Early the next morning, Habu Minamoto received a mission to go exorcise cursed spirits together with Gojo Satoru and the other two.
Arranging such a mission on only his second day here was truly painstaking thoughtfulness on their part.
Indeed, besides serving as a teacher, he also needed to work part-time as an assistant supervisor. After all, ordinary people who could see cursed spirits were few, so in the eyes of the higher-ups, this was likely their way of recycling garbage.
Moreover, it was rather convenient to maneuver, as they could perhaps allow him to die in an accident while carrying out the mission.
Because the notification arrived on short notice, although Habu Minamoto packed up very quickly, Gojo Satoru and the other two had already arrived by the time he reached the school gate.
When he arrived, the white-haired youth was behind the black-haired youth, secretly causing trouble with his hair bun. Ieiri Shoko was drowsy, having no intention of warning her classmate.
Seeing him, Gojo Satoru abandoned the hair in his hands and complained discontentedly, “Why did you only arrive now?”
Habu Minamoto shook his phone and explained, “I just received the message. Let us go, I will drive and take you there.”
Shoko began to sleep as soon as she got into the car. She had been treating people until very late last night and had not slept well at all. Being called out early in the morning again to do a mission made her sleepy to death.
Habu Minamoto saw this scene through the rearview mirror, “Student Ieiri, there is a blanket in the back. Cover yourself with it if needed so you do not catch a cold.”
Even in summer, early morning temperatures were not particularly high.
As he spoke, he reached out and turned on the car heater.
Ieiri Shoko found the blanket and thanked him, “Thank you, Teacher Habu.”
Gojo Satoru snorted and shouted loudly, “Do not think you can win people’s hearts like this.”
Perhaps because he was tricked by Gojo Satoru yesterday, Geto Suguru intentionally went against him, “Satoru, how can you think of the teacher like that? Could it be that you are jealous?”
“What do I have to be jealous of him for?” Gojo Satoru sneered, “Habu, tell him, what do I have to be jealous of you for?”
Perhaps because the childish high school boys’ bickering disturbed Shoko so she could not sleep, the girl opened her eyes with heavy dark circles and stared straight at the two of them, full of hostility, “Shut up!”
Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru instantly became quiet as chickens.
Habu Minamoto smiled without saying anything, continuing to drive.
They soon arrived at the location, which was an abandoned building this time. A passerby happened to hear faint screams coming from the factory at night, but when he went to investigate with friends during the day, he found no one inside. As time went by, rumors of this place being haunted spread.
According to intelligence gathered by previous investigators, a grade two cursed spirit should be causing trouble here.
Getting out of the car and looking at the unfinished building in front of him, Habu Minamoto instructed according to requirements, “The target of this mission is a grade two cursed spirit. According to the investigation, it seems able to use sound to interfere with human sanity.”
He pondered for a moment, “Perhaps you need a pair of headphones? I only brought one pair, do you mind if I give it to Shoko?”
Ieiri Shoko was the only healer among them, and protecting the healer in team fights was common sense.
Sure enough, neither of them had any objections. Gojo Satoru waved his hand carelessly, “No need to be so wordy, it is just a grade two cursed spirit, could something go wrong?”
Geto Suguru stood with hands in his pockets, looking equally composed.
The two of them had just enrolled and were already evaluated as grade two sorcerers. This was only because the evaluation for grade one sorcerers required a preparation period and needed sorcerers to eliminate a certain number of cursed spirits first.
Otherwise, these two would probably have been grade one sorcerers long ago.
The profession of jujutsu sorcerer tested talent very heavily, and this statement was truly not wrong.
Ieiri Shoko took the headphones and thanked Habu Minamoto again, “Thank you, Teacher Habu, you are really so thoughtful.”
“It is nothing.” Habu Minamoto shook his head. Since he decided to be a teacher, he naturally had to do it properly.
Seeing the three of them planning to go straight inside to exorcise the cursed spirit, Habu Minamoto quickly called out to stop them, “Wait, do not forget to cast the Curtain.”
The Curtain was a barrier that rendered ordinary people unable to see what happened inside, and one usually had to be cast during missions. Failing to cast one would result in criticism or even punishment.
However, seeing that these three had no intention of casting a Curtain at all, they were likely repeat offenders.
“Wow!” Gojo Satoru nudged Geto Suguru’s arm beside him, “So there really is someone in this world who remembers to cast a Curtain.”
Geto Suguru coughed and touched his nose, probably agreeing with Gojo Satoru’s words. On the surface, he was a good student, but arrogance was hidden within these small matters.
“Emerge from darkness, blacker than black. Purify that which is impure.” Gojo Satoru recited the incantation for the Curtain, and a black canopy invisible to ordinary people covered the sky and sun, enveloping the entire unfinished building.
He glanced at Habu Minamoto and said somewhat impatiently, “A grade two cursed spirit is easy to exorcise, so just wait here and do not run around blindly.”
Hearing this, Habu Minamoto lowered his head and chuckled softly. When he raised his head again, his eyes were full of gentleness, “Mm, I understand. Thank you for the concern, I will not run around blindly.”
What a good child.
“Who is concerning themselves with you!” Gojo Satoru immediately stomped his feet as if exploding, “I am just afraid others will say we harmed you on purpose!”
“Mm mm, you are not concerning yourself with me.” Habu Minamoto complied good-naturedly, clearly looking like he did not believe it. Watching from the side, Geto Suguru and Shoko tried their best to hold back their laughter.
Cursed spirits were creatures formed by the condensed malice of ordinary people. The malice carried by a grade two cursed spirit manifested clearly after the three entered the unfinished building.
Habu Minamoto stood outside expressionlessly, merely waiting for the malice to dissipate and his three students to emerge.
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed.
At a certain moment, a much stronger malice suddenly erupted inside the unfinished building. That was a feeling completely different from the grade two cursed spirit just now.
A special grade cursed spirit.
Habu Minamoto twitched the corner of his mouth, genuinely realizing the unreliability of the higher-ups in the jujutsu world. There should be two cursed spirits in this unfinished building, one grade two and one special grade.
They actually only discovered the grade two cursed spirit and dared to send students over without any reservation. Sure enough, they were afraid there were too many people in the jujutsu world, were they not?
Although this was already beyond his scope of work, he did not know if those three kids could face a special grade cursed spirit.
Forget it, considering they had just expressed concern for him, Habu Minamoto decided not to let them see this surprise.
Pushing up his glasses, Habu Minamoto stepped into the unfinished building.
The inside was very empty, full of dust and cobwebs. Light could not enter, making it simply the best breeding ground for darkness.
Gojo Satoru and the others were not here, as they should have gone upstairs to search for that grade two cursed spirit. This was just as well, since Habu Minamoto did not want to run into them, wanting only to be an ordinary high school teacher.
After entering the unfinished building, two distinct malice currents became exceptionally clear. Following the thicker malice up to the second floor, that malice was obviously hovering right here.
Gray, dim walls and cold wind coming from nowhere, yet bizarrely without making a single sound, making one feel eerie and terrified.
“It actually hid itself? Very smart, worthy of being a special grade.”
Clearly, this special grade cursed spirit realized it could not beat the three sorcerers upstairs, so it intentionally hid itself to avoid being discovered by them.
A special grade cursed spirit intentionally hiding, combined with a grade two cursed spirit making a fuss on the top floor, it was no wonder Gojo Satoru failed to discover this cursed spirit even with the Six Eyes.
Too careless.
The cursed spirit hiding on this floor clearly felt mocked. It was fine that it could not beat those three, but could it not even beat this ordinary person without cursed energy?
Habu Minamoto turned his head as if sensing something, and sure enough, he found that a terrifying cursed spirit had suddenly appeared on the floor that was originally completely empty.
The cursed spirit was composed of pale bones, with dense, crowded red lips covering every single bone. The bloody color hanging from the corners of those mouths even dyed the pale bones red, making it exceptionally shocking.
At the very top was a skull, and on the skull was only a single mouth.
However, this mouth was a whole meter wide.
That opened mouth was pitch black, bottomless, with sharp teeth gleaming cold light arranged in a spiral vortex.
The purplish-black saliva was viscous and foul-smelling, dripping down onto the floor one drop at a time and instantly making a sizzling sound of corrosion.
The air suddenly turned freezing cold.
Accompanied by dark green ripples, a nauseating and dark stench floated throughout the floor.
Disgusting, rotting, dark.
Every single negative word imaginable could be thrown onto this fellow.
“A bit ugly.” Habu Minamoto stated the fact in a tone devoid of emotion.
Special grade cursed spirits generally possessed some intelligence, and the other party also heard that Habu Minamoto was disdaining it.
Countless mouths on the bones opened simultaneously, making confused, indistinct, and terrifying murmurs and whispers.
An ordinary person hearing this would likely walk blindly and unawares into that large mouth on their own initiative.
If a jujutsu sorcerer were present, they would be able to see indescribable purplish-black mist churning and boiling on the floor, surging toward Habu Minamoto like sea waves.
However, when those surging, roaring waves crashed to an inch before Habu Minamoto, they were all like bubbles under the sun, strangely dissolving around him and unable to advance a single inch.
No matter how fiercely the purple mist surged, Habu Minamoto stood right there, completely motionless.
The cursed spirit probably also realized its curse could do nothing to Habu Minamoto, so its mouth split open like a snake to an unimaginable degree.
Suddenly leaping!
It shot toward this human before it at a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye.
The two-meter-tall cursed spirit jumped into midair, that sickening red mouth opening wide to its absolute limit.
It only needed to fall to swallow Habu Minamoto straight into its stomach.
Habu Minamoto’s expression was as calm as water, looking even a bit lazy. He raised his eyelids, his golden eyes reflecting an inorganic sheen.
So dirty and stinky, can it be washed clean with soap?
This was the first thought in his head.
The cursed spirit plummeted down, its massive mouth like a bottomless black hole covering the sky above Habu Minamoto, blotting out the sun so he could no longer see the ceiling above his head.
Looking at this gigantic mouth covering the sky above him, with the purplish-black, viscous, foul-smelling drool swaying and dripping down from inside that dark, stinky mouth, nearly touching the top of his head, Habu Minamoto blinked, finally unable to resist sighing and making a move.
This was his first movement since seeing the cursed spirit. Just like lightly touching the water surface, he simply raised his hand, his distinct-jointed fingers lightly tapping toward midair.
His fingertip lightly touched the space between the cursed spirit’s eyebrows as if merely touching the air.
In the next second, ripples arose in the air, just like a calm, wave-free water surface being gently touched.
The purple mist dissolved, and everything dispersed into smoke and clouds.
“Patter, patter, patter…”
Hurry footsteps came from upstairs. Habu Minamoto realized the trio upstairs had probably felt the commotion here and were rushing over as fast as they could.
The stairs over there could no longer be used, so he went to the window and looked down at the ground. The second floor was not too high, so Habu Minamoto leaped over, disappearing from the unfinished building.
Gojo Satoru had just finished exorcising the grade two cursed spirit when his Six Eyes keenly felt the aura of a cursed spirit downstairs. He called out quickly, and the three of them hurried down the stairs together.
However, when they arrived on the second floor, there was no longer any living creature present. Gojo Satoru walked over to a corner, and his Six Eyes quickly analyzed, “There are residual traces of a special grade cursed spirit here.”
“Special grade?” Both Geto Suguru and Shoko showed surprised expressions. One had to know that special grade cursed spirits were rare, not to mention that the report clearly stated there was only a grade two cursed spirit here, so how could a special grade exist as well?
Gojo Satoru nodded with a solemn expression, “But it seems to have been exorcised by someone, likely just now.”
He was not afraid of a special grade cursed spirit. Even though they had not yet received a special grade evaluation, with their strength, the three of them being here together was more than enough to handle a special grade cursed spirit.
What he worried about was that there was someone in this unfinished building, and they actually failed to notice it just now.
“This is a bit strange then.” Geto Suguru had the same concern, “Was there really someone else here? We already cast the Curtain outside, so this person should have been here from the very beginning. What did they come here to do?”
“The strangest thing is, looking with my Six Eyes, I can actually only see this single spot of residual traces from the cursed spirit. One must know that when exorcising a special grade cursed spirit normally, a lot of residual traces will definitely be left behind at the scene.”
Gojo Satoru’s expression was full of doubt, “This cursed spirit does not look like it was exorcised, but rather like it… dissipated on its own.”
While they were talking, Shoko’s expression suddenly changed as if she thought of something, “Teacher Habu!”