As the sun was about to set, a woman returned to Liyue Harbor supporting an injured man. Her fresh, ethereal, adeptal bearing immediately drew countless eyes, but her icy, gloomy expression sent chills through people, leaving them afraid to approach her.
By contrast, the man she supported looked utterly bedraggled. Not only were there several tears in his clothes, but he was filthy all over, as though a dozen wild boars had rammed him.
The moment this pair appeared, practically everyone turned to look. They were the very picture of a beauty and a beggar. Still, many of the men who saw him being supported by such an ethereal woman wished they could take his place.
These two were naturally Yucheng and Shenhe, who had just returned from the Lisha Suburbs. As for how they had ended up like this, that required going back an hour.
An ordinary person with neither a Vision nor Adeptal Energy claimed he could construct an illusion that was almost one hundred percent realistic. Shenhe remained doubtful.
To demonstrate his ability, Yucheng activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan. When Shenhe saw his originally black pupils suddenly turn scarlet, with three symmetrically arranged tomoe in his eyes, she immediately assumed a combat stance.
It was not just his eyes that changed. With his Sharingan activated, Yucheng's entire bearing underwent a noticeable transformation, exuding an aura unique to the strong.
"Your eyes...?"
"These eyes are called the Sharingan, a treasure that only those with the Uchiha Clan's bloodline have a chance of awakening."
"The Sharingan? Can these eyes do something like the Landscape, Mountains, Rivers, and State Map you mentioned?"
"While they're not as incredible as the Landscape, Mountains, Rivers, and State Map, their functions are somewhat similar. Another thing I need to explain is that the prerequisite for the illusion is that you believe it's real. If you think it's fake, the illusion will quickly collapse.
"Words alone prove nothing. Would you like to experience it yourself?"
"All right."
"Then look into my eyes."
Shenhe gazed into Yucheng's Sharingan. She saw the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes begin to spin. Then her consciousness grew hazy and sank into darkness.
When she opened her eyes again, she discovered she was no longer in the Lisha Suburbs but inside a cave. Her viewpoint also seemed much lower than before.
Shenhe examined her surroundings and discovered that her long-dead father was beside her, muttering something. Then he summoned a hideous, terrifying black evil spirit into the cave. Its blood-red eyes fixed on Shenhe, making her scalp prickle.
This was... the scene in the cave back then?!
Only then did Shenhe discover that her body had reverted to that of a child, with nothing in her hand but the evil-warding dagger her mother had given her.
Faced with this scene again, Shenhe's emotions erupted completely. A towering surge of Baleful Aura instantly filled the entire cave, even suppressing the black evil spirit. Her father, who should have fled in time, also failed to escape the cave because of this sudden development.
Now, Shenhe looked even more terrifying than the evil spirit that had been summoned.
"Father! Why did you abandon me?"
"A-He, you were born under the signs of the solitary star and calamitous bane! You killed your mother! Trading your life to bring hers back is only right!" Shenhe's father roared at her, his face twisted with malice.
"Aaaaaah!!!!"
Shenhe's consciousness was completely overtaken by the Baleful Aura, and she attacked wildly and indiscriminately inside the cramped cave.
At that moment, the illusion suddenly vanished. Yucheng had dispelled the Genjutsu himself, but even in reality, Shenhe's emotions apparently remained unstable. Despite the red ropes binding her soul, boundless Baleful Aura had already begun spilling out of her body.
This is bad, Yucheng thought. This Genjutsu seemed to have provoked Shenhe a little too much, and things were getting out of control. He wanted to seize the opportunity to knock her unconscious before anything went wrong.
However, just as Yucheng was about to act, Shenhe struck first instead, thrusting the weapon in her hand straight at him amid a biting, icy wind.
Yucheng dodged the spear thrust by the narrowest margin, but his clothes were not so lucky. Then a sweep of the spear struck him squarely in the chest. Although he raised both arms in time to cushion the blow, Shenhe's strength was terrifying. After all, in the game, she possessed the monstrous strength to lift the Mingxia Floating Life Stone with her bare hands. That single blow sent Yucheng flying.
Yucheng felt a coppery sweetness rise in his throat, and blood surged up and sprayed from his mouth. He crashed heavily to the ground, and before he could react, Shenhe's next attack arrived.
Under Yucheng's terrified gaze, Shenhe's Calamity Queller pierced straight through his chest. But the next instant, his impaled body suddenly turned into a log, while Yucheng appeared off to the side.
Substitution Technique, forever the best!
Strictly speaking, the Substitution Technique, one of the three divine techniques, could be considered a form of Space-Time Ninjutsu. It exchanged the user's position with that of a nearby inanimate object. Although its casting conditions imposed many restrictions, this ninjutsu was frequently used even in battles between Jōnin.
Such a powerful ninjutsu was actually listed alongside the Transformation Technique and Clone Technique as one of the three compulsory basic ninjutsu at the Konoha Ninja Academy, directly tied to its graduation requirements.
The clearly out-of-control Shenhe froze for a moment at this unexpected development, but immediately charged at Yucheng again. She had no conscious awareness now and was fighting entirely on instinct.
Having suffered internal injuries from the earlier attack, Yucheng could only rely on his mobility to keep his distance from Shenhe, even creating two intangible clones to distract her.
The battle continued like this for over half an hour. Once her Baleful Aura had been nearly exhausted, the out-of-control Shenhe gradually regained her senses. However, if her former village could barely have qualified as a historical site before, it could now only be called rubble.
Previously, the abandoned houses could at least provide shelter from the wind and rain and serve as a temporary base for the Treasure Hoarders. Now, even a dog would probably shake its head and leave. Fortunately, the village had long since been abandoned, so even destroying all of it would require no compensation.
"Th-this... was my doing?" After coming back to her senses, Shenhe looked at the village she had plowed through, finding it somewhat hard to believe.
"Shenhe, thank goodness you came back to your senses. If you'd kept going a little longer, I'd have been the one on the ground."
Yucheng's strength deserted him, and he was about to collapse where he stood. Just then, an alluring bodily fragrance drifted into his nose, and he felt his back meet something astonishingly soft and springy.
The sensation instantly brought Yucheng to full alertness. That beating was worth it!
Shenhe had appeared behind Yucheng in time to catch him before he fell.
"I'm sorry." Yucheng heard a gentle apology from behind him.
"I'm the one who should apologize. That illusion went too far and made you relive that past experience. It looks like we really do need to take this gradually."
Before you continue