Early morning...
The mist in the forest has not yet dispersed, but the bonfire has already cooled down, even with a hint of moisture.
Ning Xue opened his eyes as soon as the morning light came out. Although he had a light sleep all night, he had enough energy to regain his energy.
After a brief stretch, I called Shion who was still sleeping.
"Get up, it's time to go." Ning Xue walked outside the tent and called.
After waiting for a moment and seeing no response at all, he called out again.
"It's morning, it's time to set off." He raised his voice a little.
Seeing that there was still no response, Ning Xue was not polite, so he decided to use some mild methods.
I saw him putting his hand on the ground and controlling the early morning mist, preparing to forcibly change the ground temperature.
For a moment...
"Well..."
There was a vague grunt from the tent. She was still asleep and felt a slight chill on her back.
Not bone-chilling, but enough to wake her up.
Still confused, she subconsciously turned over and tried to use the quilt to cover the coldness below, but found that the coldness was everywhere, no matter how she turned, she would feel it.
After a few more seconds, she finally reluctantly opened her eyes, her hazy sleepy eyes facing the roof of the tent.
It's light outside.
"...Fujiwara?" She shouted out tentatively, hoarsely as if she had just woken up.
"It's time to go."
A response came immediately from outside, and the voice was calm and calm. It seemed that the little movement just now did not exist at all.
Shion sat up, rubbed his eyes, and finally woke up completely.
She thought about the conversation last night, and also remembered that the other person was one year younger than her and still took care of her.
I felt a little awkward in my heart that I couldn't explain.
And being woken up on time... Well, that's considered due diligence, right?
But it's not usually this cold in the morning, right? Has it cooled down?
She quickly tidied up her hair and clothes, which were a little messy from sleeping, opened the tent curtain and got out.
The morning air was particularly fresh. She took a deep breath, glanced at Ning Xue who was dealing with something, and said hello. "Good morning."
"Morning." Ning Xue looked back at her and ordered.
"Wash up, have something to eat and then set off." His tone was calm and business-like.
"Got it." Shion responded, then found a small stream and washed his face.
After spending more than a day together, the two of them had a preliminary understanding.
To be honest, Shion always feels that the other party feels a little awkward.
After a simple breakfast, the two hit the road again.
Ning Xue still carried Shion on his back and continued to walk quickly in the direction of Land of Swamps.
Perhaps because of the conversation last night, the Shion on my back was no longer as shy as it was at first, but was able to complain a little in the fast-passing scenery.
When passing through a slightly bumpy road, I will loudly ask to slow down.
In this way, time passed quietly on the way.
The sun gradually rises and begins to set westward from above the head.
Just as they were crossing a relatively open gravel valley, a sudden change occurred!
"Boom."
The rock walls on both sides of the river valley collapsed suddenly, causing a large amount of smoke and dust to rise into the sky.
Ning Xue, who planned to rest nearby after traveling through time, instantly became alert, but before he could turn on Byakugan, a Chakra that he felt was extremely familiar emanated from behind the dust.
He made an immediate judgment and decided to send a clone to take away Shion.
"I found you..."
Before he could take action, a voice came, very hoarse, like the sound of two stones rubbing against each other.
When the other party revealed his figure, his ferocious appearance might as well have shocked Ning Xue.
The person who came was none other than Gitai, who was seriously injured by Ning Xue. At this moment, he was no longer as depressed as he was two days ago.
Instead, the whole body is covered with explosive muscles and covered with thick layers of rock.
The pupils are dark and the face is covered with red, blue and yellow stripes.
The most terrifying thing is that he looks like a monster at this moment.
It is ferocious and ugly, with three heads and six extremely thick arms, and the backs of its hands are covered with stone thorns.
"Ah!!!"
Gitai raised its ferocious head covered with rocks and let out a completely unhuman roar. The sound echoed in the river valley, causing gravel to fall.
The pupils as dark as the abyss were locked firmly on Ning Xue, with unconcealable hatred in their eyes.
"Death... I'm going to die... to pay for Shizuku!!!"
A ferocious and hoarse roar came from his three heads at the same time.
That night, after he woke up from a coma and learned of Shizuku's death, his extreme grief and anger overwhelmed his remaining sanity.
He prayed to Yomi for stronger power and promised that he would definitely kill the witch and her bodyguards.
Yomi, however, just looked at him coldly, and then handed him three tentacles containing Mōryō, saying that this was the last chance.
But this time, he did not choose to use it as an external battery again, but made the craziest decision.
That is swallowing. He chose to swallow all three tentacles containing Mōryō Chakra to strengthen himself.
The effect was obvious. It not only healed his injuries, but also gave him unparalleled strength.
But the price of this power is cruel. His body is irreversibly alienated, his sanity is eroded by endless murderous intent, and more importantly, once this power is exhausted, death awaits him.
But at this moment, he didn't care anymore.
"Whoosh!"
There was no nonsense, not even Hand Seals, Gitai's huge body that was vaguely connected to the rock formations on the ground suddenly burst out at a terrifying speed that was inconsistent with its size.
Six thick rock arms, with the power to tear everything apart, punched Ning Xue rapidly from six different angles.
Ning Xue's pupils suddenly shrank.
The opponent's speed and strength were completely different from before! Without hesitation, he took the wind attribute Chakra under his feet and quickly retreated.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Six giant fists successively hit the location where he was just now. The huge force also caused the hard ground to crack like tofu into a spider web shape and spread to all sides.
Ning Xue dodged and summoned a clone without hesitation. Before Shion could react, he grabbed it from the back of the main body, then turned around and galloped away to another place.
The main body quickly condensed a sharp blade and killed the alienated Gitai.
"Want to run?!" Gitai's three heads turned at the same time. One of them stared at the clone that was escaping with Shion, while the other two continued to lock on the body of Ning Xue that was rushing over.
"No one can leave." Gitai roared, and his four giant hands slammed down to the ground.
With the power of Mōryō, whatever you throw at it will come back.
Rumble--!
The rock walls on both sides of the river valley shook violently, and countless thick and sharp stone pillars suddenly stabbed out from the ground in front of Shion and Water Clone without warning.
The road ahead was blocked in an instant.
The clone was holding Shion, ducking and moving under the sudden attack, and had to dodge countless sharp stone pillars with great difficulty.
However, the stone pillars appeared too quickly and over a wide range, seriously slowing down their escape speed.
"Miko... you must die too!" With his only two hands, he slapped the ground again.
"Earth Release, Earth Corridor!"
The ground within tens of meters in front of him suddenly rose, and then, as if being lifted up by someone, the ground covered with hard rock turned into a stone wave tens of meters high, mixed with a large number of spikes, and rolled towards the direction where Shion and Water Clone fled.
The wide range and fast speed left the two people who were blocked on the road with nowhere to hide.
If this attack is carried out, not to mention Water Clone, even Shion who is protected inside will have no chance of surviving!
"!!!"
In the distance, Ning Xue, who was forced by the stone pillar and unable to get close to him, could see clearly in Byakugan's field of vision, and his expression under the mask suddenly changed.
He didn't have time to think.
With a sudden force under my feet and the driving force of Gale Palm, it suddenly turned into a gray arc.
He resolutely stood in front of the attack.
"Ice Release, multiple Ice Wall!"
Hand Seals with a person in the air and an afterimage appearing with his hands.
The moment Setsuna landed, the Chakra in his body suddenly erupted like a flood.
"Keng! Keng! Keng! Keng--!"
One, two, three... A total of seven giant Ice Walls, several meters thick and emitting cold air, were uprooted layer by layer in front of the stone waves in an instant.
The next moment.
"Boom, boom--!!!"
The rock wave that destroyed the world firmly hit the first Ice Wall!
The terrifying impact sound jarred the eardrums, causing ice crystals and gravel to scatter in the air.
The first Ice Wall shattered in less than half a second at the moment of contact!
Followed by the second, third...
Every time a Ice Wall is smashed, the potential energy of the rock wave is offset by one point, and the volume is shattered and reduced by a portion, but the terrifying power contained in it is still enough to crush everything in front of it.
The figure of Ning Xue, at the moment when the seventh wall was broken, rushed to the front as if rushing to the market.
"Idiot, go to hell!" Gitai smiled ferociously, and his three arms were fully charged, and they swung down from three different corners.
Ning Xue's pupils shrank suddenly when he saw this.
A large amount of Chakra has been consumed just now, and now the distance is too late for Hand Seals.
Facing this blow, he could only quickly condense Ice Armor to meet the heavy punch of Gitai and the aftermath of Shi Lang.
"Boom!!!"
The heavy fist wrapped around the rock hit Ning Xue's hastily condensed Ice Armor hard.
Bingkai shattered after holding on for a while.
And Ning Xue also flew upside down like a kite with its string broken under this terrifying force.
"Bang!"
Ning Xue's body was smashed into the stone pillar, and then slid down the rock wall.
"Click..."
A crisp cracking sound suddenly sounded after the roar of the impact.
Ning Xue, who had fallen to the ground, could barely hold himself up, a sweet smell welling up in his throat, and he forced it down.
A severe dull pain came from his left shoulder. Although Ice Armor withstood most of the impact, the aftermath still damaged his muscles and bones.
However, the first thing that felt strange before the physical pain was the face.
The mask, which was rarely taken off, cracked a clear gap on the left side during the violent impact just now.
Immediately afterwards, fine cracks spread quickly from the gap like a spider web, covering less than half of the mask.
"Click... click..."
The tiny cracking sound is still heard.
Then, starting from the position above Ning Xue's left eye, a small fragment of the mask quietly fell off, revealing the skin underneath that was slightly pale due to long-term absence from the sun, as well as... a small eyebrow and headscarf.
He subconsciously raised his hand, and his fingertips touched the broken edge of the mask, and the cool touch of his own real skin exposed underneath.
The mask... is broken.
This discovery made him take action.
In the distance, Gitai, who had just laughed wildly and was about to continue chasing, seemed to have noticed this subtle change. Three pairs of dark pupils focused on him at the same time, with a hint of bloodthirsty curiosity under his ferocious expression.
On the other side, Shion, who was protected behind him by his clone and witnessed the whole process of Ning Xue being knocked away and crashed into the rock wall, was so frightened that he covered his mouth and his heart was beating wildly.
However, compared with these, she is more concerned about the state of Mr. Fujiwara at this moment.
She saw the thick smoke and dust gradually dissipating. Through the smoke and falling ice crystals that had not completely dispersed, she could vaguely see the slightly embarrassed figure of Lord Fujiwara, as well as the eye-catching bright red on his left shoulder.
Moreover, the mask that the other party usually wore also cracked slightly with this attack, revealing a small piece of pale skin and... one eye?
You have to ask Shion what kind of eye is that?
Then she can only answer you empty and white.
Ning Xue in the distance had already used his uninjured right hand to support the ground and slowly stood up, with the broken mask still hanging sideways on his face.
Ning Xue stretched out his other hand and grabbed the crumbling remains of the mask, exerting slight force on his knuckles.
"Click."
With a soft sound, he simply tore off the remaining half of the mask and threw it into the rubble at his feet.
A complete, handsome face belonging to a young man, completely exposed to the sun.
There was no expression on that face, except for Byakugan, whose blue veins popped out, showing the slightest trace of murderous intent.
He was facing the alienated Gitai, without the obstruction of the mask, and said in a cold voice.
"It seems... I can't leave you alive."