Chapter 36: The Terrified One-Tail
Seeing this scene, Gaara's pupils contracted sharply. With a wave of his hand, a surge of yellow sand rushed toward Deidara while his other hand aimed at Su Xiao.
"Sand Coffin."
Yellow sand rose from beneath Su Xiao's feet, quickly climbing up his sword-wielding arm.
Cyan Steel Shadow Energy enveloped Su Xiao's sword arm, devouring the chakra within the sand. Gaara could only continue channeling chakra to keep the sand from dispersing.
An immense constricting and pulling force came from Su Xiao's right arm, but this couldn't stop him from slowly cutting through Temari's throat.
"Call out. Let him save you."
Su Xiao leaned his head close to Temari's ear. Temari clenched her silver teeth, not uttering a sound. She felt as if a demon was whispering in her ear, and at the same time, she guessed Su Xiao's intention.
"Gaara, don't worry about me! That enemy in the sky..."
Before Temari could finish her shout, Su Xiao's left hand, which was gripping her, tightened, and her body began to go limp.
Temari was Gaara's sister. The two had already restored their close sibling bond, and Gaara would never watch Temari die.
"Hmm~"
Gaara's jaw muscles bulged as he began to struggle against Su Xiao.
"Sand Pillar."
Gaara raised his palm, and a pillar of sand rose beneath Su Xiao, launching him into the air. At the same time, a strand of yellow sand wrapped around Temari, snatching her from the "Grim Reaper's" grasp.
Temari gasped for air in midair. When she saw Su Xiao, who had been launched away, her eyes were filled with fear and hatred. Perhaps she would have a shadow over her whenever she encountered Su Xiao in the future. Imagine the experience of having someone slowly cut through your throat with a blade.
Su Xiao was launched into the air. He yanked his left hand, retracting the Realm Severing Thread below. He had deliberately let Temari be rescued; otherwise, she would have been dead long ago.
Had Su Xiao suddenly grown soft-hearted? Of course not. His goal in coming to Sunagakure wasn't to kill as many sand ninjas as possible, but to capture the Jinchuriki.
Adjusting his center of gravity in midair, a clay bird rushed beneath his feet, carrying him straight up into the sky.
Gaara controlled the sand to place Temari on the ground, letting out a long sigh of relief in his heart.
"Hey, when you're fighting me, where are you looking?"
Deidara's voice rang out. Gaara's eyes showed a hint of helplessness, but he had no choice. He had to save Temari.
"Explode!"
Boom!
Flames instantly engulfed Gaara, sending sand flying in all directions.
This was Su Xiao's goal: to divert Gaara's attention and create an opportunity for Deidara. Clearly, he had succeeded, and very successfully.
As the flames of the explosion receded, a somewhat distorted sand sphere floated in midair.
Su Xiao controlled the clay bird to fly near Deidara.
"How is it?"
"Directly hit the main body. The One-Tail Jinchuriki can barely hold on. If I hadn't held back, that blast would have definitely killed him. You bought me a lot of time, yeah."
As Deidara spoke, he threw out another clay bomb. He would have had to fight a bitter battle with Gaara, but because Su Xiao created the opportunity, Deidara seized the chance to severely wound Gaara. That was true cooperation.
Boom, boom...
Explosions echoed through Sunagakure. The sand ninjas weren't idle either. They pushed out large crossbows, firing arrows wrapped with explosive tags at Su Xiao and Deidara.
The sky became even more chaotic, with explosions going off like fireworks.
Su Xiao maneuvered the clay bird to dodge the arrows, the blast winds causing his trench coat to flap loudly.
Deidara had turned into a "bomber," relentlessly bombarding the sand sphere where Gaara was.
An arrow shot toward Deidara. Su Xiao slashed out a blade aura, instantly severing the arrow. Since he hadn't mastered blade aura for long, he wasn't accustomed to using it in intense combat.
Arrows flew rapidly, blade aura crisscrossed. No matter how densely the sand ninjas fired their arrows, they couldn't touch Su Xiao and Deidara.
Boom.
Deidara threw out his last clay bomb. The nearby floating sand sphere was already teetering.
"I'll have to use the Eighteenth Art, yeah."
Just as Deidara was about to unleash his ultimate move, Su Xiao had already controlled the clay bird to charge toward the sand sphere.
"I'll handle it. The Eighteenth Art would be good for dealing with the sand ninjas."
Deidara hesitated for a moment, then nodded. It was indeed a good choice.
Deidara flew high to dodge the arrows, leaving the capture of the Jinchuriki to Su Xiao. Gaara was already half-dead from his bombing.
The clay bird rushed toward the sand sphere. Su Xiao leaped off the clay bird, jumping straight toward the sphere in midair.
Several sand spikes emerged from the already battered sphere, but because Gaara was too severely injured, the spikes moved very slowly.
Before the spikes could pierce Su Xiao, he had already slashed out a strike.
Clang.
The spikes were severed, the chakra within them devoured, and the fine sand scattered.
Su Xiao stood on the sand sphere. Sand spikes rose from beneath his feet. He paid them no mind and instead thrust his sword into the sphere.
A muffled grunt came from inside the sphere. The blade had struck Gaara.
Su Xiao pulled out a section of the Dragon-Slaying Flash and began to drag it, cutting a circular opening in the top of the sphere.
Moonlight streamed into the pitch-black sand sphere. Inside, Gaara was covered in blood, barely able to stand, but he still lifted his head.
Su Xiao's face came into Gaara's view. Gaara tried to raise his hand to control the sand, but the Cyan Steel Shadow Energy was rampaging through his body.
"Hello, One-Tail Jinchuriki."
A smile appeared on Su Xiao's face, revealing a few white teeth.
Gaara's heart clenched. An emotion called fear emerged.
Su Xiao jumped into the sand sphere. If anyone observed closely, they would notice a faint blue smoke drifting from his left hand, emitting an incredibly terrifying suction force.
(Devouring Core Active Skill)
Skill Effect: Can absorb high-level biological energy to nourish Cyan Steel Shadow Energy. Increases the level and quality of Cyan Steel Shadow Energy based on the level and quality of the absorbed energy.
...
Su Xiao jumped into the sand sphere. Inside, a layer of red chakra appeared on Gaara's body. That was the unique chakra of a tailed beast, a high-level biological energy.
"Kid, let me out! Now!!"
Shukaku, the One-Tail, almost roared at Gaara, but it was too late. Su Xiao's left hand pressed against Gaara's face.
Whoosh~!
The faint blue smoke enveloped Gaara. A vortex formed in the center of Su Xiao's palm, forcibly drawing out the chakra from Gaara's body. More precisely, it wasn't Gaara's chakra, but Shukaku's chakra.
Visible pale red chakra surged into Su Xiao's arm. After passing through his arm, it slowly approached his chest. Inside his body was an energy sphere of extremely complex structure, responsible for storing and converting energy.
"Ah!!!"
Shukaku screamed in agony. It felt a tremendous threat. This human wasn't just absorbing its chakra; he was also absorbing its primordial life force.
Losing some chakra was nothing, but if its primordial life force was absorbed, Shukaku's combat power and lifespan would drastically decrease.
Shukaku tried to struggle, but the faint blue smoke enveloped it, rendering it completely immobile.
The tailed beast chakra Su Xiao absorbed was stored in the energy sphere near his heart. As soon as the tailed beast chakra entered the sphere, it began to transform into a colorless energy.
The moment this colorless energy appeared in his body, the Cyan Steel Shadow Energy within him became extremely active, almost instantly enveloping the colorless energy. For the first time, the Cyan Steel Shadow Energy didn't devour other energy but instead consumed it like a starving wolf.
[Due to absorbing energy converted by the Devouring Core, Cyan Steel Shadow Energy level increased.]
[Cyan Steel Shadow Energy has been upgraded to... Cyan Steel Shadow Energy has been upgraded to... Cyan Steel Shadow Energy has been upgraded to...]
Cyan Steel Shadow Energy rose by three levels in a row, and this wasn't all. Su Xiao continued to absorb the tailed beast chakra.
"Human, wait. Let's negotiate. How about sealing me inside your body? I can share chakra with you. That's a power stronger than Sage Mode."