A lingering chill remained in the basement. Sōjun Minamoto reached out and casually swept his hand through the air. When he pulled it back, a wisp of white vapor curled around his fingertips.
He could feel the cold in it, and a stream of information surfaced in his mind:
Ice Formation Cursed Technique—an ice-type Cursed Technique with a wide attack range, capable of freely manipulating freezing air.
This technique was still passed down in the jujutsu world, and Jujutsu High had relevant records of it. With the analysis provided by the Star Eyes, Sōjun had already grasped most of its workings.
Judging from Uraume's actions just now, she had also used a Reverse Cursed Technique to alleviate brain fatigue and other discomforts.
Not bad.
Top-tier sorcerers from ancient times almost all had that trick up their sleeves. After all, only the strongest from that era were turned into cursed objects—and that period marked the peak of jujutsu.
Of course, most of them could only heal themselves. Those capable of healing others were still rare.
The value of naturally gifted individuals like Sōjun Minamoto, Shoko Ieiri, and Riko Amanai continued to rise.
Ice, huh…?
That was one attribute he lacked. Sōjun casually flicked his hand, dispersing the cold lingering on his fingertips.
"What do you think?"
Kenjaku leaned in close, his expression unusually animated.
It was the closest he'd ever stood to Sōjun since they'd first met, and his tone sounded almost boastful.
"It's perfect."
"Absolutely perfect."
"Not even the slightest change in appearance—it's exactly the same as before. No memory loss either. The strength has declined a bit, but it's already in the process of recovering."
"Perfect."
He murmured the word to himself.
He didn't seem to be looking for Sōjun's approval.
Still, Sōjun nodded. It was indeed a major accomplishment.
Possessing a body wasn't difficult—cursed objects naturally craved it. As long as they encountered a compatible vessel, or even an incompatible one, they could forcibly take over.
The real challenge was retaining complete self-awareness.
That's what truly interested him.
Uraume had lived in the same era as Kenjaku, which meant her soul had endured for over a thousand years without fading.
Sōjun found it fascinating. He was only seventeen—even if he added in his past lives, it wouldn't amount to a tenth of that.
Watching Kenjaku beam with satisfaction, he raised an eyebrow. Based on what he'd just seen, he almost thought they had some deep bond.
What a clown.
Sōjun lost interest in that line of thought and turned to examine the shelves around them. He quickly understood the key.
Rather than calling these cursed objects, it was more accurate to say Kenjaku had used them to preserve their souls.
The bodies were just easily replaceable vessels.
When the soul is strong and the body is weak, the soul naturally takes precedence. Regaining consciousness becomes easy.
While there may be some side effects, they weren't significant.
It really was an impressive achievement.
Ancient sorcerers from a thousand years ago always had some trick up their sleeves.
Tengen had his immortal barrier. Kenjaku now had his method of living again through cursed objects.
This trip had definitely been worthwhile.
He'd gained a deeper understanding of the interaction between soul and flesh.
Thinking about it more, wasn't Kenjaku's use of brain matter to possess another body also a form of the body influencing the soul?
He wondered whether the technique required the host body to be alive—or already dead.
But Sōjun guessed that even if it were dead, it would still need to be fresh—recently deceased, before the soul had fully dissipated.
His curiosity toward Kenjaku only grew stronger.
He wanted to witness it for himself—or maybe even take him apart and see how it worked...
"Now, I need you to do me a favor. In exchange, I'll share with you the method of sealing a soul within a cursed object."
Kenjaku snapped back to focus and took a few steps back, widening the distance between himself and Sōjun Minamoto.
"Hm?"
"What kind of favor?" Sōjun asked with interest.
Though he'd already pieced together most of the method and could likely figure out the rest with a bit of research, he was still curious to hear Kenjaku's own reasoning behind it.
"As you can see," Kenjaku casually gestured toward the shelves, "over the past thousand years, I've made contracts with many sorcerers. After their deaths, I obtained the cursed objects that formed from their remains."
"Now, it's time to fulfill those contracts—by awakening them in this new era..."
"Your own body's been swapped out so many times, I doubt any Binding Vow still applies," Sōjun replied casually.
He didn't buy it. Someone who specialized in manipulating Binding Vows wouldn't be bound by something as quaint as honor.
"Don't say that. I've always prided myself on honoring my contracts," Kenjaku said with a faint smile. "Besides, don't you want to see ancient sorcerers clash with modern ones?"
Now that was more like it.
Sōjun thought to himself, as Kenjaku continued.
"The method of sealing a soul within a cursed object originally came from Sukuna. He was also the only one who could awaken his soul consciousness on his own. As for the others..."
"Reviving them isn't easy. Finding a compatible host body alone is a massive task, not to mention the work needed to handle the soul itself."
"Not being able to see the soul makes things incredibly troublesome."
Kenjaku's eyes lit up.
"But you're different, Sōjun. You can see souls. You can directly observe the state of a cursed object."
"With your help, the difficulty of reviving them would drop significantly."
"Join me, Sōjun."
Kenjaku kept rambling.
Sōjun ignored him. But driven by curiosity, he walked over to one of the nearby shelves and picked a drawer at random.
He stood before it, and Kenjaku finally fell silent.
With his right hand, Sōjun rolled up the sleeve of his left arm to the elbow, then did the same for the right using his left hand, exposing both forearms.
The Mahoraga Rings on his wrists were gone, replaced by golden markings.
The rings had fully merged into his body and become a physical trait.
His forearms began to fade, turning sky blue—high, distant, and ethereal like the sky itself. A golden band of light hovered at his wrists, slowly rotating.
From Kenjaku's point of view, Sōjun's forearms had vanished entirely, but his special abilities allowed him to see the pale blue hue.
He recognized it—it was a soul.
A soul far deeper and more profound than any he'd ever seen.
Sōjun looked down at his arms.
His Cursed Technique Lapse was derived from the power of cellular erosion and assimilation.
His Reverse Cursed Technique, on the other hand, came from the anchoring force of the soul.
He possessed a flesh form, a cursed form, and naturally, a soul form as well.
Right now, his hands had fully entered that soul state.
Its core traits: stability and anchoring...
He reached into the closed drawer, phasing through the wood. When he pulled his hand back, he drew out a pale, translucent fragment of a soul.
It was an emaciated old man. His stomach was sunken, ribs protruding, eye sockets hollow, cheeks gaunt. His beard was braided into three strands, and the long hair at the back of his head fell all the way to his waist.
Sōjun studied the illusion-like soul.
Despite its ghostly appearance, it was complete.
Kenjaku approached, opened the drawer, and pulled out two shattered shoulder bones from inside.
"Dhruv Lakdawalla," he said, glancing down at the now-lifeless cursed object.
Not all cursed objects were the same—some retained consciousness, others were nothing more than inert matter.
This one had possessed awareness before, but now it was gone. Kenjaku didn't seem concerned, only impressed by Sōjun's technique.
With that, Sōjun learned the name. He hadn't known it before.
But he could see it.
This one was among the more powerful stored in these drawers, wielding two autonomous Shikigami. Wherever the Shikigami walked could be treated as a Domain.
One of the few here worth his attention.
After analyzing the soul's state and its connection to the cursed object, Sōjun clenched it in his palm, forming a sphere of light.
Then, without hesitation, he tossed it into his mouth, crunched down, and swallowed it.
A bit of a waste, really. All he got from that was the technique.
If he had revived the man first and then assimilated him, he could've harvested another source of Cursed Energy...
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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