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

He raised his head, his eyes behind the holes in his mask seeming to smile as he swept over the three men: "I'm sure you've all seen the briefing. The successful experience three years ago is the best proof. Now, it's just history repeating itself. I ask that you all... do me the favor and not interfere with the ceremony."

Chapter 52 Those Old Fools

The masked man's words, like the most insidious catalyst, laid bare the bloody dilemma before their very eyes.

They would sacrifice the lives of these dozens of villagers to solidify the seal and prevent the Abyss Devourer from breaking it and causing an even greater disaster.

Or, in order to save these dozens of people, risk the complete collapse of the seal and the premature birth of the cursed spirit by forcibly taking action?

Xia Youjie slowly clenched his fist, looking at the masked man with a frighteningly cold gaze.

Gojo Satoru's expression vanished. He slowly removed his sunglasses, his six pale blue eyes staring emotionlessly at the masked man. His gaze seemed to penetrate the mask and see directly into the dirty schemes deep within his soul.

Duanmu Yan took a deep breath, his chest heaving beneath his armor.

He could sense that countless eyes were watching them from behind, waiting for their performance, waiting for the cracks to appear.

"You bastard—"

Gojo Satoru's voice sounded as if it were squeezed out from between his teeth, icy cold and filled with undisguised killing intent.

His figure blurred, and almost no one could see how he moved. The next second, he appeared in front of the masked man, grabbed the collar of the man's Shinto robe, and lifted his thin body off the ground!

"I'm asking you, it was those old fogies in the Elder Council who asked you to do this, right?!"

Gojo Satoru stared intently at the two empty holes in the mask with his six azure eyes, the rage within almost bursting forth as solid ice flames.

Normally, if Natsumi saw Gojo Satoru treating a seemingly elderly and weak person so roughly, he might have said something to remind him to be mindful of his behavior or to respect the elderly and care for the young.

But at this moment, Xia Youjie simply stood there, his hands in his large trouser pockets, his eyes devoid of any of their usual gentleness, only filled with an almost tangible, icy rage.

Presbyterian Council...

In Xia Youjie's mind, the faces of those arrogant old men who used the lives and suffering of others to maintain their authority and so-called order flashed by.

An indescribable rage and disgust surged within him.

His righteous cause was for the strong to protect the weak and to establish a better order between sorcerers and ordinary people, not to use the corpses of the weak to fill the void of the strong's greed and incompetence!

If I had the chance... I'd really like to kill them all.

This thought, like a venomous snake, quietly slipped through Xia Youjie's mind, only to be forcibly suppressed by him, but his eyes grew even more profound.

Duanmu Yan looked at the masked man who was being held by Gotiao Wu but didn't seem particularly panicked, and then at the villagers with empty eyes. He remained silent for a moment.

Are you angry? Of course.

Is it disgusting? Absolutely.

The elders' despicable and vile actions exceeded his expectations. This was not merely an open conspiracy, but a blatant trampling of life.

But now, getting angry, questioning, or even killing the guard in front of him would be of no use.

The elders are probably watching this place in some way, waiting for them to lose control of their emotions, waiting for them to make irrational choices, waiting for cracks to appear.

Duanmu Yan stepped forward, reached out, and gently pressed his hand on the wrist of Gojo Satoru, who was gripping the masked man's collar.

"Wu, it doesn't matter what you say or ask now."

He looked at Gojo Satoru, his gaze behind the goggles of his armor terrifyingly calm: "He's just a mouthpiece, a pawn carrying out orders. Killing him, or forcing him to reveal anything, won't change the situation; it will only waste time."

He turned to Xia Youjie: "Jie, calm down. Don't let anger control you. The most important thing now is not to find out who is at fault, but to solve the problem."

Finally, he looked at the masked man again, his tone completely unchanged:

"Let him go. Let's go check the seal first."

Gojo Satoru stared intently at Duanmu Yan for two seconds, then glared fiercely at the masked man in his hand who was powerless to resist. Finally, he clicked his tongue and abruptly let go.

The masked man staggered to the ground, coughed twice, straightened his disheveled collar, and spoke in an emotionless voice behind the mask: "A wise choice. Then, please follow me..."

"Get out of my way." Duanmu Yan coldly interrupted him, pointing the Melting Scale Blade at him, flames rising slightly on its blade. "Stay away, don't get in my way. Otherwise, I can't guarantee I'll purify you before solving the problem."

The masked man stiffened, seemingly sensing the threat of the pure purifying power on the blade. He silently took a few steps back, clearing the way to the central magic circle and the Blood Soul Stone.

Gojo Satoru snorted and, together with Xia Youjie, followed Duanmu Yan, the three of them heading towards the Blood Soul Stone in the center of the cave.

The viscous curse energy in the air seemed to have gained weight, compressing their senses.

The villagers' blank stares shifted slightly as they moved, adding to the eeriness of the scene.

In the shadows, it seemed as if countless eyes were spying, waiting, and mocking.

The group arrived at the Blood Soul Stone and began to investigate it using their own methods.

Gojo Satoru stared at the thing, the light in his six eyes flickering uncertainly in the dim light.

He stared at it for a long time, then finally clicked his tongue and turned his face away.

"There's no way to deal with this. This thing treats living people like batteries and fuses. If you touch them, either the battery explodes or the fuse blows, and the cursed spirits still run away."

Xia Youjie also frowned, "The magic array structure is too poisonous. Whether we rescue them or wait, the final outcome for these villagers will be the same."

Duanmu Yan withdrew the purifying flame he had been testing; the previous attempt had already demonstrated the problem.

As the flames scorched the cursed black lines, all the villagers simultaneously decayed.

His armor could burn away filth, but it couldn't pick out the sesame seeds mixed into the dough one by one without damaging the flour.

"My purification wasn't precise enough," he confessed, the Melting Scale Blade hanging at his side, the flames on it dimming slightly. "It will harm them as well, and may even accelerate the collapse of the seal."

The masked man let out a barely audible sneer from the shadows in the distance, but he dared not speak now.

Frustrated, Gojo Satoru spun around in place for a short while. Suddenly, he raised his foot and kicked a piece of gravel away. The stone hit the rock wall and made a hollow echo.

"Damn it! Those old bastards... their predictions were spot on!"

Xia Youjie closed his eyes, took a deep breath of the air filled with the cloying, rotten smell, and then slowly exhaled.

When he opened his eyes again, only cold rationality remained, but his tightly pursed lips betrayed his suppressed emotions.

"They just want to see what we choose." Either we watch these people die, and then we deal with the broken cursed spirits—we won't get our hands dirty, but we'll still remember this debt."

"Either we can't help but try to save them, which triggers a breakdown, we fail to save them, and we release the cursed spirit prematurely, and then the responsibility falls entirely on us."

"Then they can jump out, clean up the mess, and incidentally blame us for being reckless and doing bad things, and then guide the guilty one?" Gojo Satoru chimed in, saying sarcastically, "What a clever scheme."

Duanmu Yan did not join the denunciation of the elders' council. His gaze swept over the villagers.

There were elderly people with deep wrinkles on their faces; middle-aged people with calluses on their hands from working; and even a teenager huddled next to someone who looked like his mother, with equally empty eyes.

They shouldn't be bargaining chips, they shouldn't be necessary sacrifices.

But the reality is, they are placed here, becoming the problem itself.

As time passed, another crack visibly spread across the Blood Soul Stone, resembling an ugly centipede.

Several villagers began to twitch slightly and uncontrollably, their faces turning ashen even faster.

The masked man seemed impatient; his hoarse voice drifted over again, carrying a persuasive tone: "Gentlemen, time is running out. The ritual may be imperfect, but it buys time. Sacrificing a small number to save the majority—that is the true meaning of..."

"I told you to shut up!" Xia Youjie suddenly turned his head, his eyes sharp as knives, and a cold aura suddenly spread out, startling the masked man into taking a half step back, the rest of his words stuck in his throat.

But getting angry won't solve the problem.

Chapter 53 Domain Expansion

The buzzing of the Blood Soul Stone grew louder and louder, the speed at which the cracks spread increased visibly, black and red mist gushed out like a geyser, the entire cave trembled slightly, the light of the magic array flickered, and the runes flashed wildly, as if it was about to overload and collapse at any moment.

The villagers convulsed more violently, and several elderly people had their eyes rolled back, their breaths as faint as candlelight in the wind.

The masked man no longer concealed his intentions. "See? It's too late! Make a decision quickly! Are we to complete the ritual and stabilize the situation for now, or wait for the Abyss Devourer to rush out and devour this place along with everyone else who hasn't evacuated yet?! It's just a few dozen villagers!"

"Just a few dozen villagers?" Duanmu Yan turned his head sharply, his gaze fixed on the masked man. "What do you take life for?!"

He took a step forward, and flames on the Molten Scale Blade shot up with a roar, illuminating half of his armor with golden-red light and also reflecting the retreating figure of the masked man.

“Every life is unique! Every life deserves to be saved at all costs! What do you mean by ‘just’?! You high and mighty people, what right do you have to so casually decide the life and death of others?!”

The roar echoed through the cave, but anger could not resolve the imminent crisis.

What to do? Conventional methods are ineffective.

The purification process isn't precise enough. Are we really being driven to a dead end?

No, he has one last card.

Duanmu Yan's heart skipped a beat. He remembered the thing in the system's inventory that he considered his trump card—the Domain Experience Card.

If the purifying power of the Nava Armor is enhanced by the domain, can it break through its limits and reach a state where it can precisely separate curses from life?

The demonstration of power can also intimidate the elders, letting them know that what they want to control is not a docile knife, but a volcano that may erupt at any moment.

As for whether it's worth it?

This could save dozens of lives, it's totally worth it!

He calmly took out the antique lucky coin and held it in his palm.

Coin, oh coin, tell me, in my current state, using the Domain Experience Card and the Nava Armor, can I successfully resolve my current predicament and save these people?

Snap it hard with your thumb.

The coin tumbled, leaving a faint bronze trail in the dim light. He caught it with one hand and quickly covered it with the other.

Remove your palm.

Auspicious cloud patterns, facing upwards.

Positive, feasible!

A spark of hope was ignited instantly, and the coin's durability decreased further, but there was no time to worry about anything else at the moment.

He urgently called out to the system in his mind, "System! Use the Domain Experience Card on the Nava Armor!"

[Instruction received. Consume [Domain Experience Card] x1.]

[Host's current armor detected: Flame Nava.]

Matching started... Match successful.

[Flame Nava's Exclusive Domain Activated - Infernal Prison: Binding All Evil!]

[Domain Effect: Once deployed, everything within its range deemed evil, cursed, or defiled by the domain's master will suffer continuous purifying fire and judgmental suppression.]