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

Duanmu Yan stood behind the fire shield and yawned. "Is this interesting? I'm actually finding it a bit boring. Your attacks are too weak."

Su Nuo's smile vanished. "Hmph, this is my territory, you sorcerer."

He raised his hand, and the trajectory of the slash once again gathered at his fingertips.

Duanmu Yan did not wait for him to make a move. The Melting Scale Blade took shape in his right hand, with red-orange flames dancing on its orange-white blade.

Su Nuo stared at the knife and noticed that the color of the flame was wrong.

The quality of the flame was even greater than that of his hearth.

"Fine, Su Nuo, it's impressive that you dared to challenge me."

Duanmu Yan held the Melting Scale Blade horizontally in front of him, the blade pointing at Su Nuo's chest. "But this is all I can say to praise you."

He swung his sword, using the Molten Flame Splitter.

The orange-white blade light slashed out flatly, pressing into a blade of energy that pierced through the domain. Space was split in two from the very center of Su Nuo's body, and the skeletal throne behind him was also cleaved in two along the central axis, leaving a burning crack.

Su Nuo's figure was engulfed by flames in the crack, but he was still smiling before he disappeared.

"May I have your name."

"Duanmu Yan, remember this name." He slung the Melting Scale Blade over his shoulder.

"You're too weak right now, Su Nuo. You can't even interest me."

"Heh." Su Nuo's laughter came and went amidst the collapse. "You're quite an interesting insect. I have a feeling we'll meet again soon, and when that happens... I'll kill you."

"Let's wait and see."

The domain has completely collapsed.

Duanmu Yan opened his eyes. The curtains in the living room were still billowing, and the afternoon light leaked in through the gaps.

Su Nuo's fingers were still on the coffee table. He picked them up, put them in a special box, then got up, went into the bedroom, pulled the blanket over himself, and went to sleep.

……

At the vocational college, a fist mark appeared on the cement wall of the training ground.

Xia Youjie withdrew his hand, took off his coat, casually draped it over his shoulders, and took two steps back to sit on the bench.

He had tried countless times to learn the inversion technique.

He reversed the flow of magical power, multiplied the negative energy, and two negatives equal a positive... Duanmu Yan read every word he wrote in his training notes countless times.

But when it came to him, no matter how he tried or how he flipped through the spell, he couldn't even touch the threshold of the reversal technique.

The power of the spell condensed in his palm, then dissipated, condensed again, then dissipated again, unable to complete the multiplication motion. He could feel the boundary nearby, like a layer of soundproof glass; he stood on this side of the glass, unable to break it no matter how hard he tried.

Duanmu was touched after his heart was pierced, and Wu was touched after his throat was pierced by Tian Nihu. Do they need to be on the verge of death?

Do we need to be driven to the brink of despair to even find the door?

Then what about his predicament—weren't those two figures on the mountain behind the road enough to qualify as a predicament?

Does that mean... I lack the courage to face death?

The cafeteria's mealtime bell rang and then stopped.

The iron gate to the training ground was pushed open, and a concerned voice came from inside.

"Mr. Xia You".

Xia Youjie opened his eyes and saw Hei Jing standing at the entrance of the training ground, holding a lunchbox in his hand.

“You didn’t come to the cafeteria. Miss Shoko said you spent the whole afternoon at the training ground.”

She placed the lunchbox on the low stool next to the chair. Before she even opened the lid, the sweet aroma of the sauce wafted out.

"I guessed you were still training, so I brought you some food. The fried chicken nuggets were pretty good today, have a taste."

Xia Youjie sat up straight, nodded, and took the lunchbox. "It's nothing. Just venting."

He separated the chopsticks, picked up a piece of fried chicken, put it in his mouth, chewed it, and said, "It's fried very well."

Kuroi moved a folding chair across the street and sat down. Since Riko left, she had stayed to help out at the college cafeteria, and everyone praised her cooking skills.

Chapter 93 Unraveling the Knot

Kuroi didn't leave. She stood at the other end of the bench for a moment, then spoke softly, "These past few days, there have been fewer and fewer people in the cafeteria. Mr. Gojo went on a mission alone, and Mr. Duanmu still hasn't returned."

“When Miss was here, you could always hear her voice outside the training ground. Mr. Xia would occasionally come over, and she would always chase after him asking all sorts of questions. Now it’s much quieter.”

Xia Youjie lowered his head. "After Wu and Duanmu comprehended the Reversal Technique, Duanmu went out to hunt down cursed spirits, and Wu also carried out missions alone more often. Tian Tian also went to study."

"Only me, only me is still standing still. I've tried countless times, but I can't even get close to the threshold."

Kuroi remained silent for a short while before finally raising her head.

“I am so grateful to you all. You saved my young lady. At that time, outside the Hongxing Palace, I had already given up hope. The three of you got her to say those words herself. You have no idea how long she cried in my room that night, saying that there really was someone willing to listen to me.”

"Regarding your question, I'm just an ordinary person. I cook, clean, and deliver laundry. I don't know how to increase my strength, but I do know how to improve my cooking skills."

"If you can't memorize a recipe, write it on the back of your hand; if you can't cut vegetables neatly, practice constantly... It might sound ridiculous, since chefs and sorcerers face completely different opponents, but perhaps..."

"If there's a spot I can't get right, I won't look at the other dishes. I'll just keep frying that spot repeatedly, no matter how many people around me are frying it better than me, or how many times I've tried and still haven't succeeded. I'll just keep focusing on that spot."

"Perhaps, strength is the same... It takes more courage to admit your shortcomings than to pretend you are."

She draped the folded apron over her arm and took a step back toward the door. "Take your time, start with the simplest things, and you'll learn it someday... Everyone in the cafeteria is waiting to taste the extra treat you'll get on the day you learn your new skill."

Kuroi bowed and left.

Half a bottle of mineral water and a lunchbox.

After a while, Xia Youjie stood up, closed the lunchbox he had finished eating, and walked across the training field and pushed open the cafeteria door.

Gojo Satoru was sitting in his usual seat by the window, resting with his feet on the table after finishing his meal.

He looked up and saw Xia Youjie standing in the doorway. "What's wrong? Finally hungry?"

Xia Youjie stood at the doorway, the setting sun casting a warm golden glow on his silhouette through the window behind him.

There was no darkness. The sunlight shone brightly on his shoulders.

"Enlightenment".

"Ah."

"Attack me with your strongest attack."

"Huh? Huh?!" Satoru Shigojo stood up from his chair.

"……are you serious."

"Yes. Use your strongest."

Gojo Satoru looked into those eyes, and then he smiled.

A second later, he and Xia Youjie appeared on a distant mountain.

Gojo Satoru raised his right hand, and pink light shone from his fingertips.

"Don't die, Jay."

……

A desolate wasteland, an abandoned temple.

boom……

The temple's wooden doors burned to ashes the moment the two figures stepped in. Before the ashes could even touch the ground, they were swept into the air by the heat waves erupting from one of the figures' ear canals and the volcano's crater above.

The water clock kicked aside the rubble blocking its path, and its one eye shone like a red-hot iron ball in the dim temple. It scanned the area and finally fixed its gaze on the back of the woman in front of the altar.

"Hey! You're the one who said you wanted to cooperate with us, right?"

The beard was covered with rustling flesh, and the rustling flesh was thick and heavy. The ...

She nodded, her voice gentle and refined. "It's me. My name is Kaori Itadori, and I'm here to help you build a world where spirits can become human."

She paused for a moment, then gently tucked a strand of hair, ruffled by the hot wind, behind her ear.

The above was just polite talk. The real reason was simple: those three guys from the vocational college were too strong, and he couldn't handle them alone, so he needed help.

The water clock stared at her for a few seconds, then his single eye narrowed, and his ear and the crater on his head simultaneously erupted with blazing flames, a crimson pillar of fire shooting straight up to the top of the temple.

The entire temple was set ablaze in an instant; rotten wood, tattered cloth, and broken statues all burned in the high temperature, and the flames illuminated half the sky.

"Hmph~ You want to cooperate with me? Do you have the ability?"

The text appears to be a jumbled collection of characters and symbols, possibly from a corrupted or garbled document. It doesn't form coherent sentences or paragraphs. A direct translation wouldn't be meaningful.

The water clock's single eye lingered on her for a long time before the flames slowly receded, leaving only a few wisps of smoke in the crater.

"Alright. You've managed to withstand my flames for so long, you're not bad."

He took two steps forward, leaning on his cane, and looked up at her. He was short, but his presence was in no way inferior. "Then tell me first, who is the strongest sorcerer right now?"

He had waited too long. Seventeen years had passed since he was born with Hua Yu, and he had never encountered a worthy opponent.

Now that a woman has appeared who can remain unmoved amidst his flames and is asking for cooperation, her enemy must be no weakling.

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.

"A top-tier sorcerer? Looks like I can have some fun now, hehe."

The water clock interrupted her rudely, tapping its cane twice on the ground, sending sparks flying that scorched the stone slabs at her feet.

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.

"In terms of direct combat strength, Gojo Satoru should have the highest killing power. His lack of limits and six eyes alone are enough to make most people hesitate. Xia Youjie's cursed spirit manipulation technique..."

"Ninety-nine Yuki..."

"And Duanmu Yan, who has mastered the power of lava and hurricanes..."

The water clock's expression changed; thick smoke billowed from its ear holes and the crater above its head at the same time; the stone slabs beneath its feet began to turn red; and cracks spread outward from its feet like a spider web, with dark red magma gushing from each crack.

The veins on the back of his hand, which was gripping his cane, throbbed: "Wait, you said this guy named Duanmu Yan, what kind of power does he possess?"

"Lava and hurricanes." (The rest of the text appears to be gibberish and unrelated.)

"Arrogant!" The sound of the water clock exploded, and sparks flew as the remaining wooden beams on the temple roof were shaken by the sound. "How dare a mere human claim to have mastered the power of lava?!"