Curse Return: Swordsmith Start

The two had already left the room, and a few seconds later, Gojo, seeing that Eto hadn't followed, poked his head back into the room.

"Yuta, what are you doing? Let's go."

"profound--"

A few minutes later, Yue Ren and the bewildered Yi Gu stood facing each other on the playground.

Why do I suddenly want to fight Yue Ren Ge? Is it really okay?

Seeing the hesitation in Yuta's expression, Yueren spoke seriously as the blade in his hand appeared.

"This is a surprise inspection to see if you've really improved recently, so show me what you've got."

"Yes, I understand!"

The muscle memory trained by the Yue people was instantly activated, and the boy entered battle mode.

The Yue man nodded slightly.

Meanwhile, Gojo set up a small "tent" for the duel, since it was at school and he would be punished by the principal if he broke too many things.

After finishing his routine, he watched the two people in the arena with great interest. He was looking forward to the duel between two "talented" students.

"Come on, let's get real. Treat this as a life-or-death battle. I'll also reverse my spells, so don't worry about being too powerful and killing me. Or rather, if you can kill me, then you're really something, understand?"

"Understood."

The moment he finished speaking, Otsuko stomped on the ground and vanished from his spot, leaving only a trail in the air left by the silver blade of Dojigiri Yasunaga.

The Yue people did not move.

He held his knife down, the tip touching the ground, like an old blacksmith standing at the entrance of a workshop, waiting for customers to arrive.

The next instant, Yi Gu appeared above his head.

"Drink it!"

Dojigiri Angang descended from the sky, blue cursed power pressing down on the blade as it cleaved down—no fancy moves, just the purest, most overwhelming force.

This is a move that Yi Gu developed by combining his magical power with the sword forged for him by the Yue people. It is a magical power slash, or rather, an energy sword aura.

Relying on his immense magical power, each of his attacks can be as powerful as a normal sorcerer's full-force strike. The magical power that envelops his entire body makes it difficult for enemies who want to predict the flow of magical power to deal with him effectively. This is the advice that Gojo Satoru gave him, but it is only suitable for Otsukotsu Yuta.

With the "training" he received from Yue Ren, his combat strength now far surpasses that of the original work at the same time. It can be said that the only thing he lacks to become a Special Grade is his unchanged mentality. He needs a battle that will make him realize his inner truth.

If it were an ordinary enemy, he would have crushed Yi Gu at this moment, but unfortunately, he is now facing the Yue people.

At a certain opportune moment, Yue Ren's knife moved.

It's not about blocking, but about "accepting".

The energy that had just left the blade was instantly shattered. When the two blades collided, there was no loud noise, only a dull "hiss" sound, like red-hot iron falling into water.

The pupil of the sigmoid bone constricts slightly.

His strike was "caught".

It wasn't blocked, nor was it deflected; rather, it was absorbed by the seemingly unfinished sword. The blue magical power flowed into the sand like water, disappearing completely.

"...What?"

Yi Gu was somewhat bewildered. He had expected the other party to dodge or to engage in a physical confrontation, but he never imagined it would turn out like this.

Yue Ren raised his head, his eyes no longer belonging to a young man; they seemed to possess a calm that had settled after witnessing too much fire and forging too many knives.

"Your technique is good," he said, "but your skill level is still a bit lacking."

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned his wrist.

Yi Gu felt a tremendous force coming from the blade, and his body was instinctively pulled to the side. It wasn't a slash, but a "striking".

It felt like his knife had been smashed into him like a piece of iron, and he felt like it was about to bend.

He drew his sword and retreated, flipping twice in the air before landing ten meters away.

He looked down at the katana in his hand.

The blade was intact, but his hand was trembling.

The Yue man did not pursue; he simply stood there, slung his sword over his shoulder, and spoke as if he were chatting casually.

"Your power development is decent. Next, you should focus on controlling it. Although your cursed power has already made up for many things, as you can see, the power is vast but loose. If the right opportunity arises, it can be 'severed' at any time, which is very dangerous."

"This kind of attack might work against weaker opponents, but against top-tier ones, like that guy, it's useless."

Yi Gu has now unleashed a portion of his power, but it's only a case of flooding the enemy. To put it another way, it's like throwing a mountain at someone. It's an overwhelming attack on someone with little strength, but against a true powerhouse, it's like encountering an opponent wielding a mountain-splitting axe, which makes it easier to expose weaknesses.

Looking at the white-haired mascot-like figure that Yue Ren was gesturing to, Yi Gu nodded slightly. Gojo-sensei had also told him about these things, saying that he needed to sense the core of the curse power or something, but he still didn't have any clue about it.

"......Understood."

Then, Bone Bone charged forward again.

With conscious control, the more refined curse power attached to the blade made it even faster. The blade of the Dojigiri Angang slashed seven times in the air, the azure light of the blade weaving into a net, seemingly sealing off all of the Yue people's escape routes.

This is a method he and Gojo Satoru have been working on for a while, a method suitable for his physique. It doesn't require skill, just speed, even faster, so fast that the opponent doesn't have time to draw their sword.

An attack, flawless in both power and speed, came crashing down, and Yue Ren moved.

He sidestepped the first strike.

With his second strike, he raised his elbow and knocked the blade away.

With his third strike, he used the back of the blade to deflect the trajectory.

The fourth cut—

The fifth cut—

The sixth cut—

The seventh cut.

As Yi Gu's seventh cut fell, Yue Ren's knife was already pressed against his neck.

The septum was forced to stop.

He didn't even see how the other party did it. He only remembered that the moment he slashed the seventh time, the other party's sword seemed to grow out of itself, slipping through the gap in his sword light and pressing against his throat.

"Seven times," the Yue man said. "When I forge a sword, it takes at least seven thousand hammer blows. You've only made seven strikes, what's the rush?"

Sweat beaded on Yi Gu's forehead.

Is this Yue Ren Ge's true strength? All his attacks were easily seen through, and he delivered the fatal blow at the most crucial moment? Is this the pinnacle of the swordsmanship he taught me? So impressive...

The swordsmanship of the test weapon had been taught to him by Yue Ren a long time ago, and he thought he had practiced it fairly well, but it was clearly something completely different from the strange power that Yue Ren was now displaying.

The impression one gets is that any attack is "fragile" in the face of his blade, and can be easily neutralized by finding a point of entry.

The Yue man sheathed his knife and took two steps back. His movements seemed casual, yet they were always perfectly timed.

"Again," he said, "with all your might."

The second bone gripped the boy tightly and cut the steel.

His magical power was rising, and his clothes fluttered in the airflow generated by the surge of magical power. The blade of the Dojigiri Angang sword began to tremble slightly, a sign that the energy was overflowing.

Yue Ren was slightly startled, not by his aura, but by his cursed power. He remembered that the cursed power required for the Dojigiri Angan to reach its full energy overflow effect was more than the total amount he possessed. This guy actually did it so easily. Cursed power really is a bottomless pit. If that katana hadn't been specially made for him, it probably would have been burst by now.

Across from him, Yi Gu took a deep breath.

And then—it disappeared.

It was so fast that it didn't even leave an afterimage.

In fact, Yi Gu has made great progress in his sorcery training during this period. He has learned the "Imitation" technique after being instructed by Yue Ren and Gojo Satoru. He has also learned some skills from his classmates. However, he feels that using the technique against Yue Ren will not be effective. On the contrary, he may be caught off guard by Yue Ren because he is not proficient in using it.

Therefore, he chose a more straightforward approach.

The Yue man narrowed his eyes.

The next instant, Otsuko appeared behind him, and Dojigiri Yasugane slashed horizontally, aiming for his waist.

The Yue man swung his sword backward, and the two swords clashed.

The Yue man's body remained as still as a rock being pounded by waves, while behind him, a large chunk of land was instantly cleaved away—the aftershock of the cursed power that had cleaved him open.

Gojo Satoru, who was watching from a distance, raised an eyebrow. That power would kill even a level one cursed spirit upon contact.

The corners of his mouth curled up higher and higher; he was amazed by the strength of the two people in front of him.

What alarmed him even more was Yue Ren's current strength. Through the Six Eyes, he discovered something different; he could sense traits in Yue Ren that were remarkably similar to his own—a feeling of harmony with everything, a unity of man and nature. Had he already grasped the core of curse power? Was it through combat or...?

This guy is really good at surprising people. He's already touched the threshold of the Special Grade without making a sound? In that case, it seems like the Domain isn't impossible. Hahaha, I'm really looking forward to it.

Yi Gu didn't stop. His second slash came from the other side, his third slash came from above, his fourth slash came from the side... His attacks were continuous, each slash carrying the power to easily tear through the environment. The silver blade light surged towards the Yue people like a tide.

The Yue people stood still, without retreating an inch.

The playground behind him was completely ruined, and even the "tent" attracted a lot of attention.

Unlike the Yi-gu, the Yue people's knives are not fast, but every strike lands on the most critical spot.

It was a state that Yi Gu found very puzzling. If you had to explain it, it was that at the right time, with the right amount of force and speed, and at the right angle, you could gently touch your weapon and your attack would crumble instantly.

Clang—clang—clang—

The sound of swords clashing was like the forging of iron.

The Yue man's lips curled up slightly.

"Yes," he said, "that's it. Let's do it again."

Yi gritted his teeth and sped up by three points.

His breathing began to become heavier, but his eyes grew brighter.

"Don't think!"

The voice of the Yue people suddenly rang out.

Yi Gu was startled.

The next instant, Yue Ren's blade changed; it was no longer for parrying, no longer for deflecting...

Instead, it is—to slay.

Yi Gu only saw a white light.

That wasn't the glint of a blade; it was more like "fire," the blinding light of red-hot iron being pulled from the furnace.

He instinctively raised his knife to block.

clang--

Tongziqie Angang slipped from his grasp.

The silver blade spun a few times in the air before embedding itself in the ground ten meters away.

Yi Gu stood there, stunned, his hands empty.

The Yue man's knife stopped an inch in front of his brow.

"You have plenty of strength, but you lack the ability to know when to advance and retreat. You need to know when to pull back, otherwise it will be easy for others to find your weaknesses. However, you have indeed made a lot of progress compared to a month ago, which is commendable. Keep up the good work!"

"Uh... thank you, Brother Yue."

Yi Gu breathed a sigh of relief, not caring too much about winning or losing. After all, he was used to being beaten by the Yue people. He was just happy that he didn't suffer any physical pain this time.

In the past, every time I sparred with Yue Ren, I mostly got minor injuries, but that one hit really hurt.

He didn't ignore Yue Ren's final advice, after all, this older brother always got to the heart of the matter, and if he didn't remember his words and correct his mistakes, he would be beaten badly next time.

"Sweat more in peacetime, bleed less in wartime. War is not far away, so we can't let our guard down... Okay, you continue training. I'm going to talk to that guy. I have something important to discuss."

"OK."

When I arrived at Gojo Satoru's side, the other party had just removed the "tent". Further away, the principal was making a phone call to the construction team with a dark face. The area covered by the "tent" was a mess, as if a layer of the ground had been scraped off.

However, this is clearly no longer something the Yue people should concern themselves with.

Yue Ren gestured, and Wu Tiao understood that the boy had come to find him. He smiled slightly and followed.

They arrived at an empty classroom with Gojo Satoru.

"I have a feeling that guy's target might be Otsuku, or more precisely, his Rika."

Although Yue Ren didn't say the name, Gojo, who was stunned for a moment, immediately understood who the boy was talking about: Xia Youjie.

"...A top-tier, overpowered imaginary curse spirit, indeed, is a great 'helper' to that guy's spell...but that guy's spell only works on those who haven't acknowledged a master...you mean he's going to kill Yi Gu?"

As a close friend, Gojo is naturally very familiar with Natsume's technique, "Spirit Manipulation Technique," which allows one to collect defeated spirits like collecting Pokémon. However, I remember that Jet mentioned that spirits cannot form master-servant contracts. So it seems there are other methods, or it's not impossible that what he said was just a lie.

"Isn't it highly likely?"

"..."

Indeed, for Xia Youjie now, as long as it is to achieve his goal, he will not be merciful to any obstacles in the process. This conclusion was already beyond doubt when he betrayed his profession and killed his own parents with his own hands when he became a curse master.

Emotionally, Gojo Satoru didn't want his best friend to die, but he understood the changes in the other person. He may have had a chance to stop these changes in time, but he didn't notice the abnormality in the other person at the time, which made him feel very guilty.

Now that he's become like this, and has even set his sights on his own students, then there's no way to undo the damage.

"Is this genuine intelligence?"

The Yue man shook his head.

"No, it's just my guess. After all, he paid special attention to Yi Gu when we met last time."

Five reasons to understand and trust the boy's insight, after all, this is one of the boy's most remarkable qualities—his ability to observe and think is truly terrifying.

"So what's your plan?"

"No, after all, this is just speculation at the moment. I'm just telling you, the only person who can change the situation instantly, everything I can think of. But if you want advice, I can give you suggestions. Why not play along? You should have a way to provide quick support, right?"

Gojo smiled slightly, understanding Yue Ren's meaning. This guy really thought things through. He's bold and meticulous. Hey, it makes him look like a fool.