The silver thunder that tore through the night was not flying, but responding.
It ignored the laws of physics, crossed the boundary between life and death, and arrived at the core control room of Throne of Heaven with incomparable precision in a gesture that was close to a "return".
In the center of the control room, on a dark altar that had been prepared and made of high-density Chakra Metal, a groove shaped like a fractured Gunbai was waiting quietly.
The silver stream of light didn't hesitate at all, and with a distant mournful cry, it was perfectly embedded in it.
The light faded away, and the broken knife lay quietly. It seemed as if it had never left, but had been sleeping here for thousands of years.
[Ding!
The high-purity "Purifying Flame gene template" was detected, which contains the prototype of the "judgment" and "purification" laws in the ancient Uchiha Clan bloodline.]
[Target value: extremely high.
It is recommended to fuse immediately to complete the missing "Guardian" branch in the bloodline of host Uchiha Clan, so that Divine Erosion Flame can obtain the "Order Purification" characteristic and have a very low probability of unlocking a new pupil technique.]
[Is it integrated?]
The system's prompt sounded in Uchiha Xuan's sea of consciousness, cold and objective.
However, Uchiha Xuan, who was suspended above the altar, just glanced at the broken knife indifferently, without any wavering in his eyes.
He shook his head slowly, his will as determined as steel.
"No fusion. Only extraction."
Chiyo Saori stood aside, a trace of confusion that the data flow could not be parsed flashed in his ice-blue eyes.
Giving up such precious power was inconsistent with her consistent understanding of dominance.
Uchiha Xuan didn't explain, just stretched out his hand.
In his palm, the dark golden Divine Erosion Flame rose up, like a living creature, covering the broken knife named "Xuan Yao" gently and domineeringly.
The flames did not burn it, but turned into billions of extremely fine probes, which penetrated deep into the blade and began to perform an incredible "surgery".
He's stripping.
What was stripped away was not the power, nor the genes, but the "belief" that remained in the sword and has endured for thousands of years - the grand obsession that belonged to the "Purifying Flame" lineage and "judged the false gods" and "Scion of Light".
Buzz...
Under the burning of Divine Erosion Flame, pure silver ancient runes composed of pure spiritual energy were forcibly extracted from the blade body, and gathered in the air into a silver stream of light that was constantly struggling and changing shapes.
The stream of light seemed to echo the unwilling roars and tragic prayers of countless ancestors.
Uchiha Xuan flicked his finger, and a dark red crystal ball formed by the highly condensed residual blood of Ten-Tails flew out, accurately swallowing and sealing the silver light flow.
Inside the crystal ball, the silver light collided crazily, but was still unable to break through the bloodline barrier that originated from the beginning of creation. Finally, it turned into wisps of quiet silver mist, slowly flowing inside the ball.
After doing all this, the last trace of spirituality on the broken knife "Xuan Yao" was completely wiped out and turned into a piece of ordinary iron.
"Master," Chiyo Saori finally couldn't help but speak. Her voice was still straight, but with a questioning tone, "If you don't do anything, why do you spend so much energy to recover this 'legacy'? It poses no threat to you."
"Threat?" Uchiha Xuan chuckled, with a coldness that overlooked the chess game, "Saori, you have to remember. Power can be destroyed by stronger power, but faith can only be covered by another faith."
He turned around slowly, his eyes seeming to penetrate the alloy wall of Throne of Heaven, overlooking the land beneath his feet that was being reshaped by him.
"I don't need its power, but its 'story' must belong to me. From today on, the legendary savior 'Scion of Light' will no longer be the spiritual sustenance of these survivors who resist me -"
The corners of his mouth curved into a sinister arc.
"--but a sweet bait that I personally sent to their dreams."
"Grind this 'Seed of Faith' into powder." He pointed at the dark red crystal ball and gave the order, "Mix it into the surface coating material of the next batch of 'Fire Seal' Forehead Protector. Announce to the public that this batch of Forehead Protector will give those 'Awakening Harbingers' with the most tenacious spirits the special privilege to listen to 'Voice of the Ancestors'."
The order was carried out coldly.
A few days later, more than 3,000 "Fire Seal adapters" were screened, with supreme honor and enthusiasm, receiving these new batches of Forehead Protector engraved with more complex patterns.
The first night they put on Forehead Protector, a miracle happened.
In the dream, they saw an ancestor Uchiha Clan wearing a pure white sacrificial robe, with a vague face but full of compassion.
The ancestors stood among the blue Purifying Flame, using a compassionate and sad voice to tell them the suffering under the tyranny of "Xuanlin" and the value of freedom.
"... Only by overthrowing the tyrant can you regain freedom... You are the chosen ones and are the last hope..."
Dreams are like seeds, quietly taking root and sprouting in the hearts of these young people who have completely surrendered.
The initial worship began to waver, and the fear of absolute power was replaced by a sense of mission to "save the world."
They began to communicate with each other in private using eye contact and using secret codes. Some of the brave ones even began to study the patrol route of the Puppet Legion in an attempt to steal the control key.
Chiyo Saori's surveillance network captured it all.
She presented a detailed list and all the evidence of the conspiracy on the light screen, with cold murderous intent flashing in her eyes, waiting for the final purge order.
But Uchiha Xuan just watched calmly without saying a word.
It wasn't until the early morning of the seventh day, when the number of people on the list reached 3,217, that he finally spoke.
"Pass my order: All those wearing 'Voice of the Ancestors' and Forehead Protector should immediately go to Northern Wasteland to gather and participate in the final 'Awakening Trial'."
More than 3,000 young men with ulterior motives thought that the moment of uprising had finally arrived.
They suppressed their excitement and arrived at the endless wilderness as quickly as possible.
When the last person stands still, the situation between heaven and earth suddenly changes!
Above the sky, the huge Iron Divine Kingdom "Throne of Heaven" appeared in outline, and twelve space bases Fire Altar surrounding the continent were activated at the same moment!
Boom--!
Twelve dark golden light pillars descended from the sky, forming a huge cage on the edge of the wasteland.
Above the sky, a "Xuanlin" and "Fire Seal" composed of Divine Erosion Flame, covering the sky and the sun, slowly emerged, completely covering the entire area.
An unrivaled pressure of will came down, making everyone unable to move at all.
The voice of Uchiha Xuan is like an oracle from the sky, resounding deep in everyone's soul.
"The ancestors you dreamed about... I allowed you to dream about them."
The moment the words fell, the Forehead Protector on the foreheads of the 3,217 teenagers suddenly became hot!
"Ah!"
The special paint on the surface quickly evaporates under the high temperature, revealing the ferocious and fanatical true text imprinted with Divine Erosion Flame underneath -
"Sacrifice yourself and serve the true God."
At the same time, the image of the compassionate white-clothed ancestor in their minds began to violently distort and collapse.
The ancestor's face gradually turned into the cold and handsome face of Uchiha Xuan in painful convulsions.
The sound of "freedom" repeated countless times in the dream began to play backwards and change its tone in a strange way.
"... The emperor was overthrown by his own power..."
The voice became slower and deeper, and finally turned into two absolute commands that seemed to come from the deepest part of the soul:
"--surrender."
"--Reunite."
"No... no!!"
Some people with tenacity let out desperate roars, but the sounds soon turned into ecstatic whimpering.
More than 3,000 people collectively knelt on the ground at the same moment.
Their faces were filled with tears, but their faces were filled with a kind of fanatical and twisted joy of finding their final destination and seeing the only truth.
They faced the majestic figure in the sky and gave the most sincere praise in their lives.
They thought they were pursuing freedom, but they didn't know that even their "will to resist" was a screening tool given by God.
On Throne of Heaven, Chiyo Saori silently looked at the spectacular and strange worshiping scene in the light curtain. After being silent for a long time, he asked softly, "Master, can you still trust a will that has been twisted like this once?"
Uchiha Xuan's eyes fell on the horizon burning with dark golden flames in the distance, and his voice was as indifferent as ever.
"They don't need to trust me or anyone else. They just need to believe in the dream that they have experienced personally."
"And Meng-" He paused, the smile on his lips was cold to the bone, "I have always had the final say."
At this moment, a strange movement that no one noticed was happening on the other side of the world.
In the deep sea beneath the battlefield where countless ninjas were buried, a huge seabed rock with the words "Xuanlin" carved on it by Uchiha Xuan's own hands silently cracked an extremely tiny gap on the surface.
A strand of Divine Erosion Flame, countless times thinner than a hair, followed this gap and quietly integrated into the planet's terrestrial network.
It is like a ghost, flowing along the ancient energy path to the other end of the continent at a speed beyond imagination--
Fire Country, Hidden Leaf Village Under the ruins.
In the deepest basement, which Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi had set up three top-level seals before his death, and which even Root could not detect, there was a dead silence.
Suddenly, the pink-haired girl, Sakura Haruno, lying on the cold stone platform, the fingertips of the hand that had long lost its blood and hung down by her side, twitched ever so slightly.