"Don't push yourself, hero."
Ieiri Shoko had somehow already appeared beside him.
An unlit cigarette hung from her lips, with faint dark circles beneath her eyes.
The dark circles seemed to be getting worse.
The girl rested her slender wrist on Lu Ping's shoulder and skillfully activated her signature technique.
The gentle [Reverse Cursed Technique] flowed into Lu Ping's body through the point of contact like a cool spring.
Positive energy coursed through his limbs and bones.
It rapidly repaired the tiny tears in his muscles, greatly easing that suffocating sense of exhaustion.
Lu Ping let out a long breath, feeling his muddled mind finally clear up somewhat.
"Thanks, Shoko."
The short-haired girl withdrew her hand and shot him an annoyed glare.
"Save the polite nonsense. If you risk your life like that again, I'm not going to bother collecting your corpse."
She gave the boy before her a stern warning.
"You haven't even officially been promoted to Grade 1 yet. Don't ruin your body's foundation ahead of time."
Shoko pointed at her temple, her tone turning extremely grave.
"My Reverse Cursed Technique can only repair ordinary physical injuries."
"If you keep overloading yourself and squeezing out cursed energy, there's a good chance the technique circuits engraved deep within your soul and body will burn out."
"For this kind of special damage involving the brain's delicate structures, even I wouldn't dare guarantee that I could put you back together intact."
A medical expert's warning was no exaggeration.
Lu Ping nodded solemnly.
As a user of two techniques, he understood the danger of operating on two fronts better than anyone. He would have to be more careful from now on.
Although the "Three Corpses Manipulation" could operate automatically within his body, while the "Ten Shadows Technique" was a summoning technique—one supplied cursed energy while the other consumed it, forming a complementary relationship.
But if he also expended cursed energy to enhance his own physical abilities, the burden on his body would increase, making it easier to reach his limit.
No wonder shikigami users themselves had always been considered their weak point. Controlling cursed energy to manipulate shikigami while also using cursed energy to strengthen the body was indeed difficult for sorcerers with limited cursed energy reserves.
Lu Ping could not help thinking so.
Beside him, Satoru Gojo leaned over and draped an arm around Geto's shoulders.
"Shoko's right, but there's no need to make it sound so grim."
The white-haired boy grinned at Lu Ping.
He put away his usual flippancy and once again expressed his thanks in earnest.
To prove that he bore no ill intent,
Satoru Gojo deliberately showed everyone his right hand, which had completely deactivated the [Limitless Technique].
Then he clenched it into a fist.
And very gently tapped Lu Ping on the chest.
It was merely a simple gesture of trust between boys.
"Good thing you were there."
Behind the black lenses, Satoru Gojo's azure eyes shone with sincerity.
"During the Hoshimi Shrine incident last time, it was lucky you were there to save Shoko."
He turned his head to glance at Suguru Geto, who stood safely beside him, and a brilliant smile curved across his lips.
"And this time, you brought Geto back safely too."
The strongest troublemaker tilted his head.
There was a touch of perfectly natural pride and expectation in his voice.
"So what, next time will it be my turn?"
"If you truly need it, I certainly wouldn't mind offering whatever help I can."
Lu Ping spoke evenly, not following the other boy's lead with empty pleasantries meant to close the distance between them.
The boy looked into the azure eyes hidden behind those pitch-black lenses and added naturally,
"It's just that someone carrying the title of 'the strongest' probably rarely needs anyone else to lend a hand."
Satoru Gojo paused slightly.
He had assumed this kid would brush it off with some meaningless line like, "Well, you're the strongest," just like everyone else at Jujutsu High.
They would share a knowing joke, and the matter would be forgotten.
He had not expected such a serious promise.
The smile faded from Satoru Gojo's lips as he reassessed the "classmate" before him through his lenses—the one who looked ready to collapse and still needed Shoko's support just to stand.
Within the Six Eyes' field of vision, an immense stream of information raced at high speed.
For once, the genius of the Three Great Families, who had always thought highly of himself, sank into deep contemplation.
Before today, his subconscious had viewed the so-called "strongest duo" as a flawless closed loop.
Suguru Geto and he—one excelled at offense, defense, and counterattacks with Limitless combat techniques, while the other commanded an army of cursed spirits for overwhelming firepower. Together, they could sweep aside every fool in the present Jujutsu World.
As long as the two of them stood together, they were an unbreakable rule.
But now, as he looked at Lu Ping's calm profile, there seemed to be a faint gap within that invincible two-man combination—a gap that could accommodate a third person.
Who could fill that spot?
The first person the white-haired boy thought of was Ieiri Shoko, standing nearby with a cigarette in her mouth.
But the moment that thought surfaced, he decisively dismissed it.
As the rare national treasure who was the only person in Japan's Jujutsu World capable of using [Reverse Cursed Technique] on others, her role was unquestionably that of a rear-line medic.
She had no offensive technique suited for charging into battle. Pushing the designated healer to the front lines to take the pressure was not tactics—it was a missing brain stem.
With that factor removed, his gaze returned to Lu Ping.
Calm, decisive, possessed of outstanding tactical instincts, and holding one of the Three Great Families' top inherited techniques in his hands.
This kid truly was the best possible candidate to fill the vacant "third person" slot.
However, as the divine child standing at the pinnacle of the Gojo Clan, he understood the Jujutsu World's cruel laws of the jungle better than anyone.
Potential that had not been realized was nothing more than an empty check that could turn into worthless paper at any moment.
It was like that dark joke widely circulated among jujutsu sorcerers—only a living genius was called a genius. One who died halfway through was merely high-grade expendable material.
A seedling with great potential needed time to grow, and it needed someone to hold an umbrella over it amid the wind and rain.
Ever since the extermination mission at Hoshimi Shrine two days ago with this kid, Satoru Gojo had keenly sensed that some kind of qualitative transformation was taking place within him.
Though they had previously only barely counted as acquaintances who nodded to each other, after watching him work nonstop over the past two days, the other boy's growth rate had been nothing short of rocket-like.
The breadth of his tactical choices and the precision of his cursed energy control changed by the day.
Even the Six Eyes, practically a cheat ability, could not see through the underlying logic behind such an absurd leap in improvement.
Could it be that during those life-or-death battles over the past two days, the kid had accidentally landed the legendary, once-in-a-lifetime "Black Flash" and thereby grasped the mysteries of the Cursed Energy Core?
As his thoughts turned, the strongest troublemaker made a decision in his heart.
Before you continue