.

Taking the form of a white dog, he stepped onto the clouds, his figure vanishing rapidly above the forest.

As the wind brushed against his fur, the image of the snake flashed through the white dog’s mind—just a fleeting thought. Come to think of it, he had been away for four or five days; Hanami, having finished absorbing the spiritual power, should be waking up about now.

Sesshomaru felt a strange, faint sense of pleasure.

It seemed he was looking forward to seeing her.

...

At that moment, Hanami, who was being thought of by the White Dog, sneezed violently: "Achoo—"

Nurarihyon quickly retreated with a look of disgust.

Rubbing her nose, Hanami said righteously: "I’m not sick, don't worry. Snakes and Nurarihyons can't catch illnesses from each other."

"So, what did you find during your examination?" Rihan interjected, fearing the two of them would start spouting nonsense again.

Speaking of which, after examining Nurarihyon with her demonic power, Hanami was startled to find that information regarding this actually appeared in her mind.

She began to doubt her own identity.

First, she knew her mother was a fox, and probably not a simple minor yokai—after all, she knew Lady Sesshomaru’s mother, Inukimi. Birds of a feather flock together; her mother must have been a Great Yokai.

And what about her father?

Since her mother was a Great Yokai, her father couldn't possibly be a common little white snake from the roadside, could he?

He must have had an equally formidable identity.

Snake—

When it came to snakes, the most famous in the Japanese mythological system was Yamata no Orochi.

Could her father be Yamata no Orochi?

Hanami felt more and more that her background was extraordinary.

Seeing her silent for a long time, Nurarihyon asked casually: "Am I dying?"

Hanami shook her head with grave seriousness: "No, I’ve diagnosed you with kidney deficiency." If the liver and gallbladder were gone, wasn't that just kidney deficiency?

"Pfft—" Rihan, who was drinking tea, spat it out.

*Cough, cough, cough*, kidney deficiency?

"I do not have kidney deficiency!" Nurarihyon’s hair stood on end; he refused to admit it and pointed at Rihan: "My son is already this big! How could I have kidney deficiency!"

*Hmm?* A yokai dared to contradict a doctor? Hanami was displeased and asked: "How many sons do you have?"

Rihan, happy to join in, chuckled: "One, just me."

Hanami said with a serious face: "After all these years, you only have one child—isn't that proof of kidney deficiency? Oh, right, it could also be poor sperm quality."

Adhering to the principle of never being too proud to ask, Rihan wondered: "What is poor sperm quality?"

"It means—"

Just as she was about to explain, Nurarihyon interrupted with a twisted expression: "Shut up!!!"

He had a premonition that whatever this creature said next could never be anything good!