Chapter 56: The Immortal Abe no Seimei
Yumesaki paid no heed to Nurarihyon's growing anger beside him, carefully examining Hagoromo Gitsune's memories without missing the slightest clue.
His objective was to find the location of Abe no Seimei.
Very quickly, he learned one crucial detail from Hagoromo Gitsune's memories.
Abe no Seimei was not dead.
This was also the reason why Hagoromo Gitsune was not obsessed with giving birth to Abe no Seimei again, because her son was not dead at all, meaning there was no need for rebirth.
Regarding why Abe no Seimei had not died, this matter had to begin with a certain Jujutsu Sorcerer.
One thousand years ago, Heian-kyo gave birth to a very special Jujutsu Sorcerer... named Tengen.
Yes, the very same Tengen who continued to live from ancient times until the present era within Jujutsu Kaisen.
In Jujutsu Kaisen, Tengen was a legend in the Jujutsu world, possessing an Innate Technique that allowed continuous reincarnation, utilizing the power of a Star Plasma Vessel to extend life.
People addressed him as Master Tengen, respected and feared by all.
His appearance constantly changed due to reincarnation, sometimes male, sometimes female, but all versions possessed an aura that transcended the mortal realm.
His Jujutsu capabilities were exceptionally high, easily countering Special Grade Cursed Spirits and Jujutsu Sorcerers, even utilizing incomplete Barrier Techniques.
Tengen's Innate Technique was immortality, allowing him to recover rapidly after sustaining severe injuries, even capable of reconstructing his body.
At the same time, he was the driving key behind the plot of Jujutsu Kaisen.
He was known as an all-knowing master because he could gather various pieces of information with the assistance of his reinforced Barrier.
His true form was a higher-dimensional existence, fusing with the universe itself, possessing a form yet being formless, resembling a Cursed Spirit far more than a human.
It sounded like an incredibly high position, didn't it?
However, in this world, Tengen's standing was not actually that high.
Because something like a Jujutsu Sorcerer was actually created by Abe no Seimei.
Yes, in this crossover world, Jujutsu Sorcerers were created by Abe no Seimei.
As was widely known, Abe no Seimei was an Onmyoji, but the subjects studied by an Onmyoji were incredibly diverse, and wishing to become a qualified Onmyoji was no easy feat.
It relied far too heavily on a person's natural talent.
Some individuals required only a brief span of a few years to become a qualified Onmyoji.
Yet some individuals spent their entire lives, exhausting their years studying without result, possessing no way to become an Onmyoji.
Therefore, in order to allow more people to possess the ability to fight against demons and yokai, Abe no Seimei racked his brains and created this profession of Jujutsu Sorcerer, allowing humans to extract Cursed Energy from negative emotions.
Until eventually becoming the Jujutsu Sorcerers of the current era.
The birth of Jujutsu Sorcerers allowed more individuals to master extraordinary power, thereby continuing their glory for a thousand years.
Tengen was one of the early test subjects after Abe no Seimei created this Jujutsu Sorcerer profession.
After Tengen became a Jujutsu Sorcerer, he awakened the Innate Technique of immortality.
Abe no Seimei witnessed this, studied the Innate Technique, and through a series of modifications, became a human who could continue living without requiring a so-called Star Plasma Vessel.
However, as the price to be paid, he had to utilize yokai to sustain his life.
In the beginning, Abe no Seimei absorbed the life force of one yokai every one hundred years to sustain himself.
Yet as time marched on, the speed at which Abe no Seimei absorbed yokai became faster and faster.
From the initial hundred years it became fifty years, then changed to thirty years, twenty years, until finally becoming a necessity to absorb one yokai every single year just to sustain his life.
But yokai in this world were incredibly numerous; let alone one a year, even ten a year posed no issue at all.
The real problem, however, did not lie in how many yokai Abe no Seimei had absorbed.
Rather, after he absorbed too many yokai, it caused his human nature and yokai nature to lose their balance.
As the child of a fox yokai, Abe no Seimei was born a half-yokai, possessing both human nature and yokai nature, but along with the excessive intake of yokai, the yokai nature gradually suppressed the human nature.
This also caused Abe no Seimei's way of thinking to draw closer and closer to that of a yokai.
Upon realizing this, Abe no Seimei decided to absorb several humans to maintain his human nature.
Yet he was unwilling to act against good and beautiful humans. After thinking it over repeatedly, he specifically sought out low-class humans, but it was this very action that caused Abe no Seimei to become completely disappointed in humanity.
After all, the actions of some humans were even worse than yokai, not even worthy of being called human.
Therefore, several hundred years ago, Abe no Seimei completely gave up on humanity, met with Hagoromo Gitsune, and planned to wipe out all of humanity to establish a world consisting only of yokai.
Hagoromo Gitsune was incredibly shocked when she first heard her son's request, because this request was truly far too terrifying.
Wiping out all of humanity was an extreme measure.
However, because Abe no Seimei was her son, for the sake of her son's request, Hagoromo Gitsune ultimately decided to take action.
Then, unsurprisingly, she was stopped by others.
The people who stopped Hagoromo Gitsune were not just the Onmyoji and Jujutsu Sorcerers among humans; even a portion of yokai traveled from various locations across Japan over distances of thousands of miles to stop Hagoromo Gitsune.
One of the most prominent among them was Nurarihyon.
This group of yokai were all born from the ghost stories belonging to humans. Once they lost humans, they would be like water without a source, liable to vanish at any moment.
Therefore, for their own sakes, and also for the sake of a greater future, they launched their assault against Hagoromo Gitsune without hesitation.
That battle was incredibly fierce.
The entirety of Heian-kyo transformed into a battlefield; countless yokai and humans slaughtered one another.
Today's battle, when compared to the conflict of that era, was entirely on an amateur level.
Completely unworthy of mention.
Facing the continuous waves of human attacks, Hagoromo Gitsune retreated step by step, yet she was not worried, because her magnificent son, Abe no Seimei, had not yet acted.
Hagoromo Gitsune firmly believed that as long as Abe no Seimei took action, he could certainly reverse the tide of battle.
But what was interesting was that until Hagoromo Gitsune was defeated and the position of Lord of Pandemonium was seized by Nurarihyon, Abe no Seimei still did not act.
This was also the reason for Hagoromo Gitsune's defeat.
After the defeated Hagoromo Gitsune was executed, she still could not comprehend the matter.
Fifty years later, Hagoromo Gitsune underwent reincarnation with the assistance of Abe no Seimei.
When Hagoromo Gitsune questioned her son as to why he did not act, but instead watched her get killed with his own eyes, Abe no Seimei informed Hagoromo Gitsune that it was not because he did not act.
Rather, it was because he was stopped by someone else.
"To think there was still someone capable of stopping you?" Hagoromo Gitsune was incredibly shocked. In her view, her magnificent son was the absolute peak expert of this world.
It was truly difficult for her to imagine that someone could actually stop her magnificent son.
Abe no Seimei said calmly: "The people who stopped me were Tengen, and also the Six Eyes."
Only then did Hagoromo Gitsune learn that back in that era, after Abe no Seimei obtained the Innate Technique of immortality from Tengen's body, he did not kill Tengen.
Because at that time, Abe no Seimei had not yet fallen into darkness, and Tengen was still his disciple.
He naturally could not kill Tengen, instead exerting all his capabilities to educate him.
However, the two later went their separate ways due to matters of principle.
This time, when he wished to drive Hagoromo Gitsune to wipe out humans, Tengen appeared, bringing along the Six Eyes generation of that era to stop him.
As figures who had both lived for hundreds of years, even though Tengen could not win against Abe no Seimei, he along with the Six Eyes used the price of their lives to hold Abe no Seimei back for a period of time.
By the time Abe no Seimei acted to kill Tengen and the Six Eyes, Hagoromo Gitsune had not only failed but had also been decapitated.
The first plan to wipe out humans failed just like that.
This also made Abe no Seimei realize a problem, which was that this world was not as terrible as imagined.
Humans might not be beyond saving.
Therefore, Abe no Seimei wished to continue observing humans, and the eradication plan was cancelled just like that.
Hagoromo Gitsune expressed neither agreement nor disagreement toward this.
No matter whether her son wished to wipe out humans or wished to protect humans, she did not care; as long as it was something Abe no Seimei wished to do, she would support it.
Following that, several hundred years passed by.
Not long ago, Abe no Seimei suddenly came to see Hagoromo Gitsune once more, stating that he was once again disappointed in humans, and wished to continue driving the plan to wipe out humans to establish a yokai world.
Although Hagoromo Gitsune was surprised, she still agreed, and actively initiated preparations for this.
In contrast, Yumesaki, who was witnessing all this, felt utterly perplexed.
What exactly was this Abe no Seimei planning? At times he wished to wipe out humans, at times he didn't, and then he started wishing to wipe out humans again.
His attitude was full of hesitation, not looking like a peak expert with a resolute mindset at all.
Instead, he resembled a wavering indecisive person.
Wait, could it be that the Abe no Seimei of this world was not actually absurd in this manner?
More importantly, would a wavering person truly wipe out humans?
Yumesaki furrowed his brow, thinking of one possibility.
The battle between Abe no Seimei against Tengen and the Six Eyes back then, was he truly just held back briefly by Tengen and the Six Eyes?
Could it be that Abe no Seimei suffered severe injuries?
Although this guess was somewhat far-fetched, it was not an impossible scenario.
After all, both Tengen and the Six Eyes represented the highest tier within Jujutsu Kaisen.
The Six Eyes of that era might not have been as powerful as Satoru Gojo, but he could certainly be called a peak-level expert.
If those two individuals truly sacrificed their lives, it was entirely possible they could heavily injure Abe no Seimei.
This also explained why after Hagoromo Gitsune's death, Abe no Seimei only helped her reincarnate after fifty years had passed, returning once more to this world.
If that was the case, then over the subsequent span of several hundred years, was there a possibility that Abe no Seimei remained in a state of not having recovered to his peak condition, instead continuously nursing his wounds?
Therefore, he temporarily halted the plan to wipe out humans.
Not long ago, Abe no Seimei's wounds finally healed, so he could not wait to continue driving his plan forward once more.
In Yumesaki's view, this explanation was far more reasonable compared to the figure of an Abe no Seimei filled with deep contemplation and wavering indecision.
As for why he did not inform Hagoromo Gitsune of the true situation, it was naturally out of fear that Hagoromo Gitsune might leak the secret.
Even though Hagoromo Gitsune was largely unlikely to leak secrets willingly, this world did not lack Innate Techniques or abilities capable of reading memories.
Therefore, for his own safety, Abe no Seimei chose to conceal it, replacing it with another reason to deceive Hagoromo Gitsune.
Meanwhile, regarding why Yumesaki made a deduction like this, there was actually one more reason.
Namely, Abe no Seimei's subsequent actions.
After he resurrected Hagoromo Gitsune, he performed one specific deed.
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