Several days later, inside a sealed chamber, candlelight flickered unsteadily.
Shinji sat cross-legged on the floor. Floating before him was a massive sphere of blood.
Suddenly, the blood sphere exploded—then froze in midair in an extrely eerie manner.
From a distance, one could see that the countless blood droplets scattered outward were not only identical in size, but even the distance between each droplet was perfectly uniform!
In the end, they ford a greatly enlarged, hollow spherical structure.
Next, the blood droplets abruptly shifted from stillness into motion. One mont they fused and transford into all eighteen kinds of weapons, the next they beca dragons and tigers locked in fierce combat.
And that wasn't even the most outrageous part.
One by one, characters written in blood rearranged themselves in midair, eventually forming an entire "morial on the Expedition"!
"Hoo…"
After letting out a long breath, Shinji imdiately controlled all the blood in the air to descend into a container at the side.
Although he had painstakingly cultivated Blood Manipulation for many years from another person's perspective—and had successfully retained that priceless experience—differences in physical constitution naturally ant that a period of readjustnt was unavoidable.
Fortunately, he was now "highly experienced." It didn't take long before he completed the transition, fully converting everything into his own combat power.
Not only were all thods of use deeply ingrained in his mind—available at a mont's notice—but through accumulated insight and refinent, he had even created a Supre Technique uniquely his own!
Only at this mont did Shinji finally dare to say that even without his immortal body, he was no longer so insignificant nobody to be slaughtered at will.
After thoroughly cleaning up every trace left behind in the secret chamber, Shinji finally left.
He didn't want the Jashin Cult to know too much—lest, if things ever turned hostile in the future, they seized upon his weaknesses.
He hadn't even made it back to his room when soone called out to him.
"Akagi Shinji. The High Priest is waiting for you in Prayer Room No. 1. Go at once."
"Alright, got it."
Shinji nodded and imdiately changed direction.
When he arrived, he discovered that besides himself, the Cult leader Takihata had summoned soone else as well—none other than that idiot, Hidan.
At the mont, Hidan's injuries had completely healed. Even the eyebrows and hair burned off in the previous fire had grown back sowhat.
Of course, they were still just short, patchy strands. If he wanted to return to his original slicked-back hairstyle, he'd need to wait a bit longer—but at least he wasn't a shiny bald head anymore.
Looking at the future of the Jashin Cult—his two "capable subordinates"—Takihata felt his ambitions swelling to the point of barely being containable.
"Ten days ago, I purchased a batch of sacrifices from the Land of Grass. But now, both the sacrifices and the escort personnel have vanished without a trace."
"I plan to send the two of you to investigate their whereabouts. If they were intercepted, find the culprits and offer them all as sacrifices to Lord Jashin. If the people of the Land of Grass turned on us and swallowed the goods themselves—then make them pay a painful price!"
"Yes, Lord Takihata," Shinji and Hidan replied in unison.
As the Jashin Cult expanded rapidly, it had beco nearly impossible to find living people near the base.
To maintain a sufficient supply of sacrifices, they had no choice but to raid populations far and wide.
Takihata knew this was not a long-term solution, so he had secretly begun trading in human lives with various countries.
The deal with the Land of Grass was rely a test between both sides.
Judging from the outco, however, it clearly hadn't gone well.
...
With the Executioner's Blade—now evolved into a cursed tool—strapped to his back, Shinji set out once more alongside Hidan.
According to the Land of Grass, the escort convoy had disappeared suddenly near the border between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain. They had sent people to search, but found nothing. They even suspected the Jashin Cult itself had taken action—after all, the cult's reputation was infamously terrible.
If both sides believed the other was at fault, and neither was lying, then there was a very high probability that a third party had intervened.
The only question was who this third party was—soone bold enough to rob both the Jashin Cult and the Land of Grass was either an idiot or soone who didn't take them seriously at all.
Shinji hoped it was the forr. Otherwise, this mission would be troubleso.
Especially since the incident occurred so close to the Land of Rain—he knew better than anyone just how terrifying that place currently was.
If there was even the slightest chance to avoid it, he wanted nothing to do with suffering.
Along the way, Shinji wasn't in any particular rush. Instead, he frequently wandered off to "hunt."
Whether it was cute little rabbits or ferocious wolves and tigers, not a single one escaped his blade.
To the point that even Hidan eventually couldn't stand it anymore.
"What the hell are you doing? Killing so many animals—can you even eat all that? Don't expect to help you carry it while we travel."
Shinji looked helplessly at the Seven Killing Lamps on the Executioner's Blade.
Not a single one had lit up.
So much for trying to take shortcuts.
After killing so many animals, not once had Soul Imprisonnt triggered. Did it really require humans?
Would Tailed Beasts work?
What if it was soone who ate the Pig-Pig Fruit… or a reindeer who ate the Human-Human Fruit—how would that even be judged?
Alright, getting carried away.
This world didn't have Zoan Devil Fruits, nor druids. No need to worry about that for now.
"It's nothing. Let's go."
Shinji cut off several large chunks of at to use as rations for the journey. As for the rest, he could only leave it behind.
Thankfully, it wouldn't go to waste. Before long, wild beasts drawn by the scent of blood would arrive and strip it clean.
However—whether by good luck or bad—Shinji and Hidan hadn't gone far before they heard the sounds of shouting and combat coming from the forest ahead.
Under normal circumstances, encountering sothing like this would usually lead to only two outcos.
One was to pretend they hadn't seen anything and leave.
The other was for Hidan to get interested, rush over, and slaughter everyone as sacrifices to Lord Jashin.
But this ti, Shinji couldn't just ignore it.
In this desolate wilderness, finding a few people to test his blade on wasn't easy!
Hopefully there would be enough of them—enough for him to use Piercing Shadow Strike several tis and get a proper feel for it.
"I'll go take a look. Might as well chop a few people while I'm at it."
Hidan imdiately raised an eyebrow, interest piqued. "Together?"
"Forget it. You want to steal even this from ?"
"Tch, boring!"
Hidan unhooked his Triple-Bladed Scythe, leaned back against a tree, and sat down. "Don't make wait too long."
Shinji nodded, then drew the Executioner's Blade, slung it over his shoulder, and walked toward the loudest source of noise.
"Kill them!"
"Protect Her Highness!"
"You thieves have so nerve!"
"Hahaha! Didn't expect such a rare fat sheep to turn out to be a princess. Brothers, we're blessed today!"
"Together—wipe them all out!"
...
"This plot is way too cliché," Shinji muttered. "Good thing I'm not a hero—and I'm definitely not here to save anyone."
"Mm. Test the blade, then leave…"
As Shinji drew closer, the situation on the battlefield ca fully into view.
Four to five dozen attackers—a motley group of bandit samurai and wandering ninjas—were launching a frenzied assault.
anwhile, a group of guards stood firm, desperately protecting a palanquin at the center.
---
20 Power Stones= 1 additional chapters.
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