novelnext Chapter 60 The Mask of Death
Chapter 60 The Mask of Death
The place with the densest vegetation was easy to find, and the two soon arrived at the nearest hilltop.
Looking down from above.
This is an even smaller basin, a kilometer long and a few hundred meters wide.
The middle section is covered by a small woodland, with a pond in the center.
The two descended the hillside and discovered five stone pillars around the pool.
The stone pillars are arranged in a standard five-pointed star pattern, and each one is carved with a different pattern of flowers, birds, fish and insects.
It is about ten meters high and half a meter in diameter. At the very top of the stone pillar are cast wind ears, the purpose of which is unknown.
Mo Jingxian checked each one in turn and found nothing unusual, nor any trace of residual chakra.
It's very strange; I don't understand why they're placed here.
"Underwater." Ayako Hyuga rolled her eyes, currently searching for the entrance.
"Strange, the secret room clearly leads to this pool, so why is there no entrance?"
"Why don't we go down and take a look?" Mo Jingxian reached out and touched the water's surface, sensing for a moment. "There's no danger."
He took Ayako's hand, and their water-colored robes covered their entire bodies.
With a "plop," they all leaped into the deep pool.
With her mastery of water elements, Mo Jingxian moved through the water like a fish.
With Ayako by my side, we easily found the entrance.
However, the entrance was blocked by a transparent wall, preventing external water from entering and also blocking the two people.
Mo Jingxian explored for a moment, then carefully examined the surroundings, and came to a conclusion:
"This is a sealing technique I've never seen before."
The principle behind this technique is very ingenious. In addition to isolation, it also has the effects of concealing one's breath, shielding the five senses, and escaping perception.
Mo Jingxian was delighted by the sight and studied it underwater for a while.
It's difficult; the runes aren't arranged in a very regular way, but they still work.
What does this look like?
After self-studying sealing techniques for more than half a year, a test was suddenly placed in front of me to examine my learning results.
"What a fascinating application of technique," he murmured to himself.
Even with only a cursory understanding of the seal, I was captivated by its many ingenious designs.
In the past, he would use the underlying logic of the elements to brute force the sealing technique and then reverse the process.
It's like doing a math problem with the answer in hand; knowing the answer and the steps, he only needs to do the calculation.
It's easy.
He can often figure out problems that others need to spend a lot of time and effort to understand in just one night.
But calling him a genius in the field of sealing techniques would be an exaggeration.
At best, he's just a programmer who writes small programs for application purposes.
But this seal is different; it's more like a control panel.
It's easy to dismantle it by force, but to get inside without damaging it, you need to follow its rules.
This aroused Mo Jingxian's competitive spirit.
After sending Ayako back to shore, he got off again, placed his hands on the seal, and water elemental energy continuously seeped into it.
He had a clear understanding of the seal's internal structure; the rest was just a matter of fine-tuning.
We must understand its operational logic piece by piece, line by line, and finally combine them into a complete architecture.
For Mo Jingxian, doing so also has great benefits.
It not only filled the crucial gaps in his knowledge but also gave him a deeper understanding of the development of sealing techniques.
From the connection structure of these runes, an invisible development path can be clearly perceived.
How did it gradually evolve from low to high, from simple to complex, to its current form?
The pitfalls encountered can be traced in the architecture.
It was supposed to be a test, but it felt more like the history of sealing techniques was being re-enacted before Mo Jingxian's eyes.
The most basic rune structure is just these basic runes, yet the structure they form is extremely complex, and the sealing properties they exhibit are revolutionary.
Mo Jingxian was mesmerized.
When Ayako saw him again, it was five hours later.
People become eccentric and strange.
"That's not right, how can it be understood like that?" He subconsciously broke the dry rations apart: "Wholeness, that's the only explanation left. Once there are more than three runes, the properties that the whole thing can exhibit can be completely opposite."
"Yes, that's the only explanation." He casually popped the piece of dry rations he had broken off into his mouth.
"Technique can be used like this?"
Ayako slapped him on the back of the head: "Were you even listening to me?!"
Oh my god, I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't hear a thing.
Mo Jingxian swallowed the food in her mouth, her Adam's apple bobbing laboriously a few times.
"I heard you." He took Ayako's small hand. "Could you please say it again?"
Ayako Hinata couldn't do anything about him. He seemed to have been like this ever since they met, often spacing out and selectively deaf.
On the contrary, she's gotten used to it.
"What did you find underwater?" Ayako withdrew her hand and placed it on the soft flesh of his waist. "If you dare to give me that half-hearted answer again, hmph..."
"Stop! Four-way Break!" Mo Jingxian raised his hands in surrender: "It's a sealing technique..."
Since she had nothing better to do, Mo Jingxian taught Lingzi the sealing techniques she had learned, so that she wouldn't be bored waiting on the shore.
The sealing technique at the entrance to the vortex chamber is perfect for beginners to learn, as it is entirely based on the underlying logic of chakra.
On the other hand, it involves a small number of runes and has a simple structure.
If you don't need to understand the principles, and just memorize the formulas, you can quickly master these sealing techniques.
Next, Mo Jingxian balanced her studies and teaching, often sharing the knowledge she had just digested with Hinata Ayako.
Immersed in their studies, the two lost track of time, and two days passed in the blink of an eye.
That noon, Mo Jingxian took Lingzi's hand and asked, "Are you ready?"
"Um."
The two returned to the transparent wall.
Mo Jingxian placed her palm on it and slowly adjusted the flow and fluctuation of chakra within her body.
In Ayako's eyes, he was gradually sinking into that wall.
The wall was no longer a wall; it was like softened jelly, slowly enveloping Mo Jingxian.
It started with the palm, then the arm, and finally the whole person disappeared in front of me.
And just like that, Mo Jingxian squeezed into the wall and disappeared without a trace from her sight.
Ayako Hinata was a little flustered, but since she still had her water scale armor, it meant she was safe.
Suppressing her emotions, she followed Mo Jingxian's instructions and placed her hand on the spell mark.
Mo Jingxian felt a blur before her eyes, and then she found herself in a passageway.
The passageway is flanked by ordinary mountains, with obvious traces of human chiseling and axe work.
He quickly turned around to look, and a very ordinary wall appeared in front of him.
Before they could even investigate, the wall began to ripple, like ripples spreading across the surface of water.
Ayako Hinata also managed to break in.
Then there's no problem. It's just a smokescreen, albeit a very clever one.
The two carefully explored the passageway, and after walking for about several dozen meters, a spacious hall appeared before them.
The hall is about a hundred square meters, not very big, and was converted from the original space inside the mountain.
The two stood at the only doorway, directly opposite a rectangular platform over a meter high.
The platform occupies most of the space, with tall copper basins supported at the four corners, presumably for lighting.
Sixteen death masks hang on the wall behind the platform, each with a different design.
The air was filled with an unpleasant, earthy smell, proving that no one had visited this place for a long time.
The top is more than 20 meters above the ground and is triangular in shape, with the space becoming narrower towards the top.
At the very top, air currents surged in, and the only sound in the entire space was the whistling of the wind.
The two exchanged a glance, and Mo Jingxian knew she had come to the right place.
He took the lead and climbed the steps until he reached the wall.
Ayako followed behind, and the process was quiet and without danger.
This must be the place where the Uzumaki clan holds some kind of ritual, so there are no messy traps or mechanisms here.
Mo Jingxian stood in front of that wall, her gaze sweeping over each of the sixteen death masks.
Different patterns, unknown functions, unknown dangers.
He tried to take one off, but Ayako grabbed his wrist.
"It's alright." Mo Jingxian turned her head to comfort her and successfully removed one of the masks.
Nothing happened; it was as casual as taking a top hat off a coat hanger.
Mo Jingxian fiddled with the mask in her hand; it was a bit heavy, and she couldn't tell what material it was made of.
The touch felt warm, like holding a living thing, and I even had the urge to put it on.
Of course, this feeling was very subtle, and he easily suppressed it.
It is unknown when the mask was made, but it must have been quite some time ago, yet the colors on it are still very well preserved.
Mo Jingxian looked at it several times; the design and illustrations of the mask were very artistic.
With its double horns, fangs, and demonic eyes, the mask's composition is full of dramatic tension.
"How is it?" Ayako asked softly.
"It's hard to say." As he spoke, he put the mask on his face.
After a while, she took it off and handed it to Ayako: "Try it."
Then he took a second mask off the wall and repeated the action.
"There's something there." In the quiet environment, Ayako's surprised voice echoed repeatedly between the walls.
"You noticed too." Mo Jingxian took off her mask and put on another one:
I thought I was the only one who could feel the gaze from the unseen world.
"That's right, it feels like being watched." Ayako hurriedly took off her mask.
"Once you pick it, it's gone."
As if to confirm, she put the mask back on, and that feeling of being watched by an unknown entity returned.
This didn't feel good, so she immediately took off her mask and let out a long breath.
"Put them all away."
No need for further testing; each of these masks possesses the ability to summon death.
Moreover, there is no danger as long as the procedure is not initiated.
It seems that the artifacts left behind by the Uzumaki clan are all genuine.
The two packed the masks in batches and stored them all in a sealed scroll.
As for what will happen to Orochimaru in the future?
Mo Jingxian replied, "What's it to me?"
With things having come to this point, Mo Jingxian had completely achieved her goal for this trip, making it a perfect ending.
But that feeling of almost missing something was still there, as if something important had been overlooked.
Mo Jingxian chose to trust her instincts.
"Check again, don't miss any abnormalities."
"Okay, whatever you say."
The two split up, and soon Ayako noticed something amiss.
Surprisingly, it actually exists.
Mo Jingxian quickly went over and stood with Lingzi in front of the wall where the masks were hanging...