Cherreads

Chapter 61 - Revisiting an Old friend

The Astral Synchronization Ritual was to be performed under the light of a full moon. The scroll's instructions were clear recite the sacred mantra while invoking the power of two natural treasures of Heaven and Earth: the Moonlight Silver Incense and the Heaven Divination Mirror.

The only problem?

Gojo had absolutely no idea what either of those were.

From the ornate calligraphy and the reverent tone of the scroll, he could tell, they weren't just symbolic ingredients. These were indispensable artifacts. Without them, he could forget about cultivating the Great Divination Scripture, let alone becoming a Sage.

He clicked his tongue and shook his head in mild frustration.

"This world really doesn't hand things out easily, huh..."

With a sigh, he carefully rolled up the ancient tome, the texture of the paper rough against his fingertips, and slid it back into his Qiankun bag. His body dropped onto the cool stone floor of the chamber, arms spread out as he stared up at the cavern ceiling, the faint glimmer of moonlight filtering through cracks above.

"Fate and Causality..."

He muttered to himself, eyes half-lidded, letting the words echo in his mind.

The Great Divination Scripture... the key to seeing threads of destiny, of unraveling karma itself.....and yet, locked behind ingredients he couldn't even begin to track down.

"Fucking hell!" he suddenly barked out a laugh, not bitter, but amused, at the absurdity of it all. The technique was too wondrous to discard. The power to glimpse the fundamental truth of the world… how could he ever let that go?

He recalled Han Yan's warning. The enemies lying in wait. The fangs of fate sharpening in silence. Gojo knew, he would need more than brute force, slashes and regeneration to survive. He needed insight. Clarity. Dominion.

He sat up slowly.

"I'll ask that old fogey when I meet him tomorrow," he mumbled, referring to Elder Wu, the walking relic of the Heavenly Luo Sect.

Until then, the Great Divination Scripture would have to wait. But he wasn't entirely without cards. His fingers curled into a fist. A warmth pulsed in his chest. He still had the Limitless.

His companion from a forgotten world.

Gojo closed his eyes, rubbing his temples lightly. Nostalgia welled up in his chest as he sank into a deeper layer of focus, past his thoughts, past his spirit sea, until his consciousness brushed against the familiar, pulsing core within.

A small, silent void. Cold. Still. Waiting.

"Hello, old friend," he whispered to it. "It's time to shine once again."

The moment his mind connected with it, he was pulled inward.

The Inner World of the Limitless.

A plane of infinity.

He stood atop a massive universal eye, a glimmering pupil that gazed unblinkingly into the fabric of space and time. Nebulae coiled in the distance. A boundless void spread outward. Yet all of it bent around him, at the center of it all.

Gojo took a seat, cross-legged atop the eye, and began.

He had already mastered the Limitless in his previous life. What he needed now was to translate it, to recode its foundation, swap the core fuel from Cursed Energy to Yuan Power.

It sounded impossible. But not for him. He had an advantage.

The Six Eyes activated. Veins glowed faintly beneath his skin. His vision sharpened, fractalizing the world into layers unseen by normal eyes. Every quantum flicker, every resonant vibration of energy, he could see it all. He began to dissect.

Yuan Power, essence of Heaven and Earth. Vast. Boundless. Harmonious. In contrast to the primal, chaotic, emotion-born force that was Cursed Energy.

His brain became a divine processor, parsing through molecular threads of reality. He could see the atomic differences, the elemental gaps, the spiritual alignments that set the two energies apart. He began altering the matrix, the latticework of Limitless itself.

Bit by bit, the inner world began to shift. The void... breathed. From nothing, a star ignited. Then another. A planet formed, orbiting serenely. A moon drifted into view. Comets streaked across this evolving cosmic tapestry. The change was beautiful, like watching the universe birth itself. Gojo understood why.

Because Yuan Power was aligned with creation. Not destruction. Not malice. Not the seething instability of human emotion. It was balance. Harmony. Evolution.

And so, the Limitless, once a void of endless stillness, now evolved. It restructured itself to mirror the nature of the new power source. But the rewiring was incomplete, he could feel it. The technique needed time to integrate, to adapt.

His consciousness was gently ejected.

His eyes fluttered open.

The room was quiet. Still. But he could feel it, something had changed. He sat up slowly and drew in a deep breath. Then, exhaled. Let's try something.

Gojo raised his hand, gathering Yuan Power at his fingertips. Purple and blue aura gathered, denser than mist, and heavier than metal. The moment it concentrated.

CRACK!

Space shattered. Shards of reality exploded outward, crackling like broken glass as folds and warps trembled into existence. The instructions for the foundation of Limitless surged in his mind.

Instinctively, his head turned. His Six Eyes activated, scanning the space around him. Folds upon folds. Twists. Bends. Gravity curling in unnatural arcs. His smile widened. It wasn't just theory anymore. He reached out into the air, fingertips hovering just above the edge of a spatial fold, unseen by the naked eye.

And then, softly, reverently, he touched Infinity.

A wave of nostalgia crashed over him, raw and unexpected. The tip of his nose turned sour, and a faint sting prickled behind his eyes. He remembered.

How Sukuna's slash had torn through Infinity, how the very concept he had relied on without question had failed him at the most crucial moment. The memory stabbed deeper than any wound.

Gojo rubbed his forehead, a deep sigh escaping his lips as his fists clenched by his sides. The last thing he had thought before death wasn't of victory, or even regret, it was confusion. How? How had Infinity failed?

He had depended on Infinity too much. On his deathbed, even with the life draining from his body, he couldn't let go of the disbelief. He had blamed Infinity, blamed himself. And yet now, in this distant world, far from Jujutsu High, he finally whispered inwardly.

Infinity hadn't just been a technique. It had been his closest companion, his shield, his certainty. Closer than most people, closer, perhaps, than anyone besides Suguru Geto. Losing it had been like losing a part of his soul.

But part of the reason he hadn't touched the Limitless since arriving here was because, there was a prejudice buried in his heart, a bitterness he hadn't admitted until now. He had subconsciously pushed the technique away, not out of necessity, but out of pain. Out of betrayal.

Because when Sukuna's final slash descended, Gojo hadn't even tried to dodge. He had trusted Infinity. He had believed, absolutely, that it would hold.

But it hadn't. And he had died.

Now, with time and distance giving him clarity, the haze lifted. Sukuna's slash had been more than just a powerful cursed technique, it had been a cut that cleaved space itself. If that was true, then even Infinity, for all its grandeur, would have been helpless before it.

It hadn't been a failure of the Limitless. It had been a natural law being overwritten. He raised his head slowly, the tension in his shoulders beginning to ease.

"Sorry for blaming you, old friend. You did your best."

Gojo exhaled deeply, peace settling over him like a warm blanket. The ache in his chest, the gnawing resentment he hadn't even realized he carried, began to fade. His mind grew clearer, sharper. He could feel it now, understand it better than ever.

His bond with Infinity wasn't broken. It was healing. And with that came deeper insight.

Perhaps, in this world, he could forge a new relationship with the Limitless. Not as the invincible shield he once took for granted, but as a companion, reborn from understanding rather than pride.

He tilted his head to the side, sapphire eyes gleaming with mischief. "Let's be honest, between the cannibals, ancient beasts, maniac cultivators, and Devil Gods, I'm gonna need you more than ever. So don't go screwing up on me this time, alright?"

The air distorted around his shoulders, the faintest ripple of defense activating in agreement.

Gojo winked. "Good talk."

And with that, he turned and walked off, the trace of Infinity dancing quietly at his heels, like a shadow reborn.

He stood up slowly, slinging the towel around his neck with a lazy flourish. Just as he turned toward the bathroom, a knock echoed softly through the room.

Gojo paused.

A flicker of non-standard Yuan Power shimmered at his door, dark, turbulent, slightly jagged at the edges. He grinned knowingly.

"Come in…" he called out casually.

The sliding door creaked open with a low groan. A figure stepped in, solemn and composed. Draped in a jet-black robe that clung to his frame like smoke, long hair cascading down his back like a waterfall of midnight, and skin pale as moonlight, Han Yan looked every bit the dark star he was.

His eyes swept across the room with measured admiration, taking in the scrolls, the incense, the quiet ambience of controlled power. But as he stepped forward..

He froze.

His foot hovered inches above the floor, unable to move. His body stiffened, brows furrowing in confusion. It was as if space itself had closed in, trapping him at the threshold. The air shimmered like heat waves, distorting the world just slightly ahead of him.

He stretched out a hand, fingers brushing against an unseen barrier. "What… is this?"

The pressure grew heavier the more he tried to push in, like existence itself was folding inward to bar his advance.

Gojo blinked, then laughed, smacking his palm against his forehead. "Ah, my bad!"

He took a breath and the space around him relaxed. The shimmering air receded, folding neatly into an invisible sheath that clung to his body like a second skin.

"I'm still tuning my technique," he said, brushing past it like it was nothing. "Infinity was a bit overenthusiastic just now."

Han Yan narrowed his eyes. "That wasn't Yuan Power…"

Gojo merely gestured to the nearby cushion with a playful wave. "Relax, dark prince. Come take a seat before the furniture thinks you're hostile too."

Still wary, Han Yan stepped forward slowly. The resistance was gone. The room welcomed him once more.

He sat, but his eyes remained on Gojo, curious, calculating.

Gojo flopped back onto his own cushion, tossing the towel aside and resting his arm lazily over the back of his chair. "So," he said with a sly smile, "looks like you're finally back to normal, O Grim One?"

Han Yan didn't respond immediately. Instead, his eyes lingered around the room for a moment, wondering what exactly he had just experienced.

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A/N: Enjoy.

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