Curse Return: Swordsmith Start

The boy said he was just an opportunist because he lacked patience, was intimidated by huge problems, and only thought about "brute force" instead of finding clues to solve them.

For someone lacking sufficient "capacity," doing this would only lead to his own destruction, which is why he was so contemptuous...

Assuming he successfully takes Rika and gains power comparable to Gojo, can he truly destroy and reshape intangible things like "thought" and "destiny" through so-called ultimate violence...?

Having understood all this, Xia Youjie suddenly felt that he had many things he wanted to discuss with the boy named Kawasaki Etsuto, as they should have a lot in common.

Unfortunately, Yi Gu has already arrived in front of him. It seems that if he wants to see the Yue people, he needs to deal with the trouble at hand first.

Unfortunately, Yi Gu is now that genius teenager who is just starting to show his talent. He has completely overwhelmed Xia Youjie, a veteran in the industry.

Knowing that he had no advantage in close combat, Xia Youjie immediately summoned his cursed spirit to block the boy's attack.

The boy's face was filled with obvious anger, his eyes were becoming increasingly bloodshot, and his curse power was becoming more and more refined, while the special-grade curse, Kimoto Rika, was constantly guarding him from behind.

However, he was not consumed by negative emotions. Instead, he meticulously controlled his curse power according to the method taught by Gojo-sensei, allowing it to operate in a state of maximum utilization and sustainability. The "Black Flash" that he had just unintentionally completed greatly increased this efficiency.

He swiftly swung the Child Cutter in his hand, unleashing several energy slashes to annihilate the approaching cursed spirits.

Like a butterfly in the process of transformation, the boy has unsurprisingly completed his metamorphosis into a true "Special Grade" sorcerer. However, his opponent is, after all, a veteran Special Grade sorcerer, and even now, Xia Youjie still has trump cards up his sleeve.

The ultimate technique of "Spirit Manipulation" - the ultimate form "Vortex".

The so-called "ultimate technique" refers to the most extreme development of one's own technique. In other words, it is the ability to develop one's technique to its limit. It is the strongest killing move of a spellcaster, which is different from creating a favorable environment like a domain.

Faced with the already deadly threat of the Bone, Xia Youjie used one of his 16 top-grade cursed spirits, "Incarnation of Tamamo-no-Mae," as the core, and then merged it with the existing 4461 cursed spirits to form a huge vortex of cursed power.

This is the ultimate move of the Cursed Spirit Manipulation Technique, representing the most absolute and direct attack. It is Xia Youjie's strongest killing move without a doubt.

It was as if countless pitch-black monsters were being stirred into a "big pot" like a fluid, eventually converging into a disgusting and powerful energy mass, carrying a chilling sense of threat.

Opposite him, Yigu clearly sensed the abnormality of this aura. He was quite certain that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, he would be absolutely unable to withstand this attack in his current state... Glancing at Rika waiting beside him, Yigu made a decision.

At this moment, his eyes no longer held any cowardice, but only determination and the courage to face death.

Gently embracing the ultimate source of his troubles, he spoke.

"Rika, thank you for protecting me all this time, thank you for always loving me. In this final moment, I hope you will lend me your power one last time."

"I have to stop that guy. After that, I don't need anything else. I will give you my future, my body, and my soul. We will be together forever... I love you, Rika."

"I'll be with you from now on, let's die together!"

Time seemed to pause for a moment, and the Yue people who had also arrived from afar happened to see this scene. To be honest, he felt it was a pity; they should have brought some popcorn and cola along the way, or even some melon seeds.

After all, you can never get tired of playing such classics on repeat, so shouldn't we find some equipment to record them...?

"Aaaaaah... Yuta, Yuta, I love you the most, the most, the most, the most!!!!"

No time to care about the two still outside the arena, under Yi Gu's promise, the special-grade imaginary vengeful spirit, Ling Qi Ben Li Xiang, unleashed her full power at this moment. The vertical eye hidden in front of her head opened, and a huge amount of curse power gathered in front of her.

This was the most feasible method that Yigu could think of: to sacrifice his own life to unleash Rika's full power in exchange for the safety of those he cared about. At this moment, he was no longer afraid of his own power; at this moment, he was the true master of power.

Xia Youjie, who was opposite him, had a ferocious expression on his face.

"You actually resorted to sacrificing yourself to break the spell's restrictions? You womanizer!"

But Yi Gu, who was opposite him, said with a relaxed expression:

"How rude of me! We're holding onto pure love."

"Then I'm on the side of righteousness!"

As Xia Youjie finished speaking, their attacks finally clashed, and the huge energy collided, producing a massive explosion. However, the two outside the arena were not alarmed, because although it looked impressive, they could still clearly see the difference in strength. Xia Youjie, who had extracted a large portion of the cursed spirits, was now using the Extreme Force technique with all the remaining cursed spirits, which was inferior to Yi Gu's cursed power cannon.

The most obvious sign was that the explosion almost completely engulfed Xia Youjie, while Yi Gu's side wasn't even affected by the smoke and dust.

The tents surrounding the high school began to dissipate, and the two sorcerers, being sorcerers themselves, naturally understood what was happening.

"Where are you going?"

Gojo Satoru was the first to speak, his thought being that Eshito should go and see the others, while he would go and find his "old friend".

"Everything's fine with Yi Gu, and the others should be waking up soon. I'd like to go check on that guy. Teacher, would you be willing to give me a ride?"

"...Since it's a request from my dear student..."

Gojo did not reject the suggestion. Although it did not align with his own thoughts, unlike others, the boy in front of him knew about their past, so there was no need to hide it. It would be good to take him to see the final fate of a top-tier sorcerer.

With an almost detached rationality, Gojo Satoru agreed to the student's request. Rather than giving the student a cautionary tale to prevent a recurrence of tragedy, the right to send off one's best friend on his final journey as a close friend... was better left unfulfilled.

Grabbing the Yue man's hand, the two disappeared from the spot in the next moment.

In an alley not far from the college, a figure was moving with difficulty, but his expression was extremely fanatical, and he was even talking to himself.

"Not bad, junior. This level of power is enough to change the world... You must do better next time..."

Before he could finish speaking, the man, who had lost an arm and was in a terrible state, seemed completely oblivious to what was happening, and then revealed a relieved smile.

"You're really late, Satoru... and you even brought a friend."

The man leaned against the wall with difficulty, then slid down and sat on the ground.

It's pointless now; there's no way he can escape from the clutches of this most powerful sorcerer.

He only glanced at it before speaking to himself, but Yue Ren felt as if he was trying to cover up his disheveled appearance. As for the person he cared about... need I say more?

"How are my family members?"

"Those in Shinjuku have all been arrested, but those in Kyoto have all fled."

Echigo took over the answer from Gojo Satoru.

"Um?"

"I'm in Shinjuku."

"...I see. So, are you here to laugh at me now, Kawasaki Koshito-kun?"

Xia Youjie was somewhat surprised. His family members were no weaklings, and they possessed a vast number of cursed spirits. It was unbelievable that this young man could keep them all here. Even Miguel couldn't do anything about him... He truly had monstrous talent. Yi Gu was the same, one after another...

Looking back, he was once considered the strongest alongside Gojo Satoru, but now it seems he was just a frog in a well, overestimating himself both then and now.

"You spoke with Tsukumo Yuki once, and she gave you two possible outcomes regarding the future of a sorcerer. You chose the third path, which was also the most direct one. Now, you know that this path is no longer viable for you."

"Yes, so what?"

Seeing the relieved smile on Xia Youjie's face, Yue Ren smiled faintly:

"Are you interested in working for me? My goal is to make everyone in the world a sorcerer, and the ultimate result should be a leap forward in human civilization. What do you think of this path?"

"......!!!???"

"Yue man, what do you mean by this?"

The five people watching the drama behind him suddenly lost interest and looked at the boy with serious expressions, as if to say, "You know what you're talking about."

Yue Ren looked at the teacher calmly.

"Literally, I'm giving him a suggestion: delay his death so he can use his abilities to do more useful things. So, are you willing?"

Yue Ren wanted to conduct a test to see how much influence he had on the plot, and he wanted to see if this world had any inexplicable corrective power.

He wanted to see what Lu Suo would do if Xia Youjie hadn't died, since according to his plan, "Spirit Manipulation Technique" was an irreplaceable part.

"Let's establish a 'bond' between us, following the methods of sorcerers. I will heal your wounds and lead you to witness the future I envision, and you will obey my commands and act for me. The bond will last for ten years. How does that sound?"

"Your path? To create weapons that can absorb cursed power? I only see simplistic and superficial ideas. If you want to recruit me, at least tell me your true thoughts."

"Have you ever trimmed cow hooves?"

"?"

The two were taken aback by the sudden question, and were speechless after hearing the answer.

"I haven't repaired it either, but I've seen it done. The principle is similar. The first step is to wash the cow's hooves with water to make them clean, right? Then comes the real work."

"I want to rewrite the 'principles' of the world, so that all those to be born in the future will possess the physical structure to become 'spiritual sorcerers,' which means rewriting the souls of everyone in the world at the level of general consciousness."

"What does 'spiritual sorcerer' mean?"

The two looked at him with eager eyes, but were met with a dismissive wave from the Yue man.

"This is a term I coined myself. It means a sorcerer who uses 'spiritual power,' which is the positive energy generated by incantation power through a 'reversal technique.' I mentioned it to Gojo-sensei before."

Now that you mention it, Gojo remembers something like that; but was he really not joking...?

"In summary, the goal is to make everyone a sorcerer, specifically a sorcerer who bypasses magical power and directly generates positive energy called 'spiritual power,' meaning a sorcerer who only uses 'spell reversal.'"

Both of them felt like they hadn't quite grasped the situation. Becoming a sorcerer was one thing, but why did it have to be so complicated?

"What's the point of doing this?"

The Yue man could only patiently explain his thoughts to the two men.

"The essence of curse power is the energy generated by negative emotions. So even if everyone becomes a curse master, the world will still be dominated by negative emotions. If people are in a negative emotional state for a long time, it will first affect their physical health, increase stress, and then lead to physical and mental illnesses. After that, their personality will become distorted, they will become narrow-minded, and they will have a lot of rumination, which will affect society and destroy the relationships between people."

The shortsightedness of the higher-ups in the sorcery world is probably largely due to this.

"The ugliness of human nature will be amplified by this negative force. Even if we succeed in turning humans into sorcerers and the cursed spirits disappear, the sharp contradictions will still exist. It will just be that the war between humans and cursed spirits has become a war between sorcerers. But if positive energy is the driving force, then there will be more possibilities between people."

"If this positive energy is generated through positive emotions, then the relationship between sorcerers might be more harmonious, and there will be more truth, goodness and beauty in the future."

In Yue Ren's heart, there is a world that fits his vision, the world of Pokémon. The overall harmony of that world and the level of human morality are almost superior to those of other worlds. It's not that there are no "bad guys" in that world, but compared to the disgusting people in this world, the villains in that world seem much more righteous.

The two were stunned by Yue Ren's idea. He not only wanted all of humanity to become sorcerers, but also sorcerers born with the ability to reverse spells? Was that even possible?

Xia Youjie almost subconsciously recalled the past. If the human heart were no longer so ugly, if the kind of "spiritual master" he mentioned could really mobilize energy with positive emotions, wouldn't humanity be greatly improved? Wouldn't Riko not have died? Wouldn't Nanako and Mimiko have had a wonderful childhood instead of the reality that makes his negative emotions surge whenever he thinks about it?

Almost subconsciously, Xia Youjie asked that question.

"So what exactly do we do?"

Yue Ren smiled slightly. It seemed that his words had not been in vain. The fact that the other party asked this question at least meant that the other party had listened to what he had said, right?

The next step is simply to increase the effort and fully reveal one's ideas.

"As you can see, I've already started the preliminary preparations. After all, the smoky environment isn't really suitable for conducting any experiments. As for how to modify the soul, we need a trigger."

The Yue man confidently raised one index finger.