126: The chakra devouring of the hungry ghost realm, the ultimate power of Pluto's petrification

“Utterly foolish! To not even dodge!”

In a hidden location near Hidden Sand Village.

Nagato, observing through the Preta Path's vision, saw the pitch-black puppet standing like a wooden stake, and a cruel smirk spread across his lips.

Ignorance is bliss.

Unanalyzable defense? Incomprehensible structure?

Before the Rinnegan's Blocking Absorption Seal, any jutsu composed of Chakra was merely sustenance!

With just one gulp, he could drain the secrets of this thing, along with its core energy!

However, he did not see it.

A hundred meters away, Tang Yan, seated on the broad back of Mountain Devil - Strange Rock, a hint of pity flashed in his eyes.

It was like watching a fool eagerly rush to embrace a nuclear reactor.

The buffet is about to begin. I hope your appetite is big enough.

“Clap!”

A soft sound, insignificant on the noisy battlefield.

The Preta Path's withered, pale hand accurately pressed against Netherworld's cold breastplate.

On Yahiko's face, a cold indifference of having everything under control was revealed.

“I’ll take your Chakra!”

Blocking Absorption Seal, maximum power, fully activated!

Like a giant whale sucking water, an unimaginable terrifying suction force erupted from his palm!

Nagato was ready to welcome that boundless energy torrent, analyze its essence, and then completely destroy it.

However, the next second, the feedback from his shared senses instantly froze his expression.

What… what is this thing I’m absorbing?!

There was no warm current of energy, no texture of Chakra.

Instead, there was a coldness and dead silence that penetrated the soul!

The feeling was like having a vacuum tube, with all air removed, forcibly shoved down his throat!

No, it was more terrifying than a vacuum!

It was a “nothingness” filled with impurities, filled with malice, filled with an end!

As if a large mouthful of highly toxic sludge, mixed with glass shards and dry ice, poured back into his body along the meridians of his arm; wherever it passed, all vitality was brutally scraped away and annihilated!

“This Chakra… it’s poisonous!”

This thought flashed through Nagato's mind instantly, but he immediately rejected it.

No! It’s a thousand times more sinister than poison!

A bone-piercing numbness surged wildly from the right palm that made contact!

Following that was a stiffness that reached the marrow!

The Preta Path looked down in horror.

He saw his right hand rapidly developing a grayish, stony texture visible to the naked eye! His skin lost all blood color and elasticity, and even fine cracks like weathered rock appeared at his finger joints!

Petrification?!

“I fell for it! Retreat quickly!”

Nagato’s furious roar simultaneously exploded in the minds of all the Pains!

But it was too late.

Just as the Preta Path tried to cut off the absorption and retreat, Netherworld moved.

It did not attack, nor did it defend.

It simply took a step forward, opened its arms, and embraced the Preta Path with its entire body, giving an incredibly enthusiastic… hug.

“Buzz—!”

An invisible, deathly silent wave, with Netherworld’s body as its absolute center, surged forth with overwhelming force!

Petrification Qi Poison, domain-level power, full burst!

This time, it was no longer a tentative contact infection!

Instead, it was an indiscriminate, area-of-effect attack within a hundred-meter radius!

The air instantly became viscous, as if solidified into a gray jelly.

The surface of the sand “crackled” and was covered with a layer of grayish-white rock crust.

The dust stirred up by the battle's shockwaves lost all its kinetic energy in mid-air, solidifying into tiny grains of sand that fell to the ground with crisp, eerie clinks.

“Blocking Absorption Seal!”

In a life-or-death situation, the Preta Path made the most instinctive, yet most foolish, decision.

He tried to push the power of the Rinnegan to its extreme, to swallow this bizarre petrification domain, along with its source, whole!

A huge, translucent Chakra absorption barrier suddenly unfolded in front of him, enveloping both him and Netherworld!

Then, the most comical and terrifying scene in the history of the Ninja World War occurred.

The huge absorption barrier, not only failed to swallow the Petrification Qi Poison, but upon contact with the invisible wave, it began to petrify itself!

The translucent barrier rapidly became murky and rigid!

Its surface “crackled, crackled” with spiderweb-like cracks!

Finally, after lasting less than 0.1 seconds, it shattered with a bang, turning into a sky full of shimmering powder!

What was more fatal was that this brief confrontation, not only failed to stop the erosion, but instead, like a giant, full-power water pump, it drew all the surrounding Petrification Qi Poison towards the Preta Path itself with ten, even a hundred times the efficiency!

Tang Yan watched from afar, shaking his head.

Well, I’ll be.

I’ll just say, well, I’ll be.

Trying to drink from a fire hydrant, are we? Commendable courage, I suggest a better reincarnation next life.

The petrification was rapidly accelerating!

The Preta Path’s entire right arm had completely turned into a section of gray, lifeless rock, stiffly maintaining the posture of pressing against Netherworld’s chest.

The gray, stony color was spreading wildly up his shoulder, towards his neck and the remaining half of his torso!

Just then!

Boom!

The sand beneath the Preta Path’s feet suddenly exploded, and an earthy-yellow sphere, identical to the previously destroyed Kou Ken, burst out of the ground! It slammed its incredibly hard shell fiercely into the Preta Path’s already petrifying left knee!

Earth Release: Earth-Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!

This sneak attack from underground was precise and ruthless, causing the already unbalanced Preta Path to stumble and fall completely forward, his entire body pressed against Netherworld, exposed to the very core of the petrification domain!

At the same time, from the depths of the distant Hidden Sand Village, a roar filled with endless rage and alarm echoed through the sky!

“Roar—!”

Master Bunpuku had clearly sensed the bizarre crisis facing the Six Paths of Pain through Shukaku’s perception.

That power, that power of dead silence that annihilated all life, made even a Tailed Beast feel a deep tremor in its heart!

He couldn't wait any longer!

The massive, complete Shukaku suddenly opened its gaping maw.

Endless yellow sand and violent Wind Release Chakra underwent frantic compression and rotation within its mouth!

Finally, a giant sand spear, dozens of meters long, glowing with dazzling blue light, and covered in seals, condensed into form!

The strongest spear against the strongest shield!

A variant of the Tailed Beast Ball, a penetration-specialized form!

Shukaku's Spear!

The target of the sand spear was precisely the Preta Path, which was being petrified and was about to completely lose its combat ability!

Nagato wanted to use the Preta Path to analyze Tang Yan’s secret.

Bunpuku, on the other hand, wanted to completely erase this huge threat from this world!

The battlefield instantly turned into a slaughterhouse!

The giant sand spear tore through the atmosphere, emitting a piercing shriek, and swept forth with an aura of destruction.

More than half of the Preta Path's body had already turned into a gray rock statue, but his noble Rinnegan eyes remained fixed on Netherworld, filled with unwillingness, anger, and madness.

He was still resisting, using the Rinnegan's last divine power to forcibly delay the erosion of his core.

“Truly… remarkably tenacious.”

Tang Yan murmured softly, as if admiring a work of art nearing completion.

“Then, let me show you what true despair is.”

Tang Clan Object Manipulation, instantly issued via mental link.

Netherworld’s pitch-black puppet body, like a bottomless black hole, swallowed all surrounding light and energy.

It slowly raised its only remaining active left hand, fingers spread.

There was no earth-shattering momentum, no world-destroying light effects.

Only absolute dead silence.

Centered on Netherworld, within a thirty-meter radius, a silent annihilation began.

Invisible Erosion: Final Scene: Dead Silent Sand Sea!

The sand was no longer sand; it solidified and bonded in an instant, turning into a lifeless, flat, smooth gray rock slab.

The air no longer flowed; all its dust and moisture transformed into suspended stone powder, giving the entire space a hazy, apocalyptic texture.

Even the roaring “Shukaku's Spear,” condensed with the power of a Tailed Beast, had its Wind Release Chakra instantly stripped away and annihilated upon entering this domain! The rapidly spinning sand particles also began to petrify layer by layer and peel off!

Ultimately, this strongest attack, condensed with the Tailed Beast’s rage, completely disintegrated from lack of power a dozen meters from the Preta Path, turning into harmless stone chips that sprinkled down like a light, gray snow.

Within the domain, gods are forbidden!

The Preta Path, or rather Nagato, was completely stunned.

The madness and unwillingness in those Rinnegan eyes completely faded, leaving only endless fear and a hint of resolve.

His last remaining consciousness, through the Rinnegan’s link, transmitted the final message to his distant main body.

“This power… must… be destroyed at all costs!”

The next second, his head, of which only the upper part could still barely move, suddenly opened wide.

At its very core, an extremely unstable ball of Chakra light suddenly flared, like a supernova about to explode, releasing destructive energy fluctuations!

He intended to use the power of the Rinnegan's core to completely erase this cursed domain, along with that ominous puppet, from this world!