"Boss, I think they fell through," Jie Zhiyong said, rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things wrong.
"I saw it too," Yan Island responded with a serious expression. "It's normal for them to fall through. It likely means they've been detected by the curse. All we can do now is hope for their safety."
"Can they really succeed?" the middle-aged boss asked, a bit worried. If those three died, he'd have to pay compensation according to the contract they had signed.
"Be patient and wait," Yan Island replied, unwilling to explain too much to someone who wouldn't understand.
"Slash!"
At that moment, a horde of blue-skinned cursed spirits rushed toward Hayashi and the others. Zhang Yiyi's Scarlet Cherry cleaved through them, one strike per spirit, as they were all slain under her blade.
Hayashi dealt with these low-level cursed spirits with a single punch each, not even needing to use Blue-Black Flash, relying solely on his own cursed energy.
[Killed Grade 4 Cursed Spirit. Gained 10 points.]
[Killed Grade 4 Cursed Spirit. Gained 9 points.]
[Killed Grade 4 Cursed Spirit. Gained 11 points.]
[Killed Grade 4 Cursed Spirit. Gained 8 points.]
[Killed Grade 4 Cursed Spirit. Gained 10 points.]
As the reward points appeared, Hayashi laughed heartily and waved his hand. "You two, don't bother. I'll handle these small fry!"
Without waiting for their response, Hayashi increased his attack speed, punching and kicking each cursed spirit to death.
Before long, the cursed spirits were all eliminated, fading away as they perished.
In total, Hayashi earned 165 points after accounting for the ones Zhang Yiyi and Kong Yue had killed.
If Hayashi had dealt with all the cursed spirits himself, the number of points he would have earned would have at least doubled.
"You've got a lot of energy, huh?" Kong Yue said, eyeing Hayashi curiously. He had never seen anyone so enthusiastic about killing cursed spirits, which was typically something done out of necessity, not pleasure.
"I'm just letting you two conserve your strength. These are just the minions. The real curse is probably toying with us," Hayashi chuckled, knowing that his companions wouldn't understand his true intentions.
"There's no door here. How do we find it?" Zhang Yiyi glanced around at the ice walls and the eerie human-faced ice statues, seeing no sign of a passage.
Hayashi, facing the vast ice palace, shouted, "Is this all you've got? Sending these weaklings to deal with us? That's just disrespectful!"
A few seconds later, it seemed as though something responded to Hayashi. A passage suddenly appeared in what had previously been a solid ice wall.
"It actually worked?" Zhang Yiyi's expression darkened. This meant that the curse could understand human speech, meaning it was highly intelligent.
If Hayashi was right, this curse was at least special-grade.
The three of them nodded to each other and cautiously entered the newly revealed passage.
The tunnel wasn't long, just three or four meters, but when they emerged, they found themselves in another ice palace.
This palace was different from the last one—it was larger and colder.
"Look!" Kong Yue's attention was drawn to something inside the ice walls.
The other two followed his gaze, and their faces reflected shock.
Inside the ice walls were dozens of human bodies, frozen solid. There were men and women, young and old. Their faces were frozen in expressions of terror, as though something horrifying had happened just before they were trapped in the ice.
There were about thirty frozen people, and judging by the scene, they were all likely dead.
"How could so many people have been frozen here? What happened?" Zhang Yiyi said coldly, her expression darkening. This was the result of letting a curse run unchecked—it led to the deaths of countless innocent people.
"These are probably fishermen and locals. Since this is a dock, they would've been the first victims," Hayashi said, anger rising in his chest. These were real human lives—people who had families and friends, all lost here.
"Gulululu~ Gululululu!"
Suddenly, a strange noise echoed through the empty ice palace.
"It's here!" Kong Yue stepped forward as a massive blue cursed spirit emerged from the ice wall, baring sharp claws and rushing at them.
"Domain Suspension—Activate!"
A white glow expanded from Kong Yue's position, creating a barrier that enveloped Hayashi, Zhang Yiyi, and the cursed spirit. The massive cursed spirit suddenly froze mid-air, unable to move.
"Technique—Triple Claw!"
Swish!
A claw-like cursed tool appeared in Kong Yue's hand, and with a swift slash, he cut the floating cursed spirit into three pieces.
The domain suspension dissipated as the pieces of the cursed spirit fell to the ground and disintegrated.
"What kind of domain was that?" Hayashi asked, puzzled by Kong Yue's technique. It was clearly not a full domain expansion, as the effect was completely different.
"You don't know?" Zhang Yiyi glanced at the dissipating curse before explaining, "That was a simple domain. It's effective against curses of this level."
"A simple domain?" Hayashi had never heard of it before. In the Jujutsu High library, he hadn't seen anything about simple domains. Maybe he had missed it.
Zhang Yiyi seemed surprised. "You're not a beginner, so how do you not know this? Domains aren't just one thing. There are three types: simple domains, domain amplification, and full domain expansion."
"What about this Ice Palace domain? What category does it fall under?" Hayashi pointed to their surroundings.
"That's a fledgling domain. It's an incomplete version of a domain expansion, more of a pseudo-domain embedded in the environment, but it's not a true domain," Zhang Yiyi rolled her eyes. "And now's not the time to be explaining all this."
Hayashi suddenly realized that the cursed spirit Kong Yue had just killed was at least Grade 2, meaning he had lost out on a good amount of points.
"That one wasn't the main event. We'll need to stay on high alert," Kong Yue said, gripping his cursed tool, ready for another attack.
At that moment, another massive cursed spirit crashed down from above.
"This time, don't interfere! I've got this!" Hayashi said, leaping toward the descending cursed spirit and delivering a powerful kick.
Blue-Black Flash!
Boom!
The powerful impact shattered the cursed spirit into pieces, which dissipated before hitting the ground.
[Killed Grade 2 Cursed Spirit. Gained 52 points.]
"Nice!" Hayashi exclaimed as he landed. This place felt like a mini-buffet of cursed spirits—encountering so many at once was just too satisfying.
"How can you still be smiling at a time like this? You've got quite the mindset," Kong Yue remarked, bewildered by Hayashi's enthusiasm. He had never seen anyone take so much joy in exorcising cursed spirits.