Chapter 199 : Jiang Lai - Familiar greetings ()
Having made up his mind, Jiang Lai decided to leave the school to find a target character's invitation.
Currently, internal matters at Tokyo Jujutsu High were mostly resolved. The [Correct and Reverse] Tower on Itadori Yuji had been confirmed removed, so he no longer needed to maintain his disguise and stay to observe.
Therefore, Jiang Lai in his Little Sheep disguise once again shouldered his small backpack and stepped out of the school gates under the pretext of going out for training with Okkotsu-senpai.
To this, Gojo Satoru curiously asked Jiang Lai: "Eh? Lai could also go out using my name, why didn't you use my reputation?"
Jiang Lai: "Because compared to your reputation, obviously, going out for training with Okkotsu-senpai makes Nanami more at ease."
Gojo Satoru leaned back tactically, his tone rising in doubt: "Please, I'm the strongest jujutsu sorcerer! How could Nanami not be at ease?"
Jiang Lai: "Your strength is naturally unquestionable." Here he paused slightly. "However, Nanami might be worried about me becoming a second annoying cat like you......though I'm already an annoying sheep."
Gojo Satoru: "???"
In any case, Jiang Lai smoothly left the school under the excuse of going out for training with Okkotsu Yuta.
Not long after going down the mountain, he temporarily parted ways with Okkotsu Yuta, then switched to his cursed spirit form in an empty alley.
Jiang Lai didn't even rush out, but first used his true protagonist phone-kun and hacking skills in the alley to clear surveillance footage of the route he and Okkotsu Yuta had taken, just in case.
Only after confirming both electronic and cursed energy traces were eliminated did he leisurely step out of the alley.
Very good, Jiang Lai thought. Leaving the school was complete. According to plan, next he should find a target character to follow to the banquet location and "borrow" an invitation.
Initially, he had targeted the familiar Jogo and his group. Because Jiang Lai knew Jogo and the others were located at Mount Fuji, and he was relatively familiar with Jogo and the other Special Grade cursed spirits.
But later, he reconsidered and changed his mind.
On one hand, Mount Fuji was somewhat distant. On the other hand, Jogo, Hanami, and Dagon usually traveled together and wouldn't be alone, so "borrowing" an invitation from them wouldn't be suitable.
Following the principle of proximity, Jiang Lai decided to first set his target in Tokyo.
He didn't blindly search Tokyo, but opened his phone again, using technical means to secretly infiltrate [Window]'s backend data and review recent cursed spirit detection records.
Skipping information on low-level cursed spirits, Jiang Lai directly looked at cursed energy information that [Window] had detected as suspected Grade 1 or Special Grade cursed spirits.
Among them, one message caught Jiang Lai's attention.
This was a specific [Window] record.
[Window] initially observed a Special Grade cursed spirit embryo, but before they could dispatch someone to handle it, the embryo hatched. This came with a photo of the cursed spirit (taken with a special cursed tool camera).
The newly born Special Grade cursed spirit seemed very good at hiding. Its cursed energy traces appeared and disappeared erratically, making it impossible for [Window] to lock onto its exact location.
However, in recent days, its cursed energy detection trajectory seemed to show that this newly born Special Grade cursed spirit was moving toward somewhere outside Tokyo.
Seeing this, Jiang Lai confirmed in his heart: this was the target he was looking for.
Thinking this, Jiang Lai's eyes glanced again at the photo on the screen, memorizing the Special Grade cursed spirit's appearance and recent locations where its cursed energy had manifested, then put away his phone and set off directly.
According to the cursed energy trail trajectory detected by [Window], this Special Grade cursed spirit's movement direction should be somewhere outside the western side of Tokyo's main urban area. He could directly anticipate and rush to the vicinity.
A newly born Special Grade cursed spirit......Jiang Lai thought silently. Perfect timing to let this newborn young cursed spirit experience the dangers of jujutsu society early (not).
Using spatial techniques, Jiang Lai moved swiftly all the way, as if treading on morning wind as he passed through the city gates to reach his predicted location.
Outside Tokyo's main urban area, there was a relatively sparsely populated suburban area. There were almost no pedestrians here, vehicles rushed past, and trees grew abundantly.
The moment he arrived here and landed on the ground, Jiang Lai keenly sensed the mixed cursed energy in the air. Though this cursed energy was chaotic, it wasn't dense, so [Window] and ordinary passing jujutsu sorcerers couldn't detect it.
It seemed his guess was correct, Jiang Lai thought. The banquet gathering location was indeed nearby.
At this moment, Jiang Lai wore his original black windcoat ensemble, standing among the forest. With [Existence] five senses fully activated beyond ordinary humans and cursed spirits, his gaze swept over this area while infusing cursed energy into the breeze to expand his perception range.
There were mixed cursed energy traces here, but no clearly concentrated cursed energy figures. Jiang Lai guessed the banquet gathering place wasn't on the ground surface.
As his thoughts churned, his gaze keenly caught a flash of gray in the distance.
It was that newly born Special Grade cursed spirit! Jiang Lai immediately connected it with the photo captured by [Window].
The newborn Special Grade cursed spirit's birthplace was a fast-paced large company, formed by the accumulation of various negative emotions from people there. It looked like an upright walking, half-human-height rat with a string of miscellaneous items around its waist.
It was gray in color, moved quickly, and was good at hiding. This was also why it had evaded [Window]'s multiple detections.
However, it couldn't escape Jiang Lai's visual capture.
The gray rat-shaped cursed spirit crept and ran close to the ground at extreme speed. Logically, no one should be able to catch up to it. However, in the next instant, a faster shadow flashed past its edge, so fast it couldn't even see what it was!
Gray rat-shaped cursed spirit: "?"
What just ran past? Actually ran faster than me, a rat!
After instinctively sighing, the gray rat-shaped cursed spirit didn't pay much attention to this matter. It remembered the address given by the invitation sender, sniffing and stopping along the way, finally stopping under a tall dead tree.
The banquet address was below this tree. Now it just needed to take out the special invitation to open the jujutsu formation here.
The gray rat-shaped cursed spirit thought about the steps, reaching for the deep purple diamond-shaped leaf tied around its waist.
However, its hand came up empty.
"?" The gray rat-shaped cursed spirit paused slightly, turning its head to look where the invitation should have been hanging. There was nothing there at all.
The gray rat-shaped cursed spirit's face showed an indecipherable confused expression.
......Wait, where was its invitation? It was clearly there just now, why had it disappeared in an instant?
Recalling the shadow that had just flashed past, something it couldn't see clearly at all, the gray rat-shaped cursed spirit fell silent for a second, then formed huge words in its heart:
There's something dirty in this place, and it's not joking!!
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Jiang Lai, who had already used the invitation to enter the banquet venue, walked calmly down the path before him.
Just now, after locking onto his target, he hadn't hesitated much. With spatial techniques assisted by wind power at full speed, he easily hooked away that deep purple diamond-shaped leaf while brushing past the gray rat-shaped cursed spirit.
Then, he arrived one step ahead at the dead tree where the cursed energy was densest in his field of vision, and based on his guess, tossed out the deep purple diamond-shaped leaf he was playing with.
Immediately, the scene before him suddenly changed, and a cellar door with strange patterns appeared below. The cellar door opened naturally, revealing a stairway leading downward.
Really underground, Jiang Lai's brows raised slightly. Not bad, quite down-to-earth, and down-to-underworld too.
This stairway was spiral-shaped, leading round and round downward. Unknown gemstones were embedded on the sides, gleaming faintly in the darkness.
Jiang Lai patiently walked slowly while maintaining vigilance, covering himself with techniques and silently counting the steps he had taken.
After walking exactly one hundred steps, he finally stepped onto level ground.
The scene before him came into view:
Just like a banquet hall in human society, before him was a spacious and magnificent hall with elegant and grand decorations. Purple crystal chandeliers above shone with strange light.
Round rotating tables and long tables were arranged in order, with beautiful dried flowers and fine white bones placed on them. Some small wine glasses were filled with bright red liquid, whether wine or blood was unclear. At the same time, dishes contained things of unknown nature.
Cursed spirits didn't need to eat; these arrangements were more like atmospheric entertainment.
There were already quite a few cursed spirits at the scene. Various Grade 1 and Special Grade cursed spirits gathered here, chatting casually in small groups, their cursed energy interweaving and colliding in the air.
It really had the feeling of breaking through dimensional barriers again, an otherworld banquet gathering, Jiang Lai thought whimsically. The intelligent cursed spirits in the new series seemed to all have their own thoughts and lives.
He couldn't help but remember his conversation with the cursed spirit Hanami when resolving the [Displacement] Tower. If possible, dividing the world into front and back, with humans and cursed spirits each living their own lives, would indeed be nice.
As thoughts flowed through his mind, Jiang Lai's actions weren't idle either.
He roughly scanned a few times, generally memorizing the venue's terrain structure and personnel distribution.
Jiang Lai didn't rush to join the cursed spirits' conversations, but found a relatively secluded position with a good view to quietly observe from the shadows first.
Black hair and black clothes easily blended with the dark background. Plus, with Jiang Lai deliberately restraining his cursed energy aura, few surrounding cursed spirits noticed him.
He sat leisurely alone in the corner, playing with dried flowers on the table with one hand, seemingly carefully arranging them methodically, but actually constantly glancing at the scene from the corner of his eye.
Just then, Jiang Lai sensed someone approaching beside him. He quickly withdrew his gaze and looked sideways.
A figure in a moon-white robe with a hood stood beside him. Jiang Lai immediately judged the other was human, not a cursed spirit.
Surprised for a moment, Jiang Lai quickly calmed his emotions. He wasn't too surprised about humans being present.
After all, he had learned from Choso's words before that besides cursed spirits, curse users occasionally came here too.
Speaking of which, this human was really strange......You could say he was conspicuous, yet he wore a tightly concealing robe and hood. You could say he was hidden, yet he chose a bright moon-white color. Somewhat contradictory.
Jiang Lai thought casually, raising his eyes.
Just then, the other person slightly lifted a corner of his hood, revealing a face gentle as jade, with a smile at the corners of his lips, saying warmly: "Excuse me, may I sit in the seat next to you?"
It was Gojo Kyufuin!