Open Domain

Shuizhan's eyes widened. He could already feel the cursed energy inside him draining away at a frantic pace. A cursed spirit without cursed energy was no different from a dead one.

Naomitsu's Three Births, All Things domain already contained vengeful spirits, shikigami, humans, and jujutsu sorcerers. Only cursed spirits had been missing. Shuizhan's arrival filled that gap.

The tug-of-war was unquestionably easy.

A few minutes later, Broken Stone, a cursed spirit on par with the natural disaster that was Jogo, fell within Naomitsu's domain and became a statue forever.

And his arrival brought another qualitative transformation to Naomitsu's domain.

When Naomitsu emerged from his domain, the cursed energy that had sat at his Binding Vow's limit had fallen to just a few tens of thousands. Meanwhile, his cursed energy was recovering at a rate of a thousand per second.

His reserves were so enormous that even his natural recovery was fast.

"The airport... has been wrecked this badly? I wonder if those guys are okay?"

He looked toward the horizon. Exorcising Shuizhan didn't seem to have improved the situation here.

"I hope they don't run into any danger!"

Shaking his head, Naomitsu slipped his hands into his pockets and followed the long fissure toward the airport's exit.

A few low-level cursed spirits occasionally emerged along the roadside. The moment they approached Naomitsu, the Divine Dogs' sharp claws swatted them apart.

Naomitsu kept the same posture the whole way. While no one was around, he even grabbed a few bags of chips and some cola from an airport convenience store.

"Too bad there's no fried chicken..."

Several kilometers away, a burst of fire exploded into the sky with power comparable to Little Boy and Fat Man. At the sight and sound of the explosion, Naomitsu tossed away his bag, which held only crumbs.

"What the hell? Are they trying to nuke Sapporo City?" Cold sweat broke out on Naomitsu's forehead.

Strong as he was now, he was still flesh and blood. Getting caught in a nuclear blast at close range would leave him dead or crippled.

If the heat vaporized him, he wouldn't even have a chance to use Reverse Cursed Technique.

Naomitsu summoned Nue and took to the sky to survey the distance. In the area filled with blazing fire, he saw several dark figures chasing one another.

"Could those be ancient jujutsu sorcerers?"

Curious, Naomitsu swooped down from above to approach them. On the way, he unexpectedly found Fujiwara, Aoi Todo, and the others hiding in the ruins.

But since they weren't very strong, Naomitsu told them to keep hiding there while he went ahead to take a look. If there was no danger, he would head back.

As he drew closer, the explosions and flames continued.

Naomitsu fixed his gaze on one of them and discovered that he was the source of the explosions and fire.

The good news was that he was human.

The bad news was that the cursed spirit fighting him had the upper hand.

"Huo Ye! Keep fighting! It's been so long! So long! It's been so long since I've felt this!"

The cursed spirit spoke like a human and had a body as tough as iron. It completely countered the cursed technique of the jujutsu sorcerer named Huo Ye.

"Domain Expansion! Dancing Flame!"

"Domain Expansion! Crowd Feast!"

Naomitsu narrowed his eyes without intervening in the domain battle. By his initial estimate, the two before him were at least as strong as Uruhenko and Ryu Ishigori.

Naomitsu could fight them, but he couldn't overwhelm them. Besides, he had only come out to gather intelligence. With some preliminary information in hand, he could already head back.

You want me dead? Then why should I risk my life for you?

After scanning his surroundings, Naomitsu prepared to leave. But though he wanted to go, someone else didn't intend to let him.

It was a curse user from a thousand years ago, a woman named Polar Day.

Half her hair was black, and the other half was white. Her eyes were the same: her left eye was black, while her right was pure white.

"I'm just passing through..."

Naomitsu scratched his head, putting on a childish act. The woman before him was no pushover. He figured she was at least a weak Special Grade.

He was getting numb to it. Since when had Special Grades become a dime a dozen?

When Polar Day didn't attack blindly, Naomitsu breathed a sigh of relief. That meant there was still room to negotiate.

"Tell me about someone!"

Naomitsu stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. Anyone from a thousand years ago was probably long dead anyway. What could she possibly learn?

"Have you seen someone named Kenjaku? If not... do you know anyone with stitches across the top of their head who's very powerful?"

Speaking that long-unheard name stirred a hint of emotion in Polar Day. But figuring Naomitsu probably hadn't heard it either, she described Kenjaku's distinguishing features.

Naomitsu: "..."

Well, damn. She just happened to pick someone I know.

Thinking of Kenjaku a thousand years ago, Naomitsu couldn't help getting curious about the gossip. Could this person be that brain's man or woman?

"Have you seen them?"

Seeing Naomitsu lost in thought, Polar Day, who hadn't expected much, suddenly had her pure-white right eye light up like a bulb.

What kind of cursed technique is that? How strange!

Naomitsu nodded and sold Kenjaku out without hesitation. That fellow was hard to kill anyway. She probably wouldn't be able to finish the job.

"I have!"

Polar Day grew excited and appeared before Naomitsu in an instant. She was fast, like the wind, reaching him in the blink of an eye like a ghost.

"Where?"

This time, her black left eye grew darker, dimmer, and heavier. It was like a pool of black ink, deeply unsettling to look at.

"Sendai City!"

After hearing the location, Polar Day left without questioning him. But just as Naomitsu breathed a sigh of relief, another wave of cursed energy came rushing toward him.

"Will this ever end? Do you really think I'm a pushover?"

Ten Grade 1 Cursed Spirits had arrived. They looked like insects, and their fighting habits were much the same.

The ten cursed spirits surrounded Naomitsu from several directions. They were clever, using the city's buildings to conceal themselves as they prepared to launch surprise attacks at any moment.

If Naomitsu wanted to kill them all, he would waste quite a bit of time doing it.

Unfortunately for them, after absorbing Shuizhan, Naomitsu's understanding of domains had reached new heights.

"You little things like hiding? Then I'll finish all of you at once!"

Naomitsu formed a Taoist hand sign, the gesture for Domain Expansion.

"Domain Expansion! Three Births, All Things!"

This time, no black sphere appeared. At the same time, Naomitsu began speaking to himself.

"This is an Open Domain, just like Sukuna's! You little bugs are lucky enough to experience a move like this! Consider yourselves honored!"

This was Naomitsu's first time using an Open Domain. The greater the Binding Vow he imposed, the greater the domain's range would be.

The Binding Vow Naomitsu imposed was this: in exchange for being unable to move, he gained a range five hundred meters in diameter.

The entire shopping street fell within Naomitsu's domain.

"Within this domain, I will compete in cursed energy against any being that possesses it. The winner will become the loser's reward."

The total cursed energy within this five-hundred-meter area was [183754].

The cursed energy in Naomitsu's domain held an indisputably overwhelming advantage.

"Become the soil of my domain!"

The ten Grade 1 Cursed Spirits had their cursed energy drained dry and turned into statues. As for the other low-level cursed spirits within the domain, Naomitsu didn't think enough of them to absorb them.