Chapter 167 : Zhuangzi's Dawn Dream
After obtaining information from Lady Zenin, Jiang Lai, who already had some guesses, prepared to immediately set out for the [Crossroads] tower.
According to the final content of this prophecy, "Don't lose, don't forget, friends looking out for each other," Jiang Lai felt the breakthrough point most likely lay in the friends element.
Logically speaking, Geto Suguru and Ieiri Shoko were Gojo Satoru's close friends from their youth, so this journey should include them.
However, Geto Suguru, who was currently infiltrating the Supervisory Committee, wasn't convenient for direct contact with them. If he went to the [Crossroads] tower, it might attract the Supervisory Committee's attention and alert the enemy.
And Ieiri Shoko, who mastered output-type reverse cursed technique, was even more difficult to leave casually. As an indispensable healer in the jujutsu world, she usually needed to stay at Tokyo Jujutsu High. The students and other jujutsu sorcerers all needed her.
So the ones who ultimately embarked on the journey were still Little Sheep disguised Jiang Lai and Okkotsu Yuta.
Under the pretext of field training, the two of them had great freedom of movement.
The [Crossroads] tower wasn't in places with convenient transportation like North America or Europe, but on a remote small island in the Pacific Ocean.
For Gojo Satoru, who could fly and teleport, going to such remote islands wasn't a problem. It just required some cursed energy expenditure.
Jiang Lai and Okkotsu Yuta together couldn't be as relaxed as Gojo Satoru.
They bought ship tickets, planning to first take a large ship to a nearby popular tourist island, then rent a yacht to head to the unknown remote island.
"This place is way too remote." Jiang Lai looked at the map he'd searched up on his phone, the small island so inconspicuous in the vast ocean.
He wasn't afraid that rising sea levels might submerge this small island later... Speaking of which, would the Four Guardian Tower still work if it got submerged?
Jiang Lai silently let his imagination run wild in his mind but didn't voice it.
"Indeed very remote." Okkotsu Yuta nodded in agreement. "After all, the Four Guardian Towers emphasize concealment. Fortunately, Gojo-sensei already confirmed the location and informed me, otherwise we'd have to screen islands one by one in this area."
"Yeah, fortunately we don't need to search slowly." Jiang Lai exited the phone map, exhaled, and replied.
At this moment, the two were sitting on a large ship heading out to sea, waiting to reach the popular tourist island before transferring to their target island.
Today was good weather with small waves at sea, and the large ship sailed smoothly on the blue waves.
During the voyage, Okkotsu Yuta was resting with his eyes closed.
Jiang Lai looked down at his phone, opening the new series manga website.
The website had already updated the previous content, similar to what Jiang Lai had experienced, still concealing the disguise matter and appearing as if Little Sheep Jiang Lai was calling for backup.
The manga had updated all the way to Lady Zenin's prophecy.
Jiang Lai's fingertip brushed across the back of his phone. He lowered his eyelids, pondered for a moment, then jumped to the Chinese forum, planning to see other people's guesses.
【As expected, Little Sheep and God Lai really do have a subordinate and boss relationship, or contact person relationship.
Little Sheep followed Okkotsu to find the Four Guardian Towers, informing God Lai at crucial moments to let God Lai handle it!】
【The Position Switch tower was destroyed so easily haha, but I know it's because God Lai convinced the special grades, and Little Sheep cleverly discovered the secret to destroying towers, which is why it was so fast.
I have to say, Brain-kun is quite good at design... actually requiring cursed spirits' power】
【Screenshot meme: (Okkotsu: Drawing sword and looking around in confusion.jpg)】
【Later God Lai appeared again! This time he went ahead to the Zenin family, visiting at night in the misty rain.
The Noble and Base tower doesn't look easy to destroy... After all, it's hard to shake an order that the Zenin family has maintained for a thousand years, right?
But I really want to see those rotten mud shackles broken. What era is this, and the Zenin family is still doing feudalism! Feudalism only leads to death! If they don't reform, there must be revolution!!】
【Grass, why did the poster above suddenly get fired up? Speaking of which, compared to the Zenin family, I'm more interested in the later content, especially the prophecy part…】
【Ah ah, me too!! It's news about Gojo Satoru!!】
【The key point is that this was actively mentioned by God Lai. What does this prove? It proves God Lai still remembers Gojo!
We had analysis before, from that conversation between God Lai and Lady Zenin. At that time, sisters also speculated that God Lai might not have completely lost his memory and was lying low.
Later, the dialogue content between God Lai and Origin further confirmed this point. But up to that point, we could only see that God Lai still remembered things about [Existence] and sensed who the enemy was. His memory wasn't yet complete.
In this prophecy plot part, God Lai actively said 5t5's name, which means God Lai also still remembers those past events, he hasn't truly forgotten Gojo kitty and Geto and the others!!】
【Holy shit, I'm crying wuu wuu, I really thought God Lai had forgotten before, that the past had become incomplete... cried through three handkerchiefs】
【Ah... speaking of which, can this prove God Lai didn't lose his memory? Maybe this isn't out of friends' concern, but simply God Lai wanting to know some information about Gojo Satoru.
Since he's handling the Four Guardian Towers matter, asking about the strongest's intelligence along the way would also be reasonable】
【Grass grass grass, don't, I just opened my celebration champagne! QAQ What if God Lai really doesn't remember Gojo Satoru, what about Gojo kitty?
The prophecy's meaning should be that Gojo kitty is trapped in an if illusion and needs friends to pull him out, right? If God Lai doesn't remember the past, how can he find 5t5 lost in the crossroads? Don't tell me they'll get lost together and feed kills?】
【One-eyed cat, I beg you not to do sinister operations in the late stage (psychological trauma emerging). God Lai and 5t5 can't have problems!!】
【Am I the only one who wants to know what Gojo Satoru's Zhuangzi dawn dream is... It should be a very fulfilling illusion to trap him.
Maybe being intoxicated in beautiful dreams is also a good thing, better than opening eyes again to face this broken reality】
【Do jujutsu sorcerers have absolute perfection? And 5t5 doesn't seem like someone who would indulge in beautiful dreams. He knows reality needs him.
Speaking of which, I really want to know how the Crossroads tower deceived the strongest... Logically, Gojo Satoru wouldn't fall for illusions. He's very clear-headed and has complete memories】
【Then, what if he's not clear-headed and his memory isn't complete, wouldn't he fall in?
What I mean is, the Crossroads tower might be able to block part of his memory. Then based on reality and 5t5's memory, create another path's story. And this other path's story is woven in 5t5's own mind.
At this time, friends are needed to break that world running in his mind and pull him out of the crossroads.】
Jiang Lai's gaze swept over this content, pondering.
He didn't know the Crossroads tower's operating mechanism, but Jiang Lai felt the last few forum users' discussion had some merit.
If Gojo Satoru was awake and retained complete memories, he wouldn't get lost in illusions.
Most likely some content was blocked, then extended and developed based on his self-consciousness, creating a new crossroads story.
It probably wasn't some absolutely happy and fulfilling story from beginning to end, after all, there was no one without regrets in the jujutsu world. Jiang Lai thought. What kind of crossroads would it be?
His gaze fell outside the window, watching the coastline get closer and closer.
With a special whistle blast, the large ship docked.
Okkotsu Yuta and Jiang Lai disembarked, arriving at the bustling harbor. They walked outward mixed in the lively crowd, but stopped at the small boat docking area.
This place provided boat and yacht rental services.
The locals spoke imperfect English, conversing with visiting tourists.
Okkotsu Yuta, who had studied abroad, could communicate fluently in English and was quite wealthy. He directly rented a yacht for a week.
A week was a very long rental period for tourists. Logically, most tourists would only rent for half a day or one day.
But naturally there was no reason not to earn money. The boat owner happily signed a rental contract with Okkotsu Yuta and collected additional security deposit.
When signing the transaction, the local boat owner smoked and casually said: "You two youngsters going on an adventure? Better pay attention to the weather. Can't go to sea anytime."
"Oh, right, when you go out to sea, try not to go too far. Some of the waters around islands here are quite strange, even creating rumors of a new Bermuda Triangle."
Hearing this, Little Sheep Jiang Lai blinked and looked up: "Eh? You mean people have gone missing?"
"There are many unknown small islands around here. Some people seek thrills and want to explore, then they can't be found. So I'm saying, don't wander around."
Is it because of the Crossroads tower, making people fall into some kind of self-dream and then disappear forever? Jiang Lai thought silently. Or maybe it was something Brain-kun set up to keep outsiders away from the tower.
But this also reminded Jiang Lai. He planned to switch to his main body form before landing on the island, using [Existence]'s intuition to find the path.
"Thank you, we'll be careful." Okkotsu Yuta politely nodded and replied.
Okkotsu Yuta and Jiang Lai boarded the yacht, following the map's guidance toward their target island.
Away from the coast and crowds, Jiang Lai switched back to his main body.
Since night travel wasn't needed this time, he changed back to his previous dark blue kimono outfit. He also mobilized cursed energy to conveniently transform his phone's appearance back to the ancient book form to match this kimono and wooden clogs ensemble.
The sea breeze carried some fishy scent, fluttering his flowing sleeves.
Jiang Lai's warm brown eyes gazed ahead, where blue sky and sea intertwined as if encircling the entire world.
This yacht ran at full power and didn't take long to approach the target island.
From outside, this unnamed small island didn't seem special, with lush vegetation and scattered rocks.
However, when approaching, faint mist seemed to rise around them, hazily floating on the sea surface, making it impossible to reach the shore no matter how they sailed.
Okkotsu Yuta frowned slightly, placing one hand on his sword bag, wanting to draw his long sword to cut through this unclear cursed energy mist.
However, Jiang Lai raised his hand to stop him.
"Better not act rashly first." Jiang Lai said. "After all, Satoru is inside, and we don't understand the operating mechanism here."
"......" Okkotsu Yuta was silent for a moment, withdrawing his hand. "Then what should we do, senpai?"
Jiang Lai leaped from the yacht, spatial techniques constructing beneath his feet as he stood on the sea surface.
As [Existence], he could break through everything and naturally wouldn't be blocked by this strange mist.
He tried to guide Okkotsu Yuta to come along, but this mist layer was different from the [Position Switch] tower's ghostly maze, being more like a barrier.
Okkotsu Yuta couldn't penetrate this barrier like [Existence], and it wasn't convenient to directly use violence to break it.
"Since we're here, let me go in and scout first." Jiang Lai thought for a few seconds, stepping forward two steps. He turned back to smile at Okkotsu Yuta. "It's fine, leave it to me for now. I'll find Satoru."
He gripped the ancient book-shaped phone, gently closing it and holding it in his hand.
The dark blue kimono figure merged into that mist.