Three hundred meters beneath Amegakure, in the core laboratory of the Reishi Tower.
The instant Orochimaru stepped inside, his golden snake pupils narrowed to slits in shock.
The reiatsu in the air was so dense it almost took physical form. Floating particles of faintly glowing reishi flowed slowly along some mysterious trajectory.
They finally converged on the enormous tower-shaped structure made of translucent crystal at the center of the laboratory.
"What... is this?" His voice was hoarse with excitement.
"The Reishi Tower." Liuyu walked ahead of him, the hem of his white robe brushing the spotless floor.
"A device that forcibly gathers, purifies, and compresses the reishi drifting through the air.
You can think of it as a giant chakra extractor-but more than ten times as efficient as a tailed beast."
Orochimaru's breathing quickened.
He reached out, touching a drifting particle of reishi with his fingertip.
The particle instantly merged into his skin, and a cool yet immense surge of energy rushed up his arm into his body-not chakra, but something purer and more primal.
"Incredible... this is simply..." An almost pathological obsession surfaced on Orochimaru's face.
"This redefines the very nature of energy! Lord Liuyu, the principle behind this tower is-"
"We'll discuss the principle later." Liuyu interrupted him and took an object from inside his robe.
It was an irregular fragment of purple crystal, about the size of a thumb.
It hovered above Liuyu's palm, a dark sheen flowing across its surface. Within it, stars seemed to be born and extinguished.
Its mere existence distorted the surrounding light and made the air in the laboratory tremble.
"This is a Hōgyoku Fragment," Liuyu said calmly. "Its ability is simple-to break boundaries."
"Break... boundaries?" Orochimaru stared fixedly at the fragment.
"The boundary between Soul Reapers and Hollows, between flesh and