The Undead Demiplane lay beneath a gray, hazy sky, its ground just as gray and hazy. Everything was deathly still.
Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged on a large black rock, Tang Chuan's head set before him.
The Mangekyō Sharingan slowly turned in the dim light, its intricate pattern dizzying to behold.
"Teacher, let's begin."
Electrolux drew on the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's power within the Eight Trigrams Seal inside Huo Yuhao, turning the intangible tangible.
An illusory hand appeared before Huo Yuhao and slipped precisely into Tang Chuan's eye socket.
With a gentle twist, it removed the Mangekyō Sharingan intact and caught it in its palm.
Then the hand reached toward Huo Yuhao's own left eye.
The instant its fingertips entered the socket, searing pain shot straight to the crown of his head.
Veins bulged at Huo Yuhao's temples, but he did not make a sound.
His left eye came out, its eyeball still haloed in the white light of his Spirit Eyes Martial Soul.
Half his vision went dark. The left half of the world vanished completely.
"Hiss..."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm sucked in a sharp breath inside the Sea of Consciousness.
"He's this ruthless with himself? I've lived all these years, and I haven't seen many people who could have their own eyeball plucked out without batting an eye."
Electrolux spoke calmly.
"That ruthlessness is precisely why he's made it this far."
Electrolux slowly placed the Mangekyō Sharingan into Huo Yuhao's empty left socket. Its dark-red pupil turned once amid the blood vessels, then settled firmly into place.
Next, Huo Yuhao took out the bottle of milky-white Universal Fusion Potion and poured every drop over it.
The moment the liquid touched the eyeball, it became countless fine white threads that spread deep into the socket like living things.
They connected every nerve and blood vessel of the Mangekyō Sharingan precisely to Huo Yuhao's body.
The pain reached its peak. Huo Yuhao gripped his knees so hard that his nails dug into his flesh.
"Divine Illumination Scripture!"
In the next instant, the Soul Power within Huo Yuhao surged wildly along the pathways of the Divine Illumination Scripture.
The steady, enduring Soul Power gathered at his left eye, nourishing every inch of newly connected tissue and driving the potion's power, thread by thread, into the depths of the eyeball.
The Divine Illumination Scripture's ability to heal injuries rapidly helped the Mangekyō Sharingan fuse with Huo Yuhao's body.
After an unknown length of time, the pain receded.
Huo Yuhao slowly opened his left eye.
His vision returned, but it was utterly different from before.
It was as if a thin veil had been stripped from the world.
Every current of energy in the air and every fluctuation inside the undead creatures nearby stood out with extraordinary clarity.
The Mangekyō pattern flashed deep within his pupil, then disappeared, leaving only an ink-black eye.
"It worked."
Joy colored Huo Yuhao's voice.
"My Spirit Eyes Martial Soul is still here, and all my Soul Skills are intact."
"The Mangekyō Sharingan fused well with my Spirit Eyes. The Sharingan's insight has heightened the Spirit Eyes' Spiritual Detection even further."
Huo Yuhao clenched his fist, feeling the new power coursing through his left eye.
The Mangekyō Sharingan was, by nature, a power that overtaxed the eyes. Every use caused irreversible damage.
Ocular techniques like Amaterasu were especially harmful: using one even once would permanently diminish his vision.
But Huo Yuhao had the Divine Illumination Scripture.
It could nourish his foundation and repair damage.
As long as he did not overuse the eye in a short span, the Divine Illumination Scripture could gradually heal the damage to the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Ordinary insight and illusions would place almost no strain on it.
Even after using a killing move like Amaterasu, he could recover if he rested for a while.
Next, Huo Yuhao took out the Ninjutsu Compendium from his Storage Soul Tool, sat cross-legged on the ground of the Undead Demiplane, and opened it.
The Ninjutsu Compendium recorded a vast number of techniques.
He had grasped seventy to eighty percent of the Shadow Clone Technique and the other Ninjutsu after reading them just once.
But Tang Chuan had circled one chapter in red pen, with a short note written beside it.
"Danger!"
Huo Yuhao turned to that page. Four characters leaped into view.
Sage Mode!
More precisely, it was Mount Myōboku's Senjutsu!
By absorbing Natural Energy from the surroundings and mixing it with one's own Soul Power in a set ratio, a new energy called "Senjutsu Soul Power" could be produced.
In that state, a Soul Master's perception, physical strength, and Soul Power recovery would all take a qualitative leap.
And Senjutsu attacks far surpassed ordinary Ninjutsu.
But the risk was just as deadly.
If Natural Energy ran out of control, the user would turn into a toad statue and die.
Tang Chuan had been unable to solve the problem of losing control when Natural Energy entered his body.
So he had never dared cultivate Sage Mode and could only leave it gathering dust.
For Huo Yuhao, however, that was not a problem.
"Teacher, I need an undead creature that can absorb energy. Is that possible?"
Electrolux took control of Huo Yuhao's body, then recited a long incantation in his voice.
Immediately afterward, a fissure opened in the ground of the Undead Demiplane.
A deathly pale undead creature, its lower body trailing like smoke, rose from the fissure and floated before Huo Yuhao.
She had no facial features. Her entire head was a blur of gray-white mist, and only a fist-sized, dark-purple core of light turned slowly in her chest.
A Soul-Devouring Banshee!
She was an unusual inhabitant of the Undead Demiplane, adept at devouring energy and especially sensitive to mental power.
"The Soul-Devouring Banshee can absorb stray energy," Electrolux said.
"If you come close to losing control while cultivating Senjutsu, you can try transferring the Senjutsu Soul Power to her."
Huo Yuhao nodded, crossed his legs, formed Hand Seals, and closed his eyes.
Natural Energy surged in from every direction.
The air in the Undead Demiplane differed from the outside world. Deathly energy and resentment were so dense they had almost taken physical form.
Yet deep within those turbid energies, the most primal Natural Energy still flowed.
Huo Yuhao carefully guided a wisp of Natural Energy into his body and, following the method in the Ninjutsu Compendium, tried to mix it with his Soul Power at a ratio of one to two.
When the first wisp entered his meridians, it felt like scorching magma coursing through them.
Huo Yuhao steadied his mind and slowly drew his Soul Power toward it.
The two energies met in his meridians and began to blend.
The fusion went smoothly!
A second wisp, a third...
Natural Energy poured into his body without end. The fusion grew faster and faster.
Senjutsu Soul Power surged through his meridians, and Huo Yuhao could clearly feel his body changing.
His muscles grew denser, his bones harder, and even the vision granted by his Spirit Eyes sharpened.
But just as he tried to take in more Natural Energy, the balance broke!
Natural Energy suddenly flooded in faster than his Soul Power could keep up.
The excess, unfused Natural Energy rampaged through his meridians. Huo Yuhao's right forearm abruptly stiffened.
Gray-white, stone-like patterns appeared on his skin and spread up his arm, nearly reaching his shoulder.
"Now!"
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