Chapter 83 : Companionship, but the Grim Reaper
Jiang Lai's expression remained unchanged as he slightly raised his hand—
A sharp edge suddenly rippled, and in an instant the condensed air blade whistled past, grazing the hair at Ryomen Sukuna's temples and embedding itself in the ground not far behind!
In that moment the earth rolled up and dirt scattered, with a few strands of cherry pink hair fluttering down.
"At least for now, I'm still quite a bit stronger than you, aren't I?" Jiang Lai's eyes curved with a smile as he calmly lowered his hand, the sleeve that had just risen in that instant floating back down.
Before, he had only simply used spatial barriers to restrain his opponent. This was the first time he displayed the aggressive momentum of his abilities, shifting from his gentle and mild side to showing his sharp edge.
"......" Ryomen Sukuna half-narrowed his crimson eyes. "Interesting." He smiled without warmth. "You better pray it stays that way."
Jiang Lai stood up steadily, waving his hand to deconstruct the air hammock. His gaze swept around as he spoke: "These past ten days, you haven't just been staying by my side the whole time, have you?" He raised an eyebrow slightly. "How remarkable."
"I really don't want to miss the chance to kill you." Ryomen Sukuna chuckled coldly, slowly chewing on his terrifying words. "Who knows, the next moment I might be able to slice open your throat directly and enjoy the wonderful scene of blood spraying."
"Mm, then I still have to praise you." Jiang Lai remained unmoved by the sinister words. "Such perseverance, holding onto the attitude of 'constant effort can carve through stone,' you finally managed to leave a shallow wound on me. Congratulations."
Though spoken in a normal tone, it somehow carried a slightly mocking flavor.
Ryomen Sukuna's expression grew cold, then he pulled up the corners of his mouth to reveal his fangs. He tilted his head back slightly, speaking as if casually: "Oh… by the way, here's some good news for you. You can put that nauseating kindness of yours to use again."
Jiang Lai frowned slightly, understanding the meaning behind those words.
Sure enough, the latter half revealed the truth as he said: "—The dead people in the village below should be enough for you to save."
Jiang Lai didn't rush to do anything. He first asked: "What happened over there?"
Hearing this question, Ryomen Sukuna paused for a few seconds. After a moment, he placed one hand under his chin and laughed maliciously: "You're not asking if I killed them?"
"Alright then, did you kill them?"
Jiang Lai asked very directly, but combined with Ryomen Sukuna's earlier words, this question seemed like coaxing a child, and his tone contained no shock or anger or interrogational meaning.
Ryomen Sukuna laughed heartily: "If I said I killed them, what would you think?"
"Then I need to go to the scene and check the cursed energy residue. I can't determine the result based on one person's word alone." Jiang Lai replied calmly.
Actually, Jiang Lai had already deduced from observing the details that this incident wasn't Ryomen Sukuna's doing—otherwise, his opening line wouldn't have been [there are dead people in the village below], but rather [I killed the people in the village below].
Ryomen Sukuna never concealed his murderous nature and deeds. He took no shame in them but rather pride, so if he had done it, he would naturally have stated it directly from the beginning to disgust the person in front of him.
Hearing Jiang Lai's extremely objective and calm reply, the smile on Ryomen Sukuna's face gradually faded, and he clicked his tongue: "How boring."
The cherry pink-haired youth crossed his arms in front of his chest, speaking lazily: "Though I really do want to kill some people...... but killing just a part would alert them annoyingly, and if I killed them all while waiting here for the time to break through your barrier, the meat would become stale. So I might as well spare their lives for now."
Jiang Lai said casually: "Oh, so waiting here to kill me has been hard on you."
"Since you know that, show some sincerity—after I find a satisfactory cook, you remove the barrier and let me slice you up properly for a good meal." Ryomen Sukuna chuckled.
"Now you're pushing your luck?" Jiang Lai raised an eyebrow in response, then vaguely caught the implied content in the other's words. "Speaking of which, what you're saying means you're not planning to escape anymore?"
"Ha, escape? What nonsense are you talking about? I never had that mindset." Ryomen Sukuna snorted through his nose, speaking carelessly.
"Besides, you wouldn't just let me leave anyway, would you? You'd probably chase after me, which would be annoying—but now I've changed my mind. Reluctantly traveling with you for a while isn't impossible."
Jiang Lai was somewhat surprised. After all, Ryomen Sukuna was a self-centered and free character who should want to leave the side of his restrainer at the first opportunity.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because it's very interesting—" Ryomen Sukuna pulled up his mouth corners, his villainous face fully displayed. "Witnessing you gradually weakening step by step due to your nauseating excessive kindness, and hopefully with more entanglements and pain, isn't that quite pleasant? It's decent entertainment in this boring daily life."
Jiang Lai's expression remained calm: "How terrible, and you're not even trying to hide it."
"Whether I say it or not, you can guess this much." Ryomen Sukuna sneered. "So I might as well say it directly."
Jiang Lai shook his head and didn't continue this grim conversation. His voice turned serious as he returned to the original topic: "So what happened to the village below?"
"Seems like the recent heavy snow caused house collapses and landslides, and apparently a sudden fire broke out the night before last around midnight."
Ryomen Sukuna's attitude was indifferent as he sat leaning against a tree trunk, waving his hand: "Go exercise your excessive kindness. When you come back, bring the same ingredients as before and cook."
"Hm?" Jiang Lai turned his brown eyes toward him upon hearing the latter half.
"What?" Ryomen Sukuna raised his red eyes, indicating he never did charitable good deeds. "This information naturally isn't given to you for free."
It was nighttime now, making it very convenient to investigate the village situation.
As for the late-night snack Sukuna wanted, he could quietly take some from an unattended shop later and leave the corresponding money beside it.
Jiang Lai thought for a few seconds and answered: "Alright, reluctantly agreed—and by the way, next time when talking to your elder brother, remember to use respectful language instead of commanding tone."
Ryomen Sukuna again showed an unfriendly expression, but having somewhat adapted, he wouldn't directly retch anymore.
He had originally planned to sit by the tree and wait, but after a second, he stood up and walked to Jiang Lai's side: "Oh, I might as well come along to pick ingredients."
"Your ingredients better not mean people. I won't cook human flesh." Jiang Lai specifically reminded, or rather gave a subtle warning.
"I know, I know." Ryomen Sukuna drawled his response.
Jiang Lai turned around, with Ryomen Sukuna following at a moderate distance behind as the two walked down the mountain.
…
The village under moonlight was very quiet. Jiang Lai put on his mask and swept his gaze around, observing the situation.
He didn't directly reverse time to revive anyone, but planned to first investigate the scene and learn about the situation from the villagers tomorrow before considering how to proceed.
He wasn't a saint who used his abilities without limits—Jiang Lai's kindness was reasonable and principled, and he wouldn't save just anyone.
He always needed to understand the facts before making decisions, to avoid saving people who deserved their fate.
In the previous two times, he had only acted after personally witnessing Ryomen Sukuna casually slaughtering innocents, with civilians dying from absurd slashes they shouldn't have faced, so he intervened to save the innocent who were caught up in it.
Moreover, afterward he had calmly differentiated, telling Long-haired Gojo Satoru to root out those among the people who had dealings with demons for proper judgment.
—He saved, but didn't save indiscriminately.
The Heian-kyo had no electricity, so after nightfall it was pitch black. The village at night was quiet and peaceful, and in the harsh winter cold, even insect chirping had completely disappeared.
The howling cold wind blew past. Jiang Lai's close-fitting spatial barrier effectively blocked the debris carried in the wind, naturally also reducing the painful sensation of night wind scraping across his face.
The collapsed houses and the series of remains after the fire still stood there, shocking to behold. When the wind passed, it still carried faint scents of kerosene and smoke.
......Wait. Jiang Lai keenly noticed something wrong and took a step back.
The next moment, rough but dense arrow rain suddenly fell from the sky. From nearby grass and behind houses emerged figure after figure, shouting as they lit torches in their hands!
"The demons have come! Shoot arrows quickly! Pay with your lives!"
"Finally ambushed these guys. The night watchman is on guard, wake everyone up!"
The homemade arrows were coated with something, their sharp tips gleaming coldly in the moonlight. Jiang Lai had his spatial barrier up, so these items couldn't hurt him.
He had originally wanted to create one for Ryomen Sukuna as well, but then saw the other more directly raise his arm with a swing. His taut muscles perfectly deflected those arrows, and cursed blades suddenly appeared to slice down the falling weapons.
"Arrows can't hurt them! Quickly go get the jujutsu sorcerer!"
"And our village shrine maiden's magic rope—"
Jiang Lai frowned slightly and raised his voice, still remaining calm: "You've mistaken us for someone else. First tell me what happened."
"Ha? How could we be mistaken!? I've long heard about that four-armed guy—he once slaughtered an entire village, and the recent fire must have been set by him!"
"Accomplice!"
Overlapping voices rose one after another. Jiang Lai didn't engage in pointless arguments. He used his technique to easily push through the crowded people and stepped forward, walking up close to the fire-damaged building remains.
The surrounding crowd felt fear at the navy-blue figure's fearless actions. They collectively rallied and surged forward, but when blocked by the spatial barrier, they were like zombies beating against glass.
Jiang Lai's gaze flowed as he sensed this area.
The aura wasn't particularly obvious, but with [Existence]'s superhuman perception, he could determine there was cursed energy residue here—the sudden fire the night before last might indeed have been man-made.
He turned his face toward a nearby villager and asked: "What kind of special people lived in these buildings, or were there any transients staying here?"
The questioned villager was obviously stunned, not expecting Jiang Lai to speak so naturally.
Under this subtly commanding tone, as a commoner accustomed to being managed by officials, he instinctively responded:
"Yes, yes, the inn had travelers staying recently, and nearby the shrine maiden's house was also burned."
"Is the shrine maiden alright?" Jiang Lai continued following the key point.
"This...... we haven't found the shrine maiden."
That is to say, she very likely didn't die in the disaster. Jiang Lai pondered, then quickly asked: "The shrine maiden's magic rope you mentioned at the beginning, what is that?"
"Ah...... it's said to be something that can bind anything in the world......" The villager's words reached this point when he suddenly realized, "Wait, why am I answering—!?"
"Good, thank you. I understand." Jiang Lai nodded in reply, his voice as calm as always.
[Something that can bind anything in the world], that sounded quite interesting. Jiang Lai's first association was with the thing woven by Brain-kun's hands in the future.
He boldly followed his guess.
Could it be that the other party learned the skill from a shrine maiden a thousand years ago? Then the ability to weave this required a special body, which is why Brain-kun changed to a woman's shell a thousand years later.
If that were truly the case, this clue would be quite useful. Jiang Lai made note of it.
"The jujutsu sorcerer will be here soon!"
"You're the four-armed monster who did this! If not, then prove it wasn't you!"
In the distance, the standing Ryomen Sukuna became impatient amid the crowd's clamoring. His lips curved upward as he slashed to the side—
Blinding flames suddenly erupted in the night sky. Jiang Lai whipped around to see cursed energy ignited flames thrown into the crowd!
Screams immediately arose on the scene, with the acrid smell of burned flesh filling the air.
"Proof? Why should I prove I didn't do it? Since you all say so—" Ryomen Sukuna stood in place laughing loudly, "Then let it be so."