Mysterious Legacy

"Are you Kashima Chuwa?"

Upon receiving an affirmative reply, Mo Jingxian felt it was quite a coincidence.

After several twists and turns, he never expected to encounter him in a place like this.

Before Mo Jingxian could continue his questioning, the monster—or rather, Kashima Chuwa—spoke up in a rush:

"Please, help me find my daughter. She is in the Land of Rain..."

It turned out that Kashima Chuwa had long known that Long Yunzhi would not let him go, so he had secretly moved his only daughter to a location in the Land of Rain early on.

He had also kept evidence of all the depraved deeds Long Yunzhi had committed over the years, having his daughter take them with her.

Now, on the verge of death, he wanted to entrust Mo Jingxian with the care of his daughter.

He promised that as long as the evidence was delivered to Lord Mui, it would guarantee him wealth and status.

It seemed that Kashima Chuwa had entered this place much earlier than Mo Jingxian.

Kashima Chuwa did not know that both Long Yunzhi, who had framed him, and Mui, whom he relied upon as his trump card, had already been trapped within the Box of Ultimate Bliss.

However, Mo Jingxian had no intention of telling him, deciding instead to take the opportunity to ask about the whereabouts of the secret documents.

"I can make the trip and provide your daughter with help within my capabilities, but..."

"But what?"

"But I need to know, where are the secret documents you obtained in Iwayacho Town hidden?"

Kashima Chuwa's eyes began to grow chaotic, and the look he cast toward Mo Jingxian was filled with bloodthirsty intent.

Mo Jingxian assumed a defensive stance to prevent a surprise attack.

The monster suddenly began to tremble violently, its two sharp claws raking fiercely across its own face.

In the blink of an eye.

Large patches of fine feathers were torn from its face, leaving behind streaks of bloody gashes.

Looking at him now, Kashima Chuwa resembled a monster even more than before.

Fortunately, the other party suppressed the madness within, and a shred of humanity returned.

Kashima Chuwa gasped for air, his voice sounding as if it were being squeezed through his teeth.

"The documents... the documents are... also in my daughter's hand..."

"Ah! I want to kill, kill, kill you..."

With no trace of humanity left, Kashima Chuwa lunged violently at Mo Jingxian.

"Find her for me!"

In the final moment before his humanity vanished, Kashima Chuwa left behind those last five words as a human being.

His sharp claws were no less lethal than weapons, whipping up a chilling, murderous wind as they struck directly at Mo Jingxian's face.

With the monster's restraints gone, its speed became blinding, and the distance between the two was erased in an instant.

He ducked and sidestepped.

The force of his waist's rotation transferred to his arm; the short blade sliced through the air in a fierce horizontal slash.

The battle began in an instant.

Mo Jingxian's horizontal slash was blocked by the monster's other claw, sparks flying from the blade as if the knife had struck something harder than flesh and blood.

The strike missed, and the monster's counterattack arrived.

Mo Jingxian tapped his toes against the ground, his body drifting backward.

At this point, the monster's physical strength was already on par with a Jonin, not to mention it had already prepared a ninjutsu.

An arrow composed of condensed flames shot from the monster's wings toward its opponent.

Mo Jingxian utilized the feedback from the water elements around him to react in advance, the arrow grazing his right shoulder as it flew past.

"Water Release: Tidal Vortex!"

Mo Jingxian cast the ninjutsu instantly, striking the monster squarely.

Two water vortexes encased the monster's head and feet respectively.

High-speed rotating water blades popped out from the inner walls, continuously slicing into the monster's body.

Furthermore, the repulsive force generated between the two vortexes tightened around the monster like a wringing towel.

The monster shielded its head with its hands, curling into a ball and using the wings on its arms to protect its entire body.

On the other side.

The fire arrow that had missed exploded in mid-air, and Mo Jingxian was immediately blown away by the blast.

The scattered sparks did not extinguish but instead transformed into individual fire lanterns floating in the air.

Mo Jingxian did not recognize this ninjutsu, but he had no desire to provoke it.

Twisting his body in the air, he landed his feet firmly against the wall, clinging to it like a gecko.

The first exchange of blows ended with neither side gaining an advantage.

Looking at the monster again, it had already broken free from the Tide Vortex technique.

Its body bore no significant wounds, save for the marks left by the ninjutsu upon the feathers of its wings.

Such sturdy feathers; their defensive power was comparable to steel.

With a flap of its wings, it hovered in mid-air.

One, two, three...

Several fire arrows arrived in an instant.

Mo Jingxian sprinted along the walls, circling the monster in the air, all while his hands moved to weave seals.

The fire arrows were always a beat behind, striking the wall behind Mo Jingxian one after another.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Explosions rippled one after another, the back-surging waves of scorching heat whipping his long hair into a frenzy.

"Wei—Si—Yin—Hai—Wei—Shen."

He completed the six seals in a second, his palms slamming onto the wall immediately after.

The fire arrows exploding behind him transformed into countless fire lanterns floating in the air.

They swarmed toward him from all directions, dense and suffocating, but the technique's speed was not fast enough, granting Mo Jingxian the time to unleash his own ninjutsu.

"Water Style: Fire State Seal!"

Runes flowed from his palms, rapidly spreading across the entire wall and connecting into a mysterious pattern.

The next moment, Five pillars of water erupted from the wall, spaced perfectly to encircle the monster and the fire lanterns in the center.

The five water pillars began to rotate like a washing machine, gradually compressing inward.

Any fire lantern that touched the water was instantly extinguished, and even the monster could not break free for a time.

Finally, amidst the monster's desperate shrieks, the water pillars transformed into mysterious runes that fused into its body, completely sealing its fire-attribute chakra.

Deprived of its chakra boost, the monster was like a tiger with its teeth pulled.

It lasted only two rounds under Mo Jingxian's blade before its head was severed.

The headless monster did not revert to human form; it seemed the mutation was irreversible.

[Reputation +100 from Pseudo-Satori]

So the monster was called "Satori," and "Pseudo-Satori" meant the transformation had not been fully successful.

With half his chakra remaining, his own condition was still acceptable.

The familiar rules seeped into his body, unlocking another portion of his chakra restrictions.

He felt he was only a hair's breadth away from the rules becoming complete; there was no explanation, yet he trusted his intuition.

The same transition of time and space occurred.

When Mo Jingxian emerged, the world before him had changed.

The familiar corridor was gone, replaced by...

He froze for a second; the scene before his eyes was far beyond his expectations.

It was as if a piece had been carved out of space-time... He stood on a floor of unknown material, spanning several hundred meters.

There was nothing surrounding it, only a void so absolute that even one's gaze seemed to blur when cast into it.

Several corpses lay scattered on the ground, yet they showed no signs of decay, looking almost exactly as they had the moment they died.

Mo Jingxian judged this by the attire of the deceased; the styles were reminiscent of those from many years ago.

The space was empty, containing nothing but him and the corpses.

He approached the nearest body and knelt to examine it.

There were no valuable treasures, but the corpse showed traces of "Satori" mutation, though they were not very obvious.

Upon checking the third corpse, he finally confirmed his hypothesis: it was the Grass Ninja he had executed with his own hands.

Good fortune finally arrived; he found a treasure on the fourth corpse.

It was an exquisite jade pendant, mottled with blue and white, carved with a pattern of clouds, mist, and pine.

The pendant felt warm in his hand, but unfortunately, it bore three cracks, as if it might shatter at any moment.

Gazing at the pendant resting in his palm, he suspected this was the legacy Long Yunzhi had spoken of.

Yes, the possibility was extremely high.

Mo Jingxian studied it for a while but could not find an entry point to the legacy.

Because the pendant looked as though it might break at any second, he dared not use more aggressive methods.

He tentatively began to channel his water element into the jade pendant, bit by bit.

The jade pendant lit up with a dim green glow, appearing as if he were holding a faint cluster of emerald light in his palm.

It was good that there was a reaction; if he tried slowly, he would eventually find a way.

Suddenly!

A black shadow darted out, and a palm covered in scales lunged fiercely toward the jade pendant.

Mo Jingxian had already checked the perimeter earlier, and there was clearly no one else here besides him.

This caused his reaction to be half a beat slow.

Seeing that his treasure was about to be snatched away, he simply dragged the pendant along and struck out with his palm.

If I cannot have it, then no one shall; we might as well destroy it together.

The newcomer clearly had reservations, flipping their wrist to strike at his wrist instead.

The jade pendant flew out.

The person leaped in pursuit, but a Water Dragon Technique surged from behind, arriving first.

Hearing the commotion, the enemy used their left foot as an axis, their body becoming nearly parallel to the ground.

With a wide spin, they not only skillfully dodged the attack of the water dragon, but their scale-covered palm-blade struck exactly at the dragon's neck.

That was the weak point of the water dragon.

"Splash!"

The water dragon turned into mere water elements and dissipated into the air.

Mo Jingxian narrowed his eyes; the enemy's ferocity far exceeded his expectations.

He had never encountered such a master of taijutsu, whose attacks were as unpredictable as a phantom, yet possessed astonishing lethality.

The Water Dragon Technique was a ninjutsu he had derived from his Water Element Mastery.

Its characteristics were flexibility, instant activation, and the ability to self-repair.

In past battles, even if the water dragon was damaged, it would immediately repair itself, as the key to this technique did not rely on chakra connections.

Instead, it used sealing runes composed of water elements—one could say it was a language that elemental energy could understand.

Now that the water dragon had been dispersed in a single blow, it meant that the enemy not only had a keen eye but that the methods they used were by no means ordinary ninjutsu.

Thoughts flashed through his mind, yet in reality, only a moment had passed.

The jade pendant fell.

"Clang," it rolled a few times before coming to a steady rest.

Only then did Mo Jingxian have the chance to carefully size up the person before him.

Both palms, the neck, and all exposed skin were covered in scales, the hardness of which was likely quite high.

Especially those legs...

No, those were a pair of bird claws; it seemed they had already begun to "Satori"-fy.

"Long Yunzhi..."

Mo Jingxian called out this name, judging entirely by the few strips of cloth hanging from the other's body.

Their material and color were almost identical to what they had been before entering the Box of Ultimate Bliss.

"Hahaha..."

The other party had not lost their sanity, looking at him with a playful expression.

"I didn't expect a stray move to reach this point; your luck is truly good..."

Mo Jingxian was in no mood to listen to him posture; right now, he only wanted to obtain more information about the box.

"Cut the crap. Haven't you noticed your own changes? Even if you go out looking like this ghost, people will treat you as a monster."

"A monster! Hahaha..." Long Yunzhi threw his head back and laughed.

"You really don't know anything. Only by becoming a 'Satori' can I rule this world. I will take you all..."

As he spoke, Long Yunzhi suddenly fixed a hateful gaze on Mo Jingxian.

"No, not just you all. I will trample the Five Great Shinobi Nations... the entire world under my feet. I will become the master of the world."