Jujutsu Kaisen: What Is Master Tengen’s Evolved Form?

The second season of Jujutsu Kaisen is finally here with Gojo’s Past Arc, which will take us back in time before returning to the present timeline. Knowing what awaits us in the upcoming episodes, we cannot but be excited about what is to come. But, while the flashback arc might seem like a digression from the main plot, it actually has a lot of connections to the main story, and one of the main liaisons between the past and the present is a character known as Master Tengen, an immortal and powerful entity mentioned earlier in the story. Although we won’t see them yet, we have nevertheless decided to tell you a bit about them in this article, as you are going to find out about their evolution.

Master Tengen’s evolved form is unknown since their evolution was stopped each time since the Nara period. If allowed to evolve, Master Tengen would enter a higher plane of existence and become a special entity that would lose all will and reason. Since that could be potentially dangerous for humanity, the jujutsu sorcerers have been making sure that Master Tengen merges with the Star Plasma Vessel every 500 years in order to maintain the balance that Master Tengen are currently enabling.

As we have said, this article will focus on Master Tengen, the new secondary character who will be a background focus of Gojo’s Part Arc. In this article, we will discuss their powers and abilities, particularly their evolution, which was the focus of Gojo’s Past flashback arc that the second season of Jujutsu Kaisen opened with. Be careful, though, as we must inform you that this article will contain many spoilers from the manga, so you have to decide for yourselves how you want to approach it.

Master Tengen’s evolved form has not been revealed, but everyone agrees that it has the potential to change the world

Master Tengen are a character that have been mentioned more than once before their debut in Chapter 144 of the manga; in light of that fact, we have to state that Master Tengen does play a relatively important role in the series, but they are more of a passive character than an active one.

Namely, they are responsible for keeping and maintaining the barriers of the jujutsu society, and if they were to stop doing that, the world could be plunged into chaos.

But, the interesting fact here is that Master Tengen have been doing it for more than 1,000 years. How? Well, Master Tengen actually have a special cursed technique called Immortality, which grants them eternal life, although it does come with a certain price. Namely, Master Tengen won’t die from old age due to their ability.

That much is obvious at this point, but they still have to go through a “refreshment” cycle every 500 years, in which their current body is completely destroyed (as you can see, Immortality slows down the aging of the body, but it doesn’t completely stop it) and has to be replaced with a new one – the Star Plasma Vessel – in order for the balance to remain. This is why the Star Plasma Vessel was such an important element of the Gojo’s Past Arc and why the whole story revolved around the 14-year-old Riko Amanai.

Now, as we have said above, Master Tengen won’t actually die if the body is not replaced, but they will evolve and enter a completely new state of existence, becoming more of a curse than a human, which can be both beneficial and dangerous, but more on that later.

On the other hand, if the body is replaced, the whole process is avoided, as the whole process is restarted, and the danger of Master Tengen becoming dangerous is avoided for another 500 years. But, while the process of evolution is risky, we have to tell you that the evolved Master Tengen isn’t necessarily a threat to the jujutsu society.

Namely, there are two ways that the evolution of Master Tengen can go. In the first scenario, the evolution could be beneficial for humanity as Master Tengen would remain an ally; in the second, the evolution could be horrific, as Master Tengen could become a mindless enemy of humanity, an enemy the jujutsu sorcerers could probably not take down with ease; this would happen because Master Tengen would actually lose all will and reason in their evolved state.

This is why the Star Plasma Vessel was so important and why the school cared so much about the whole process.

So, what does this evolved state look like? We actually don’t know! Master Tengen takes the body of their vessel, but since Toji Fushiguro killed Riko Amanai before the merger, a potentially big problem was on the way. And while no detailed explanation was ever provided, we found out that the evolution was avoided, as Master Tengen managed to stabilize themselves somehow, probably taking on an artificial body, as when they appeared, they looked like a curse rather than anything else.

So, even though the conditions for Master Tengen’s evolution have been met, the evolution itself was avoided, so we don’t really know what this form looks like. It has been implied that they would be more of a curse than a human, but what they would look like in this form is completely unknown at this moment.

What we do know is that this higher state of existence makes Master Tengen more powerful and more dangerous. In it, Master Tengen would become a completely new entity, quite powerful but also quite dangerous. Namely, in their evolved state, Master Tengen lose all will and reason, and they basically stop being Master Tengen. This could turn out great but also catastrophic, which is why no one was willing to take a risk there.