Yuan Shanxiao thought that the guy opposite him probably knew he was scared.

He couldn’t figure out how he could tell, since he wasn’t kneeling, running away, or screaming. But it was just the cold sweat, the pale face, and the trembling legs—was it really that obvious he was scared?

Terrifying!

As Yuan Shanxiao watched him approaching step by step, it felt like his sweat-glued feet were finally free from the floor, and he instinctively took a step back, planning to teleport away immediately, but then—

A black fluid fell behind him.

Yuan Shanxiao looked back instinctively.

The greenery and stone steps of Tokyo Jujutsu High were all submerged under the black fluid, a curtain descending from the sky. Yet, it seemed like there was more to it than what Gojo Satoru had once mentioned about the “curtain.”

Was it some special barrier?

The blackness flowing down from the dome seemed to faintly reflect a grid-like gleam similar to floor tiles, and then, a strange sound that seemed to come through a voice changer buzzed in his ears.

As Yuan Shanxiao’s feet were about to teleport back, his entire field of vision was engulfed by the black barrier, and his sense of space was lost.

But that was okay, he had been training for this—even if his eyes couldn’t give him spatial information, he remembered the spot he was standing on. All he needed to do was visualize it in his mind, through his other senses—

Suddenly, heat sprayed beside his face.

“This is the space of a fictitious Cursed Spirit—”

Yuan Shanxiao’s pupils shrank sharply, and he turned around abruptly only to see the man’s face, now very close to his own.

The man was smiling.

His fingers were between his smiling lips, slowly prying them apart to open his mouth. The mouth opened wider and wider—

Almost enough to see the blackness of his throat.

Then—

In front of the boy, he vomited out a Cursed Spirit.

Yuan Shanxiao: …

The youth calmly wiped his face, which was sprayed with the fluid of the Cursed Spirit.

His heart remained indifferent.

[Fear Value 29%]

————

Yuan Shanxiao kind of wanted to kneel down and beg this man not to scare him anymore.

But in reality, up to now, Yuan Shanxiao hadn’t shed a single tear, although he was sweating profusely and his calves were trembling, he had no intention of kneeling.

Because Yuan Shanxiao knew his limits, not everyone was Gojo Satoru.

Not everyone’s first reaction to a kneeling beggar was disappointment—

Rather than—

Yuan Shanxiao took a deep breath, he had been moving straight back, his toes hadn’t changed direction, and he knew the length of his steps. Therefore, even now, though he couldn’t distinguish direction and distance in the all-consuming darkness, he could still construct a three-dimensional axis in his mind with himself at the origin, just—

Yuan Shanxiao exhaled, twisting his waist to dodge a slimy and cold touch of a Cursed Spirit brushing past his face, and in that moment of movement, like some kind of overture, just as Yuan Shanxiao dodged, it seemed that something behind him darkly surged.

Countless Cursed Spirits rushed towards the youth.

…Like a black tide of cockroaches, upon opening his eyes, it would be a dark sea composed of densely packed carapaces. But that was just an illusion; the black sea was filled with non-human compound eyes, dangling eyeballs, slime, and smooth organic tissues—all things that Yuan Shanxiao felt would make him physically vomit upon touching.

He had no choice but to flee…

Yuan Shanxiao cast his eyes down, and his feet left the ground—

The axes derived from the origin instantly shrank, and the youth teleported away abruptly. The space constructed in his brain shattered instantly.

Not everyone was Gojo Satoru.

Not everyone’s first reaction to a kneeling beggar was disappointment—

Rather than t seeing the weak, they want to further torment.

————

“Yuan-kun, I mean no harm. I just want to discuss something with you,” said the voice in the dark space, where actually there was no sign of the youth, only streaks of light like meteor tails flashing by. The moment they appeared, they shattered the black tide, and then the youth would briefly appear amid the burst of blood and slime of the Cursed Spirits, seemingly to get some air, or perhaps to—

“Ough—”

Avoid vomiting in his own space.

Yuan Shanxiao’s brain was currently too weak to think, [So you’re indeed here for me since you know my name.] He was still doing his best to dodge the chunks of Cursed Spirits pouring down on him.

One could imagine how cool it would look if he “swished” the Cursed Spirits apart and then appeared heroically amid the rain of Cursed Spirit corpses. But when it comes to being drenched in foul-smelling corpse rain, there’s a lot to consider—

So Yuan Shanxiao, while dodging, said—

“Ough—I get it…… cough, cough, ough—so you first—cough, ough—call back the Cursed Spirits… ough, then I can talk… cough, cough, cough, cough,”

The Cursed Spirit paused, …

The Cursed Spirit watched the youth vomiting and dodging in the tide of Cursed Spirits, his gaze complex and subtly shifting for a long time before finally, with a gentle smile and lowered brows, he said,

“Alright.”

He watched as all the Cursed Spirits he had summoned were pierced by the tail-like rays of light behind the youth, and the sky turned to black rain.

Except for the pale youth in front of him who looked like he was about to die the next second.

No one survived.

————

Yuan Shanxiao and the Cursed Spirit both knew that this negotiation was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

The Cursed Spirit might not have originally planned to “negotiate,” his initial plan might not have been to “test the waters and then discuss.” It might have been more likely to just eliminate him.

Although Yuan Shanxiao still didn’t understand why, or why it was specifically him—he had been as low-key and reclusive as possible, why couldn’t they just leave him alone.

Did they really want him dead? Fine, then kill him directly instead of scaring him with this!

As agreed by the Cursed Spirit with a snap of his fingers, somehow, all the chunks and sludge of Cursed Spirits were swept away in an instant. But he still hadn’t withdrawn the curtain-like barrier, probably fearing the youth might escape.

Yuan Shanxiao wasn’t standing on the ground; he remembered that every tile here seemed to have been smeared with the remains of Cursed Spirits crushed by his space manipulation, Yuan Shanxiao: …

Yuan Shanxiao stood calmly on his spatial staircase, then looking down from a high position—

“Ough—”

Just as the Cursed Spirit was about to speak, …

Yuan Shanxiao and the Cursed Spirit were probably in a situation where neither could do anything about the other.

All the Cursed Spirits summoned by the Cursed Spirit could be easily pierced and exorcised by Yuan’s spatial abilities.

And Yuan—

“Ough—You finish talking—cough, cough, ough—then hurry up and let me go back, I always feel there’s a weird smell here—ough,”

The Cursed Spirit: …

If the youth wasn’t speaking while vomiting, he probably wouldn’t have realized there was a weird smell.

Yuan Shanxiao was truly afraid of Cursed Spirits, in a physiological sense, up until now he had been trying to resist the urge to smooth his arms where the goosebumps were. He always felt like his hands were unclean, tainted with the essence of the Cursed Spirits, as if a giant African snail with a body full of bacteria had dragged a thick, damp trail over his arm.

Yuan Shanxiao was trying his best to control his fear, his fear value, which had been skyrocketing earlier, had been nearly depleted after killing all the Cursed Spirits. If he continued to fear further, losing consciousness would not be a good outcome—he wouldn’t be able to control his body or be clearly aware of his actions, which would be not only dangerous but also uncomfortable. So, Yuan Shanxiao also wanted to avoid that.

So, it was time to come to the negotiation table.

And then let him maintain his sanity and clarity before his brain was completely overtaken by fear.

To first know—

“What exactly do you want to do?”

The youth looked up, his gaze clear.

If you didn’t look at his mouth, still wet from vomiting.

————

The Cursed Spirit sighed. “I just wanted to see Yuan-kun—”

Yeah right. An attempted murderer and a liar.

“And if possible, I’d like Yuan-kun not to interfere with our plans at a critical moment.”

With no interference from the Cursed Spirits and the brain still overly active from lingering fear, Yuan Shanxiao’s mind was quick to process information, his pale face stiff with fear, showing an excessively cold expression, his grey-green eyes looking emotionless.

“My technique will affect your plans?”

Yuan Shanxiao quickly came to a conclusion. Before the young man opposite him, who was smirking and obviously planning to fob him off with some subtle words, could speak, Yuan directly said,

“Your plans involve Gojo Satoru, don’t they.”

“Yuan-kun, you’re a bit too sharp…” the Cursed Spirit finally couldn’t help but sigh, smiling helplessly.

“…If a person was locked in a cockroach house and had to crush 49 cockroaches to death before being let out, anyone would be overly sensitive…”

The Cursed Spirit understood the youth’s metaphor, raised an eyebrow and smiled, “Eh, interesting metaphor. Does Yuan-kun think Cursed Spirits are like cockroaches?”

Yuan Shanxiao was about to say something when he looked up and saw the man opposite him opening his mouth wide, about to pull something wrapped in Cursed Spirits out of his throat.

Yuan Shanxiao: …

“Ough—”

…

“So,” Yuan Shanxiao covered his stomach, wiped his mouth, and said weakly, “why do you think I would save Gojo Satoru?”

[Gojo Satoru], this name, and the youth’s tone, which sounded like he didn’t trust Gojo Satoru, made the Cursed Spirit raise an eyebrow, not paying too much attention to the deliberately natural and light tone of [you guys] that preceded his name.

“Eh, as far as I know, wasn’t it Gojo Satoru who saved you and brought you back to Tokyo Jujutsu High? Or is the information wrong?”

The young man smiled teasingly in response.

Yuan Shanxiao’s lowered eyes flashed.

He subconsciously didn’t avoid [you guys], suggesting this person had a group, very likely peers, hence the subconscious acceptance of the collective term [you guys].

The name from [Satoru] following his deliberate use of [Gojo Satoru] changed to [Gojo Satoru], indicating the previously intimate use of [Satoru] was very likely feigned, probably the way the body’s original owner referred to Teacher Gojo, while this guy probably didn’t know Teacher Gojo, but was very familiar with and wary of him.

Analyzing was a momentary thing, like a flow of water passing through the youth’s brain.

On the surface, the youth with his head bowed and his eyes and brows unclear was unhesitatingly quipping. “What kind of [saving] is that, he literally tied me up and dragged me back to Tokyo Jujutsu High. Who would want to deal with Cursed Spirits… disgusting.”

The youth’s tone at the end was too sincerely heartfelt, and as he spoke, he seemed to recall something, his expression changed instantly, and he immediately turned his head and vomited.

The Cursed Spirit: …

The Cursed Spirit’s smile stiffened a bit, but he quickly returned to a natural expression, saying, “Although you say that—”

“But it’s still hard to be at ease with just Yuan-kun’s word.”

“Want to set a binding vow then.”

At these words, the youth with his vomiting and trembling back paused, wiped his mouth, and looked up.

“You plan to do something to Gojo Satoru at some point, but you didn’t expect that Gojo Satoru would take me as his student, and my technique just happens to be able to save him, right.”

“It’s really… not always a pleasant experience to talk to someone as clever as Yuan-kun.”

Yuan Shanxiao nodded. “I understand, like right now talking to you makes me want to—Ough—”

The Cursed Spirit: …

The Cursed Spirit was silent for a while, starting to wonder if letting the youth keep talking would lead him to vomit himself to death.

“Cough, cough… so, as long as I,”

The youth fruitlessly dry heaved up stomach acid, struggling to speak through clenched brows. “As long as I and you set a binding vow, you can let me go today, right?”

Yuan Shanxiao bowed his head to vomit, clearly not pretending; his stomach kept spasming from fear, stomach acid burning up to his throat, also pulling out strands of painful blood, his unfocused gaze falling through the clear space beneath his feet to the floor, flickering and trembling, his pupils constricting tightly. Just now, when he landed, the Cursed Spirit had jokingly said, “Cursed Spirit 49 Slash, looks like Yuan-kun can easily rank as Special Grade,” at that moment, the continuous, deafening electronic tone in his mind also seemed to correspondingly play non-stop.

[Fear Value 49%]

[Fear Value 49%]

[Fear Value 49%]

[Fear Value…….]

Like some terrible alarm, he had never had a fear value over 50%.

What would happen if it exceeded that?

He was already struggling to maintain his sanity, he couldn’t gamble on this.

“It depends on what kind of binding Yuan-kun sets.”

The young man across from him smiled.

Yuan Shanxiao also smiled briefly, the slight curve of his lips quickly suppressed by pain, he clenched his eyes shut, his brow furrowing in agony, as if he had made some difficult, ancestral-defying decision.

“Then I shall die without entering the reincarnation cycle, soul utterly annihilated.”

Words dropped.

The binding began.

A sufficiently ruthless condition instantly enveloped the Cursed Spirit’s request.

“Is that okay?”

The pale-faced, slightly hunched youth looked up in agony.

The Cursed Spirit was startled, wanting to nod, but a vague instinct made him feel something was off. But the youth’s vow was indeed as ruthless as it could get.

“…Okay.”

“One more thing, everything that happened today must not be mentioned to Gojo Satoru, it needs to be kept secret from anyone associated with or standing with him.”

“Okay.”

The youth didn’t hesitate.

Instantly, the binding began to entwine, gradually tightening—

[Fear Value……]

[Fear Value percent,]

[Percent,]

[49%]

[50%]

[49%]

[50……]

The youth’s eye color continuously changed, his pupils undergoing an unconscious tremor.

As if an old, poorly maintained needle trembled between 49% and 50%, pulling out a screeching sound of gear friction. On the brink of the critical value, the rust-covered needle about to give way—the gear below turning—the needle tip about to settle on 50%.

“I’ll be going then…”

The youth raised his head.

He patted the Cursed Spirit’s shoulder.

“Okay…?”

The Cursed Spirit paused, realizing somehow the youth’s hand resting on his shoulder was coming from behind him.

Huh?

A moment later, the returning consciousness reminded the Cursed Spirit that the youth speaking just now should have been in front of him.

Then, the returning consciousness felt—

A body pierced through, blood exploding.

And like the chunks of Cursed Spirit before, blood rained down behind the youth.

It seemed the youth was less afraid of human blood than that of Cursed Spirits.

The stiffly retracted eyeballs could catch a glimpse of the youth’s expression relaxing in an instant, pale, splattered with blood.

[Fear Value 49%]

With a thread of rationality, the youth wiped his face. The colors in his eyes fluctuated between black and gray-green, blood-clotted black hair resting on his shoulders, his pale face splattered with blood like a slasher night’s murderer, his eye color shifting for a long time before finally settling into a slightly deeper green.

“…Go find Teacher Gojo.”

This was the youth’s last bit of rationality.

“And make sure to tell Teacher—”

The Cursed Spirit’s body hit the floor while his pupils were still trembling from this sentence.

The binding had clearly stipulated not to tell Gojo Satoru—

“I can finally be utterly annihilated.”

…

Ah?