The Box of Ultimate Bliss was once a place without sky or land, only distortion beyond the concept of time.
But now, the internal space of the Box of Ultimate Bliss has completely transformed.
The floor is paved with colossal stone slabs, smooth as mirrors and black as ink, while the ceiling is a vast, arched dome made of the same dark stone.
The four walls, extending up to the dome, are each carved with the four faces of "Joy, Anger, Sorrow, and Pleasure." Ten colossal pillars, like giant trees, stand throughout the palace, supporting the uppermost dome.
The current internal space of this Box of Ultimate Bliss is clearly a massive, sprawling palace with a clear structure, boundaries, and solid construction.
The sole stone throne rests at the top of a tiered dais in the deepest part, and 'Shadow' now sits upon it, silently observing everything before him.
The faint blue candlelight flickering on the four walls cannot illuminate the darkness beyond the palace, but it's enough for 'Shadow' to clearly witness the feast of consumption unfolding below.
Hundreds of illusory human-shaped spirits are currently clashing, tearing, and devouring each other, driven by their remaining instincts.
As they absorb other spirits, the illusory spirits solidify slightly.
And this phenomenon is occurring in every corner of the palace space.
"Woo..."
"Hiss..."
Countless illusory, blurred spirits emit meaningless hisses, instinctively wandering and devouring within the palace like headless flies, filled with the most primal, unsuppressible hunger.
"The modified Box of Ultimate Bliss, I suppose, could be called an automatic 'Hollow' hatchery now," 'Shadow' mused, observing the scene.
After being placed in a specific location, the modified "Box of Ultimate Bliss" functions like an invisible black hole, or rather, a giant "soul siphon."
It automatically attracts and devours all recently deceased souls within a certain range that haven't yet dispersed or entered the Pure Land.
Crucially, the "Box of Ultimate Bliss" isn't merely for storing souls.
Joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure—these four emotions, when intertwined, encompass most human feelings, what is often referred to as "obsessions."
The seemingly conflicting and redundant "joy" and "pleasure" actually represent different nuances: the former aligns more with "delight," while the latter leans towards "desire" and "love."
The original purpose of the Box of Ultimate Bliss was to amplify these human emotions, thereby perceiving and manipulating human desires to guide their actions.
After being modified with Points, the Box of Ultimate Bliss can use its twisted power to amplify these souls' emotions and corrupt them.
Only the single strongest obsession and desire remain, magnified by the Box of Ultimate Bliss, such as the craving for power, the obsession with revenge, the instinct for survival...
Therefore, the stronger a soul's obsessions and desires were in life, the stronger their craving for survival, and the more intense their instinct to devour other souls to sustain themselves.
Within this confined space, where only souls exist, they are like eternally hungry beasts, adhering to a single law: eat, or be eaten!
This is the cruel ecosystem of the Box of Ultimate Bliss. Here, there is only endless consumption and evolution. The failures are only fit to become nourishment for the strong.
Thus, 'Hollows' are born.
'Shadow' turned his head to another area.
A soul that had devoured dozens of its kind gradually coalesced as if catalyzed by an invisible force. Dozens of souls roared and struggled, beginning to undergo an abnormal change.
Their twisted, deformed bodies gradually merged, their size rapidly expanding like an inflated balloon. The chaotic spiritual essence was forcibly blended into a single body.
A massive, bloated figure, several meters tall, slowly took shape. A white bone mask with only a mouth gradually covered where its face should have been.
It had no hands or feet, only a black body, as if covered by a dark cloak.
A newly born Lesser Menos had successfully transformed.
It let out a low, hollow roar, moving clumsily, instinctively searching for more souls to stabilize itself. It opened its mouth and greedily devoured several spirits that couldn't escape in time.
The devoured spirits collapsed and disintegrated like sandcastles, transforming into a turbid mental energy that was sucked into its mouth. The Hollow's body expanded, emitting a satisfied growl.
"It's already showing rudimentary form?" 'Shadow's' gaze flickered slightly. "Indeed, it's different from the Lesser Menos that were forcibly spawned with points before."
Previously, when he transformed Karin's mother into a 'Hollow,' because it was forcibly catalyzed into a Menos with points, it was like an ordinary spirit—it couldn't touch physical objects, nor could it be touched by ordinary weapons or ninjutsu.
But now, the Menos transformed through Orochimaru's "Soul Consumption" and the Box of Ultimate Bliss possessed a certain degree of physicality. Thus, they could naturally destroy physical objects and be affected by some ninjutsu and weapons.
"However, a Menos born this way is a completely different entity compared to the initial spirits that still possessed memories," 'Shadow' mused.
If Karin's mother, who was spawned with points before, still retained a certain degree of memory, emotion, and rationality.
Then, a Menos born this way is like how Orochimaru tried to devour souls with a human body, but was himself affected by the memories and emotions mixed within the souls.
These Menos' memories, emotions, and personalities from their former lives are stirred, reorganized, merged, and ultimately completely distorted and corrupted, transforming into a brand new individual existence.
With this thought, 'Shadow' cast his gaze towards another spot.
Before the Lesser Menos, ordinary spirits were the lowest tier of food.
However, within this space, there were also predators higher up the food chain.
"Roar!"
A figure that already possessed biological features like hands and feet effortlessly crushed several spirits that were tearing at each other, absorbing the mental energy that diffused after those spirits were shattered.
Compared to the Lesser Menos, its form wasn't particularly large, but it was incredibly robust and strong, already showing rudimentary human form and intelligence.
A hollow hole was located in its abdomen, and a stark white bone mask covered its entire face, revealing two points of cold crimson light.
Its movements were swift and precise, weaving through countless souls.
Wherever it passed, countless spirits swiftly vanished like candles blown by a strong wind.
Undoubtedly, this was a Mid-level Menos.
A Lesser Menos required the consumption and fusion of dozens of ordinary ninja spirits, and such Lesser Menos typically had no individual consciousness and acted purely on instinct.
However, if among all the merged spirits, one spirit's individual consciousness and strength were far superior to the others, it could form a Lesser Menos with individual consciousness.
Only this special type of Lesser Menos, by devouring more Lesser Menos to strengthen itself, would eventually evolve into a Mid-level Menos.
So, although the face beneath that Mid-level Menos' mask couldn't be seen, 'Shadow' knew well.
The core consciousness of that Menos was none other than the former White Fang of Konoha.
Hatake Sakumo.