Jujutsu Society

"Head of the Abe family! Is that really true?"

Yamashima Tsuto looked ecstatic. At last, they could leave this godforsaken place.

Looking smug, Abe Jinyuan stroked his goatee and said with a smile, "Our family has always maintained contact with those Reclusive Masters. A few days ago, my trusted aide sent word that he had reached their residence."

He paused briefly, then continued, "I believe that once my aide finds them, they will certainly help us. When that happens, we must work together to escape. Those Reclusive Masters will hold off Ryomen Sukuna."

At those words, the other family heads all rose excitedly. "Once I get out, the first thing I'll do is kill that damned Emperor and show him the price of imprisoning us."

Even Umechuan Kuko's deathly pale face gained a little color from sheer excitement.

"Naturally. The Emperor must pay for what he has done."

"Everyone, please wait for the good news!"

"Head of the Zenin Clan, please send men to rescue our family head as soon as possible, and eliminate the brutal Ryomen Sukuna while you're at it."

Deep in the mountains stood a large estate. They had lived here ever since the death of the Emperor of their ancestors' era, but today an uninvited guest had arrived.

"Oh? What about your family's Angel? Why hasn't she gone to eliminate Sukuna?"

Zenin Fuguang sat high in the seat of honor, looking down contemptuously at the lowly worm below. Someone who was neither the offspring of a jujutsu family nor a jujutsu sorcerer had no right to speak to him.

If not for the presence of Angel in the man's family, he would never even have been able to enter this barrier.

"Angel... Lady Angel has fallen!" the Abe family head's trusted aide said sorrowfully.

"Lady Angel accompanied our family head to Heian-kyo, but Sukuna ambushed and killed her. We truly had no choice but to ask you for aid. Otherwise, all of Japan will fall under Sukuna's rule."

The aide below looked grief-stricken, but he failed to notice the growing disdain in Zenin Fuguang's eyes as he sat high in the seat of honor.

When he finally finished explaining what had happened, he looked up and saw the contemptuous gaze from the dais and the scornful looks directed at him from all around.

He immediately sensed something was wrong and hastily said, "Head of the Zenin Clan..."

Unfortunately, before he could finish, his body was crushed into pulp. A great puddle of blood and mangled flesh instantly covered the floor. The numb-looking women nearby and some Zenin clansmen who had not awakened jujutsu began cleaning up the blood, seemingly accustomed to such things.

"What a useless fool. Angel is dead, yet he still had the nerve to come here and bargain with me. He was practically begging to die."

Zenin Fuguang let out a long breath and covered his mouth in revulsion, as though the aura emanating from that ordinary man had made him sick.

Meanwhile, the dozen or so family heads were still waiting for the reinforcements Abe Jinyuan had requested. Had the Abe family been friendly with either of the other two clans, someone might have come to offer humanitarian aid.

Unfortunately, the clan they were close to happened to be the Zenin Clan, which despised ordinary people more than any other.

In the Zenin Clan, even the clan head's son would be treated as a servant and ordered around if he failed to inherit jujutsu.

For women who did not acquire jujutsu, the fate awaiting them was even harder to bear. They could only accept the family's arrangements and unconditionally offer their bodies for others' pleasure until they gave birth to a child with a talent for jujutsu.

As for the Kamo Clan, there was little to say. It had yet to emerge in this era.

"Family head, cursed spirits are appearing far too often now. We don't have enough people anymore!"

In a remote mountain village in Hokkaido, several people in ragged clothes gathered together. They belonged to one of the families with a modest reputation in Jujutsu Society.

This time, practically their entire family had mobilized to eliminate cursed spirits. But the recent surge in bandit activity had intensified resentment, causing ordinary people's cursed energy to accumulate rapidly. They barely dared to stop for even a moment.

"Sigh... What on earth is Ryomen Sukuna up to? Isn't this just tormenting us? All of Jujutsu Society has sent people out to eliminate these cursed spirits, yet we're still desperately short-handed."

The thought of the battle just now sent a shiver of fear through him. He had never imagined that a special grade cursed spirit could be born in a tiny village in Hokkaido. They had nearly met their end there. Fortunately, it was only a newly born cursed spirit.

Otherwise, they would never have escaped. They had better flee first, then seek out a special grade sorcerer to exorcise this cursed spirit once they encountered reinforcements from another family.

He called to the people behind him, turned, and hurried off in another direction.

Even a newly born special grade cursed spirit would instinctively remain where it had been born rather than wander about, unless there was something particularly unusual about it.

Like a lion guarding its territory, it would kill anyone who intruded but would not venture out to kill people. Otherwise, all of Japan would have long since descended into chaos.

In this era, when jujutsu flourished, special grade sorcerers emerged one after another, even though many had died in the battle where they joined forces to surround and kill Ryomen Sukuna.

The surviving special grade sorcerers and special grade curse users still numbered ten in total.

Meanwhile, the true upper echelon of Jujutsu Society had also gathered to discuss several matters.

"Japan has descended into utter chaos. Should we simply take over the entire country?"

A decrepit old man glanced at the others around the square table and slowly offered the first proposal.

"Old man, have you been eating too much shit? Take over all of Japan? Why would we do that? Have you lived too long?"

A more hot-tempered middle-aged man cursed him outright. With so few of them, taking over all of Japan would only draw public resentment. After all, even the most spineless wretch would not want someone constantly sitting on his head and shitting on him.

That went doubly for the Japanese, who carried rebellion in their very bones.

"Ahem. Everyone, let's not get ahead of ourselves." The man in the seat of honor pressed his hands downward, signaling for everyone to keep their tempers.

"I think we should take advantage of Ryomen Sukuna's injuries from his battle with Angel and kill him before he fully recovers."

Everyone immediately fell silent at this proposal. Only after a long while did someone speak. "I think you've been possessed by an idiot. Do you really think the King of Curses couldn't learn to heal himself with Reverse Cursed Technique?"

Those words plunged everyone into silence again.

"Then tell me what we should do. We can't keep letting the King of Curses lord it over us forever. What purpose would our existence serve?"

"But that last battle already cost us far too much strength. Almost all our core fighters died. Otherwise, it wouldn't be our turn to sit here holding a meeting."

"Be grateful he hasn't come to kill us himself. Starting another war like the last one would be nothing short of suicide."

The woman seated in a dark corner cut straight to the heart of the problem: they simply could not defeat the King of Curses.

"But what else can we do? Who doesn't know that Ryomen Sukuna caused this internal strife in Japan?"

The man in the seat of honor slammed a fist against his thigh, his face filled with grief and indignation. "He was the one who started this infighting, leaving cursed spirits everywhere across Japan. My family has already lost dozens of grade 2 jujutsu sorcerers and several grade 1 jujutsu sorcerers in battle."

"If this continues, we'll have no choice but to send grade 3 jujutsu sorcerers to fight cursed spirits."

"Well..."

At those words, everyone fell silent again. After all, many of those present had family members who had volunteered to exorcise cursed spirits. Many went out in the morning, only to leave no remains by nightfall-or just a few pieces of their bodies.

Several old men glanced around. Finding that no one would speak, they let out long sighs.

"I don't think this meeting serves any purpose at all. We'd be better off exorcising a few more cursed spirits. All we can do is hope those special grade sorcerers fight Ryomen Sukuna to the bitter end."

He glanced at the faces of the others present. "All we can do is exorcise as many cursed spirits as possible."

"Sigh. That's our only option. Once I return, I'll volunteer to take part in the cursed spirit exorcisms."

"Jujutsu Society is about to descend into chaos too..."