Land of Birds.
Aoki Yoru met his Wood Clone in the cave from last time.
Upon seeing the original, the Wood Clone immediately rushed over and asked urgently, "How did it go? Did you get the grell stone vein or Roran's Dragon Vein you mentioned before?"
Aoki Yoru pulled out the severed arm and handed it to him, asking curiously, "Why are you in such a hurry?"
"That wisp of Evil God energy is exceptionally treacherous. Refining it went smoothly at first, but once it suddenly rioted, nearly backlashing through the Chakra circuits. Luckily, I had placed a layer of Natural Energy barrier on the perimeter to barely stabilize my body."
Hearing this, Aoki Yoru's expression immediately turned solemn; he hadn't expected this energy to be so sinister.
The clone took the severed arm, sensed it, and said in surprise, "What is this? How can there be such a massive amount of energy? It's not even inferior to the Nine-Tailed."
"This is the grell stone vein that appeared in the Naruto movie 'Legend of the Stone of Gelel'. I don't need to tell you the rest, you already know."
The Wood Clone nodded. He shared the same past-life memories as the original, so he naturally knew the situation regarding this item.
Aoki Yoru ignored the clone and immediately began setting up a Sealing Technique in the cave.
To seal such a massive amount of energy, ordinary Sealing Techniques wouldn't have much effect; he had to set up a large-scale sealing array in advance.
Just like the Five Elements Seal he performed on Gaara, it could only suppress Shukaku for 3-4 days before being broken through.
Of course, the Sealing Techniques of the likes of the Fourth Hokage and Uzumaki Kushina were a different story; at the very least, Aoki Yoru admitted he couldn't reach that level.
After a long while, Aoki Yoru finally finished carving the array patterns.
"Alright, lie down. I'll seal the entire arm into your body. This way, there will be a double seal, which is safer."
"However, I will open a gap inside your body. The energy impact at that moment will be extremely massive, you must hold on!"
The clone nodded solemnly and lay down, simultaneously mobilizing his own and White Zetsu's Chakra to deal with the impact at any time.
"Whew—"
Aoki Yoru let out a long breath, focused his mind, and gathered all the Chakra in his body.
Aoki Yoru shouted in a low voice: "Eight Trigrams Seal!"
The magic circle suddenly lit up, and the severed arm floated up under the guidance of Chakra, slowly sinking into the clone's body along the trajectory of the array patterns.
The patterns of the double seal spread along the clone's skin, instantly weaving into an airtight net.
After a long while, the entire severed arm was finally sealed within the clone's abdomen.
"Next, I'm going to open a gap. You must withstand the instantaneous impact."
The clone nodded: "Come on, I'm ready."
Aoki Yoru pressed down on the clone's abdomen, twisted his five fingers, and tore a gap in the seal.
Instantly, the grell stone energy surged out like a flood, impacting the outermost seal.
The clone groaned as the White Zetsu Chakra within him surged wildly, forcibly withstanding that tearing energy impact.
Cold sweat broke out on Aoki Yoru's forehead, and his fingertips pressed firmly onto the array core, not daring to relax for even a moment.
It took a long time for the clone to slowly recover. Color returned to his face, his chest heaved violently, and he gasped for air.
"How does it feel? Is it useful?" Aoki Yoru asked quickly. He had put in a lot of effort; if it was useless, wouldn't it all be for nothing?
The clone then sat up straight, closed his eyes, and mobilized the grell stone energy within his body.
Aoki Yoru didn't disturb him, just watched quietly, knowing he was trying to fuse the Evil God energy.
After a long while, the clone slowly opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly into a smile.
"The effect is very good. The vast amount of energy is constantly washing over the Evil God energy; a wisp will be refined very soon."
Pausing, the clone looked up at Aoki Yoru with bright eyes. "Furthermore, the energy of the grell stone is more effective than an equivalent amount of Chakra."
"Oh! Such a thing exists?"
Aoki Yoru hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise.
"What could be the reason for this?"
Aoki Yoru rubbed his chin in thought. If he could find the reason, he would be one step closer to analyzing the essence of the Evil God.
"Could it be related to the formation of the grell stone?" The clone suggested his opinion while looking at the pondering original.
Aoki Yoru was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized. "That's actually possible."
The grell stone is a super-energy vein formed naturally underground in ancient times. It is a product nurtured by the rules of this world and shares the same origin as Natural Energy.
And the Evil God is also a part of the world's rules.
All things have mutual generation and restriction, so... it's not surprising that the grell stone energy has a restraining effect on the Evil God.
As for Chakra, although it is also formed by absorbing the energy of this world, its essence is something the Ōtsutsuki Clan created using Divine Tree saplings to plunder the source of this world.
It is ultimately different from the rules of this world.
"Roughly how long will it take for you to completely absorb and assimilate the Evil God energy and the body fragments?" Aoki Yoru asked the clone with an expectant look.
Hearing this, the clone pondered and calculated. "Hmm! At this rate, it will take about half a year."
"Should I go and get Roran's Dragon Vein to speed things up?"
The clone shook his head upon hearing this. "No need. I'm barely managing to use the grell stone energy as it is. If we add the Dragon Vein, this body might not be able to hold up."
"I see!" Aoki Yoru was suddenly a bit disappointed. He thought he could speed up the progress. There were only about three years left until the Fourth War; it was a bit tight!
However, he was also a bit wary of the Dragon Vein. It could potentially allow people to travel through time and space; God knows what accidents might happen. If it took him to ancient times where people lived like savages, he'd have nowhere to cry.
But he also knew this couldn't be rushed. If he hadn't reached the Six Paths Level by then, the worst-case scenario was finding a place to hide. Even if he were discovered, given Naruto's personality, he probably wouldn't do anything to him.
"By the way, how is the Evil God Cult coming along? You need to speed up the progress."
The clone looked at Aoki Yoru and gave a strange smile. "Let's go take a look together."
Aoki Yoru looked at the clone suspiciously. Why was that strange smile so unsettling? He wouldn't have caused some kind of trouble, would he?
Subsequently, Aoki Yoru followed the clone to a valley. Looking at the simple building standing there, he spread out his spiritual power and took a scan.
A look of horror appeared on his face as he mechanically turned his head to look at the clone. "How did you come up with that?"
Inside the house, a dozen people were worshipping a statue. The statue looked very much like the clone Yagami Light, which wasn't surprising since he was going to play the role of the Evil God.
However, several lines of text carved next to the statue in the building left him greatly shocked, marveling at the clone's imagination.
Those few lines of text were: 'The Heavens are dead, the Evil God shall rise; in the year of Jiazi, there shall be prosperity under heaven.'
Good grief, he's planning to use the Evil God Cult like the Yellow Turban Army.
The clone immediately showed a proud expression. "Missionary work step-by-step is too slow. To gain a large amount of faith in a short period, this is the best way."