Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 179 Battle with the Evil God

The evil god's body began to twist, its once solid outline becoming blurred, as the ritual's energy was completely devoured by the swarm of insects. Its time in the ninja world was coming to an end.

Aburame Shisei hovered in mid-air, quietly watching this scene. He knew that this contest was over.

"I am a god... I will not fail!" The evil god looked down, still high above, unable to admit his defeat.

His gaze passed over the oil maiden Zhicheng and landed on the two small figures on the ground.

The two infants were Hidan and an unknown child.

They lay amidst the blood-red ruins of the array, one unconscious, the other having stopped crying, only staring blankly with his eyes open.

The evil god gripped his scythe tightly and brought it down with a fierce slash. Before leaving, he decided to take the souls and lives of the two infants with him.

Aburame Shisei's expression changed slightly. He flashed and transformed into a streak of blue light, rushing straight towards Hidan's location.

However, the evil god was faster than he had imagined; the illusory scythe was already raised high and brought down fiercely.

In this moment of crisis, Shisei Aburame had no choice but to make a decision. He took Hidan away, decisively abandoning the other baby.

The weak soul was instantly snatched away and then merged into the skull hanging around the neck of the evil god.

At that moment, a strange smile appeared on His lips. The next second, the illusory skulls hanging around His neck shattered, turning into countless black energy threads that surged towards Hidan like living things.

These energies seemed to have a natural navigation system, making them impossible to avoid. Aburame Shisei circulated the natural energy within his body, forming a cyan barrier; however, the black energy did not attack him.

They bypassed the barrier and crawled into Hidan's body.

Aburame Shisei frowned and looked down at the baby in his arms.

Hidan's brows furrowed tightly, and his small body began to tremble.

The black energy flowed under his skin like writhing snakes, spreading from his arms to his chest, and from his chest to his forehead.

Then, he opened his eyes.

Half of those eyes were their original brown, while the other half had turned a strange blackish-red.

Aburame Shisei saw something laughing in those eyes; it was an evil god.

He understood instantly.

The evil god's goal was never to kill Hidan; from the very beginning, He possessed Hidan's body.

All those so-called sacrifices, rituals, and divine gifts were a lie from the very beginning. The so-called immortality was nothing more than turning people into puppets who completely worshipped evil gods, walking corpses.

The souls of the children who were sacrificed, the faith and madness of the believers, are now turning into countless fragments of souls, frantically pouring into Hidan's small body.

Aburame Shisei could sense that the fragments were colliding and merging in Hidan's sea of ​​consciousness, attempting to form a completely new soul, a soul that belonged entirely to the evil god.

Aburame Shisei's expression changed drastically; he wanted to abandon Hidan.

However, just as he was about to pull his hand away, a small hand grabbed his fingers.

That hand was so small and so soft, it didn't even have the strength to hold it tightly, it just rested lightly on his fingertips.

Aburame Shisei stopped what he was doing, lowered his head, and looked at Hidan.

The baby's eyes were half-open, with a black and red light flashing within them, but in those eyes, besides pain, there was something else: the will to survive.

Zhicheng had seen that kind of look in her eyes many times.

On the battlefield, in the eyes of dying ninjas, in the eyes of enemies being devoured by swarms of insects. It was the final instinct when life came to an end: the unwillingness to die.

This time, those eyes belonged only to a one-year-old baby.

Aburame Shisei fell silent for a moment, then picked Hidan up again.

"Dragonfly, infuse with Wind Fairy Magic!"

From within the wings on her back, Xiao Qing's voice came: "Master, this body is too small; it can't withstand the clash of two forces!"

"Open."

The dragonfly fell silent. The next second, a massive surge of natural energy erupted from Shisei Aburame's body, flowing down his arm and frantically into Hidan's body.

A blue light instantly enveloped Hidan's body.

Hidan's body tensed up suddenly, and his cries contained no trace of a baby's innocence, only heart-wrenching pain.

Two completely different forces were tearing and colliding wildly within his body, causing every inch of skin, every blood vessel, and every bone to suffer unimaginable torment.

On his skin, blue light and black patterns flashed alternately, like two beasts fighting for their prey.

The will of the evil god was provoked.

He poured in more and more fragments of souls, the resentment of the sacrificed children, the fanatical faith of the believers, and the life energy refined by the ritual.

All the negative emotions and energy poured down on Hidan's small body.

"Have faith in me!"

A thought exploded in the void, causing the surrounding swarm of insects to boil in shock, but only Aburame Zhicheng remained unaffected.

"Believe in me, and I will grant you eternal life! Become my messenger, and offer your blood and death for me!"

Those soul fragments began to frantically attack Hidan's original consciousness.

They want to destroy the baby's true self, to replace it with countless twisted fragments of the soul, and to create a puppet that belongs entirely to the evil god.

Aburame Shisei's natural energy could only fight against the dark energy itself, but it could not stop the erosion of those soul fragments.

This is a battle on a spiritual level, a territory he has never ventured into before.

He sensed that Hidan's aura was gradually weakening. That faint consciousness was being overwhelmed by countless twisted fragments of his soul.

The phantom of the evil god let out a silent, maniacal laugh in the sky.

He won.

How could a one-year-old baby possibly resist the fanatical faith of countless believers? How could it possibly withstand the soul fragments personally infused by an evil god?

Humanity is so foolish. Does it think it can defy the will of the gods using natural energy?

ridiculous.

However, the next second, the evil god's smile froze.

Aburame Shisei closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, there was no emotion in them, only a cold calm.

He raised his palm, and a petri dish floated out from it.

The petri dish was only the size of a palm, and in one of the twelve compartments, countless purplish-black insects were crawling out.

These are all variants of the Erosion Worms, which have been consuming the Box of Elysium for five years and have now molted into a semi-finished product.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of primal energy, this branch has not yet evolved to its full potential.

The evil god looked down, unsure what was sealed within. But he could sense the negative energy emanating from those frail insects, so intense it was almost tangible.