The wind in the sinkhole carried a musty, earthy stench mixed with the lingering burnt smell from the altar, drilling straight into Xiao's nostrils.
The farther down he went, the faster the temperature dropped.
The surrounding rock walls were covered in vicious gashes left behind by forcibly torn energy. Gravel crunched beneath his feet, its sharp clicks echoing through the dim passage.
"Hiss—"
A faint blue glimmer shot out of the darkness without warning, grazing Xiao's cheek. A searing pain flared along his face. Several strands of hair drifted down, only to be ground into powder by that strange force before they hit the ground.
This was Spatial Turbulence leaking out after the passage had been forcibly activated.
Xiao stopped and raised a hand to touch the bloody scratch on his cheek. His fingertips came away warm. For his body, strengthened by purified bloodline, such a superficial injury would heal in less than a blink.
Yet the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"Interesting."
He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the pure white of his pupils had been completely replaced by brilliant azure starlight.
Under the Tenseigan's vision, the pitch-black sinkhole became a chaotic maze woven from countless glowing lines. Those deadly faint-blue flashes were no longer invisible threats, but broken and twisted chakra pathways.
Like a pack of enraged beasts, they rampaged through the narrow rocky walls.
Any Shadow Level expert who came down here—even Hiruzen Sarutobi himself—would be stripped of a layer of skin. If they forced their way ahead, they would absolutely be shredded into a heap of flesh by the violent Spatial Turbulence, leaving not even bone fragments behind.
But Xiao was different.
He stepped forward and continued downward.
Azure ocular power formed an exceptionally thin halo around his body. Whenever