Curse Returns: Eight Extraordinary Skills? I lack nothing.

Each one is completely different, and each one functions smoothly.

"Your spell..." Louhu's voice was hoarse with a hint of wariness, "...what exactly is it?"

Yuuto did not answer.

He simply raised his right hand, palm up.

The light of the Golden Light Mantra condensed in his palm, transforming into a short blade made of pure golden light. The shape of the short blade constantly changed under his will—sometimes turning into flying needles, sometimes into a round shield, and sometimes into chains.

"you guess."

Louhu's single eye suddenly contracted. He sensed it.

The power contained within that golden dagger was not merely a transformation of a pure defensive spell, but rather a fusion of something more sophisticated.

As the golden light circulated, it constantly changed its frequency and texture, resonating synchronously with the Five Elements power flowing in the Feng Hou Qi Men formation diagram.

This human is combining and using multiple different abilities together.

"Frost Skeleton," Louhu said in a low voice, "Try that move."

Frostbone nodded. It suddenly plunged its hands into the ground, and frost magic spread wildly outwards from it.

This time, the frost didn't cover the surface, but penetrated deep underground—it channeled magical power into the depths of the earth, freezing the underground water veins, and then suddenly detonated.

"Ice burst!"

The ground exploded beneath Frostbone's feet. Countless tiny ice crystals shot out from the cracks with a sharp, piercing sound, like a blizzard of ice shards.

As the ice crystals flew, they collided, shattered, and reformed, forming a dense and ever-expanding ice crystal storm that completely enveloped the area where Yuuto was located.

Yu Ren frowned slightly. The Golden Light Mantra could withstand physical impacts, but the chill contained within the ice crystal storm was continuously eroding the energy structure of the Golden Light Mantra. The temperature was dropping rapidly, and even the moisture in the air was freezing into tiny ice crystals that drifted down.

He needs to change his strategy.

"Separation Character · Burning Heaven · Flame Ring"

A dark red ring of fire suddenly expanded out from beneath his feet. The ring of fire collided head-on with the ice crystal storm, producing a hissing sound as it evaporated. Large amounts of white steam rose up, enveloping the entire area in a thick fog.

The view was blocked.

But the power of the curse cannot be sensed.

In the thick fog, Yuuto sensed Louhu moving. His fiery spell power shone brightly in the fog, like a burning sun. He was rapidly approaching—not in a straight line, but moving in a zigzag pattern, attempting to use the fog's cover to launch a surprise attack from the side.

Yuuto did not move.

He stood still, his right hand gripping the golden dagger, sensing the movement of the leaking husk. The array diagram of Feng Hou Qi Men remained clearly operational even in the thick fog; orientation, the five elements, and the interactions of generation and restraint—everything was under his control.

Louhu burst out of the thick fog from the right side.

His right hand gripped a longsword formed from dark red flames, its blade surging with molten lava, which he slashed toward Yuuto's neck.

Extremely fast and extremely powerful.

But Yuto was faster than him.

"Golden Light Mantra - Transformation - Lock".

The golden dagger in his hand transformed abruptly just before contact—it became a golden chain that coiled around Louhu's flaming longsword like a living snake. The golden light spell and the fire spell collided head-on, producing a piercing sizzling sound.

Louhu's single eye suddenly contracted. He felt his flaming longsword being eroded and dissolved by the golden chains. The golden light on the chains was like some kind of living thing, slowly devouring his magical power.

He abruptly drew his sword and retreated.

But Yuuto didn't give him a chance to create distance.

"The character 'Zhen' signifies thunderous force."

A bolt of blue-white lightning shot out from Yuuto's left fingertip, heading straight for Louhu's chest.

Lou Hu reacted extremely quickly. He suddenly turned to the side, and lightning grazed his shoulder, blasting a charred crater in the ground behind him.

Lou Hu looked down at the scorched corner of her clothes on her shoulder.

"thunder?"

"I guess so." Yuuto withdrew his left hand. "But it's not quite the same as the lightning you all understand."

A hint of seriousness flashed in Louhu's single eye. This human had far too many types of techniques.

Defense, manipulation, summoning, fire, lightning, and even those mysterious formations that change direction. He uses each one with extreme skill, switching between them without any hesitation.

The ten top-tier cursed spirits behind him gathered again, forming a new encirclement. They were all more or less wounded, but their auras remained formidable.

Louhu took a deep breath.

“You are indeed very strong.” His voice was hoarse and deep. “Much stronger than I expected.”

Yuuto didn't speak. He just stood there, the light of the Golden Light Mantra flickering slightly in the night breeze.

“But you think…” A dark red flame ignited in Louhu’s single eye, “Is this all I have?”

The surrounding temperature soared again.

This time it was more violent than ever before—the ground began to crack, and scalding magma gushed from the fissures. The moisture in the air was completely evaporated, and even breathing felt like being burned.

Louhu's body began to change.

Dark red cracks appeared on his skin, with intense light surging from the fissures. It was a sign of overloaded magical power—he was increasing his output.

"Fire Insect - Extreme".

Thousands of dark red fireballs erupted from his body. This time, the fire worms were no longer the size of a fist, but as thin as marbles, and their numbers had increased more than tenfold.

They appeared in the sky like a dark red nebula, turning the entire night sky the color of flames.

Yuuto looked at the nebula formed by the fireflies, and his expression finally changed slightly—not with fear, but with seriousness.

"That's more like it."

The Feng Hou Qi Men formation beneath his feet spun even faster. Golden array patterns rose from the ground, coalescing into layers of defensive structures around him.

That concludes the first round of probing.

This is where the real work begins.

Chapter 163 One Against Many

The coral spout moved.

The ten top-tier cursed spirits behind him scattered at the same moment.

It wasn't an escape, but a regrouping. Eleven top-tier cursed spirits formed a multi-layered encirclement around Louhu.

Each layer is covered with cursed power of different attributes, and each layer exerts different pressure on Yuuto.

"Don't let him breathe." Louhu's voice was hoarse and low.

Frostbone struck first. Its hands slammed into the ground, and frost magic spread wildly from it.

This time, the frost didn't cover the surface, but penetrated deep underground—it channeled magical power into the depths of the earth, freezing the underground water veins, and then suddenly detonated.

"Ice Prison!!!"

The ground exploded beneath Frostbone's feet. Countless tiny ice crystals shot out from the cracks with a sharp, piercing sound, like a blizzard of ice shards.

As the ice crystals flew, they constantly collided, shattered, and reformed, forming a dense and ever-expanding ice crystal storm.

Yuuto raised his left hand. The Golden Light Mantra condensed in his palm, transforming into a flowing golden shield of light. Ice crystals struck the shield, producing a dense "crackling" sound, like a downpour hitting a tin roof.

But the attack from Frostbone is not the main point.

The real killer move is yet to come.

Yuan attacked from the side.

It opened its mouth and spewed out a large amount of dark green venom. The venom exploded in the air, turning into countless tiny droplets, like a green rainstorm. The droplets fell to the ground with a hissing, corroding sound, and the ground was corroded into fist-sized pits, emitting pungent white smoke.

At the same time, Shan Hai slammed his fists into the ground.

The earth shook violently, and several huge rocks, each the size of a car, burst forth from the ground, hurtling towards Yuuto with a dull thud.

Three attacks arrived simultaneously—ice, poison, and rock—blocking all of Yuuto's evasive routes from three different directions.

Yu Ren did not dodge.

“Kun character · Tuheche”

The ground beneath their feet suddenly bulged up.

A thick earthen wall rose from the ground, blocking his way. Ice crystals crashed into the wall and bounced off, venom splattered on it with a hissing, corrosive sound, and rocks shattered upon impact.

The surface of the earthen wall peeled away rapidly under the corrosive effects of the venom, but the continuous output of the Kun character technique made the soil wriggle, fill, and regenerate like a living thing.

The three-layered attack was completely blocked by an earthen wall.

But this is the moment that Louhu has been waiting for.

He had already circled around from the side while Yuuto was focused on defense. His right hand held a long sword formed from dark red flames, with molten lava surging on the blade, and he slashed towards Yuuto's neck.

Extremely fast and extremely powerful.

Yu Ren caught Lou Hu's movements out of the corner of his eye. He didn't turn around, but simply made a hand seal with his left hand.

“The character '巽' (xùn) is associated with the wind and the wall.”

An invisible current of air condensed around him, forming a swirling wall of wind. Louhu's flaming longsword struck the wall of wind, but was deflected by the rapidly rotating air current. The blade grazed Yuuto's shoulder and cleaved a scorched crack in the ground behind him.

Louhu's single eye narrowed slightly. He hadn't expected that this human would have the strength to defend against his sneak attack while simultaneously dealing with three attacks.

"You reacted very quickly."

"Fortunately."

Yuuto turned around and placed his right hand on the hilt of the sword.

"But your speed—"

He drew his sword, and the blade of Kikuichimonji Norimune reflected a cold white light in the moonlight.

"--Too slow."

A flash of light.

Yuuto didn't strike Louhu, but instead struck the ground beneath his feet.