The storm in his spiritual world subsided, and the instant his consciousness returned to reality, Hyuga Xiao's five senses were amplified severalfold.
The massive flesh tumor in his hand, over three meters in diameter, was no longer a cold trophy. It was like the heart of a living creature frightened out of its wits, every beat carrying tremors of pleading and fear. The remnants of ocular power within the hundreds of shattered eyeballs on its surface had all dimmed, as though they were submitting to their new master.
A sickly sweet stench mixed with the scent of scorched flesh entered his nostrils. It was the smell of God Tree Remnants mixed with millennia-old snake venom. Within the collapsing cavern, the red glow of magma intertwined with the deep blue radiance of the Tenseigan, casting Hyuga Xiao's blood-soaked figure in the image of a demonic god.
"Eat it?"
Hyuga Xiao murmured, a cold, cruel curve rising at the corner of his mouth.
Eat it directly? Too crude. This thing was a contradictory combination of poison and divinity. It contained the White Snake Sage's thousand years of Senjutsu accumulation, while also retaining the God Tree's most primal corrosiveness. Devouring it rashly would be no different from detonating a bomb that kept multiplying inside his body.
But he had a better method.
"System." Hyuga Xiao spoke silently in his heart. "Use the three Covenant Stone Fragments as the foundation to analyze and refine this God Tree Aberration!"
Without the slightest hesitation, he sat cross-legged and placed the enormous flesh tumor before him. His other hand slowly pressed against its warm, elastic surface.
[ Ding! High-concentration God Tree Remnants and Senjutsu energy composite detected... ]
[ Refinement protocol activated... ]
[ Warning: This substance has a strong rejection response with the host's bloodline. The