Chapter 493: Death Controlling Possessed Blood
Ishiro had a feeling that as he was perceiving the Evil God, the Evil God was also observing him.
"Phew..." Ishiro sighed in relief internally. At least for now, this "Evil God" was within the realm of comprehension.
If this entity had truly reached the fourth stage, Ishiro would have turned and run, then sold the intel to Konoha.
Since it was also at the third stage of Yin Release, it was manageable.
Although there could be a huge gap even within the same stage, Ishiro wasn't flustered. He had taken down Mōryō, who was no weaker than this. The current, stronger Ishiro was naturally not afraid of Jashin.
Not to mention, this so-called Evil God's main body wasn't even here. There were only a few of its proxies, who could communicate with it and borrow a fraction of its power.
Of course, Ishiro wouldn't be careless. These entities that had reached the peak of the third stage of Yin Release all seemed to have abilities approaching the level of a Sage. They all possessed some kind of power that was incomprehensible to ordinary ninja.
For example, Hidan's Curse Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood. For example, the Dark Medical Ninjutsu derived from Mōryō. For example, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal brought by the Death God Mask.
And, of course, the most baffling of all: immortality.
Both Hidan and Yomi possessed a certain degree of immortality.
These abilities all belonged to the realm of Sages. No Kage-level expert in the current shinobi world could do these things.
But as his understanding of chakra and the shinobi world deepened, Ishiro was slowly beginning to confront and contemplate these abilities.
In his perception, there were other abilities that also belonged to the Sage level, such as the strange dōjutsu of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Needless to say, special abilities like Kotoamatsukami and Kamui, but even a flame like Amaterasu, which could burn anything, could not be explained by conventional theory.
Besides the Uchiha's Mangekyo, Ishiro felt he also possessed something that could be considered a Sage-level ability.
That was the Beyond-S-Rank ninjutsu: Mind's Eye.
The Mind's Eye, which he now often called his panoramic perception, was an ability that could no longer be explained by normal theory.
Like all Mangekyo users, he could use this miraculous ability but could not understand its principle. Perhaps this was the manifestation of a Sage-level power.
Pulling his thoughts back, Ishiro once again looked at the source from which the Evil God was transmitting its power: the center of the altar. His eyes showed a look of excitement and desire.
I really want to capture this Evil God and study it.
Unfortunately, this was just a thought. He couldn't control such an incomprehensible existence. Even if he did capture it, he felt he would sooner or later suffer a backlash.
Ishiro paid no mind to the remaining cult members, but they were staring at him with extreme tension.
The scene of him subduing dozens of their comrades in an instant had been too frightening. So, although they had now communicated with Jashin and obtained power far beyond their usual, they were still filled with fear and unease.
They desperately prayed to their god, hoping to obtain more and stronger power.
At the same time, the surviving cult members all gathered around the one who had spoken earlier—the cult's leader.
What gave them a slight sense of comfort was that Jashin had actually responded to their prayers, granting them even greater strength.
However, they didn't notice that their leader was even more panicked than they were, because he had noticed Ishiro's gaze.
Ishiro's eyes were fixed on the center of the altar.
As people who had communicated with the Evil God, they naturally knew that Jashin was in that location. But how had an outsider discovered it?
The cult leader had never encountered such a situation before.
Previous enemies had always focused their attention on them, the ones with a degree of immortality. No one had ever discovered Jashin's presence.
And Ishiro's method of dealing with the cult members also made him panic.
The greatest advantage Jashin gave them was not power, but a degree of immortality. But the Tsuchikage in front of him had easily solved this problem with a sealing jutsu.
The cult leader wasn't afraid of strong enemies. For the cult, as long as someone bled, their blood and even their souls could be sacrificed to Jashin, allowing the survivors to gain more power.
If Ishiro had used overwhelming force to bypass their immortality and kill them on the spot, the leader could have sacrificed them all to gain even greater strength.
But Ishiro hadn't. He had used a simple seal to neutralize the cult leader's greatest trump card.
The leader, taking advantage of Ishiro's momentary distraction, quickly fired a signal flare into the sky. This was the signal for all members to gather and resist a foreign enemy.
Any cult member in Yugakure who saw this signal would immediately come to reinforce them. There were still a few hundred members in the village. If he could mobilize them all, he might still have a fighting chance.
But why didn't the Tsuchikage do anything? He clearly had a chance to stop the signal flare. Why didn't he?
"Could it be...?" The cult leader couldn't help but tremble.
Sure enough, a long time after the flare was fired, there was still no movement from the rest of the village.
The cult leader's heart sank to the bottom. It was over. His guess had been confirmed.
Those men had surely been dealt with by the Tsuchikage. And he had likely used the same method as he had on the dozens who were now sealed and floating in the air. Otherwise, if a large number of believers had died, Jashin would have sent a warning.
Are the Kage of the great villages all this strong? Just one of them can come and wipe out our entire headquarters, which I thought was already unprecedentedly powerful?
"Lord Tsuchikage," the cult leader said, "I am the leader of the Cult of Jashin. I was not aware of Your Excellency's arrival. What business brings you here?"
"Has our cult offended Iwagakure or Your Excellency in some way?"
"Please enlighten us, Lord Tsuchikage. Our cult will surely change. And we are willing to offer any compensation for our offense."
Ishiro blinked, finally moving his gaze from the altar to the leader. So he knows how to be pragmatic?
A pity. I'm not interested in the cult. I'm interested in the Evil God itself.
Ishiro said, "Compensation is unnecessary. I just want to see what abilities your 'Evil God' has."
Hearing this, the cult leader's heart sank again. It seemed today would not end well.
"Attack! Sacrifice the Tsuchikage to Lord Jashin! We will surely gain Lord Jashin's favor!" Seeing that negotiation was useless, the leader's ruthless nature was revealed. He immediately ordered his men to attack.
Hearing the promise of their god's favor, all the surviving cult members temporarily overcame their fear and excitedly launched their attacks at Ishiro.
Ishiro scanned their attack methods. They were divided into two types. One was physical attacks, which, from the looks of it, were meant to obtain the enemy's blood. The other was Yin Release attacks. These were more powerful and more subtle, likely their killing moves.
But for Ishiro, who had reached the third stage of Yin Release and possessed the Mind's Eye, such attacks had no stealth to speak of. He could clearly sense their paths and predict their trajectories.
He pulled Chiga along, using a few Body Flickers to dodge all the Yin Release attacks. As for the physical attacks, they couldn't even break through his porcelain mud defense.
He didn't counter-attack immediately, choosing to simply dodge. He planned to use this opportunity to properly observe Jashin's methods.
But after a dozen or so rounds, he lost interest. The cult members just used the same one Yin Release attack over and over again. It had no reference value for him.
After some thought, he decided to change his method of probing.
He formed a one-handed seal. "Sage Art: Earth Release: Mud Wall!"
An earth wall blocked the cult members' line of sight.
Then, he beckoned with his hand, pulling a large amount of blood from one of the sealed cult members who was out of sight.
He gave a drop to Chiga. "Ingest this. In a moment, sense it carefully and see if you can see anything."
Chiga didn't understand, but she did as she was told.
Ishiro then led her out from behind the wall. At an opportune moment, he pretended to be injured by one of the cult members, "losing" some of the blood.
The cult members had already been in despair. Ishiro's casual attitude showed them just how vast the gap in their strength was. Now, seeing him suddenly grow careless, their spirits lifted. They could almost see him falling into their trap.
They nonchalantly collected the blood. After exchanging glances, they divided it up and ingested it together.
Then, Ishiro and Chiga saw their skin turn black, and thick patterns, like some kind of mysterious fuinjutsu, appeared on their bodies.
Then, they excitedly began to synchronously self-harm.
Ishiro had no mood to continue the act. He turned to look at Chiga.
Her body suddenly trembled. Sweating, she said, "Teacher Ishiro, I see it. I see the Evil God."
Ishiro was delighted. It worked. "Don't rush. Tell me slowly, what is happening now?"
Chiga said, "When I first ingested the blood, I only saw one person in my blood perception space. That person was in Yugakure, not far from us. Now, I see the Evil God, and those cult members."
She pointed to the few remaining cultists. "The Evil God is right next to them, it should be at the center of that altar."
Ishiro nodded. "Good. Your judgment is correct. I can also sense its position; it is indeed there. What else do you see?"
Chiga said, "I see these people connecting themselves to that first person through the Evil God. Their... their souls seem to be synchronized. That first person seems to be at the mercy of these few."
Ishiro was silent, pondering. Soul synchronization... at their mercy... I see.
He continued, "I understand. Any other discoveries?"
Chiga watched them self-harm while comparing it to the scene in her blood perception. "The soul is the medium. These people should be using their souls to replicate their own actions onto that first person. If I'm not mistaken, that person should be doing the same actions as them."
Ishiro nodded. "A good guess. Then, can you learn this method?"
Chiga thought for a moment. "I don't think I can. The way the Evil God connects them to the target is somewhat similar to how I track with blood. But how the damage is transferred, I don't know the principle."
After a moment, she added, "But if I could watch them try a few more times, I might be able to find a clue."
By now, the cult members had stopped attacking and self-harming. The feedback from Jashin was that the sacrifice had died, and the offering had been received. They had exited their special state.
But Ishiro seemed completely unharmed. This made them think he might be immune to the Death Controlling Possessed Blood.
The moment this thought appeared, they fell into complete despair. This was their greatest trump card, and the most important means for Jashin to display its power.
The fact that Ishiro was completely ignoring them shattered even their will to resist. Their faith was about to collapse.
Seeing this, Ishiro sent out his porcelain and sealed all the dispirited cult members, leaving only the leader still struggling.
He formed a porcelain kunai and injured him, then brought his blood back, having Chiga ingest a portion. He then had her ingest the blood of one of the recently sealed members.
Then, he released that cult member's seal.
As expected, the moment he was free, he connected with Jashin. But Ishiro had only released the seal, not the mud restraints on his body.
Before the man could do anything, Ishiro brought the leader's blood to his mouth and forced it in.
The next moment, Chiga said immediately, "Teacher Ishiro, I understand what you mean! Quick, cut that man! Maybe this way we can really figure out the principle."
Ishiro smiled and controlled a porcelain kunai to stab the restrained cultist.
The cultist and his leader screamed at the same time.
Then, Ishiro heard Chiga's excited voice. "Teacher Ishiro, keep hurting him! I think I'm close to figuring it out!"
Then, Ishiro proceeded to give the unlucky man a death by a thousand cuts. The only sounds in the area were his and the leader's periodic screams and groans of pain.
Thanks to the immortality Jashin had granted them, they were able to continuously provide so much reference data for Chiga.
After Ishiro dropped the no-longer-human-shaped corpse, Chiga finally opened her eyes again. "Teacher Ishiro, I roughly understand the principle. But I can't replicate the process yet. I need more experiments."
Ishiro smiled. "Don't worry. We have hundreds of them. We have more than enough test subjects."
But he didn't start immediately. He first turned his gaze to the cult leader.
After enduring a round of torture, the man was still alive and seemed to have some strength left.
"Immortality. A truly remarkable ability." Thinking this, Ishiro gave him a quick end, shooting a large number of porcelain kunai at him.
Before being pierced by the dense barrage, the cult leader's heart was calm. He had some regrets. He had been too hasty. He shouldn't have immediately moved against the civilians of the Land of Hot Water after swallowing up Yugakure. Otherwise, he wouldn't have attracted this great god of destruction.
It's a good thing I foresaw this day. A good thing the most talented members of the cult have already been moved.
He will surely become Lord Jashin's perfect vessel. Lord Jashin will one day fully descend upon this world. At that time, he will surely resurrect me as well.
Then, the cult leader closed his eyes. The next instant, his broken body was submerged by the porcelain kunai.
Next, Ishiro divided the remaining cult members into pairs, several hundred groups in total, and repeated the experiment.
With his help, Chiga continuously observed the process of the Death Controlling Possessed Blood at the soul level within her blood perception space.
After dozens of times, she finally made a breakthrough.
She suddenly said, "Teacher Ishiro, I'm almost there, but I need to verify it with a different method. Three people in a group. Have the first person ingest the second person's blood, and the second person ingest the third's. I want to see if this method works."
Ishiro thought it was a good idea and worth a try. He randomly selected three people and began the experiment as she had described.
After another four rounds of experiments, Chiga said excitedly, "Teacher Ishiro, I've got it! I completely understand!"
She then explained the principle of the technique in detail.
As Ishiro listened, he repeatedly exclaimed, "Amazing. So Yin Release can be used like this."
After torturing over a hundred cult members, Chiga had finally figured out the principle.
Unfortunately, her own soul power was insufficient to kill an enemy; she had no Yin Release offensive abilities.
But Ishiro just smiled. "Try this."
He took the blood of another cult member and gave it to Chiga. At the same time, he gave her a drop of his own.
After she swallowed the blood, she looked at him, confused.
He smiled, created a shadow clone to stand guard, then used the Spirit Transformation Technique and entered her body.
Unlike when he had entered others before, this time, he arrived in her blood perception space.
This was an inspiration he had just gotten from Chiga's analysis of the curse. He had followed the faint imprint Chiga had created through the blood and successfully entered.
Chiga was stunned. In her blood perception space, ninja were usually blurry figures. But the originally blurry Ishiro had suddenly become solid. He looked just like a real person.
He nodded to her. In their soul state, they couldn't speak, only make simple gestures.
The next moment, in Chiga's blood perception space, the figure representing Ishiro charged directly at the figure representing the cult member.
Then, Chiga was surprised to see that, in reality, the cult member suddenly screamed. The next moment, he died. At the same time, his figure in her blood perception space instantly vanished, leaving only Ishiro.
Ishiro smiled at Chiga, then also disappeared from her blood perception space.
Chiga quickly turned to look at Ishiro's real body. Sure enough, the next instant, his eyes opened.
He smiled at her. "How about that method? If used well, it can kill from a distance."
Chiga nodded vigorously. This application was truly miraculous.
Ishiro said, "But you can't always rely on me to kill. You need to learn some Yin Release offensive techniques yourself. When we get back to the village, go and find your Senior Katsumata. I'll have him teach you."
Chiga nodded vigorously.
But then Ishiro suddenly said, "Compared to this, there's something I'm even more interested in."
"What?" Chiga asked.
He pointed to the center of the altar. "Jashin."
Chiga swallowed. "Teacher Ishiro, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to meet this Evil God. Its Yin Release level might be a bit higher than mine, but its mobility is not high. All those experiments proved we had malicious intent, but it did nothing. Either it doesn't care, or it can't do anything. I'm guessing the latter, because as the cult members died one by one, I could feel it getting weaker."
"I suspect it has some kind of contract with its followers. When they summon it, it must respond. Of course, the summoner must also offer a sacrifice. But from my perspective, it's just a puppet. I want to test this puppet's abilities."
Chiga guessed what he wanted to do. "Teacher Ishiro, will it be dangerous? Why don't we kill the rest of the cult members first? Just leave a few for experiments. Didn't you say it gets weaker when they die?"
Ishiro patted her head. "Don't worry. I'm only doing this because I'm confident. Even if it's been feigning weakness, I can still retreat safely."
He pointed to a bell on his body. "With this, I'll be fine."
He then released another cult member. Like the dozens before, the moment he realized his situation, he instantly connected with Jashin. Then, Ishiro put a drop of another cult member's blood in his mouth.
The next moment, the man turned black, entering the Death Controlling Possessed Blood mode.
Chiga, who had already ingested both their blood, nodded nervously at Ishiro, indicating that Jashin had entered her blood perception space.
Then, Ishiro also pricked his finger and flicked a drop of his blood into Chiga's mouth.
He then used the Spirit Transformation Technique again, his entire soul entering her blood perception space.
But unlike last time, this time, he was holding the bell in his hand.
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 35 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you