Jujutsu Kaisen: Nozomi no Sora

Use your imagination.

Pour out everything concrete in your heart from the depths of your soul—

The power of the incantation forms an outline, covers it, and then converges!

Imagine the power to change all of this, imagine your future self that can transcend the limitations of fate!

"Domain Expansion—"

"The Land of Nothingness!"

The moment the incantation was cast, the world lost its color.

Centered on Xuan Yi, the pitch-black lake surface suddenly erupted, like an overturned ink bottle, swallowing up all the crimson of the Fallen Flowers of the Underworld. There was no sky, no boundaries, not even the concept of "up" and "down," only an endless expanse of empty water, so still it was suffocating.

This is Xuan Yi's innate domain.

A void where "nothing ever happened".

Within this realm, all of the "past" will be erased, and all "existence" will return to the original nothingness.

Apart from the caster standing at the very center of the domain—the only "existent" in this world.

The water was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting nothing.

Tsuchimikado Yoko and the shrine maiden Ikube Tsubaki stood frozen in place.

Xuan Yi raised his sickle, slowly approached, and then slashed down!

Their pupils dilated, their expressions frozen in final shock, and then their physical forms seemed to transform into reflections in the water, crushed and blurred by invisible ripples, slowly sinking to the bottom of the dark lake.

There were no screams, no struggles, and not even the aftershocks of the dissipating curse power were felt.

It was as if they had never existed anywhere in the first place.

Xuan Yi lowered his hands, silently watching the two reflections gradually sinking beneath the water's surface. Like the moon sinking into a deep well, they sank deeper and deeper until they were finally swallowed up by that pure "nothingness."

A sound like shattering glass rang out.

The domain has been removed.

The dark fragments scattered like snowflakes, revealing the dilapidated night view of the park outside.

Tsuchimikado Yoru and Ikube Tsubaki remained standing in the same spot, but their faces had lost all life, like two hollowed-out statues.

Moments later, their bodies began to weather away from their fingertips, turning into fine dust that silently dissipated in the wind.

Xuan Yi stepped forward and bent down to pick up two small porcelain shards from the ashes.

It was exactly the same as the one that Mechanical Pill had asked him to send to the Nishimiya family for appraisal.

"really……"

He squinted, his fingertips tracing the cold surface of the porcelain shard.

The ancient sorcerers who made the pact created a cursed object, which was then ingested by the recipient to achieve the effect of reincarnation.

The original host was probably a member of the Panxing Cult.

Xuan Yi pondered silently, but his gaze was involuntarily drawn to the enormous black shadow still struggling in the sky.

The giant catfish spirit was still writhing in mid-air, its belly swollen violently, as if it were experiencing a raging riot. Filthy cursed power seeped from the cracks in its skin, emitting a chilling hiss.

I almost forgot about Senior Peach.

Just as I was thinking this—

puff!

Several sharp wind blades suddenly slashed out from inside the cursed spirit's abdomen, tearing several huge gashes in its belly! Foul-smelling black blood cascaded down like a waterfall, and the huge body stiffened in mid-air for a moment before exploding with a bang!

Amidst a rain of blood, a petite figure emerged from the sky riding a broom.

Xi Gongtao was covered in sticky bodily fluids, her hair clinging wetly to her cheeks, completely unlike her usual adorable, mischievous self. She landed on the ground, wiped her face, and saw Xuan Yi standing motionless, instantly enraged.

"You bastard!" She grabbed Xuan Yi by the collar, her eyes wide with anger. "You really didn't even think of helping out?!"

"Sorry, sorry," Xuan Yi scratched his head, smiled wryly, and raised his hands in surrender. "This enemy... is still a bit troublesome."

His voice sounded somewhat weak.

Xi Gongtao was stunned for a moment before noticing that his body was tattered and smelled burnt. She then let out a soft groan and released her grip.

Having just dispelled the domain, Xuan Yi was now in a state of spell meltdown. However, due to the special nature of the Tsukumogami technique, the pre-injected spell power seemed to still be usable, so his weapon was at least still functional.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the surging emptiness within him, and glanced around.

"Let's hurry, we need to find the wedge to untie the tent."

"Actually," Nishimiya Momo suddenly spoke, pointing to a spot not far away, "that thing is right here."

Xuan Yi followed her gaze.

In the center of the park, below the spot where the catfish spirit once resided, a long, black wedge covered in runes is deeply embedded in the ground, surrounded by intricate barrier patterns.

The existence of that cursed spirit seemed to be for the purpose of concealing this wedge.

Xuan Yi frowned: "Using cursed spirits to hide the barrier's core, and then arranging curse masters to defend the surrounding area...?"

Although it doesn't require setting up a separate tent to isolate the array points as the songstress teacher said, if you can't defeat the stationed curse masters, you can't bypass them to exorcise the cursed spirits hiding in the array points, so the effect is actually the same.

Xuan Yi stepped forward, gripped the sickle tightly, and yanked the wedge up!

hum-

The tent overhead shook violently, then dissipated like the receding tide.

"Looks like we're the first one!" Nishimiya Momo muttered to herself as she looked around at the area still covered by other tents.

Just then, Xuan Yi's phone rang.

The screen displayed Nishimiya Sousuke's number.

"Hello, Mr. Nishimiya?"

"Ah! Finally connected! Xuan Yi, we've made progress on those cursed objects you brought last time." The voice on the other end of the phone was more solemn than ever before. "It seems to be a secret technique where someone makes a pact with a dying person, turning their soul into a cursed object so that they can be resurrected in the future."

Xuan Yi paused, then asked with some confusion, "Hey, didn't we already know that?"

"Last time we were able to confirm that those burial items were cursed objects used to seal souls, but if it's now confirmed that they're used for reincarnation, that's a completely different matter!"

Nishimiya Sousuke's voice suddenly rose in pitch.

"If the Panxing Sect truly possesses such items, there would be far more than just four! If hundreds or even thousands of ancient sorcerers were to awaken simultaneously in this era—"

That would be an absolutely terrifying thing!

You understand, right, Nishio-kun! Feed? Feed…”

Xuan Yi did not answer him again.

Because the terrifying scene that Nishimiya Sousuke had been fearing had already appeared before his eyes.

At the end of the street ahead, hundreds of expressionless people wandered through the Kyoto night, men, women, young and old, like walking corpses.

They chanted absurd hymns, their voices ringing out in a chillingly synchronized manner:

"Heaven is above, its light shines in all directions, returning to the heavenly granary, sharing in longevity and prosperity..."

Xuan Yi's pupils suddenly contracted.

These people... are not all true followers of the Panxing Cult; they've probably been brainwashed using magic techniques!

Instead of using "inaction transformation" to modify the brain structure of non-sorcerers, they directly used the most primitive method—selecting subjects to swallow cursed objects.

But Fushiguro Megumi had said this before: "An ordinary person who swallows a cursed object will definitely die!"

The reason is that non-warrior constitutions cannot withstand the souls of those ancient warlocks.

However... there are exceptions.

Xuan subconsciously recalled the "Nine Phases of the Cursed Fetus Diagram".

Humans can gain the ability to move by swallowing the Nine Phases Diagram, which allows it to take on flesh; however, this type of cursed object also has specific conditions for creation.

That was a half-human, half-cursed spirit fetus created by Rōsō when he was active in the Meiji era as Kamo Kenshū, using a woman with a special constitution who could conceive a cursed spirit child!

This special physique is something that Lu Suo could never find in a short time, let alone mass-produce.

Moreover, the head of the Xigong family has already examined those cursed items. If they are indeed similar to the Nine Phases Diagram, with that woman's knowledge and abilities, there is absolutely no way she wouldn't be able to tell.

Could it be that Lu Suo is planning to...?

"Mr. Nishimiya," Genichi's voice was a little dry, "what would happen if an ordinary person swallowed these cursed items?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

"You will die." Nishimiya Sousuke's voice was terrifyingly low. "But this kind of cursed object is based on storing souls, and we don't know exactly what method the creator used."

Therefore, these souls can still move freely for a long time after they are released.

If an ordinary person were to ingest these things, their body would be controlled by those ancient souls for a short period of time, and ultimately—

It has become a complete and utter curse!

really.

Because he lost his real abilities, did Lu Su replace all the ancient sorcerers who were resurrected through flesh-binding in the original "Death and Extinction Journey" and the modern sorcerers who were awakened through "Inaction Transformation" with curses?

This guy still wants to raise poisonous insects!

Nishimiya Momo hovered in mid-air on her broom, gazing at the dense, surging crowd in the distance, her fingers unconsciously tightening around the broom handle.

"Those are...ordinary people?"

Her voice sounded a little strained.

Before she could finish speaking, a bone-chilling cold suddenly crept up her spine.

Even breathing turned into a white blur in an instant.

A voice, carrying a strange, clear chill that seemed to freeze the air, drifted slowly from above.

"What's going on? There are warlocks here?"

Xuan Yi turned around in a daze, his exhaled white mist instantly condensing into tiny frost crystals in front of him—

He saw a boy dressed in a kasaya standing on a street lamp not far away.

Her short hair was ear-length, and her entire body was snow-white, except for a striking red streak at the back of her head.

"Rime?!"

"You know me?" The boy tilted his head, his tone genuinely puzzled. "Strange, I don't remember ever revealing my name to anyone."

He paused, then lowered his eyes indifferently.

"Forget it, they're just a bunch of scoundrels."

He raised his right hand, palm up. The icy blue magical power flowed silently in his hand, condensing into a handful of fine ice crystal dust, like frost flowers blown away by breath in winter, lying quietly in his pale palm.

Then, he gently blew a breath into his palm—

"Ice Freezing Spell—"

The moment the ice crystals scattered, the fine frost expanded instantly, and the extremely cold blizzard transformed into a white torrent that devoured everything, freezing even the air into visible ice crystals wherever it passed.

Xuan felt his body temperature plummet to freezing point, and his limbs lost all feeling in an instant. The massive ice layer froze his body in place, and no matter how much he activated his spell power, he couldn't break free!

Immediately, a huge ice pillar formed above his head and slammed down on the top of his head!

""Straight Waterfall"! "

"Xuan Yi!"

Just as Nishimiya Momo, who had narrowly escaped being frozen in mid-air, was about to rush to her rescue, she heard a crisp clapping sound.

Snapped.

A crisp clap of hands suddenly rang out in the cold night.

Xuan felt the scene before him suddenly reverse—not from the dizziness caused by high-speed movement, but from the strange feeling of space being replaced. The extreme cold and restraint around him disappeared in an instant, replaced by the cold night wind from above.

The next second, he found himself standing on the street lamp where Rime had been standing.

Frozen in the thick ice, with that deadly icicle hanging overhead—

He has become Rime himself.

"What?!"

Rime's pupils contracted sharply. He had no time to react, let alone undo his spell. The "Straight Waterfall" ice pillar, which he had personally condensed, crashed down on his own skull!

boom--!!

Amidst a deafening cracking sound, the icicle and the ice layer shattered simultaneously.

Not far away, a burly figure with a bare upper body was slowly walking towards them step by step.

His bulging muscles were still covered with undried blood and filth, and a nonchalant smile hung on his rugged face, as if the "unjust game" that had just been enough to turn the tide of life and death was nothing more than a trivial matter he had done casually.

"I didn't expect you guys to be the first ones out," Toudou Aoi raised an eyebrow, her gaze sweeping over Genichi, before she grinned, revealing a menacing smile. "Not bad, a first-year kid!"

Just as Xuan Yi was about to say something, a kind of fanatical and chilling light suddenly ignited in Dongtang Kui's eyes.

He suddenly leaned closer, staring intently at Xuan Yi, his lips twisted into a grimace, his voice filled with an undeniable urgency:

"tell me--

What kind of woman do you like?