49: Waiting in vain in Thunder Valley: Tang Yan escapes from the poison in the opposite direction and heads straight for the Kingdom of Ghosts!

Raiming Valley.

The wind howled like ghosts and wolves, sweeping across the rugged cliffs.

Several hours passed, and it remained deathly silent, save for the wind and the suppressed breathing of the Leaf Ninja.

Hyuga Tokuma stood like a statue on the mountaintop, his Byakugan continuously activated, the veins at the corners of his eyes slightly bulging due to the excessive consumption of Chakra.

“Tokuma-sama… could it be that we misjudged? That guy… could he have not taken this path at all?” A young Hinata Clan member finally couldn't hold back, breaking the suffocating silence.

Hyuga Tokuma didn't turn around, his gaze still fixed on the valley entrance.

His judgment would never be wrong.

The opponent's cunning was beyond imagination.

This silence was merely the calm before the storm.

The enemy must be lurking somewhere, waiting for them to let their guard down.

He firmly believed this.

***

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away.

In a dense forest, completely different in terrain from Raiming Valley, three figures moved silently.

This was already the edge of the Land of Fire's hinterlands, far from the front lines where Sunagakure and Konoha were clashing.

Tang Yan, Qian, and Zi Luo were moving in a direction completely opposite to a retreat, penetrating deep into enemy territory.

In Tang Yan's mind, he recalled another mission given by Kazekage Rasa before their departure.

It was a top-secret order, codenamed—[Silence of Thunder].

The mission's objective was vague, with no specific location, and at the end of the dossier, an unsettling name was marked in red ink: Moryo.

“Stop.”

Tang Yan suddenly raised his hand, and the three instantly concealed themselves behind a bush.

Not far ahead, a five-person Konoha patrol team was walking along the path, led by an experienced Chunin.

Zi Luo licked his chapped lips, his muscles slightly tensed, and looked at Tang Yan, awaiting orders.

Qian's hands had already quietly gripped her white velvet iron fan.

“No survivors,” Tang Yan's voice was very soft, but it carried an undeniable resolve, “Otherwise, our return path will be impossible.”

Before he finished speaking, Qian's fingertips had already formed a simple hand sign.

“Cactus Genjutsu: Misty Haze.”

The Leaf Ninja's eyes suddenly became dazed, as if they were in a blooming cactus flower sea, and their steps involuntarily slowed down.

Invisible fluctuations instantly spread.

The experienced, stern face of the Konoha Chunin walking at the very front, his vigilant expression suddenly froze.

His eyes flickered with confusion, then became unfocused and hazy.

The surrounding moist forest air seemed to be drawn away, replaced by a dry, sandy hot wind.

Before their eyes, tall, dense trees twisted and deformed, turning into cacti of various shapes, bursting with vibrant flowers, boundless and stretching to the horizon.

This was the moment!

“Boom!”

Zi Luo, like a cannonball, charged out ferociously! His Seven Day Breathing Method activated, his veined arms carrying a tearing wind, his iron fist slammed towards the leading Chunin.

The Chunin reacted extremely quickly, instantly drawing a kunai to block, shouting, “Enemy attack!”

However, his voice was completely drowned out by a dull thud.

Zi Luo's iron fist directly smashed the kunai along with his sternum!

The Chunin suddenly turned into a log, ‘Body Replacement Technique’.

Almost at the same time, Tang Yan moved.

He didn't use a puppet but drew his Tang Dao.

The blade was long and narrow, the spine straight, and the sharpened part presented a restrained curve.

Facing the other three terrified Leaf Ninja, Tang Yan's figure was like a ghost.

[Tang Dao Horizontal Performance: Stab]!

The blade tip, like a viper's tongue, precisely pierced a Ninja's throat, without any superfluous movements.

Another Ninja tried to form a hand sign, Tang Yan flipped his wrist, and the blade light flashed.

[Tang Dao Horizontal Performance: Slash]!

A cold arc cut through, and that Ninja's arms were severed at the shoulders, blood gushing, his hand sign abruptly halted.

The last person was terrified by Zi Luo's ferocity and Tang Yan's strangeness, turning to flee.

Tang Yan stepped forward, his blade following his body.

[Tang Dao Horizontal Performance: Scoop]!

An upward diagonal scoop, the blade entered from the person's lower back and exited from the front of the chest, bringing forth a spray of blood mist.

Zi Luo's punch missed, smashing the wooden stake, which exploded, sending splinters flying.

A cold snort escaped his nostrils, his movements showed no pause, instead, this small trick added a few points of murderous intent.

The Konoha Chunin's figure flickered behind a thick tree trunk not far away, his face still in shock, his kunai gripped tightly again, cold sweat already soaking his forehead.

Clearly, he had not expected this Ninja's taijutsu to be so fierce, forcing out his Body Replacement Technique with a single blow.

He was about to open his mouth to call out to his companions, or form a hand sign to counterattack, when Zi Luo, like an arrow from a bow, pounced again!

His speed was even faster than before, carrying a hint of slight anger after being tricked, his feet pushed off, leaving shallow pits in the ground.

The Chunin was, after all, experienced; though surprised, he was not flustered, suppressing the terror in his heart, he pushed off with his feet, trying to dodge again and create distance, while rapidly chanting hand signs: “Fire Release: Great Fire…” He wanted to use Ninjutsu to force the opponent back, even if only to buy a moment.

“Noisy!” Zi Luo snarled, giving the opponent no chance to complete his Ninjutsu.

His body suddenly sank, avoiding the scorching heat wave overflowing from the front of the nearly formed fireball, his left leg straightened, muscles bulging, sweeping out with the force of ten thousand pounds.

The wind howled, and the air seemed to be torn apart by this kick.

“Crack!” The crisp sound of bones breaking was clearly audible, even amidst the wind, sounding particularly grating.

The Chunin's shin guard, along with his tibia, shattered, and his lower leg instantly bent at a strange angle.

A suppressed cry of pain escaped his throat, his body lost balance, stumbling backward, and the unfinished Fire Release Ninjutsu naturally dissipated.

A hint of despair flashed in his eyes; the opponent's attack was too fast, too fierce, giving him no chance to breathe at all.

Zi Luo closed in, his right fist following, the power of the Seven Day Breathing Method pushed to its limit, the wind from his punch even carrying a sharp whistle.

This punch was aimed directly at the opponent's face, already contorted with pain and exposed due to loss of balance!

“Thud!” A profoundly heavy impact, like a giant hammer striking a muffled drum.

The Chunin couldn't even let out a grunt; his head suffered a devastating blow, the sound of his skull fracturing faintly discernible, his entire body, like a kite with a broken string, flew backward, blood and shattered bone fragments mixed with white brain matter, spurting from the seams of his twisted and deformed helmet, splattering heavily onto the tree trunk behind, leaving large patches of shocking crimson.

Leaves rustled down, stained with specks of blood.

Zi Luo slowly retracted his fist, the warm liquid on his knuckles dripping down between his fingers. He coldly shook his hand, glancing at the corpse that had only convulsed violently a few times before falling silent, his eyes showing no ripple of emotion, as if he had merely casually disposed of a troublesome piece of trash.

The entire process was swift and clean, without any sloppiness.

From the beginning to the end of the battle, it was only a matter of a dozen breaths.

Silence returned to the forest, leaving only the strong smell of blood.

Zi Luo dragged the body of a Ninja, whose eyes were still wide open in death, into the bushes, and asked, “Yan, I still don't understand. Raiming Valley is dangerous, but it's the fastest way back to Sunagakure, the least likely route to be ambushed. We are now… drilling into the heart of Konoha.”

Qian, having also dealt with the Ninja who had fallen under the genjutsu, walked over to Tang Yan, her eyes also filled with questions.

This choice was too crazy, the risk immeasurably high.

“Precisely because that is the fastest way back to Sunagakure, it is also the path to hell,” Tang Yan slowly wiped the blood from his blade with a cloth.

He looked up, a cold arc forming at the corner of his mouth.

“That Hyuga Clan commander is a clever man. The kunai I left behind was too crude, so crude it was like insulting his intelligence.”

“He will definitely see through it, and then what?”

“He will deduce my true intention—to choose the most dangerous, most unexpected Raiming Valley as an escape route. He will feel smug about his insight, and then deploy all his elites there, setting up an inescapable net, waiting for me to walk right into it.”

Qian instantly understood something, a hint of shock flashing in her beautiful eyes.

This was no longer just a simple feint; it was a precise psychological prediction and reverse utilization of the enemy.

Tang Yan put the clean long blade back into his scroll and continued, “The most dangerous place is the safest place. The reverse of this statement is also true. When everyone thinks we will choose that most dangerous ‘shortcut’, the real path to survival is actually this one, deep into enemy territory, the least likely to be thought of.”

“Our objective was never to retreat from the beginning.”

Zi Luo scratched his head, his honest face full of confusion: “Then what is our objective?”

“Demon Country,” Tang Yan uttered three words.

He looked at Qian: “Do you still remember Kazekage-sama's mission? [Silence of Thunder], concerning ‘thunderclap stone’ and ‘Moryo’.”

Qian nodded: “Are you saying that Moryo is an ancient demon sealed in the Demon Country?”

“Exactly,” Tang Yan's eyes deepened, “Destroying Konoha's armory was just to give Hyuga Tokuma a ‘big gift’, to give him enough reason and energy to focus all his attention on Raiming Valley. This way, we will have a chance to explore the secret of Moryo.”

“An ancient demon?” Qian held some curiosity for such legendary things.

“Perhaps,” Tang Yan's tone carried a hint of uncertainty, “Or perhaps, just a powerful soul. There's too little information to understand, we need more clues.”

“So, our next step is to go to the Demon Country and visit their priestess?” Qian immediately followed his train of thought.

“Precisely. No one knows more about Moryo than the priestess of the Demon Country,” Tang Yan's gaze turned to the distance, in the direction of the Demon Country, “First, confirm the information, then formulate the next course of action.”

Raiming Valley.

Another hour passed.

Hyuga Tokuma's patience was slowly being blown away by the wind.

A more experienced Hinata Clan member walked up to him and whispered, “Tokuma-sama, four hours have passed. At that person's speed, if he really intended to take Raiming Valley, we should have found traces long ago. Could it be… that he never intended to come this way from the beginning?”

“He blew up the armory, attracted all our attention, and even deliberately left that clue that we easily ‘saw through’. Could it be… that his true purpose was to firmly pin us down here?”

A series of questions, like flashes of lightning, pierced through the fog in Hyuga Tokuma's mind.

His pupils suddenly constricted!

He suddenly awoke.

All his judgments were based on the premise that “the opponent wants to escape back to the Land of Wind”.

But what if… the opponent's goal was not to escape at all?

What if that earth-shattering explosion, that crude kunai, and even his proud “second layer” deduction, were all within the opponent's calculations?

That character ‘Tang’…

Ghost Lotus… Tang Yan…

He had been played! From beginning to end, he was like a puppet on strings, manipulated by the opponent!

A chill, mixed with humiliation and fury, rushed from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

“Order!” Hyuga Tokuma's voice was hoarse, every word seemingly squeezed through his teeth, “Lift the blockade! All squads, immediately search towards the hinterlands of the Land of Fire…”

He stopped halfway through his sentence, powerless.

It was too late to mobilize troops to pursue now.

The opponent had already used these few hours, during which he had set up an inescapable net, to disappear without a trace.

Hyuga Tokuma slowly closed his eyes, his tightly clenched fists, his knuckles making a crisp “crack” sound from the excessive force.