Undercurrents

"The victor is you; history is yours to dress up as you please, and I am merely your spoils of war." The woman gave up on arguing, simply lying on the ground and staring blankly at the darkness overhead. Uchiha Zhuang shifted his position to get closer to her and said, "When will you come out? Won't you give Persia back to me?" The woman rolled her eyes at Uchiha Zhuang and turned onto her side, facing away from him. Ignoring her, Uchiha Zhuang took out a sealing scroll and retrieved his dry rations, along with a small gas stove and cookware. He boiled water, ate some biscuits and nuts, sipped on hot black tea, and finally produced two cups of instant noodles, tearing one open to pour in the hot water.

While Uchiha Zhuang was busy with his preparations, the woman, who had been peeking over with curiosity, finally succumbed to the intoxicating aroma of the noodles. Tempted by the sound of him slurping, she sprang up, grabbed a cup of noodles, clumsily tore open the seasoning packets, added hot water, and waited for them to cook. In her impatient anticipation, she mimicked the time Uchiha Zhuang had waited before lifting the lid. As soon as the time was up, she peeled it back, and a fragrance so rich it brought tears to her eyes wafted out. Completely defeated by the instant noodles, she learned to use a fork to scoop them up. One slurp, and the aftertaste was endless! Caught between her eagerness and the desire to savor every bite, she finished the noodles down to the very last drop of broth. Still unsatisfied, she held the empty cup and stared intently at Uchiha Zhuang, but he remained unmoved, calmly sipping his hot tea. Failing to beg for more, the woman huffed, moved to his side, and leaned against him to sniff the aroma of his tea. Uchiha Zhuang simply closed his eyes, continuing to nod slightly as he savored his drink.

As the woman inhaled the scent of the black tea, she initially felt nothing, but the more she smelled it, the more comfortable she became. Her entire body felt at ease. She watched as Uchiha Zhuang sipped the tea slowly, letting the liquid swirl in his mouth before it slid down his throat and into his stomach. She couldn't help but swallow her own saliva as if it were tea, her eyes gleaming with a sharp light.

"If—and I mean if—I let this naive girl go, will you take me with you to eat these delicious foods forever?" the woman asked, looking at Uchiha Zhuang with eyes full of hope. Uchiha Zhuang nodded gently. "I will take you to taste the delicacies of every corner of the world, as long as I am going there, I will bring you along. But you are not allowed to leave my side, and you must not harm any innocent people! Are you willing?" "I am willing!" The woman's eyes lit up as she solemnly uttered those three words. "Then, one last question: who is the Creator that Persia spoke of?" After hearing this, the woman smiled and said, "I cannot tell you. You must see it for yourself to truly understand." With that, her body went limp, and she collapsed onto the ground with a thud.

Uchiha Zhuang couldn't make sense of it, so he set the thought aside and focused on recovering his natural energy to accelerate the healing of his ankle. A long while later, Persia slowly sat up, shook her head, and upon seeing Uchiha Zhuang, rushed over with a face full of joy, hugging him tightly. "Is she asleep?" "Mm-hmm." Persia nodded obediently, her eyes clear and deep. From the familiar feeling, Uchiha Zhuang knew that this time it was the Forest Elf, Persia.

While Uchiha Zhuang was busy soothing Persia and focusing on his healing, he failed to sense the dense, encroaching danger surrounding them. It wasn't until Persia sensed the threat that they could see countless red eyes lighting up in the darkness. The sound of rustling, crawling creatures was incessant. A swarm of crustacean-like insects surged toward them; the massive mandibles on their mouths signaled their dietary habits—they loved nothing more than meat! No wonder the entire Balaxia Ruins had been so deathly silent; aside from the vengeful madwoman, these scavenger-like insects were surely responsible! Now that the woman's spiritual pressure was gone, these carnivorous crawlers had come out to clean up the battlefield. Looking at his ankle, where only a faint bruise remained, he stood up and tested his weight. He could move, but he couldn't engage in strenuous activity. "Persia, is there a passage at the bottom of this God Peak that leads outside? That madwoman must have a way in your mind! I will hold these bugs off," Uchiha Zhuang said in an unquestionable tone.

The insects rustled down the rock walls from above, an endless sea of them. However, they dared not touch the water, advancing only along the path of the altar. Seeing the insects enter his attack range, Uchiha Zhuang struck first: "Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!" He washed the massive swarms of insects away and into the pool. The bugs that fell into the water thrashed their eight legs in the air for a moment before going still. However, the insects hit by the water jutsu were completely unaffected, shaking their heads and continuing to charge at him. Seeing that the water style had little lethality, Uchiha Zhuang immediately used "Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!" (The fire style scrolls mentioned earlier were no joke). This powerful, sustained blast of fire sprayed into the insect tide. The bugs in the front exploded into gore, but those in the back charged forward without fear. After several minutes of continuous chakra output, Uchiha Zhuang finally stopped, utterly exhausted. The insect tide left behind piles of charred, foul-smelling husks and fluids, and the remaining bugs stopped in unison, as if they were a disciplined insect army.

"Are you done yet? I can't hold them much longer!" Uchiha Zhuang urged. "Mm-hmm," Persia replied. Uchiha Zhuang received the information through natural energy: "Under the altar, there is an underground river in the water that leads to the great river at the edge of the forest." "Yosh!" Uchiha Zhuang shouted. He didn't hesitate to eat a Senzu Bean. With his energy restored, he prepared to test that technique. "Sage Art: Majestic Water Dragon Technique!" A massive water dragon, twenty to thirty meters long and three to four meters thick, roared out of the pool. He hadn't dared to use it before, fearing the corrosiveness of the pool water, but he had no choice now. Uchiha Zhuang maneuvered the water dragon to crash into the insect swarm, its body sweeping away everything in its path. The insects it crushed were reduced to mangled limbs. The constant sweeping and crashing caused the inner walls of the God Peak to rumble, and massive boulders began to fall from the ceiling amidst clouds of dust. Seeing that the area was mostly cleared, he immediately steered the water dragon toward the bottom of the pool. Following Persia's directions, the dragon slammed directly into the mouth of the underground river. The small connection point was shattered, turning into a massive breach. Everything at the bottom of the pool was sucked in, and the entire dark green pool formed a giant whirlpool, the water level dropping at a visible rate. Alert to the insects slowly gathering around them, both of them felt a growing sense of urgency.

During this time, small groups of insects rushed over, but Uchiha Zhuang burned them away with a single Fireball. Once the water level dropped below the breach leading to the underground river, Uchiha Zhuang took Persia and leaped repeatedly down the wet walls of the pool. At the breach, listening to the roaring, turbulent water of the underground river and looking at the endless, gaping-mouthed insects surrounding them, Uchiha Zhuang brought out the Immortal-Binding Rope once more. He tied himself and Persia tightly together, then took a leap of faith. With a splash, the two disappeared into the surging currents.