Jianxia was pierced by countless spikes in an instant, dying before he could even activate his cursed technique.
Banquet of Fated Remnants followed soon after. Without Jianxia's enhancement, defeat was its only possible fate.
The Long, Thin Cursed Spirit devoured Jianxia, then built an even grander house to lure in passersby.
That was how it should have gone.
That was how it was supposed to go.
Yet even when the Long, Thin Cursed Spirit unleashed its technique at full power, not so much as a single chopstick responded.
"What did you do?!"
The Long, Thin Cursed Spirit roared at Jianxia. There was only one possibility now: this human had tampered with something.
But Jianxia merely rolled his neck, gave it an innocent look, and raised both hands.
"Hey, hey, beautiful cursed spirit, I've been fighting you this whole time. When would I have had time to think about anything else?"
Having dealt with the Straw House, Banquet of Fated Remnants had already returned to Jianxia's side. The Long, Thin Cursed Spirit's pupils abruptly contracted.
Before, Banquet of Fated Remnants's total cursed energy had barely qualified it as a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit.
Now, with no need to conceal anything, Banquet of Fated Remnants was pouring out immense cursed energy without restraint.
Its total cursed energy was almost on par with the Long, Thin Cursed Spirit's own. In other words, Banquet of Fated Remnants now held the cursed energy of a quasi-special grade cursed spirit.
"Then let's reveal a technique one more time. This cursed spirit is my companion. Its name is Banquet of Fated Remnants, and its technique is called Light Returns at Dusk."
Drawing on that immense reserve of cursed energy, Banquet of Fated Remnants opened its enormous mouth at Jianxia's command. A cannon of pure azure cursed energy began gathering within.
"The exact effect is a little complicated. All you need to know is that it can return something to an earlier state. The less cursed energy that thing contains, the less it costs to activate the technique."
The Long, Thin Cursed Spirit took a step back. It had never imagined such a strange innate technique existed, much less that Jianxia could use it.
Could innate techniques be shared?
Nobody told me.
"So when that cursed spirit was running all over the battlefield earlier, it was actually clearing away the scraps of wood I created with my technique?"
The Long, Thin Cursed Spirit began to panic. Events had spiraled beyond its control, and it was already considering whether to flee.
With the second technique reveal, Banquet of Fated Remnants, which had already been strengthened once by Cursed Spirit Manipulation, received a second boost.
The cursed energy cannon in its mouth charged even faster. Before the Long, Thin Cursed Spirit could attack to interrupt it, the cannon had already reached an extremely dangerous level.
"You're half right-since those things didn't contain any cursed energy at all, it had to dodge attacks while finding and clearing them away. That wasn't easy."
"And since the wood was a product of your technique in the first place, I started wondering-what would happen if those scraps of wood were reverted to their original form?"
Jianxia pointed at the Long, Thin Cursed Spirit and smiled.
"The answer is simple. Cursed energy. The immense amount of cursed energy you used to construct this mansion."
"Now, have a taste of your own power."
As he finished speaking, the cursed energy cannon in Banquet of Fated Remnants's mouth finished charging.
At Jianxia's command, a vast torrent of cursed energy blasted straight toward the Long, Thin Cursed Spirit, its flash lighting up the entire sky.
Knowing it could not outrun the cursed energy cannon, the Long, Thin Cursed Spirit had no choice but to face it head-on.
"Clumsy House!"
The Long, Thin Cursed Spirit slammed both hands against the ground. A massive stone foundation abruptly rose before it, attempting to block the cursed energy cannon's advance.
It had deliberately reinforced this stone foundation enough to withstand its own strongest attack. Even the powerful cursed energy cannon would struggle to punch through it.
But raising that defensive barrier so quickly also cut off the Long, Thin Cursed Spirit's view ahead.
"Light Returns at Dusk!"
It was Jianxia. Rather than standing in front of Banquet of Fated Remnants and striking a pose, he had advanced alongside the cursed energy cannon.
When he saw the foundation rise, he knew his guess had been correct.
Jianxia extended his right hand and activated his technique on the foundation. In an instant, the massive structure became an enormous mass of cursed energy, which then wrapped around his fist.
The cursed energy contained in just one casually deployed technique exceeded three times his own reserves. A special grade really did have energy to burn.
So what would happen when such an immense amount of cursed energy was combined with Jianxia's already absurd cursed energy control?
"Don't get my hopes up too much, beautiful cursed spirit!"
Laughing, Jianxia used the cursed energy to reinforce himself. He could not store it, but he could use this ownerless cursed energy just as Banquet of Fated Remnants used its cursed energy cannon.
Then he leaped up and poured all the cursed energy into his right foot, launching himself at the Long, Thin Cursed Spirit like a cannonball in a flying kick.
A flying kick on the left, a cannon on the right. There was nowhere to retreat.
At the very last moment, the Long, Thin Cursed Spirit instead made peace with it.
What was there left to say against a technique that ridiculously underhanded? Fine, take the win.
Then the two attacks collided. A violent explosion and its shock wave battered everything nearby, sending dust flying high enough to blot out the moonlight.
Only after a long while did the dust slowly settle, revealing the final victor.
"What a delight, special grade cursed spirit. I doubt I'll ever forget you."
As Jianxia activated his technique to restore the clothes damaged in the fierce battle, he looked down at the cursed spirit lying on the ground in two pieces and declared his victory.
Then he extended his right hand and opened his palm, drawing the gravely wounded Long, Thin Cursed Spirit into his body as though slurping up noodles.
"Host detected to have successfully subdued his first special grade cursed spirit." "Reward issued. Please check to confirm receipt."
Before he could even consider how to win over the Long, Thin Cursed Spirit, the system's notifications arrived.
Jianxia took out his phone, checked it, and tilted his head.
He realized that although the system had not explicitly assigned him certain tasks, he could still receive rewards after accomplishing something difficult.
For instance, the system had never said there was a reward for subduing a special grade cursed spirit, but once he actually did it, he still received something.
Was the system a tsundere?
"When the host accomplishes certain feats for the first time, the system will issue a reward-but only once."
Realization dawned on Jianxia. So it was an achievement system, too.
Still, his victory over a special grade cursed spirit this time had been pure luck.
This was not false modesty. Jianxia was certain that against any other special grade cursed spirit, he would have lost in the first round.
Although the Long, Thin Cursed Spirit's technique was powerful, Light Returns at Dusk happened to counter it perfectly, preventing it from displaying its true strength.
After all, a favorable matchup trumped everything, and a hard counter could topple a god. Jianxia had seized on the fact that these buildings contained no cursed energy and could isolate it.
Otherwise, he could never have won by reverting constructs made with a technique into cursed energy. Against even an ordinary technique, he would have been at a loss.
Jianxia looked up at the sky. The moon was almost setting. He had not expected to be out for so long.
Better return to the Zenin Estate first and figure out how to win over the Long, Thin Cursed Spirit later.
With that thought, Jianxia turned toward the woods and set off along the same path he had taken to get there.
Somewhere beyond his notice, a sparrow flapped its wings and left the tree trunk from which it had been watching him for so long.
Before you continue