Chapter 407

Later, we searched but found no surnames phonetically related to "Lu," "Yū," or "Ya."

The investigation stalled here once again; had it not been for Kamikawa Mitsu drawing away the interdimensional immortal demons and gods, diverting our investigators' attention, the probe might have ended here.

Director Takahashi, you still remember, didn't you? We traced Kamikawa Mitsu's connection to Luuyu Doman by investigating the Kamikawa surname, ultimately discovering that Kamikawa Mitsu was a descendant of the Luuyu family."

He fell silent.

Director Takahashi and the others nodded.

"Of course we remember. The Luuyu family, founded by Luuyu Doman, changed their name to Kamikawa. To this day, we still don't know why the Luuyu family changed their name to Kamikawa."

The Luuyu family's sudden name change had been discussed by Director Takahashi and the others.

Most believed the Luuyu family, being evil onmyōji with many enemies, had fallen into decline and was forced to change their name.

But others held differing views, each with their own reasons, making it hard to judge who was right.

Yoshimura Yoshimura nodded upon hearing this, then said:

"Yes, our investigators noticed Kamikawa Mitsu drawing away the interdimensional immortal demons and gods, and it made them think of his surname—they found it strange."

"Strange?"

"Yes, strange. If the Luuyu family changed their name to Kamikawa due to numerous enemies and decline, then now that Kamikawa Mitsu—the unparalleled genius of the Luuyu family—has appeared, as long as he lives, the Luuyu family is destined to rise."

If they've already risen, and Kamikawa Mitsu's identity as a Luuyu descendant has been exposed, why hasn't he changed his name back to Luuyu Mitsu? Why hasn't the Kamikawa family reverted to its original name?"

There are other possible reasons, but regardless of the cause, Kamikawa Mitsu reverting to the Luuyu surname would bring only benefits, no drawbacks—after all, his Luuyu lineage is already exposed; hiding it is impossible."

Since hiding is useless, why not step openly onto the stage and demonstrate the Luuyu family's power to all major factions and mythologies?"

He could even declare to all major factions and mythologies the Luuyu family's resurgence."

But what happened? Kamikawa Mitsu never changed back—he has kept the Kamikawa name. If they're afraid to change, it's only the Luuyu family members who fear it; Kamikawa Mitsu himself may not fear it at all."

He fears neither life nor death—he dared to lure away immortal demons and gods. Given his temperament, reverting to the Luuyu surname would be entirely possible."

Upon Yoshimura Yoshimura's words, Director Takahashi and the others grew solemn.

Yes.

Why hasn't Kamikawa Mitsu reverted to the Luuyu surname?

It's impossible he severed ties with the Luuyu family—probability nearly zero. This is evident from Kamikawa Mitsu being sent to Earth to grow up, and from the twenty-eight Luuyu star constellations under his command—there's no possibility of severed ties."

"Could the Kamikawa surname be the Luuyu family's true surname?"

Professor Beishan suddenly conceived a possibility, his aged face showing emotion.

It's not impossible. If Luuyu Doman originated from Chinese mythology, he may have come to Japanese mythology to flee danger, hence changing his name to Luuyu."

Yoshimura Yoshimura had said the Luuyu family's investigation revealed they were descendants of Chiyou."

Conversely, as Chiyou's descendants, Chiyou was the defeated side with enemies in Chinese mythology—so his descendants fled to Japanese mythology, hiding their identity. This explanation makes sense."

At this moment, Yoshimura Yoshimura turned his gaze toward them.

"Professor Beishan's thought matches what our investigators suspected: that Kamikawa Mitsu's refusal to revert to Luuyu might mean the Kamikawa surname holds some special significance—perhaps it's the Luuyu family's true surname."

The investigators then shifted their focus to investigating the Kamikawa surname in Chinese mythology."

Leveraging the earlier method of phonetic and semantic analysis used for the Luuyu surname, they quickly examined the Chinese phonetic equivalents of "Kamikawa," "Kami," and "Kawa."

The result: they made a discovery."

They found that in China, the surname "Chuan" has many origins, but one explanation is widely accepted."

It states that the "Chuan" surname originated from the Jiang surname, descending from the Three Chuan Clan, descendants of Chiyou's three temples—this was a simplified form of a compound surname. The Qing dynasty surname scholar Zhang Shu, in his book "Five Books on Surnames," judged: 'Anciently there was the Three Chuan surname; the Chuan surname likely derived from it.'"

Speaking, Yoshimura Yoshimura wrote on his whiteboard: "Kamikawa," "San Chuan."

"In China, the pronunciation of 'Kamikawa' is identical to 'San Chuan.'"

The conference room fell silent.

Everyone's eyes widened, stunned, unable to find words to express their emotion.

A phonetic coincidence?

No!

It couldn't be a coincidence!

Professor Beishan, who had some familiarity with Chinese characters, stood up, pointing at the characters "Chuan" and "Chuan," and declared:

"Kamikawa and San Chuan aren't just homophones—the character 'Chuan' and 'Chuan' have the same meaning! In ancient times, 'Chuan' was identical to 'Chuan'!"

If homophony were coincidence, is identical meaning also coincidence?

One coincidence? Two?

Everyone's hearts pounded—Kamikawa and San Chuan were no coincidence.

Yoshimura Yoshimura didn't wait for questions—he continued:

"According to our investigators' findings, ancient Chinese legends say that in primordial times, the Jiang-descended Chiyou clan contested leadership with the Yan Emperor, drove him from his throne, then fought the Huang Di and was defeated, captured, and slain."

"Chiyou's remaining followers became the San Miao, spreading far into the northwest and southwest regions; one branch settled in San Chuan, taking the place name as their surname—San Chuan Clan—later simplifying it to the single-character surname Chuan, written as 'Chuan,' pronounced chuān."

Director Takahashi shot to his feet, catching the key detail in Yoshimura Yoshimura's words.

He interrupted Yoshimura Yoshimura at once:

"Wait—you just said San Chuan was named after a place? You're certain San Chuan originated that way? Is this information reliable?"

As senior officials of the Supernatural Response Division, the others instantly understood his implication.

Named after a place?!

The Luuyu family changed their name to Kamikawa based on their residence's terrain!"

One is a place name, the other a terrain feature—could these two be connected?

Yoshimura Yoshimura also grasped Director Takahashi's meaning, gestured for him to calm down, then pointed to the investigation report:

"I mentioned earlier that our investigators, while examining the Chinese phonetic equivalents of the Kamikawa surname, discovered clues related to the characters 'Kami' and 'Kawa' through the Chuan surname."

"And regarding the origin of the Chuan surname, there are many theories—besides the one linking it to Chiyou's remnants, there is another theory."

The surname Chuan (川) originates from a place name, derived from ancient terms for rivers in mountainous regions, and belongs to surnames taken from geographical features. The character 巛, the ancient form of 川, refers to large rivers flowing between mountain valleys. The difference is that 川 is relatively straight, while 巛 is more winding, and both have considerable drops in elevation, with a torrential, majestic flow of water.

The ancient people of Hua revered nature, and taking natural geographical features as surnames was a very common phenomenon. In the oracle bone inscriptions of the Yin-Shang period, there are already records of 巛 used in chronological entries for people, making it one of the very earliest surnames.

Later, the simplified form 川 was adopted as the surname, pronounced chuān."

……