Tombs of the Star Corridor

Gojo Gen accepted Jianxia's invitation without a second thought.

The Gojo Clan's ancestral grounds were in Chikuzen Province, where their ancestor, Sugawara no Michizane, had been exiled and died.

Although they had accumulated resources there over several generations, it was nothing compared to Hiraizumi's splendor.

Besides, Jianxia had promised them clan grounds of the same standard. It was like being handed a pillow just as they were getting sleepy. They had no reason to refuse.

Kamo Michisada also accepted Jianxia's invitation-as down-and-out nobles who had fled Heian-kyo, the Kamo Clan had risen in Dewa Province entirely through his own strength.

They were already scraping by. When a rich guy invited him to a better life, he naturally had to seize the opportunity.

After agreeing on where to open passages through the barriers around their respective clan grounds, Gojo Gen and Kamo Michisada each returned home to prepare for the move.

Shinji and Megumi Zenin took all of 0.000001 seconds to accept the cursed spirit maids, then happily returned to their rooms.

After working through the night, Jianxia and Uraume also washed up and went to bed, falling asleep soon afterward.

By the time Jianxia woke up, it was nearly evening.

After a simple meal Uraume had prepared in the new kitchen, Jianxia left the Zenin Estate and headed onto Hiraizumi's streets.

Of course, he had not come out to shop. He wanted to ask Tengen how the Great Barrier was operating.

In the original story, the Great Barrier of Japan had been hyped up to godlike proportions.

The guarantee of human civilization's continued survival, the culmination of a thousand years of Jujutsu Society's achievements... in short, judging by its description alone, it was something incredibly mysterious.

In theory, if Tengen wanted to, she could use the barrier to count the hairs on Sukuna's ass, handling an entire intelligence department's workload all by herself.

But how had it actually performed?

Calling it a far cry from expectations would be too generous. It had completely shit the bed.

Never mind the Sukuna's Fingers, special grade cursed objects scattered across the land over the past thousand years-even within Jujutsu High itself, Mahito had broken into the forbidden storehouse and stolen the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings.

And that was without mentioning the later battle in the Tombs of the Star Corridor, where Kenjaku's Open Domain, "Womb Profusion," had practically scared a few drops of piss out of Tengen.

Where was that supposed omniscience, exactly?

So Jianxia surmised that even an intelligence-gathering marvel like the Great Barrier of Japan had to come with harsh restrictions on its use.

In other words, strict binding vows.

It was a fundamental principle of Jujutsu Society: the more one lost, the more one gained. The reverse also held true-the more one gained, the more one lost.

Unless she really was the utter liability and screwup people online called her, with the intelligence of a big toe, Tengen had no reason to ignore such important intelligence if the conditions were lenient.

About five minutes later, Jianxia reached the house Shinji had said was incorporated into the Void Barrier-the location of the Tombs of the Star Corridor.

Yet the house that should have stood there had somehow been replaced by a boulder. Jianxia laid a hand against it and felt only a chill.

As the pinnacle of barrier mastery, Tengen could deny others entry to the Tombs of the Star Corridor.

Unless someone possessed an equally high level of Barrier Technique, they could only find the entrance if Tengen allowed it.

Within seconds, Jianxia noticed the boulder before him beginning to turn insubstantial.

He stepped inside and, just as expected, found himself in a quaint courtyard.

Tengen stood beside a willow tree with her back to the entrance, watching the goldfish in the pond.

"Lord Jianxia, Hiraizumi is even more interesting than I imagined. What brings you here?"

Then she turned around, and only then did Jianxia see that Tengen held a large steamed bun in her left hand and a baked flatbread in her right, taking alternating bites from each.

How did she speak so clearly while eating?

Jianxia did not voice that question, instead getting straight to the point. "Tengen, I'd like to understand how the Great Barrier operates, and its current condition."

"I see. Please give me a moment."

Tengen tucked the steamed bun and flatbread into her robes. Then their surroundings gradually drained of color, and the willow tree and pond began to disappear.

Eventually, the place where they stood became a pure white void.

This was the original form of the Tombs of the Star Corridor-or rather, the Void Barrier.

Then Tengen formed a hand seal, and red points of light began to emerge in the white space, like stars scattered through space. Before long, they filled the entire Void Barrier.

These red lights varied in size and brightness. Some were freezing to the touch, while others felt scorching hot just to look at.

At the very center of all those lights, an enormous red sphere radiated heat without cease.

By his estimate, the sphere was over five meters in diameter. Compared with it, the other red lights were like sesame seeds beside a basketball. They were on completely different scales.

"These red lights are fluctuations in cursed energy across the entire Japanese Archipelago. Each one represents a person or cursed spirit using cursed energy."

Tengen explained it all. As the initiator of the Great Barrier project, she naturally understood how it worked better than anyone.

Jianxia casually picked up a nearby red light, and information flowed straight into his mind-a Grade 3 cursed spirit had been detected in Edo Township, Musashi Province, and had already been exorcised.

"The greater the total cursed energy, the stronger the fluctuations, and the larger the corresponding red sphere."

Then Tengen glanced toward the red sphere at the very center.

"Before accessing this information, even I cannot determine where it came from. Except in the case of an overwhelming presence like that..."

"Ryomen Sukuna."

Jianxia supplied the name Tengen had left unspoken, and she nodded.

Jianxia slowly approached the red sphere. Its searing heat almost forced his eyes shut.

He reached out, tentatively attempting to touch it.

But in less than a second of contact, countless pieces of information about Sukuna flooded Jianxia's consciousness.

-Ryomen Sukuna used "Dismantle" on a special grade cursed spirit in Hida Province.

-Ryomen Sukuna used "Dismantle" on a Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer in Hida Province.

-Ryomen Sukuna used "Dismantle" on a Special Grade Sorcerer in Hida Province.

-Ryomen Sukuna used "Cleave" on a Special Grade Sorcerer in Hida Province.

Sensing something was wrong, Tengen rushed forward and pulled Jianxia's hand away from the red sphere. Only then did he regain his senses.

Jianxia felt a warm dampness above his lip. He wiped it with his hand and discovered that his nose was bleeding quite heavily.

"As you just saw, that red sphere contains traces of every use of Ryomen Sukuna's immense cursed energy... unless the information is divided up for processing, it can easily overburden the brain."

Jianxia activated Light Returns at Dusk, restoring his condition to several seconds earlier and repairing the damage to his brain.

So this thing was basically a miniature Unlimited Void.

Then Tengen pointed to some red lights closer to them. These were roughly the size of ping-pong balls, far smaller than Sukuna's red sphere.

"Fluctuations of this size most likely come from an ordinary special grade." Tengen carefully cupped a red light and moved it in front of Jianxia.

"If you want to access the information safely without taking protective measures, this is the limit."

Jianxia waited for Tengen to finish before reaching out and carefully touching it.

-A special grade cursed spirit had been detected in Kawazu Township, Kamo District, Izu Province.

Then Jianxia slowly released it and nodded to Tengen. "Thank you. I understand completely now."

Now he knew why Tengen seemed so useless.

Finding useful information amid all that garbage really was no easy task.

Seeing that he had accomplished his purpose, Tengen dismissed the Void Barrier, and their surroundings returned to the quaint courtyard.

"Is there anything else?" Tengen took out her steamed bun and flatbread again, ready for a few more bites.

"No. Sorry for the trouble tonight, Tengen."

Jianxia gave a slight nod, then turned and left the Tombs of the Star Corridor, returning to Hiraizumi's streets.

He looked up at the moon and considered the information he had just obtained.

Izu Province, Kamo District, Kawazu Township-whether separately or together, he had never heard any of those three place names in modern times.

But since a special grade cursed spirit was lurking there, he might as well take a look. It could double as a trip away from home.

With his mind made up, Jianxia set off home at a brisk pace.

Wherever there were cursed spirits, Jianxia would be there.

Such was Jianxia's profound love for cursed spirits!