Chapter 134: Holy Crap! It's Starfish Bomb!
"But... hehe!"
Zzzzzz...
Li Yao grinned and instantly formed a lightning shield that enveloped both himself and the ink eagle. The incoming nano-sized explosive clay bugs were all fried by the electric field, losing their ability to detonate.
"As expected, Li Yao not only knows the weakness of Explosive Clay Release, his sensory abilities are also quite sharp."
"I can only tail him from a distance now."
Dalaran no longer held any hope for a sneak attack and immediately controlled his clay bird to retreat further from Li Yao. At this point, he was sure the target was indeed Li Yao — after all, that black eagle was too distinct.
"Trying to run? Too late."
With a thought, Li Yao transformed the ink eagle beneath his feet into a streamlined bird with three pairs of wings. Under his deliberate control, it flew even faster than Dalaran's clay bird.
Very soon, Li Yao had burst free from the range of the C4 nano clay bombs.
Along the way, he used Wind Release to retrieve a dozen of the nano clay insects.
Li Yao allowed these insects to enter his body, absorbing the chakra nature transformation from within them.
"So that's how it is… a technique similar to Ink Mimicry."
Within his chakra perception, the nano clay bugs contained two types of chakra — one was regular Earth Release chakra, only more refined in nature, likely used to create the white clay. The other was a blend of Lightning and Earth chakra — which Li Yao presumed to be Explosion Release chakra.
Li Yao instantly replicated both chakra types.
With his hands crossed behind his back, he conjured white clay in his left palm using the refined Earth chakra — confirming his hypothesis.
Then, in his right hand, he condensed Explosion Release chakra — raw and aggressive — capable of detonating directly without a medium and controllable in direction.
"Excellent. Another Kekkei Genkai obtained."
Li Yao smiled faintly, crossed his arms behind his back, and dismissed the clay and Explosion Release chakra.
This was exactly why he was confident about breaking through the limits of bloodline.
Although his physical growth was limited by his body's genetics and had already peaked...
His spiritual and mental strength hadn't — it was still increasing, albeit slower than before.
Even so, over just the past year, Li Yao's soul strength had grown more than fivefold.
This not only made his chakra perception far more precise — especially in discerning nature transformations — it also allowed him to replicate those chakra types more swiftly.
Kekkei Genkai like Explosion Release, which consisted of higher-quality chakra, could now be replicated instantly.
Once he solved his chakra capacity problem, he would simultaneously research the perfect transformation technique and collect powerful Kekkei Genkai chakra types across the shinobi world — becoming a true bloodline shinobi.
Boom, boom, boom...
As Li Yao closed in within one kilometer, Dalaran, realizing he couldn't outrun him, hurled a dozen clay birds behind him and detonated them, forming a massive black smoke screen to block Li Yao's vision.
Dalaran then made his clay bird soar upward, trying to escape Li Yao's frontal line of sight.
Unfortunately for him, he had no idea just how powerful Li Yao's chakra sensory ability really was.
Li Yao wasn't fazed in the slightest and continued flying straight toward him.
Boom, boom... Dalaran kept throwing and detonating clay bombs preemptively, but none of it slowed Li Yao down.
"Looks like the intel was off — Li Yao's secret technique allows him to fly much faster than expected."
Seeing no way to escape, Dalaran didn't panic. As Li Yao rapidly approached, he smiled slightly and formed a hand seal.
"C4.5 Variant — Oblivion."
Dalaran's body quickly turned transparent. All of his chakra surged toward his heart, forming a dense black chakra orb.
"Holy crap! It's the Starfish Bomb!!!"
Li Yao, now only six hundred meters away, was instantly alarmed and quickly extended his right hand to fire a bolt of Black Lightning.
Deidara's ultimate art — the starfish-shaped detonation — had a blast radius of ten kilometers, or was it even more?
At this distance, he couldn't hope to escape.
His only option was to use Lightning Release to neutralize the bomb.
But… Zzzzt!
The Black Lightning failed to penetrate the black chakra orb — nor did it stop it from continuing to darken.
"Damn it... are all Iwa shinobi this reckless?"
Barely a few exchanges in and this guy was already self-destructing. What kind of god-tier move was that? Li Yao was stunned. He had planned to get within five hundred meters and then use Chakra Sense Severance Technique — but now? Shit.
No time to hesitate — Li Yao instantly formed his black iron feather cloak and Lightning Style Chakra Armor over his body, while also using a huge mass of ink to enclose himself in a ten-meter-diameter black steel sphere.
There was no running from this.
He could only brace for it.
Just as Li Yao finished his defenses...
"Detonate!"
The black chakra orb formed from Dalaran's entire chakra exploded violently.
In an instant, blinding white light engulfed the sky and earth. The blast completely enveloped Li Yao.
On the ground, a colossal white starfish-like structure with a five-kilometer radius and fifteen-kilometer height towered into the heavens — its interior filled with explosive chakra.
Even from fifty kilometers away, Daruma Alice, Biwako, and the others could see the explosion. The three of them immediately quickened their pace toward the site.
"That chakra... it's Explosion Release!"
Biwako, knowledgeable as ever, instantly recognized the massive white starfish as the result of an ultimate Explosive Release technique — likely used by an Iwagakure shinobi.
To force an Iwa shinobi to go all-in with such a large-scale suicide explosion... whoever they were fighting must be no ordinary opponent.
Recalling the intel from the underground bounty network, Biwako's eyes narrowed as she looked toward Dan Kato and asked, "Was that Li Yao?"
"I'm not sure," Dan Kato replied, then stopped. "I'll use Spirit Transformation Technique to go check."
"Alright." Biwako halted, while Inuzuka Akira kept watch outside.
Dan Kato sat down and activated the Spirit Transformation Technique. His soul separated from his body and rapidly flew toward the explosion site.
He quickly sensed two souls in the area. One was some ten kilometers from the center — probably the Explosion Release shinobi.
The other was at the very heart of the blast, having taken the full brunt of it — yet the soul's strength hadn't diminished at all.
If the intel was correct, then that had to be Li Yao.
However, Dan Kato had never met Li Yao — only seen sketches. He needed to see for himself.
His soul flew rapidly through the sky.
Even before the explosion had fully dispersed, Dan Kato had already reached the airspace above it.
Soon, the blast energy faded.
Two thousand meters high, the black steel ink sphere around Li Yao had vanished. His Lightning Chakra Armor was now tattered like beggar's clothes, barely clinging to his body.
But… haha!
Li Yao laughed as he re-summoned his ink eagle to hover mid-air.
Thanks to the shielding of the ink-steel sphere and his lightning armor, the blast had been weakened enough for the reinforced black iron feather cloak to survive intact.
He was completely unscathed — just... very low on chakra.
Poof... Li Yao pulled out his massive sealing scroll once again and absorbed chakra from within.
"Is that Li Yao?"
A hundred meters ahead, Dan Kato hovered in spirit form, observing Li Yao from atop the ink eagle.
Something felt... off. He didn't quite match the portrait.
A year had passed. As Li Yao's body reached its physical peak, his appearance had matured to that of someone around twenty-four or twenty-five years old.
Now 1.82 meters tall, his features had become sharp and composed, no longer resembling the boyish face of a twelve-year-old. His facial structure had grown more defined.
Dan Kato wasn't entirely sure if this man was really Li Yao.
Especially since... he was using Senior Ayase's Super Beast Imitating Drawing!
And just like her, he didn't use scrolls or brushes — only pure chakra to create ink-based ninjutsu!
Dan Kato was shocked. According to the intel, Li Yao wasn't supposed to know this technique at all.
(END CHAPTER)
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