Ye Liang suddenly unleashed [Shinra Tensei]!
Using the brief opening created by the repulsion, he darted toward the exit like a scared ferret.
Before long, the ground beneath his feet vanished!
Just as he was about to escape, he fell into a trap.
"Unbelievable! This is just f***ing screwing me over!"
"Where the hell am I?"
Opening his eyes, Ye Liang felt a sharp pain in his back. He felt his head and noticed a faint, hidden marking—the Yin Seal!
It was the Yin Seal that saved him just now!
Looking up at the ceiling far above, nearly out of sight, he realized he had almost fallen to his death.
"It seems I've landed at the very bottom of the ruins," Ye Liang assessed his situation calmly before standing up and scanning his surroundings.
This must have been an ancient kingdom.
Ye Liang saw countless buildings here, and the place where he stood seemed to be a street, its path made of stone, stretching as far as the eye could see.
"This must be the ancient Land of Craftsmen, though I wonder when it was buried by history," Ye Liang pulled out an old leather map from his robe.
This location wasn't marked on the map—it was clearly a hidden spot.
"What a joke! What the hell do I need this useless map for!" he angrily tossed the map to the ground and walked toward the distant buildings.
Before long, he reached an old inn.
It was the most unremarkable among many. The only reason Ye Liang chose it was because it was the closest to the road—nothing more to it.
Stepping inside, he found several white skeletons piled in the center of the courtyard. Their bones were smooth and entirely stripped of flesh. As he lightly touched one, it crumbled into dust under minimal pressure.
"Looks like this has been here for at least a few hundred years!" he estimated the time frame when something caught his attention—the hair behind the skeletons.
The bodies had turned to dust, yet their hair remained intact. How creepy.
As Ye Liang reached out to touch the hair, suddenly the black strands wrapped tightly around his arm! They slowly climbed upward like a long worm, crawling toward his head.
"What the hell! Can't even rest in peace!" he shouted in anger. At that moment, the hair-like worms wrapped tightly around his neck!
Gurgle... gurgle...
His vision blurred, his lips turning purple from suffocation.
"F***... F*** you!"
Immediately, he formed a single hand seal. A surge of fire-natured chakra ignited in his palm. As soon as the flames touched the dead hair, it was instantly reduced to blackened ash.
Before long, all the hair had been completely burned to ash.
Ye Liang gasped for breath. He touched his neck and found blood trickling from the skin. "Damn it! What the hell was that thing!"
At that moment, in the distance,
From various ruined houses, strands of dead people's hair flew out, swirling through the air, making that annoying buzzing sound, like a swarm of flies.
Ye Liang quietly watched everything unfold from beside the window.
Suddenly!
His mind recoiled with a wave of nausea, and soon after, a powerful dark shadow burst forth from behind him!
The shadow soared into the sky like a divine being.
"Tsk tsk tsk, so much resentment from living beings... this is quite convenient for me!" He opened his mouth wide, and countless ethereal strands of resentment rained down from the sky, heading straight for Ye Liang.
Ye Liang was startled!
He couldn't see the dark shadow behind him, but he sensed the danger and immediately sprinted down the road ahead. After running hundreds of meters, a wave of nausea struck again.
This time, it came from his chest.
"Ugh!"
He suddenly convulsed and spat out a burst of dark energy!
"What exactly did I do?!"
Ye Liang's eyes widened. He had vividly recalled everything that had happened in Iwagakure Village, and regret filled his face. He looked up at the black shadow in the sky, a wave of sorrow and regret washing over him.
"System! System! Are you still there?!"
At that moment, he remembered the voice of the System in his mind.
"Oh thank goodness, Host! You're finally awake," the voice of the System echoed in his mind.
"What exactly happened before? How could I have done something so horrifying?"
He was referring to what happened in Iwagakure.
The System's voice returned again, "The Host must have been controlled by the Zero-Tails! He entered your mind and awakened your Heart Demon. That black shadow in the sky is likely your Heart Demon!"
"My Heart Demon?"
Ye Liang stared blankly at the dark figure above. Its aura had long surpassed his own, and it even carried a faint presence of a supreme demonic ruler.
"For now, the best course of action is to shake it off and then come back stronger for battle!"
"Got it!"
Ye Liang replied and quickly ran deeper into the Land of Craftsmen. Although his body had been taken over by the Heart Demon, he hadn't completely lost his awareness.
He had seen the map in the demon's hands before.
In the deepest part of the Land of Craftsmen stood the most noble palace!
Ye Liang believed that the exit to this place must be hidden within that grand palace.
Still running,
"Right! What about these strands of resentment? Why is the Heart Demon able to absorb them?"
"This is the nation's resentment!
Since this country sank underground, it must have undergone a massive catastrophe! Its people must have died violently, and violent deaths give birth to terrifying resentment.
The Heart Demon was created by the Zero-Tails, and naturally possesses the Zero-Tail's power. Zero-Tail absorbs darkness from the hearts of humans, so these strands of resentment, filled with hatred, can be absorbed by him."
"I see!"
As the Heart Demon grew stronger by absorbing the resentment, panic surged within Ye Liang. At that moment, he finally arrived at the hidden palace.
"System, quickly scan! Where is the exit?" Ye Liang urged anxiously.
Suddenly, a girl-like figure materialized in the sky!
It was, of course, the System.
Her eyes emitted a faint glow as they scanned the surroundings like infrared sensors, sweeping through everything in sight and revealing hidden details.
"There's a cave above the palace. Although I can't see the very top of it, I estimate that it should be the exit from this ruins!"
"Great! Let's go there!"
Ye Liang nodded and hurriedly followed the System. Soon, he found the cave entrance at the edge of the Palace.
"Where do you think you're sneaking off to, Ye Liang?"
A creepy male voice suddenly called from behind.
Ye Liang turned around and saw the Heart Demon grinning at him, its face twisted in malice, its expression full of utter disdain toward Ye Liang.
"Run, Host! I'll hold him off!" the System shouted, dashing forward to confront the Heart Demon.
Ye Liang quickly moved toward the corridor.
It was a twisting, winding passage, like the body of a serpent.
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