Hoshimi Shrine

"Religious infighting."

Satoru Gojo spoke first, hands in his pockets as the tip of his shoe kicked aside a charred fragment of stone on the ground.

"When I was handling cursed spirit missions out in the countryside, I saw plenty of religious groups beating each other up. The believers' offering money, land, and whatever little reputation they had were all worth fighting over.

"An organization like the Pan Star Religious Group, when you got down to it, was just a pack of lunatics trying to monopolize the faith market. Whenever someone was more popular than them, they went and wrecked the place."

"Gojo, don't be so naive."

Suguru Geto sighed and helplessly interrupted Gojo's casual remarks. "This shrine is very small. Other than drawing a bit of attention during its annual festival, its gates are basically shut the rest of the year. The Pan Star Religious Group had no reason to deploy a Grade 1 Curse User over such a small amount of offering money.

"I checked Jujutsu High's classified archives. This place is called Hoshimi Shrine, an inheritance passed down through generations by the Hoshimi Family, who possessed shrine maiden blood."

Beside them, Ieiri Shoko shed her usual lazy demeanor and took the conversation up herself. "Once, while sorting through the logistics archives, I came across an ancient book classified as top secret. I flipped through a few pages and saw a related record."

She paused, as though recalling the exact wording.

"Hoshimi Shrine seemed to be divided into two layers, an 'outer' and an 'inner,' with the Killing Stone on the back mountain as the boundary. If you circled the Killing Stone three times to the left and three times to the right, you could open the barrier and enter the true shrine."

"By the way, Killing Stones are stones found near volcanic craters. After prolonged exposure to sulfurous acid and hydrogen sulfide gases, they possess some toxicity and cursed energy. Some shrines worship them as sacred stones. Remember not to touch one directly."

Gojo raised his head and swept his gaze over the surroundings, pushing his sunglasses up. "Two layers, outer and inner. So this dump we're seeing now is just a shell?"

Lu Ping keenly grasped the crucial point and spoke up. "The enemy's objective seems very clear. They prioritized sending the stronger Grade 1 Curse User to search the shrine's storehouse. That suggests they weren't simply here to destroy the place. They were most likely looking for something."

At Lu Ping's reminder, Gojo's azure Six Eyes narrowed slightly, as though he had recalled something.

He rubbed his chin and snorted. "Now that you mention it, the old fossils back home did mutter something about Hoshimi Shrine storing one of Ryomen Sukuna's fingers as a 'warding relic.'"

"Ryomen Sukuna..." Geto's expression grew more solemn. "That terrifying being with four arms and four eyes, called the King of Curses by later generations? The one who became twenty Special Grade cursed object fingers after death, where even a single finger could cause a large-scale disaster?"

"Yeah, that infamous bastard." Gojo nodded. "Apparently, as long as its seal remained stable, that finger could emit unique cursed energy fluctuations that drove away nearby cursed spirits and kept the area safe."

After considering it, he added, "But if the seal was removed, the Special Grade cursed object known as a Sukuna Finger would become a powerful 'curse' that attracted cursed spirits."

Shoko looked toward the gloomy back mountain with concern. "Since a Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit appeared in the shrine earlier, does that mean the seal has already cracked? If we don't recover and reinforce it in time, the people nearby will suffer."

Gojo immediately nodded. His Six Eyes activated in an instant, his gaze piercing through layer upon layer of tree shadows to accurately lock onto the Killing Stone hidden by a barrier deep in the back mountain.

The four of them slowly made their way toward the back mountain. Along the way, Geto thoughtfully reasoned, "The Pan Star Religious Group... These fanatics' operation targeting Sukuna's finger is most likely connected to their doctrine of 'maintaining Tengen's absolute singularity.'"

However, before they could approach the Killing Stone, Lu Ping's brow suddenly furrowed.

The Three Corpses within him became unusually active at that moment, sharpening his five senses to their limits.

"Stop." Lu Ping called out in a low voice, his expression turning ugly. "There's a smell... like greasy, disgusting food scraps that had been left for far too long and had completely rotted and gone sour. It's constantly drifting over from the Killing Stone."

"This smell doesn't seem to come from a cursed spirit. It feels more like... a curse?"

Hearing that, Gojo raised an eyebrow. "Not bad. You felt it too?"

"That nauseating smell comes from the cursed energy fluctuations of the King of Curses' finger. The fact that we can sense it now means there are two possibilities."

Gojo held up two fingers, seemingly waiting for someone to ask further.

On the other side, Geto irritably picked up the thread. "First, the barrier Hoshimi Shrine used to safeguard the Special Grade cursed object was dismantled from the outside by a sorcerer proficient in barrier techniques."

"Second, the Sukuna Finger, a Special Grade cursed object, has already been taken out of the shrine inside the barrier. It is continuously releasing cursed residue into the real world and constantly drawing cursed spirits near!"

Having his thunder stolen, Gojo made a face before continuing. "I don't know how they did it, but the current situation is undoubtedly the latter. At least, I can't see any signs that the barrier was damaged."

"Their operation already succeeded?"

Lu Ping frowned, rapidly connecting every clue as the deduction in his mind gradually became clear.

He knew there was a strong chance this was the work of Zenin Toji, who shared his Zenin Clan bloodline and bore the title Heavenly Tyrant.

Zenin Toji's Heavenly Tyrant was an extraordinarily rare form of special Binding. He had been born with zero cursed energy in exchange for an exceptional body and physical capabilities.

Since it had not been acquired later in life but had existed from the moment of his birth, it was called Heavenly Bestowal—a gift from heaven.

The higher a sorcerer's innate potential, the greater the increase in ability gained through the Binding.

The greater the amount of cursed energy one was born with, and the stronger one's innate technique, the stronger the Heavenly Tyrant abilities gained through that conversion would be.

In other words, without the special physique of the Heavenly Tyrant, Zenin Toji would still have been an outstanding sorcerer.

Perhaps because of that, he seemed to innately understand how to formulate detailed plans that effectively targeted sorcerers, earning him the title of Sorcerer Killer.

Even Satoru Gojo, hailed as the strongest Limitless sorcerer in a thousand years, had suffered greatly at Toji's hands before fully awakening.

This was trouble... If Toji came into contact with Jujutsu High's strongest duo ahead of time, it might have unforeseeable consequences for the coming Star Plasma Vessel Escort Incident.

The four continued forward as they discussed the matter, soon arriving beside the Killing Stone Gojo had pinpointed, hidden along the passageway.

A cold bead of sweat slid down Lu Ping's temple. The pressure brought on by the uncontrollable chain reaction of future events was even greater than when he had fought the Grade 1 Curse User!

The Three Corpses within him quickly devoured his negative emotions and converted them into cursed energy to nourish him, but his concern for the future had undoubtedly reached its peak.

It was not that he feared being unable to win, but that he worried about the consequences brought by the unknown. After all, he still did not possess the ability to control the entire situation.

At that moment, a pale hand reached out from beside him and wiped away the sweat. Shoko tilted her head in puzzlement. "Was this summer really so depressing?"

Lu Ping gave a soft hum, but his pupils suddenly contracted.

As Gojo took the lead and circled the Killing Stone three times to the left and three times to the right, an invisible barrier opened, and a refreshing night breeze slowly blew in from another space.

Before their eyes lay a distinct footprint on the ground, completely devoid of any cursed energy fluctuations.