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

Xia Youjie stood up and dusted himself off: "All of them."

"What? I came all this way, and you're already done fighting?"

Wu Tiao Wu shoved the plastic bag into Xia Youjie's arms, "You guys are too fast!"

“You’re too slow,” Duanmu Yan said. “And… don’t say things that are easy for people to misunderstand in the future.”

"It's clearly you who's full of that kind of stuff, and I have a mission to do too, you know!" Gojo Satoru plopped down between the two of them, pulled two bottles of drinks out of his bag and tossed them to them.

"For you two to be in such a sorry state, the enemy must be very strong, right?"

Xia Youjie took the drink, remained silent for a moment, and then unscrewed the cap. "It's really strong. If Duanmu weren't here, I might have died here."

call--

A massive shockwave emanated from Gojo Satoru and spread outwards.

Gojo Satoru took off his sunglasses and stared at Xia Youjie with a fierce expression. "Tell me what they look like... I'll kill them."

Xia Youjie dusted himself off and said, "Let's talk about it when we get back. Haibara and the others are here."

In the distance, Haibara ran over from the other side of the mountain path, waving from afar: "Senpai, are you alright!"

He ran up to the scene and saw scorched earth and shattered tree trunks. His mouth gaped open. "This...this is way too much!"

Qi Hai followed behind him, scanned the battlefield, and paused for a moment on Duanmu Yan and Xia Youjie to make sure that neither of them was missing any parts before nodding: "Looks like it's resolved."

“We almost managed to keep them all.” Xia Youjie placed the empty beverage bottle on the tree stump. “One cursed spirit and one woman who played with gravity escaped.”

"They escaped?" Haibara's eyes widened. "How could they escape from those two seniors? Just who are they?"

"We'll talk about it in detail later." Duanmu Yan stood up, dusted off his pants, and said, "Let's go back first."

Gojo Satoru stuffed the remaining cream puffs into his mouth, and Natsumi Yujie reached out and snatched his plastic bag from his clothes, then took two bottles of drinks and tossed them to Nanami and the other person.

The two caught it and nodded. Haibara moved closer to Duanmu Yan and asked him about the shiny golden armor they had just seen. Gojo Satoru caught up from behind and put his arm around Duanmu Yan and Xia Youjie's shoulders: "Give me a lesson on the way back. Don't skip the details."

On the stone steps of the mountain path, the footsteps of the five people were uneven, but their goal was the same: to return to the college.

……

The council chamber of elders. People sat on both sides of the long table, and candlelight cast flickering shadows on the walls.

The old man in the main seat slammed his cane on the ground, the dull thud drowning out all the whispers.

He raised his eyelids, his gaze sweeping across every face on either side of the long table. "Among you, who cooperated with the enemy in attacking the current Grandmaster Spellcaster?"

The council chamber erupted in chaos.

"Cooperate with the enemy? Impossible!"

"We are loyal to the world of sorcery, loyal to humanity, how could we help a cursed spirit!"

"Elder, there must be some misunderstanding..."

The old man ignored the arguing people; he turned his head and looked into the depths of the long table, towards the seats of the Zen monks.

There was silence over there, a stark contrast to the clamor from the other seats.

"Do I have to ask you to come out?"

At the Zen temple's family seats, an old man's finger trembled on the edge of the table.

He raised his head, his voice strained out: "I was wrong... I didn't expect those guys to go so far. They actually dared to gang up on a top-level sorcerer. I thought their target was just two high school kids..."

The old man didn't reply, and a collective gasp came from the seats next to him.

There really are traitors among them.

"I've done all this for the Elders' Council," the old man from the Zen family said in a hoarse voice.

"The higher vocational college is growing increasingly powerful; three out of the four special-grade officers are their people. If we can curb their arrogance, it will benefit the elders' council. I just..."

"Are you going to do it, or will I do it myself?" the old man interrupted him. "Or we can wait for the three of them to find out and then do it for us."

Someone stood up from the seats next to him: "Elder! The elder of the Zen family is also thinking of the Elders' Council..."

"Yes, vocational colleges are on a roll lately. If this continues, what voice will we have left?"

“You know they have three top-tier members.” The old man turned his gaze to the group, and the entire council chamber fell silent. “So, what’s your decision?”

All eyes were on the elder of the Zen family.

He looked around, but no one spoke up for him, no one stood up again, and the voices that had just argued for him fell silent. Even the other elders of the family looked away.

"Don't say anything. I'll do it myself." He stood up, the candlelight reflecting on his wrinkled face, his eye bags drooping, making him look ten years older.

He was afraid of dying, but he was even more afraid that this matter would fall on his family.

If those three people find out, or if another family takes action on his behalf, the Zen family will never be able to hold their heads high in front of those two families again.

"I was too careless... I actually believed them. Special-grade... that's the strongest fighting force that can't be resisted."

He drew his short sword from his waist, and no one in the council chamber uttered a sound.

The old man looked away, leaning on his cane, and gazed out the window towards the direction of the vocational college.

Chapter 133 Let's overthrow the Elders' Council!

Council Chamber of Elders.

An old man was slumped in a chair with a gash in his throat, and several servants were bending over to carry him out.

No one spoke, but the few empty seats in the Zen temple stood out conspicuously.

The elder leaned his cane back in front of him, glanced at the bloodstains on the ground that hadn't been wiped clean, then raised his eyes and slowly swept his gaze across everyone's faces.

"Then, we should discuss how to appease those three people."

Someone swallowed hard.

How do we appease them? Those are three top-tier disasters, three mobile catastrophic threats capable of destroying a nation.

If the appeasement is not done properly, the elders' council will no longer need to hold any meetings.

"Let them into the treasure vault."

Several elders raised their heads at the same time.

"Elder, that's the foundation accumulated over thousands of years, the last vestige of the Elders' Council..."

"No need to say anything more." The elder interrupted him, slamming his cane on the ground. "That's it, before the three of them really start fighting."

At the other end, in the conference room of the higher education institution.

Night Moth Masamichi sat at the head of the table, his hands folded on the table, listening to his three beloved disciples pouring out their stories one after another.

"I didn't expect even the Elders' Council would..."

“After all, they’re a bunch of idiots.” Duanmu Yan leaned back in his chair. “They’d do anything for their pathetic little bit of power.”

Gojo Satoru leaned back in his chair, his sunglasses pushed up to his forehead, his blue eyes staring at the ceiling: "Those old geezers are really drunk. Aren't they afraid I'll just wipe them all out?"

Xia Jie sat beside him without saying a word.

This time, Duanmu is there.

What about next time? What if Duanmu isn't here next time? Who will be there to save him then?

Night Moth Masamichi put his sunglasses on the table and lowered his voice: "Wu, you're going a bit too far with what you're saying."

He looked at Gojo Satoru, then at Duanmu Yan and Xia Youjie, “The Elders’ Council is indeed inhuman sometimes. But they are the cornerstone of the stability of Japan. Without them maintaining order in the rear, the maintenance of the barrier, the scheduling of missions, and the balance of power among local families would all collapse. If you destroy them, the entire country will fall into a huge vortex.”

“Teacher.” Gojo Satoru put down his chair. “You told me that being a sorcerer is not about performing for others, but mainly about facing your own heart.”

He tilted his head, his tone unusually serious, "My heart tells me those old bastards need to be taught a lesson."

Night Moth sighed heavily.

He didn't want to see his apprentice become a curse master.

He finally managed to pull Duanmu Yan back from the list of curse masters, and now Gojo Satoru is saying he wants to wipe out the entire Elders Council.

He really didn't know whether Duanmu Yan or Wutiao Wu was more of a worry for him.

"Don't worry, teacher, they won't." Gojo Satoru leaned back in his chair, unusually offering a word of comfort, "Knowing the Elders' Council's upper echelons' nature, they'll definitely back down. We can just wait to collect the compensation."

“That’s right,” Duanmu Yan replied naturally. “If they don’t give us a satisfactory answer, we won’t let it go.”

As he spoke, his gaze shifted to Xia Youjie, lingering on that silent figure.

He already had an idea in his mind.

Not now, but in the not-too-distant future, he will replace these old fogies of the Elders Council.

Night Moth Masakazu shook his head. He didn't want to argue with these two anymore. He turned to Xia Youjie, who hadn't spoken yet, and said, "Jie, you suffered the biggest loss in this operation. What do you think?"

Xia Youjie snapped out of his daze and said, "Just listen to Wu and Duanmu. Anyway, it's always the two of them who argue about compensation. I'll just reap the rewards."

Seeing his nonchalant attitude, Ye Mo Zhengdao remained silent for several seconds before finally putting the documents on the table: "Alright, let's wait for the elders' council to make their statement. In the meantime, you three... don't cause me any more trouble."

"Received," Duanmu Yan said.

"Okay," Xia Youjie said.

Gojo Satoru then gestured for the two to leave.

Only the footsteps of the three of them remained in the corridor. Gojo Satoru walked in front with his hands in his pockets, while Natsumi Yujie followed behind, just as nonchalant as he had been in the conference room.

Duanmu Yan stopped at the corner.

"There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

Gojo Satoru and Natsumi Yuuki also stopped and leaned against the corridor wall, watching him.

"If the Elders dared to collude with the enemy this time, they will dare to do it again next time. They've been using this tactic of offering some compensation and pushing someone out to take the blame for centuries, and they won't change it."

Duanmu Yan pulled his hand out of his pocket. "I don't intend to give them a second chance."

Gojo Satoru, wanting to know what he was going to say, laughed: "How do you want to play?"

"Overthrow the Elders and replace them. Replace their rules with our own."

Xia Youjie straightened up from the wall. He looked at Duanmu Yan, remained silent for a long time, and then took his hands out of his sleeves and put them in front of his chest.

"You say overthrow it. But after it's overthrown, who will take care of it?"