Why can't humans do it too?

In short, because he knew these historical events too well, Suer didn't have any expectations from the beginning, and his search was just for peace of mind.

Moreover, Japan itself has no real historical records. Along with its myths and legends of monsters, this aspect of its culture was only compiled and organized after the opening of the country to foreign countries via the Black Ships. Naturally, it was also influenced by foreign legends and cultures, so many stories clearly show traces of foreign influence.

If we're really talking about tracing history, the accounts spoken by long-lived beings like monsters, who haven't formed independent regimes and don't reincarnate, are more credible. Their long lifespans also ensure that this knowledge won't be lost.

Finding an old monster among a group of young monsters who don't even have wrinkles is incredibly easy. But as soon as he entered the inner courtyard of the main house, Suer saw a monster so old that his body was hunched over. He was sitting on the edge of a pond, quietly holding a cup of hot tea.

Wearing a black kimono with a brown haori over it, she was clearly so old that her bones seemed to have shrunk together, but her back was still straight, unlike that of an ordinary old person. Her triangular eyes, which had not changed even as her body aged, still gave people a sharp feeling, and she did not have the peace that an old person should have.

"If you just touch it directly, you'll definitely get caught, right?" Xin Ke couldn't help but complain as she watched Su Er's cautious actions with half-closed eyes.

"...I was just a little curious," Su Er said, somewhat embarrassed by the consequences of being called out on the spot, and withdrew his hand.

There's no other reason than that the back of this old monster's head is just too attractive. It's like when you're modeling a human body, you stretch the back of a person's head back by almost half a meter. What a long back of the head!

Not to mention that this monster had long since lost all its hair due to old age, and now it looked bald, almost like a French loaf of bread.

"What kind of monster is this? Is the back of its head a spirit?" Su Er couldn't help but laugh, circling the old monster a few times.

"Is it what a monster looks like when it gets old?" Xin Ke couldn't help but chuckle.

"Hmm? There's a breeze?" Although the old monster could neither see nor hear Suer and Xinke, he suddenly raised his head as if sensing something, and touched the side of his head with his wrinkled hand.

"It's not the wind," Su'er said calmly, sitting down opposite the old monster. No longer concealing himself, he turned his head and smiled, saying, "Would it be convenient for you to introduce yourself? What kind of monster are you?"

Boom!

The frightened deer beside it was full of water, and one end fell down due to gravity, hitting the stone slab heavily. It didn't evoke much Zen, but rather a sense of unease.

"...No, it really is the wind." The old monster didn't seem flustered at all. Instead, he grinned and stretched out his hand. The cherry blossom tree above his head swayed, and a few petals swirled down with the wind and landed on his hand.

"I never expected to see you in this era. But then again, how could a great demon like you disappear so easily?"

Suer: "?"

He didn't quite understand, yet the matter was so easy to comprehend—

"Have we met before?" he couldn't help but ask. Suer kept recalling his memories, but he still couldn't recall this kind of monster.

“That Milky Way, that well,” unlike Suer, Xinke immediately thought of the biggest anomaly and reminded him.

Suer suddenly realized... So that means he would meet them in the future? Meeting people from the past in the future—this sense of temporal dislocation was quite interesting.

“Of course,” the old monster nodded and continued, ignoring Xin Ke’s reminder to Su Er. “When I was still a weak little monster, you and the monster sage Yakumo Yukari were active on this land. In fact, even now, your legend is still preserved in those monster villages and is often told to the children.”

Oops.

Unable to resist raising his eyebrows, Suer suddenly became excited. Who could resist the feeling of having their story told? Especially since even he himself didn't know those things. His curiosity was at its peak, but before hearing his details…

"Would it be convenient for you to introduce yourself?" Although it was phrased as a question, it was actually a statement. Su'er tapped her index finger lightly on the table in front of the old monster, making a crisp sound. "And how we met."

"..."

"You really can't hide anything from me. Just like back then, you seem to know everything." Suddenly, the old monster gave a bitter laugh, picked up the tea in front of him, took a sip, and seemed to relax even more.

When Suer asked that question, he noticed that Suer seemed to be missing a part of his memory, but before that, Suer had already sensed the sudden surge of demonic energy within the old monster who claimed to know him.

It wasn't an instinctive defensiveness triggered by being startled by the sudden appearance of a stranger, because when he greeted Suer naturally and talked about how they knew each other in the past, his demonic aura showed no signs of cooling down.

On the contrary, he became even more vigilant, maintaining a state of readiness, a vigilance unlike any normal alert.

Suer didn't know what he had done in the past, but the only thing he was sure of was that the relationship between him and the old monster in front of him was far more than just acquaintances or a fleeting encounter.

Chapter 104 Nurarihyon

"I dared to be your enemy for a time, and we did indeed fight," the old monster shook his head and sighed, "Although I was no match for you at all, I was badly beaten."

Seemingly recalling some painful memory, the old monster's already wrinkled face scrunched up even more.

"Really?", Suer replied casually, completely disregarding the compliment.

"I am Nurarihyon, a monstrous demon. Although I once had a little fame, I am now just an old monster who has lived a long time. I am better at dodging and trembling than fighting head-on. It is no exaggeration to say that I am an illusion like a mirage... not worth mentioning."

The old monster was rambling on like an old man, while Su Er... took out his phone and started Googling.

A few seconds later, Suer roughly understood what the old monster meant by the few names it spoke of. Although it was not as famous as the Nine-Tailed Fox or Shuten-dōji, who were renowned in different countries, Nurarihyon was said to be a great leader of monsters.

Every evening when everyone is busy, the sly devil will show up uninvited, cross his legs, and drink tea in other people's living rooms. Although the host will wonder who this is, they are too busy to see through him, or they are intimidated by his calm and leisurely demeanor, and even have the illusion that this is their host. They can't help but give him a warm welcome, and end up being eaten and drunk for free.

Hmm... Suer thinks this should also be related to the unique abilities of Nurarihyon, such as the illusion of perception. Didn't the old man just mention illusions?

However, overall it is not a vicious monster. Even though it knows how to exploit people's weaknesses, it has its own principles. Well, at least Suer didn't find any vicious stories about it on Baidu. But that's not enough, far from enough.

That wasn't enough to convince Suer that he had once been his enemy but had survived.

"How did you survive back then?" Even though he knew that asking this question was somewhat of a slap in the face, Suer couldn't help but be curious. After all, based on his understanding of himself, if a monster dared to show its fangs to him, he would not give it a chance to survive unless there were special circumstances.

This old monster doesn't look like a flower fairy at all... Logically speaking, having had that experience with Yuuka Kazami, Suer shouldn't have any future troubles.

"...", but the old monster remained silent.

“Speak, there’s no need to hold back,” Su Er tapped the table.

“…Perhaps it was because you were hesitant at the time,” the old sly man said with a grin, having only tentatively kept his mouth shut just now, following Suer’s words.

“Ah, hesitation,” Nurarihyon nodded. “I want to kill that nine-tailed fox, but you don’t want to watch her die… or at least not so resolutely.”

Nine-tailed fox—Sur didn't expect to hear that name again so suddenly.

"What does that nine-tailed fox look like?" Xin Ke suddenly asked, and Su Er immediately repeated it.

"What did she look like?" Nurarihyon seemed a little stunned, not expecting Sull to ask such a question. Then she recalled and said, "A long-haired woman... no, that seems to be just the body she possessed?"

He had never thought about this question before, so Nurarihyon only realized it when Sora asked him. Even though he had experienced a great battle back then and was seriously injured and aged to his current state, he didn't seem to know what the nine-tailed fox looked like before it possessed his body.

"Hmm... a fox's shadow, right? But it also had nine tails, and you couldn't see any fur in the sunlight, just like a whole shadow, but much darker than a shadow," Nurarihyon kept recalling. "I don't know much more. To be honest, although we barely managed to defeat that fox at the time, my subordinates and I had no chance of killing her. She is still alive, or perhaps she was reincarnated?"

Suer also recalled the scene where the Kusanagi sword pierced through his body, which was as smooth as jade and gradually stained with black energy until it turned completely black, ultimately creating a tragic scene of flying flesh and blood.

That guy actually lived to be so far in the future?!

Suer couldn't help but sigh.

He could roughly understand why the slippery ghost had made such a wavering attempt to stop him, and he also understood why the ghost had ultimately survived.

Although it had completely transformed into a monster, that fox... Suer could never forget its beautiful jade-colored body.

“Tell me more…start with the legends about gods and monsters that you know, and…me,” Sul sighed, casually picked up a cup, and then picked up the teapot in front of Nurarihyon to fill it for himself.

"Ah, I'd be happy to serve you, but Nurarihyon has only existed for a little over four hundred years since my birth. Even my history is much longer—"

Nurarihyon's words came to an abrupt halt. At the same time, he and Sull looked up at the cherry blossom tree above them. A person dressed in a royal blue haori was lying on the bare branches. Putting everything else aside, even Sull had to give a thumbs up to the posture.

"It seems we have guests at home, sir," the suddenly appearing monster said, tilting its head elegantly and striking an even more convincing pose.

There was absolutely no doubt; just by looking at that long back of his head, Su Er could guess who this was, not to mention the "old man" he was calling.

Compared to Nurarihyon's bald head, this suddenly appearing young yokai has hair that is black on the bottom and white on the top, which makes him look less strange.

It has to be said that this hair is a lifesaver. At least Suer can hardly imagine what a ridiculous sight this handsome young monster would look like without this hair covering his head. Even the most handsome man would become an ugly man.

"puff."

Okay, Xin Ke is already smiling.

“Yes, Rikuo,” Nurarihyon said without any intention of avoiding the question. He simply put down his teacup. “Go and get a jar of Grandpa’s treasured sake. Also, have Wakana cook some good dishes and bring them over. Grandpa has something to say to the guests.”

“…Okay,” the young monster glanced thoughtfully at Suer, then cleverly agreed, disappearing back into the tree the next second.

Like a mirage in the desert, Suer quietly watched the monster's figure gradually fade like a phantom, and then watched him calmly jump down from the tree and walk out of the courtyard—all in just a moment.

Chapter 105 Legend

For ordinary people or monsters who cannot see through this technique, it might seem strange. This young monster seemed to have traveled through space in an instant and appeared under the tree. But in the eyes of Suer and Xinke, it was more like a centenarian carrying someone down the stairs.

And isn't the name Rikuo... the name of that kid in McDonald's?

Sull thoughtfully withdrew his gaze, and Nurarihyon, who was standing nearby, also noticed this.

"This is my good-for-nothing grandson. I hope you'll forgive him," Nurarihyon said with a grin. "This child only has one-quarter yokai blood, so he can only transform into a yokai at night, and his power is also a bit weak."

"No wonder," Su Er nodded in understanding.

Is that why that kid's demonic aura is weak?

But the weak point is too strange. No matter how you think about it, there are twelve hours at night, which doesn't correspond to a quarter of the bloodline. Su Er remembered what Yakumo Yukari once said about the youkai drawing power from the moon, but that moon was a plate-shaped moon... Has it changed in this era?

The sake was served quickly. Although Nura Rikuo seemed eager to stay longer and listen to what this guy, who rarely made his cynical old man so serious, had to say, he was quickly dismissed by Nura Nurarihyon.

“This child is not old enough to know those things,” Nurarihyon said thoughtfully after giving a brief explanation. “Actually, it was not something I, being young at the time, could have found out about you. I only know that you, the sage yokai Yakumo Yukari, and the Great Dog Demon King Toga of the Western Country were plotting something big.”

"A sage of monsters?" Su Er repeated with a strange expression. "How did Yakumo Yukari become a sage of monsters? What about her monster kingdom?"

Su Er still remembered that before sending him to the moon, Yakumo Yukari had specially invited him to attend the country she had established after gathering the yokai who had escaped from Izumo. Just from the phrase "establishing a country that belongs only to yokai," it seemed quite promising.

"A kingdom of yokai?" Nurarihyon was clearly taken aback. "There is no such kingdom. Ah, I see. You must be talking about things from ancient times, right? Then I don't know. The yokai only have legends about the rise of humans. What you are talking about is probably from before the great upheaval of ancient times."

It's true that only an old yokai like you who has personally experienced those ancient events could know about the Nurarihyon Mirajima clan, but Sull actually knows no more than him, and in fact, far less.

"The world has turned upside down?" Suer asked again.

“I don’t know about that. I do know that this matter is related to you, and it is also the legend about you that is closest to mythology among the yokai,” Nurarihyon pointed to the sky and then to the ground. “The sky turned upside down and the earth was overturned. It is said that you even cut off the Milky Way... Is it possible to do such a thing?”

The old monster asked curiously. He had grown up listening to such stories when Nurarihyon was young. But the more he grew up and fought with other monsters, the more he knew the limits of monsters. Even though he had subdued other monsters and become stronger over the centuries, these limits had not disappeared. Instead, they had become clearer.