Yushibo's clone stood on the mountain peak, raising Chidori high, probing the clouds with slender arcs of electricity, controlling the Raiton Kirin.
Under the Kirin's heavenly might, he could no longer speak, and even his body, condensed from the spiritual energy of the fused sequence core, was on the verge of collapse.
Besides the Taoist, the remaining four ability users reacted quickly.
After the Taoist issued the command, the water-elemental blue-haired elder sister immediately reverted from a water dragon to human form.
Seemingly due to her elemental body being affected by the dark matter, her complexion had darkened, and she exuded black energy. However, she still used her ability to condense a massive water sphere, enveloping the berserk winged dragon.
Having done this, she fainted weakly on the ground.
The cold-faced man with ice-elemental abilities immediately activated his power, freezing the water sphere into solid ice. He then gritted his teeth and, holding the blue-haired elder sister, sprinted backward with all his might.
The fire-user, being a fire-elemental ability user, was not as severely corrupted by the darkness as the water-elemental blue-haired elder sister. He quickly retreated with the Taoist, his only remaining arm flailing wildly as he ran.
The two-dimensional strength-user was the most physically robust among the five. When the weakened ice-user, carrying the blue-haired elder sister, reached him, he scooped both of them up and around his waist with one arm. With a push of his feet, he covered dozens of meters, leaving the old Taoist and the fire-user behind.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
The ice sphere that had frozen the berserk winged dragon lasted less than two seconds before shattering. Sensing the Kirin's might from the clouds, the berserk winged dragon instantly roared at Yushibo's clone, its over three thousand hertz of mental power, accompanied by sound waves, transforming into a roaring evil dragon that lunged at Yushibo's clone on the peak.
But is sound faster than light?
The answer was no.
"Disappear into the lightning, Kirin!"
On the mountain peak, Yushibo's clone looked down at the berserk winged dragon with contemptuous crimson eyes, silently reciting a chuunibyou line. Then, the Chidori in his right hand blazed with light, and with a downward swing of his right hand.
The Kirin leaped down towards the berserk winged dragon.
In just one-thousandth of a second, it reached the berserk winged dragon!
BOOM!
The red Raiton Kirin exploded the moment it reached the berserk winged dragon, evaporating it. The residual terrifying power, carrying wind and debris, spread outwards.
Within a radius of three hundred meters, including the mountain peak where Yushibo's clone had drawn the lightning, dozens of mountain peaks were severed by the spreading power, emitting rumbling sounds of collapse that shook the earth.
Yushibo's shadow clone was also turned into smoke by the aftershock.
At this moment, the darkness in this part of the world was dispelled. All that could be seen was dazzling red light, the terrifying explosion shockwave, and the karma that permeated the surroundings.
Five minutes later, as the fluctuations gradually subsided, behind a mountain peak three hundred meters away, five people led by the Taoist were lying on the ground, shielding themselves from the aftershocks of the karma Kirin's explosion.
"Did that kid sacrifice himself?" the dust-covered Taoist spoke first, his face filled with melancholy.
In the critical situation just now, he had been unable to pay attention to Yushibo who was performing the technique, which made him feel extremely guilty.
The usually cold-faced ice-user now also showed a complex expression. The technique he had unleashed was not using his own power; in that situation, escape was mostly impossible.
"He's only E-class, yet he can unleash such a terrifying lightning-drawing technique. Taoist, are you people from the Taoist sect? It's a shame," the strength-user said, sighing at the end.
The Taoist shook his head. The lightning-drawing method he used was similar to the Divine Sky Imperial Thunder True Art of the Divine Sky Sect, but with some differences. He had never seen it before. He would ask his junior uncle about it later. Such a person must not be allowed to sacrifice himself in vain.
"Silver hair, masked, crimson eyes, wearing a national emblem forehead protector – the features are too obvious. I'll ask the head of the intelligence department to look for him when we get back. Someone like that must not be an unknown figure!" the fire-user said solemnly.
"Perhaps we still have a chance to find him. Did you forget how he appeared?"
The Taoist seemed to have thought of something and slowly said.
Upon hearing this, everyone except the unconscious water-elemental blue-haired elder sister's eyes lit up.
"Yes, he definitely didn't die. He appeared suddenly, so he must have a way to leave suddenly!" the fire-user affirmed.
"Let's not think about it for now. This battle was too fierce, and we were also affected by that red karma wave. Let's prepare to go back and enjoy a thunderous bath."
Recalling the pain of thunder purification, the Taoist couldn't help but grin, then his expression turned serious:
"Now that the thunderclouds have dispersed, we will rest for a while and prepare to go up the mountain to retrieve the sensing stone!"
The other three nodded in unison.
Meanwhile, in the real world.
Training Ground No. 5.
After releasing his clone, Yushibo quickly replenished his meager four hundred points of spiritual energy by absorbing spiritual energy with the spirit-gathering pendant and his 699 hertz mental power.
Then, he began to ponder which ninjutsu to learn next.
After browsing the mall for a while, his gaze fell upon the strongest taijutsu in the ninja world, [Eight Inner Gates].
[Eight Inner Gates (S-rank): By unlocking the channels that bind chakra within the human body, one can temporarily gain immense power. When all eight gates are opened, it is also known as the Eight Inner Gates Formation.
Effect: Can instantly gain tens of times the power exceeding that of the Five Kage.
The power of the Eight Inner Gates depends on the caster's own strength, increasing exponentially with the caster's power. Therefore, the power after opening the Eight Inner Gates varies from person to person. Opening the eighth gate, the Gate of Death, will also result in death due to the exhaustion of one's life force.
Click to play skill effect
Price: 10000 energy points
Learning requirement: Constitution must be 20 points or above.
Skill consumption: No fixed value.]
Yushibo looked at the skill description and stroked his chin, pondering.
Currently, his offense consisted of Raiton ninjutsu and the Great Fireball, and his escape techniques included the Body Replacement Technique and the Body Flicker Technique, as well as the Black Cat Space. His only weakness was his taijutsu.
However, even so, considering that the Eight Inner Gates cost ten thousand points for taijutsu, he still hesitated.
"Mukai ninjutsu is also very cool, should I go for it?"
Looking at the remaining 11,400 energy points, Yushibo ultimately did not choose to upgrade his hand seal level.
This was because his Chidori was already mastered, allowing him to perform it without hand seals, and the skills derived from Chidori could also be directly transformed from Chidori, also without hand seals.
There was no need to specifically upgrade for a mere few ninjutsu; the priority was to address his shortcomings.
Although the Sharingan could improve his observation skills and body control, while it was adequate for evasion, his offense was somewhat lacking. Therefore, learning the Eight Inner Gates was very necessary.
Recalling that since the video updates, he had never used the system's skill preview function.
So, before clicking to learn the Eight Inner Gates, he shifted his consciousness to video playback.
Instantly, an impassioned Naruto BGM, "Douten," played. Then, two figures appeared in the video: Yushibo and Yu Xiaoying.
Yushibo's heart was immediately filled with a bad premonition.