There was no denying it; when everyone heard Duanmu Huai’s words, they were all shocked.

The figure Duanmu Huai pointed at, Tianyuan, was silent for a moment, then began to speak.

"I don’t know what Kanso told you..."

"Kanso? Who is that?"

"Once Kamomoto Kenren, now residing within Xia Youjie’s body, and the magician you eliminated."

"?"

Duanmu Huai responded with a question mark, while Gojo Satoru’s face darkened slightly.

"In other words, you already knew Jie was no longer himself? Why didn’t you tell us!"

"...I can’t interfere too much with worldly affairs."

In the face of Gojo Satoru’s questioning, Tianyuan was silent for a moment before responding.

"That’s not a reason!"

"Alright, let’s put that Xia Youjie stuff aside for now."

Duanmu Huai interrupted Gojo Satoru’s questioning; after all, the person had already been cut down by him. Although he didn’t know who Tianyuan was referring to, he guessed it was likely the monk who had last told him of Tianyuan’s existence. Judging by Tianyuan’s look, he seemed familiar with the other one’s existence. But there’s no point in getting entangled with the dead anymore.

"Let’s look forward first. Do you have any objections to me killing you?"

"No matter what Kanso told you, it was..."

"Oh, he actually didn’t tell me much."

Duanmu Huai interrupted Tianyuan’s explanation once again.

"I don’t need to rely on that idiot to figure out the situation. And believe me, I know your current state better than most of you, even more than you do yourself. However, it seems that others are not so familiar, so let’s start from the beginning."

Duanmu Huai stared at Tianyuan and started questioning him.

"First, answer me, isn’t it true that only in Japan are the numbers of Curse Spirits and Curse Masters extraordinarily high, while in other places they are very scarce?"

"This..."

Everyone exchanged glances, then Otonashi Youta nodded.

"Yes, there are very few Curse Masters abroad, and the strongest among them are only at a quasi-level 1... there are no Special Grade Magicians at all."

"Isn’t that odd?"

Duanmu Huai let out a derisive laugh.

"How many people are there in Japan compared to the world? Why is it that only in Japan do we have a Parade of a Hundred Demons, and mysterious arts running amok? Is Japan’s average quality so high that they can spontaneously produce geniuses like this?" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"......"

Although Duanmu Huai’s words were unpleasant, everyone had to admit it was indeed peculiar.

"And you’ve been using a barrier to cover Japan since a thousand years ago, right?"

Duanmu Huai stared at Tianyuan and asked a second question. After a moment’s hesitation, Tianyuan nodded.

"Yes."

"Then there’s no mistake."

Duanmu Huai gave his sword a flourish.

"You’re the culprit behind the Curse Spirits running rampant in Japan. You must atone for all the lives lost to Curse Spirits over the centuries, so obediently go die. I’ll consider leaving a gravestone for you based on my mood."

"Wait, wait, I still don’t understand."

Jiushiji Youji hurriedly spoke up.

"Wasn’t it Lord Tianyuan who guarded Japan with the barrier? It was precisely because his strength strengthened the barriers of Curse Masters that we could fight against the Curse Spirits..."

However, Duanmu Huai just looked at her as if she were an idiot.

"Where do you think magic power comes from?"

"Eh? Magic power is something all humans have, generated through negative emotions..."

"Still deceiving yourself, right? By your logic, in the war-torn Middle East and Africa, wouldn’t the place be crawling with Special Grade Curse Masters? But what’s the result? Do they have them?"

"......"

Jiushiji Youji didn’t answer, but she actually had addressed the question.

"It’s true that magic power comes from negative emotions, but they don’t belong to you; they come from another world. You merely harness and utilize this power through emotions."

"Is that so?"

"How do you know?"

"How is that possible!?"

There’s no doubt that Duanmu Huai’s words left all the Curse Masters present shocked, as this completely overturned the basic theories of Curse Masters. They had always believed that magic power was their own strength. Yet Duanmu Huai claimed that magic power comes from another world?

"What kind of world is that?"

"What kind of world?"

Duanmu Huai let out a cold snort.

"It’s simple. Where do you think Curse Spirits are born from?"

"You mean..."

At that moment, everyone understood what Duanmu Huai was implying.

"Isn’t it strange? You’ve never thought about how Curse Spirits are born, have you? They certainly aren’t birthed after ten months of pregnancy. Simply being born from condensed human emotions? Then why do they appear in this world? The reason is simple: because they were called into this world."

Duanmu Huai squinted his eyes, fixed on Tianyuan with a cold gaze.

"Let me be blunt; there’s a thick barrier between that world and our reality. Originally, no matter what happened in that world, it wouldn’t affect the real world. But then Curse Masters appeared. As I mentioned earlier, the essence of a Curse Master’s magic power lies in drawing power from that world for their own use, so your actions have essentially poked a hole in the barrier between the two worlds. The stronger the magic power, the larger the hole."

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai flipped his left hand to reveal an hourglass and turned it over.