What a huge body.
It hadn't left a trace of cursed residue.
When had it...?
Jianxia quickly leaped backward to gain some distance, his mind racing.
Even if the odds were slim, Jianxia had considered the possibility of a cursed spirit deliberately hiding its cursed residue.
He simply hadn't expected this "House Cursed Spirit" to remain concealed at such close range despite its enormous size.
The two lanterns that had flanked the House Cursed Spirit's entrance had become its eyes, while the bright red doors had become its teeth.
The sections that had once been walls had turned into its arms. Now, the House Cursed Spirit resembled a giant's hunting hound, eyeing Jianxia hungrily.
"A human finally took the bait..."
Even more surprising to Jianxia was that the House Cursed Spirit actually spoke.
That wasn't a good sign. Generally, intelligence high enough to communicate, combined with an innate cursed technique, was enough to classify something as a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit.
Although his opponent hadn't demonstrated a cursed technique yet, it was hard to imagine it lacked one when its cursed energy control was precise enough to suppress its cursed residue.
Should I run?
Jianxia swiftly summoned Banquet of Fated Remnants to stand in front of him, watching the House Cursed Spirit's every move as he considered his options.
Compared to an ordinary human, Banquet of Fated Remnants was an enormous creature.
But compared to the House Cursed Spirit, the difference was even greater than that between a kitty and a tiger.
"You're wondering whether to run, aren't you?"
As though it had seen through Jianxia's thoughts, the House Cursed Spirit spoke again.
Its voice was hoarse and grating. Every word sounded like nails scraping a chalkboard, painfully unpleasant to hear.
"Feeble human, the moment you approached me, escape became impossible..."
"That's not necessarily true, Mr. Cursed Spirit."
Yet Jianxia showed no sign of panic. As he poured out his cursed energy, Banquet of Fated Remnants grew larger, its appearance becoming more ferocious.
Well, at least to an onlooker, it was now a big dog facing a tiger.
"Perhaps you were only born recently, but I think you ought to know who's going to exorcise you."
Jianxia brushed the dust off his hands, then swept his hair back with his right hand, using cursed energy to hold it in a slicked-back style.
The House Cursed Spirit's enormous body involuntarily took a step backward. The human before it possessed less than a tenth of its cursed energy. By all rights, he should have been pitifully weak.
Yet somehow, Jianxia's movements gave it a sense of impending danger.
"How dull, Mr. Cursed Spirit. All this time, and you still haven't recognized me?"
The calmer Jianxia appeared, the more wary the House Cursed Spirit became.
Could this human have a trump card?
Could he be pretending to be weak to lure me in?
Sometimes, intelligence was a curse.
Had the House Cursed Spirit thought less, or been brave enough to attack outright, Jianxia would have had no choice but to scramble to defend himself.
But their prolonged standoff had already given Jianxia enough time to reinforce his entire body and Banquet of Fated Remnants with cursed energy.
"You... just who are you?!"
The House Cursed Spirit roared, the force of its voice whipping up the hem of Jianxia's clothes.
"Remember this. My name is Ryomen Sukuna, known as the King of Curses, and my goal is to mate with every cursed spirit."
Then Jianxia raised his right hand and pointed at his opponent.
"Starting with you, my delectable Mr. Cursed Spirit."
A sudden chill ran through the House Cursed Spirit. It had never imagined a human could say something so horrifying.
To protect its dignity as a cursed spirit, and that of its fellows, it had to defeat this Ryomen Sukuna right here!
The House Cursed Spirit roared, raised its right hand, formed from countless wooden structures, and brought it crashing down toward Jianxia, filled with righteous purpose and the determination to protect.
Jianxia's expression darkened. He had intended to scare his opponent off with Sukuna's name, but instead, this cursed spirit had suddenly developed a bizarre sense of responsibility and attacked without another word.
I'll just have to grit my teeth and fight.
Jianxia hurled himself to one side, while Banquet of Fated Remnants leaped in the opposite direction. The enormous wooden claw slammed into the spot where they had stood, sending dust billowing everywhere.
Using the dust as cover, Jianxia nimbly circled onto the back of the giant claw and ran up its arm with his cursed energy-reinforced body.
His targets, naturally, were the House Cursed Spirit's eyes and teeth.
"Banquet of Fated Remnants, hold it back!"
The House Cursed Spirit tried to seize Jianxia as he ran up its arm with its other hand, but Jianxia had anticipated this and shouted his command.
Banquet of Fated Remnants roared and threw its entire body onto the hand the House Cursed Spirit had brought back to defend itself.
The House Cursed Spirit tried to shake its arm and fling off the annoying goldfish, but it discovered that whenever it tried, its arm returned to the state it had been in before exerting force.
It could clearly feel itself straining, but it remained stuck in the instant before the movement succeeded, never able to complete a single action.
"Ha! No wonder you left no cursed residue. So this is your cursed technique!"
As Light Returns at Dusk activated, Banquet of Fated Remnants' cursed energy remained plentiful, rather than instantly running dry as Jianxia had expected.
The more cursed energy a target affected by Light Returns at Dusk contained, the more energy activating the technique consumed.
If this House Cursed Spirit was a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, then Banquet of Fated Remnants, being of the same grade, might not necessarily suffer an enormous drain from using its technique, but it certainly shouldn't have been able to activate it repeatedly.
Yet judging by the feedback from Banquet of Fated Remnants, the cost of activating the technique was so low it was negligible.
In other words, this enormous House Cursed Spirit actually had no cursed energy.
Or rather, the part affected by the technique contained no cursed energy.
That explained why Jianxia hadn't detected any cursed residue, even at such close range.
You couldn't track something that didn't exist.
Taking advantage of the opening Banquet of Fated Remnants had created, Jianxia swiftly reached the House Cursed Spirit's shoulder and channeled all the cursed energy reinforcing his body into his right fist.
"I'm still not sure what else your technique does, but if we're talking purely about performance..."
Azure cursed energy condensed into tangible form, even carrying a hint of black. Jianxia felt exhilaration from the bottom of his heart.
"Mine is overwhelmingly stronger!"
"Black Flash!"
Black lightning erupted as a punch with its power raised to the exponent of 2.5 slammed into the bright red doors. The lanterns serving as the House Cursed Spirit's eyes began flickering violently.
Then, as though it could no longer hold together, the wooden structure comprising its body began splitting with countless cracks from top to bottom, until it finally collapsed completely.
No jujutsu sorcerer could deliberately land a Black Flash. Yet somehow, whenever Jianxia hoped his next attack would produce one, the odds increased dramatically.
It was as though someone was helping him.
With his footing gone, Jianxia fell through the air, and Banquet of Fated Remnants reached out with both hands to catch him.
The human and cursed spirit watched countless wooden fragments fall from the sky like snow, raising clouds of dust.
But Jianxia didn't immediately return Banquet of Fated Remnants to the black substance. Instead, he stared fixedly into the dust, as though trying to see straight through it.
Yet even after all the wooden fragments had fallen and formed a small hill on the ground, Jianxia hadn't detected anything else unusual.
Just as he began wondering whether his judgment had been wrong, a powerful surge of cursed energy burst from the wreckage.
Grade 1? No, even compared to Shinji Zenin, this amount of cursed energy was at least as great, if not greater.
Jianxia stepped down from Banquet of Fated Remnants' palm and assumed a fighting stance. Without even realizing it, a faint smile crept onto his lips.
"Yes, that's it! Make me fall for you, you troublesome Mr. Cursed Spirit!"
Before you continue