Above the Nine Heavens, the astral winds blew with piercing coldness.
At an extreme altitude far beyond the visual limits of Mortals in the Sengoku Period, a vast sea of pure-white clouds flowed with ancient barrier runes, completely isolating the supreme Holy Land of the Yao Realm—[Cloud City]—from the filthy secular world below.
There was no bloodshed from the Lower Realm here, nor any nauseating, turbid miasma. The air was filled with dense, pure Spiritual Qi capable of extending the lifespan of ordinary humans. Towering white-jade pillars pierced the clouds, while magnificent palace complexes radiated an imposing majesty that transcended all living beings beneath the starlight.
However, the lonely tranquility that had endured for thousands of years was shattered today by a peerless tyrant who cared nothing for the Laws of Heaven and Earth.
"Rumble!!!"
The cloud-sea barrier surrounding the Heavenly Palace emitted an ear-piercing tearing sound.
Uchiha Tobirama held Kikyo's soft waist with one hand and stepped through the defensive barrier—which even the strongest Great Yao could barely shake—as casually as though he were strolling through his own courtyard.
He stepped directly into the vast plaza of Cloud City.
"Who goes there?! How dare you trespass into the Forbidden Land of the Heavenly Palace!"
An enraged roar rang out.
Tens of thousands of Yao Realm guards clad in silver armor and wielding halberds surged from the white-jade corridors surrounding the plaza like an endless tide.
They were all elite dog yao of pure bloodlines. Any one of them possessed enough demonic power to rule a region of the Lower Realm. Now, thousands of these elite guards formed an airtight killing formation, and the overwhelming Killing Intent they released was so intense that even the surrounding clouds seemed to freeze.
"Show no mercy!!!"
The leading dog yao general roared.
Thousands of halberds flashing with cold light surged forward like a silver forest of death, shooting directly toward Uchiha Tobirama.
Facing a military force powerful enough to flatten an entire mountain range, Tobirama did not slow his pace.
He didn't even remove his other hand from his black robe pocket.
His handsome, cold face showed nothing but utter contempt, as though he were looking at dust floating in the air.
"A pack of gatekeeping dogs that know nothing but how to bark. Do you really think you're worthy of blocking My path?"
Tobirama neither formed hand seals nor activated any complicated Spell.
He merely allowed one ten-millionth of the boundless Senjutsu Chakra within his body to leak outward.
"Zzzzt—!!!"
An ear-piercing electrical crackle rang through the heavens.
Centered around Uchiha Tobirama, tens of millions of blindingly white bolts of lightning erupted outward like an inverted lightning tsunami, violently spreading in every direction!
This was no ordinary Lightning Release.
It was supreme Immortal Lightning infused with the power of Heaven and Earth, its destructive level far beyond the limits of this Universe.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
The screams of agony lasted less than half a second.
An utterly shocking massacre unfolded.
The thousands of arrogant elite dog yao guards failed to offer even the slightest resistance when they came into contact with the pure-white lightning. The supposedly indestructible silver armor covering their bodies instantly melted into molten iron, while their powerful pure-blooded bodies were completely destroyed by currents that surpassed all limits.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Charred corpses crashed onto the white-jade plaza one after another before crumbling into black powder beneath the passing breeze.
Zero movement.
Zero Spellcasting.
Merely the unconscious release of lightning from his body had reduced the Heavenly Palace's proud defensive force to ashes.
"This... is his power..."
Kikyo, held in Tobirama's arms, slightly widened her clear eyes.
Although she had already witnessed him annihilate a hundred thousand yao with a single thought, witnessing such absolute suppression—completely disregarding formations and military strength—still made her heart tremble violently, giving rise to an uncontrollable reverence and submission.
With the battlefield cleared, Tobirama's pace never faltered.
He stepped over the ashes and walked directly toward the center of the Heavenly Palace, stopping before a massive bronze gate dozens of meters tall, its surface carved with intricate totems.
"What an eyesore."
Tobirama snorted coldly.
He didn't even bother reaching for the gate.
Instead, he simply raised his right foot, clad in a black military boot, and kicked the symbol of the Heavenly Palace's supreme authority with brutal force.
"BOOM!!!!!!!!"
A deafening explosion shook Cloud City.
The enormous bronze gate, which even the strongest Great Yao could not scratch, shattered down the middle like fragile paper beneath Tobirama's kick.
Millions of tons of metal fragments shot into the hall like cannonballs, smashing precious jade screens and gauze curtains to pieces.
A violent wind swept inward.
Tobirama stepped over the shattered metal, carrying the absolute arrogance of one who had come to trample Heaven itself, and entered the central hall of the Heavenly Palace.
The hall was vast and empty.
At its highest point stood a broad throne forged from thousand-year-old Profound Ice and condensed stellar essence.
Two extraordinary figures, possessing completely different temperaments yet equally breathtaking beauty, stared at the intruder in shock and fury.
Seated at the center of the throne was a beautiful Great Yao with an extremely cold temperament, as unattainable as a goddess of the Nine Heavens.
Her silver twin-tail hair flowed like moonlight, while a purple crescent moon symbolizing her noble bloodline adorned her forehead. She wore a magnificent purple, wide-sleeved kimono, with a massive white yao-fur mantle draped around her shoulders. Together, they accentuated her cold, aloof, and majestic countenance, making her resemble an Ice Queen.
This was the noblest ruler of the dog clan, the celestial maiden above the clouds—Ryungetsu Senki!
Beside her, occupying one side of the enormous throne, stood a massive block of Profound Ice emitting a bone-chilling cold.
Inside its crystal-clear depths, a human woman was sealed.
She wore a twelve-layered ceremonial kimono, the Jūnihitoe. Her face was as gentle as the cherry blossoms of early spring, pure and flawless, while her tightly closed eyes gave her an air of extraordinary fragility and gentleness.
She was none other than Princess Izayoi.
However, in this forcibly "corrected" Universe, both the cold and arrogant Empress of the Heavenly Palace, Ryungetsu Senki, and the pure human princess sealed within the ice had experienced completely different destinies.
The so-called Great Dog General had never entered their lives, and neither woman had ever experienced the entanglements of the original story.
They were the purest and most untouched beauties in this world.
"Presumptuous!!!"
An icy fury capable of freezing the Soul itself burned within Ryungetsu Senki's narrow golden eyes.
She was the Empress who ruled the heavens above!
For countless years, even the strongest Great Yao of the Lower Realm had been forced to bow and tremble before her.
Yet now, a madman who possessed no discernible demonic energy—and who had even brought a human priestess with him—had dared to kick down the gates of her Heavenly Palace and barge directly into her domain!
"Lowly madman from the Lower Realm, do you know where you are?!"
Ryungetsu Senki abruptly rose from the throne.
An enormous wave of high-level demonic power erupted from her graceful body, causing frost to spread through the surrounding air.
"You killed the guards of My Heavenly Palace and destroyed the gates of My hall. Today, this Empress will extract your Soul and cast you into the darkest Underworld Path, where you will endure eternal loneliness and torment!"
Facing the Ice Queen's condescending death sentence, Tobirama's lips slowly curved into a dangerous smile.
Two peerless beauties standing together on the same stage.
The Empress Dowager, noble and powerful in the original story, and the human princess.
Under Tobirama's supreme gaze, neither was an unattainable goddess any longer.
They were merely two precious birds about to have their feathers plucked and be locked inside a golden cage.
"Lowly this, Netherworld that..."
Tobirama slowly released his arm from around Kikyo, signaling for her to step aside.
With one hand still in his pocket, he stepped onto the precious jade stairs and approached the lofty throne one step at a time.
"Perhaps the loneliness of this high altitude has frozen your brain."
His cold voice carried absolute contempt.
"Since you love the Netherworld so much, I'm standing right here. Whatever tricks you have, feel free to use them. Let Me see just how much strength you actually possess."
He paused.
"Come, Empress."
Utter humiliation.
Disdain without limit.
"You seek death!!!"
Ryungetsu Senki's beautiful, cold expression finally shattered.
A dangerous flush of rage appeared across her face as her slender fingers rapidly formed an ancient and complicated Hand Seal before her chest.
Without holding anything back, she unleashed the most terrifying spatial killing technique she possessed in this world.
"Meidō Zangetsuha!!!"
Buzzing————!!!!
At the Empress's furious cry, the space before Uchiha Tobirama suddenly emitted a deep, mournful wail.
An enormous, perfectly circular void of absolute blackness was violently torn open.
It was so dark that even light and concepts seemed to disappear within it.
This was no ordinary attack.
It was a passage leading directly to the Netherworld, connected to a realm of death and absolute nothingness.
Once touched by this Underworld Path, even the slightest contact would cause one's flesh and Soul to be dragged into endless darkness, leaving no possibility of returning to the living world.
The enormous black rift generated an irresistible suction, resembling the maw of an ancient Taotie as it violently attempted to devour Uchiha Tobirama.
"It's over, you arrogant fool."
Ryungetsu Senki laughed coldly, her golden eyes filled with the satisfaction of revenge.
"Turn into nothingness within the darkness of the Underworld Path!"
However...
The delusions of villains were often comical precisely because they lasted so briefly.
Facing an attack powerful enough to make any Great Yao flee in terror, Tobirama didn't dodge.
He didn't even mobilize a trace of Chakra.
He simply stood there, wearing an expression of supreme mockery, as though watching a three-year-old child swing a wooden sword.
"This is what you call the Underworld Path?"
His gaze remained completely indifferent.
"Toying with such a flawed spatial rift in front of a Realm Lord who commands the fundamental truths of spatial Laws?"
Tobirama slowly raised his eyelids.
"Too naive."
Buzz!!!
The instant those words fell, Tobirama's black pupils were replaced by a sea of crimson.
Six intricate black tomoe began rotating violently within his Reincarnation eyes.
Double Six-Tomoe Reincarnation Rinnegan: Absolute Spatial Dominion!
"For Me..."
Tobirama's voice was cold and absolute.
"Collapse."
An utterly astonishing scene unfolded before Ryungetsu Senki's suddenly constricted golden eyes.
The enormous Underworld Path, which had been expanding only inches away from Tobirama, suddenly froze in place the moment it touched the invisible ripple emanating from his eyes.
It was as though time itself had been forcibly stopped.
Then—
"Crack... crack... crack... crack!!!"
Dense white cracks appeared across the black spatial rift.
The Underworld Path representing absolute emptiness shattered like glass.
"How is this possible?!"
Ryungetsu Senki's expression changed completely.
"The Underworld Path... is actually collapsing?!"
She frantically poured Demonic Qi into the technique, attempting to stabilize the rift.
But the high-dimensional power Tobirama wielded was simply beyond the comprehension of a lower-plane existence like her.
"BOOM!!!!!!!!"
A dull, terrifying explosion erupted as space itself collapsed.
The [Meidō Zangetsuha] that Ryungetsu Senki regarded as her ultimate technique and greatest source of pride exploded beneath a single gaze from Uchiha Tobirama, shattering completely into countless black spatial fragments.
But that wasn't all.
Under Tobirama's control, the shattered spatial Law fragments reversed their trajectory and surged violently back toward their caster.
"Whoosh—!!!"
A violent spatial turbulence, resembling a hurricane flowing backward, followed Ryungetsu Senki's Aura and slammed into her upon the throne.
"Ah!!!"
Ryungetsu Senki cried out in pain.
The backlash directly severed the demonic power pathways within her body. Her magnificent purple kimono was torn apart in several places by the astral wind, and she collapsed backward onto the enormous throne in a pathetic state.
Her ultimate killing technique had not only failed to harm Tobirama.
It had become an overwhelming slap across her own face.
Tobirama stepped over the remaining spatial fragments and calmly ascended the throne steps.
His cold gaze swept over Ryungetsu Senki, who lay against the throne with a pale face filled with horror.
"It seems that unless I put a sturdy chain around you, you won't learn how to lower your head and beg your master for mercy."
Tobirama slowly raised his right hand.
He casually snapped his fingers.
"Snap."
"Space Imprisonment."
Buzz!!!
The instant the sound faded, Ryungetsu Senki's expression changed.
"Ugh! My body..."
The air around her had suddenly transformed into an invisible cage.
Her legs, slender waist, and even her proud head were frozen against the throne by an unseen force.
She exhausted the remaining Demonic Qi within her body, only to discover that even moving a single finger—or blinking her eyes—had become impossible.
At the same time—
"Crack!!!"
The massive block of Profound Ice beside the throne instantly shattered beneath the pressure of Tobirama's spatial power, exploding into countless glittering fragments.
"Nngh..."
The pure human princess, who had been asleep within the ice for who knew how long, finally awakened.
Before Izayoi could understand what was happening, her powerless body was seized by invisible spatial chains and pinned beside Ryungetsu Senki.
Instant control of the battlefield.
Life and death were completely within his hands.
Only moments ago, one had been the high-and-mighty Empress of the Celestial Palace, while the other had been a protected and untouched princess.
Now, in the span of a few seconds, both had become helpless prey on Uchiha Tobirama's chopping block.
"You... what do you want?!"
Although Ryungetsu Senki's body could not move, she could still speak.
Her golden eyes burned with humiliation and fury as she glared at the silver-haired man approaching her.
"Kill me! If you have the courage, then kill me!!!"
Beside her, Izayoi's eyes were filled with tears of terror.
Like a frightened fawn, she stared at the man whose Aura seemed capable of swallowing Heaven and Earth, her delicate body trembling uncontrollably.
"Kill you?"
Uchiha Tobirama finally reached the throne.
He looked down at the two peerless beauties who had been stripped of all ability to resist.
"I didn't come all the way to these clouds just to waste My time on two cold corpses."
The corner of Tobirama's mouth slowly curved upward into a brutal, wicked smile filled with absolute dominance.