That sigh was like a drop of ink falling into clear water, instantly creating an invisible ripple in Uchiha Xuan's global perception network.
Almost at the same moment, at the bottom of the crack in the deepest part of Mariana Trench, which was imprisoned layer by layer by Divine Tree roots and Six Paths-level Sealing Jutsu, a chakra that was colder than absolute zero, ignored all physical and energy barriers, and flowed upstream along the unique earth vein resonance path of the Uchiha Clan.
Its target is directly at the underground of Fire Country, the former address of Naka River Shrine.
Underground fortress, outside the central chamber.
The blue soul fire dancing in the eyes of the twelve "Phantom" puppet guards responsible for the vigilance extinguished simultaneously with a "pop" sound without any warning.
They are not functionally damaged, but their core - the "Fire Seal" control center branded by Uchiha Xuan himself - extinguished itself at this moment, as if the authority was forcibly erased by a higher level and more fundamental force.
"Lord."
Throne of Heaven, Chiyo Saori The cold voice sounded again, this time with an imperceptible solemnity.
"Naka River Shrine'Phantom' guard unit, collectively offline. Fire Seal response disappeared."
On the light screen in front of her, a strange surveillance video was playing in a loop.
Midnight, midnight.
Scattered throughout the empire, the three hundred teenagers who had just participated in "Tear Oath Ceremony", whether they were sleeping or standing guard, all froze slightly at the same second and fell into a brief trance.
Their eyes lost focus, their lips moved unconsciously, and they murmured almost inaudibly.
After being amplified by the highest-precision pickup, the dreamy sound was clearly transmitted to Chiyo Saori's ears:
"... Mother... is waiting for you... to come home."
Uchiha Xuan is sitting on the throne with his eyes closed.
His consciousness has long since sunk into the huge psychic network built by twelve Fire Altar, like a god patrolling the territory.
Soon, he "saw" the uninvited guest.
It was a wave that did not belong to any known Kekkei Genkai.
It is not aggressive or destructive. It just climbs up silently along the energy veins of Fire Altar, starting from the most terminal nodes and infiltrating one by one.
Its behavior is not like intrusion, but more like... caressing.
Gently, tenderly, with a deep-seated attachment, like a loving mother combing her child's sleep-tangled hair.
[Warning: High-dimensional emotional resonance waves detected.]
[Under analysis... Source determination: 'Motherhood Obsession Collective'.]
[Warning: This fluctuation is trying to overwrite the underlying authority of 'Fire Seal', and its resonance frequency is highly consistent with the concept of 'Uchiha Clan Bloodline·Female·Sacrifice'.]
A series of system prompts emerged in the sea of consciousness.
Uchiha Xuan's mouth curved into a cold arc.
The fog of history was blown away by him in an instant, and the truth that had been deliberately buried and tampered with by the men of Warring States Era was clearly presented before his eyes.
"So that's it..." He whispered to himself, without a trace of emotion in his voice, "The Uchiha Clan that insists on having a woman as its clan leader did not lose and die in an internal fight... but was voluntarily sealed into the foundation and became the 'anchor' to protect the Uchiha Clan bloodline."
They sacrificed themselves and turned them into a conceptual guardian curse, just so that when Uchiha Clan faced annihilation, they would come in the form of "mother" and "receive" all the surviving tribesmen back to an absolutely safe spiritual refuge.
An eternal, warm, and dispute-free... grave.
And now, he, Uchiha Xuan, the "strongest son" who has integrated the power of the entire clan and even swallowed the God of Creation, has triggered this ultimate insurance.
This "mother" is coming to take him home.
"Interesting."
Uchiha Xuan slowly opened his eyes. In those Nine-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan, there was only absolute reason and calculation.
"Chiyo."
"Here."
"Pass my order to gather all the three hundred 'Tearsworn' outside Naka River Shrine. Set up twelve layers of soundproof barriers and declare to the outside world that we will carry out 'secondary purification of loyalty'."
"Understood." Chiyo Saori had no doubts.
"In addition," Uchiha Xuan's voice became playful, "Secretly adjust the resonance frequency of Fire Seal on their foreheads, switch to the 'sad' mode, and turn the power... to the lowest. I want each of them to release the weakest but purest sense of loneliness to the outside world in an unconscious state."
He wants to feed.
Use three hundred parts of carefully prepared, false feelings of loneliness and abandonment as the sweetest bait to lure the "true soul" hidden in the deep sea to take the initiative to leave the body.
That night.
Naka River Shrine Outside the underground secret room, three hundred teenagers sat cross-legged with solemn expressions, falling into deep meditation within the soundproof barrier.
They don't know that the Fire Seal on their foreheads is exuding wisps of sadness that is invisible to the naked eye and seems to be substantial.
These emotions gathered together, like a silent lament, accurately transmitted into the black stone tablet.
The stone tablet shook violently, and the ancient palm print in the center was filled with blood again, and the blood surged like a fountain, boiling endlessly!
In the bloody light, an illusory giant hand made of light and shadow slowly opened.
This time, it did not grasp toward the void, but stretched outwards gently.
A figure of a woman covered in plain white gauze slowly emerged from the monument. Only her upper body was exposed, and her face was blurred. Only a pair of eyes that were so gentle that they could drown people stared at the three hundred teenagers outside the barrier.
She didn't look at any corner of the secret room, as if she only saw these "children" in her eyes.
"Child..."
She whispered, her voice carrying magnetism and love that spanned thousands of years.
"Come back, there is no war, no pain... just home."
The moment the words fell, the bodies of the three hundred young men all trembled, and two lines of hot tears actually flowed from their tightly closed eyes.
The Fire Seal on their foreheads no longer exudes sadness, but becomes as gentle as jade, emitting a warm light, as if responding to their mother's call.
They stood up, like puppets pulled by invisible threads, step by step, and walked towards the figure in an orderly manner.
The woman's figure became more solid. She stretched out her hand and was about to touch the forehead of the young man at the front.
Those gentle fingertips almost lit up the Fire Seal.
At this moment.
A figure appeared in front of the stone tablet without any warning, blocking the way between the woman and the boy.
Uchi... Hyun.
The Nine-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan in his right eye rotated rapidly, like a star vortex swallowing all things; the unique gear-shaped Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye made a slight "click" sound, as if a precise machine had completed its final bite.
He didn't take action or even release any murderous intent.
He just... let go of a memory of his.
A very real childhood memory that has been sealed in the deepest part of his soul and has long been sentenced to death by "rationality".
In the dilapidated wooden house, on the hospital bed, his mother in this life, an ordinary Uchiha Clan woman, used her last bit of strength to hold his cold little hand tightly.
Her eyes did not have the tenderness of the "fake mother" in front of her, but only the determination and deep-seated love on the verge of death.
"Live on, Xuan..."
"No matter what... you have to live... but don't become... monsters like them..."
These last words, full of real emotions, real flesh and blood, and real death, are like a red-hot iron, piercing the gentle land in front of you, which is constructed by the "illusion of love"!
Truth and falsehood! Love and obsession! Life and death!
Two diametrically opposed "maternal qualities" caused intense conflicts and shocks at the soul level!
"Ah--!!!"
The figure of the woman in white gauze suddenly twisted and let out a silent scream that resounded through the soul!
Her gentle face instantly turned into a white porcelain mask full of cracks, and her loving eyes turned into two empty black holes.
It turns out that its essence is not the soul of the ancestors at all, but an ancient contracted spirit body that maintains its existence by devouring the "desire for maternal love" of its offspring!
Uchiha Xuan has already used the rationality of the modern soul to cut off his own redundant empathy nerves, and is completely immune to this kind of mental pollution!
At this moment, not only was he unaffected, but he took advantage of the backlash caused by the violent conflict to brazenly activate his Devouring Law!
"Everything returns to ruins, swallow thoughts!"
He opened his thin lips slightly and took a deep breath at the torrent of crumbling obsession!
Without the earth-shattering sound and light effects, the huge obsession that could make any Kage Level strong man collapse in an instant was like a wisp of smoke, which he easily absorbed into his body.
Divine Erosion Flame passed in a flash, and all the mixed emotions, false memories, and twisted contracts were burned away.
In the end, it condensed into a crystal clear teardrop-shaped crystal that seemed to contain endless sadness in the palm of his hand.
The palm print on the stone tablet stopped bleeding the moment the woman's figure completely disappeared. It dried up and burned black in an instant, leaving only a line of carvings that seemed to be imprinted by Skyfire Protocol:
[True relatives do not accept false heirs.]
Uchiha Xuan slowly looked away, holding the teardrop crystal with an expressionless face.
What comes from the fingertips is the ultimate longing for the concept of "mother" originating from one ethnic group and spanning thousands of years.
He looked at the trophy with no trace of emotion in his eyes, only an almost absolute zero level of scrutiny and calculation.
This thing seems to be useful for some more interesting experiments.