Chapter 164 : Strength Is Authority
Hanami was very patient with Jiang Lai, treating the black-haired youth before her as a newly born cursed spirit with many confusions, so she said gently: [What do you want to ask? Go ahead and ask.]
Jiang Lai naturally wouldn't directly ask about the "Four Guardian Towers." On the contrary, he perfectly went along with Hanami's perception, pretending to be a newly born cursed spirit to conduct the following naive dialogue.
"I don't understand much about the world. Most humans can't see us, but some humans can, and they don't like us. Of course, I also have a feeling of not quite liking humans."
[Humans who can see us are most likely jujutsu sorcerers. They have a chance of attacking us, so please be careful.] Hanami said. [Cursed spirits have natural killing intent toward humans, and humans will exorcise cursed spirits. We are an irreconcilable contradiction.]
"Oh, I see." Jiang Lai nodded. "So we need to act carefully in the world and not be discovered by jujutsu sorcerers?"
[Your strength is special grade, capable of defeating most jujutsu sorcerers, but humans are usually very cunning, so acting discreetly is still necessary.]
Hanami paused, then continued: [The current world is dominated by humans, but someday, it will be the world of us cursed spirits.]
"Really?"
[Of course it's true.] Hanami's words carried hope, borrowing Jogo's words: [Another of my kind thinks the same. Cursed spirits are more real than humans, society should rightfully be ours.]
"Then, kill all the humans?" Jiang Lai went along with this.
[Yes, only when humans die can nature truly recover.]
Jiang Lai showed a thoughtful expression, then blinked lightly and asked: "But aren't we cursed spirits born from humans' negative emotions? If all humans die, won't there be no new cursed spirits born?"
Hanami was slightly stunned upon hearing this, not having considered this question before.
Hearing Jiang Lai's question now, she paused for a moment before saying: [It doesn't matter. Cursed spirits have no lifespan limits, the existing cursed spirits are sufficient.]
"Although cursed spirits have no lifespan theory, cursed spirits don't seem completely harmonious with each other either." Jiang Lai placed one hand on his chin. "When cursed spirits fight each other, there will inevitably be casualties, but cursed spirits cannot reproduce themselves, so in that case..."
Hanami also fell silent. Cursed spirits with high intelligence all had their own thoughts. Even among the same kind, it was impossible to perfectly harmonize on every matter.
Moreover, there were many low-level cursed spirits in the world without high intelligence, making communication even more difficult.
There would be conflicts among cursed spirits too, and casualties couldn't be completely avoided. If the total number of cursed spirits in the world stopped increasing and only decreased, then the number of cursed spirits would only become fewer and fewer in the future.
So Hanami changed her words: [The point you raised makes sense. In that case, let's keep some humans. Have them obey our commands as cursed spirit producers.]
"But ordinary humans usually can't see us, so naturally they can't hear our commands. And keeping jujutsu sorcerers who can harm us would be too dangerous."
Jiang Lai showed a conflicted expression and said this.
Hanami paused again. After brief consideration, she took a deep breath and sighed: [In the end, it's that we have connections with humans yet cannot coexist in the world.]
Hanami was a very wise cursed spirit. Through this back-and-forth dialogue, she perceived things she hadn't noticed before.
Although what she cared about most was only nature, as a member of the cursed spirits, she still had to consider the future of cursed spirits, especially since Jogo had grand ideals about this.
But currently, killing all humans or keeping only a small portion seemed quite unrealistic.
[It's not without solutions.] After a moment, Hanami said: [We special grade cursed spirits have already reached cooperation with another organization. They made binding vows, guaranteeing to give us cursed spirits a brand new space.]
The Supervisory Committee. Jiang Lai immediately understood. The Supervisory Committee promised to give cursed spirits a brand new space as part of their cooperation deal?
But Brain-kun was probably playing word games again here, just like when he tricked Sukuna. Language could be interpreted in countless ways, and binding vows could have loopholes exploited.
In the original work, Ryomen Sukuna later tricked Itadori Yuji by exploiting verbal loopholes.
"Another organization?" Knowing what it was but still asking on the surface, Jiang Lai said: "Are they also cursed spirits?"
[No, they're humans.]
Jiang Lai showed confusion: "But didn't we just say we have irreconcilable contradictions with humans? How can we cooperate?"
Hanami responded to this: [As long as there's benefit exchange, some humans can also cooperate.]
"I see." Jiang Lai blinked. "What kind of brand new space will they give us? How new? Will they help us kill people? But we just discussed that eliminating humans isn't very feasible. And they're humans too."
"Or do they plan to section off an area for us? But in that case, it seems worse than our current freedom. Living alone in a specific area would be like another form of captivity."
Hanami's expression paused again. She hadn't thought this much before, only holding onto her dedication to nature, thinking she could protect nature and have a brand new world where cursed spirits could come to light.
But now it seemed the details hadn't been clearly negotiated.
"And do they have such great capability? The world can't be decided by a small group of people." Jiang Lai smiled. "Unless they can create another world."
At this point, Hanami fell silent for a moment, then her words changed from their previous gentleness to a certain deep probing: [Who are you? What is your purpose in coming here?]
Now Hanami finally perceived that the character before her was not simple. He wasn't a recently born special grade cursed spirit, and coming here wasn't a coincidental passing by, but had purpose and direction.
What seemed like his own confused words were actually aimed at them and that organization.
"Who I am isn't very important, but I can tell you my purpose in coming here. I came to find and destroy one of the Four Guardian Towers."
Jiang Lai changed from his previous soft, innocent demeanor to his usual calm composure. He frankly revealed his purpose without concealment.
[Destroy? Impossible.] Hanami immediately rejected this.
She didn't question the term "Four Guardian Towers," meaning she knew about this. Jiang Lai judged.
"Why? Because this is part of your deal?" Jiang Lai continued: "You're responsible for guarding the towers, while the Supervisory Committee makes binding vows, guaranteeing to give cursed spirits a brand new world after success?"
Hanami didn't speak, but silence was a form of acknowledgment.
"Then as we just discussed, binding vows have many loopholes that can be exploited. Are you certain the binding vows made at that time were detailed enough to achieve your goals?"
[Regardless, it's still a possibility.] Hanami said. [If we let you destroy the tower, we won't have any benefits.]
Hanami didn't directly deny Jiang Lai's words, meaning she was actually starting to waver. Jiang Lai could judge this. It was just because there was no better partner that she temporarily held to the previous agreement.
The latter half mentioning Jiang Lai's side also implied waiting for Jiang Lai to offer more benefits.
"Only by destroying the old can we create new Four Guardian Towers." Jiang Lai said calmly.
He remembered what Tengen had said: if someone could fully utilize the Four Guardian Towers' effects, they might be able to create entirely new rules and inner worlds.
The Supervisory Committee must be using this as their condition, except Kenjaku didn't have the ability to bring out the Four Guardian Towers' true effects, only maintaining the existence of the sun totem contract.
Hearing Jiang Lai's words, Hanami tilted her head slightly: [You mean you plan to sign a new contract with us?]
"I haven't said that yet." Jiang Lai said. "But I'm definitely much more trustworthy than that organization you're cooperating with."
Here, his words suddenly shifted: "Do you know Mahito? He's also a special grade cursed spirit. Now the Supervisory Committee has already drained his power."
Here, Jiang Lai used the art of language, placing the blame for Mahito's incident on the Supervisory Committee.
Actually, tracing it to the source, it was indeed the Supervisory Committee's fault. And the Supervisory Committee had indeed drained several special grade cursed spirits' (from Geto Suguru) power, so even if investigated, this was factual.
[Mahito?] Hanami's expression clearly showed she had memories of Mahito and was unaware of what had happened to him. [What happened to that little one? What does draining power mean?]
"It means being exorcised, with cursed energy taken by the Supervisory Committee for their use." Jiang Lai said. "The Supervisory Committee needs feed and cursed energy to maintain themselves. You should know this, right? Ordinary people, jujutsu sorcerers, and cursed spirits all might become sacrifices."
"Even Mahito, who did a lot of work for the Supervisory Committee, couldn't escape being drained of all utility value. Why do you think you can last until the Supervisory Committee fulfills their promise?"
"Actually, when the Four Guardian Towers were established, their effects were already showing. Obviously they're deceiving you."
Jiang Lai's communication this time was very strategic.
From the beginning, pretending to be ignorant, starting with questions to analyze the special grade cursed spirits' hearts, to later revealing his disguise and delving step by step into the topic, directly striking at the cooperation between cursed spirits and the Supervisory Committee, shaking the foundation of balance.
[......] Hanami didn't respond immediately.
After a moment, she said in a calm tone: [If that organization truly intends to move against us, we naturally won't let them off either.]
Hanami faced Jiang Lai, her tree-branch eyes showing no readable emotion:
[Do you plan to cooperate with us? If you can guarantee establishing new Four Guardian Towers and giving us cursed spirits a brand new world separate from humans, we can naturally cooperate with you too.]
Not dividing territories for separate rule, but a similar brand new world, like splitting the world into surface and reverse sides, not interfering with each other yet existing simultaneously.
If they could truly establish surface and reverse worlds, separating humans and cursed spirits, it would benefit both humans and cursed spirits. Jiang Lai would like to try this.
However, creating surface and reverse worlds was no easy task. Making promises lightly would seem false.
Therefore, Jiang Lai said frankly: "Before establishing new Four Guardian Towers, I cannot guarantee the results." At this point, his words suddenly shifted: "But they've already failed, haven't they?"
Jiang Lai's words were incredibly calm. His lips curved slightly, his eyebrows carrying a certain bold confidence: "What I can guarantee is that I'm stronger than them."
Before results are determined, strength is authority! Jiang Lai had this confidence.