Itadori Yuji's pupils contracted.
He understood what Ryomen Sukuna meant.
Cursed Spirits are beings composed of negative energy. To them, positive energy is untouchable.
Reverse Cursed Technique is the natural enemy of all spirits.
This was emphasized many times in the original work. Even someone as strong as Jogo would suffer fatal injuries upon being touched by the positive energy of Reverse Cursed Technique.
This was also one of the reasons why Mahito insisted on incarnating during the early stages.
Reverse Cursed Technique was simply too deadly to Cursed Spirits.
To eliminate that fatal weakness, the only solution was incarnation—the Half-Cursed Spirit transformation created by Mahito.
It was common sense that a Cursed Spirit could not use Reverse Cursed Technique.
"In other words, Yamata no Orochi isn't a Cursed Spirit?" Itadori Yuji considered another possibility.
"It's Yamata no Orochi—eight snake heads, eight tails, and a body like a mountain. You'd call that a human?" Ryomen Sukuna laughed mockingly.
"Are you joking with me?"
A chill ran down Itadori Yuji's spine.
The simultaneous circulation of positive and negative energy...
He knew this method.
It was the signature ability of the Lord of Cursed Spirits: Soul Creation Dragon Spirit Body.
"Yamata no Orochi... was a god? The god you killed was Yamata no Orochi?!" Itadori Yuji exclaimed.
"Is a so-called god an existence capable of circulating positive and negative energy simultaneously within its body?"
Sukuna had mentioned Yamata no Orochi in the original work.
While fighting Mahoraga, he had said:
"You're about the same as Yamata no Orochi."
From the context, Ryomen Sukuna had implied that Yamata no Orochi's regeneration came from Reverse Cursed Technique rather than ordinary negative energy restoration.
Indeed, examples of simultaneously circulating positive and negative energy were not unique to the King of Curses.
Mahoraga could do it.
The ancient Yamata no Orochi could do it as well.
Mahoraga's attacks had been clearly explained in the original work:
"After the first strike with positive energy, the following second strike is a negative energy attack. It broke through my Dismantle. The effect activates every time the wheel on its back turns."
"Your knowledge is too shallow. Talking to you is as exhausting as talking to a low-level Cursed Spirit," Ryomen Sukuna said indifferently.
"Although Yamata no Orochi possesses the circulation of positive and negative energy, it doesn't quite qualify as a god."
"However, your deduction is partially correct."
"A god must indeed possess the circulation of positive and negative energy."
"It is a necessary ability originating from instinct."
Ryomen Sukuna suddenly formed hand seals.
Itadori Yuji thought he was about to attack again, but that wasn't the case.
This time, what manifested wasn't Malevolent Shrine.
Instead, the surroundings transformed into a landscape of endless skeletons.
Countless bones piled into mountains.
Blood pooled across the ground beneath their feet.
At the highest point of the skeletal mountain, a gigantic bone structure resembling a canopy supported the heavens.
At the end of that structure was a skull adorned with bull horns.
Itadori Yuji immediately recognized this place.
"Your Innate Domain?" he asked.
Indeed.
This wasn't Ryomen Sukuna's Domain Expansion, Malevolent Shrine.
It was his Innate Domain.
Within this Innate Domain, endless skeletons and seas of blood formed Ryomen Sukuna's throne.
Before his resurrection, he had sat atop this mountain of corpses, leisurely passing his boring existence.
Itadori Yuji had entered this place before.
The memories remained vivid.
Ryomen Sukuna raised a finger and pointed upward.
He proudly declared:
"The god I killed is right here, inside my Innate Domain."
"His name is Enma—the deity who governs the flow of Souls in Hell."
"He once attempted to command me."
"And now, the Enma who tried to command me has become the canopy of my Innate Domain."
"See? Isn't it fitting?"
Gulp.
Itadori Yuji swallowed hard.
Even in his wildest imagination, he had never expected a Sorcerer to transport a god's corpse into their own Innate Domain.
How was that even possible?
He felt everything he had learned had become useless.
Faced with this absurd reality, he doubted Gojo Satoru's teachings for the first time.
Gojo Satoru had taught that an Innate Domain represented one's inner world.
But could an inner world really contain the corpse of a divine being?
Itadori Yuji dared swear that even Teacher Gojo could absolutely never do such a thing.
"Next, I'll teach you the truly important part."
Ryomen Sukuna crossed his legs atop the mountain of corpses and looked down upon Itadori Yuji.
He leisurely said:
"A god is a high-dimensional existence that governs Binding Vows."
"If I explain it that way, you probably won't understand."
"But you've certainly learned about Binding Vows."
"A Binding Vow is essentially an agreement between a Jujutsu Sorcerer and Heaven."
"And the so-called deity is that very Heaven."
"The Cursed Energy of Sorcerers constantly interacts with the Cursed Energy circulating throughout nature."
"The stronger one's Cursed Energy, the stronger and more frequent that interaction becomes."
"People who have reached the pinnacle of the world—such as myself, Gojo Satoru, and the Lord of Cursed Spirits—possess Cursed Energy capable of grasping the natural flow of Cursed Energy the same way gravity functions."
"Thus, we can borrow Heaven's power to accomplish our objectives."
"And the price paid by ordinary incompetents is hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of times greater than ours."
This wasn't empty boasting.
Ryomen Sukuna himself was the greatest example.
In the original work, many people jokingly referred to him as a cheater.
Whenever he encountered a powerful enemy, he would utilize Binding Vows to overcome them with ease.
In the eyes of others, this was practically cheating.
He had even earned the mocking title of "Binding Vow Merchant."
(T/N: Chinese fans call him 'Loan King')
Throughout the entire series, only Ryomen Sukuna could do this.
Why?
Because his understanding of Binding Vows was beyond even Kenjaku.
Ryomen Sukuna continued:
"The act of making Binding Vows is the greatest manifestation of Heaven's Mandate."
"Deities engrave their Binding Vows into the natural cycle of Cursed Energy."
"Therefore, all Cursed Energy circulating throughout nature must pass through the deity's processing and approval."
"You could even say that if a god wishes it, they can instantly perform miracles through this massive circulation."
"Reversing gravity."
"Making snow fall in midsummer."
"Anything."
"Because a god is part of that cycle."
"They are like the administrator interface of a computer."
"As long as their knowledge is sufficient, they can program any system."
Although Itadori Yuji knew nothing about computers, he understood that programmers and ordinary users interacted with systems completely differently.
His entire body trembled.
At last, he understood the terror of gods.
So this was why gods were called higher-dimensional beings.
They had become administrators of the world itself.
Naturally, they existed on a higher dimension.
"Then how did you kill something like that?" Itadori Yuji asked with a trembling voice.
"Didn't I tell you from the very beginning?" Ryomen Sukuna replied meaningfully.
"The method of killing a god is to Sever Heaven's Mandate."
"Translated into words you can understand, it means stripping away the administrator's authority and dragging the god down to the same world as us."
"Then killing them becomes easy."
"They're already higher-dimensional beings. How could their administrator privileges possibly be removed?"
"Have you already forgotten what I said about Yamata no Orochi?" Ryomen Sukuna sounded irritated.
"Were you even listening?"
"Yamata no Orochi?"
Itadori Yuji's mind went blank.
Hadn't Sukuna just spoken about the circulation of positive and negative energy?
How did that relate—
No.
There really was a connection.
Suddenly, Itadori Yuji understood.
"The circulation of positive and negative energy is precisely the key to embedding oneself into the natural flow of Cursed Energy!"
"When Sorcerers use techniques, there is only one direction."
"Either normal technique release using negative energy."
"Or Reverse Cursed Technique generated by multiplying negatives together."
"As far as I know, only two people possess simultaneous positive and negative energy circulation."
"One is Teacher Gojo, through Hollow Technique."
"The second is Mahito, through Soul Creation Dragon Spirit Body."
Gojo Satoru possessed the eyes of gods and buddhas, the Six Eyes.
Therefore, he could perform the circulation of positive and negative energy.
Mahito possessed a divine vessel.
Thus, he could do the same.
The circulation of positive and negative energy formed the foundation of divinity.
A living god.
A demigod.
"Yamata no Orochi wasn't a deity—it was a demigod monster!" Itadori Yuji realized.
"The way to kill a god is to interrupt the circulation of positive and negative energy!"
"Once that cycle is broken, the deity loses its status as the world's administrator."
"And during that brief instant, the god can be killed."
"That was how you slew Enma!"
This was also the true reason why Mahoraga adapted to everything.
By adapting, Mahoraga altered its own Cursed Energy and gained resistance to any absurd attack.
In the original work, Mahoraga even adapted to Limitless itself.
Combined with Ryomen Sukuna's extension of his technique, it transcended into the concept of space itself and produced the unprecedented World-Splitting Slash.
This was also the principle behind that Dismantle.
Why was Mahoraga so special?
Because Mahoraga itself occupied the position of a demigod.
The prototypes of the Ten Shadows Technique were the ten sacred treasures from reality.
They were divine instruments.
Using divine treasures to cut down the eyes of gods and buddhas—
That was the funeral Gege Akutami prepared for Gojo Satoru.
(T/N: Megumi you absolute Bum. How can you be so Pathetic with this in your arsenal?!)
Ryomen Sukuna lightly applauded atop the mountain of skeletons.
"You finally understand."
"Do you remember what I said?"
"The foundation of divinity is the circulation of positive and negative energy."
"This is because the world's natural cycle itself is a cycle of positive and negative energy."
"Only then can one connect their authority to the entire world."
"But positive and negative circulation alone is insufficient."
"Otherwise Yamata no Orochi would have become a god long ago."
"And Gojo Satoru wouldn't merely possess the eyes of gods and buddhas—he would already be one himself."
"The connection with the world is the most important part."
He stood up atop the mountain of skeletons and spread his arms.
"A god is recognized as the world's Binding Vow itself."
"Therefore, they must obey every agreement contained within those vows."
"That is also why I have no interest in becoming a deity."
"Becoming a god means fixing everything about yourself forever."
"Why would I become something so boring?"
"A Sorcerer like me would rather die."
"But Kenjaku once proposed an idea that intrigued me."
Itadori Yuji frowned.
"What idea?"
"The Great Spirit," Ryomen Sukuna answered calmly.
"Kenjaku told me this—"
"If becoming a god means linking oneself to Heaven through agreements with the world..."
"Then if one finds Heaven itself and completely overlaps with it..."
"...wouldn't one then be able to do absolutely anything?"
"That is the Great Cursed Spirit."
"The so-called Heaven is merely the natural Cursed Energy cycle created by the Cursed Energy leaked from all humans."
"Therefore, if I undergo super-repetitive assimilation with all humanity and completely unify their wills beneath mine..."
"Then I myself become Heaven."
"All agreements would exist according to my will."
"All Binding Vows would be born or erased according to my whims."
"This was the agreement Kenjaku offered me—"
"The One True God."
Itadori Yuji's breathing stopped.
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Next Bonus Chapter at 700 Powerstones.