He closed his eyes for a while.
That line of golden text floated quietly in his sea of consciousness, as though waiting for his next command.
He opened his eyes and called up the panel in his mind to look it over again.
[Name: Wangchuan] [Template: Moon Demon (35%)] [Race: Human/Demon (switchable)] [Demon Coins: 2] [Jujutsu rating (strength rating): Special Grade · Special Anomaly-an existence beyond the capacity of Jujutsu Society's current rating system.]
He stared at that "35%" for a few seconds, tapping his fingers lightly against his knee twice.
"System."
"Spend two Demon Coins to increase the fusion progress of the Tso Lan template."
His voice fell within his sea of consciousness, carrying the distinct decisiveness of someone making a choice.
[Command confirmed. Spending Demon Coins... expenditure complete. Current Demon Coin balance: 0.] [Increasing Tso Lan template fusion...] [Increasing...]
Wangchuan felt something stir inside him.
The sensation was hard to describe.
It was like a stone suddenly dropping into a pool that had stood still for a long time, ripples spreading outward from the center with a slow, unstoppable force.
He closed his eyes and leaned against the wooden backrest, looking as though he had fallen asleep.
But earth-shattering changes were taking place within his sea of consciousness.
A fresh surge of Tso Lan's power welled up from deep inside him, like an underground river that had suddenly found an outlet, spreading through his blood vessels and meridians to every part of his body.
It was warm and substantial, with an ancient quality that did not belong to this world.
At the same time, a vast number of knowledge fragments surfaced from the depths of his sea of consciousness, like an ancient scroll slowly unfurling, covered in densely packed text and diagrams.
With his eyes closed, Wangchuan absorbed the information flooding his consciousness.
Structural diagrams of various magical techniques unfolded in his mind one after another.
Some resembled geometric shapes precise down to the smallest measurement, while others resembled passages of incantations written in an ancient script.
The incomplete fragments he had already mastered were now being filled in, completed, and linked together by the new information.
"Hmm, this is..."
Suddenly, his consciousness paused on one particular scroll.
The writing on that scroll had a deep blue sheen, as though it had been written on the paper with a melted night sky.
He had never seen the script used in the title before, but with Tso Lan's knowledge, he could clearly understand the meaning of every word.
"...Resurrection Magic."
He murmured the words aloud, a trace of surprise he could not suppress in his voice.
He had already been researching resurrection magic for some time.
The reason was simple.
In the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, life and death were often separated by a single line, and he did not want anyone he cared about to end up on the other side of it.
Tso Lan's store of knowledge contained many kinds of resurrection magic, but all he had possessed before were incomplete memory fragments.
It was like holding a dozen or so loose pages from a book: he could guess its general contents, but could not piece together the whole.
But at this very moment, those scattered fragments had been completed.
Wangchuan kept his eyes closed, but the corners of his mouth curved upward involuntarily.
He quickly skimmed the fully revealed structures of the two Resurrection Cursed Techniques; one leaned toward returning the soul to a damaged body and repairing it.
The other was more radical, reconstructing a vessel when the body had been completely annihilated.
Both were extraordinarily intricate and consumed enormous amounts of cursed energy, but at that moment, they were as clear in his consciousness as inscriptions carved in stone.
He stored all that knowledge deep within his sea of consciousness, then slowly opened his eyes.
Afternoon sunlight fell across his face. He blinked to adjust to the light, then let out a long breath.
"...Now that's a huge gain."
"Two... I've completely mastered two."
"The conditions are still pretty demanding, but at least... I've got a direction now."
He lowered his head to look at his hands, flexing his fingers slightly.
Tso Lan's power within him had grown a little more substantial, and the aura belonging to the Moon Demon flowed more smoothly through his veins.
He was just about to stand when the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.
Wangchuan took out his phone and glanced at the caller ID on the screen.
"Utahime Iori"
"It's not dinnertime yet, is it?"
He raised an eyebrow, then looked up at the sky.
The sun was still overhead, a little to the west; there was plenty of time before their evening meal.
"Hmm?"
Puzzled, he answered the call and brought the phone to his ear.
"Moshi Moshi."
Before he had even finished speaking, Utahime's voice came through from the other end.
She was speaking at least twice as fast as usual, with an unmistakable anxiety and urgency he rarely heard from her.
"Wangchuan! Where are you?"
"Are you far from Mount Yoshida?"
"Huh? Mount Yoshida?"
Wangchuan's brow furrowed.
He rose from the bench, his gaze instinctively sweeping toward Mount Yoshida.
The mountain's outline wavered slightly in the afternoon heat. From where he stood, he could only make out a hazy, dark green silhouette.
"Hmm... probably not far."
He estimated the distance and moved the phone to his other ear.
"About seven or eight kilometers. What's wrong?"
"Something's happened!"
Utahime's voice came through the receiver, rapid and clear. Even after she forcefully suppressed some emotion, the end of every word still trembled at the edges.
"Momo Nishimiya just contacted the school through her communicator!"
"They ran into danger in the abandoned Shinto Shrine area on Mount Yoshida!"
"Three! Three special grade cursed spirits!"
Wangchuan held his phone, his brow slightly furrowed.
Three appearing together?
"Momo Nishimiya has escaped for now. She said Aoi Todo is holding them off head-on, with Kasumi Miwa and Mai Zenin supporting him from the flanks, but she said Aoi Todo might not last much longer!"
"I'm heading there right now."
Wangchuan heard a car engine starting on her end, along with the click of a seat belt fastening.
"But it'll take me at least fifteen minutes to drive to Mount Yoshida! At least twenty to reach the Shinto Shrine."
Her voice trembled slightly on those last few words. Though she quickly suppressed it, Wangchuan could hear the tension of her struggling to stay calm.
"Understood."
Wangchuan cut her off, his voice as steady as still water, yet carrying an unquestionable certainty as he rapidly made his decision.
"Don't panic."
"I'll head over right now."
"Thank you, Chuan."
"Mm, no problem."
Wangchuan had already hung up.
He slipped his phone into his pocket and stood where he was, looking up toward Mount Yoshida.
The afternoon sunlight cast a warm golden glow across his face. He narrowed his eyes slightly, then curved his lips.
"...Three special grades."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Wangchuan floated into the air.
In an instant, he flew toward that location.
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