Mahito finally stepped through the gate of the Zen'in family.
At that moment, his perception spread to the entire Zen'in estate.
His heterochromatic eyes lit up at some point; the gold and blue eyes were like bright stars hanging in the night sky. The heterochromatic eyes lighting up in the nighttime storm were like a god or demon opening majestic eyes, with a brilliant divine might spreading like a tsunami.
He strode through the Zen'in gate with his head held high, his heterochromatic eyes sweeping across the entire courtyard like two searchlights. Everyone who met his gaze felt a heartfelt terror; it was their instinct reminding them of the dreadfulness of this King of Curses.
Zen'in Chojuro could clearly feel his heart tremble.
He took a deep breath, his eyes staring intently as the King of Curses, Mahito, who had stepped into the Zen'in gate, suddenly came to a halt.
He lowered Kirigiri from his shoulder and held her with one hand. This amazingly long straight-edged blade now gently touched the floor, which was covered in rainwater.
Even though the storm continued to batter everyone, at this moment, there was a kind of silence.
Everyone's breathing became barely perceptible, as if facing a sleeping dragon.
In the next instant, Zen'in Chojuro moved, letting out a deafening roar like a tiger in the forest.
"Buddha—! Hand—!"
Mahito keenly felt the ground beneath his feet vibrate for a moment, and in that same instant, immense pressure had already formed.
The ground under Mahito's feet rapidly took shape in less than half a second.
Those were two palms, the five fingers of the palms clearly visible.
The palms formed from earth and stone joined together, just like a pious monk joining his hands in prayer before a Buddha statue.
But the difference was the size.
The two hands, over five meters in size, joined together in less than half a second.
Mahito jumped, but before he could jump out of the palms, the hands had already pinned him, like trapping a small insect.
Cursed Technique Release: Earth and Stone Manipulation — Buddha's Greeting Hands!
A simple and direct Cursed Technique like Earth and Stone Manipulation relies most on proficiency.
Zen'in Chojuro was an elder of the Zen'in family with extremely rich experience in Cursed Techniques. He could manipulate earth and stone on a large scale to form palms at a speed that could almost exceed human neural reflexes. Usually, he only needed to form a seal, and the battle would end in the next instant.
Being squeezed hard by the joined rock hands over five meters tall, even the sturdiest human would be crushed into a pulp of flesh and blood, just like how he dealt with the member who had just fled to him.
Facing an ordinary enemy, Chojuro could have lowered his hands from the seal and easily told the people around him that it was over.
But facing the King of Curses who had just slaughtered the entire Kukuru Unit, he didn't dare have the slightest bit of luck or carelessness.
His Cursed Energy was still boiling, and he remained in the seal, using his full strength.
His roar could almost shake away the storm.
"Not! Over! Yet!"
Zen'in Chojuro slowly raised his hands from the seal, and the joined five-meter rock hands also began to rise, lifting upward like a fountain, accompanied by the crushing force of the stone.
Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters! Forty meters! Fifty meters!
With every increase in height, the squeezing force in the center of Buddha's Greeting Hands rose to the next level.
As the height increased, the crushing force progressed layer by layer.
Eventually, even if a tank were placed in the center of the stone Buddha's Greeting Hands, it would be crushed into a steel plate.
A Buddha's Greeting Hands over fifty meters tall appeared in the Zen'in family's courtyard.
Rain fell from the sky, and a peal of thunder sounded in the darkness.
Amidst the roar, this Buddha's Greeting Hands was like a barrier sealing an enemy of Buddha.
A one-hit kill.
Zen'in Chojuro finally showed a contemptuous smile at this moment...
but it didn't last.
The giant rock hand suddenly began to vibrate.
Someone grabbed Chojuro and retreated to the side.
In the next instant—
Shock! Burst!
Accompanied by the thunder of heaven and earth, the entire giant rock hand suddenly exploded.
The massive sound waves formed an air-blast ring, like a giant eagle spreading its wings and taking flight at this moment.
The air-blast ring extended infinitely, the storm in the sky was shaken apart, and a clear hole appeared in the night sky above.
Mahito stood high in the sky, his eyes emitting heterochromatic light, as a bolt of lightning flashed behind him.
Soul Creation switch: Kirara Hoshi.
Cursed Technique Release: Interstellar Flight!
Mahito used Kirara's Cursed Technique.
At this moment, he felt Zen'in Chojuro's Cursed Energy with his body.
He easily marked this Cursed Energy, and through the Interstellar Flight rule of mutual attraction and repulsion, he immediately repelled the rock hands that were squeezing him.
The earth and stone that made up the rock hands swirled and gathered like a storm, finally crashing down like a wild dragon, aimed straight at Zen'in Chojuro.
The massive rock cyclone swept across, and all the Hei members displayed their own skills to scatter in all directions.
Only Zen'in Chojuro couldn't dodge.
Chojuro used Earth and Stone Manipulation again, and one stone wall after another appeared in front of him.
The rock storm smashed these stone walls, which instead became part of the rock cyclone, moving toward Zen'in Chojuro once more.
As long as the ability of Interstellar Flight wasn't truly cracked, it would be difficult to counter this Cursed Technique.
This was exactly where Interstellar Flight was powerful, and in such a short time, Zen'in Chojuro naturally hadn't found the key point.
Zen'in Chojuro was in disbelief.
"A direct-attack Cursed Technique was reflected!? Isn't the King of Curses' ability to make people evolve? How is this possible!?"
The more Zen'in Chojuro used Earth and Stone Manipulation, the stronger the rock storm rushing toward him became.
Finally, it formed a massive rock tornado that covered the sky and earth.
The person carrying Zen'in Chojuro finally hardened his heart and abandoned him.
Chojuro instinctively reached out to grab that person, but was skillfully avoided.
In the next instant, the rock tornado struck.
Zen'in Chojuro covered his face with his hands, using all his strength to reinforce his body's defense.
The tornado smashed into him, and massive rocks hit his body continuously.
At first, he could hold on, but more and more rocks smashed toward him—tons, dozens of tons, hundreds of tons!
The earth and stone he manipulated eventually buried him under a rockery over fifty meters tall.
Zen'in Chojuro, dead.
This kind of physical Cursed Technique was no longer trouble for Mahito.
One of the major flaws of the Interstellar Flight technique was that it had to actually contact Cursed Energy to take effect, and if an offensive technique made contact, it was no different from seeking death.
So, for Kirara, she could only use this technique through advance preparation and intellect, but Mahito didn't need that.
He had an immortal body.
A mere direct-attack technique—as long as he was attacked once, he could immediately use Interstellar Flight to reflect it, remaining invincible.
Mahito descended from the sky, landed on the ground, and canceled Interstellar Flight.
The originally tight rockery suddenly loosened and collapsed with a roar, crushing the nearby corridor.
Mahito exhaled slowly as Idle Transfiguration took effect; the wounds on his body gradually healed.
Then he switched to the Construction Technique, and the originally tattered kimono and haori on his body were mended bit by bit.
Dust flew when the rockery collapsed, which even the storm couldn't suppress.
When he stepped out of the dust-filled area and returned to the Zen'in courtyard, there wasn't a single scar on him, his clothes were tidy, and even his bamboo hat looked as good as new in the rain.
"Next," he said.
The next one indeed came.
A silver light flashed, and a sharp blade appeared before Mahito's eyes.
The logic was simple—
"Since direct-attack Cursed Techniques don't work on you, how about close combat?" the newcomer said.
"Did you forget the Kukuru Unit outside?" Mahito said.
"My Mirokuji Kirigiri cuts everything and is peerless under heaven. No matter what you hold in your hand, it's impossible to oppose my Kirigiri. How dare you fight me in close combat?"
Mahito gripped the sword with one hand.
"Rending Bag Strike!"
Mahito's pupils dilated.
A tachi struck the back of Kirigiri's blade, pinning Kirigiri's edge to the ground.
The Hei member using the tachi looked up, revealing the weather-beaten face of a middle-aged man.
He was expressionless, as solemn as a statue.
He wore a samurai ponytail and a wide kimono, and the tachi in his hand emitted a faint red glow—it was a flame-based Cursed Tool.
He had caught Kirigiri's only weakness:
Kirigiri cannot use Cutting Line with the back of the blade.
But how could an ordinary person accurately capture Kirigiri's cutting trajectory?
Let alone an ordinary person, even a true grandmaster couldn't hope to accurately capture Kirigiri's cutting trajectory, because Kirigiri is not a simple sword.
Even if you can read the attack intent of the sword user, can you read the consciousness of the sword itself?
Theoretically, this only weakness isn't a weakness at all.
But the tachi user did it.
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