Chapter 108 : The Jujutsu World's Anti-Counterfeiting Campaign
Matsuda Jinpei had just landed and hadn't fully reacted when he heard someone beside him say: "Charge, bite him!"
He looked up and saw a familiar 'navy blue kimono black-haired youth' standing by the moonlit forest. Having practically memorized the manga, Matsuda naturally recognized this as Jiang Lai's appearance from the thousand-year arc.
Oh... is that Jiang Lai? Why did Jiang Lai switch back to his previous appearance?
Wait, that's not right. Isn't Jiang Lai right beside me wearing his Little Sheep disguise? He just summoned me out.
Matsuda Jinpei inevitably glitched for a second. He looked sideways at the brown-haired boy beside him, then at the figure in the distance, then had an epiphany:
There's only one truth, that's a counterfeit product over there!
Anti-counterfeiting action, no time to delay.
Who knew the jujutsu world also did this kind of authenticity verification thing.
Matsuda Jinpei's diving stance was very standard, sharp claws leaving marks on the ground, cursed energy surging on his devil horns like crackling electricity.
Little Sheep Jiang Lai was equally eager to try, as if wanting to rush forward together with the black wolf-dog.
But before he could move forward, Fushiguro Megumi raised his hand to stop him: "Don't be impulsive." He calmly said to the brown-haired boy, "Nanami-senpai went directly forward just now, then got his spatial position transferred by taking advantage of the opportunity."
Little Sheep Jiang Lai internally: Truth be told, I wanted to be separated.
With the two of them together now, Fushiguro Megumi had at least half his energy focused on watching over Little Sheep Jiang Lai, unable to fully concentrate on dealing with the enemy.
And Little Sheep Jiang Lai himself couldn't fully display his strength or switch identities under Fushiguro Megumi's nose.
So separation would free both of them from constraints. Jiang Lai thought. He'd observe the situation later and make detailed decisions.
Fushiguro Megumi stared at the 'navy blue figure' ahead, reminding himself internally that it was just a false illusion.
He tried his best to keep his mind clear, analyzing: "Close-range attacks are inappropriate. For safety, let's use long-range attack methods for now."
"Long-range attacks? I can do that." Matsuda Jinpei nodded and replied.
Hearing the black wolf-dog speak, Fushiguro Megumi looked surprised for a second, instinctively following up: "You can talk?"
Matsuda Jinpei, cigarette dangling: "Don't look down on me just because I'm a dog."
Fushiguro Megumi: "......" He glanced at his own Divine Dog Totality. Sensing its master's gaze, the Divine Dog opened its mouth and barked once.
Little Sheep Jiang Lai explained with a grin: "My technique is Electronic Spirits, which incorporates electronic games. One of the incorporated games is [Talking Tom Cat], so all shikigami can speak human language."
It sounded a bit ridiculous, but somehow very reasonable.
Fushiguro Megumi quickly withdrew his attention, no longer paying unnecessary attention to this minor point, focusing on the current battle situation.
"Not sure if the projection has abilities... let's test it briefly." Fushiguro Megumi made the [Rabbit Escape] gesture, and suddenly a large group of rabbits appeared!
The densely surging rabbit horde rushed toward the 'navy blue figure' in the distance. The fake projection slightly raised his hand, forcing the rabbits to stop, blocked by an invisible barrier!
Fushiguro Megumi: "!?" Though he had guessed the projection might have attack power, he didn't expect it to directly use techniques!
He recalled Rabbit Escape and controlled Divine Dog to charge forward. The 'navy blue figure' stepped back slightly, nimbly avoiding the attack. Spatial cursed blades scraped past Divine Dog and embedded in the ground.
Jiang Lai narrowed his eyes slightly, staring over.
This projection was quite interesting. It seemed it could even mimic techniques to some extent.
But in the eyes of the real Jiang Lai, the projection's spatial technique was nothing special, just copying superficially.
What supported the projection's mimicry ability was the cursed energy of this illusory domain's caster. The opponent's cursed energy wasn't sufficient to truly use spatial techniques perfectly, and time techniques were even more impossible to mimic.
However, even so, it was enough to cause considerable trouble. This illusory domain caster's cursed energy seemed very high!
The projection only used simplified spatial barriers and cursed blades, but with massive cursed energy infusion, the flying cursed blades passed over Divine Dog Totality, surging forward like a fierce wind!
The air around them was filled with whooshing sounds. Fushiguro Megumi summoned Rabbit Escape to block one wave, retreating while not forgetting to grab Little Sheep Jiang Lai's collar with one hand, pulling him behind: "Back!" he shouted to the brown-haired boy.
The chaotic cursed blades nimbly curved around the rabbit horde from both sides, converging into a six-foot-long cursed sword that slashed horizontally through the air!
The devil-horned black wolf-dog diagonally ahead narrowed his eyes, his cigarette-dangling posture appearing somewhat defiant. The devil horns on his head gathered cursed energy to form a purple-black lightning orb that collided with the cursed sword full of cursed energy!
The lightning impact against the cursed sword blocked its sharpness, the shock wave stirring up windstorms!
But shikigami abilities were somewhat related to their masters. Since Little Sheep Jiang Lai was still concealing his true strength, Matsuda Jinpei's counterattack only blocked but didn't completely neutralize the cursed blades.
The 'navy blue figure' dodged the nearby attack from Divine Dog Totality, and noticing the cursed sword was blocked by Matsuda Jinpei, again scattered the converged cursed blades.
Matsuda Jinpei stepped back to avoid the frontmost cursed blade cuts.
The first wave of combat temporarily subsided. The 'black-haired youth' landed gracefully on a moonlit tree branch.
He looked down slightly, gazing at Fushiguro Megumi not far below. His lips curved in the white mist, showing a smile:
"You've improved. Already grown into a big child."
"......" Fushiguro Megumi's lowered fingers curled slightly. He pressed his lips together, his blue-green eyes staring directly over!
He knew that what was before him was just an illusion naturally created by the enemy based on his memories. Still, such appearance and words inevitably stirred up certain memories and emotions in his heart.
Before he could act, the brown-haired boy beside him had already silently raised his arm, firing bang bang bang with a white light pistol that appeared from nowhere!
This action and the gunshots pulled Fushiguro Megumi out of his emotions. He looked over with slight shock. Little Sheep Jiang Lai held the white light pistol in one hand, smiling:
"This is the auxiliary-type spirit Bai Tuan I just summoned. Input cursed energy and it can freely transform into weapons, perfectly meeting long-range attack requirements."
Jiang Lai really had no interest in watching this fake say anything, so he straightforwardly summoned an auxiliary cursed spirit to shoot and break the mood.
"Sorry, I got distracted." Fushiguro Megumi exhaled, returning to his previous calm and composed state. "I've adjusted now."
Matsuda Jinpei looked at the 'navy blue figure' and clicked his tongue: "This illusion, what garbage."
"......" Fushiguro Megumi looked at the black wolf-dog with a complex expression. Hearing such words from a wolf-dog's mouth felt weird.
Ahead, the 'navy blue figure' stood steadily. As Little Sheep Jiang Lai's cursed energy bullets approached, instead of deploying spatial barriers, the area around his form rippled and twisted, suddenly disappearing!
"Gone?" Matsuda Jinpei tilted his head slightly.
Fushiguro Megumi didn't let his guard down. His gaze fell on Divine Dog Totality, seeing the Divine Dog stop moving and sniff the air.
The black sea urchin-haired boy paused for a few seconds, then cautiously stepped forward, apparently planning to sense at close range.
Though that 'navy blue figure' wasn't there, the surrounding moonlit forest scenery hadn't changed with the projection's disappearance.
Probably didn't leave. Little Sheep Jiang Lai had some guesses in his heart, even thinking about what the opponent planned to do.
Keenly sensing slight air fluctuations around him, Jiang Lai not only didn't avoid it but deliberately showed attention focused ahead, acting like a restless teenager.
Counting three seconds in his heart, the next moment Little Sheep Jiang Lai felt someone press against his back, that person using hands to restrain and control him!
Taking a hostage? How low-level. Casually complaining in his heart, Little Sheep Jiang Lai cooperatively let out a short surprised exclamation.
Fushiguro Megumi immediately turned around, his heart sinking slightly upon seeing the situation. He made hand seals, preparing to summon shikigami Nue.
Matsuda Jinpei glanced at Jiang Lai's expression and guessed it was intentional. Therefore, he wasn't nervous, just cooperatively showed his teeth slightly, acting like a protective shikigami.
In the brief silence, it was Little Sheep Jiang Lai who spoke first: "Is this kidnapping for ransom? How much ransom do you want?" His tone remained cheerfully jumping.
The projection didn't speak, maintaining the standoff with Little Sheep Jiang Lai, cursed blades suspended in mid-air. Fushiguro Megumi's face was serious, eyes fixed intently, not daring to act hastily.
Little Sheep Jiang Lai, restrained and feet off the ground, smiled with curved eyes at Fushiguro Megumi, his expression bright: "Remember to transfer all the ransom to my account later!"
The next moment, the brown-haired boy actually broke free from the projection's control. Bai Tuan in his hand transformed into a dagger, and without hesitation, he thrust it at the projection character with cursed energy!
The projection didn't dodge. The moment the dagger tore through, it twisted space and swallowed Little Sheep Jiang Lai into it!
Fushiguro Megumi's controlled Divine Dog Totality ran at top speed to pounce, but ultimately couldn't match the speed of spatial changes. Just like Nanami Kento's situation before, spatial transportation directly separated them.
The black sea urchin-haired boy gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, then heard the black wolf-dog beside him speak.
"Don't worry, he's fine. Look, I'm fine as his shikigami." Matsuda Jinpei dangled his cigarette. Being an adult in his original form, he had a senior-to-junior attitude toward high schooler Fushiguro Megumi. "Hesitation is useless. Moving forward is the right path. Let's go."
…
Space twisted and changed before his eyes. Jiang Lai felt himself being forcefully thrown out, stumbling once before standing steadily.
Before him was an alley, with buildings outside showing the street scene they had passed not long ago. The coming and going was an everyday scene.
Jiang Lai felt that cursed energy fade and touched the wall beside him, realizing he was no longer in that domain.
Probably thought he was somewhat bothersome and simply threw him out? Jiang Lai raised an eyebrow slightly.
That was reasonable too. After all, he wasn't the opponent's target, and in their eyes, he didn't have the ability to break the domain from outside.
Too many people in the domain would consume the caster's unnecessary cursed energy.
With his Little Sheep disguise appearing as a middle schooler with no direct connection to the technical college, the caster didn't consider him a threat or think he could get reinforcements.
Therefore, the opponent straightforwardly threw him out, randomly placing him somewhere outside.
This was actually good. Jiang Lai thought leisurely. Not being in the domain meant he didn't need to worry about the caster sensing him when switching identities.
So now he could directly switch to his main body and pretend to pass by to watch the excitement.