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

"And sorcerers and cursed spirits are interdependent. Our sorcerer side has seen a significant increase in strength in recent years. Logically, the number of cursed spirits should also rise in tandem, not plummet. This can only mean one thing..."

Gojo Satoru raised his hand again, this time without the casualness of before: "So there is a large gathering point absorbing cursed spirits, and we haven't discovered it yet."

Ichichi nodded and switched the screen to a map of the Tokyo area. A few scattered red markers marked the map, their sparseness strikingly obvious.

Xia Youjie spoke slowly from the window, his voice not loud, but each word landed heavily on the conference table: "To attract so many cursed spirits, either an extraordinary cursed spirit has appeared, or some powerful cursed object is summoning it. In any case, the other party has been preparing in the shadows for a long time."

Quiet conversations came from both sides of the long table.

Night Moth Masamichi frowned, his swollen face resting on his interlaced fingers on the table, while Leyan Temple listened silently, leaning on his cane…

Duanmu Yan stood up, placed his hands on the edge of the table, and scanned everyone present with his gaze.

"Other sorcerers must be extra careful when carrying out missions recently. If you encounter a cursed spirit moving in a specific direction, record its direction of movement before removing it. We need to find out exactly where these cursed spirits are gathering."

"Yes!"

After the meeting ended, people left one after another on both sides of the long table. Ijichi stood up with the projector and notebook in his arms, bowed to Duanmu Yan, and hurriedly went to organize the meeting minutes.

Only three people remained in the meeting room. Gojo Satoru spun his chair halfway around, put his long legs on the edge of the table, and pushed his sunglasses up to his forehead.

Xia Youjie was still sitting by the window, twirling a teacup in his hand. I heard that he had rejected many female employees who pursued him in recent years, but he was becoming more and more like a married man.

“Speaking of which, Duanmu,” Gojou Satoru tilted his head and looked at him, “how are you and Riko doing? I haven’t seen her bring you lunch lately. Did you two have a fight?”

Duanmu Yan gathered the documents together and glared at him: "You don't need to worry about this. Riko and I are doing very well. She's currently studying barrier techniques at Tianyuan. She'll come over when she's done. On the other hand, you, didn't you throw Hui's homework like a frisbee again yesterday? Hui used the word 'habitual offender' when she complained to me."

“That was extracurricular teaching, training him to deal with unexpected situations,” Gojo Satoshi said emphatically. “Besides, he caught it, didn’t he? He’s made great progress.”

Xia Youjie chuckled softly beside him, placed his teacup on the table, and said, "However, today's data is indeed a bit worrying. Based on the mission records of previous years, the number of cursed spirits that have disappeared in the past two years is probably already in the four figures."

"More than a thousand cursed spirits gathering in the same direction at the same time—this is no small-scale operation."

He withdrew his hand from the teacup, interlacing his fingers and resting them on his knees. "The other side has been preparing in the shadows for at least two years, and to this day we still haven't figured out their exact location. This patience and execution are beyond what ordinary cursed spirits possess. It feels like..."

Duanmu Yan nodded, "Yes, it's probably that guy..."

Gojo Satoru put his legs off the table, the front leg of his chair slamming hard on the floor. "Are you talking about the woman who attacked you before and those cursed spirits? It's okay, it's okay."

He reached out and patted Xia Youjie on the shoulder. "Jie, you're overthinking it. The three of us are the strongest. Let alone four figures, even five figures, we can handle them easily. You haven't been on a mission for too long, so you probably don't have a direct feel for our combat power anymore. How about we go to the back mountain tomorrow to give you a lesson? I've been itching to fight lately."

“I’m not worried about whether we can win or not.” Xia Youjie shook his head helplessly after being patted on the head. “I’m just thinking that the other side spent two years integrating so many cursed spirits, it’s impossible that they just gathered together to have a party.”

"Who cares what kind of opening it is." Gojo Satoru stood up, pushed his chair towards the table, put his hands in his pockets, and walked towards the door. "Anyway, there's only one outcome in the end. Let's go. The cafeteria has tonkatsu today."

Xia Youjie also stood up and grabbed his coat from the back of the chair.

He took two steps, then turned back to look at Duanmu Yan.

Duanmu Yan nodded slightly to him. No further explanation was needed; they all understood what Jie was worried about.

But as Wu said, no matter how long the other party has been preparing, no matter if it's a four-figure or five-figure sum, as long as they are still on the same side, there is nothing that cannot be overcome.

After all... they possess absolute strength!

As the strongest, no problem can stump them.

……

Inside the cafeteria, Gojo Satoru placed a plate piled high with fried pork cutlets on the table, then deftly snatched the largest piece from the side of Xia Youjie's plate.

Xia Youjie looked down at his plate, which was now a third empty, and expressionlessly moved the rest of his plate halfway away from Gojo Satoru on the table.

"You have so much on your own plate, why do you have to take mine?"

"The stolen food tastes better." Gojo Satoru said matter-of-factly as he stuffed the pork chop into his mouth.

Duanmu Yan sat down opposite the two while holding a bowl of ramen, and casually moved Xia Youjie's teacup from Wutiao Wu's cola attack range to the other side of the table.

He broke apart a pair of disposable chopsticks and casually asked, "Maki, Mai, and Yuta are all starting school this year, right? Are there any other students besides those three?"

Gojo Satoru put down his chopsticks, his expression instantly brightening. "Yes, Duanmu, yes."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out two neatly folded printed photos, which he then spread out on the table.

One picture shows a boy whose mouth is covered by a hoodie, and the other picture shows a panda.

Chapter 205 Pandas are very precious animals

"What's going on with this panda?" Xia Youjie picked up the panda photo, raising his eyebrows slightly.

You should know that pandas are extremely rare animals.

While eating, Gojo Satoru explained, "This is a student that Yagami-sensei asked me to add. It seems to be the newest Cursed Corpse. It's completely autonomous and has independent consciousness, so it's considered a formal student."

Duanmu Yan nodded. "My teacher also mentioned it to me. This guy's name is Panda, right? It's a straightforward name."

Xia Youjie picked up another photo and looked down at the boy in it. "Where is this kid?"

"This guy is an extremely rare spellcaster."

Xia Youjie: "A spellcaster. Where did you find him?!"

Gojo Satoru gave a thumbs up, his smile radiant and unreserved: "When I was buying desserts, he happened to be harassed by a level 3 cursed spirit in front of that shop. I had just finished queuing and rescued him on my way. Later, I found out that he knew incantation spells, so I just brought him back."

Duanmu Yanxia and Youjie said in unison, "Six."

This approach is indeed very insightful.

……

Meanwhile, at the secret stronghold of the Cursed Spirits, the restlessness that had been dormant for two whole years could no longer be suppressed.

Louhu sat cross-legged on a giant rock scorched black by lava, the firelight in his single eye flickering more rapidly than usual.

The swan hovered above its head, while the drake continued to play in the shallows beside it, leisurely splashing the waves with its tentacles, completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere on the shore.

In the past two years, the number of cursed spirits gathered in this sea area has exceeded ten thousand. Countless low-level cursed spirits wriggle in the shadows, as if all the negative emotions of the entire Japanese nation have been condensed in this sea area.

"How long do we have to wait?" The sound of the water clock suddenly rang out, and dark red magma seeped from the cracks in the crater.

"We said we would launch a general offensive two years ago. Two years have passed, and we have more than five figures of our comrades here. It's time to deliver a heavy blow to humanity."

Yao Ji folded her wings and landed on the rock next to it, agreeing, "This time I agree with Volcano Head's opinion. We've waited for two years, and I can't stand it anymore."

The text appears to be a jumbled collection of characters and symbols, possibly from a corrupted or incomplete source. A direct translation is not possible without further context or clarification.

She raised her hand to tuck a stray hair behind her ear, her tone still gentle and composed: "Yes, the number is sufficient. To be honest, the gathering of five-figure cursed spirits is rare even a thousand years ago..."

"But there is still a gap in top-tier experts. One top-tier expert is worth tens of thousands of cursed spirits, so I need to find a way to hold them off."

She never started the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons to seek revenge against humanity.

To be precise, she didn't want the operation to succeed at all, nor did she have high hopes for it.

What she truly desires is the assimilation of Tianyuan and all of humanity; this Night Parade of One Hundred Demons is merely a delaying tactic to appease these few Calamity Cursed Spirits before her.

If she were to allow tens of thousands of cursed spirits to launch indiscriminate attacks on human cities, the casualties would be too heavy, which would be detrimental to her plan.

Moreover, the opposing side has four top-tier experts, among whom Gojo Satoru and Duanmu Yan are ridiculously strong, comparable to Sukuna's peak condition that she witnessed a thousand years ago.

She gazed at the sea, inwardly brooding: It's been two years already, those humans should have noticed the abnormal decline in the number of cursed spirits by now, why haven't they sent anyone to investigate?

Louhu and Yaoji also fell silent. Duanmu Yan and Wutiao Wu were thorns in the hearts of these two special-grade natural disaster curse spirits.

But to be honest... the two of them combined probably couldn't beat one of the other.

Just then, a flying spirit swooped down from a distance, its wings creating a whirlwind, and landed in front of Yao Ji: "Your Majesty Yao Ji! A sorcerer has been spotted approaching this way. It looks like a level one. What should we do?"

Yao Ji impatiently flapped her wings: "Just kill a mere human sorcerer, why bother asking me?"

"And... call me Your Majesty!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, received!"

Just as the cursed spirit was about to fly away, a voice stopped it.

"Don't be in such a hurry." The bearded man, looking at the woman with a stern face, gently advised her.

"If we kill him, wouldn't that make more sorcerers realize that something is wrong here? If stronger people come then, we might be exposed prematurely."

She turned her gaze to the flying spirit and said softly, "Just send a few low-level ones to fool them. I'll reinforce the barrier to ensure that the intruders can't detect the true scale of this place."

After saying that, she turned and walked into the depths of the dense forest, and Kaori Itari's figure disappeared among the shadows of the trees.

Once she was out of sight, Yao Ji confirmed that she was no longer aware of the commotion and then snorted, "It's another delaying tactic. I feel like she's been keeping us hanging. She was the one who came up with the plan, and now she's the one hindering our actions. What exactly is she trying to do?"

Even the tussock, which hadn't participated in the discussion, surfaced from the shallows, its tentacles resting on the edge of the reef. Its round, octopus-like eyes darted back and forth between the two cursed spirits, making a series of gurgling bubble sounds, whether it was agreeing with them or just amusing itself, was anyone's guess.

The water clock remained silent for a long time.

Impatient, Yagi suddenly spread her wings and said with a hint of murderous intent, "No matter what she wants to do, let's kill her along with Itadori Kaori after the Hyakki Yagyō ends. We don't need her anymore anyway."

The water clock slowly shook its head, and the magma surged in its single eye: "No. We still need to continue cooperating with her."

It raised its hand, pondered for a moment, and then said, "This woman is not simple. Her strength is not much weaker than ours, and she is hiding too many things that we cannot see. Have you forgotten how she casually took out that top-grade cursed artifact to revive you ahead of time? We have never been able to see through her trump cards."

Yao Ji remained silent for a long while, then folded her wings again and slowly landed back on the rock, her tone tinged with resentment, "Yes, then let's wait. But wait until the day we achieve our revenge..."

Her claws slowly tightened on the rock, and stone chips fell from between her claws.

"...I must kill her."

The water clock's single eye lit up again, gazing into the depths shrouded by the barrier.

Tens of thousands of cursed spirits stirred in the darkness, their temperature, their hatred... all waiting for the same signal.

"Whatever you want, but please wait for now."

"In the future, those standing in the wilderness... will definitely be us."

……

The chatter between Xiao Ji and the water clock was not surprising at all; their faces remained full of affection.

These three cursed spirits would never trust her, and she had no intention of gaining their trust.

Their relationship can only be described as one of mutual exploitation.

Looking at the terrifying curse here, she said, "If you all die at the same time, you should be able to revive that cursed spirit... I'm waiting for you, Master."

The text appears to be a jumbled collection of characters and symbols, possibly from different sources. A direct translation isn't meaningful without further context or clarification.

This is also the fundamental reason why she cooperated with the cursed spirit.

"Let's look forward to this great battle between sorcerers and cursed spirits."