Chapter 89 : Meeting Again After Over Ten Years
Before getting up to leave, Jiang Lai asked a bit more about [Birth].
Although he had heard the other say they would take him to [Origin] before falling asleep, subconsciously he had always assumed [Birth] stayed together with [Origin]. Not seeing them when he woke up this time was somewhat surprising.
[As for them, probably traveling. I'm not too clear on the specific location either.]
Traveling? Jiang Lai was slightly stunned. Hadn't the other always stayed away from the world?
Probably guessing what Jiang Lai was confused about, the ancient tree's warm voice continued with explanation: [Their travel is just travel, not making contact with worldly humans, merely sightseeing mountains and waters, appreciating flowers and grass.]
I see. Jiang Lai understood. After all, staying in the same place forever, even for [Existence] who were quasi-gods merged with nature, would become boring.
Floating freely through the world without staying in one place was [Birth]'s way of life.
[You might run into them.]
"What about you?" Jiang Lai tilted his head, asking, "Do you want to go out and wander around? If so, perhaps I could help with something?" His words were very sincere, his brown eyes gentle as water.
[Origin] seemed stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then softly trembled his leaves and laughed:
[Such a very, very good child, I willingly transformed my main body into an ancient tree. Staying in one place, watching clouds gather and scatter, witnessing vast changes over time, this is quite good for me.]
[However, hearing you mention it, I'm somewhat interested in seeing other sceneries, so please, take it with you.]
A branch with flourishing green leaves dropped down from the ancient tree, magically spiraling and transforming, actually creating a small rectangular pendant with unknown symbols drawn on it.
......It was a pagoda tree wooden pendant! Jiang Lai recognized it at a glance.
[You might not sense anything, but this is actually a small part of my main body.] The ancient tree's aged voice laughed gently, [Please take it with you and wander through countless sceneries.]
Jiang Lai paused for a fraction of a second, then naturally reached out to accept it, saying: "Alright."
At the same time, thoughts flashed through his mind.
So this pagoda tree wooden pendant was received from [Origin].
No wonder the future spirit form Fushiguro Toji could rest inside it, because [Origin] was the beginning and end of everything, the destination of all things, tolerantly embracing everything.
If that was the case, perhaps his leaving the pagoda tree wooden pendant with Gojo Satoru back then would be interpreted as [he was about to enter the next hibernation period, so he entrusted the grown-up high schooler Satoru, who was in his youth, to temporarily carry the pagoda tree wooden pendant to see sceneries].
Or it could be interpreted as [sensing Satoru might be in danger, so before the Star Plasma Vessel mission, he gave the pendant as a final protective charm].
After receiving the pagoda tree wooden pendant, Jiang Lai constructed a red cord for himself, stringing it up and hanging it at his waist.
Then he bid farewell to the ancient tree [Origin] and walked toward the outside of the mountain ranges.
Jiang Lai wasn't in a hurry to travel. Before returning to the human world again, he planned to first check if the manga had any situation updates.
He opened his book (phone), walking while looking down, with spatial techniques assisting nearby, so Jiang Lai wasn't worried about stepping into empty space or similar issues.
From the manga, Jiang Lai saw the aftermath of his departure under moonlight that night.
Sure enough, Ryomen Sukuna, who had been casually abandoned, was furious about being played and didn't intend to let it go.
Probably guessing that Jiang Lai would go find Gojo after leaving, he input a large amount of cursed energy to use spatial transfer talismans, shortening the distance to the capital Kyoto.
Then on the night Jiang Lai arrived using techniques, he also reached Heian-kyo.
Long-haired Gojo Satoru and Ryomen Sukuna had a spectacular battle in the middle of the night when they met again. The commotion from their fight naturally couldn't be concealed.
The Gojo, Zenin, and Kamo Big Three Families in Kyoto all sent people, and Ryomen Sukuna eventually retreated.
However, this commotion also exposed Shuuki, who possessed Ten Shadows Technique abilities.
Long-haired Gojo's original plan to entrust his two good friends to help care for the other outside the Gojo family until adulthood was shattered.
The long-haired Gojo at that time, though powerful, full of potential, and arrogant as Six Eyes, was ultimately just a teenager in his teens, unable to outmaneuver various united old foxes.
Moreover, only he was considering the child as an individual on scene, while others started from family interests. Long-haired Gojo stood alone.
Ultimately, the Gojo family and Zenin family reached an agreement. The Zenin family paid a "gratitude fee" and took away Shuuki, who possessed Ten Shadows Technique.
But under Six Eyes' intimidation, the Zenin family also had to make a binding vow, stating they would "protect and respect the Ten Shadows Technique possessor's personal wishes" in the future family.
Thus, this matter came to a close.
Afterward, the manga began a time transition, not describing the specific situation of these ten-plus years in detail, only using several clean and beautiful panel scenes to summarize the scenery ten years later:
【A white long-haired blue-eyed man in magnificent family head attire standing in a courtyard with cherry blossoms falling, with two familiar friend silhouettes beside him without showing faces】
【Black-haired Shuuki, now grown into a teenager, making hand signs to summon a giant Nue, with a girl holding a short-handled hammer beside him】
【On hellish flame-burning scorched earth stood a four-armed figure with full chest muscles and black patterns all over, the ground covered with corpses】
"......" So much time had already passed. Jiang Lai lowered his eyes, thoughts flowing through his heart.
However, from the manga he could only see such simple silhouettes, unable to truly understand the specific situation on his friend's side. He didn't know how Gojo Satoru's dream of "overthrowing rotten tangerines and rewriting the jujutsu world's rules" was progressing.
But currently, his primary search target was Ryomen Sukuna, then try to extract some clues about Kenjaku from him.
Speaking of which, from these few panels he could see characters corresponding to reincarnation.
The two people beside long-haired Gojo must be the thousand-year-ago Geto Suguru and Ieiri Shoko, while the girl beside Shuuki (Megumi) was most likely the thousand-year-ago Kugisaki Nobara.
......Then where was the thousand-year-ago Itadori Yuji? Jiang Lai couldn't help but wonder this.
The birth of Itadori Yuji a thousand years later was partially manipulated by Kenjaku (Brain-kun). Could the thousand-year-ago version also have some relationship with Brain-kun?
Or perhaps the other was still in the vast sea of humanity, not yet time to appear, maybe only showing up when Ryomen Sukuna was sealed.
Unconsciously, Jiang Lai using techniques walked extremely fast, already covering a great distance.
At this moment, after going around several uneven mountain paths, he seemed about to exit this mountain range and reach the outside.
In the distance, Jiang Lai's keen [Existence] vision glimpsed a wisp of smoke, and his heart paused slightly.
The current position hadn't reached any village yet, this was still the village outskirts, surrounded by mountain forests, just with slightly fewer trees.
......Was someone having a barbecue outdoors?
Thinking casually, Jiang Lai stepped forward, constructing a mask to put on his face, planning to ask about the location and whether anyone had seen a four-armed person if there were travelers.
Just as he pushed aside the flourishing bushes obstructing his view and prepared to step out, a sharp ice spike suddenly attacked!
Clanging and crackling sounds rang out continuously as the ice spike hit the spatial barrier and shattered, ice fragments flying in all directions.
The one who used this ice-based technique was a bob-cut youth, his eyes sharp at this moment, showing wariness and killing intent as he stared at him.
In front of him was a large pot boiling away, filled with rolling meat and bones.
"......" Jiang Lai's gaze swept over, noticing the wild boar carcass remains nearby.
It seemed the pot contained wild boar meat. He silently exhaled in his heart.
If there weren't only wild boar traces at the scene with no human clothing or remains, he almost thought the pot contained human meat and bones.
Before either could make the next move or speak, sounds of bushes and grass branches breaking came from another side, accompanied by a careless male voice:
"Uraume, is it ready?"
Uraume?! Hearing this name, Jiang Lai immediately remembered.
The other was Ryomen Sukuna's cook from a thousand years ago who cooked very well, possessed ice-based skills and could also use reverse cursed technique, and was Sukuna's subordinate!
Jiang Lai hadn't recognized the other at first glance because the youth in front of him had pure black hair, not the white hair with red markings he'd seen in the original manga a thousand years later.
However, thinking about it carefully, it made sense.
The thousand-year-ago Uraume and the thousand-year-later version had different hair colors. Probably because of this, the thousand-year-later Ryomen Sukuna in the original hadn't recognized Uraume immediately, reacting for a moment before calling out the other's name.
At this time, while thoughts flowed through Jiang Lai's mind, Ryomen Sukuna also slowly walked out from over there.
The muscular cherry pink-haired figure casually trampled down the low forest trees along the way, his height of over two meters particularly imposing.
His upper body was bare, exposing his chest and abdominal muscles, four arms with perfectly smooth contours containing enormous power.
"Sukuna-sama." Uraume steadied his posture, attitude respectful.
Then he quickly assumed an attacking stance, alertly facing the black-haired youth on the other side, ready to counterattack the masked Jiang Lai at any moment.
Ryomen Sukuna's crimson eyes swept over that standing navy-blue figure. He tilted his head back slightly, squeezing out a low, rising voice from his throat: "Oh, it's you."
He drawled out this sentence.
Hearing this, Jiang Lai raised an eyebrow slightly. He deconstructed his mask, his brown eyes calmly and openly looking back, carrying wordless power.
He didn't respond immediately, knowing inwardly that Ryomen Sukuna's opening wouldn't be so simple, so he silently activated spatial techniques around himself, ready to counterattack at any time.
Uraume's expression looked somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected Sukuna-sama to know the black-haired youth in front of them.
But he didn't say much, just withdrew his earlier attacking stance and stood quietly at the side, returning his attention to the boiling large pot.
Ryomen Sukuna stared at the black-haired youth in front of him, lips curving up, faintly showing sharp fangs as he pulled into an inexplicable smile, his voice laughing cheerfully from low to high:
"Isn't this perfect timing!"
He placed his hand on Uraume's shoulder, chuckling: "Look ahead, Uraume, what do you think of this top-grade ingredient?"