Seeds

Seeds

Edward’s eyes widened as he stiffly toppled backward, then crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a little dust.

"Lord Edward!"

The five Elite Reincarnators who had previously held Muto back suddenly saw Lord Edward collapse inexplicably after merely exchanging a glance with the other side. They could not understand it at all!

Their eyes were about to split open in fury.

Even when facing those three powerful enemies just now, Lord Edward had remained calm and smiling, easily driving them back. Yet now, he had fallen after a single exchange.

Without the slightest hesitation, the five instantly rushed to Edward’s side. Four stared warily at Xu Yue, while the remaining one began checking Edward’s condition.

"D-Dead?!"

"Impossible! He must have only fallen victim to some vile Illusion Technique."

"But he really isn’t breathing. The summoning rune has vanished too. His soul has already left the space and returned to headquarters."

The successive replies made all of their faces turn ugly. Lord Edward had been defeated in one strike?

How could that be possible!

The next moment, they instinctively looked toward Lady Alice nearby.

At least they still had Lady Alice holding the line.

But the instant they turned around, all five involuntarily swallowed.

The beautiful figure in the deep-V leather outfit was now flushed with an unnatural red hue all over.

Even the three with comparatively strong wills found it almost unbearable. They clearly knew they should not stare, yet they could not help fixing their eyes on her.

However, the Mangekyo reflection projected from Alice’s vacant, bewildered eyes instantly shattered the five men’s minds. With muffled groans, they all collapsed to the ground.

Xu Yue took two steps forward and ran his hand across Alice’s smooth cheek. After brushing her lips with a finger, he gave a soft laugh.

"I hadn’t expected it to go this smoothly. Looks like Edward was usually pretty inadequate…"

All his chances to use Kotoamatsukami had already been spent. Planting Moles in beings of this level had truly cost Xu Yue considerable effort.

Fortunately, after the C World enhancement, Tsukuyomi Space had become powerful enough. Neither of them was a mental specialist like the Curse Priest had been.

After he forcibly suppressed them for a long time, magnified their sensations a thousandfold, and infinitely extended time, he had barely managed to achieve his goal.

He used the Eternal Mangekyo’s Illusion Technique to implant something within the two of them.

However, the stimulation Edward endured had been too severe. In the end, his mind collapsed, triggering some kind of defensive mechanism.

Xu Yue did not know whether the Illusion Technique seed sealed in Edward’s memories could still take effect.

As for this one before him…

The effects should be more obvious, right? Even Xu Yue himself felt a trace of mental exhaustion.

If this woman had not already possessed a weakness in that regard, and if Edward had not seemingly been somewhat inadequate, he might not have been able to plant the seeds in them at all.

It seemed the Fourth Mizukage really had been controlled by Madara first. Otherwise, Xu Yue did not believe Obito possessed that kind of ability.

The current effect should be roughly comparable to the control exerted over the Fourth Mizukage. Most of the time, Alice would act according to her own will, but when a suggestion was activated or at certain specific moments, he could issue behavioral commands to her for a short time.

Although it was far less convenient than Kotoamatsukami, and he could not say how long it would last, it was passable enough for now.

Snap~

After withdrawing his hand and snapping his fingers, Alice, whose gaze had been blank, immediately came back to her senses. She then looked at Xu Yue with a face full of vigilance.

"The Penguin Merchant Guild truly lives up to its reputation. We lost this time."

After saying that, she did not wait for Xu Yue to launch another attack and directly used a return item.

It was as if she did not remember anything that had happened in Tsukuyomi Space. Those memories, along with the Eternal Mangekyo’s Illusion Technique, had been sealed deep within her soul and could only be activated together through specific means.

Her actions also showed that the death-triggered "rebirth" item was far more precious than an ordinary space-leaving item. She had no desire to experience being killed and sent back…

Though Xu Yue had not actually planned to kill her…

On the other side, only after Alice fled did Roshi, Deidara, and Kurotsuchi look at Xu Yue with wary expressions.

After rubbing his chin, Xu Yue seemed to think of something. He took out a Black with Red Clouds robe, put it on, and slipped on a ring.

Judging by the timing, Orochimaru should be about to get taught a lesson by Itachi. He might as well bring Scorpion’s partner back for him. It would be rather embarrassing to break the Third Kazekage’s puppet…

Deidara and Roshi defected, while Kurotsuchi was unconscious and sent back to Iwagakure. That was the extent to which Xu Yue had helped correct the plot.

Deidara had originally joined Akatsuki after losing to Itachi. Xu Yue had merely replaced Itachi’s role.

As for Roshi, he defected entirely out of guilt and dissatisfaction with the Third Tsuchikage.

He had always disliked the Third Tsuchikage old man’s arbitrary ways. Now, because sparring with his disciple had allowed someone to exploit an opening and lure that disciple into defecting, he had no other choice but to defect as well. Through the Chakra previously devoured by Kamui Space, Xu Yue had also completed the collection of the Four-Tails…

Afterward, he even obtained one A-Rank Plot and one C-Rank Plot.

While Xu Yue’s main body was causing mischief over here, the wealthy merchant Wood Clone on the other side received an exceptionally high-standard reception from Iwagakure.

The Third Tsuchikage, who held supreme authority within the village, personally met Xu Yue’s Wood Clone.

"I have admired Mr. Yue’s great name for a long time. I even recently heard that Mr. Yue invested in Takigakure. In truth, Mr. Yue could invest in Iwagakure instead. We can establish a dedicated escort department just for you. In terms of combat strength, effectiveness, and the deterrence of our reputation, we are far superior to Takigakure. Their village is not weak, but their specialized methods are too focused on self-defense, making them unsuitable for long-term escort work."

Ōnoki’s intelligence work was exceptionally thorough. He had already learned about what had happened in the Land of Waterfalls.

Xu Yue was not surprised, however. Takigakure was a village with a Jinchuriki. Xu Yue would not believe the Land of Earth had not secretly interfered if it had fallen into such a miserable state.

"Ah? What a pity. I’ve already paid them."

Xu Yue spoke with some regret and a sigh, but then changed the subject again.

"However, the amount of capital I have now makes it inconvenient to keep conducting one-off transactions. I still have quite a bit of spare money available for investment. I wonder whether your village sells shares…"

Once one’s capital reached a certain scale, it became difficult to keep doubling it as before. The inflated liquid funds Xu Yue now possessed were already enough to influence the prices of goods in an entire nation.

Putting it all into a single market again would only cause prices to collapse.

Since things had reached this point, he might as well turn the excess money into investments and fixed assets.

He would provide them with funds to better gather orphans, train ninja, forge ninja tools, improve their mission efficiency and income, and increase their reputation. Then they could simply set aside a certain proportion of their annual income as dividends for him.

Ōnoki was somewhat tempted by Xu Yue’s proposal. The other party was not asking for power. It would merely mean adding a lesser financial backer above them alongside the daimyo. It was entirely feasible.

But just then, an Anbu appeared on the scene and whispered something into Ōnoki’s ear.

Although he knew the Anbu’s appearance during such an important discussion meant there had to be major news, the content still made Ōnoki’s expression turn extremely ugly.

"I knew Jinchuriki can’t be trusted! Damn it…"