NOVEL NEXT Chapter 170 – Alliance with the Shinigami
You never expected this: the Shinigami, relying solely on his physical body, was able to unconsciously tear through space.
As expected of a true god—between him and a demigod like you who has fully mastered a single law, there still exists a massive chasm.
Even now, with your current power, opening the Eight Gates—even the incomplete version—would still fall short of achieving that kind of space-tearing force.
There's no other choice now...
Perfect Susanoo—activate!
With a roar from you—
A towering giant nearly five hundred meters tall appeared in an instant, cloaked in heavy armor, its entire body pitch-black with a pair of blazing wings on its back. The enormous figure enveloped you completely, stretching to fill the entire seal space.
In comparison, even the Shinigami—despite his similarly colossal frame—looked no more than an ant.
The towering Susanoo, dark as the underworld's night, bore a spiraling black-and-white longbow on its back that shimmered faintly with starlight. A chain of dark-gold circled its waist, from which a bone-white scythe hung. Black mist coiled faintly around it...
In its hand, Susanoo gripped a jet-black spear.
With every ounce of your strength, you thrust it forward!
Boom!
The cold gleam of the spearpoint clashed with the Shinigami's space-ripping claws, unleashing a formless shockwave that shattered the sealed space inch by inch.
In a flash, relying on Susanoo, you exchanged several more blows with the Shinigami's husk.
Flame Release, the spear's power, and those terrifying claws that could rend space itself...
Each clash devastated the seal space, leaving it riddled with cracks. Most of the chakra within your body had already been consumed.
The barrier sealing the Moryō was on the verge of collapse.
Yet despite everything, the Shinigami's body had suffered only superficial damage under your relentless assault.
You couldn't even imagine it—if the Shinigami's mind were fully intact, if he used that blade capable of carving open his own abdomen so effortlessly—just what kind of power would that unleash?
Fortunately, the Shinigami's husk was acting solely on instinct.
Aside from the space-ripping claws and its giant hand—both base-level instinctive attacks—it had no other means of combat.
Finally, just as the barrier completely collapsed, Moryō succeeded in taking control of the Shinigami's husk.
Truthfully, you had that to thank yourself for—your desperate brawl with the Shinigami in the name of self-preservation had played a critical role.
Had Moryō relied solely on its avatar, even if it had managed to grasp the husk of a being stripped of will, due to that husk's original connection to the true body, it would've been nearly impossible!
Though your assault hadn't dealt much damage, it had tied up the last remnants of the Shinigami's original will.
That gave Moryō the window it needed to fully possess the husk...
Of course, having been separated from the original body for so long, Moryō had yet to recover the full strength the Shinigami once held.
Even so, it now possessed the majority of that power—and the memories.
At this moment, the Shinigami—or rather, Moryō wielding the Shinigami's strength—couldn't wait to enter the Pure Land and reclaim everything it had once lost!
You immediately forged an equal contract, allowing the Shinigami to be summoned at will to ensure your safety—at least until you ascended to true godhood.
Additionally, you gained new knowledge about divine power from the Shinigami's memories:
For example, the power the Shinigami currently wielded was called "Shaman Force".
Much like Jashin, after realizing the limitations of Faith Energy, the Shinigami sought a new path.
He followed the example of the Tsuchimikado—who once presided over the Earth Vein—and reconstructed a form of divine power unique to himself.
Shaman Force was born from that foundation, offered through sacrificial rites using shrine maidens with special constitutions as mediums.
As for the sacrifices themselves, besides souls expended through Reaper Death Seal, there were also medicinal herbs imbued with natural energy and chakra-infused ore.
It all seemed a bit rough, clearly inspired by Sage Techniques—but that was because the Shinigami had been severely wounded many times and never had the chance to perfect it.
According to the Shinigami, you now perfectly command a single rule.
While it may still be a bit shallow, you're just one step away from becoming a true god: acquiring divine power, merging it with your law, and condensing your Authority.
So where should that divine power come from?
For you, refining your law imprint and crafting Truth-Seeking Orbs via Bloodline Purge is certainly a viable route—and you've already come halfway down that path.
But completing the rest would take far too long.
Meanwhile, even though the Shinigami lost both his Pure Land Domain and part of his Authority, the remaining power clearly hints that the Sage of Six Paths is scheming something.
You obviously don't have the time to finish Bloodline Purge and forge Truth-Seeking Orbs as your divine power.
As for the Rinnegan or becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki? Not even worth considering.
That path was deliberately booby-trapped—once you use it, you'll be bound to the Sage of Six Paths' Six Paths power.
The Rinne Sharingan route might sound promising—if you could walk it, it'd be a straight road to ascension—but you don't even know where to begin.
The Tenseigan path, on the other hand, does offer a workaround. Condensing chakra beads as substitutes for Truth-Seeking Orbs is doable...
But it's too dependent on luck. You only have two Tenseigan fetal awakenings left, and there's no predicting when they'll happen—it's best left as a backup plan.
As for amassing followers and harvesting Faith Energy? Complete nonsense at this stage.
The Shinigami's Shaman Force and Jashin's Curse Power are both still in their developmental stages—so even the creators don't fully understand them...
The only real—and best—option is to learn Sage Techniques!
It just so happens that your original plan already included studying Sage Techniques. You just didn't expect it to be this important.
Thus, you've now laid out your path to ascending to true godhood:
First: learning Sage Techniques comes first. You plan to enter Ryūchi Cave after Nagato becomes the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki, crushes the world, and initiates the unification of the Shinobi world.
Second: though the odds are low, you've decided to complete the final stage of Bloodline Purge. Now that you possess the Fire Rule, you're confident it can enhance Dust Release's power to a whole new level—
Making it your trump card outside of Susanoo!
Finally: you'll complete the Byakugan Clone project. By absorbing the Ocular Power from cloned Byakugans as supplements, you can increase the frequency of fetal awakenings, giving yourself an emergency option beyond Sage Techniques...
As thanks, the Shinigami not only gave you key knowledge and a contract for protection on your road to godhood—
He also offered some truly valuable rewards:
First, the Yin Nine-Tails chakra once sealed by Minato. With this, the final missing piece for becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki is yours.
Second, the Shinigami, after absorbing all the powerful souls within his body, refined them into a crystallized memory core brimming with combat experience.
Even though you possess memories from Root, your actual combat skills and adaptability as a god are still too primitive.
But with this memory core—filled with the experience of the strongest ninja across generations—you can quickly cover that weakness.
Lastly, the Shinigami stripped a portion of Rule Power from his own Authority and gave it to you.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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