Worth the Trip

[Exorcised Special Grade Cursed Spirit-Greed. Gained 5,000 cursed soul points.]

[Mission complete. Rewards issued.]

Only after hearing the system notifications did Shinji stop supplying cursed energy and deactivate [Flowing Scarlet Scales: Load].

He fell backward with a thud, his chest heaving.

Though this special combat state greatly enhanced his speed and strength, it also placed a heavy burden on his body.

On top of that, he had used so much of his own blood in battle and suffered all those injuries along the way.

Not to mention the enormous amount of cursed energy he had consumed at the end to force out a [Maximum Technique]...

It was already impressive that Shinji had managed to hold out until now before collapsing.

So much so that all he wanted now was to lie quietly on the ground and rest for a while.

Once the [special grade cursed spirit] was destroyed, its [innate domain] immediately dissolved, and their surroundings began returning to normal.

"Hey, are you dead? If not, pry me off the wall first, then put me back together..."

Ignoring Hidan's yelling, Shinji immediately took the opportunity to check his haul.

First, exorcising [Special Grade Cursed Spirit-Greed] had directly awarded him a base reward of 5,000 cursed soul points, ten times that of a [grade 1 cursed spirit].

It seemed that once cursed spirits reached [special grade], the rewards skyrocketed, no longer amounting to a mere three or five hundred.

And after this battle, Shinji truly felt that special grade cursed spirits and those below them hardly seemed like the same kind of creature.

No wonder the difference in rewards was so enormous.

Second, killing this [special grade cursed spirit] had also yielded an item drop.

Cursed object: [Greedy Eyeball]

Effect: Can clearly detect the presence of cursed spirits within a 500-meter radius.

Activation requirement: Feed it flesh and blood.

PS: Once I've had my fill, I'll help you find your next prey!

This [Greedy Eyeball] was actually one of the eyeballs of the special grade cursed spirit he had just exorcised. It looked downright creepy.

But its effect was extremely practical. It could help Shinji quickly locate cursed spirits in the future, making his farming more efficient while also preventing ambushes.

Of course, that depended on having enough flesh and blood to feed this eyeball that embodied greed.

That was hardly a problem, though. The activation requirement hadn't specified that it had to be his own flesh and blood, so some animal flesh and blood should work just as well.

Apart from that, the mission involving Hidan had also been successfully completed.

His bond points had increased by 100 to a total of 600, putting him another step closer to constructing a domain!

Another 5,000 cursed soul points meant that killing this one [special grade cursed spirit] alone had earned him a full ten thousand cursed soul points in rewards.

Finally came the reward Shinji had coveted most: Black Flash!

[Black Flash]

A spatial distortion produced when the time lag between a physical strike and the impact of cursed energy is within 0.000001 seconds.

Its power averages the normal attack's power raised to the 2.5th power!

In plain language, it meant coating a fist in cursed energy to attack. When the force of the punch and the force released by the cursed energy erupted almost simultaneously, with a time lag of no more than 0.000001 seconds, they would produce an astonishing amount of destructive power!

That destructive power would generally equal the usual power raised to the 2.5th power.

A basic attack plus a critical hit-that was roughly the idea.

What Shinji valued most wasn't [Black Flash]'s "critical hit" effect, but the fact that landing a [Black Flash] required precise control over the cursed energy inside his body.

And that was a major dividing line in the use of cursed energy.

Shinji lay quietly on the ground, absorbing the experience and insights [Black Flash] had given him, filled with delight.

The rewards from this mission had been enormous, far beyond his expectations.

After a long while, Shinji finally opened his eyes and climbed to his feet.

If he had to do it all over again now, he was fully confident he could pound that bald, four-eyed cursed spirit to pieces with his fists!

By now, Hidan had also exhausted himself swearing, but his eyes were still wide in a glare.

Smack!

"What are you staring so hard for? Trying to scare me?"

Shinji wasn't about to indulge him. He stepped up and smacked him on the head.

"You bastard! How dare you hit me... I, hey, hey! That hurts! Stop hitting me... I said stop! Did you hear me? Fuck, you're still hitting me..."

Hidan couldn't fight back in his current state, and before long, his forehead had been slapped red.

If looks could kill, Shinji would have died a dozen times by now.

Unfortunately, Hidan didn't possess a kekkei genkai like the Sharingan, so glaring alone couldn't kill anyone.

"All right, stop hitting me! What the hell do you want?" Hidan was getting desperate. Whether from frustration or pain, something seemed to be welling up in his eyes.

"I told you before, stop charging into everything just because you have [immortality]. Use your brain!"

"Look at you now. Without me, you'd be hanging here until you turned into a dried-up corpse."

Hidan was far from convinced. "If that four-eyed monster hadn't stolen my weapon while I wasn't paying attention, then ambushed me from behind, I wouldn't have lost... Uh, at least I wouldn't have lost this badly!"

Still refusing to admit it!

Shinji didn't even know what to say.

But what else could he do? Hidan was his own mutt, after all. He had hit him and lectured him, but whether Hidan listened was beyond his control.

Resigned, Shinji couldn't be bothered to argue with Hidan anymore. He simply pried the chopped-up pieces of Hidan's body off the wall by hand.

Then, very reluctantly, he cut his finger and squeezed out some more blood.

He condensed blood into a needle and shaped blood into thread.

With that, Shinji began stitching Hidan back together.

His handiwork really wasn't much to speak of, though. He had only stitched part of him up when Hidan couldn't help protesting, "Hey, hey, hey! Can't you make the stitches look a little better?"

"Why does a grown-ass man have to insist on looking pretty? Want me to embroider a bow on you afterward?"

Shinji rolled his eyes, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

Then Hidan said through gritted teeth, "Forget the bow, but at least stitch me together properly! What the hell are these two crooked rows of stitches? If one arm ends up longer than the other, are you going to take responsibility?"

Shinji looked down at that. Well, what do you know? He was right!

After being stitched on, the two arms were visibly different lengths.

But with skin as thick as a certain someone's, how could he possibly admit it was his fault?

So Shinji immediately put on a stern face and said, "If there's a problem like that, we must be missing a piece. How can you blame me?"

"Fuck! Take both those arm sections off right now and compare them! If there's a piece missing, my name isn't Hidan!"

"Then is it Hidone?"

"I'll cut you down! I swear I'll cut you down!"

"Quit yapping. Do you want me to finish stitching you up or not? I've never met anyone as demanding as you."

Hidan's face flushed scarlet, and he nearly ground his teeth to pieces. In the end, under a certain someone's impatient gaze, he could only force out a single word.

"Yes!"

I'm tired. Just end it all already.