Chapter 163: Thousand-Script Resentment Palace
"Explode!"
Emperor Sutoku's voice rang clear and terrible as his finger finished the motion. The glowing kanji—爆—hung in the air, blood-red, humming with power. Ren blinked—just once—and that was all the time he had.
BOOOMMMM!!!
A wall of searing heat slammed into Ren's face, forcing him to jump back as the world in front of him detonated. A deafening shockwave split the earth. Smoke, fire, and splinters of rock filled the air as a crater tore open at Sutoku's feet.
The Emperor floated within the smoke, laughing softly. His silhouette became clearer as the debris settled—a pale figure wrapped in red-black ropes of cursed energy, unharmed, untouched.
"Aha… oh my god," Sutoku chuckled, lips curled in amusement, "that was a little scary, wasn't it? You actually tried to kill me there! Hah! And here I was, thinking you were just a child… I apologize for my rudeness. Tell me your name, boy—so I can remember the sorcerer who unsealed me."
As he spoke, Sutoku reached into his chest and tore out the iron rod impaled there. One-handed. Effortlessly. Another rod was ripped from his forearm and casually tossed aside.
A soft white glow bloomed over Sutoku's skin. The wounds closed. Not even a scar remained.
Ren's eyes widened. 'Reverse cursed technique… Fucking hell. Is there something he can't do? But… If he really is Emperor Sutoku, then of course he can use reverse cursed technique. It makes sense…'
But instead of panicking, Ren smiled.
He extended a hand to his shadow—Worm burst out, twitching and coiling. Sutoku didn't flinch. He didn't even look at the creature.
"My name," Ren said, catching the long object Worm spat from its maw, "is Ren Sato."
The Playful Cloud staff gleamed in his hand. The worm curled back into Ren's shadow with a wet hiss.
Sutoku tilted his head. "Ren Sato? Hm. Never heard of a Sato before. You must be the strongest in this era then, huh?"
Ren didn't answer. He took one breath—then blasted forward.
Magnetic Decree: False Gravity.
He surged through the air like a missile, his cursed energy exploding behind him in red streaks. Sutoku's eyes tracked him lazily.
Ren raised the Playful Cloud staff, spinning it, and swung it horizontally in midair.
"Flood Maw!"
A slicing arc of compressed cursed water blasted out from the swing, moving at high velocity, sharp as a guillotine.
Sutoku was about to move—until Ren screamed:
"DON'T MOVE!"
The air itself froze.
The cursed tattoo across Ren's mouth ignited—the twin serpent eyes and fang marks glowing with harsh light.
Cursed Speech.
Sutoku's muscles locked.
He was caught.
The water blade hit—shhhk!—slicing deep into Sutoku's chest, cutting through his flesh, spraying blood into the air. His eyes widened—not in fear, but genuine shock.
Before he could recover, Ren was already there—Playful Cloud swinging up in a brutal uppercut.
BOOM!!!
The blunt staff collided with Sutoku's chin, sending him flying back with enough force to shatter stone. His body bent unnaturally in the air.
Ren didn't stop. He opened his mouth wide.
WHOOSH!!
A massive jet of cursed water exploded outward, a beam like a cannon erupting from his throat.
"Flood Maw—Second Technique: Water Beam!"
The water beam shot forward, bursting through the air like a column of divine judgment. And it wasn't alone—
Behind the beam, the Magnetic Decree was still active.
Nails, pipes, shards of iron, and rods—all the metal surrounding them blasted through the air like artillery fire, pulled by Ren's magnetism, slicing and screaming toward Sutoku from every angle.
The ancient emperor was in midair, bleeding, surrounded.
For the first time in years, he looked—
Overwhelmed.
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
"Ahahaha… this red thread… that iron… the water… And now cursed speech? Multiple cursed techniques? You're using more than one! Hahahaha!"
His eyes sparkled with something almost like joy.
"This… This might be the first time in my life I've been pushed like this. Most of the time I was the overwhelming one in all of my fights before... This is… thrilling!"
Even as the water beam closed in, Sutoku's fingers moved.
Ren saw it—too late.
Sutoku's lips curled into a grin, and his voice was low.
"You have truly shocked me, Ren Sato… You are worthy. More than worthy… to see it again."
His hands came together. Vertical. Fingers folded like calligraphy. Thumbs realigned. Index fingers straight like a seal.
His cursed energy pulsed—black and ink-like.
The cursed air thickened. Kanji danced in the shadows behind Sutoku like ghosts.
"Domain Expansion: Thousand-Script Resentment Palace."
As the words left his mouth—
BOOM.
Black ink erupted from Sutoku like a tidal wave.
The air twisted.
The water beam shattered against a veil of kanji.
The sky darkened.
The Domain bloomed.