Chương 29: Dragon Vein

Not to mention the chaos that ensued in Kumogakure after Richard and his companions left.

For the rest of the time, Richard traveled all over the ninja world without any clear goal. Or rather, his clearest goal was Otsutsuki Isshiki, whose consciousness was now parasitizing the body of a monk named Jigen.

But that guy was too good at hiding; Richard hadn't been able to find him for a long time. Not wanting to use his mental powers to alert him, Richard could only wander around and try his luck.

While I'm at it, I'll also collect other interesting things from the ninja world. For example, the Light and Heavy Rock Techniques and Dust Release of Iwagakure, the Puppet Techniques of Sunagakure, the Paradise Box of Kusagakure, and the Mouryou of the Land of Demons, monsters that exist on the basis of human negative emotions.

Richard had studied the latter two things, and they required special world rules to support them. In any case, no matter how much negative emotions were generated in the Panlong world, it was impossible to create monsters like the Wraiths. At most, it would just be a little more enriched with negative energy such as dark elements.

I wonder where the Sage of Six Paths' Pure Land is hidden? He wants to have a face-to-face exchange with the Sage of Six Paths. Putting everything else aside, that guy is quite skilled in Yin-Yang Escape and has a knack for creation.

When the ninja world has been thoroughly searched, perhaps we can try using the Impure World Reincarnation technique. I refuse to believe we can't locate the Pure Land.

Now, there's still one most important goal we haven't achieved.

Richard set off into the depths of the desert in the Land of Winds.

Tsunade and her apprentice followed behind, wandering around the ninja world for over a month. During this time, thankfully, nothing beyond her comprehension appeared. The Senju clan had records of things like the Box of Bliss and the Demonic Spirit. She wasn't completely clueless.

"Where are we going this time?" Tsunade asked.

"Loulan, go check out the dragon vein," Richard replied. This is one of the few things in the ninja world that can be related to time. The ninja world has many space-time ninjutsu and treasures, but very few time-time related ones.

Although the ninja world refers to time and space collectively as time-space, which is the eighth attribute beyond Yin-Yang, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, and Lightning, there are still significant differences between time and space.

"Dragon Vein? That dragon vein that's supposedly related to natural energy? But doesn't Shikkotsu Forest already have very rich natural energy? Why do we need to look for a dragon vein?" Tsunade asked, puzzled.

"That's because dragon veins aren't just natural energy; they're also related to time and parallel worlds," Richard said.

"Time? Parallel worlds?" Tsunade was a little confused.

"You'll see when you get there." It's too complicated to explain, just see for yourself when the time comes.

It took the three of them two more days to finally arrive in Loulan, the desert country.

This is a country within a country. The entire Loulan is actually located within the Land of Wind and is not connected to other countries in the outside world.

It could be said that the Land of Wind could annex it at any time if it wanted to. But Loulan is very poor, even poorer than the Land of Wind, and the Land of Wind doesn't want it.

The Loulan Kingdom was a small country with a small population. The so-called Loulan Queen actually governed no more people than a village.

Richard and his companions went straight to the dragon vein.

By expanding one's senses, one can feel a vast amount of natural energy gathered together, mixed with some strange forces, which should be the spacetime force that can traverse parallel universes.

I don't know how this peculiar shape came about.

Richard attempted to approach the dragon vein using his mental power, but before he could even get close, the dragon vein showed signs of agitation. So Richard had to stop. Indeed, if dragon veins were so easily manipulated, the ninja world would have already done so. Their Yin Release techniques are essentially applications of mental power, aren't they?

He then tried to approach using divine power, and this time the dragon vein was less repulsive.

Then he had the slug test it with both chakra and sage chakra. The dragon vein reacted violently, especially with the chakra; it was practically like it had encountered an enemy.

Richard stroked his chin. This reaction? Could it be that the planetary consciousness has truly merged into the natural energy? That's why it's so 'hostile' towards chakra, even sage chakra that's been infused with natural energy is rejected.

In general, it was the Otsutsuki clan that caused this mess. This power is either a planetary consciousness or something similar, or it's a remnant of past rebels, such as gods, priestesses, and onmyoji.

Richard carefully approached using his divine power, not wanting to waste too much of it, since divine power was slow to recover in this world.

Connection, synchronization. At a certain moment, when he achieved a subtle resonance with the strange energy in the dragon vein, Richard felt a huge spatial-temporal force surge in, instantly engulfing the group.

Then Richard felt as if he had entered a washing machine, being tossed around by the forces of time and space. It was a very peculiar feeling.

It was here that Richard felt his perception of time and space was exceptionally clear, and a flood of insights welled up in his mind in an instant.

Unfortunately, he was quickly thrown out and returned to the ninja world. Judging from the surrounding traces, it should still be Loulan, but it's the destroyed Loulan.

It looks like the time travel was successful, but I wonder what parallel world this is in.

"What's going on? Where am I?" Tsunade was completely bewildered, her head spinning from the dimensional portal, and she had no idea what was happening. Shizune, whose strength was even weaker than hers, was in an even more daze.

Even the slug on Tsunade's shoulder was so dizzy that it fell off.

Richard quickly explained the current situation.

"You mean we've come to a parallel world? Or a parallel world after our timeline?" Tsunade asked, bewildered.

"Yes, didn't you notice? This is still Loulan, Loulan a long time in the future," Richard said, pointing around.

Although it was night, the moonlight provided enough light to make it possible to see the surroundings clearly.

After careful observation, Tsunade discovered that it was indeed Loulan, but now it should be considered a Loulan ruin.

"Incredible." Even though she thought she had learned a lot about the secrets of the ninja world by following Richard and Slug, and that there was nothing that could surprise her anymore, Tsunade was shocked again.

Even parallel worlds have appeared. Is this still the ninja world I know?

Why does it feel like the more I learn about the ninja world, the more unfamiliar it becomes? Is there any hope for this world?

"Calm down. Look how calm Jingyin is. You're not even as calm as your apprentice," Richard said.

"Ah, I..." Shizune felt that Lord Richard was really overestimating her; she was just still confused and hadn't realized it yet.

"This is what a parallel world is like," the slug remarked from the side.

"The White Snake Immortal and I once speculated about how the old toad acquired its prophetic abilities. At that time, we guessed that it had the ability to see certain fragments of the future."

But Lin Feng offered another guess: he speculated that the old toad's prophetic ability actually observed a parallel world in a timeline that existed after us.

"After all, in our ninja world, the power of time is too mysterious, while parallel worlds are real." Slug said, echoing Lin Feng's earlier speculation.

"Hey, that's actually possible." Richard rubbed his chin.

"However, this is not of much concern to us right now. The most urgent task is to determine the timeline as soon as possible," he said again.