Curse Return: Swordsmith Start

Although the crowd was puzzled, they couldn't help but fall silent when they saw the deep concern the man showed for Huzhang.

Is this guy really Itadori's older brother?

This kind of family bond, though it feels a bit sudden, is so enviable...

The feelings between people can be reflected in some details, and the people involved may not even be aware of it. The care that the man in front of them is showing for Huzhang can be described as making the air feel a little different.

Everyone felt a little closer to this newly appeared older brother.

After introducing Zhang Xiang to everyone, Yue Ren took him away from the others for the time being.

Some things have been settled, and Tiger Stick has found a powerful ally. There's only one last step left, so Yue Ren plans to take Zhang Xiang to Principal Night Moth.

The former possesses strength comparable to the Calamity Curse Spirit, making him a top-tier character. Yue Ren plans to secure a teacher position for him, both to facilitate the protection of Tiger Staff and to see if he can teach the underworld kids something. After all, putting everything else aside, Zhang Xiang's combat strength is among the best in the final battle.

As the pillar of the college, Principal Yagami is not as busy running around dealing with events in various places as Gojo Satoru. Because he is in charge of the rear, he spends most of his time in his office and is still quite easy to see.

Once again, Yue Ren arrived at the familiar principal's office door and knocked twice. As expected, a voice inside said, "Come in."

The voice was calm yet powerful; one must say those two words often.

Pushing open the door, I saw Masamichi Noi sitting behind his desk, holding a document in his hand. He wasn't wearing his signature sunglasses, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes.

The table was piled high with documents, and next to it sat a cup of tea that had gone cold, the tea stains forming rings on the cup's surface.

The moth looked up and saw the Yue man, then saw the bloated figure behind him, and put down the documents in its hand.

"Yue man, is something the matter?"

This student never shows up unless he needs something. Will he be surprised or frightened this time?

To be honest, he doesn't want either of them right now. After all, the things he needs to deal with have increased exponentially recently, which has left him somewhat exhausted, and he doesn't want to be stressed anymore.

The Yue man walked casually, with Zhang Xiang following behind him, surveying the surroundings.

The door closed behind them with a dull thud.

"Good afternoon, Principal. You seem to be in poor condition."

"Yes, your two juniors suddenly pulled off a big move. You probably know about it too. They had a blast, but they left behind a huge mess. Many people in the Zen family died. As the principal of the college, I have to coordinate manpower. We already don't have enough sorcerers..."

"Honestly, don't these kids these days know how to think about the consequences?"

When she got angry, Moth couldn't help but slam her hand on the table to vent her pent-up frustration.

"..."

Upon hearing this, the Yue man's expression froze.

This... seems like things aren't going well...

His mind went into a frenzy of alertness, and his attitude suddenly became tense. This also aroused the suspicion of the person behind him who noticed the change. Was this matter related to him?

"They've been following you for so long, can't they learn from your composure? The infighting within the family is certainly unpleasant, but many things need to be done gradually. Killing so many people at once almost caused us to lose even the most basic monitoring and defense lines..."

Yue Ren was already thinking of turning around and running away, but reason still managed to hold him back. If he ran now, wouldn't that be admitting that he had a problem? He should be fine, so he had to quickly change the subject.

So he chuckled awkwardly and said, "Yes, yes, the younger generation is too ignorant. I'll teach them a lesson later..."

"Hey Principal, calm down. I've heard about this too. They were all scoundrels. If they're dead, they're dead. As for the shortage of people, just let the freshmen fill in. And the older students aren't so vocal in their opposition anymore, are they?"

I've met Kenji and Kirara Hoshino once or twice. They were originally third-year students, but because of the nature of their techniques, they were targeted by the conservative and traditional higher-ups. The reason was that their techniques were too 'modern' and too complicated to understand, so they were disliked by the conservative higher-ups who preferred simple and clear techniques. Before that, they had been hiding and resisting outside.

Now that the situation has become like this, with the voice of the higher-ups gradually weakening, it's time to bring them back.

"That's the only way..."

"So, what do you want from me?"

The moth fixed its gaze on the bloated figure behind the other party.

"And who is this?"

The Yue man immediately stepped aside, giving up half his body space and exposing his bloated appearance.

"Isn't this a coincidence? This man is a master of physiognomy; let's invite him to be a teacher at the college."

The office was silent for a few seconds. Moth put down the documents in his hand and looked at the bloated figure, from top to bottom and then from bottom to top. His gaze wasn't sharp, but it was nonetheless undeniable.

"Expectoration?" He repeated the name to himself.

"Hello, Principal Moth."

"That's a very peculiar name. What's its connection to the 'Nine Phases of the Cursed Fetus Diagram'?"

As the principal of the High School of Curses, it was not surprising that he knew about these special curses. Yue Ren was not surprised that the other party could make the connection, and he did not intend to hide it.

The swelling face nodded.

"I'm the eldest brother, and the others are my younger brothers."

He stood beside the Yue man, his back straight, looking very natural.

"..."

Moth's expression changed slightly. He leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

"You mean you're one of the Nine Phases Diagram? Why are you like this? Because of your physical body?"

"Yes, the person next to me is the one who brought me back to life."

"..."

The moth's expression twitched, and it turned to look at the Yue man. Its expression was quite obvious, so let me explain.

As far as he knew, the "Nine Phases of the Cursed Embryo Diagram" was a top-grade cursed object that had been contained and should now be in the forbidden treasury of the Death Star Palace in the underground of the High School. Why was it released by the Yue people, and why did things turn out this way?

What exactly did this guy do without anyone knowing?

He now has the illusion that he might be dreaming.

It's only because he's been a sorcerer for many years that he has good self-control; otherwise, he would have already made his move.

Yue Ren didn't intend to continue testing the principal's patience and spoke directly.

"I had a discussion with 'Lord Tianyuan,' and the Nine Phases Diagram is one of the results. The body used was from the curse master that Miss Mingming captured, and no ordinary people died."

"...You actually went to see 'Lord Tengen'? Why did you do that?"

Moth's voice grew louder, his face full of surprise. This guy had actually met "Lord Tianyuan" without his knowledge, and more importantly, he had succeeded?

It should be understood that "Tianyuan" is the deity worshipped by traditional sorcerers today, so the Yue people's rash actions are neither reasonable nor appropriate.

If he were facing someone higher up, not Moth, they would probably convict him outright.

The Yue people, unfazed by the moth's surprise, continued:

"Through my investigation, I discovered that Zhang Xiang and his group had a connection with Wuzhang, so I went to see 'Lord Tianyuan' and struck a small deal."

"Now we've appointed someone to be Hodgkin's personal protector, and he's agreed. So now we need to ask the principal for a teacher's identity to cover it up."

"What does it have to do with Japanese knotweed? What's the connection?"

Suddenly another student came up, and one that was quite special, so Moth asked instinctively.

"They are considered to be the blood brothers of Itadori, both being the experimental subjects of the curse master Luso from a thousand years ago. Luso incorporated his own bloodline when creating them, and Itadori is his most perfect 'achievement,' a vessel capable of completely suppressing Sukuna's power."

"..."

"Wait, this is getting more and more confusing. How come there's suddenly a curse master named Lu Suo? Why have I never heard of him before?"

"..."

This time, Yue Ren fell silent. Seeing the doubt in both of their eyes, he realized that no one knew about Lu Suo yet. Since that was the case, he might as well just tell them the whole story. There was no need to hide it now.

"Lu Suo, he is a sorcerer from the same era as 'Lord Tianyuan,' and like 'Lord Tianyuan,' he has also survived to this day. However, he did not rely on an immortality technique, but rather on a 'brain-transfer technique.' One of his identities is Kamo Noriyuki from hundreds of years ago."

Zhang Xiang suddenly realized, "So that's how it is."

That's why that guy was so cruel yet so talented. He was an old monster who had lived for thousands of years. It's no wonder he had such a mindset and knowledge.

He then turned his questioning gaze to the Yue people.

How did this guy know all this? His own technique, his relationship with Tiger Staff, and Lu Suo's identity—where did he get this information from?

Can ordinary people really investigate these things?

Zhang Xiang understood that the boy who had resurrected him was no ordinary person.

Moth was completely bewildered; who would have thought that a name that suddenly appeared would have such a distant history?

And the most evil curse master in history, Kamo Noriyuki, is just one of his identities? Isn't that absurd?

"During Kamo Noriyuki's time, he was thinking about creating a vessel that could completely contain the soul of Ryoumen Sukuna, and the result was the 'Nine Phases of Cursed Embryo,' but it failed; the Nine Phases was not what he wanted."

"In modern times, he facilitated the creation of the Japanese knot, thus fulfilling his purpose of creating a vessel for Sukuna."

Why did he do that? Why did he do that? Where is he now?

The history told by Yue was indeed incredible. Not knowing his magical abilities and past performance, Moth did not choose to question him, but continued to ask questions.

But the Yue people shook their heads.

"I don't know, but ever since June Tiger Rod came into our view, his plan has been going on in secret. Perhaps those few top-level curse spirits we saw before were related to him. As a curse master who has lived for thousands of years, no one knows what he will do next, or where he will be involved. This is one of the reasons why I let Zhang Xiang join us."

"After all, we don't have any real conflict of interest; on the contrary, we share the same enemy, don't we?"

This is the truth. Although there is an original work, under the influence of Yue Ren, the world has embarked on a completely new timeline that no one knows about. He doesn't know what Lu Suo is doing either, so he tries to increase the manpower here as much as possible to prevent any unforeseen events.

"..."

The room fell silent again, broken only by the rhythmic tapping of Moth's fingers on the table.

"Yue man, you've given me a real problem..."

He looked at the bloated appearance.

"The Nine Phases of the Cursed Embryo Diagram, a top-grade cursed object used to conceive flesh, will cause a lot of trouble if the higher-ups find out about this."

"That's why I came to see you. We can just keep it a secret from them."

Yue Ren's voice was calm, as if he were saying that the food in the cafeteria was good today.

The moth looked at him for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed.

"You brat, you make it sound so easy. Do you really think it's simple to keep things from the higher-ups?"

Isn't it simple? And even if it wasn't kept secret, so what? Now both major families are under control, and Echigo from the Kamo family is also going to check it out soon. As long as the three main families are under control, the higher-ups will only have a few decaying old men left. We can easily find some excuse to kill them without causing any major trouble.

So the Yue people even hoped that those guys would hear and take action, and that he would use a sting operation to enforce the law.

Of course, he didn't dare to voice his thoughts, since things hadn't reached that point yet, and what if the principal got angry and refused to help?

So they started playing the emotional card.

"Principal, we all respect you and know that you genuinely care about us. You know about that kid Itajō's situation. For his safety, you should help, right?"

The office was so quiet you could hear the leaves rustling outside the window.

Moth looked at Yue Ren, then at Zhang Xiang, its gaze shifting back and forth between the two several times, as if confirming something, or perhaps digesting something.

Ultimately, their gaze settled on his bloated face.

"What are your thoughts? Would you like to become a teacher at a vocational college?"

Zhang Xiang paused for a moment.

"Sure, Hisahito Itadori is my younger brother. As long as it's for him, and I can stay by his side to protect him, I'm willing to be anything."

His voice remained flat, without any inflection or sob, but Moth sensed something else in it—a sense of entitlement.

It is only natural that I should take on the responsibilities of being the older brother.

The moth remained silent for a while.

"Yue Ren," he began, "are you willing to vouch for him?"

Upon hearing this, Yue Ren was startled, then a smile appeared on his lips.