As for the situation on the cursed spirit side, Kenjaku couldn't say he didn't care—at the very least, he didn't care.
After all, his original goal was simply to wait for the right moment, use those idiots who called themselves new humans to seal Gojo Satoru's Six Eyes, and then immediately perfect Mahito to initiate the flourishing era of jujutsu in his heart.
But ever since he had discovered the reincarnation of Nishida Kagetatsu—Locke—something far beyond his thousand-year expectations, not only did a supreme obsession ignite in his heart, but also a hesitation that had never existed in his millennium-long plan—he truly began to wonder whether everything he had planned up to now was still necessary.
His entire life, he had sought the thousand possibilities of cursed energy, obsessed with the splendor of the golden age of jujutsu a thousand years ago, waiting for another fierce dragon battle, to see with his own eyes the strongest emerge from combat, break free from their cocoon, and become the strongest of the strong.
But now, he had truly glimpsed the strongest.
Nishida Kagetatsu.
Kagetatsu Nishida.
Nishida Kagetatsu!
This name hammered into his heart again and again, and each time he read it, he felt more strongly that it existed in the world—how it looked at the world, how confident it was, how extraordinary.
He could guarantee that his soul would not be damaged during continuous reincarnation and could at any time regain his former power. What he possessed was far above both himself and Tengen. He had the right to choose.
If he wanted to live a different life, he lived it. If he wanted to sleep, he slept. This was the true strong—a strong man with absolute freedom, a strong man who encompassed all possibilities.
What were the Six Eyes, Tengen, Ryomen Sukuna? They couldn't even compare to a single hair of Nishida Kagetatsu. Such a strong man was worthy of a thousand years of waiting.
But why did such a strong man have no suitable opponent? Invincible his entire life. Days without a rival must be very painful. Kagetatsu, Kagetatsu must be in great pain.
As he walked, the corners of Kenjaku's mouth curled to the extreme, nearly tearing his cheeks. But the lower parts of his eyes uncontrollably filled with tears. In the end, tears burst forth, as if a square inch had been completely lost—tears surged so violently that even his nasal cavity overflowed with clear fluid, mixing with the moisture at the corners of his eyes, streaming down his jawline in humiliation and despair.
He had been obsessed with the thousand possibilities of jujutsu and wanted to see the strongest landscapes with his own eyes. But when this existence, which he had once considered the pinnacle of possibility, truly reached his eyes, his heart filled with warmth. He even felt genuine concern for Nishida Kagetatsu.
How could such a miraculous existence be accompanied by a rival? From the moment of its birth, it had shattered the peak. It had never lost and was invincible. This loneliness was far worse than Gojo Satoru's, an even more piercing solitude.
He could find a worthy opponent for Gojo Satoru in the golden age of jujutsu a thousand years later, making the long-awaited dragon battle happen as promised. But against Nishida Kagetatsu, even with a thousand years of planning and every means at his disposal, he was still powerless—he couldn't even find an opponent who could match him.
How lonely he must be. Even if Kenjaku had lived a thousand years, he still had Tengen by his side. But Kagetatsu could only guard this unparalleled peak, forever alone, year after year, until eternity, until the end of his soul.
Humans are so unsatisfied. Even Kenjaku, seeing the peak of possibility he pursued, realized that even the most magnificent pictures in his imagination were merely the existence of Kagetatsu.
But now he saw it, yet he was still unsatisfied. He wanted to see more beautiful landscapes. He wanted to see the sky above Kagetatsu's head. He wanted to see Kagetatsu have a worthy opponent, moving toward the peak together.
But he couldn't do it. He clearly understood that the gap between people could be so vast that they could only look up. After all, an existence like Kagetatsu was invincible, like a god descending into the world.
He lay on the ground in humiliation, his knuckles frantically pounding the hard earth. His hoarse roar shattered the surrounding silence as he hysterically shouted:
"Damn it—! Why is this happening! I've clearly seen with my own eyes an existence that surpasses everything, and I've clearly touched a prosperity of jujutsu far exceeding that of a thousand years ago. Why! Why does my heart hurt so much? Why!!"
The surging resentment and unwillingness in his heart nearly consumed him. His eyes were red as he cursed this world like a madman, cursed himself, and even cursed Kagetatsu, who had thrown his thousand-year plans and thoughts into disarray.
This curse, compressed over a thousand years and wrapped in all kinds of unbearable curses, actually broke through the earth from the depths of his heart. With earthquake-like force, it severely tore at the foundation of curses throughout the world.
From this moment on, the curse to find a true rival for Nishida Kagetatsu was officially compressed between heaven and earth. And deep within Kagetatsu's dusty memories, there was only one person worthy of being his sole rival in this life.
He was the only opponent in the era Kagetatsu lived in who could stand at his height and was determined to defeat him—a genius sorcerer who sought to upend the entire world and sow chaos.
The Demon Head, Kijuro.
From that moment, a being known as Demon Head Kijuro was born. And Demon Head Kijuro, born as a cursed spirit, understood his situation the moment he opened his eyes.
"You've been resurrected as a demon? Such a low-level demon, hm! I refuse!"
Demon Head Kijuro used his cursed energy to destroy his unformed body and, with his extremely powerful soul, flew across the entire country, trying to find his descendants by bloodline.
Unfortunately, he still couldn't find them. So he blamed it all on his bloodline and cut them off.
But in the end, he found a suitable vessel—a collateral member of the clan who, because of her female status, had been brutally abused and despised to the end in the cursed family.
This woman's mind had already been twisted. She recklessly sacrificed thirty-seven innocent lives, chanted forbidden incantations to complete the devouring ceremony, and took all the power of the powerful cursed spirit.
After that, she deliberately found a man with good cursed talent, forcibly bound the bloodline to bear children, and sealed the cursed spirit's power within the child in her womb.
She made the most brutal calculations: when the child was born, she would complete an ancient forbidden ritual by devouring her relatives, completely breaking down the internal boundaries between life and death, between human and curse, and seize the supreme cursed power that surpasses everything.
Demon Head Kijuro immediately understood that this woman's plan was a foolish dream in an era of waning curses. But at that moment, a glimmer of vitality appeared, and he could exchange it for powerful cursed energy.
But so what? Still, in the eyes of Demon Head Kijuro, this power was nothing more than a drop in the ocean.
So he gathered his soul and recklessly forcibly took the stillborn fetus in the woman's womb. He had no teacher to understand the principle of binding vows.
At the cost of all the powerful cursed energy of his own cursed spirit, he made a contract with this dead, silent corpse, exchanging their identities, wanting only to obtain a complete human body.
In the next moment, inside the uterine cavity, the demon head within the corpse suddenly opened its eyes and revealed a strange smile.