Beginning the Crossing

After parting ways with Kakashi, Lu Yan sped toward the west and arrived in a dense forest.

Checking that no one was around, Lu Yan took out the kunai Minato Namikaze had given him. It was inscribed with the Flying Thunder God formula; as long as he was within a certain range, Minato could sense it and teleport over instantly.

Activating his Mangekyo Sharingan, the black pinwheel spun rapidly within his red eyes as Lu Yan tossed the kunai directly into the Kamui dimension.

"I hope Teacher Minato and Rin don't worry too much." Lu Yan shook his head, gripped the Stone Bead tightly, and activated its traversal ability.

In an instant, Lu Yan vanished from the spot, and the forest returned to silence.

"I can't sense Obito's kunai anymore."

Minato, who had already reached the town, suddenly stopped in his tracks. With a face full of anxiety and worry, he turned toward the direction where Lu Yan had disappeared and sped off.

On the other side, Lu Yan saw light and shadow flashing rapidly before his eyes. The next moment, the world spun, and he collapsed onto the ground.

It took a good while for Lu Yan to recover. He stood up and turned to survey his surroundings.

After a brief inspection, Lu Yan realized he was in another dense forest. Although the trees weren't as towering as those in the Ninja World, they were thick and tangled, clearly a place far from human habitation.

"The energy between heaven and earth is a bit thin."

Choosing a direction, Lu Yan stepped onto the tree branches and moved forward rapidly, feeling slightly dissatisfied with the concentration of energy in the air.

Energy in the universe is as numerous as the stars. The Wizard World categorizes observable and usable energy into various elements, whereas the Ninja World is far inferior in this regard, merely lumping it all together as natural energy.

However, both the Wizard World and the Ninja World possess high concentrations of energy, while this world's energy is far too low to support the development of a cultivation civilization.

"I hope I can find something useful."

Lu Yan sighed and pushed forward. After this traversal, the Third Ninja War would likely enter a high-intensity phase. If he couldn't find enough resources to strengthen himself, his plans would be impossible to realize.

After traveling for half a day, Lu Yan stopped and looked at the scattered grave mounds before him, activating his Sharingan.

The bright moon hung high, and the cold moonlight filtered through the tree branches, casting light upon the crooked tombstones and making the scene appear exceptionally desolate.

Eerily, the chirping of insects and birds that had been constant until now suddenly fell silent, leaving only the whistling of the wind through the woods.

"A mass grave. Interesting."

There was no panic on Lu Yan's face; instead, he wore a faint smile. In his vision, ghosts were scattered about, standing or sitting on the graves ahead, pointing at him.

Most of these ghosts were blurry and indistinct, clearly unable to last much longer before dissipating.

Only three ghosts ahead had stable forms, surrounded by blood-red light and black resentment. They were drifting toward him with ferocious expressions, clearly harboring ill intent.

The ghost in the lead was a hunchbacked old woman with a sallow, pale face and blood-stained tears in her eyes, lunging at Lu Yan with greed.

Behind her followed a male and a female ghost, their eyes glowing with a sickly green light, clearly wishing to devour him.

Seeing the old woman about to snatch the prize, the male and female ghosts merged into one in mid-air, their speed surging as they flew past the old woman toward Lu Yan.

"Quite eager, aren't you?"

Lu Yan shook his head and smiled. He looked at them with his Mangekyo Sharingan and unleashed a genjutsu.

The two ghosts froze mid-flight, crashed to the ground, and curled up, shivering and letting out shrill screams.

"Don't let it go to waste."

Lu Yan looked at the two ghosts on the ground, curled his lip, took a milky-white bottle from the Kamui dimension, and used his Mage Hand to stuff them inside.

After finishing this, Lu Yan turned to look at the other ghosts on the graves. Just as he was about to say something, he saw them scream "Ah!" as if they had seen a demon-quelling deity, and shrink back into the mounds.

"Was that really necessary?"

Lu Yan shook his head, speechless. He found a nearby branch to sit on, intending to interrogate the three captured evil ghosts about the basic situation of this place.

He took out the bottle and shook it a few times, immediately hearing several screams from within.

"This bottle is of good quality."

Lu Yan nodded with satisfaction. He felt that the Ninja World truly had many good things; this milky-white stone, used as a base for sealing arrays, not only had excellent energy insulation but also great spiritual insulation.

As long as a few basic arrays were carved onto it, it would make a fine magical tool for trapping ghosts.

Lu Yan uncorked the bottle and turned it upside down, releasing the three ghosts.

"Spare me, Master! I had my reasons!"

These three ghosts were cunning; seeing they couldn't win, they knelt on the ground, wailing piteously.

"Let's hear them, then."

Lu Yan watched these three pathetic creatures put on their performance, a half-smile on his face, and nodded at the old ghost, signaling her to speak first.

The old woman's ghost was overjoyed, her wrinkles bunching together as she hurriedly knelt and said, "Master, I've suffered so much. My husband died early, and I raised my son with great difficulty. Who would have thought that once he took a wife, he would forget his mother?

His wife was cruel and vicious, beating and scolding me constantly. My son was even worse—instead of helping me, he sided with her. I was actually starved to death by the two of them!"

"And then?"

Lu Yan asked with interest.

"The two of them didn't dare let word get out about starving his own mother, so they secretly wrapped me up and dumped me in this mass grave, claiming I had been carried off by wild beasts."

The old woman's ghost continued to kneel and wail.

"Then why didn't you go take your revenge?"

Lu Yan remained unmoved, continuing to press the question.

"After the incident, the two of them had no face left to stay, so they moved to another county. My remains are here, and I cannot stray too far, so I could only..."

"So you could only harm more people, grow stronger, and then go for revenge, right?"

"You two, speak."

Lu Yan didn't wait for the old woman's ghost to finish; he impatiently cut her off and gestured for the other pair of ghosts to speak.

"Young Master, we were a married couple from the town ahead. But I caught the eye of the local bully, Young Master Shi. We refused to submit even in death, and were beaten to death by that Young Master Shi."

"And then?"

Lu Yan nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

"After becoming ghosts, we intended to take our revenge, but we didn't expect that Young Master Shi had a master of sorcery by his side. We couldn't even get close to him..."

The female ghost spoke, her voice trailing off as she hesitated, clearly also intending to grow stronger by harming others before seeking vengeance.

"Tell me about that small town and Young Master Shi."

Lu Yan's expression remained unreadable, calmly guiding them to reveal the situation in the vicinity.

The female ghost's face lit up, thinking Lu Yan intended to help them with their revenge, and she hurriedly said, "That small town was originally called Stone Town, but as the Shi family grew more powerful, it was renamed Shi Family Town. With the Shi family as his backing, Young Master Shi bullies men and women in the town, committing every evil imaginable..."