Chapter 162

Four years have passed, and everything has changed a lot.

For example, the upper echelons of the sorcery world have long been suffering terribly at the hands of Kazuma Hato, living in constant fear. They even need someone to accompany them to the toilet. Any decision related to Satoru Gojo is passed unanimously, and they dare not say a bad word about him.

For example, the Pansei Church under the management of Kazuma Hatake has been completely transformed. It never asks for any monetary offerings and actively helps believers solve family or personal problems. The huge influence it has gradually accumulated has led to a rapid increase in the total number of people in the group.

For example, Wu Tiao Wu has thoroughly mastered the realm of [the boundless void], and his teaching career is also progressing quite smoothly.

Not to mention that at 23 years old, he had already taken over as the head of the Gojo family and also had to handle difficult tasks of level one or higher—yet he still managed to handle them all with ease.

Even though Gojo Satoru could easily exorcise cursed spirits with his own techniques, he still adhered to the principle of "allowing students to fully achieve both physical and mental growth" in his teaching. He was neither conservative nor stubborn, nor did he intend to overprotect them because of their young age.

"The death of a sorcerer is actually a very common thing."

Gojo Satoru propped his head up and spoke this conclusion with a calm expression, showing no intention of using seemingly warm words to mask his cold core essence.

"Once they embark on the path of a sorcerer, they must confront all kinds of death... whether it be that of their victims, their companions, or themselves."

"Haibara died in a Level 1 mission, and Nanami also changed careers after graduation and stopped being a jutsu sorceress—these kinds of things happen quite often."

“If I were to tell students who are only fifteen or sixteen years old, ‘You have special powers, so use friendship, bonds, courage, and the like to crush all your enemies!’ that would be completely irresponsible.”

"But if you were to say that [the curse is not terrible, and everyone will be fine as long as we follow the arrangements], that would only be treating them as tools, and allowing the death of a few individuals to be misrepresented as [not following the arrangements]."

"I would rather they face reality... The reality is that being a sorcerer is a rather cruel profession. It involves a trolley problem-like test of humanity, and at some point, one may suddenly find themselves in a life-or-death situation."

"We must first cultivate their awareness of facing death before we can discuss the beliefs they would truly choose in their hearts—that is the only guarantee that can sustain them in this cursed and cruel world."

From the day he was born, Gojo Satoru was endowed with six eyes by the heavens. After awakening his technique, he only narrowly escaped death once, but that experience solidified his status as the strongest.

Many people believe that he will rely on his status as the "strongest sorcerer in modern times" to be arrogant and domineering towards all low-level sorcerers, and will not care about the life or death of ordinary sorcerers at all.

But in fact, just as humans can look up and see the sky, the sky will also look back at humans in the same way.

Those beautiful, misty blue eyes were neither cold nor ruthless.

Just as he would gently touch the petals with his soft fingertips without picking them, Gojo Satoru would also bury his gentle nature beneath seemingly indifferent actions, allowing students to be tempered both physically and mentally during their growth, while also having complete trust that Gojo-sensei would unconditionally help them at the last moment.

Satoru Gojo occasionally says he's not cut out to be a teacher, but Kazuma Hatori firmly believes he's the best teacher.

“That makes a lot of sense… But don’t suddenly say these things to Hui, he’s only nine years old!”

Riko Tennatsu, who was listening in, protested.

—The above dialogue took place at the Fushiguro residence before the [Night Parade of One Hundred Demons].

After killing Fushiguro Jinji, Gojo Satoru wanted to explain the situation to Fushiguro Megumi in person, even if the latter hated him and wanted revenge later.

But before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the latter, who said that he didn't really care where the guy was or what he was doing.

"Just pretend he's dead," Fushiguro Megumi said, then asked Gojo Satoru if he had beaten him up.

"He probably got hit once." Gojo Satoru blinked as he finished speaking, and saw Fushiguro Megumi nod. Even though he continued to say that he could ask him anytime, he didn't ask about Fushiguro Jinji anymore.

The way they treated him was no different from before.

Gojo Satoru had reduced his visits to the Fushiguro family due to being too busy, but with the [Night Parade of One Hundred Demons] about to begin, he was worried that the disturbance caused by more than a thousand cursed spirits would affect the Fushiguro family, so he made a special trip ahead of time.

This was partly to remind them to avoid going out as much as possible, and partly to teach Fukuro Megumi, the only person in the family with magical abilities, some techniques for identifying cursed spirits and applying magical techniques.

"What does it matter? Hui has already awakened his magic two or three years ago, hasn't he? He should start learning how to use his magic now."

Upon hearing Riko's protest, Gojo Satoru tilted his head innocently, pulled a small, rolled-up booklet from his large pocket, and handed it to Fushiguro Megumi.

Upon closer inspection, the edges of the paper were yellowed, revealing it to be a valuable ancient book.

"The advantage of family-inherited techniques is that predecessors leave behind a lot of valuable experience in their application. Here, this is what I borrowed from a Zen temple. Remember to read it carefully and understand it. If you have any questions, you can call me."

Gojo Satoru said, "I'll take you through some low-level exorcisms when I have time to gain experience—don't worry, the [Ten Shadow Spells] technique has a very high ceiling. In some ancient books, it's recorded as a technique that can rival [No Limit]."

Megumi Fushiguro reached out and took the booklet, his expression remaining calm—then, Fushiguro Miki raised her hand and pressed down on the back of his head, forcing him to lower his head.

"Thank you, Brother Wu!"

With a happy expression, Fushiguro Miki bowed her head along with him and urged Fushiguro Megumi to quickly join in the thanks.

Fushiguro Megumi: "...Thank you."

Compared to the cold-faced and pessimistic Megumi Fushiguro, Miki Fushiguro is always warm and kind, and still holds onto all the good things in the world.

Seeing the awkward expression on Fushiguro Megumi's face after she thanked him, Gojo Satoru just chuckled lightly and waved his hand, saying it was no problem, no problem. He had encountered far too many students with unique personalities.

Moreover, he also came here to check if Riko and Misato were having any difficulties. After receiving the answer that everything was fine, he relaxed and got up to take his leave.

The date [Night Parade of One Hundred Demons] was set for December 24th, a suggestion made by Xia Youjie.

December 24th is Christmas Eve, when large crowds gather, and he will release over a thousand cursed spirits in Tokyo and Kyoto.

This criminal premonition was made some time ago by him specifically traveling to Tokyo High School on a pelican cursed spirit to formally declare war on Principal Moth and the entire world of sorcery.

"I will give the cursed spirit the order to destroy buildings but not attack humans."

Xia Youjie paused for a moment, then asked Yuqu Kazuma again, "If we switch appearances, will it really not be noticed?"

“Although the spell formula won’t be swapped, the aura of the curse can be completely simulated,” Kazuma Hatake affirmed. “I’ll be fine as long as I don’t use the spell formula.”

Xia Youjie's [Spirit Manipulation Technique] happens to be a skill that can be activated remotely.

As long as he releases the cursed spirit close to Kazuma Hatori, at first glance it will only be regarded as a cursed spirit "driven" by Kazuma Hatori.

Furthermore, Kazuma Hatori has a large number of curse crystals stored in his inventory, so even if he is brought to the brink of death by Gojo Satoru's [Zi], he can be instantly revived with full health.

Even if he doesn't know how to expand his domain, it doesn't matter. At extremely close range, [Ten Directions Maha] + [Karma Double] is enough to easily blow the head off any enemy.

Miguel, Laru, Suda Manami, Negi Riku, and other curse masters recruited by Natsuyu Ge will also participate in the battle. Their goal is to delay the curse masters sent by the General Headquarters or to create a large-scale disturbance, but they must not harm civilians.

In short, Gojo Satoru and Hato Kazuma's goal is to make the battle scenes as grand as possible, but to avoid any deaths.

Therefore, Kazuma Hatake specifically instructed Ayako Sakami to evacuate the members of the Panxing Sect and to hide immediately if the General Headquarters sent someone to report to him.

"Anyway, we don't need to hide for long."

Kazuma Hatori gazed at the sky as it completely darkened. The neon lights were already lighting up one by one, and the upcoming Christmas filled the entire Shinjuku with a romantic and lively atmosphere.

In Japan, Christmas Eve is generally considered to be celebrated as Valentine's Day, so he felt it was a bit of a shame that he couldn't go for a walk with Satoru at that time.

Well, however, success or failure hinges on this one move.

Amidst the shimmering gold, Hatori Kazuma, who was originally wearing a montsuke haori hakama, had transformed into Natsuyu Suke, who was wearing a kasaya.

"[Night Parade of One Hundred Demons], begin."

………

Neither Shinjuku nor Kyoto is particularly lively tonight.

The sorcery community received the declaration of war in advance and had already joined forces with the government to evacuate the vast majority of the population, using the pretext that they suspected terrorists had planted bombs there and intended to take civilians hostage.

Of course, the declaration of war was also a deliberate act by Kazuma Hato, otherwise the collapse of the building would have easily injured innocent people.

Now, it seems more like they've deliberately carved out a territory to facilitate fighting.

Thousands of cursed spirit crows covered the two cities, slowly wandering through every building, whether tall or short, and along every street, thus dispersing most of the combat power of the cursed arts world.

On the top floor of one of the buildings, an overwhelming and repulsive aura of curses gathered like a vortex, with cursed spirits following one after another beside the cold-faced [Xia Youjie], ferocious and terrifying, like stars surrounding the moon, surrounding him as he faced the strongest sorcerer of the modern era—Gojo Satoru.

Those fully exposed pale eyes looked indifferently at their former "friend".

"Is this your answer, Jay?"

To make the act convincing, even though Gojo Satoru could tell at a glance that this [Natsuyu-ge] was a black Shiba Inu in disguise, he still had to put on a look of heartbroken regret and determination.

He raised his right hand, pressing the pad of his thumb onto his two bent fingers—this is the starting stance for [茈].

"Yes, in order to achieve my goal."

[Xia Youjie] responded coldly, and Gojo Satoru silently gave him a failing grade for acting.

"Where is Yizhen? He doesn't dare to come see me?"

Gojo Satoru's eyes flickered slightly as he surveyed the surrounding, lower buildings with a condescending air—suddenly, his gaze fell on something even further away, as if he had discovered something unusual.

Hato Kazuma, who resembled Natsumi Yuuki, also wanted to know what had happened there that made Gojo Satoru pause for so long; however, he only had ordinary eyesight and was already quite good at seeing objects more than 20 meters away at night, so he couldn't share the perspective of [Six Eyes] at all.

"He's nearby, he could strike you deadly at any moment. Are you scared?"

Kazuma Hatori could only follow the script and recite his lines, planning to ask Satoru later if he had seen anything.

As for Natsumi Yuu, who is currently mimicking Yuuichi Kazuma, he is indeed hiding nearby. The released cursed spirits can only obey simple commands. If he wants to perform precise control at the level of a death match, he has to do it himself.

Later, he would feign an ambush and leap out at some point, then pretend to be knocked unconscious by Gojo Satoru, while continuing to control the cursed spirit in battle.

In other words, all Kazuma Hatori needs to do throughout the fight is to adopt the posture of controlling the cursed spirits and use the physical skills he has trained in beforehand to make it look like he is in a tough battle.

"...Ha, that's the line I was supposed to say."

Reminded by Kazuma Hatori's line, Satoru Gojo then looked away, and a [Zi] was already fired in the blink of an eye.

[Xia Youjie] dodged in time, but the building behind him was pierced through in the blink of an eye, leaving a smooth arc. After a moment of hesitation, it collapsed like Mount Tai. The steel bars that originally supported the building bent and broke under the weight of gravity. Countless pieces of concrete and glass, accompanied by a lot of dust and a deafening sound, slowly collapsed to the ground.

"I'll let you off this time, Jay."

"But I won't let you off the hook a second time."