Chapter 270: Self-Termination (3k)

【Lei Nue: Shuiping】!

A thunderclap exploded, and Ping Zhongshi's heart seemed to skip a beat; he had only blinked his eyes, yet that restless thunder was already ringing in his ears.

The tall Fourth Raikage appeared in an instant before this man, who was clad in full-body armor and seemed completely out of place in the entire Renweishijie, his hand-blade wrapped in intense Lightning Style Chakra, ferociously slicing through the air.

He slashed down toward the opponent's chest.

Sizzle!

The air emitted a scorched stench from the lightning strike; Ping Zhongshi was originally just an ordinary Genin, and in the face of such an attack, he should have been unable to make an effective response.

But at this moment, as the golden ring in his pupils contracted, his body tilted backward, seemingly about to dodge.

Seeing the opponent's movement, the Fourth Raikage snorted coldly in his heart; ordinary Taijutsu and Body Flicker Technique were almost impossible to use to dodge his Ninja Body Arts, for by the time your Chakra flowed or your body twisted, his hand-blade would have already sliced through your body.

Hum!

The air was sliced open in an instant, and blue-white electric light spread out nearly a meter along his hand-blade, but beneath the blade, it was empty.

He turned his head and saw that fellow in heavy armor actually sway, appearing several meters away as if he had vanished, and at this moment, he was continuously widening the distance between them.

Space-Time Ninjutsu?!

The Fourth Raikage had originally only thought the opponent was a scout from Konoha; he had not expected the opponent to actually possess this ability that seemed capable of short-range Instant Movement.

Just a moment ago, he had definitely sliced through the position where the opponent's body should have been, but the opponent had simply "vanished" before his hand-blade and widened the distance.

This was also the first time Ping Zhongshi had used the ability named 【Bloodhound Step】 in actual combat, successfully escaping from the Fourth Raikage's Ninja Body Arts.

He had not expected that he would encounter the Fourth Raikage directly here, and that the opponent would start attacking him without a word.

Perhaps this was the fate that Lady Tianyi had spoken of, the one he would have to face...

But Ping Zhongshi neither regretted it nor was he afraid.

He had the resolve to discard his own life; compared to this world where wars had been waged continuously for a thousand years and ordinary people could find no peace, he believed more in the 【Golden Tree Era】 described by Lady Tianyi.

Although even without death, people would still feel troubled and harbor Hatred because of other things.

But death was indeed the root of the pain for everyone today.

He knew that because of the Intelligence he had passed on, everyone in Jianghe Xiaozhen had been killed; he had once hated himself and wanted to end his own life, and he also hated those ninjas who dealt lethal blows to the weak, and even hated Lady Tianyi, who had leaked that Intelligence to him.

But after obtaining that seedling, he had already found his own path to salvation.

As long as the Grace of the Golden Tree shone upon the entire world, death would no longer be the end of life; the Golden Tree would be.

Without death, people would no longer be sad because of loss, nor would they slaughter one another; without the restrictive factor of 【death】, everything in the world would become peaceful, and life would merely be a journey to enjoy before 【Returning to the Tree】.

Everyone would be able to be liberated from the eternal cycle of Hatred; this was the true—【Most Benevolent and Most Virtuous】!

Ping Zhongshi ran quickly toward the interior of the Land of Lightning; he was prepared to sacrifice himself, but that had to wait until the Golden Tree had fully grown, and before that, no matter what, he had to live.

Intense thunder sounded from behind, and he could feel the fine hairs on his exposed skin beginning to stand up one by one.

Ping Zhongshi turned around and looked at the ninjas behind him, whose hands were glowing with intense electric light.

He drew the Claymore with the unique design from his back, and textures emitting a golden luster lit up on the Claymore; Ping Zhongshi thrust the sword into the ground before him and spread his arms.

He prayed piously to the Golden Tree; in order to allow the Golden Tree Era to arrive, he begged for the protection of the Golden Order.

Huge golden magic circles lit up one after another before him in an instant.

【Golden Tree Oath】

【Golden Magic Protection】

【Golden Lightning Protection】

【Golden Tree Protection】

Prayers he had not known before appeared miraculously in his mind and were released one after another.

Ping Zhongshi's body was almost completely covered by that golden light.

Sizzle!

Sizzle!

Thunder exploded, and bolts of Lightning Style Ninja Arts bombarded the location where Ping Zhongshi was, but they had absolutely no effect; under the radiance of the heavy prayers, Ping Zhongshi pulled the Claymore from the ground before him.

A golden luster lit up on the blade, and this Claymore looked as if it were cast from gold; there were even two semi-circular arcs of radiance appearing on the blade, and under the golden light of the prayers, this sword looked as brilliant as glass.

Ping Zhongshi looked at the Raikage and the others in the distance, holding the sword high above his head as if praying to someone, then held the sword horizontally to his right with one hand, his entire body and the sword forming a subtle triangular shape.

The emblem of the Golden Tree lit up again, and the next moment, Ping Zhongshi swept the sword horizontally with both hands from a distance of dozens of meters.

Ring!

The golden Claymore suddenly caused the air to hiss; the golden prayer light first exploded around Ping Zhongshi, then transformed into a huge golden sword-qi, slashing toward the group of ninjas.

"Watch out!"

A ninja warned loudly; in the battles against Konoha, they had already witnessed the peculiarities of these golden-glowing Ninja Arts, and at this moment, no one was lax or careless.

They all dodged in an instant.

Even the Fourth Raikage was no exception; those who followed the Raikage to rush to the aid of the country first were all Elite, and by the time the golden sword-qi flew through the air, everyone had completely avoided it.

Pfft, boom!

The sword-qi slashed into the ground, followed by a violent explosion; judging by the power, it was quite terrifying.

The Fourth Raikage did not feel any aura of Chakra from the opponent's attack at all, and not even a nature transformation had occurred; that kind of golden, glittering Cursed Technique seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with the Chakra system.

This could no longer be explained by Bloodline Limit or secret techniques.

"He ran away, Fourth Lord."

The Fourth Raikage looked at that fellow who had run another several hundred meters after slashing out with one sword; for some reason, he actually felt that the person before him was more important than the Feudal Lord of the Land of Lightning, whose life or death was unknown.

He waved his hand.

"You all return to the village to find Bee, then come together to support the Royal Capital; I am going to capture this guy and see what on earth Konoha is up to!"

The group quickly split into two.

The Fourth Raikage's speed was extremely fast; he had a formidable physique, and with the support of Ninja Body Arts, he possessed a much stronger ability to trek than ordinary ninjas; after activating the 【Lei Dun Chakula Moshi】, his movement speed was something few could compare to, with the exception of the 【Namikaze Minato】 of the past.

Ping Zhongshi was fundamentally unable to shake off the Fourth Raikage, but Ai did not immediately capture him; he kept following Ping Zhongshi, wanting to see what the other party's purpose was in heading to the Land of Lightning.

Suddenly, the Fourth Raikage turned his head and saw another figure several hundred meters away, drifting like a ghost, also following behind the other party.

That figure was draped in a Red Cloud Black Robe and wore a spiral-patterned mask on his face.

Uchiha Obito looked at Ping Zhongshi, who seemed to have inexhaustible stamina ahead, his Sharingan filled with an indifferent expression.

He was certain that Kakashi had been hidden away by that woman; if he could not retrieve his other Mangekyo Sharingan from Kakashi, he would have no confidence in defeating Tao Baibai and Nagato.

Nor could he stop that madman Tao Baibai from cooking and eating Tailed Beasts.

The Eye of the Moon Plan would then be unable to proceed.

His actions had reached a dead end, so he turned to tracking down information about that woman; Zetsu had given him key Intelligence, and this fellow named Ping Zhongshi was likely very important to that woman.

Previously, he had been hidden by her, but now he had been released, and it was unknown what the purpose was.

Since Tao Baibai could let Uchiha Shisui hide Uzumaki Naruto, and that woman could hide Kakashi, then he could naturally hide this Ping Zhongshi as well!

He merely glanced at the Fourth Raikage in the distance, not taking the other party seriously, and drifted silently from the air toward Ping Zhongshi, as illusory ripples began to appear in his eyes.

As long as Ping Zhongshi was sucked into the Shenwei Kongjian, no one would ever be able to find him again.

Pfft!

A scorching white shockwave pierced through Obito's body, followed only then by a series of air-shattering sounds.

Smoke-like ripples exploded one after another from the forest in the far distance.

As the Sharingan Magatama rotated, he had already seen clearly that what had pierced his body was a black pebble.

In the distance, a figure leaped through the air and quickly appeared in Uchiha Obito's field of vision.

Bai Cangshu saw the man shining with golden radiance from the air at a glance; the other party was wearing heavy armor that was out of place in this world, and he was certain this was likely the target he needed to protect.

Boom!

Bai Cangshu dropped directly from the air, and the ground exploded with a crash.

This time, he did not use any techniques to disperse force or neutralize impact; he simply slammed his terrifying weight of several hundred kilograms from nearly a hundred meters in the air onto the ground.

Bai Cangshu was very angry; he was very dissatisfied!

Ping Zhongshi stopped in time, blocking with his hands in front of him; the sand and stones splashed up when the ground exploded hit his hand guards, making clanging sounds.

After the dust settled, the man whom Miss Tianyi had spoken of—who, according to the guidance of "fate," would protect him until the Golden Tree grew—had finally appeared.

Moreover, his wife had only survived because of the other party's protection.

The final piece of the puzzle of the Most Benevolent and Most Virtuous—Tao Baibai—had appeared!

At this moment, Ping Zhongshi finally relaxed a little; he was not skilled at fighting, and even with the Grace of the Golden Tree, which granted him incredible abilities, he still dared not fight the Fourth Raikage.

"Tao Baibai, that's great, you..."

Whoosh.

A figure appeared from the wind, and that terrifying physique of over three meters exuded a daunting sense of oppression.

Before Ping Zhongshi could finish his sentence, he felt his throat tighten, and a powerful, large hand had already clamped onto his neck.

Ping Zhongshi struggled, but the other party's strength was terrifyingly great, and he could not shake it at all.

Hoo~

White mist sprayed from the other party's mouth and nose, which made Ping Zhongshi feel that the other party was more like a Monster.

His heart sank; this was different from what he had imagined. The other party did not seem like the final piece of the puzzle of the Most Benevolent and Most Virtuous Golden Tree Era, but rather like... a butcher...

"Tell me, Mr. Ping Zhongshi, could you do me a favor?"

Bai Cangshu's gaze swept over Uchiha Obito and the Fourth Raikage in the distance, and he finally looked at Ping Zhongshi with a sinister expression.

"Could I ask you to... end your own life?"

(End of this chapter)