Aoki Yoru walked over to Timusi's side, carrying yerun. A flicker of guilt flashed in his eyes as he whispered, "I'm sorry!"
"Slash—"
yerun, wrapped in lightning, swept across his arm. The entire arm fell off at the sound, the cut charred and carbonized by the high temperature, without a single drop of blood flowing out.
"Mm!"
The unconscious Timusi felt a sharp pain and let out a muffled groan. Cold sweat poured down his face as he frowned incessantly.
Aoki Yoru picked up the severed arm and walked out of the tent.
On the back of the Yatagarasu, Aoki Yoru looked up at the starry sky, remaining silent for a long time. Even the Yatagarasu knew he was in a bad mood and didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
After a long while, he finally snapped out of it and said self-deprecatingly, "It seems I've also become someone who uses any means necessary to achieve my goals!"
Subsequently, a look of determination appeared on his face. No matter what, he would not stop his footsteps; he had to achieve his goal. Even if it went against his conscience, he would not hesitate.
He had the Yatagarasu circle a hundred-mile radius around the camp. Relying on his powerful sensory abilities, Aoki Yoru finally found the ruins of the ancient super-civilization.
Under his perception, the shape and outline of the entire underground ruin appeared completely in his mind.
Deep underground was a massive spherical cavity. The spiral staircase extending downward from the surface looked like a coiled snake leading to the bottom of the cavity.
At the deepest part of the cavity, dense blue light points intertwined like blood vessels—that was the grell stone vein, standing there quietly like a heart that had been sleeping for a thousand years.
Arriving at the entrance of the ruins, looking at the long passage and the massive stone door, Aoki Yoru did not use violence to destroy it. Who knew if it would trigger a chain reaction?
According to legend, if the grell stone vein were to completely explode, half the continent would disappear.
Of course, this was a description of the explosion's energy; it wouldn't literally blow away half the continent.
Aoki Yoru scoffed at this claim. If that were the case, the Dragon Vein of Loulan was also said to cause a massive disaster—not only would the entire Kingdom of Loulan disappear, but it would also cause earthquakes and tsunamis affecting multiple neighboring countries.
The Moryo of the Land of Demons was also said to be able to destroy the Ninja World if fully resurrected.
And these were just the ones he knew about; how many more were there that he didn't know?
From that perspective, the Ninja World was dangerous everywhere. Everyone might as well stop living and just wait for death.
In his view, the only ones truly capable of destroying the Ninja World were the Ōtsutsuki Clan. Anyone else who dared to raise their head would absolutely be suppressed by the Six Paths Sage.
Following the passage to a massive stone door, Aoki Yoru reached out and brushed the rough stone surface. His fingertips traced the carvings as if touching a piece of dusty history.
"I didn't expect it to be so well-preserved after a thousand years."
He had no intention of forcing his way in with violence. Who knew if it would trigger a mechanism, causing an effect that would lead to the vein being sucked into a dimensional rift?
He knew there was a mechanism here. In the original story, Kahiko, the leader of that wandering caravan, was a descendant of the guardian family of the ancient Kingdom of Gil. They had guarded the vein for generations, and he knew how to open the mechanism.
However, Aoki Yoru had no intention of looking for him. With his sensory abilities, the structure of the mechanism had already appeared in his mind; he could just go and open it directly.
This was also because he knew the original story and that there were no traps or the like inside, so he dared to do this.
If it were an unfamiliar place, even if he had the key and blueprints in hand, he wouldn't dare be so reckless. Who knew what traps were inside?
One must realize that human cognition has limits. If one accidentally triggered a trap in their blind spot of knowledge, they wouldn't even know how they died.
Soon, Aoki Yoru opened the gate, revealing a spiral staircase winding downward. The steps coiled layer by layer like an endless black python, snaking deep into the earth.
At the end of the spiral staircase was a massive underground cavity filled with blue light.
Countless grell stone crystal clusters rose from the ground, reaching heights of dozens of meters, with light flowing slowly inside. Scattered between the clusters were rusted ancient gears and pipes, like a mechanical tomb that had been sleeping for a thousand years.
At the deepest part was an altar covered in runes, with the hum of energy pulsations echoing throughout the space.
Aoki Yoru looked up at the vein, his heart sinking.
He felt a violent energy within the vein—a power so strong it even made his heart palpitate. If it were to completely erupt, even he wouldn't be able to stop it.
Immediately, a smile appeared on his face. The more energy, the better. As long as it could be utilized properly, it would be a massive help to him.
Aoki Yoru walked onto the altar and crouched down to study it carefully. This was a rare opportunity; after all, being able to seal this kind of energy was a difficulty that even surpassed sealing a Tailed Beast.
Furthermore, after seeing the energy of the vein, he wasn't sure he could seal it either.
Now he had to study it to see if there was a way. He only had one day; Naruto and the others would arrive here tomorrow night. He couldn't just kill them all.
Unknowingly, it was already noon the next day. Aoki Yoru's fingertips had developed thin callouses, but he had finally figured out the Sealing Technique of the vein and the patterns of the altar's energy flow.
"Whew—"
Aoki Yoru let out a long breath. The high-intensity thinking had left him exhausted.
Three seals had been applied to the entire vein.
The first seal, also the outermost layer, suppressed the leakage of the entire vein's energy, preventing the grell stone Chakra from diffusing to the outside world. This sealing array covered the entire underground cavity.
The second seal guided the vein's energy toward the altar instead of letting it run wild, like a canal "constraining" the energy to a specific path.
In Aoki Yoru's view, this seal was meant to guide all the grell stone vein's energy here at the most critical moment to send it into a different dimension.
The third seal was a "Bloodline Identification Array." Only someone whose bloodline was completely consistent with the ancient royal family could activate it to decide whether to utilize or destroy it.
What surprised Aoki Yoru was that the reason these three seals had not failed due to the erosion of time over a thousand years was that they had a back door that absorbed energy from the grell stone.
This ingenious idea was an eye-opener for Aoki Yoru, giving him a sudden flash of insight and enlightenment.
Analyzing these three seals, Aoki Yoru couldn't help but marvel at the wisdom of the ancients from a thousand years ago, who used Sealing Techniques to perfection.
Furthermore, what delighted Aoki Yoru was that these sealing formulas were completely different from the mainstream formulas in the current Ninja World, giving him great inspiration.
In his view, this type of sealing formula, which differed from Chakra, could even be integrated into Senjutsu.
Aoki Yoru stood up, stretched his stiff shoulders and neck, and took out a soldier pill to swallow. After staying up all night, even he was inevitably a bit tired.
What he had to do next was very delicate and must not have any mistakes; otherwise, if the vein were detonated, he might not survive.
After a long while, Aoki Yoru felt his body had recovered sufficiently. Checking the time, there were still over three hours before Naruto and the others arrived. He knew he had to start taking action.