In the mountain village, Baishi sat in an old wooden house, enjoying a hot meal. He thanked the old lady in front of him repeatedly, "Grandma, thank you so much!"
"Haha, it's nothing!" the old woman replied with a warm smile. "Young man, you were unfortunate to encounter the yellow disaster. It's not easy to survive. Come, eat!"
The so-called yellow disaster referred to a sandstorm. His current identity was that of a caravan follower who had become separated from the rest of the group during a sandstorm and eventually ended up here.
Though the old woman wasn't wealthy, she was very welcoming. Upon hearing his excuse about needing food, she agreed to help him without much hesitation.
After thanking the old woman again, Baishi started to eat the food in large mouthfuls. Although it was nothing extravagant, it felt like a rare delicacy to him.
Once he finished his meal, Baishi bid farewell to the old woman. She guided him to the easternmost part of the village, where an abandoned wooden house stood for him to spend the night.
As for why the old woman didn't offer him a place to stay in her home, the reason was simple: there was no room. Her son had died early, and she lived a very humble life—there was only one room in the house, leaving no extra space for him to rest.
Baishi didn't feel it was a loss; he was already satisfied with having a hot meal. Where he slept didn't matter much to him.
Upon arriving at the eastern edge of the village, he found the abandoned wooden house.
After checking around and confirming that no one was nearby, Baishi stretched out his hand and left a Flying Thunder God mark in the room.
Then, he sensed the mark on the mountaintop and activated the Flying Thunder God Technique. Instantly, his figure disappeared from that spot.
Baishi felt a brief flash before his eyes and found himself at the marked tree on the mountaintop.
"Hey, with the Flying Thunder God Technique, it really is much more convenient!"
Muttering to himself, Baishi wasted no time. After canceling his transformation technique, he found a rock, sat cross-legged, and began to extract chakra from his body bit by bit.
At the same time, a hint of cool air entered quietly.
This trace of cool air began to travel through his body; part of it merged into his cells while another part flowed into his brain.
As this process progressed, Baishi's [physique] and [intelligence] began to grow slowly. This was evolution under subjective guidance.
Unlike the initial intense battles, in this relatively safe environment, Baishi did not dare to exhaust all the chakra in his body.
Nowadays, he extracted chakra in small amounts multiple times. While this would slow down the speed of evolution to some extent, it would prevent him from falling into a coma due to energy depletion, thus ensuring his safety.
Additionally, this method of evolution would not interfere with his daily practices and might even enhance them.
Just as now, after setting his goals and conditions, Baishi entrusted the matter of evolution to the 'system' and began to practice meditation.
Although his talent was maximized due to inheriting the bloodline limit of Wood Release—and even if he did nothing, his strength would increase with age—he needed to actively meditate and practice to maximize the power of Wood Release.
As for the content of his practice, it was naturally the refinement of chakra. By constantly tapping into his physical and mental potential, his chakra limit would continue to grow.
The upper limit of chakra determined how fully he could utilize Wood Release. In other words, refining chakra was unlocking the potential of Wood Release.
During this period, the chakra he refined would be extracted by the 'system' to further strengthen his [physique] and [intelligence], which in turn would enhance his physical and mental potential.
This way, it created a perfect positive cycle—a mutual reinforcement.
Time passed minute by minute as Baishi sat under the cold moonlight, his eyes tightly closed. His breath fluctuated from time to time, startling the insects around him.
······
At the same time, to the west of the oasis, across the desert, waves surged.
Above the sea, a few black spots appeared quietly on the horizon, growing larger and larger. It turned out they were not merely black spots but ships.
The ship was silent, without any insignia, and was approaching rapidly like a ghost.
About half an hour later, the ship reached the base of the cliffs.
More than a dozen ninjas, dressed in black robes and masks, jumped out of the boat, stepping onto the wet sea cliffs to climb ashore.
Once all were gathered, the leader took out a map. In the moonlight, he traced a crooked line on it with his finger.
He then said solemnly, "We will follow this route. Let me reiterate: our mission this time is to clear obstacles for the follow-up troops and ensure that the whereabouts of the large force remain undiscovered.
Therefore, any person or object along the way that may expose our whereabouts must be eliminated. Do you understand?"
"Clear!"
Everyone responded in unison.
"Very good, let's get started!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the men in black robes immediately dispersed into four teams of four, supporting each other as they moved forward.
······
In the blink of an eye, several hours passed.
Before he knew it, it was already late at night.
The surroundings were quiet, with no other sounds except the occasional chirping of insects.
Suddenly, a sharp and short barking sound broke the tranquility at the foot of the mountain, waking Baishi from his meditative state. He frowned slightly and looked down the mountain; it was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything clearly.
Reflecting on the dog's barking, Baishi suddenly felt an ominous premonition.
He checked his chakra levels and found that about 50% remained, so without hesitation, he locked onto the mark in the village at the foot of the mountain and activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.
His vision blurred again, and he found himself in the dilapidated house on the village's eastern side. Before he could assess the situation, the sound of faint footsteps reached his ears.
'Uh, is this... a ninja?'
Upon determining that the footsteps belonged to a ninja, Baishi's expression turned serious, and he quickly restrained his breath while carefully exploring his surroundings.
'Who are they?'
'Root? Have they found me so quickly?'
Thinking that the invaders might be from the Root organization, Baishi's face grew even darker.
However, he quickly dismissed that thought: "No, that's impossible. I just arrived here during the day, and they came at night. It doesn't add up."
If the Root Organization had such power, they would not have let him escape for a month.
"So, it's probably not someone from the Root. Then who could it be? Who would be so idle as to come to this remote place in the middle of the night?"
Just as Baishi was pondering the identity of the visitor, the footsteps outside suddenly came to a standstill, retreating two steps as if they had paused right outside the house.
Baishi held his breath. After a moment, he heard a faint sound of cutting air, and a small shuriken entered his field of vision.
Noticing the fiery dots illuminating it, Baishi thought to himself, "Not good!" and rushed toward the window.
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