Jing Xiu had never slacked off in his cultivation ever since he could move normally at the age of two.
He remembered clearly that a twelve-year-old Madara Uchiha had once said by the river when he first met Hashirama Senju: "I have five brothers. Except for Izuna, they are all dead!"
Jing Xiu did not know when those brothers had died; he only knew that as long as he grew strong enough, living for a thousand years in the shinobi world would not be difficult.
Yet the shinobi world was, after all, different from the alien world.
The five spirits of water, fire, lightning, wind, and earth that made up the shinobi world bore quite a few differences from the metal, wood, water, fire, and earth five phases of his past life, rendering the vast majority of the Eight Extraordinary Skills impossible to cultivate directly.
Fortunately, the fundamental technique of the Celestial Master Mansion-the Golden Light Mantra used for body protection and health preservation, and the Five Thunder Orthodox Method used to balance the five qi and stimulate human potential-could still be practiced.
Jing Xiu was well aware of the drawbacks of chakra, which was a deformed kind of power that squeezed one's own potential in exchange for formidable might.
Therefore, over the years, his focus had always been on tempering his physique and enhancing his own potential.
As luck would have it, Jing Xiu had a bridging-the-generation bosom friend in his past life known in the jianghu as "Unmatched in Strong Fist, Divine Spear Li Shuwen."
As for Jing Xiu now, purely in terms of taijutsu, he was by no means inferior to an ordinary Uchiha Chunin; even compared to Hyuga Chunin who specialized in taijutsu, he possessed an equal chance of victory by virtue of his past life's experience and methods.
Yet facing a genius of the Hyuga, Hyuga Chenxi, son of the Hyuga First Elder, Jing Xiu's taijutsu fell somewhat short.
Fortunately, while the fundamental elements of the two worlds differed, they shared one commonality, which was the "soul."
With Jing Xiu's current spiritual power, if he wielded Spirit Summoning and Dispatching, he could barely drive two departed spirits.
Many Uchiha wounded soldiers in Ueno Camp had perished under the surprise attacks of the Senju and the Hyuga.
Precisely because of this, Jing Xiu had been able to "move them with emotion and reason" and, with their voluntary cooperation, summon the spirits of two Uchiha Special Jōnin who had just passed away.
Regardless of whether it was the previous Fire Release or the Sharingan, both borrowed the abilities of one of those Special Jōnin.
Seeing Hyuga Chenxi close in step by step, Jing Xiu borrowed the ability of the second Uchiha Special Jōnin, brought his hands together, and completed the circulation of the spirit body with his own chakra.
Amidst Hyuga Chenxi's incredulous gaze, a sharp lightning spear abruptly spewed from his mouth.
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
Caught off guard, Chenxi directly unleashed the Hyuga Main Family's endlessly inherited "strongest defense," Eight Trigrams Palms: Heavenly Spin!
A cold sneer hung at the corner of Jing Xiu's mouth; not only would the use of Rotation consume a massive amount of Hyuga Chenxi's chakra, but the very characteristics of Rotation also prevented him from moving before finishing the technique.
Of course, inability to move could not quite be considered a flaw of Rotation. Its flaw lay in the fact that while movement was impossible, the ground could not defend itself either.
Jing Xiu pressed his hands against the ground and whispered softly: "The moment a person's defense is at its strongest is also the moment they are at their weakest!"
"And the earth, after all, conducts electricity!"
"Thunder Method: Six Directions Thunder Prison!"
Six thumb-thick bolts of lightning, like six prison pillars, sealed off Hyuga Chenxi's up, down, left, right, front, and back.
Having just finished releasing Rotation and lacking even the time to catch his breath, Hyuga Chenxi felt a numbness wash over his entire body, his skin undergoing massive carbonization as it emitted the charred smell of burnt meat.
At this moment, Jing Xiu's complexion was pale, large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, his vision grew hazy, and a strong sense of dizziness washed over him.
He bit the tip of his tongue, forcefully resisting the urge to pass out, and blinked as he looked at Hyuga Chenxi trapped within the thunder prison.
As the son of the Hyuga First Elder, Hyuga Chenxi had never imagined that he would actually fall into the hands of an Uchiha brat. He exhausted his very last shred of strength, looked up, and roared: "I am not resigned!"
This hoarse and harsh sound sounded like the most beautiful "heavenly music" to Jing Xiu's ears.
His vision went black, and his young body could no longer withstand the consumption of the thunder prison. Like a frail willow in a fierce gale, he swayed and collapsed onto the ground, making no further sound.
The world grew quiet; the drum-like heartbeat of ordinary times vanished, and even his breathing grew barely audible.
"How truly weak!"
It was impossible to tell whether Jing Xiu's sigh was directed at himself or at Hyuga Chenxi, who had already been reduced to charcoal.
The "Uchiha Long" on Uchiha Izuna's back had long since stopped breathing, the kunai stabbed into the young child's back heart explaining everything.
The young body of "Uchiha Changtai" was split in two, his head having even become the trophy of the Senju Chunin behind him, while "Uchiha Kang" had long since vanished without a trace, leaving his life or death unknown.
Thud!
Having lost too much blood, Izuna once again made the most intimate contact with the earth, only this time, he failed to climb back up.
"Is my life about to end here?"
"How unwilling I am!"
"I haven't yet watched Big Brother become the strongest in the shinobi world!"
"I haven't yet decided the winner with Jing Xiu! How can I, acting as the older brother, lose to my younger brother! Still, that poker face of his is really ugly! Much uglier than mine..."
Listening to the approaching footsteps, Izuna ultimately failed to open his eyes again.
The leading Jōnin of the Ueno assault force, the Senju Clan's Jōnin Mingjian Senju, pulled out the Tachi stabbed into his abdomen.
He looked at Madara Uchiha, who was severely injured, bleeding profusely, but still standing upright leaning on his blade, and sighed sincerely: "To fail to... eliminate you today is truly my lifelong regret!"
Amidst his words, visceral fragments mixed with a large amount of blood gushed from Mingjian Senju's mouth.
Regrettably, although he stood unfallen, the long-since unconscious Madara Uchiha could no longer hear the enemy's praise for him.
Otherwise, he would undoubtedly have raised his head, looked down with utter disdain, and scoffed: "What you see and feel is merely the tip of the iceberg for this lord!"
When the Hagoromo's second elder, Hagoromo Genichiro, and the Uchiha First Elder, Uchiha Yamashiro, rushed back to Ueno Camp to reinforce, they beheld nothing but a sea of blood.
Aside from seven Uchiha children rescued along the way, the only presences with breath left throughout the entire Ueno Camp were the two brothers, Madara Uchiha and Uchiha Jing Xiu.
When Jing Xiu opened his eyes once more, he was already in the Uchiha Clan Compound by the Naka River.
Not far from him was also an "unknown creature" wrapped entirely in bandages, looking just like a mummy.
Before he could further explore what this "mummy" was, the mummy spoke up a step ahead: "My foolish little brother! You're finally awake!"
Jing Xiu didn't even need to use his toes to know that anyone capable of uttering such words had to be his childish and boring twin younger brother, Uchiha Izuna.
Among the three brothers, Izuna had the best luck. Suffering merely from exhaustion, despite having numerous wounds all over his body, they were all superficial, which was why he woke up the earliest.
Madara Uchiha had taken thirty-four sword strikes, with fatal wounds numbering as many as seven.
Yet his battle record was truly astonishing as well: fighting many single-handedly and completely wiping out a Senju Jōnin squad.
Jing Xiu's primary issue was the excessive consumption of his spiritual power, which was why he had remained unconscious for a full five days.
The first thing he did upon waking was naturally to introspect and conduct a comprehensive check of his own body.
Although Grand Luo Insight could not be practiced, the "introspection" portion within it still possessed remarkable effects.
Feeling the strengthening of his body and the expansion of his spirit, Jing Xiu could not help feeling somewhat delighted: "This must be the enhancement gained from absorbing the soul origins of those two Uchiha Special Jōnin!"
"The insight of my eyes has also improved a good deal; in fact, as long as I wish, I can awaken the Sharingan in the very next instant."
When he inspected his own spirit, however, his heart trembled violently.
Within his own spirit, he seemed to have discovered something extraordinary: "What is this?"