The Qi Refining Stage eighth-level cultivator, who had been preparing to flee, was horrified to discover that countless stakes had been driven into his limbs and body. A sharp pain struck at once, and he completely lost control of his body, as if he had been nailed to the ground.
"Ahhh..." His shrieks made the other three go pale with terror. They no longer dared to resist in the slightest and turned to run for their lives.
How could Lin Chuan, who had long been prepared, give them the chance to escape? After using his Sharingan to cast an illusion and control the strongest one, he raised his hands, turned, and aimed at the three fleeing Qi Refining Stage cultivators. His body shot forward, and Senjutsu Chakra coursed through his meridians, reaching his fingertips in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, the Sharingan in Lin Chuan's eyes transformed into the Byakugan. The meridians and acupoints of the three fleeing cultivators came into sharp view. The next moment, his finger bones burst from his fingertips, and, guided by the Byakugan's powerful vision, shot straight toward their weak points and acupoints.
"Shikotsumyaku: Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!"
After that attack, Lin Chuan didn't even need to check the results. He turned and walked toward the Qi Refining Stage eighth-level cultivator.
The Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique had already worn off the instant Lin Chuan deactivated his Sharingan, but he had achieved his goal: temporary restraint, along with the damage caused by the illusion.
The cultivator was now kneeling on the ground, propping himself up with both arms. Sweat poured from his forehead like raindrops, and his entire body trembled slightly, as if he had just been pulled from the water. In that instant, he had experienced the most terrifying scene in the world, and even now, he still hadn't fully recovered from it.
Hearing footsteps draw near, the Qi Refining Stage eighth-level cultivator fearfully raised his head. Tormented by the illusion, he was slightly dazed, his eyes wide as he stared at Lin Chuan. It took him a long while to come to his senses. "Y-you... who... are you...?"
"My name is Lin Chuan," he said, his voice calm and composed.
"Ahhhh! Don't kill me... please, don't kill me... I..." the man screamed in terror. His face twisted completely out of shape; he had even forgotten how to flee.
After Lin Chuan gave his name, a bone that had pierced through his palm swept across the man's neck. A hideously twisted head flew high into the air, then fell to the ground.
Lin Chuan deftly dodged it, not a drop of blood touching him. Facing the bodies scattered across the ground, he finally let go of his calm expression, revealing a complicated look.
Before entering this place, he had been furious with the Lin Clan for making them gather Crimson Flame Lotus so they could devour the children's Spirit Roots and improve the quality of the medicinal herbs. He had even considered gathering more Crimson Flame Lotus himself, so that fewer of those children would be harmed.
But after entering, he discovered that these children were worlds apart from the children he had imagined. This cruel world had already broken them, and they knew that the only way to survive was to keep killing. Every one of them fought, just to stay alive.
Perhaps it was more fitting to think of them as children from the terrorist organization ISIS in his previous life, Lin Chuan thought. By now, he had long since cast aside that kind of bleeding-heart idealism. To survive, one had to kill. That was the law of this world.
All he could do was protect the people who mattered to him as best he could, and keep them from dying in this cruel world. That was all.
Putting aside his thoughts, Lin Chuan looked toward the people killed by Finger Bullet and walked over. He retrieved the finger bones from their bodies, while all the bones protruding from his own body retracted.
In the Naruto original, the Hyuga Clan was renowned for close-combat Taijutsu, and could be said to have brought the Byakugan's abilities to their utmost. But they had their shortcomings too, namely their lack of long-range attacks. They could make up for this later with Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, but even that couldn't completely solve the problem.
Shikotsumyaku's Finger Bullet, however, had now given Lin Chuan a decent long-range attack. Combined with the Byakugan's precision, it could target weak points and acupoints without missing.
"Gentle Fist techniques like Eight Trigrams Palms: Heavenly Spin are mainly defensive. Shikotsumyaku makes up for its lack of offensive power perfectly. Now, no cultivator below the Foundation Establishment Stage is a match for me!" Lin Chuan thought as he slowly put his clothes back on.
"The only problem is chakra consumption. I still don't have much chakra, so there are plenty of powerful techniques I can't use." Lin Chuan shook his head helplessly.
Still, he was quite satisfied with his attack power. In Naruto, no matter what technique one used, its power increased several times over when combined with Senjutsu Chakra. The same was true in this world.
Otherwise, with Lin Chuan's chakra, Shikotsumyaku: Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets wouldn't have been enough to instantly kill three cultivators whose cultivation was higher than his. At most, it would have left them severely injured.
And that one-hit kill had also depended on the Byakugan and the fact that those people had been focused only on escaping. If he had used it directly in the middle of a fight, the result definitely wouldn't have been this good.
"I used up seventy percent of my Senjutsu Chakra. Less than thirty percent remains in my body. Kekkei Genkai don't consume much chakra, but using the Sharingan, Byakugan, and Shikotsumyaku all at once really does take a toll!"
As Lin Chuan reviewed what he had gained from the battle, he dragged the bodies into a pile, intending to destroy all traces of them. The wounds made by bone spikes were rather distinctive, so it was best not to leave anything behind.
"Once a battle begins, my chakra mixes with the spiritual energy in my dantian to form Senjutsu Chakra. After that, I can't absorb spiritual energy from the outside to replenish it. That's different from cultivators, who can absorb spiritual energy and recover even while fighting. They can fight for longer than I can. This is one of my major weaknesses for now."
Lin Chuan kept drawing conclusions from the battle, taking stock of his strengths and searching for his weaknesses. After all, knowing yourself and your enemy meant you could win a hundred battles.
By now, spiritual energy in the air around him had begun to flow toward Lin Chuan. It entered his meridians through the acupoints across his body, where he refined and circulated it, before it ultimately gathered in his dantian.
His Spirit Root was the strongest kind, a Heavenly Grade Superior Spirit Root, and he absorbed spiritual energy far faster than ordinary people. He recovered quickly enough. The only time he couldn't absorb spiritual energy was while it was mixed into Senjutsu Chakra. Once he separated the two and no longer had Senjutsu Chakra, Lin Chuan could quickly replenish his spiritual energy.
After stripping the six bodies of everything useful, Lin Chuan formed Hand Seals and blew out a small flame, burning them all to ash.
Once he had taken care of everything, Lin Chuan headed toward the cave, ready to tell Zhang Leyang and the other two to leave.
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