Blue sparks, representing the Cursed Energy lightning, quickly condensed on the arrow fletching, ready to be released.
The old man's eyes narrowed, and he quickly grabbed the Special Grade Cursed Tool [Ford-Guardian Spear] stuck in the ground.
Lu Ping did not rush to fire; he had to wait for the opponent to show an opening before he could be confident of killing him with a single blow.
Otherwise, if the opponent uses the bizarre [Solitary Prison] Cursed Technique again to neutralize the attack, it will almost certainly mean losing one's last remaining means of killing.
Moreover, he noticed a crucial piece of information.
Since the other party knows that you are a Jujutsu Sorcerer has inherited Ten Shadows Technique, why are they so unsurprised by your failure to summon Shikigami in battle?
Or perhaps he deliberately kept a secret to deal with his own Shikigami.
If it's Cursed Technique like Mitarai Shizuru's that uses Cursed Energy to seal and kill Shikigami, it's manageable. But if it's a "possession" or "curse" type of Cursed Technique, then it's a bit more difficult to deal with.
Whether it's close-quarters combat with fists or archery, it's actually quite different from the fighting style of Shikigami user.
Summoning Shikigami for coordinated group attacks is the standard usage.
Thinking of this, Lu Ping directly probed, "Your Cursed Technique —if I'm not mistaken, can not only imprison Cursed Spirit, but also seal Shikigami."
J
"Not bad." The old man nodded, speaking without any hesitation, as if he were facing a dead man.
"The essence of [Solitary Prison] is 'imprisonment'. Those who can be imprisoned are not limited to wild Cursed Spirit, but also include Shikigami that have fully descended. Once sealed inside, the Shikigami can no longer be summoned through their original means."
His gaze turned somewhat regretful.
"What a pity, you didn't summon any Shikigami tonight. My chance to seal them away has slipped away in vain."
This statement contains a great deal of information.
But the first lesson Lu Ping learned from this wasn't "threat," but rather "why did he tell me all this?"
There is only one answer.
He's stalling for time.
They were also stalling for time, trying to delay the effects of the Three Corpses Manipulation on their bodies; their goal was the same.
The instant this thought crossed his mind, Lu Ping felt a violent churning sensation in his stomach.
The burden on the body caused by forcibly entering the [Infinite Cursed Energy] state by relying on massive negative emotions may be greater than imagined.
After nearly ten minutes of working overtime, the Three Corpses finally began to demand a price from the body.
That wasn't ordinary fatigue.
It's the feeling of every capillary bursting after being filled with fluid, the heaviness deep in the lungs as if filled with lead, and the stabbing pain of a nerve in the back of the head being suddenly clamped tightly with pliers.
Unlike Kinji Hakari, who is able to "win big prizes" within the domain, he did not activate his domain but entered this state through the characteristics of the Cursed Technique. Without the domain's enhancement and correction, the strain on his body will be further increased.
More importantly, he did not master the fully automatic Reverse Cursed Technique, so he could not repair every part of his body at all times, and could only keep his body at a dynamic baseline.
Lu Ping's breathing rate quietly doubled without him even realizing it.
The old man's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.
This was the moment he had been waiting for.
"Lord Gate Beast."
The sound came from afar. Mitarai Shizuru's silver armor was completely shattered, and he dragged one leg that was obviously trembling as he walked out of the ruins.
Realizing that the old man's strength far surpassed his own, the arrogance on his face vanished, and he became extremely respectful.
"Was all of this something you planned long ago?"
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"Not entirely." The old man didn't turn around to look at him; his gaze remained fixed on Lu Ping.
"That good-for-nothing Miwa Seigen came to me himself. He went crazy after losing three Shikigami at Hoshimi Shrine and has been searching the world for this kid to take revenge. I just went with the flow and gave him an opportunity."
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Mitarai Shizuru managed to stand up straight.
What about me?
"You?" The old man finally turned half his face. "You came here because your research institute was raided, right? I heard that the female Jujutsu Sorcerer from the Kamo Clan retrieved all your experimental data from underground?"
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Mitarai Shizuru's lips twitched slightly.
"The backup is still there. But restoring the research to its original progress will take at least two years." His voice was filled with suppressed resentment. "Two years of hard work, ruined by this damned Ten Shadows Sorcerer. Please act quickly."
"So, you accepted the commission."
The old man spoke slowly and deliberately, and even took a moment to glance at the midday sun.
"When the people from the Jujutsu Headquarters approached me, they offered three times the market price," Mitarai Shizuru admitted readily. "Plus, there's a personal grudge involved, so why not?"
As Lu Ping listened to this conversation, his brain was still working at high speed.
But his body was starting to malfunction.
A wave of soreness and weakness washed over my knees.
He gritted his teeth and forcibly used his Cursed Energy to lock his knee joints, maintaining his standing posture.
Outwardly, he still maintains the same calm and collected demeanor, as if even Mount Tai were collapsing before him.
But the old man had lived for so many years that he was least afraid of passing the time.
After listening to their conversation, Lu Ping felt even more heavy-hearted.
As expected, the mole within the Jujutsu Headquarters also played a crucial role.
It seems that the emergence of a "Ten Shadows" sorcerer who might rival the "Six Eyes" in the future is unacceptable to them.
If we take myself, the future head of the Zenin Clan, as the pivot, with Gojo Satoru Gojo as my contemporary Kamo Chitsubaki as my fiancée, the entire Three Great Families will unite in an unprecedented manner.
At that time, the entire Jujutsu World will probably no longer be under the control of the Jujutsu Headquarters, and the benefits gained from cooperation with the secular world will shrink significantly.
Lu Ping couldn't help but curse inwardly.
These old guys have been only concerned with their own little patch of power, ignoring the lives of Jujutsu Sorcerer at the grassroots and even the higher levels for quite some time now.
Suddenly, he abruptly turned his head, and a trickle of dark red blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, dripping onto the wooden stage.
The aftereffects of overloading Cursed Energy.
The three households transformed negative emotions at a speed far exceeding the physical limits they could withstand under extreme conditions.
Just like an engine that is forcibly pulled above the redline and run for ten minutes, even if the coolant is sufficient, the cylinder block itself will develop micro-cracks.
Lu Ping's "body" is his own flesh and blood body at the age of twenty.
"They've arrived."
A glint of light flashed in the old man's eyes.
His hand finally gripped the handle of the [Ford-Guardian Spear] again.
However, he did not use the tip of his spear to draw circles when attacking.
Instead, he raised the entire trident high and plunged it fiercely into the floor beneath his feet!
"Cursed Technique Release - [Solitary Prison], open!"
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The Binding Vow that the old man had gained from the publicly revealed Cursed Technique was now fully released.
Centered on the shaft of the Ford-Guardian Spear, a ring of dark purple Cursed Energy ripples radiated outwards.
Wherever the ripples passed, all the theater's entrances and exits—the main gate, side doors, ventilation ducts, and even the drainage ditches—were sealed off by a translucent, purplish-black film.
It's not Mitarai Shizuru's silken barrier.
It was the old man's Innate Technique, a "prison wall" he constructed himself.
At the same time, a massive Bronze Gate, far larger than the previous one, cracked open in mid-air.
The giant door completely blocked the hole in the theater's dome.
Unlike the low-level, weak Cursed Spirit released before.
The edges of the door trembled violently, as if the space itself was filled with fear at what was imprisoned behind it.
Immediately afterwards, a dark purple tentacle slowly emerged from the crack in the door.