The North Mountains.
White snow blanketed the rolling mountain ranges. Bitter winds howled through the gorges, whipping up flurries of snow.
Lin Ze appeared atop a mountain peak. He lowered his head to look at the valley below. That eerie Great Burial Power lay down there, buried deep within the mountain.
"This is the place."
Lin Ze murmured to himself and was just about to extend his perception to pinpoint its location-
Hum!
An invisible fluctuation surged from the snow beneath his feet, instantly enveloping his entire body.
There was nothing aggressive about it, nor did it even make its presence felt. It was like air, like light, like something he had always been in contact with but had never noticed.
Then a powerful wave of drowsiness washed over Lin Ze.
It came without warning, as though someone had flipped a switch in his brain. His thoughts began to slow, his eyelids grew heavy, and his body stopped obeying him.
He tried to activate the Great Burial Power in his Rinnegan, but the moment the thought arose, it seemed to sink into a mire, growing slower and heavier.
The snowy scenery around him began to blur. The ice walls, the sky, the snowflakes-everything slowly bled and dissolved like paint soaked in water.
In the end, only pure white remained.
Pure silence.
Lin Ze's consciousness sank into boundless darkness.
Outside.
In the snow-covered valley, Lin Ze lay on the ground, his white hair scattered across the snow. His eyes were tightly shut, and his breathing gradually grew steady and deep.
He had fallen into deep dormancy.
A figure slowly emerged from the shadows of the valley.
It was a woman.
She looked about thirty and wore a white, close-fitting combat suit. Her long hair was tied into a neat ponytail.