Chapter 72 : The White-Haired Youth of a Thousand Years Ago
The wind lifted the smooth long hair of the navy blue figure, black silk interweaving with the falling snowflakes.
"..." Jiang Lai's posture was very casual. He simply tucked a strand of falling hair behind his ear, not paying much attention to the figure in the distance, keeping his focus on the book (phone) in his hands.
He knew that Sukuna's behavior was meant to annoy him.
Therefore, Jiang Lai showed nothing, didn't construct another hair tie to bind his hair, and simply ignored it with complete indifference.
Seeing this, Sukuna clicked his tongue with slight displeasure and continued striding forward.
However, after he had walked only a few steps forward, a tree beside him suddenly tilted dramatically, and a large clump of snow unexpectedly poured down from overhead.
Sukuna: "?!"
Despite his exceptional talents, he was still just a young boy, and his alertness to the surrounding environment wasn't that high yet.
At this moment, reacting half a second too late, he inevitably got buried squarely by the overhead snow.
Behind him, Jiang Lai caught sight of the scene with his peripheral vision and smiled with narrowed eyes, leisurely withdrawing the cursed energy that had manipulated the tree branches to tilt. Regarding the cherry-pink haired youth's earlier action of cutting his hair tie, while he chose to ignore it on the surface, this didn't mean there were no consequences.
For bratty kids, when verbal discipline was useless, he could only switch methods.
The next second, the four-armed guy blasted apart the snow pile with a bang, turning around with a quite fierce expression.
Jiang Lai held the book in one hand, flipping to the next blank page with an air of complete innocence.
The two faced off quietly in the wind and snow (actually just young Sukuna being unilaterally fierce) for half a minute before there was finally movement.
Sukuna said nothing. He turned his face and strode forward with large steps, surrounded by black aura that was almost tangible.
Jiang Lai was slightly surprised. He had thought he'd have to fight the other party briefly, but unexpectedly Sukuna made no attacking moves.
Well... but this certainly didn't mean the other party didn't mind. Jiang Lai pondered. After all, he wasn't someone magnanimous.
Probably holding grudges and waiting. Since he couldn't win now, like all previous matters, he was accumulating and saving it for later.
Sukuna's planning abilities were also very strong. Like Kenjaku (Brain), he was equally patient.
What happened later could be dealt with later. Jiang Lai was in good spirits and wasn't too worried. He used spatial techniques to surround himself with a Limitless-like protective barrier, then continued walking while reading the book (phone) in his hands.
As he had guessed, the official website had updated content about the new chapter.
The chapter opening was part of official narrative description, with a cute yet ominous one-eyed cat mascot drawn alongside.
【New chapter [Thousand Years] begins, starting today with updates of stories from the Heian-kyo a thousand years ago!】
【The Heian-kyo here is a unique cursed technique fantasy era, please do not connect it with real Japanese history. Details like clothing and food will all be adjusted.】
【Additionally, the new series differs from previous original chapters. Some timelines will be adjusted according to this work's background. Everything should follow this manga's subsequent updates~】
The timeline had been adjusted. Jiang Lai rubbed his chin and continued reading.
After these opening introductions, the manga portion officially began.
The opening didn't immediately show characters, but beautiful distant scenery of falling snow, accompanied by frame-by-frame slideshow-like jumping images with neatly arranged introductory text in vertical columns.
【A thousand years ago. The Heian era of the jujutsu world.】
【This was the era when cursed energy was most concentrated. Onmyoji and demons that had been active in past years gradually declined and disappeared, while cursed spirits, curse users, and jujutsu sorcerers grew explosively, spreading everywhere with great power.】
【...】
The rest was informational introduction. Jiang Lai browsed through line by line. From this opening narrative, he learned:
In the new series, Sugawara no Michizane, the ancestor of the Gojo family, lived much earlier, and the founding histories of the other two families were similarly moved forward.
By the Heian era, all three Great Families had already become long-established, renowned great families.
More than ten years ago, the Gojo family had finally given birth to a heaven-chosen child with Six Eyes after a hundred-year gap.
Therefore, currently, the Gojo family's position was subtly at the apex of the Great Families' triangular power structure.
The opening narrative didn't mention information about Kenjaku and Tengen. Jiang Lai speculated that perhaps their eras hadn't been moved forward, but existed in this Heian-kyo.
After briefly browsing the opening content, the next scene of the manga switched to the massive ancient tree occupying the forest. The navy blue figure lay elegantly and leisurely on it, naturally flowing long hair cascading over the ancient tree's rough branches.
Later, when the child appeared, the manga had several frames switching to the child's perspective. From here, Jiang Lai saw what image he presented in others' eyes.
White mist shrouded his face, lingering persistently, hazily obscuring his features, bringing endless mystery.
The content of the first chapter of [Thousand Years] progressed to Sukuna emerging from the snow pile and Jiang Lai reversing time to revive the killed child.
The manga had an additional page of merchandise promotion at the end, reportedly previewing character standees from the [Thousand Years] series to be released.
Currently shown were the long-haired navy blue figure leaning against the ancient tree, and the four-armed cherry-pink haired youth standing on soil mixed with blood and white snow.
Behind the two characters were several blacked-out question mark frames. The official stated that other characters would appear gradually in subsequent chapters, with standee merchandise to be released collectively at the end.
Jiang Lai stared at those black frames that revealed no information whatsoever, cheerfully wondering "could Kenjaku be in there?" He didn't know what Kenjaku from a thousand years ago actually looked like.
The Kenjaku (Brain) of this era was probably still using his original body as a shell?
His thoughts wandered freely. Jiang Lai clicked into the new series Flower Planting forum for a quick look.
【#Ahhhh new chapter!! Long-haired God Lai is so beautiful I can't take it, I'm charging up for a flying tackle! Family, come discuss in the thread!! (hot)#】
【#The old man is young but already not keeping to male virtue, sleeping shirtless on the ground! Outrageous, click me to see young old man's abs#】
【#New merchandise prayer thread, praying to buy my favorite (genuinely praying)#(hot)】
【#Super obvious contrast between sunny God Lai and hellish old man! Speaking of which, God Lai's skills are amazing, simple analysis here#】
Jiang Lai generally browsed through. Most posts were cheering and celebrating the new chapter's opening, plus crazy screaming threads.
Since it was just the beginning, there weren't many information elements, so he didn't click into each one to read carefully.
Jiang Lai: Although he'd seen it many times already, he was still somewhat afraid of overly enthusiastic undressing scenes (cosmic cat transcendent thinking.jpg)
Then, he noticed @ messages in group chat.
Jiang Lai clicked in and saw Kurosawa Akira had sent an article link: "Entertainment Guide: Common Knowledge About Food, Drink, and Entertainment in the Heian-kyo a Thousand Years Ago"
He smiled with curved eyes, giving a mental thumbs up, thinking Little Zhao was indeed a good child he had taught well. After briefly browsing and bookmarking the article.
There was another article link afterward: "Long Hair Manual: From Simple to Complex, Teaching You Braids Step by Step"
Jiang Lai: "?" This was unnecessary!
Long hair was actually somewhat uncomfortable for Jiang Lai at first.
However, to better integrate into society from a thousand years ago, he chose to keep it. Just, braiding and such could be skipped. He could just leave it loose normally and casually tie it up when it got in the way. He thought so.
After briefly replying to his Detective Conan friends and reporting his safety, Jiang Lai turned off his phone and put it away.
The snow had stopped a while ago. After following Sukuna all this way, ahead was finally no longer overlapping tree shadows.
At the end of the path, a spacious, bustling scene appeared before them. On both sides of the wide, flat main road were wooden ancient-style buildings with simple stalls set up outside, quite lively with people coming and going.
Jiang Lai still remembered the "Entertainment Guide: Common Knowledge About Food, Drink, and Entertainment in the Heian-kyo a Thousand Years Ago" that Kurosawa Akira had just sent. The scene before him differed from the images in that guide, with clothing, hairstyles, and other details also seeming different.
...It seemed that as stated at the beginning of the manga, this was indeed a fantasy era within the Jujutsu Kaisen worldview.
Unfortunately, that linked article probably wouldn't be very useful. Jiang Lai thought with slight regret.
Sukuna stood there. He wasn't in a hurry to step from the path onto the bustling street, but half-turned to look at Jiang Lai: "Aren't you leaving yet?"
"What's wrong?" Jiang Lai leisurely walked forward a few steps, standing beside him.
The cherry-pink haired youth raised his eyebrows slightly, pulling at the naturally occurring black markings on his face as he chuckled: "This area should be enough for you to play around."
Jiang Lai rested the book against his chin, saying cheerfully: "I still find you more interesting."
"..." Sukuna squeezed out cold laughter from his throat. Of course he didn't believe this rhetoric.
But he was also too lazy to continue wasting words. His irritated mood became cursed blades at his fingertips, which he habitually threw out several of, swinging them toward the bothersome passersby nearby.
However, these venting attacks were all lightly intercepted by spatial techniques. The cursed blades striking them was like striking an indestructible golden bell, having no effect whatsoever.
The navy blue figure made no special movements; his spatial manipulation was as natural as breathing.
"What do you mean?" Sukuna's expression was very ugly.
"Nothing in particular." Jiang Lai replied calmly.
"..." Sukuna's face was dark. He used his foot to crush a fruit that had rolled to his feet, with such force as if he were stepping on a human skull, the splashing juice transforming into spraying blood in imagination.
His crimson eyes glanced sideways at the black-haired young man beside him whose expression remained unchanged, his gaze cold as knives, as if examining how to slice and cook.
Just then, a voice sounded nearby:
"Excuse me, could you please help me pick up my jade pendant?"
A tall youth with white long hair and black-gold fabric wrapped around his eyes stood there. Though only half his face was visible, his handsome features were evident.
The person's pale lips curved in a smile: "I just noticed it was missing. It should be around here." He held a wooden guide cane in his hand. "But I can't see, so could you please help me pick it up?"
Sukuna looked disdainful. He kicked away the crushed fruit remains under his foot, acting as if he hadn't heard.
"I see it, here you go." Jiang Lai used spatial techniques to manipulate and lift the jade pendant that was half-buried in the dirt.
"Thanks." The white-haired youth naturally extended a hand, palm upward.
However, Jiang Lai didn't hand the jade pendant directly to him, but smiled warmly and said: "Take it yourself. After all, you can see, can't you?"