With the funding issue resolved, Kana Shizumi finally smiled in relief.
No more digging through trash. Pretty damn nice~
That left the real business to discuss.
He raised a hand to his chest. Just as he was about to speak, Kenjaku beat him to it.
"How is the Sky-Covering Jade fusion progressing?"
—This guy always spoke before him, and his words always seemed to have some kind of mind-reading effect. It would be a lie to say that did not put pressure on him.
Kana Shizumi secretly composed himself, adjusted his state, and answered cautiously.
"There... shouldn't be any problems."
"That's good."
Kenjaku casually opened the gift box. When he saw the lettering painted across it with a few streaks of gold dust, one brow rose.
"Oh... a 'famous confection' passed down for over three hundred years? I remember you had to line up to buy these."
He pinched one up and dangled it from his fingers, giving it a light shake to scatter some of the powdered frosting that had not stuck.
"You didn't need a ticket?"
"As long as you got there early, it was fine. I started lining up at midnight."
"Mm, that was thoughtful of you."
Taking a bite that consumed over half of it, Kenjaku expressionlessly tossed the rest onto the tabletop and wrapped it in a tissue.
Tsk...
Licking his thumb, he sighed.
"It tastes far worse than it did three hundred years ago. The craftsmanship has deteriorated badly... just like this tedious Jujutsu Society."
Anyway, back to the point.
"How did this mission feel?"
When dealing with someone this important, answering whatever they asked was usually the safest choice.
Kana Shizumi thought for a moment.
"I felt a little like a maggot..."
"That is perfectly normal. As I told you before, your strength can only become complete once you recover all six Six Paths Cursed Objects."
Right.
Six Paths Tsuji.
During their earlier small talk, Kenjaku had laid out everything related to the thing, giving Kana Shizumi the general picture.
In essence, Kenjaku had probably forcibly experimented on six individuals who possessed a portion of Cursed Energy but had yet to fully display their talents...
Ignoring the opinions of those involved, all he could say was that this was very jujutsu.
Honestly, Kana Shizumi had no particular feelings about the philosophy behind it, the spirit of research, and all that.
After all, he did not do research, nor did he understand the joy of it. He had no common ground with this thousand-year-old monster...
As for finding resonance... once the version updated to the Culling Game, Kenjaku could go find Takaba himself.
When it came to performing cross-talk for an aloof noblewoman, it still took a professional.
What Kana Shizumi cared most about was where the other five Six Paths Cursed Objects had ended up.
"You said all six should be in there, right?"
Kenjaku shrugged, his tone rather helpless.
"The last time I checked was about seventy-six years ago. They were indeed all there at the time..."
Fuck, you gave me a loaded gun without checking it first!
Thinking about how collecting all six items could conservatively raise his attributes by over thirty points, Kana Shizumi was so anxious he could practically piss blood.
"Then do I still have a chance to see the other five?"
"There should not be any problem."
Kenjaku pondered for a moment, his eyes rolling upward. After seeming to rack his brains for a while, he said,
"Because your Crimson Blood Manipulation is somewhat special, it resonates with each of those Cursed Objects. So theoretically, as long as you get close enough, you should be able to sense them."
Kana Shizumi gave it some simple thought, then revealed an expression of sudden realization.
So you took me apart like Sun Wukong and scattered my Six Roots, is that it?
"Though there are some discrepancies, from an experimental standpoint, obtaining even one is already quite good."
So.
"What kind of improvement did the Sky-Covering Jade bring you?"
Kenjaku leaned his upper body over the table, propped his chin on his left hand, and looked at Kana Shizumi with an "interested" expression.
"Honestly, I am quite looking forward to seeing its actual performance... After all, this is a way of combining two different things. Let me see a little of your potential, will you?"
In fact, aside from increasing attributes, the Six Paths Tsuji Cursed Tool also possessed some special effects.
Kana Shizumi rubbed the back of his head and gave a sound of acknowledgment.
But he did not forget to lay some groundwork first.
"I am still not very proficient in applying it, so the result may not satisfy you..."
Kenjaku was remarkably magnanimous at times like this. He waved a hand and smiled.
"It is all right. Before a caterpillar breaks from its cocoon and becomes a butterfly, demanding that it fly is unrealistic."
Are all you old relics who survived the Heian Era this cultured?
He remembered that in the original story, although Sukuna had looked disgusted when Yorozu sickened him, he had still remembered to correct the issue in her haiku.
Even as he silently mocked them, he let out a soft breath and slowly walked to a spot near the balcony.
Kenjaku's hideout was in a standalone apartment building somewhere in the suburbs. From the eighth floor, several dozen meters above the ground... an ordinary person falling from there would most likely die on the spot.
Yet Kana Shizumi simply jumped down without a care.
His figure shot below the horizon and vanished from Kenjaku's sight.
The latter was in no hurry. He even had time to take a sip of matcha to wash away the overly rich sweetness lingering in his mouth.
Then.
Holding the cup, Kenjaku watched Kana Shizumi's figure slowly rise back up.
His hands remained slightly spread apart, while an invisible force field seemed to surround his body.
Kana Shizumi's eyes were slightly closed as Cursed Energy continuously circulated through his body before pouring entirely into the Sky-Covering Jade lodged within his heart.
Flight...
That was one of the Cursed Tool's special abilities.
"Oh."
Even Kenjaku could not help voicing his admiration at the sight.
"Though I had anticipated it before, I did not expect its actual effect to be like this... As expected, theoretical foundations ultimately require reality to verify them."
After his sigh of admiration, Kenjaku looked toward Kana Shizumi with interest and urged him on.
"So, how does flying feel?"
"Uh... not very good."
Because it was vastly different from Satoru Gojo's effortless state.
Without the Six Eyes to support him, Kana Shizumi had to devote part of his attention to maintaining this hovering state.
Moreover, the Sky-Covering Jade essentially created a force field that lifted his whole body, making it a form of flight...
The advantage was that it could maintain airborne movement within a certain range and could theoretically even carry passengers. The disadvantage was that, like a domain, it was easily disrupted and destroyed by outside interference.
As for whether he could fly...
This ability was actually rather awkward in the Jujutsu Society.
After all, once someone reached the level of a Grade 1 Sorcerer, merely using Cursed Energy Reinforcement on their body let them fall dozens of meters without injury and run across walls and rooftops as if on level ground.
You could fly, but you were not even as fast as Gojo.
You could not even eat shit while it was still hot...
Before you continue