Yuki Tsukumo frowned deeply as she looked at the general store in front of her.
She took out her phone, dialed a number, and listened for a few seconds. Before the person on the other end could answer, she said impatiently, "We are one step too late."
After a while, a voice came from the phone: "So, the master of the King of Curses is really Ashiya Magon?" Yuki Tsukumo said coldly, "This should be your responsibility."
"I have been monitoring all the thousand-year sorcerers in Japan. Ashiya Magon is just one of them. He's not even the strongest one. On the contrary, he's very honest—the only thousand-year sorcerer who actively exposed his life to me. I'm quite sure he's just living simply. As long as the jujutsu world doesn't have any accidents, he absolutely won't take action," the voice said slowly.
"But now there's a problem." Yuki Tsukumo sighed. "The King of Curses has emerged out of nowhere, and his debut battle was wiping out the Zen'in Family."
"Yes." The voice said faintly, "So I immediately had you go look for him."
Yuki Tsukumo said irritably, "But it's still too late! You should have immediately found all the thousand-year sorcerers you know the moment you learned about the appearance of an intelligent Cursed Spirit! Then have Gojo Satoru go find them one by one! That would count as a crisis warning."
"I can't do that." The voice sighed again.
"Why?" Yuki Tsukumo was annoyed.
"Because I am 'Tengen,'" the voice said.
Yuki Tsukumo fell silent. After a long time, she finally asked helplessly,
"Alright, because you are Tengen, unless encountering force majeure circumstances, you must not concern yourself with the jujutsu world. You must remain aloof, be a happy puppet! I've said it before—if you truly cared about the jujutsu world, you shouldn't have let the jujutsu higher-ups cause trouble there."
"I'm already over a thousand years old, child," Tengen said gently. "My thoughts, my style are no longer suitable for this era. You think the modern jujutsu higher-ups are old-fashioned, but if I really replaced them as you said, you'd only think they were doing a decent job."
"Your abdication and yielding to the worthy also allowed the jujutsu higher-ups to fall to their current state," Yuki Tsukumo said coldly.
"Didn't a Gojo Satoru emerge?" Tengen smiled. "I believe he will eventually change the jujutsu higher-ups, just like how they once bound me here in the name of righteousness. Gojo Satoru always finds a way… That's humanity."
Fine. So profoundly righteous, I have nothing to say.
Yuki Tsukumo rubbed her temples and sighed helplessly. After a while, she asked, "Then what do we do now? We've lost the trail."
Indeed, when Tengen learned that the King of Curses had an old-fashioned master, he immediately thought of Ashiya Magon.
It wasn't that Tengen hadn't considered Kenjaku, but Kenjaku and Ashiya Magon are two completely different types of people. From the King of Curses, one could see none of Kenjaku's despicableness or ruthlessness. Instead, everything reflected the clarity and righteousness belonging to a samurai.
Tengen knew the information on all the "immortals" in Japan, and after carefully inquiring about intelligence from Yuki Tsukumo and Gojo Satoru, he immediately pinpointed Ashiya Magon.
Only Ashiya Magon would care so much about so-called righteousness. It must be him.
If it were a disciple taught by other immortals, they would never have spared the elderly and weak of the Zen'in Family, nor would they have loudly announced their own name before battle. This kind of behavior—like something out of sword-fighting films—was something only Ashiya Magon could teach.
As for this being the will of the intelligent Cursed Spirit itself? This possibility wasn't even considered by Tengen, let alone Yuki Tsukumo or Gojo Satoru.
What a joke! With the nature of a Cursed Spirit, it's impossible from the outset to harbor tolerant thoughts toward humans!
Forget Cursed Spirits—even among humans, just look at the lowest moral baselines in reality, and you can imagine how evil and arrogant an unrestrained existence can be. So from the very beginning, everyone in the jujutsu world believed the King of Curses' personality must be the result of his master's teachings.
"Don't you have Gojo's student's number?" Tengen said slowly. "I remember you called him before contacting me. Did he call back?"
"No. I called him before contacting you, about half an hour ago," Yuki Tsukumo frowned. "He said he'd keep an eye out."
"Hasn't he seen the King of Curses?" Tengen asked.
"He didn't say whether he had or not. He just said he'd keep an eye out," Yuki Tsukumo said thoughtfully.
"He must have seen him, and most likely had a Binding Vow placed on him," Tengen said faintly. "Although Ashiya Magon comes from a samurai background, he is not lacking in caution. In fact, it's precisely because of his caution that I've allowed him to live until now. If he sincerely taught the King of Curses, then he definitely passed that caution on as well. Anyone the King of Curses meets will surely be bound by a Binding Vow."
Yuki Tsukumo's eyes flashed. "So now, as long as we keep a close watch on Kinji Hakari, we'll definitely find the King of Curses?"
Tengen said cautiously, "In theory."
"In theory?" Yuki Tsukumo's voice sharpened. "Do you know how fast the King of Curses is growing? After Gojo Satoru and I inspected the Zen'in Family, we concluded he wiped them out in no more than three hours—and within those three hours, he evolved at least three times! An average of one evolution per hour!"
"He's growing every moment, non-stop! He can wipe out the Zen'in Family now—I can't even imagine how much stronger he'll be next time."
"What did Gojo Satoru say?" Tengen asked.
"That guy told me to do whatever I want," Yuki Tsukumo gritted her teeth.
"Since he still has confidence, things won't slide into the worst outcome," Tengen comforted. "I understand Ashiya. He's not the type to scheme. If he fights, he does so honorably—just like when the King of Curses went to the Zen'in Family. He announced his name, gave them time to prepare, and only then began the battle."
This was also why Tengen could remain so calm.
If it were Kenjaku's scheme, Tengen would definitely be nervous. After learning that Kenjaku had appeared and sealed Gojo Satoru, she immediately sought a way to unseal him and cautiously set up defenses, because she knew Kenjaku's target must be her—and she could not die. If she died, all of Japan would fall into chaos.
Facts proved that Tengen truly understood Kenjaku; she saw through all of his actions.
But facts also proved that Kenjaku understood Tengen just as well, and saw through all of her responses.
These two millennia-long rivals—Kenjaku ultimately held the advantage. Tengen was confined in place, rarely exposed to the outside world, her thinking stuck in the distant past. Only when merging with a Star Plasma Vessel could she glimpse modern development. Kenjaku, however, had personally lived through the ages, constantly experiencing the evolution of the jujutsu world. That difference in lived experience was decisive.
"So, we do nothing now?" Yuki Tsukumo asked. "I remember—you contacted me because the jujutsu higher-ups allowed it, right? Because they genuinely felt fear and pain, they opened the door for me to see you."
Indeed, that was exactly why Yuki Tsukumo could contact Tengen.
Compared to Gojo Satoru's students, Tengen's information network was naturally more reliable. So, Yuki Tsukumo, determined to act, demanded the higher-ups connect her to Tengen. She had expected a drawn-out struggle, so she contacted Tengen while also calling Kinji Hakari.
Unexpectedly, Tengen agreed to meet her immediately and, using her intelligence, quickly identified the King of Curses' master as Ashiya Magon, founder of the New Shadow Style.
The higher-ups were truly panicking.
When the King of Curses first appeared, they took it seriously—but only to a degree. Their primary concern remained the disobedient Gojo Satoru. They never believed this so-called King of Curses could truly threaten them.
But the destruction of the Zen'in Family woke them up completely.
What kind of people made up the jujutsu higher-ups? Eighty percent came from the Big Three Families! With a single move, the King of Curses had nearly wiped out a quarter of their ranks.
How could they not be terrified?
That was why, when Yuki Tsukumo requested to meet Tengen, they immediately approved it—fear rooted deep in their bones.
Then Yuki Tsukumo, following Tengen's lead, rushed here nonstop… only to find nothing.
Tengen suddenly said, "Speak frankly."
Yuki Tsukumo was startled. "Speak frankly?"
"If it were anyone else, your frankness would be like a breeze in their ears—they would ignore it, or even laugh at your foolishness," Tengen said confidently. "But Ashiya is different. He has an old-fashioned spirit. If you want to see him, he will definitely meet you—even if it puts his life at risk. His disciples are the same. The Zen'in Family humiliated the King of Curses, so he came alone to destroy them."
Yuki Tsukumo's mouth twitched. "But I want to kill him, right? Wouldn't he see through such an obvious trap?"
"No, you don't want to kill him," Tengen said slowly. "You just… want to find him."
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