"Ghost Cleaver" did not die in rebellion.
Between the thrones, Uchiha Xuan slowly opened his eyes, and a trace of residual black blood appeared particularly dazzling on his pale lips.
He had just forcibly tore apart his high-dimensional consciousness, and the severe pain in his soul surged like a tidal wave, but his pair of Eternal Mangekyo Sharingans were brighter than ever before, as if two balls of black flames were igniting that swallowed everything.
The system's decryption results were like the coldest imprint, deeply ingrained in the deepest part of his consciousness.
In that fragmented memory, there was no so-called siege by betrayers, no desperate outnumbered enemy.
There is only one man wearing Flame Master's black robe, and he is the master of Ghost Cleaver and Chiyo Saori.
He stood calmly in the center of the familiar underground chamber, with no fear in his eyes, only a determination that was close to relief.
He lit the pyre under him with his own hands, and at the moment when the flames rose, he sealed the Obsidian Ring with his last bit of obsession and vitality, together with a curse from the distant past.
"When a new teacher starts teaching with fear, the old door will be opened; only by repeating Burning Rite with an even colder heart can the seal be renewed."
This is the last prophecy left by Ghost Cleaver, a motto not addressed to anyone but to the "rules" themselves.
The so-called "Final Lesson Plan" was not a tragic revenge from the beginning.
It is a sealed program that is set and restarted at a scheduled time!
Ghost Cleaver and his disciples, Flame Master from generation to generation, what they guard is not the highest secret of Puppet Technique, but a "door" connecting to an unknown and terrifying dimension!
Their death, their "burning", is the ceremony itself to seal the door!
And Ghost Cleaver's self-immolation that year was just to temporarily close the door that was about to get out of control.
Uchiha Xuan The curve of the corners of his mouth became even colder.
Everything is connected in series.
The so-called future self, the consciousness behind the "door", is not trying to destroy the world. It is just looking for a qualified "new teacher", a successor who is cold enough and powerful enough to cut off all ties to preside over the next larger-scale "opening the door" ceremony for it.
And I am the perfect target chosen by it.
"Chiyo." His indifferent voice echoed among the empty thrones.
In the shadows, a figure slipped out silently. Chiyo Saori knelt on one knee, her lowered head hiding all her expressions.
"My subordinate is here."
"Let me ask you something." Uchiha Xuan's eyes fell on her. It was a look that examined the performance of tools without any human emotion. "If you knew now that your master Ghost Cleaver was not killed by those eight students, but voluntarily walked into the fire in order to seal something that could destroy everything... Would you still hate those Executors?"
Chiyo Saori's body trembled almost imperceptibly.
She fell silent.
Dead silence spread between the two of them, as if it could swallow up all light and sound.
Uchiha Xuan didn't urge, just waited quietly.
He needs an answer that will determine her next place in his plans.
After a long time, Chiyo Saori slowly raised her head. There was no confusion in her eyes, but a kind of clarity and determination after being stung.
"Hate."
Her voice was hoarse, but extremely firm.
"Because of them, I have become a person who dares not dream." An uncontrollable pain flashed deep in her eyes, which was the mark of being deprived of hope and future, and was immediately covered by a more complete coldness, "But that is not important anymore. What kind of dreams I had in the past are meaningless to me. Master Xuan, now, I only believe that you can give me a new dream."
"Very good." A look of satisfaction appeared on Uchi-Hyun's face.
This answer is more valuable than any wavering forgiveness.
A person who has been completely shattered and given a new goal is the sharpest knife and the least betrayal.
"Go back to the underground secret room where your master burned himself." He gave a new order, "I will give you a new ring."
He stretched out his right hand, and in the palm of his hand, wisps of pure chakra intertwined with the system energy. Under the precise control of "Myriad Phenomena Devouring System", it quickly condensed into a Obsidian Ring that was exactly the same as the Ghost Cleaver.
But inside the ring, there is a "pseudo-obsession core" that is formed by systematically simulating the soul frequency and obsession fluctuations of Ghost Cleaver.
"Put it on," Uchiha Xuan said in a tone that was unequivocal, "In the same place, with the same sacrifice, replay Flame Master's Rite that year. This time, the role you have to play is yourself."
Chiyo Saori's pupils suddenly shrank, and she instantly understood Uchiha Xuan's intention.
He doesn't want to seal, he wants to... fish!
At the location most closely associated with the "door", use a perfect "imitation" to recreate the ritual and lure the consciousness behind the "door" to come.
At that time, Uchiha Xuan, as the leader, will no longer passively respond, but will use the coming projection itself as a sacrifice to completely devour it!
"Subordinate, follow your orders!" Chiyo Saori took the cold ring without any hesitation, turned around and disappeared into the darkness.
In the underground chamber, the air was as oppressive as a solidified swamp.
Everything here remains as it was back then. The charred circular altar in the center seems to still have the residual heat from the burning body of Ghost Cleaver.
Chiyo Saori stood alone on the altar. She had put on the familiar black robe that represented the inheritance of "Flame Master", and her face was covered with a cold mask.
On her finger, she was wearing the imitation ring given by Uchiha Xuan.
On the altar in front of her, what was placed was not firewood, but the remains of twelve "Bone Obsidian" puppets that had been cast into fake altars before and were now reshaped.
They are the perfect sacrifice in this grand drama of fraud.
There is no ignition, Chiyo Saori just stands quietly.
Suddenly, she felt something strange.
A breeze blew in from the vent in the secret room, but it did not flow according to the normal trajectory.
The long hair behind her was gently blown and floated forward.
The wind... blows in the opposite direction.
She silently recited these prophecy-like words in her mind, which strangely overlapped with the scene in her memory of the day her teacher was burned.
At this moment, the remains of the puppet on the altar spontaneously ignited without fire!
But the flame did not rise upward, but was pulled by an invisible force, going against the airflow, spiraling and converging against the surface of the altar, and finally formed a twisted, spiral fire column that rolled upwards, straight into the dark dome!
The laws of time and space were blatantly distorted at this moment!
Chiyo Saori took a deep breath and began to use an ancient and difficult tone to repeat the sealing incantation she had heard back then, sung by the eight "betrayers".
With every syllable uttered, the spiral pillar of fire becomes brighter and the tearing feeling in the air becomes stronger.
She seemed to be able to feel that there was a pair of eyes that were watching her and examining her from infinitely distant dimensions, penetrating through layers of time and space.
Finally, when the last syllable was about to fall from her lips--
There was an extremely slight lag in her movements.
It wasn't that her will was wavering, but an invisible force so powerful that she couldn't resist, as if the river of time itself had strangled her throat and pulled her limbs!
"!"
On the throne, Uchiha Xuan, who had been monitoring the overall situation through the system light curtain, suddenly shrank into a pair of scarlet Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan!
He sees it clearly!
In front of Chiyo Saori, in the twisted air, a translucent figure was slowly emerging.
It was the appearance of a young man, with long black hair and resolute but slightly compassionate eyes - it was Ghost Cleaver in his youth!
The afterimage of time is slowly reaching out, trying to grab Chiyo Saori and drag her into the pillar of fire that rolls backwards!
This is not an attack, it is a "confirmation"!
It is the core legal certification of the sealing ceremony!
Only those successors who are truly willing to sacrifice their lives for the seal will be recognized by the ceremony itself and be awarded the qualification of "new teacher"!
If Chiyo Saori enters, she may really be dragged into an unknown rift by the power of this time paradox, and she will never recover!
At that critical moment, Chiyo Saori on the altar made a choice after a short delay.
She closed her eyes, as if she had given up all resistance, and took a resolute step forward towards the spiral pillar of fire and the phantom of the Master stretching towards her, and jumped down!
However, the moment her body collapsed and was about to touch the strange flame!
Uchiha Xuan is violent!
He has not left the throne at all, but his will and strength have already arrived!
"Sure!"
With his left hand Hand Seals, an extremely complicated time and space spell instantly enveloped the entire underground secret room, completely sealing off all physical laws!
The five fingers of his right hand were spread out, and the black hole Uzumaki Clan in the palm of his hand, which represented the swallowing system, was spinning wildly. He was not pressing on someone or something, but directly on the distorted "time and space" itself!
"Get... get out!"
A low roar resounded through the soul level!
Boom--!!
The entire underground secret room scene, in the system light curtain of Uchiha Xuan, seems to have been "cut out" from the canvas with a paintbrush!
The spiral fire pillar instantly solidified into a glass-like sculpture!
The translucent figure of young Ghost Cleaver let out a silent wail, disintegrating into the most primitive time particles inch by inch!
And Chiyo Saori's body, just before the tip of her hair was about to touch the flame, was frozen in mid-air by an absolute force!
[Warning! Capture the high-order causal law ritual template... The template completeness is 99.9%!]
[Protocol parsing... erasing 'sacrifice' precondition...]
[The seal agreement has been updated! The new agreement has been generated!]
The space blockade was lifted, and the frozen Chiyo Saori landed gently on the altar, unscathed.
She opened her eyes in a daze, looking at the flames that had returned to normal, as if she had had a big dream.
She looked into the void and knew that Uchiha Xuan was looking at her.
She didn't ask if the ceremony was successful, or what happened just now.
She just asked a question in an extremely soft voice that was almost like babble in her sleep, which even she herself was afraid of:
"Master Xuan... you said... did I really want to jump at that moment just now?"