Physical Training

"Hey—Maki, I already told you, I'm me, and Cursed Spirits are Cursed Spirits!"

"Don't lump me together with Cursed Spirits!"

"You have to remember, I'm weak!" Xia Jie lay on the ground with a swollen face, speaking as if he had every right to. "If you keep fighting this unfairly, I really will call Shadow Maru out to help!"

"Fine!" Maki pointed her spear at Xia Jie and looked down at him. "Then call out your Cursed Spirit!"

Okkotsu's eyebrows twitched as he watched from the side. He turned to Panda and Toge Inumaki beside him. "Will Xia Jie and Maki be in danger? Should we stop them?"

"Bonito flakes." Toge Inumaki said.

Panda glanced at Okkotsu. "It's fine, Okkotsu! You just got back from a mission, so you don't know what's going on yet. Those two have been like this for the past few days. It's no big deal."

Okkotsu: ...

Hearing you say that just makes it sound even more serious! What exactly happened?

"Is it really okay?" Okkotsu asked worriedly. "Xia Jie is clearly already injured!"

"It's fine!" Panda looked at Xia Jie in the distance and said leisurely, "Xia Jie once said that as long as he could still move, he had to keep training. Don't mind whatever he says! We just need to watch!"

Just as Panda said, Xia Jie had already given Panda and the others a heads-up.

The reason was that Xia Jie worried he would be unable to endure the high-intensity training and give up, so he had warned Panda and Toge Inumaki in advance that he intended to push himself hard.

Xia Jie knew all too well that he was weak. Whether it was Cursed Energy, Cursed Techniques, physical skills, or combat, he was at the bottom among them.

If he had not gone to such lengths to manifest Shadow Maru and Thunder Maru, Xia Jie would have practically been a useless person with no ability to protect himself. Even now that he had Shadow Maru and Thunder Maru, Xia Jie knew that he himself was the most fatal weak point.

That was why he trained so hard.

Still... Xia Jie's resolve wavered at times too, which was why he had given Panda and the others that warning.

Although that did not stop him from occasionally wanting to give up, Panda and Toge Inumaki could still tolerate his occasional laziness.

Maki, on the other hand, could not.

Whenever Maki trained with Xia Jie, she did not care whether he was slacking off or not. She never held back, often beating him until his nose was bloody and his face bruised. Xia Jie refused to believe there was not some personal grudge mixed into it.

But... that little misunderstanding between him and Maki should have been cleared up when they first enrolled. Xia Jie could not understand Maki's behavior at all and could only chalk it up to girls being impossible to understand.

In truth, it was not hard to understand. Maki simply could not stand seeing Xia Jie slack off, so she often used sparring as an excuse to teach him a lesson.

When Xia Jie first learned that Maki was willing to be his sparring partner, he had been quite happy. After all, Maki was an expert in both physical combat and Cursed Tools.

With her help, his physical skills should have improved quickly.

But once they actually exchanged blows, Xia Jie realized that idea had been completely wrong.

He often could not even take a few of Maki's moves before she knocked him down... It nearly broke his spirit.

He could endure it once or twice, but after a while, whenever he trained with Maki, he could not help slacking off, just like now—

He lay on the ground, staring blankly at the white clouds in the sky, unwilling to move at all as he entered the state of asking the three sage questions.

Who am I?

Where am I?

Why am I here?

Maki raised the spear in her hand and stabbed it into the ground beside Xia Jie's head, snapping him out of his brief daze.

"Hey! If you don't summon that Shadow Maru of yours, you'll die!" Maki put strength into her arms as she spoke. The metal spear howled through the air as it smashed toward Xia Jie's head.

At that instant, Xia Jie slapped the ground and sprang up, flipping over the spear.

"Round two!" Panda looked at Xia Jie, whose body was wrapped in black shadows with only his face exposed, and quietly complained, "With just his face showing, Xia Jie could play Venom! Did they change it like this to avoid paying Marvel licensing fees?"

"Salmon!" Toge Inumaki said.

Okkotsu chimed in from the side, "Inumaki is right! Panda, you should watch fewer movies!"

Several black tentacles emerged from Xia Jie's body, transforming into sharp swords in midair as they hummed and stabbed toward Maki.

Maki hurriedly drew back her spear and spun it rapidly, wielding it like a shield.

Amid a burst of clanging sounds, Maki knocked aside every black tentacle with her spear.

Maki drew the spear behind her back and flashed a wild grin. "So you're finally willing to summon Shadow Maru, Xia Jie!"

Xia Jie wanted to use Maki to train his physical skills and Cursed Tool techniques, but Maki also wanted to use Xia Jie to gain experience fighting high-grade Cursed Spirits.

However, Jujutsu High normally prohibited students from using Cursed Techniques except during combat training.

That was why the two always tacitly came together during combat training. Otherwise, why would Xia Jie and Maki keep tangling with each other?

Still, while Maki wanted to fight Shadow Maru directly, Xia Jie had secretly played a trick. Using Shadow Maru's Cursed Technique, he had developed a new cursed method—his current Shadow Mode. Panda called it Bootleg Venom. Xia Jie hoped to use this special cursed method to compete with Maki.

With Shadow Maru possessing him, Xia Jie's five senses, speed, and strength were greatly enhanced. Physical moves that he normally could not perform became easy.

Maki had initially objected to not being able to fight Shadow Maru directly, but after seeing that Xia Jie in this mode was almost as strong as Shadow Maru, she had nothing more to say.

If she could not even beat Xia Jie in this form, then she would have even less chance of winning against Shadow Maru.

Using Shadow Maru's shapeshifting ability, Xia Jie formed a pitch-black demonic sword and slashed mercilessly at Maki.

The pitch-black demonic sword whipped up a violent gale, like the claw of a dragon tearing through the air, intent on ripping apart Maki's slender body.

The heavy spear traced a swift arc through Maki's hands, knocking aside Xia Jie's demonic sword before thrusting straight at his throat.

Xia Jie blocked with his sword, knocking away Maki's spear. Then he shifted diagonally to the right, his black sword darting left like a venomous snake as it stabbed directly at Maki's left ribs.

With a casual leap, Maki avoided Xia Jie's attack. At the same time, she flung her spear through the air at the back of his head.

With a sharp clang, Xia Jie blocked Maki's spear with his black sword as though he had eyes in the back of his head.

Their exchange was swift and fierce, every strike aimed at the other's vital points. Okkotsu and the others watching nearby broke out in cold sweats.

"Has their fight gotten more intense than before?" Panda wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with lingering fear, "It feels like they're really fighting to the death!"

"Mustard greens! Bonito flakes?" Toge Inumaki uttered two food names in a row, unable to resist reaching for his collar.

Okkotsu was also fully focused, ready to intervene.

"No need to be so anxious!" Gojo Satoru appeared at some point, placing one hand on Toge Inumaki's shoulder and the other on Okkotsu's as he spoke softly. "Wait a little longer! Let them have a bit more fun!"

Okkotsu jumped in fright. "Gojo-sensei? When did you get here?"

"Just now!" Gojo Satoru said with a grin, then turned his gaze back to the two in the training field.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Xia Jie's demonic sword and Maki's spear continued to collide violently. With a sharp crack, Maki's spear finally gave out under the strain and was cut in two by Xia Jie's black sword.

This guy... was he deliberately clashing with my weapon? Was he trying to destroy my spear?

Holding the two broken halves of the spear, Maki quickly leaped back to avoid Xia Jie's black sword. At the same time, she threw one half of the broken spear at him to obstruct his vision.

Xia Jie casually knocked aside the flying spear shaft, only to see Maki leap in front of him, wielding half a spear as she struck toward his head.

Xia Jie stepped aside to evade, then held his sword level with both hands and thrust upward.

Just as Maki had nowhere to evade and was about to have her lower abdomen pierced by the blade, the black sword suddenly transformed into a giant hand that bound her in midair.

"I won, Maki." Xia Jie raised his head to look at Maki, revealing the face wrapped in shadows as he spoke calmly.

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