Three more days passed before they finally reached the northern side of the river. By then, Itachi looked at Li as though he were some kind of freak. After all, a Shadow Clone was formed by injecting part of one's chakra into the clone, and since it used non-elemental chakra, it could last longer than clones of other attributes.
But it had already been nearly five days, and Li's Shadow Clone still showed no sign of dispersing.
Li took out the map Kurama Fangyun had given him. "Given our current situation, we'll keep heading north. Hmph, according to Kurama Fangyun, although people have come here before, this is the only route she mapped out where anyone who traveled it could return alive. Look, if we follow this direction and head straight north, we'll pass through a relatively safe area with fewer summoned beasts. Then we'll reach the vicinity of a valley. Powerful summoned beasts have been marked within that valley, and beyond it, heading farther north, there's no information at all. All right, it looks like we have no other choice. We'll proceed in this direction."
After crossing Spirit Rhinoceros Lake and heading north, the temperature dropped once more. Itachi could already tell that if Li had not taught him that set of movements, he would probably have frozen to death long ago.
This only made him even more curious about Li. Based on what he knew of Li, he was a genius—an unparalleled genius—but the strength Li had displayed now had far exceeded Itachi's imagination.
By comparison, Fujiwara Hakkai was gradually reaching his limit. After all, in weather like this, it was difficult for any ordinary person to endure.
The situation did not improve until they entered a dense forest once more. It was not that the air became