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

But Duanmu Yan was standing right next to Xia Youjie, and the flames on the Melting Scale Blade were still burning.

Unless... he was inside the barrier from the very beginning.

She gritted her teeth, forcing out the words, "You bastard, were you inside the barrier from the very beginning?"

Duanmu Yan tilted his head and clapped his hands: "Congratulations, you got it right. I've been here from the beginning."

"Why did you call another Special Grade officer over when you were right here?"

She couldn't reveal that her true target was Xia Youjie; she couldn't say a single word.

Duanmu Yan spread his hands, looking innocent: "What's so hard to understand? Jie is a spell spirit manipulator. I found a top-grade spell embryo, called him over to subdue it, is there a problem?"

The water clock wasn't in the mood to listen to their conversation.

It took half a step back, lowered its voice, and spoke to the creature with a soft, menacing tone. "What is it?" it murmured.

Hana pressed her palm against the penetrating wound on her chest. Sparks were still flying from the edge of the hole, but the internal twigs and fibers were already twisting back together, making a very faint rustling sound.

She looked at the two people opposite her, temporarily suppressing her injuries: "Special-level sorcerers are indeed troublesome. If we can't kill them here, the dream of the Spell Spirits to survive as an independent race will never be realized."

She withdrew her hand, her tone turning somber, "We have to kill them."

"Your wound." The leaky pot's one eye stared at the hole in her chest that hadn't fully closed yet.

"It's alright. I am a spirit representing the forest, and I have a strong ability to recover." Hua Yu opened her palm, and new shoots sprouted from between her fingers. "My injuries have almost healed."

She turned to the side of the tomb, her gaze fixed on the path ahead, her eyes wide with a mixture of emotions, her voice sharp and indistinct. She looked at the path with a mixture of emotions, her gaze fixed on the path before her, her eyes wide with a mixture of emotions, her voice sharp and indistinct. She looked at the path before her, her gaze sharp and indistinct. She looked at the path before her, her voice ...

"No!" A plume of smoke erupted from the crater atop the water clock. "Hua Yu, you are severely restrained by him!"

Hua Yu didn't look at it. Her eyes were fixed on the two figures standing side by side in front of her. Her voice suddenly became soft: "Louhu, it doesn't matter if I die. I will be resurrected after a hundred years... Just like you said, when we meet in the wilderness after a hundred years, I don't need to be there."

Something flashed in the single eye of the water clock, and I couldn't bear it.

It blinked hard, swallowing back the sour feeling, then shook its head: "No, I'll hold that kid off."

Hua Yu finally turned to look at it: "You forgot about last time..."

“At least my firepower can still offset his.” The water clock interrupted her, lava churning in the cracks of the volcano. “Hana Yu, you’re being suppressed too much, and…”

It paused for a moment, its single eye staring directly at Hua Yu, "This is also my ideal. Since it is my ideal, then naturally it should be me who stops it."

Before Hua Yu could say anything more, the water clock had already turned its gaze to Ao Yu.

Its voice completely subsided, devoid of its previous volatile temper, and instead remarkably calm: "Kaori Itadori, I know you've been hiding your strength. Don't hide it this time."

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

She has plenty of cards to play, so it doesn't matter if she reveals a little bit.

……

On the other side, Xia Youjie was brushing the dirt that had been pressed out of his sleeve by the gravity spell.

He looked annoyed: "Why did you take so long?"

Duanmu Yan explained, "Because I knew there was another person on the other side. I've been looking for her, so it took a little longer... By the way, where's Wu?"

"Tch." Xia Youjie tied his loose hair back up. "That guy said his mission is a bit troublesome and he won't be here for a while."

Duanmu Yan sighed. He looked at the three figures opposite him who were talking in hushed tones, and suddenly said, "Then you should prepare to run. Run as far away as possible."

Xia Youjie frowned: "What do you mean?"

"Didn't I tell you? They're targeting you. I expect one of them will try to hold me off, while two will go after you." Duanmu Yan turned his gaze back to Xia Youjie's face. "Be careful."

Xia Youjie's face turned green.

Before he came, he could take on two opponents at once, and after he came, he still took on two opponents at once... So what's the point of this guy coming here?

He gritted his teeth: "Then please hurry up, that gravity thing is really troublesome."

Duanmu Yan said casually, "Don't worry too much. I have a hard counter to the two on the other side, and I also have Tuona Duo. Once you run far away, I'll switch forms and chase after you."

Xia Youjie was silent for two seconds, then nodded: "This method is good."

Soon, the two groups locked eyes.

"run!"

The rainbow dragon beneath Xia Youjie's feet soared into the air, carrying him rapidly away into the distance.

Almost simultaneously, the paper was drawn. The paper was drawn, and the paper was drawn again. The paper was drawn again ...

Neither the water clock nor Duanmu Yan moved; the two stood facing each other across a patch of still-smoking scorched earth.

"Aren't you going to chase after them?" Louhu spoke first.

"Aren't you going to run?" Duanmu Yan asked back.

The water clock puffed out a puff of white smoke from its nose. It had no intention of running away, nor did it intend to let Duanmu Yan chase after it.

Hold on, hold on for as long as you can.

It stretched its shoulders, and lava bubbled at the edge of the crater. "Your name is Duanmu Yan, right?"

"You have a good memory."

"My name is Louhu (漏壶)."

"I told you, I don't remember what the losers look like, let alone their names."

The volcano atop the water clock suddenly erupted, its one eye fixed on Duanmu Yan.

"I lost the last match, but this time it's different."

"How could that be? After all, in my perception, your flames are still so weak and feeble."

Louhu didn't pick up on that topic. Instead, he suddenly changed the subject: "Your parents were killed by an ordinary cursed spirit, weren't they?"

Duanmu Yan remained silent.

"I heard it's just an ordinary cursed spirit. No wonder you've always wanted to kill all the cursed spirits."

Duanmu Yan was unmoved; to be honest, he had hardly ever seen those two people.

When they transmigrated, they were two corpses. His killing of the cursed spirit had nothing to do with revenge; it was purely for points.

But this explanation can't be given to a cursed spirit.

He nodded: "That's right, that's the reason."

Louhu thought he had found Duanmu Yan's sore spot. "You humans are really interesting. Your loved ones died at the hands of a lowly cursed spirit, so you treat all cursed spirits as enemies. Isn't it natural for cursed spirits to kill humans? It's like a volcanic eruption or an earthquake. Do you hate volcanoes?"

“Volcanoes don’t chase after humans,” Duanmu Yan said, raising his Molten Scale Blade. “But you will.”

The spout of the water clock split open; this was exactly what it had been waiting for, to provoke Duanmu Yan, who then intervened, holding him back, and then...

But after waiting a moment, it found that Duanmu Yan was still standing in the same spot, without even raising his knife.

"Why haven't you made a move yet?"

Duanmu Yan smiled and conjured a green key in his hand: "No rush. Aren't you stalling for time? Well, I'm stalling for time too. Jie has gone far enough. I can set off now."

Chapter 129 I Won't Let You Go

Duanmu Yan switched to his Tuona Duo form, and with a gust of green wind, his figure disappeared in front of the water clock.

His speed was too fast; the water clock only saw a streak of green light leaving an afterimage on its retina before it reached the edge of the barrier in an instant.

Louhu roared from behind, "Foolish fellow—with the barrier in place, you won't get out so easily!"

Duanmu Yan landed on his feet, and the green light of Tuonado faded from his armor, switching to Nawa the instant he landed.

The orange-red armor pieces were placed one by one, and the Molten Scale Blade took shape in his right hand. He raised the blade above his head, and magical power surged into the blade.

"Molten Flame Split Demon Cleave".

The blade struck the barrier, shattering it instantly, the fragments transforming into wisps of light in mid-air.

His Molten Scale Blade has long been capable of destroying barriers and domains, hasn't it? A mere designated barrier is no different from paper under his blade.

Nawa faded away, Tuonado reassembled, a green shadow flashed, and the person had already passed through the broken opening of the barrier and was chasing after it into the distance.

The water clock rushed towards the edge of the barrier like a madman, its one eye fixed on the green afterimage that flickered and disappeared among the treetops.

However, it is not known for its speed; it was left further and further behind after chasing for less than a hundred steps.

It punched a tree trunk next to it, breaking the tree in half and sending wood chips flying all over the ground.

"Duanmu Yan!!!"

On the other side, the rainbow dragon beneath Xia Youjie's feet was flying at full speed, but the sound of air being torn apart behind him was getting closer and closer.

He glanced back, then looked at the scene before him, and saw a faint, menacing look on his face.

The flower buds on Hanami's shoulder were slowly opening, and the branches extended outward from her sleeve.

As Honglong turned through a dense forest, a strange, rustling sound arose. The wind howled, and the wind howled, and the wind howled again. The ...

Xia Youjiela Gao Honglong, the branches brushed past the bottom of Honglong.

Just as he was about to turn around and fight the two men who were about to catch up with him, a huge tornado swept in from afar, uprooting the trees along the way and tearing them into pieces in mid-air.

"Gale Tornado Kick".

Duanmu Yan, enveloped in the center of the tornado, swung his right leg out, kicking towards the raging torrent.

The text appears to be a jumbled mess of characters and symbols, possibly a corrupted or incomplete string of characters. A direct translation isn't meaningful without further context or clarification.

Before she could think, she formed a hand seal and used an anti-gravity spell to push her to the side.

Hua Yu hastily defended himself, crossing his arms and twisting dozens of branches into a wooden wall in front of him. The tornado slammed into the wooden wall, and Hua Yu was thrown backward more than ten meters, his feet carving two deep furrows in the ground. Only the last layer of the wooden wall remained, barely holding on.

Duanmu Yan landed next to Xia Youjie and stretched.

Xia Youjie jumped down from the Rainbow Dragon and stood beside him: "Really, you're here."

Duanmu Yan nodded: "Yes, it will take about two minutes for that volcano to arrive. One of them must be removed within those two minutes."

Xia Youjie glanced at him, then turned his gaze to the opposite side, looking at the student with a puzzled expression.

Duanmu Yan didn't stand on ceremony; he knew Xia Youjie was covering for him. "Thanks."

"Don't be so polite. Only you and Wu could take down that Special Grade one in such a short time."