Chapter 124 : Sukuna's Innate Domain
The powerful cursed energy that had just fluctuated at the scene made Geto Suguru raise his hand slightly to block the dust and sand stirred up by the shock wave.
However, as a Cursed Spirit Manipulator, his perception of cursed spirits was naturally more acute than others.
Therefore, although separated by some distance and with his vision interfered by the shock wave's dust and sand, Geto Suguru still keenly sensed the enormous malice surrounding Mahito.
Geto Suguru's heart tightened, and the scene that followed made his breathing stop!
The cursed spirit with a distorted form desperately burst out its own power, using the woven bag with strange effects to grab the nearby Jiang Lai, while Jiang Lai only had time to fling the large fragment on the ground to the liquid fox!
The distorted force accumulated by the cursed energy whirlpool became increasingly dense, confined within the cursed spirit's body and continuously colliding, seeming about to reach its limit and welcome the final explosion.
His sixth sense danger alarm rang at maximum volume, but Geto Suguru went against his sixth sense's evacuation instinct.
He charged forward against the hurricane-like cursed energy, grabbed Jiang Lai's wrist with one hand, while simultaneously making his cursed spirit wrap around them at extreme speed!
At the moment when the whirlpool force accumulated to its end and erupted with violent tremors, Geto Suguru tightly embraced Jiang Lai, desperately trying to stabilize his cursed spirit under the cursed energy pressure.
The thunderous roar impacted his eardrums, and Geto Suguru instantly fell into a state where he couldn't hear anything clearly due to tinnitus. His vision within the cursed spirit was pitch black, like being immersed in a swamp.
In such brief, absolute silence, Geto Suguru seemed to drift away from the present moment. With both vision and hearing impaired, he could only sense the bond he gripped tightly in his hands.
Although the black-haired young man was currently a cursed spirit, Geto Suguru could still feel warmth from their skin contact.
Such tight gripping and warmth seemed to have existed once long, long ago.
In this instant, he seemed to flow through a thousand years of time. In the distant, long past, when similarly in a pitch-black state with almost no sensation, there seemed to be such a person who gripped him tightly and firmly pulled him away from that deathly silence.
The complex memories from a thousand years ago were pried open a small gap, and sealed recollections gushed forth. Geto Suguru closed his eyes, his heart and spirit trembling.
In the Heian-kyo, he had thought that if there was a chance in the future, he would definitely personally express his gratitude. However, a hundred years of time was ultimately too short, and that era never allowed him to see the black-haired young man again.
The forest area that had been incorporated into the Gojo family's back mountain had become very lush. Saplings sprouted on fertile earth, dead wood rotted in generous soil, seasons flowed and old gave way to new.
However, the thousand-year cycle buried past memories. Starting life in the modern era, he couldn't remember those regrets and gratitude.
After falling into difficulties in this era, he was once again pulled out of that swamp by the black-haired young man. The other party reversed time, giving him a chance to restart.
Twice pulled out of the mire by the black-haired young man, this time, he had finally also pulled the other party back.
The complex memories surging in his mind finally settled and calmed. Geto Suguru first took a deep breath before releasing his tight grip on the other party.
He couldn't see his own expression, but he thought he might have shown a look sufficient to convey his inner emotions.
Because the black-haired young man in front of him was watching him, and after hearing him speak those light words, also smiled warmly.
"This time, you pulled me back."
Jiang Lai didn't express excessive gratitude because he knew that at this moment, the other party didn't need words of thanks.
Geto Suguru, who had a heavy sense of responsibility and strong self-esteem, always habitually accumulated pressure silently in his heart until the accumulated amount exceeded what he could bear.
Such bonds were an outlet where pressure could be released.
Geto Suguru raised his narrow fox eyes, watching Jiang Lai. Having recalled memories from a thousand years ago, he seemed to have many things he wanted to say, yet didn't know where to begin.
Perhaps this reunion after a thousand years was worth more than all those words that had drifted away over the years. The past was past after all, no need to reveal the emotions from those long waiting times anymore.
Looking at those warm brown eyes, Geto Suguru finally exhaled and didn't pour out more, only slowly curving into a smile, slowly saying: "...One thousand years, long time no see."
"..." Jiang Lai blinked, showing some confusion and apology, his eyes sincere, "Sorry, what are you talking about?"
Hearing this, Geto Suguru's expression froze for a second, his original smile suddenly stiffening on his face!
The next moment, Jiang Lai added the second half: "Long time no see, Suguru. That was a little prank just now." His eyes showed amusement, "I remember everything."
Geto Suguru's frozen expression recovered after a few seconds: "...Please don't make such jokes, especially at times like this. It's too much of a test for one's mentality, Lai."
"Because Satoru said I should give you a little prank." Jiang Lai coughed and smiled, "Since we're near the end, might as well present one."
"Satoru?" Hearing his best friend's name, Geto Suguru raised an eyebrow slightly, his expression showing some speechlessness and annoyance, "That guy Satoru... Has he been very bored lately? Why is he pranking me again?"
Jiang Lai said: "Probably because there's been no news from you for so long. Satoru said when he sent you junk emails from strange numbers, you left them all unread."
"Recently the Supervisory Committee planted cursed energy surveillance in my electronic devices, which I cannot actively remove. And this surveillance will trigger even if I use other devices outside, so I told Satoru not to contact me for now."
Geto Suguru paused slightly, as if remembering something, holding his temple with one hand somewhat helplessly, "...Besides, the junk emails that guy Satoru sent me, just looking at the titles, I wouldn't open them at all!"
"What did he send you?" Jiang Lai asked with some curiosity.
Geto Suguru stopped for a moment, his expression changing several times, then twitched the corner of his mouth and coughed: "...Men's health ads."
Jiang Lai was first stunned, then laughed mischievously: "Oh, indeed, with my recently deepened understanding of humans, someone like you Suguru who has high daily stress and often stays up late at night should indeed pay attention to this issue."
Geto Suguru: "...Lai!"
"Just joking." Jiang Lai blinked lightly.
Geto Suguru tucked his hands together, his bangs swaying slightly: "Next time we meet, I'm definitely going to fight that guy Satoru. Just right, with my current undercover identity, having a reason to fight him is perfectly justified."
Jiang Lai: "You probably won't find him recently."
"Hmm?" Geto Suguru raised an eyebrow.
Jiang Lai: "Satoru went abroad, he'll probably be outside for a while."
Geto Suguru was first stunned, then showed realization: "Satoru had it all calculated out! Something about the sky being high and the emperor far away. Then by the time he returns, I'll have long forgotten about this matter."
"It's fine, I'll remember for you." Jiang Lai magnanimously patted Geto Suguru's shoulder, "Between good friends, mutual pranking and teasing is a traditional ceremony that can't be let down!"
Jiang Lai smiled, and the surrounding atmosphere became relaxed as well.
Nearby, the liquid fox bounced up to insert itself into their conversation, its form twisting and changing, presenting the fragment held by its tail before the two of them.
Because the liquid fox was Jiang Lai's derivative, it also naturally carried some [Existence] traits, allowing it to directly touch fragments for short periods, a trait that naturally hadn't been revealed to the Supervisory Committee.
"Thanks, Nightmare Fox." Jiang Lai used his hand to receive the fragment the liquid fox had protected, then turned to walk toward where the cursed energy whirlpool had erupted earlier.
This patch of ground had been directly peeled away by cursed energy, dust flying and grass debris scattered.
Where Mahito had originally stood, a small fragment that had caused the earlier explosion remained, along with a fist-sized blue-gray unknown substance.
Jiang Lai sensed the cursed energy floating in the air, paused, then used spatial techniques to remotely push the blue-gray lump on the ground.
The blue-gray lump only retained cursed energy but seemed to have no consciousness. Like a Special-Grade Cursed Object, though compared to Special-Grade Cursed Objects, it still retained some cursed spirit characteristics.
Geto Suguru walked over in a few steps, staring at the blue-gray unknown substance on the ground for several seconds.
Jiang Lai turned his head, asking with concern: "How is it? Can you still absorb it now?"
"I can." Geto Suguru's expression was somewhat gloomy, his words pausing, showing some struggle, "Speaking of which, I'm clearly used to swallowing cursed spirit orbs and have long adapted to these things, but I don't know why, looking at this lump on the ground, I still feel a bit..."
Geto Suguru spoke relatively tactfully, not directly using any specific words. But his expression had already revealed his inner thoughts.
Jiang Lai patted Geto Suguru's shoulder, deeply moved: "It really has been hard on you."
The man-bunned young man took a deep breath, finally adopting an attitude of focusing on results and looking past the process as he stepped forward.
Geto Suguru used his technique to absorb the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit that had been severely damaged and only remained in blue-gray lump form, then staggered to a nearby tree, supporting himself against the trunk as he began his daily dry heaving.
Jiang Lai, remaining at the original spot, swept his gaze across the ground, quickly catching sight of the light green small fragment lying quietly on the ground. He bent down to pick it up, wiping away the soil that had stuck to it.
The light green fragment lay extremely quietly in Jiang Lai's palm, without any sharpness. The familiar, intimate power surrounded it, making Jiang Lai momentarily fall into brief complex emotions.
What broke Jiang Lai out of this immersion was the liquid fox. The jelly-like bodied liquid fox ran over with a woven bag in its mouth, pattering along.
That was precisely the open woven bag that had been scattered by the shock wave earlier. Under the earlier cursed energy impact, the woven bag had been burned and abraded, delicate thread ends swaying in the wind.
However, it could probably still be used.
"Thanks, Nightmare Fox." Jiang Lai showed a gentle smile on his face. He crouched down, received the woven bag the little fox had brought, and used it to wrap up the large and small fragments.
Although he felt reluctant and conflicted, Jiang Lai ultimately rationally understood that for complete victory, this time Geto Suguru had to bring the fragments back.
He gripped the woven bag tightly and was about to stand up when he felt a wet sensation at his pant leg.
Jiang Lai looked down to see the liquid fox clinging to his pant leg, its jelly-like paws pressed against the exposed skin at Jiang Lai's ankle, bringing a few traces of coolness.
Those red mosquito-coil eyes looked up at Jiang Lai, speaking haltingly: "Good. I very good."
Jiang Lai was first stunned, then smiled: "Yes, Nightmare Fox is super good, and helped a lot this time too." He didn't spare his praise.
The liquid fox stared at him with those eyes, making eye contact with Jiang Lai a second time. It didn't release its paws gripping Jiang Lai's pant leg.
The air was quiet for a moment.
Seemingly seeing that Jiang Lai made no moves, the liquid fox's tail patted the ground, its expression showing inconspicuous anxiety and grievance: "So. Reward. Food. Hungry."
Hearing the last two words, Jiang Lai suddenly understood why the liquid fox had come forward to claim credit this time and was clinging to him, not letting go. It wanted food.
Such persistence, he didn't know if it was because the liquid fox was naturally a little foodie, or because it had been hungry for too long.
Jiang Lai softened his eyebrows, picking up the Nightmare Fox and placing it in his embrace again: "I don't have any other items with me, so continue eating a few bites of sleeves and collar."
Currently in cursed spirit state, clothing could be adjusted at any time, so Jiang Lai simply used it as the Nightmare Fox's food, letting it eat whenever. After all, he could replenish it anytime.
The liquid fox in Jiang Lai's embrace was not polite at all, grabbing Jiang Lai's sleeve and still munching away happily.
Jiang Lai let it feed while carrying it toward Geto Suguru.
The man-bunned young man, who had been dry heaving for a while, finally looked like he had recovered.
"This stuff tastes consistently awful." Geto Suguru casually complained, "If someone could invent a delicious way to eat cursed spirits someday, I'd definitely thank them."
"Making something that tastes like a rag used to wipe vomit taste good would be quite difficult." Jiang Lai thought for a moment and made a friendly suggestion: "How about buying some mint candies or milk candies to keep on hand? They might help with relief."
"I'll consider it." Geto Suguru took a deep breath, completely adjusting the urge to retch from earlier. He flexed his wrist, testing the abilities he had just absorbed, "Mahito's Idle Transfiguration, I don't think I'll find much use for it. But eliminating him this time was still a big gain."
Idle Transfiguration... In the original story, Mahito had used this move to transform many people. Besides killing, this could also change non-sorcerer brains into sorcerer brains.
"Perhaps you could temporarily hide this from the Supervisory Committee, so they don't make you do anything extra." Jiang Lai thought for a few seconds and said, "You take both fragments back and tell the Supervisory Committee that because Mahito tried to absorb the small fragment's power and suffered backlash, you finally exorcised him, but due to the fragment's power interference, you couldn't absorb him."
Geto Suguru's thoughts flowed as he nodded: "Alright. I'll try to hide it."
"Of course, your safety comes first." Jiang Lai said, "If the Supervisory Committee would have a trust crisis with you over this, then it's better to let them know."
"The Supervisory Committee won't dig that deep with me." Geto Suguru smiled, then snorted: "Bringing back fragments this time is enough to prove my sincerity. Besides, they used several of my Special-Grade Cursed Spirits before and still haven't compensated me."
"The Supervisory Committee doesn't particularly care about cooperative cursed spirits. Once this matter passes, it passes." Geto Suguru indicated, "With my current position, even under normal circumstances, they wouldn't criticize me much for taking action against Mahito."
"By the way, why are there two fragments?" Geto Suguru changed the topic, his gaze falling on the woven bag Jiang Lai held out. He asked what he hadn't had time to ask earlier.
So Jiang Lai told him about his earlier perceptions, his experience searching for small fragments after they entered the veil, and also mentioned Choso.
"That guy Choso," Geto Suguru thought about it, his expression somewhat strange: "This cursed spirit seems particularly concerned about Itadori Yuji. He says Itadori is his younger brother. What kind of 'creating a brother from nothing' is this?"
Immediately after, his attention returned to Jiang Lai: "Are you planning to cooperate with him?"
"I think it's possible. I had brief contact with him this time, but it's currently not suitable for overly eager communication." Jiang Lai nodded, "Next time we meet, I'll further test the waters and guide the conversation to this topic."
"Good." Geto Suguru nodded.
With this mission completed, Geto Suguru had to return to the rendezvous point the Supervisory Committee had arranged, while Jiang Lai had to return to Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture to resume his original identity and prepare for final exams and departure for the high school.
The two would part ways here.
Geto Suguru held the small woven bag, stopping briefly before leaving to say: "These fragments are very important to you, aren't they?"
Jiang Lai was slightly surprised by the other party's sudden words, but still answered: "Yes, they are. But this time you still need to bring them back. For ultimate victory, the process needs to be this way."
"I understand." Geto Suguru also replied rationally. He hesitated, then said, "The Supervisory Committee collects these fragments apparently for the energy within them, to support something... Those so-called 'feed' seem to be used to supplement or repair fragments. Sorry, I don't know the details clearly."
Jiang Lai paused, his thoughts racing.
His previous understanding of the word "feed" was direct application of some kind of power. Now hearing Geto Suguru mention supplementation and repair, he had new ideas.
Maybe "feed" wasn't direct application, but indirect application. Come to think of it, he had wondered before how the Supervisory Committee would handle the accumulation of sinful karma when using [Birth]'s power.
Now he seemed to have some inspiration too. Perhaps precisely because karma was transferred or supplemented away, it didn't cause divine status degradation or inability to use abilities.
Of course, these were still just his guesses.
Jiang Lai collected his thoughts and nodded: "Alright, I understand."
"I'll pay attention to more clues." Before leaving, Geto Suguru turned back to add: "When I can transmit information through devices again, I'll inform both you and Satoru."
The two parted ways here.
Before leaving, the liquid fox seemed somewhat reluctant, but ultimately leaped from Jiang Lai's embrace back to Geto Suguru's side.
Seeing this, Jiang Lai picked up a small wooden stick, imbued it with his cursed energy, and fed it to the liquid fox, letting it slowly nibble on the road, but making sure to finish it before returning.
The liquid fox was overjoyed, lying on Geto Suguru's shoulder, holding the small wooden stick and licking and gnawing at it.
...It's a bit like a dog's chew toy. Jiang Lai watched Geto Suguru leave with the liquid fox, unconsciously thinking. The wooden stick was too fragile for a cursed spirit, next time there was a chance, he'd try giving it an iron rod.
…
Chiba Prefecture wasn't far from Kanagawa Prefecture. Jiang Lai used his techniques to return to Kawasaki City under the night sky.
Just to be safe, Jiang Lai called out to Hiroki before climbing through the window.
After confirming it was safe, he returned through the same route he had left by, entering through the window.
During this short period, Hiroki had been attending school in Little Sheep's guise. Although final exams were approaching and schoolwork was busy, Hiroki still seemed to be enjoying himself.
Jiang Lai was somewhat unsure if his observation was correct, so he asked: "...If you really like it, you can continue until after the final exams. Do you really enjoy going to school and doing tests?"
"I very much enjoy this school atmosphere." Hiroki smiled, then waved his hand: "But it's not necessary. Since you're back, I won't continue staying to observe. Just in time, I'll go work on some merchandise."
"If you need me next time, just call me anytime." Hiroki said gently, "I'll come be your double."
"Then thanks, Hiroki." Jiang Lai replied earnestly, "You're not a double, you're you."
He switched back to the brown-haired youth's appearance while Hiroki returned to his Kyubey form. However, before Hiroki returned to the Detective Conan world, Jiang Lai had him check the two Ryomen Sukuna fingers in his backpack.
Last time had been too rushed, he hadn't had time to examine them carefully. Since this thing had been in contact with Mahito after all, just in case there were any traces from the Supervisory Committee remaining, Jiang Lai went over them again with his techniques.
After confirming safety, he breathed a sigh of relief and used Electronic Spirits techniques to store them back in Hiroki Kyubey's backpack.
After several days, Jiang Lai lay back down on the soft big bed.
The human disguise needed rest, and the mental exhaustion from these days of planning and thinking made drowsiness gradually rise.
Therefore, Jiang Lai put his phone by the bedside, planning to check tomorrow whether there were any updates. For now, he'd first have a comfortable sleep.
The room was dim, moonlight gentle. Jiang Lai's breathing gradually steadied as he fell into beautiful slumber.
...
The sound of dripping water echoed in his ears.
Jiang Lai opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by a sea of blood floating with white bones, with mountains of cattle bones piled in the distance.
Just one glance was enough to determine—this was Ryomen Sukuna's Innate Domain.
Why would he enter Sukuna's Innate Domain?!
Jiang Lai was shocked for a second. He looked down at his reflection in the water—it showed a black-haired, brown-eyed young man. Not the Little Sheep disguise, but his appearance from the modern arc.
His thoughts stopped for an instant as Jiang Lai quickly recalled today's details.
...Could it be that because he had touched the fragments and then touched Ryomen Sukuna's fingers, some peculiar interactive effect had occurred?
His train of thought was interrupted by cursed energy attacking from the distance. Jiang Lai instinctively dodged quickly, then put up spatial technique barriers!
Following his movements, the blood water on the ground churned and splashed, and floating cattle bones were struck toward the other side.
Jiang Lai looked up toward the figure in the distance.
Ryomen Sukuna in white kimono sat cross-legged on top of the cattle bone mountain, his crimson eyes slightly narrowed as he looked down at Jiang Lai on the ground, clicking his tongue:
"So it really is true... Then why the hell are you appearing here?"