Curse Return: Swordsmith Start

With his eyes fixed on Xia Youjie, Yi Gu's voice was very low, as if it were being squeezed out of his throat.

"I tried to persuade them to move aside," Xia Youjie said, "but they wouldn't listen."

Yi Gu didn't say anything more; he just rushed over.

Not far away, Gojo Satoru, who had been there for quite some time, remained unmoved, giving up on destroying the "tent" in front of him, and even concealing his own aura.

Turning his gaze to the three students who had been rescued by Yi Gu, Liu Yan confirmed that they were all unharmed.

It wasn't just the reversal technique of the Bone Bone; a similarly positive force was healing them. Six Eyes could clearly see that the connection was to the weapons in their hands...

That Yue Ren guy is quite something; he actually hid such a trick in his work.

Once he was sure no one was hurt, Gojo relaxed. He didn't intend to get involved in the "battle" at hand because he saw that one of his most valued students seemed to have a chance to "transform".

The growth of a sorcerer is never linear. As the pinnacle, Gojo Satoru has a profound understanding of this law. Ordinary training and combat can indeed make up for some of the basics of a sorcerer, but to achieve a true qualitative "transformation" is something that can only be encountered by chance.

For example, his battle with that "Heaven and Tyrant" was his true "transformation moment." After that battle, he became the genuine "strongest." And now, it might be his student's transformation moment. How could he, who yearns for his student's limitless future, possibly step forward and stifle his growth?

He had originally planned to intervene when Xia Youjie was fighting the three, but he hesitated when he saw that Xia Youjie did not kill the three. Then, when he saw Yi Gu arrive, he decided to intervene on the spot.

Now all he has to do is act as an "insurance" mechanism in case of the worst-case scenario.

On the battlefield, since the Yue people could give him their assurances, they must be absolutely confident. As for Kyoto, he believed they could handle it. Ah... this rare moment of leisure made him feel refreshed.

Just then, his phone rang.

He opened it and glanced at it. It was a message from Ijichi, who was cleaning up the mess. His eyebrows twitched and a distinct smile appeared on his lips.

"That kid... a domain? Hahaha, this is really interesting, two top-tier ones at once... The world of sorcery is about to get interesting."

As a logistics specialist, Ijichi promptly informed him that the Shinjuku battle had ended. Gojo, who was initially surprised by the speed of the news, was also somewhat taken aback when he saw the word "domain" at the end.

That kid can even use a domain? No wonder he was so confident just now...

It's no wonder he's happy; after all, this is something he's always been pursuing.

Gojo Satoru wants to carry out a "system reset" reform. The core goal is to thoroughly reform the corrupt system of the sorcery world and improve the living environment of sorcerers without changing the underlying logic of "humans creating sorcerer spirits".

In his eyes, the higher-ups in the sorcery world were "self-serving, hereditary, arrogant fools." These people deliberately tolerated the existence of the Panxing Cult and the group of curse masters for their own selfish desires, in order to balance the sorcery world and keep sorcerers "busy."

He wants to reform and "reset the world of sorcery".

As a beneficiary of the existing system, Gojo Satoru's reform path consisted of three steps. First, he cultivated his own people, such as Koshito, Otsuko, and later, Itadori, Fushiguro, Kugizaki, and other new generation members, making them a force that could be trusted in the future.

Protect these seedlings of new ideas, such as the savior of Yi Gu, who was sentenced to death, and later Hu Zhang.

Finally, they gradually infiltrate the system, waiting for students to grow to a sufficient age and experience before penetrating higher levels to dismantle the corrupt system from within.

This is an internal reform. Its advantage is that it will not cause too much conflict, similar to boiling a frog in lukewarm water. However, it also has many disadvantages. The main reason for this, in the current situation, is that it requires a lot of time.

The earliest Kinji and Kirara were still students, and when Itadori arrives at the high school next year, the situation will change drastically just around the corner after Gojo Satoru is sealed away. Therefore, in the original work, his reforms did not yield any results.

What makes him happy now is that in this world of sorcery where powerful sorcerers hold a significant position, Gojo Satoru, as the strongest, although he cannot command the entire world of sorcery to obey him, holds absolute authority within the Gojo family. This is another important reason why he is able to stand up to the higher-ups in the sorcery world.

The emergence of two more "special grade" students will greatly shorten the time required for his reforms and make them smoother.

He certainly possesses the power to destroy all the high-ranking officials at any time, but the problem is that while it may only take a day to destroy an order, it can take years or even decades to establish it.

His original intention was to minimize internal friction, and things were indeed getting on track. However, he did not anticipate that a major change would occur next year, and the "infiltration plan" he had established would suffer a severe blow in its very first stage.

When Gojo Satoru was alive, the high-ranking members of the insectoid faction dared not take any major actions due to the threat of force. However, after he left, the direct result was the purging of faction members.

Therefore, this is a plan where one person bears the entire burden, and all possibilities rest on his shoulders.

Now that they've already achieved some initial success, how could Gojo Satoru not be happy? Especially Echiton, whose status as a Special Grade fighter is far more valuable than that of Otsu. After all, Otsu is just a "warrior." He has the potential to succeed him as the "strongest," but he doesn't have much political acumen. Echiton, on the other hand, is a different story. That kid is very shrewd and has a lot of ideas. If the higher-ups dare to cause him trouble, they'll probably be in deep trouble.

Hahaha... I'm actually looking forward to seeing what that scene will be like.

He put away his phone and looked towards the Bone.

"No rush, this isn't over yet."

He loosened the bandages around his eyes, revealing a pair of pale blue eyes.

"Let's play a little longer," he said softly, "we can still improve."

Below, Xia Youjie, who was holding the top-grade spell tool "Youyun", was suppressed by Yigu and the katana in his hand. As a result, he had to release more spell spirits to attack him in a group. However, he did not expect that Yigu had already copied the Dog Scroll's spell. By consuming some spell power, he caused the spell spirits that surged like a tide to instantly dissipate.

Unlike the Bone Regret Technique, which is not as refined as Dog Roll, Xia Youjie was both surprised and delighted to see this. At this moment, his desire to obtain Qiben Lixiang reached its peak.

He mistakenly attributed everything the boy displayed to the curse behind him, still believing that as long as he obtained Rika, he would have an ultimate cursed spirit with the potential to rival Gojo Satoru.

But right now, the biggest challenge is how to make this wish come true.

The immense magical power, the formidable ability to mimic, the outstanding martial arts skills, and the unnamed yet undeniably top-tier magical artifact in his hand all made this boy a porcupine-like figure to him, making him difficult to attack.

A peculiar sense of unease filled my body, especially after seeing the boy's knife.

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something.

"I've never seen that magical artifact in the college's treasury before. What's it called? How did you get it?"

Our Yi Gu is a very honest child, so he felt even more guilty and said.

"Dojigiri Yasuo, this is something that Kotori specially made for me. He hoped that this sword could help me defeat the cursed spirits time and time again. Kotori is so powerful, yet he is so gentle and kind to everyone. Gojo-sensei is the same. Wouldn't it be better if everyone lived happily together?"

"But why, why would someone as strong as you do such a thing? I don't understand your grand principles, but no matter what, you who dared to hurt my friend must stay here today!"

The second bone disappeared once again.

The speed was so fast that Xia Youjie's pupils shrank. He subconsciously dodged to the side, but Yi Gu's fist was already at his face. The curse power surrounding the fist turned black at its extreme state, and the aftershocks scattered like lightning.

boom--!

Xia Youjie flew out, crashed through two buildings, and fell into the ruins of a third building.

Bricks and stones hit him, and he crawled out of the pit. Half of his face was numb, and blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Seeing this from afar, Gojo Satoru leaned forward instinctively, his face filled with excitement.

"Black Flash"

A very high-level spell power skill, which is essentially the spatial distortion generated when the error between a physical strike and a spell power impact is within 0.000001 seconds, with an average power of 2.5 times that of the normal.

The difference between someone with experience of "Black Flash" and someone without is like heaven and earth in their distance from the core of magical power. No sorcerer can deliberately unleash "Black Flash," but at this moment of extreme focus and rage, the genius boy, Yuuta Ekiku, successfully used it—"Black Flash."

At this moment, he successfully sensed the core of the curse power and became the master of the power. The true "Special Grade" was born at this moment.

Yi Gu stood where he had just been standing, maintaining his fist-pumping posture, but the curse power in his body could be felt to be much "smoother".

"Hahaha, very good, such talent, then let me see," Xia Youjie wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, "just how capable you are."

Deep down, I've come to understand this persistent sense of unease.

So that's how it is. Is that guy a cursed artifact blacksmith? Does that mean the things the three people I saw earlier were made by him? No wonder they were so difficult to deal with.

Before encountering Yi Gu, he fought against the other three. Although he defeated them all, he also paid a heavy price. The "cursed tools" they possessed were extremely troublesome, whether in terms of amplification techniques or restraint against cursed spirits. If he hadn't been a top-tier expert with a huge difference in strength from them and had a deep foundation in "cursed spirit manipulation techniques," he probably would have been defeated by their tacit cooperation before even seeing Yi Gu.

So you and I are the same kind of people. No wonder you could say such inspiring words. Is this the path you're on? Kawasaki Etsuto!

Connecting everything together, the face of that seemingly ordinary boy appeared in his mind; he seemed to be setting up a grand scheme that no one had anticipated.

Even now, he could only glimpse a small part of it. Possessing the "Spirit Manipulation Technique" and being extremely sensitive to magical power, he discovered that these magical artifacts, forged and disseminated by that boy, were "converting" the magical power in the air—

Indeed, as the holder of "Spirit Manipulation Technique," he understood one thing through his perception of the spirits under his control being killed: each time these "specially made" magical tools were used, they "devoured" magical power and then transformed it into pure positive energy that dissipated into the air.

Another question arises: why would he give away something so valuable without hesitation? Perhaps his purpose was to spread these special magical artifacts he created, allowing these weapons, which could continuously absorb and transform surrounding magical energy even without being used, to act as "air purifiers," thereby reducing the concentration of magical energy throughout Japan...?

Hahaha... Ridiculous! Does he think simply "improving" the environment will solve everything? The source of the curse is humanity itself, not the environment. Without addressing the human problem, there's ultimately no solution...

Just as I was about to make fun of him, the image of the Yue man's confident smile and his eyes, which seemed to see the very end, suddenly flashed through my mind.

Wait, what if this is just a premise... what if that guy is planning something else?

For some reason, he had a strange sense of déjà vu about the boy's actions, as if he had seen it somewhere before... Right, at the hospital!

Xia Youjie realized that this was somewhat similar to the situation in hospitals fighting an epidemic. Before treating patients, the first thing to do was to clean the "rooms" to ensure they were sterilized, thus effectively preventing the spread of the disease...

Is this guy "cleaning the room" now?

The remaining lesions are cursed spirits. If all the cursed power in the air is converted, the number of cursed spirits born in Japan will decrease drastically. Without cursed spirits, sorcerers will have no reason to exist. This is directly digging up the root of the sorcerer's order.

Xia Youjie emerged from the ruins, his eyes growing brighter and brighter. At that moment, he seemed to understand why the boy had said those things that day.

The future of sorcerers is a topic that becomes extremely hopeless if you delve too deeply into it. What the boy did was break it down into several smaller problems, and then seek solutions little by little, step by step. He tackled problems as they arose and eliminated difficulties as they came. As long as the overall direction was correct, then this path had a foreseeable future.

Reducing the casualties among sorcerers and shaking the foundations of the existing order among sorcerers—this single action accomplished both of these things. So what comes next?

With Gojo Satoru's infiltration plan, those high-ranking figures in the jutsu world are like frogs soaking in lukewarm water. By the time they realize their power has been usurped, it will probably be too late to turn the tide.

But how could he resolve the difference between sorcerers and monkeys? The biggest difference between sorcerers and monkeys lies in their fundamentally different brain structures. Sorcerers can manipulate magical power and use spells; to achieve this, they must be modified...

So that's how it is... So he's stuck in this situation now, and even Tsukumo Yuki can't do anything about it. Can a little kid like him really solve it?