Curse Reply: After choosing Nawa, the cursed spirit cursed me for being cruel.

Wild Rose nodded as if she understood, though she felt that what the adult was saying was a bit convoluted, but she understood the last sentence.

The phone in his pocket rang. It was a text message from Ichiji. Duanmu Yan glanced at the screen, stood up from the tree root, and patted the grass clippings off his pants.

"I'm leaving."

Wild Rose also stood up, subconsciously tugging at her slightly wrinkled school uniform.

She suddenly remembered a question she had ignored all afternoon. "By the way, sir, I still don't know your name."

Duanmu Yan smiled helplessly, a hint of resignation in his expression. "Don't call me 'uncle' anymore. My name is Duanmu Yan. I'm fairly well-known in the world of sorcery. You'll probably hear this name again if you go to Tokyo in the future."

Wild Rose silently repeated the name in her mind, then looked up and said generously, "Understood, my name is Kugizaki Wild Rose, you can just call me Wild Rose."

Duanmu Yan nodded, his relaxed expression vanishing as he looked directly into her eyes.

“Alright, Wild Rose. There’s one more thing… Don’t blame the old lady. She stopped you because she was worried about your safety. Being a sorcerer is a very dangerous profession; even I have had life-threatening moments before.”

"You must think this through carefully."

Wild Rose swung her legs, put her hands behind her back, and tilted her head to look at him in confusion. "Why? I've already exorcised so many cursed spirits on my own... the snail next door, the green-haired monster behind the school, and that mud man that popped up in the field last month. I'm obviously pretty good at fighting."

“Because the situation is different over there.” Duanmu Yan squatted down again to look her in the eye. “The resentment in Tokyo is particularly strong. The appearance of a near-Special Grade Cursed Spirit on your side this time is a special case, but in Tokyo, one will appear every now and then.”

"Moreover, because it's a big city, there are many ordinary people. The responsibility of a sorcerer is not only to eliminate cursed spirits, but also to protect others... You can't just focus on fighting; you also have to ensure that the ordinary people around who can't see the cursed spirits are not affected. Sorcerers often complain, 'Hahaha...'"

Wild Rose was almost amused by his last sentence, but seeing his serious look, she held back her laughter.

"It's getting late, I have to go." Duanmu Yan stood up, bent down and patted her head one last time. His hand lingered on the girl's bangs for a moment, and then a gust of emerald green wind rose from beneath his feet.

Wild Rose subconsciously raised her hand to shield her eyes from the stray hairs that were being blown by the wind. When she opened her eyes again, there was no one under the tree.

She stood under the old camphor tree, watching the green afterglow dissipate into the horizon, the wind blowing through the rice paddies, the rice rustling softly.

She looked down at her palm, then clenched her fist and shouted at the now-invisible streak of light.

"I'll be going to Tokyo... Uncle Duanmu!"

……

Ten minutes later, Tokyo Jujutsu High School,

Duanmu Yan had just returned when he noticed unusual fluctuations in magical energy coming from the direction of the training ground.

He walked along the corridor to the edge of the training field, glanced inside, and then stopped.

Fushiguro was performing a subjugation ritual. He formed a mudra with his ten fingers, and a shadow spread out beneath his feet. A giant, jet-black serpent raised its head from the shadow.

This must be a large snake.

However, to Duanmu Yan's surprise, there was another person present during the ceremony.

Maki was also within the ritual's scope. She held a level-two cursed staff in her hand and was moving at high speed around the serpent's flank, the staff flashing and making the serpent dizzy.

With Orochi forced to distract himself from dealing with her, the pressure on Megumi's side was significantly reduced.

This isn't right.

The Ten Shadows Technique's subjugation ritual has strict rules: except for the strongest shikigami, Demon Lord, who is allowed to be intervened by outsiders, the subjugation of other shikigami should be terminated immediately if any external force intrudes.

However, even with the intervention of others, Moxu Luo's banner ritual will not succeed.

Duanmu Yan raised an eyebrow; he had come up with an explanation.

Chapter 195 is really good!

Heaven has imposed a curse upon us.

Like Fushiguro Jinji, Maki has no magical power within her.

In the world of sorcery, every living being possesses some degree of magical power, even a newborn baby or an insect.

Only Tianyu is bound by curses; her curse power is zero.

In this sense, it is closer to an inanimate object, such as a building.

The Ten Shadows ritual likely categorizes her as part of the training ground, rather than an "outsider intervening in the subjugation." Isn't this exploiting a bug?

“You noticed it too.” Xia Youjie walked up to him at some point, his hands tucked into his sleeves, his gaze also fixed on the two children who were fighting the giant snake.

His tone carried a hint of helplessness, yet also a subtle trace of relief.

"When did it start?" Duanmu Yan asked.

"Five minutes ago. Megumi was very confident today and said she wanted to try subduing Orochi on her own. Maki happened to be training nearby, and when the range was set up, she didn't have time to retreat and got caught in it."

Xia Youjie tilted his head. "I noticed the ritual hadn't ended, so I didn't rush in. Now it seems that Maki wasn't rejected at all, but can actually participate in the battle normally. You raised your eyebrow just now... did you think of that too?"

"Bound by the heavens and cursed, with zero curse power, it was determined by the ritual to be a non-living entity."

Duanmu Yan turned his gaze back to the training field.

The snake's tail swept across, and Maki ducked to avoid it. She then flicked her long stick upwards, accurately striking the soft part of the snake's lower jaw.

The giant snake raised its head in pain, and Hui took the opportunity to change the hand seals. Several black chains emerged from the shadows and wrapped around the snake's body.

Although the two were not very coordinated, Orochi was not particularly strong, and it seemed that he had been beaten to a pulp.

"In this way, the difficulty of subduing the ten types of shadow magic is reduced by one level. From now on, Maki can help subdue all shikigami except for Moxu Luo." Xia Youjie paused halfway through his sentence.

"However, I wonder what the Ten Shadows sorcerers of past generations would think if they knew about this kind of trickery."

Duanmu Yan continued to watch the battle on the training field.

His students are getting stronger in their own way, even if it involves exploiting loopholes in the rules.

"Being able to exploit bugs is also part of one's strength." Duanmu Yan leaned against a pillar in the corridor, crossed his arms, and smiled slightly.

Thanks to the efforts of Megumi Fushiguro and Maki, the ceremony ended quickly.

The giant serpent's massive body transformed into fragments of shadow, which, like black feathers scattered by the wind, were absorbed into the shadow beneath Fushiguro Megumi's feet.

Hui collapsed to the ground, her chest heaving violently.

Not far from him, Maki casually tossed the long stick that had broken in two into a corner and stretched her wrists.

The level 2 spell tools used for training are still too fragile. I really want to know what kind of spell tools Teacher Xiayou gave him.

Duanmu Yan walked down the corridor. "You played well. Hui, your tactical deployment is more flexible than before. You know how to use Shadow Chain to control the field, and you also know when to let your teammates fill in."

He stopped in front of Hui and said confidently, "This time, subduing the giant snake is out of ten points. You got eight points. The two points deducted are because you didn't pay attention to your position and were a bit too far forward. You need to be more careful next time."

Fushiguro Megumi raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her face and nodded.

“Maki.” Duanmu Yan turned to the girl standing to the side, “You’re getting better and better at using the long staff. You know how to strike at the snake’s vital spot and when to retreat. Those few unarmed combos you did with the broken staff, you learned them from Haibara, didn’t you?”

"Senior Haibara taught me a few moves last week." Maki cracked her knuckles, her tone tinged with pride.

"You've learned well." Duanmu Yan nodded, then changed the subject, "But what surprised me most about you two wasn't the battle itself. It was that you discovered a loophole that none of the ten Shadow Magic Masters in history had ever found."

He held up two fingers. "The Ten Shadows Technique's subjugation ritual rejects all external intervention, but Maki is bound by the Heavenly Curse, with zero curse power. The ritual judges her as a non-living being, the same kind of thing as the walls and floors of the training ground. Therefore, she can freely enter and exit the subjugation site and participate in the battle, and the ritual will not end."

"You should all know what this means. From now on, Maki can participate in all the taming rituals of shikigami. The ten shadow spells have always been solo battles in previous generations, but in this generation, they have become two-player dungeons."

He curled the corners of his mouth into a smile. "Being able to exploit bugs is also part of your strength. Make good use of this advantage, but don't shout it out everywhere. If some old guys find out about your trump card, it won't work anymore."

Hui stood up from the ground and patted the dust off her pants.

Maki stood with her hands on her hips, her smugness practically radiating from her ears.

Duanmu Yan looked at the two smiling broadly and nodded.

He also needed to go to the Zen temple to confirm something.

Fukuguro suddenly spoke up: "By the way, something strange happened today."

Duanmu Yan stopped and gestured for him to continue.

Hui composed himself and began to recount what had happened that morning: his middle school had held a joint sports meet with another middle school, and a strange boy had caught his attention.

Duanmu Yan became interested. The naturally aloof Hui was actually interested in a boy. Could it be that this kid had finally come to his senses?

"Tell me about it," he said, his expression remaining unchanged.

Fushiguro Megumi had no idea what this adult with a rich and dirty mind was thinking, and continued, "That person's physical abilities are extraordinary. He threw the shot put more than 23 meters and ran 100 meters in just five seconds. What's even stranger is that I didn't feel any magical power enhancement on him. He reached this level purely through his physical strength."

Maki wiped her glasses and interjected, "Could it be that she's also bound by fate like me?"

Fushiguro Megumi shook his head: "No. I can sense that he does have cursed power in his body, a little more than an ordinary person, but it has definitely not been trained. That kind of physical ability is not from the enhancement of cursed power, it is just pure physical strength."

Duanmu Yan became increasingly alarmed as he listened.

He can run 100 meters in five seconds and shot put in 23 meters. He has magical power within him, but it is neither a divine curse nor a magical enhancement.

These features, when put together, point to one answer.

He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and asked, "What's that student's name?"

“I haven’t heard anyone call him by his name.” Whitton paused. “But I heard someone call him by his nickname, something like… Tiger of the West.”

Chapter 196 Heaven and Curse, the Connection Between the Ten Shadows Technique

Tiger of the West!

Duanmu Yan became interested. He couldn't possibly not be interested in this legendary Black Flash King, the true protagonist of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Let's include it in the rest of the itinerary.

However, he has more important things to do next, so there's no need to rush.

Zen temple family.

……

Duanmu Yan stood on the third floor of the library, holding a yellowed family history in his hands.

The rustic attic was permeated with the scent of sandalwood and old paper, and the scrolls on the bookshelves were wrapped in silk cloth, with the reign marks on the spines spanning hundreds of years.

This place was originally only accessible to the head of the Zen family, but Naobi gave him the key directly.

The old man's exact words were, "Anyway, I can't beat you. If you want to see something, go look it up yourself."

He turned to one of the pages and ran his fingertips lightly across the brittle paper.

The clan record, written in neat calligraphy, details the lineage of ten types of shadow magic awakeners throughout history, with dense annotations next to it listing the special physical characteristics that appeared in the family during the same period.