21st Century Necromancer

As the distinguished Tashiro Family of medical heritage, although their influence unavoidably declined after the rise of Western modern medicine, they remained part of Japan's upper society, especially as recent years saw increasing buzz around health and wellness.

The Tashiro Family, which had conducted extensive research in Traditional Chinese Medicine and health preservation, seemed to have found a second spring.

Not only did the family itself garner attention from many high-ranking officials, becoming esteemed guests among the elite, but even the family's Chinese medicine factory, which was once languishing, quickly thrived by shifting to produce health supplements. In some sense, the Tashiro Family had successfully transformed and restored its former glory.

However, like all ancient families, although the Tashiro Family did well in adapting to changes, embracing the trends of the times, they remained frightfully conservative in certain respects.

This was particularly evident to Tashiro Nanaori, who grew up in such an environment.

At home, she would always address her parents as "Father" and "Mother" with great respect. The myriad of ceremonial norms were identical to those of the Edo Period centuries ago, strictly adhering to the same unchanging Japanese traditional etiquette.

Even the bedding at home was the most traditional style, almost as if the more than a hundred years of change following the Meiji Restoration didn't exist for the Tashiro Family.

Although Traditional Chinese Medicine had declined over the years due to modern medicine's impact, and the descendants of the Tashiro Family had turned to study modern medicine, time seemed to stand still inside the aged and conservative Tashiro household, and the elders appeared to remain indulged in the bygone days.

It wasn't something strange or incomprehensible, after all, the current head of the Tashiro Family was Nanao's great-great-grandfather, a man of over two hundred years old. For him, the end of the Edo period and the Meiji Restoration were events he had lived through, so maintaining his youthful lifestyle wasn't surprising.

The Tashiro Family's heritage was the Chinese medical cultivation method, which, as its greatest advantage, greatly extended life. Even someone with minor achievements reaching what would now be considered the Formal Rank could live up to one hundred fifty years, not to mention those who reached the expert or Master Rank in the medical family could live for over three hundred years.

However, aside from Nanao's high great-grandfather who had lived for more than two hundred years, there weren't any other very old members in the Tashiro Family. The only others were from Nanao's grandfather's generation, as if the generations above her great-grandfather had simply vanished.

For Tashiro Nanaori, none of this was important; she didn't want to concern herself with where all those ancestors she had never met had gone.

In fact, if it wasn't necessary, she would prefer not to set foot in the Tashiro ancestral home but instead stay in her rented apartment, rolling around with her pillow on a soft and comfortable bed, not on the tatami of the ancestral home with nothing but a hard ceramic pillow to sleep on.

But she had to come because her great-great-grandfather, who now wielded control over the Tashiro Family, wished to see her, so she had to visit the mansion.

"Great-great-grandfather, your descendant Nanao greets you," Tashiro Nanaori, dressed in a kimono according to traditional etiquette, knelt and bowed at the entrance of her great-great-grandfather's room and called out respectfully.

Although the senior great-great-grandfather still wielded immense power over the Tashiro Family, he had already passed the position of family head to Nanao's grandfather and seldom showed himself before others.

"How is that matter being handled?" the voice of the senior great-great-grandfather came from behind the Japanese-style paper doors, hoarse and sluggish, making Nanao feel that her great-great-grandfather must have been dead a long time ago, and that it was merely his corpse speaking now. His voice was so permeated with the scent of decay.

"Reporting to the senior great-great-grandfather, today your great-granddaughter tried to test Professor Chen Yu's reaction.

His attitude remains firm, and furthermore..." Nanao hesitated for a moment and still concealed the fact that Jounouchi Hiromi had become a transcendent being, only speaking of Chen Yu's matters, "and I suspect that Professor Chen Yu must already be a transcendent being himself."

Chen Yu, of course, concealed his identity as a transcendent being very well, just as Jounouchi Hiromi, with Xiao Lan's help, completely concealed her own power, looking no different from an ordinary person on the outside.

However, to Nanao, who was skilled in traditional medicine, Jounouchi Hiromi appeared to have rejuvenated after Christmas and the New Year, her skin radiant with the brilliance of youthful vitality, which was far too conspicuous.

As for Chen Yu, every time Nanao faced him, she felt a tense nervousness, like her back was prickling with fear, as if she was facing some ferocious beast. And this feeling she had only experienced when her own senior great-great-grandfather, already a Master Rank transcendent being, was angry.

This was not a problem with the way Chen Yu concealed his aura; rather, Nanao had this ability since she was young. She had an especially keen sense of the strength and weakness of life, seemingly born with the ability to judge the state of life and whether it was powerful.

For example, when Nanao first met her senior great-great-grandfather, she deeply felt the senility of his life, as well as the force that, though dismal, remained immensely potent.

Compared to the feeling Chen Yu gave her, Chen Yu's life was clearly much more vibrant, and his power much stronger. However, there was a taste of death within Chen Yu's power, as if touching it would bring her death.

That was precisely why Nanao always behaved timidly in front of Chen Yu—not out of shyness, but out of fear.

Yet, Nanao would not share these observations with her senior great-great-grandfather because she clearly understood the intentions he harbored. If he knew Chen Yu's true strength, he would certainly adopt a more conservative and cautious strategy.

One should not underestimate an old man who has lived for over two hundred years; even if he was reckless in his youth, more than two centuries of life experience would have taught him prudence.

However, that was not what Nanao wanted. She desperately hoped that the Tashiro Family, or rather, she herself, could break free from the shadow of this old man who should have been in a coffin long ago. She had always lacked an opportunity, but now, with the matter concerning Chen Yu, she saw a chance she could exploit. Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire

"What does it matter if he is a transcendent being? Nine times out of ten, he's just a nobody who stumbled upon an opportunity. It's his great fortune earned through the blessings of his last nine lifetimes to be able to marry into our Tashiro Family. He has no right to refuse." As expected, Nanao seized the opportunity from her senior great-great- grandfather's words, just as she had anticipated.