His gaze sharpened like a blade.
"How did your attack partially neutralize or even penetrate my Limitless technique? What was hidden within that thunder pillar?"
This question instantly silenced the training ground. Everyone pricked up their ears, including the students on the sidelines and the "eyes" that might be lurking further away, peering through the barriers.
Genji laughed, as if expecting such a question.
"The Limitless technique..." he said slowly, each word extremely clear. "It's not a unique technique that appeared only in this era, Gojo."
Satoru Gojo's pupils narrowed almost imperceptibly.
"A thousand years ago," Genji looked into the void, as if traveling through time, "my Mahoraga had already fought powerful enemies with a similar concept of 'infinity,' as well as ancient sorcerers who initially developed the prototype of the Limitless technique."
He paused and looked at Satoru Gojo, his deep indigo eyes seemingly full of ancient wisdom.
"During the 'adaptation' process of Mahoraga's wheel, by analyzing, recording, and finally overcoming that ancient technique, it naturally mastered the operational methods and attribute characteristics of cursed energy capable of breaking, neutralizing, and even imitating the properties of the 'Limitless.'"
"The thunder pillar just now was mixed with a hint of the special cursed energy attribute from Mahoraga, which had long been adapted and recorded, specifically used to interfere with and penetrate the structure of the 'Limitless.'"
Mahoraga... adapted to the Limitless... mastered the properties to break it...
Satoru Gojo's breath hitched for a moment, then an even stronger fighting spirit ignited within him. I see! So it's not that the technique itself manifested penetration, but that the other side has 'experience' and the 'tools to pry open' for this type of technique, accumulated over a thousand years! This is just... this is so interesting!
"So... I see!" Satoru Gojo grinned widely. "So this is the legacy of a thousand-year-old antique? Amazing!"
Genji smiled.
"Since you mentioned domain expansion, let me tell you another idea," he spoke in a calm tone, as if imparting knowledge in a classroom. "The essence of domain expansion is to unfold an extremely thin but high-density barrier on the surface of the body, using 'self-rules' to veil and neutralize 'external rules' or 'others' technique effects.'"
"Then, you can extend that line of thought," Genji's finger traced in the air, indigo cursed energy outlining a simple model. "It doesn't have to be a complete 'domain.' If you have a deep enough understanding of barrier techniques and delicate control over your own technique, you can try..."
He paused and uttered words that would make any sorcerer, especially Megumi Fushiguro and Masamichi Yaga (if he was watching), who were skilled in barriers, tremble:
"Placing a 'barrier' on top of your attacking technique."
"Make each attack, at the moment of impact, carry a 'transient barrier' that interacts, interferes with, and locally neutralizes the enemy's technique effect in the target area—especially techniques like the 'Limitless,' which depend on a stable spatial structure."
"Although the effect of a single application is far inferior to a full domain expansion, the consumption is also enormous, and the demands on the sorcerer are extremely high. But it is not... a theoretically impossible path to cracking an 'absolute defense' type technique."
---
Genji's remarks about "placing a barrier on top of a technique" were like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, raising huge waves in the hearts of every sorcerer on the training ground.
Especially Megumi Fushiguro.
As the successor of the Ten Shadows Technique, his control over "shikigami" and "shadows" was instinctive, but he also possessed a deep understanding and rigorous practice of "barrier" techniques, far surpassing his peers.
Because of this, he could better appreciate the audacity and almost subversive subtlety contained in Genji's words...
"You've got to be kidding..." Megumi Fushiguro whispered almost unconsciously, his brows furrowed. His eyes beneath his hedgehog-like hair stared at Genji floating in the field, as if trying to find any hint of a joke in the opponent's calm expression.
"Placing a barrier... on an invisible technique?"
"How is that different from drawing a picture in the air and making it stand alone?" Megumi's voice was filled with disbelief. He looked at Satoru Gojo, as if seeking confirmation from his teacher. "No, it's harder! A domain expansion at least has a solid base. But cursed energy, manipulation, and barriers are all energy forms. Maintaining precise coordination and triggering during movement... fundamentally contradicts the basic principles?"
The precision of cursed energy control, the speed of barrier construction, and the stability of multi-threaded maintenance fundamentally contradicted the basic principles of jujutsu in Megumi's existing understanding.
Barriers required a "foundation" (even a temporary cursed energy anchor) and a relatively stable "environment for rule unfolding."
Attaching them to a fast-moving attack technique?
What constitutes a "foundation" then? Could the turbulence caused by movement maintain the stability of the "rules"?
However, despite his student's doubts, Satoru Gojo laughed.
This laugh was not mockery, but the smile of a mentor when a student is stuck and about to have an epiphany.
"Megumi," Satoru Gojo's voice came, still carrying the afterglow of the battle's excitement, but his tone was clear and decisive. "Have you forgotten... the Open Domain?"
"Open... Domain?" Megumi Fushiguro shuddered. The word struck his chaotic thoughts like lightning.
Domain expansion—the pinnacle of jujutsu combat—involves using one's own "mental landscape" to erode reality and create a space with one's own rules.
In the traditional view, a domain is "closed," like a complete, isolated "ball" or "box" that drags the opponent onto its home turf.
But the "Open Domain"...
Memories quickly replayed in Megumi's mind—it was an extremely rare and special domain form recorded in college textbooks. He murmured the key description:
"Based on the principle of a closed domain, abandon the 'closed' nature of the area and the erosion of the full internal space. No longer strive to completely pull the enemy into an independent mental space. Instead, the 'rules' or 'effects' of the domain are attached, projected, or diffused in some way by the sorcerer themselves, a specific technique, or even the larger environment..."
"And that's not all," Genji's voice remained calm.
He hovered there, his indigo hunting robes softly fluttering in the wind of the undissipated cursed energy. His deep indigo eyes swept over everyone and finally fell on Satoru Gojo, who seemed enlightened, and Megumi Fushiguro, who was deep in thought.
"Barriers are not what you think... solid and unchanging."
He said slowly, as if stating a very simple fact. "The so-called barrier technique, its core logic, is essentially..."
He paused, as if searching for the most appropriate vocabulary for the era.
"Mathematics and physics."
"Mathematics and... physics?" Nobara Kugisaki repeated subconsciously, her expression saying, "Are you kidding me?"
Yuji Itadori also scratched his head, clearly unable to connect the formulas from his school textbooks to these mysterious barrier runes.
But Megumi Fushiguro's body suddenly trembled. The complex calculations of the nodes of cursed energy flow, the deduction of energy flow stability, and the geometric structural analysis he had studied in barrier techniques... countless details instantly flooded into his consciousness.
The corners of Satoru Gojo's lips curled into an even more excited smile. It seemed as if countless formulas and data streams were flickering in his pale blue eyes.
"Exactly."
"If the people of your era could understand quantum mechanics," Genji said, "it would be easier to grasp what I'm about to explain next—the theory of barrier quantization."
"Quantization?" This time, even Megumi Fushiguro felt a little lost.
Among all the students, only Yuji Itadori and Eriri had some basic exposure to physics and knew what quantum mechanics was. The others had looks of bewilderment starting to appear in their eyes.
"The cursed energy units that make up a barrier are no longer considered a continuous energy flow or fixed building blocks,"
Genji extended his right hand. A small mass of indigo cursed energy appeared above his palm, but it didn't stabilize into a definite form. Instead, it exhibited a strange characteristic of constantly, indistinctly switching between "particle" and "wave" states, emitting a sense of chaos resembling the uncertainty principle. "but discrete, 'wave-particle duality,' superimposed state cursed energy sub-units."
The "cursed energy" in his palm suddenly spread out, no longer concentrated at a single point, but like a probability cloud, spreading over a larger spatial area. However, it would suddenly "collapse" at certain "observation points," condensing into a clear flash of cursed energy.
"Based on this," Genji continued, each word carrying immense weight, "construct a quantized barrier. Such a barrier no longer has a clear and fixed 'boundary' or 'center.'"
"Its 'wall' is a probabilistic existence. Its 'rules' are a superposition state dependent on observation (or triggering conditions). Its energy nodes can be non-locally correlated within a certain range."
Finally, he pointed to the essence of the idea:
"Ultimately, a decentralized barrier is achieved."
"No longer relying on one or several core foundations or arrays to maintain the overall situation. Each 'cursed energy subunit' of the barrier is both an independent node and part of the overall network. The destruction of a part does not lead to a complete collapse, because information and energy can be instantly restored in other nodes through quantum entanglement and non-local connections."
"It can self-repair, dynamically adapt, and even... be like a living organism. It 'carries' itself on a person moving at high speed and in an unstable state, without losing its core rules, because its 'stability' is no longer classical spatial fixation, but the maintenance of correlations in quantum states."
Genji took a deep breath and smiled at everyone.
"Do you understand?"
The audience stared at Genji, their eyes reflecting clear bewilderment. Even Satoru Gojo and Masamichi Yaga had slightly dazed looks in their eyes.
At this moment, everyone in the college felt a sense of oppression from the higher-ups—at least in terms of academic qualifications.
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