Yomi's Choice

Yichen took the bell imbued with the Miko Power from her neck and returned it to Miroku, saying, "Lady Miko, here's the bell back. Thanks to this bell, otherwise I might not have been able to defeat the Moryo."

Miroku looked at the bell for a while, but didn't take it immediately. She raised her head, looked at Yichen, and said, "Lord Tsuchikage, as agreed, from now on, the Land of Land of Demons officially joins the alliance with the Iwagakure. The Iwagakure can establish branches within the Land of Demons, and the Land of Demons Iwa ninja, just like the Land of Snow."

Yichen didn't understand why Miroku wouldn't accept the bell, but he still smiled and nodded, saying, "I will send someone to contact Her Lady Miko. The subsequent branch construction will require Her Lady Miko's cooperation."

Miroku didn't speak directly. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Lord Tsuchikage, the Moryo has been completely sealed away, and there's no longer any need for the profession of Miko. I don't want to be Miko anymore, and I don't want Shion to continue being Miko in the future. Therefore, from now on, the Land of Demons will be directly managed by Iwagakure."

"Since this bell containing the Miko Power can be of help to Lord Tsuchikage, let's give it to Lord Tsuchikage. The Moryo has already been sealed away, so there's no use keeping it."

Whenever Miroku thought about how Yichen easily dealt with the Moryo that his ancestors had sealed away with their lives, he felt a sense of resistance towards the title of Miko.

Yichen thought about it. Miroku's proposal was definitely beneficial to Iwagakure, but Iwagakure could not interfere in the internal affairs of a country, otherwise it would be ostracized by all the daimyo.

So Yichen said to Miroku, "Since you don't want to be Miko, then become a daimyo. From today onwards, you are the Daimyo of the Land of Demons."

"A daimyo?" Miroku was taken aback. Could that be? He thought about it and realized that other countries all had daimyo, but his own country didn't, and he wasn't very sociable. So he didn't refuse.

"However, there is one thing we need Miroku's cooperation on. Don't announce what has happened these past few days to the public yet. Wait a few more days, and then announce it when I notify you," Yichen said.

Although Miroku found it strange, he wisely refrained from asking further questions and simply nodded in agreement.

Next, while leading everyone towards the capital of the Land of Demons, Yichen had a detailed discussion with Miroku about their cooperation.

After finishing the business in the Land of Demons, Yichen planned to return to Iwagakure with his disciples. A small incident occurred during this time. Little Shion was having a great time playing with the two Tailed Beasts and refused to part with them.

When Little Shion clung to Little Chōmei and refused to let go, Miroku stepped forward to try and pull her hand away. However, in her haste, Little Shion unintentionally used the Moryo's Power, directly shaking Miroku's hand away. If Miroku hadn't also Miko Power, he would likely have been injured.

Yichen could clearly see that this power was not entirely the same as the Moryo's Power he had fought for so long. Upon closer inspection, he realized that this power was a new energy generated by Little Shion fusing her own power with the Moryo's scattered power.

It seems that sealing the Moryo within Shion's body was the right choice.

After Miroku finally managed to persuade Little Shion to let go, Yichen and his group were finally able to return safely.

Before parting, Yichen said to Miroku, "Our Iwagakure will send people to search for the portion of the Moryo's Power that escaped after breaking the seal. Please keep a close eye on things, Miroku- daimyo."

Miroku nodded, then thanked Yichen again.

In a dark underground place in the Ninja World, a young man stood before a pile of Terracotta Warrior, performing some kind of ritual. Suddenly, a dark aura within him surged violently.

The young people were disturbed, and the ceremony, which was only halfway through, had to be stopped.

After a long time, the fluctuation finally subsided. The young man sensed the changes in his body, and then his expression turned extremely ugly.

"How is this possible? How could Moryo be sealed? There's still a long time before the Miko checks the seal. Who discovered the flaw in the seal?" the young man muttered to himself, unwilling to accept it.

"Even if the Moryo is sealed away, the dark power within me shouldn't have changed like this! Could something else have happened to the Moryo?"

"How is this possible? The Moryo is immortal. Should we go check the Moryo's seal? What if there's a trap? Whoever sealed the Moryo, they definitely know I stole Moryo power."

The young man was caught in an internal struggle.

The young man's name was Yomi, and he was the one who had stolen the power of the Moryo. He used his own body to bear a portion of the Moryo's Power.

The goal is to use these dark forces to give the Terracotta Warrior before him "life." Yomi wants these Terracotta Warriors to help him completely break the seal on the Moryo.

But unexpectedly, before I could even begin my preparations, something went wrong with the Moryo.

Yomi hesitated for a long time, but ultimately gave up his plan to control the Terracotta Warrior with the power of the Moryo.

If something happens to the Moryo, then the power I possess will be depleted bit by bit, and it wouldn't be worthwhile to waste any more power controlling the Terracotta Warrior.

So Yomi eventually left this underground space.

Driven by Yichen's influence, Yomi, unlike in the original story, embarked on the path of researching Dark Medical Ninjutsu ahead of time.

Upon returning to Iwagakure, Yichen immediately summoned the high-ranking officials and began preparations to wipe out wandering ninjas and bandits in the surrounding countries.

Yichen said, "This operation must be high-profile enough. We need to make a big splash and put pressure on the other Four Great Nations."

"But we also need to make those small countries feel our sincerity, and not put any pressure on them, making them think we will invade them. We need to make it clear to them beforehand that we are only suppressing bandits and will not take any extreme actions."

"If these daimyo of small countries have any requests, such as where we cannot go or any restrictions on the number of people we send out to suppress bandits, we will meet them."

"The goal is simple: to make the other Four Great Nations think about our expansion, but these smaller countries must not show any hostility towards us?"

"Whether the actual number of rogue ninjas wiped out is unimportant. Ikura, you're personally in charge of this matter. Your involvement as Kage Level ninja and advisor will amplify the impact."

Ikura said, "Don't worry, I understand the limits."

After arranging the bandit suppression, Yichen said, "I obtained some special soul entities from the Moryo. We need to establish a soul research group to specifically study these things."

"Although the Moryo has lived for a very long time, it's still uncertain whether the tentacles that have separated from its body can persist indefinitely. Therefore, relevant research needs to be arranged as soon as possible, as such material for research on materialized souls is not easy to obtain."

Ming said, "The village has done quite a few experiments like this already, so arranging one more won't hurt. Are there any dangers? Do we need to build a separate laboratory?"

Yichen shook his head and said, "There's no need. This research is quite safe."

Most of the research in Iwagakure is conducted together at the same location where Yichen previously took the Outer Path Statue Fragment. The area is heavily guarded by Anbu, making it very safe.

However, some studies are conducted in isolation, such as the study of Natural Energy. This is too risky to be combined with other studies.

For example, the temple that Yichen moved back, the statue of which contained some unknown entity, so Yichen placed it separately outside the village.

Ming nodded and said, "It's good that there's no danger. There are still empty rooms in the lab. Once you've arranged things for the researchers, just send them there."

Yichen thought for a moment and said, "I'm afraid no one in our village can research this. I'll temporarily take charge of the research group, and Katsuya and Natsuki will be my deputies."

Ming had no objection to this; Yichen had just brought back an entire Land of Demons, so this little matter was naturally no problem.

With everything arranged, Yichen began his research on the tentacles of the Moryo. To be honest, Yichen himself didn't have much of a clue about this research.

Therefore, Yichen, in his capacity as Tsuchikage, directly summoned all the ninjas in the village who were even slightly skilled in Genjutsu, intending to brainstorm ideas.

This research on the tentacles of the Moryo is different from the previous research on the temple. There's no need to rush the temple research; Yichen can leave it to Katsuya and Natsuki after he's handed the task over.

What Yichen needs to do is to regularly check on the research results of the two individuals and determine whether their findings are of any use to him.

As for how long the two of them would conduct their research, Yichen didn't really care.

However, the research on the tentacles of the Moryo was time-limited, and no one knew when these tentacles would dissipate. Therefore, Yichen gathered a large number of ninjas to participate in this research.

In the laboratory, Yichen and the others marveled at the tentacles of the Moryo. After simple testing, they confirmed that these things were indeed physical entities, but completely different from the bodies of normal living beings. They were also unlike any known substance.

"Teacher Yichen, it seems that our previous summary of Yin Release cultivation levels was correct. The manifestation of Yin Release cultivation at a high level is a condensed, materialized soul," Katsuya analyzed.

"Although these tentacles are large, they are very light. Compared to a human body, for the same volume, they weigh less than one percent of a human body. Teacher Yichen, you must have noticed the weight of the Moryo when you brought its Moryo's main body from underground into the air."

Yichen nodded and said, "That's right, the weight of the Moryo is not as exaggerated as its body. I was prepared for a huge expenditure of chakra. But to my surprise, carrying the Moryo into the sky didn't consume much of my Chakra at all."

"Furthermore, I have a guess: the weight of a soul might be a reflection of its degree of refinement. I estimate that the Moryo is still far from the true fourth stage, otherwise it shouldn't be so light. But it might be in the transitional period between the third and fourth stages."

Katsuya nodded thoughtfully.