Forest

The campfire crackled in the night, and the clothes draped nearby were still dripping wet as the two sat by the fire. Naked, Uchiha Zhuang sat cross-legged on a blanket, cultivating natural energy to repair his physical injuries. Beside him, Persia yawned, her eyes fixed on the flickering flames; her eyelids trembled slightly before slowly closing, and she huddled deeper into her blanket. As expected, she's still not to be trusted, that madwoman, Uchiha Zhuang thought to himself. Reflecting on the series of encounters at Balaxia God Peak, several key nodes held profound implications.

The first point was the nearly endless swarm of insects. They hadn't appeared when he and Persia first entered the interior, yet they had launched a desperate, suicidal assault at the altar. Instinctively, insects would never sacrifice such a large portion of their colony for two bites of meat, especially not while in the pool water they feared so much. It was the madwoman intentionally testing his strength; if he were strong, she would temporarily submit, but if he were consumed by the swarm, she would certainly not miss the opportunity to absorb him.

The second point was the so-called Jinkela. It was undoubtedly the madwoman's phylactery. A spirit or soul must be anchored to a physical object, and the ease with which they had taken the Jinkela suggested she had practically guided them to do so. Even if he had the means to eliminate her parasitic hold on Persia, she could still use the Jinkela as a contingency to escape her cage. She was truly a madwoman calculating every step. The so-called "removal of control" was likely just her performing a bit of mental massage on him.

The third point, and the most important one, was: who was the mastermind behind the scenes a thousand years ago!? It is not simple to make a civilization abandon its faith, but it is not impossible; it merely requires exploiting human greed and desire. The difficulty lies in seizing the perfect moment and applying the perfect amount of pressure. Looking across the Ninja World, there seemed to be no one capable of setting up such a grand scheme and toying with the fate of nations. Uchiha Zhuang frowned, deep in thought, unable to find an answer! He looked at Persia's pretty face, illuminated by the firelight, peaceful and serene. That madwoman probably never slept this soundly either! Uchiha Zhuang's stern expression slowly relaxed, and he calmly sensed his surroundings before adding more wood to the fire.

The turbulent currents of the underground river tossed the two up and down. Persia clung to Uchiha Zhuang's back, her limbs wrapped tightly around his sturdy frame. As he bobbed in the water, Uchiha Zhuang narrowly avoided various jagged rocks and unknown, pitch-black cave openings. He didn't know how long they had been swept along; he only knew he was exhausted. Moving in water consumed far more stamina than on land. Feeling the current soften and sensing slippery things brushing against his body, Uchiha Zhuang knew they were nearing the forest river. He shook Persia on his back, but there was no reaction. Feeling the rhythmic rise and fall of her magnificent chest, he realized she must have fallen into a deep sleep.

Exhausting his last bit of strength, he released the Water Style: Water Flow Technique to grant himself speed with the current, reducing stamina consumption and pushing away any unknown creatures lurking beneath. The creatures at the bottom of the calm, dark river seemed to stop bothering him—perhaps due to the affinity of a Child of Nature! After a long while, a light appeared ahead. As the glow grew brighter and larger, Uchiha Zhuang finally carried Persia into the light. Rubbing his eyes, his vision slowly cleared to reveal a vibrant, lush forest. A sense of having escaped death welled up within him; he thanked the heavens, and he thanked himself!

The "crackle" of the fire startled Uchiha Zhuang awake. So I fell asleep. My brain and body are still in a state of tension from the recent adventure; it's not so easy to recover. He sensed his surroundings and lay back down. Taking advantage of this moment, Uchiha Zhuang opened the Universal System and found the assistant sprite: "Search for all information related to Balaxia in the Ninja World, and explain the ins and outs of Balaxia's destruction." "Ding. Found. All information on Balaxia requires 10,000 points to acquire; the ins and outs of Balaxia's destruction require 3,000 points to acquire." Looking at the high cost, Uchiha Zhuang, who had only 5,000 points left, hesitated. Points were strength, points were the food needed to survive in this man-eating world, and points were his greatest wealth. Was it worth going this far for that madwoman? He looked at the sleeping woman; her breathing was rhythmic and steady, her beautiful hair reflecting the light. He took a deep breath, and the faint scent of grass and trees filled his nostrils. Uchiha Zhuang reached out to touch her delicate, warm, and supple face. The tiny, almost invisible fuzz brushed against his large hand. Uchiha Zhuang stopped his desires in time; it was not yet the time, he warned himself. Do not lose the big for the small, and do not indulge in early pleasures at the expense of progress. He tucked the blanket in for her and covered her with his cloak.

Uchiha Zhuang made up his mind and exchanged for the information on the destruction of Balaxia. After 3,000 points were deducted, a text file was saved to his inventory. Uchiha Zhuang clicked on the text titled "The Destruction of the Weak and Humble Civilization of Balaxia is Inevitable." Ignoring the summary-like title, he read it word for word.

Balaxia began in the primitive era, a time when the Ninja World relied on slash-and-burn agriculture and people were locked in a life-and-death struggle with nature. The area around the God Peak was a land of inexhaustible fertile soil, dense forests, abundant water sources, and flat plains, making it a home for many small tribes. After hundreds of years of communication and integration, these small tribes merged into a large one, and after a devastating flood, they migrated to live at the foot of the God Peak. Centuries of reproduction and growth made them gradually stronger. They worshipped the God Peak and worshipped nature. During the period when they opened the path into the God Peak, the primitive priests began to cultivate the tribe's "gods" through witchcraft, spending years pouring all mysterious powers into the cultivation of each generation of gods. The gods were sterile for life, and the long-lived Balaxia people were always trying to uncover their secrets. Incidents of abuse, humiliation, and the slaughter of gods who were about to lose their power were endless; gods who were tortured to death were all thrown into the spirit spring beneath the altar.

The birth of a god was selected from the infants of several generations of clansmen; witchcraft, magic arrays, shamanic power, and natural energy formed the god's power. A special heritage was passed down from generation to generation. By the time of the last god, Xia Mi, she was already extremely powerful; she could even communicate with the source of this land, allowing her to wield earth-shattering natural energy and shamanic power. These were the prerequisites for the extinction of the Balaxia civilization.

The Divine Tree from another world descended upon the Ninja World. Because of human greed and the desires of the Otsutsuki, the world teetered on the brink of collapse during the Divine Tree's rampage. After Kaguya Otsutsuki was finally sealed, Black Zetsu fled in despair. The rampage of the Divine Tree could not be quelled in an instant; it took those two a long time to figure out a solution and calm the tree. During this long period, Black Zetsu searched the world for ways to save Kaguya.

He inadvertently heard of the power of the Balaxia gods, so he quietly infiltrated the God Peak. After gathering all the information, he took advantage of the nationwide panic caused by the priests' prophecy that the Divine Tree's shockwaves were about to reach the God Peak. He quietly approached the high-ranking priests in the temple, fabricated that he was the incarnation of the will of nature, and induced the priests to initiate research on the gods, seize their power, and study it, promising that he would suppress the god Xia Mi. Later, he approached the high-ranking kings, emphasizing that he came with the will of nature and that the god Xia Mi was about to fall. He argued that she should be sacrificed to save the lives of the entire nation before the shockwave arrived—after all, weren't gods meant to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others?! Thus, the Balaxia leadership, who should not have easily trusted a stranger, indulged their own greed and cowardice. They carried out a bloody massacre of half the women, elderly, and children, used the blood of their clansmen to carve magic arrays, used mysterious anti-magic stones to restrict the god Xia Mi, and then used lies to trick the naive Xia Mi into entering the altar, where they began to drain her.

Black Zetsu discovered at the altar that such divine power was too weak; the mere combination of witchcraft and natural energy was completely insufficient to defeat those two brothers, or even to break the seal. With a look of disdain, he quietly vanished into the bloody, dark ritual. In the end, Xia Mi, having exhausted her divine power, communicated with natural energy to preserve the God Peak, but she also broke through the magic array during the subsequent turbulence of the spirit spring, slaughtering all the priests and men present. In a century-long revenge, Xia Mi's body gradually withered, leaving only her spirit obsessively torturing the clansmen she was supposed to protect.

Reading this, Uchiha Zhuang felt a complex mix of emotions. How could one forgive those who had betrayed them!?