Chapter 94 : Heian-kyo City Incident (The Thousand-Year-Ago Shibuya Incident)
A thousand years ago was the most prosperous period for cursed energy. Adding that tonight was [Night Parade of a Hundred Demons] night, cursed energy in the air had accumulated frantically to a degree that made people feel stuffy and short of breath. Just from this point alone, one could imagine the surge of curse frenzy that would pour out when the [door] opened.
In the distance, the entire city of Heian-kyo was shrouded in barriers. A perfect barrier formed a screen, isolating the cursed energy fluctuations inside and outside Heian-kyo.
Though there were barrier protections, they couldn't guarantee 100% safety. Therefore, Heian-kyo's royal family and most prominent nobles had evacuated Kyoto before the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, taking luxurious convoys to residences in other territories, planning to migrate back afterward.
Remaining in Heian-kyo were high-level delegates responsible for arranging orders, some remaining jujutsu sorcerers, and ordinary Kyoto citizens who had nowhere to go and couldn't evacuate.
Outside the Heian-kyo now, the night wind carrying curse aura became extremely cold, stirring grass and forest to make rustling sounds. The usual interwoven summer insect symphony fell silent tonight.
All creatures hid according to instinct. On the vast desolate land, only one person's figure stood.
Gojo Satoru stood in the weed-grown clearing, waterfall-like white long hair flowing smoothly down. The exquisite, magnificent yet not cumbersome kimono embroidered with the Gojo family crest and golden seven-star patterns. Those azure eyes unbound by cloth strips were completely exposed.
At this moment, he was casually tossing mini sweets into his mouth, still maintaining his usual leisure on this land circled by curse aura.
"Really annoying, all this messy stuff." Long-haired Gojo muttered to himself casually. "Too bad the [door] isn't a physical entity that can be attacked, otherwise I could just blast it apart and not have to guard here."
Above the wilderness, a black hole-like [door] slowly condensed and floated up, with curse aura in the air becoming increasingly chaotic.
Long-haired Gojo carelessly raised his eyes to observe, those crystal-like brilliant ice-blue eyes reflecting the ominous curse-powered black hole before him.
The drifting night wind stilled for a moment. After a brief calm before the storm, a large mass of curse aura suddenly emerged!
Piercing roars penetrated the silent night and echoed across the sky. Cursed spirits of various grotesque appearances and different levels broke free from the [door]!
Facing the tsunami-like surging tide of cursed spirits, the white-haired man's expression remained extremely leisurely, mixed with some thoughtfulness.
"Strange... this batch doesn't seem very strong."
He kept Limitless active but still symbolically pretended to dust off cookie crumbs from his hands before manipulating cursed energy, facing the attacking curse group, making a simple gesture:
"[Purple]."
Powerful cursed energy instantly condensed and erupted in space, thunderously exploding and tearing apart countless curses!
Most cursed spirits didn't even have time to wail before being forcefully exorcised by the cursed energy.
This was tremendous in scale. Not far away, Jiang Lai naturally sensed this intense impact.
Under technique protection, he himself wasn't affected, while surrounding trees all trembled in the hurricane stirred by cursed energy. The more fragile ones even snapped at the waist in the storm.
Really amazing. Jiang Lai sighed inwardly. Though a thousand years ago was an era of abundant strong people in cursed energy's golden age, unable to clearly designate who held the [strongest] title like in later generations, if truly evaluated, long-haired Gojo was definitely one of the best candidates for this title.
Thoughts flowing in his heart, Jiang Lai temporarily stopped.
He had originally planned to find Gojo Satoru before the [door] opened and replace him in guarding the door.
Now, after confirming the [door] had opened, Jiang Lai didn't rush to continue forward but planned to first survey the situation before going over, to avoid affecting Gojo Satoru who was freely using his techniques.
Space techniques spread parallel from his position, like invisible tentacles extending in all directions, remotely sensing surrounding conditions.
Detection feedback showed that curses outside Heian-kyo were basically all gathered where the explosion had just occurred. Heian-kyo city was surrounded by perfect barriers, unaffected in the slightest...
Wait a moment.
Jiang Lai furrowed his brows, sensing somewhat strange ripples emanating from Heian-kyo city's barrier.
Logically, when barriers weren't under attack, they should be very calm, with no oscillating ripples on the interface.
But now, Heian-kyo city's barrier rippled with circles of patterns, as if affected by battle.
...Was it because long-haired Gojo's cursed energy attacks in the distant outskirts were too powerful and affected it?
Jiang Lai manipulated space techniques, shifting more attention to Heian-kyo city's side, sensing whether other cursed spirits were attacking the barrier.
After several breaths, his brows furrowed again. The feedback results were somewhat surprising: the impacts on the barrier didn't come from outside but seemed to originate from vibrations inside.
What had happened inside Heian-kyo city?
Thoughts surging inwardly, Jiang Lai only paused briefly in place. After quickly weighing options in his mind, he made a decision.
His original plan to find Gojo Satoru, replace him in guarding the door, and let him return to Heian-kyo city was temporarily overturned by another decision in his mind.
Because Jiang Lai recalled the situation during the Tokyo-Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event in the original work.
The enemies then had set up a [curtain] specifically to prevent Gojo Satoru from entering. Though it only blocked Gojo Satoru for a period of time, this also indicated there were indeed barriers specifically targeting individuals.
This Night Parade of a Hundred Demons guarding task, with Gojo Satoru alone transferred away from Heian-kyo city to guard in the outskirts, might be an intentionally set lure-the-tiger-from-the-mountain.
Then Heian-kyo city's currently deployed so-called protective barrier might actually also have properties preventing Gojo Satoru from entering.
Even if a returning Gojo Satoru could break through the barrier in a relatively short time, it would still delay a certain duration, and the situation inside Heian-kyo city was definitely urgent.
Having clearly sorted out possible situations in his mind, Jiang Lai lightly touched his foot to the ground, quickly changed his advancing direction, and first rapidly headed toward Heian-kyo city.
The closer he got to the barrier-shrouded city, the more his sixth sense uneasiness stirred.
From outside, that Heian-kyo city looked no different from usual. The tall gates were tightly closed, flags fluttering on city walls.
Jiang Lai landed before the barrier. He paused for a second, used techniques to create protection around himself, then stepped into the barrier.
As an [Existence] merged with nature, he wouldn't be blocked by these barriers, so he successfully entered without any hindrance.
The moment he stepped in, the scene before his eyes turned upside down!
The complete Heian-kyo city seen from outside the barrier shattered like a mirage in the instant of entry. Suddenly, a cursed spirit with a gaping mouth lunged forward!
"...!?"
Jiang Lai raised his hand, casually exorcising the attacking cursed spirit with techniques, his gaze still fixed ahead.
What shocked him wasn't the sudden attack, but the scene before him: vast ruins and wreckage crashed into view, curse residue everywhere, cursed spirits of various shapes crawling and leaping, attacking citizens and jujutsu sorcerers who couldn't dodge in time.
What had happened inside here?? Why were there so many cursed spirits!?
For a moment, he had a one-second vision of the tragic Shibuya Incident from the original work.
Jiang Lai's brain raced. At the same time, his gaze caught a familiar figure.
Not far away, the black-haired sea urchin-headed youth Shuuki was covered in wounds, his strength nearly exhausted in the almost infinite tide of cursed spirits.
At this moment, various thoughts flashed through his mind. He pressed his lips straight, gazing at the roaring special-grade cursed spirit on the battlefield, finally gripping both hands and extending them forward.
As he prepared to suicidally summon the untamed strongest shikigami Mahoraga, powerful cursed energy suddenly rose beside him, the air becoming substantial as it pressed his hands down!
"?!" Shuuki was startled for a moment. When he looked up again, a navy-blue figure had suddenly appeared before him, and the special-grade cursed spirit had been thunderously hammered into the ground by space techniques!
The black-haired youth's back was straight and tall, standing in front of him like moonlight cascading between cliffs and waterfalls.
"......" Shuuki slowly lowered his arms trembling from cursed energy consumption, exhaled, his blue-green eyes gazing at the figure he hadn't seen for over ten years.
The navy-blue figure's wrist turned nimbly, manipulating powerful space techniques to exorcise cursed spirits in moments! Then he took a few steps back, helping Shuuki up.
That mass of mist still covered the black-haired youth's face, but even so, one could sense he seemed unchanged by the years.
As Shuuki looked at Jiang Lai, Jiang Lai was also observing Shuuki. He noticed the other's clothing was simply styled, without any Zenin family pattern decorations, just ordinary jujutsu sorcerer attire.
The manga had depicted that the Zenin family took away young Shuuki because of Ten Shadows Technique. But this current appearance seemed to indicate that the grown-up Shuuki hadn't continued staying with the Zenin family.
However, this wasn't a good time for reminiscing. Jiang Lai's gaze flowed as he spoke first:
"What happened?"
Shuuki steadied his breathing, his voice calm as he explained the situation as quickly and concisely as possible:
"A [door] suddenly appeared inside Heian-kyo city, with large numbers of high-level cursed spirits emerging. But the barrier cannot be broken through from inside to get out."
"[Door]?" Jiang Lai was slightly stunned. "But the [door] is clearly in the outskirts, with Satoru-kun guarding there."
"...Logically it should be like that. I don't know why there would be another [door] either." Shuuki pressed his lips together, saying in a low voice: "There's never been such a situation in historical records, and the cursed spirits appearing from the [door] wouldn't be so numerous and powerful."
Jiang Lai's gaze swept around. While gathering information, he raised his hand to use space techniques to block cursed spirit attacks, saving several more people.
The rescued jujutsu sorcerer stumbled over, voice hoarse: "Gojo-sensei...! Where is Gojo-sensei? We, we simply can't hold on." Probably due to overly intense emotions, tears emerged. "We can't get out of the barrier at all!"
Jiang Lai analyzed calmly, noticing the person's attire was somewhat similar to Shuuki's, and asked: "Who's left in the city?"
"The royal family and nobles basically evacuated in advance. Now there are citizens who didn't evacuate, and those of us who are Gojo-sensei's people." The person wiped their face, panting as they answered.
Gojo-sensei's people? So those left to guard the city this time were basically all Gojo faction??
Jiang Lai's heart paused.
Could this unexpectedly appearing extra [door] have someone behind it manipulating it, with the purpose of greatly reducing Gojo faction's power? Because Gojo Satoru's behavior of wanting to change jujutsu world rules touched the interests of jujutsu higher-ups and noble groups?
It seemed reasonable. Using this once-every-few-hundred-years Night Parade of a Hundred Demons event, they laid out a design to transfer away the invincible Gojo himself, then target the Gojo faction remaining in Heian-kyo.
But relying solely on nobles, even if the other two families of the Big Three joined forces, they shouldn't be able to achieve this. There must be collaborating curse users plotting behind the scenes... like Kenjaku?
However, after such an ordeal, Heian-kyo city was basically destroyed. Moreover, Gojo Satoru's fury afterward would definitely be unbearable for ordinary people.
Either there were still unrevealed follow-up moves, or jujutsu world higher-ups underestimated the consequences, and the reason for underestimation was being deceived by someone.
Jiang Lai thought silently, subconsciously thinking of Kenjaku (Brain-kun) who dug pits and schemed everywhere, with superior linguistic artistry in deceiving people and cursed spirits.
Thoughts flowed for only a moment. Jiang Lai quickly withdrew his contemplation, deciding to sort through intelligence later.
At this moment, the most important thing was to head to the [door] and see what was going on with the [door] that suddenly appeared in Heian-kyo.
As for Gojo Satoru... Jiang Lai paused for a second, still deciding to inform him. Maybe one of the two [doors] was fake.
He reached forward: "Do you have any items that can transmit urgent information? I'll use space techniques to send it out of the barrier to Satoru-kun's location."
Shuuki paused for a second, removing the token from his waist: "Send this."
Jiang Lai attached techniques to the token, directing it toward the outskirts where cursed energy was most concentrated.
Then he said: "Where is the [door] inside Heian-kyo city? I'll go take a look."
Jiang Lai raised his hand, preparing to use time techniques briefly, simply reversing the wounds on the two people before him without changing memories. But during manipulation, he surprisingly sensed sluggish resistance, gathering into faint but perceptible fatigue on his body.
"?" Jiang Lai's heart filled with some confusion.
The jujutsu sorcerer, noticing changes in his body, said quite joyfully: "Eh? Can you use reverse cursed technique like that young lady? Thank you!"
Shuuki, whose body and cursed energy had recovered, swayed as he stood up, answering Jiang Lai's question: "The [door]... Geto-sensei should be there now," he looked up and said. "I'll take you there."