Deep within the desolate mountain valley, the air was foul, permeated with a heavy stench of blood, sulfur, and an indescribable, sickly sweet scent, as if something was slowly rotting.
Jagged rocks and sparse, withered trees surrounded a relatively flat clearing where several bonfires of eerie colors burned. The flames were not a normal orange-red but flickered with a ghostly, almost dark-green hue, casting distorted shadows that stretched and shrank irregularly.
In the center of the clearing was a circular pit, about three to four meters in diameter, built from rough stones and earth.
The edges of the pit were stained with dark brown blood, some fresh and some old. At this moment, a sickening scene was unfolding beside the pit.
About twenty to thirty believers surrounded the pit. They were men and women dressed in tattered but uniform grey hemp robes embroidered with strange, twisted symbols.
The eyes of everyone present were abnormally excited, their pupils dilated and flashing with a morbid, almost frenzied light. They muttered under their breaths in a low, chaotic cadence that sounded like the sleep-talking of countless people, converging into a disturbing hum.
On the ground next to the pit, five or six sturdy adult men lay scattered, bound tightly.
They appeared to be kidnapped travelers, mountain folk, or townspeople. At this moment, their faces were deathly pale, their eyes filled with extreme terror. Their mouths were stuffed with cloth, allowing only desperate muffled whimpers to escape.
Several strong male believers were using crude stone knives to cut shallow incisions across these men's bodies.
Dark red blood gurgled out, flowing along specially dug small channels into the bottomless pit in the center.
As the blood flowed in, an extremely faint gurgling sound, like swallowing, seemed to come from deep within the pit, and the sickly sweet, decaying smell in the air grew even heavier.
Scarface and his two companions, who were being led under Uchiha Shao Yu's Genjutsu, also walked to the edge of the believer group like puppets and stopped mechanically, their eyes still hollow.
Shao Yu lurked silently behind a massive weathered rock, his Mangekyo Sharingan piercing through the dim light and flickering flames to take in the entire scene.
He suppressed all his presence, blending into the shadow of the rock like a part of it.
He didn't intend to save these people.
He wasn't some kind of saint; in this situation, he wouldn't act rashly. What if some Evil God truly appeared that he couldn't defeat?
It was better to wait and see how things developed.
As for the lives of these people, to be honest, Uchiha Shao Yu felt they had nothing to do with him.
At most, he only cared about the survival of the Uchiha Clan.
"Not enough... not pious enough! Not pure enough!" a hoarse, unpleasant voice rang out.
The speaker was an old man standing directly in front of the pit, draped in a tattered dark-red cloak.
His figure was hunched, his face covered in wrinkles and grime, and he leaned on a staff topped with some kind of black animal bone.
His gaze was even more fanatical than the surrounding believers, with an added touch of sinister greed. Clearly, he was the leader of this group, or perhaps their priest.
"These filthy bodies are only fit to be the kindling! A true God-chosen one requires special aptitude!"
The Old Priest's gaze shifted toward a crude wooden cage at the edge of the clearing.
Two believers immediately understood, turning toward the wooden cage and roughly dragging out a small figure from within.
It was a small boy who looked only five or six years old, dressed in rags and skin and bones. His small face was covered in stains, and his eyes were hollow and numb, as if long-term imprisonment and terror had stripped him of most reactions; only his body trembled slightly out of instinct.
Seeing this, the surrounding believers became even more excited, their chanting growing higher in pitch, as if they already saw a future where divine power was bestowed upon them and they became immortal.
The little boy was dragged to the edge of the pit. Facing the bottomless darkness below that emitted an ominous aura, along with the flowing blood and dying moans beside him, a flash of instinctive, extreme terror finally crossed his hollow eyes, and his tiny body froze like stone.
Lurking behind the rock, Uchiha Shao Yu watched all of this coldly with his Mangekyo Sharingan.
He clearly "saw" the nature of the energy mass deep within the pit.
Distorted, chaotic, and low-level, barely surviving by absorbing the painful emotions of living beings.
He also understood the believers' intentions; they wanted to create a "human tool" to carry this evil energy.
However, if they ended up creating someone like Hidan, it might not be easy to deal with.
Uchiha Shao Yu looked closely at this Old Priest; he wasn't dangerous. Based on his movements, he was indeed a bit stronger than an average person, but only slightly.
Better to make a move.
Just as the Old Priest shouted for the start and the believers prepared to push the boy into the pit.
"Sorry to interrupt."
A calm voice rang out, and Uchiha Shao Yu's figure appeared like a ghost on the clearing on the other side of the pit, positioned perfectly to observe the pit, the Old Priest, and most of the believers simultaneously.
He didn't stand atop the rock looking down, but chose an angle more convenient for action and observation.
His appearance instantly drew all eyes.
Those eyes, with their crimson flow and strange bands of light in the dimness, made everyone who saw them feel a chill in their hearts.
"Who are you?!"
The Old Priest was both shocked and enraged.
"Just passing through."
Shao Yu's reply was so brief it was almost dismissive. His gaze didn't even spare a second glance for the shivering boy, instead looking straight into the depths of the pit as if he could pierce the darkness to see what was inside.
"Tell me, what exactly is this thing?"
The Old Priest and the believers were stunned by Shao Yu's blunt, almost demanding words.
"Arrogance! Blasphemer!"
The Old Priest's beard trembled with rage.
"How dare you covet the Power of the Evil God! Seize him! Use his blood and soul as an even better sacrifice for the Evil God!"
The fanatical believers were provoked, howling as they lunged at Shao Yu, their weapons and clubs glinting coldly under the eerie green firelight.
Uchiha Shao Yu didn't even flinch. The light bands in his left Mangekyo slightly shifted.
The movements of the first five or six believers instantly stiffened, their eyes going hollow. Then, without any warning, the weapons in their hands abruptly changed direction, hacking fiercely at the companions beside them!
"Ah!" "Are you crazy?!" "It's Genjutsu!"
Cries of shock and screams of pain immediately rang out as the ranks of the believers fell into a chaotic internal slaughter.
Those controlled by Shao Yu's Genjutsu were like puppets who knew no pain and feared no death, frantically attacking every living thing around them, including the Old Priest who tried to stop them.
The Old Priest was shocked and angry, retreating repeatedly.
Shao Yu ignored the chaos before him, his gaze always locked onto the pit.
Under his Genjutsu manipulation, the believer who had been holding the little boy also let go, joining the fray of mutual slaughter.
The little boy slumped by the edge of the pit, ignored by everyone, only instinctively curling up and watching the bloody carnage around him in terror.
Shao Yu didn't look at the boy; he walked slowly toward the edge of the pit, avoiding the area of the chaotic battle.
His goal was clear: he wanted to observe closely, and perhaps... try to contact or extract a sliver of that evil energy for research or analysis.
If he could obtain a method to summon or control this energy, it might be even more valuable.
Advance chapter available on pãtrêon Got1808