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

“Jay. It’s time for you to make a choice, but if you choose wrong, I will keep you even if it means breaking your limbs.”

……

Xia Youjie opened the report and read it page by page, but the more he read, the more suffocated and uncomfortable he felt.

The village is very isolated, not only geographically, but also in terms of mindset.

Women were not allowed to sit at the table to eat, not allowed to look up when men were speaking, and not allowed to leave the village within a three-mile radius. They had only one purpose: to marry, have sons, and then teach their sons to continue to bully the next generation of women.

The report used the phrase "supporting one's husband and raising one's children".

Xia Youjie stared at those four words for a long time.

What will a girl who grows up in this environment become when she grows up?

The report stated that they bullied girls younger than themselves. Because they had gone through that process, when it was their turn to rise to the top of the power chain, they would step on the weaker ones.

And those boys are taught one thing from birth: women are not human.

They bullied all women, without exception.

Xia Youjie closed the report and shut his eyes.

He recalled what Duanmu had said in the main hall of the Panxing Sect, and the cultists clapping and laughing as they waited for the body of a fourteen-year-old girl to be carried in.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes. "Are these... really people?"

Chapter 140 Arriving in Time

The situation was worse than Xia Youjie had imagined.

In the gloomy warehouse, two little girls were curled up in cages used to keep livestock.

His clothes were tattered, and his exposed arms and calves were covered with bruises and scabbed old wounds.

They huddled together, their eyes fixed on the person at the door.

terror, fear, and hatred.

Xia Youjie read hatred in those eyes. Two children, not even six years old, stared at him, their eyes filled with hatred.

"Sir, they are the culprits who recently caused the terrible incident in the village! Please arrest them immediately." The village chief stood to the side, bowing. He was the most isolated person in the village, but also the one with the most power.

Xia Youjie didn't answer; he looked at the two girls.

The village chief, thinking he was still unaware of the situation, took another step closer: "It was these two brats who used witchcraft to harm many people in the village! Please, you must arrest them and behead them as a warning to others!"

Beheaded.

Xia Youjie turned his head and looked at the village chief and a dozen or so smiling villagers behind him.

What era are we living in? In their eyes, punishment is still beheading.

“I don’t think they did these things.” He kept his voice very flat.

The village chief's face changed. He turned and spat on the ground, then put on his smiling face again. He took an envelope from his pocket and stuffed it into Xia Youjie's hand: "Sir, don't be fooled by them. Women are the best at deceiving people. Even if they are only a few years old, we believe that the world is peaceful nowadays."

The people behind them joined in the commotion. Some said, "Yeah, yeah, hurry up and kill them!" Others said, "My child's head was broken!" and "My chickens are missing a few, they must have done it too!"

The sounds overlapped, like a swarm of flies buzzing around rotting flesh.

Xia Youjie felt a terrible headache. How could anyone be so stupid? How could anyone be so feudal?

"This is truly... incomprehensible."

The village chief quickly chimed in, "That's right, that's right, those two children are simply outrageous! Doing such a thing at such a young age, so you should hurry..."

Xia Youjie turned his gaze to the village chief, instantly crushing the envelope full of money in his hand. His eyes were terrifyingly cold, and the anger he had been suppressing since earlier seeped out from the depths of his eyes.

He said, "I'm talking about... you bunch of idiots."

The village chief took a half step back, and the laughing villagers behind him fell silent, wondering why the person sent from above had suddenly changed his expression.

Two blue round holes suddenly appeared next to Xia Youjie.

Just then, a gentle, warm voice came from the doorway.

"Jay, stop."

Duanmu Yan stood at the warehouse entrance, sunlight streaming in from behind him, casting his shadow on the gray ground that stretched all the way to Xia Youjie's feet.

He walked in, passing the village chief and the group of villagers without glancing at them.

"I am coming……"

Xia Youjie's eyes cleared as he saw his close friend suddenly appear.

He knelt on one knee, clutching his chest, cold sweat trickling down his forehead and dripping onto the muddy warehouse floor.

I almost lost control of that murderous intent just now.

"I……"

“This has nothing to do with you, Jie.” Duanmu Yan held his shoulder and pulled him up from the ground. “What happened here will make every person with a conscience angry.”

He turned to the two girls huddled together in the corner, their backs pressed against the moldy wooden wall, their eyes still filled with terror.

Duanmu Yan squatted down and smiled, "It's alright, you guys get some sleep first."

He snapped his fingers, and a breeze, as soft as cotton, flowed from between his fingers, swirling gently around the two girls, like parents stroking their heads and placing them in a cradle.

Their eyelids began to droop, their heads huddled together, and their breathing gradually calmed down.

The village chief then realized someone else had arrived: "What are you doing here?"

Duanmu Yan turned his face: "The purpose of my coming here with this guy is similar to that of when you invited him here."

"Since you know each other, that makes things easier. Hurry up and apologize to us... This guy actually said we're being unreasonable!"

Duanmu Yan tilted his head, stared at him, and said calmly, "Isn't that statement quite correct? After all, you guys are really hopelessly stupid."

Several villagers grabbed hoes and pitchforks from the side and surrounded them, holding them high.

Duanmu Yan waved his hand lightly, and the farm tools spontaneously combusted. Flames rose from the middle of the wooden handles, burning them so badly that they screamed and let go, the hoes crashing to the ground with a clatter.

"So ignorance is a terrifying thing. The people you went to so much trouble to invite actually know this kind of witchcraft."

He turned around and kicked open the cage bars; the iron bars snapped and bounced against the wall with a clang.

He took out a bottle of green potion from the system space and poured it on the two girls. The wounds healed and scabbed over at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He took out two more coats and wrapped them in them, then picked them up, one in each arm.

“You, you, you…” The village chief pointed at him with bulging eyes, his fingers trembling like withered branches in the wind.

Behind him, several villagers were already kneeling on the ground, chanting that the gods had appeared.

Duanmu Yan looked at this scene and shook his head helplessly: "Actually, it wasn't these two girls who hurt you. It was the three boys from the village chief's family. These things can be easily investigated."

“You know him, but you’re afraid to offend him. There happen to be two little girls in the village who have no parents, and they happen to have something you don’t understand, so they’ve become his punching bags.”

"It's just that you asked us to come because you were afraid of getting hurt since they awakened their magical powers..."

He carried the two girls toward the door, saying, "That's how it is. We should go, Jay."

Xia Youjie nodded silently and followed behind him.

The two walked out of the warehouse, and after a few steps, they heard a fierce argument behind them. Someone was throwing things, and others were shouting and blaming each other. The village chief's voice was the loudest, sharp and panicked.

The two walked out of the village; it was already late at night.

Xia Youjie spoke first: "Duanmu, how do you know all that? This place is too remote, there are no surveillance cameras, and no one is on duty. We have to retrieve a lot of information from the files."

"Don't forget, I am the person who is closest to nature." Duanmu Yan hugged the two girls and turned around to explain, "The truth of everything cannot escape the wind. The wind saw clearly what those three boys from the village chief's family did."

Xia Youjie nodded and didn't ask any further questions.

He put his hands in his sleeves and walked with his head down.

The moonlight cast a long, crooked shadow behind him...

He thought he had figured things out, that he no longer needed to follow Wu and Duanmu's footsteps, no longer needed to carry that set of righteousness, and could easily live for himself.

But when he actually got to that place and saw that scene, the murderous intent that surged up was still the same as before... He was still the selfish Xia Youjie.

“If you’re going through a lot of inner turmoil because of something like this, that’s so unlike you, Jay.”

Chapter 141 Becoming a Kindergarten Principal?

“If you’re going through a lot of inner turmoil because of something like this, that’s so unlike you, Jay.”

Xia Youjie was stunned. He stood there in silence for a long while before forcing a smile: "No, I'm actually fine."

"Liar." Duanmu Yan didn't stop walking and turned around. "We've known each other for so long. Do you think I don't know what you're like when you're lying?"

Xia Youjie leaned against a tree trunk by the roadside, the rough bark digging into his back. He tilted his head back, and the moonlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on his face.

His forced smile crumbled inch by inch, revealing the loneliness beneath.

"Duanmu... am I not suited to be a sorcerer?"

Duanmu Yan flicked his forehead with his hand, and then he continued walking forward.

"Idiot. Who do you think we are? We are top-tier sorcerers. If even you don't want to be a sorcerer, then 99% of sorcerers don't deserve it."

“You don’t need to worry about it too much. Like I said, not everyone can be called a human being. The villagers here are despicable, but they are also limited by their own perspective. They can be punished, but don’t condemn all people because of this one incident.”

He walked to the car, opened the door, gently placed the two sleeping girls in the back seat, and then took off his coat, folded it into a pillow, and put it under their heads.

Then he got into the passenger seat, rolled down the window, and waved to Xia Youjie.

"No two people in the world are exactly alike. Everyone has their own path. You just need to follow your heart."

He paused, then chuckled, "Of course... you're not allowed to become a curse caster. Otherwise, I'll take you back even if it means breaking all your limbs."

Xia Youjie sighed, put his hands on his hips and walked over: "Really. How could you be so rough with me?"

Xia Youjie asked himself how he would have handled the situation if Duanmu hadn't come.

To be honest, he himself didn't know either.

There are two paths ahead, leading to completely different outcomes.

Just as he was about to step onto one of the paths, a hand grabbed him from behind and pulled him onto another sun-drenched path.