Chương 2: Thousand Miles, Single Step
His father returned.
Three days after discovering the Caged Bird Seal engraved on the skulls of the Branch House, Zi Wuji's father arrived. It was the first time Zi Wuji had seen him since he was born, and the man's expression was firm but warm. Zi Wuji analyzed and scrutinized every part of him. He wore a metal headband across his head, with a sigil engraved atop it similar to a leaf. His fingers contained calluses and bruises, indicating a lifestyle of heavy training and combat. The man's musculature was not all that impressive, which leaned heavily towards possessing a soft combat style, or an altogether non-combat role.
Zi Wuji held no affection for him. To begin with, he'd never possessed parents of his own and knew not how to interact with them. He'd grown up in an orphanage, found abandoned with only a name tag to identify him. The orphanage patrons theorized he was the son of a derelict family or clan, an illegitimate child, or a child born through forced and unwanted sex. In the end, it had not mattered. Where he started from did not matter, only the heights he would reach from there on.
"I've come back from a long mission, and you've already grown so much, Neji-kun."
Zi Wuji scrutinized the manner his father was dressed, the pouch containing bladed weapons, the bandages wrapping his pants to prevent noise, the sandals, and overall attire, it was not a far-off guess.
"Assassination?"
His father blinked, and his eyes went wide. He aged several years in a single moment, and somehow, his face was lit with pride.
"It is not polite to ask a shinobi the details of their mission, Neji-kun," his father chuckled. "Don't make a habit of it."
Shinobi.
The term did not exist in the Rain World. Assassination Sects, however, did exist. The Phantom River Sect was one such renowned sect that specialized in the elimination of high-value targets.
There was also the Blood Hand Sect, the White Oblivion Pavilion, and the Midnight Butcher Faction. Zi Wuji had tangled with them all, or more specifically, with the women in their sects. Due to the brutal nature of the Rain World, for a woman to survive in an Assassination Sect, she needed to possess skills equal to or greater than those of her male peers. This made them prime targets for his alter-ego Long Gongji and his Yin Peculation Art.
They were perfect targets because there was no reason to fear retaliation. Those who operated in Assassination Sects were aware of how little their lives were valued by their superiors, so they often hid poison in their mouths to kill themselves in case they were defeated or captured. No Assassination Sect would stoop so low as to hunt him down for capturing and plucking the yin of one of their members, as they'd consider it her punishment for being too weak to die properly.
In numerous ways, Zi Wuji qualified to be called an expert on Assassination Sects. It was how he'd known the Dragons and Phoenixes who came after him in his past life were mere imposters. Their footwork was not properly silenced, their presence and Qi were not well cloaked or hidden, they dared to appear in front of him rather than swiftly strike to kill him without losing the element of surprise, and they lacked the absence of hidden weapons customary to the Phantom River Sect, utilizing daggers and swords instead.
Zi Wuji's eyes sharpened as he began to understand the nature of his reincarnation even further. His doubts about not being in a Demonic Clan were completely removed.
Assassination was typically considered the work of those who subscribed to the Demonic Way. Assassins were generally loathed by both the Orthodox and Unorthodox Sects, despite their services often being utilized by both parties.
So, I'm in a Demonic Clan that functions as an Assassination Sect?
As someone with the Way Codex, he could not have asked for a better starting point.
Shortly after his arrival, Zi Wuji moved in with his father into a different area of the Clan. Different, in so much as it was only marginally better compared to the poor living space he'd previously inhabited.
His father possessed some level of influence within the Clan, enough at least, that he resided closer to the Main House than most others did. In turn, no one in the Main House sneered at him or gave him disrespectful looks. Rather, they addressed him formally and courteously, as though he were someone of higher standing.
This drew Zi Wuji's curiosity. His father did not mention it and treated the occurrence as normal, which meant he was aware of his influence. Those in the Branch House treated him with a strange level of deference. Hizashi-sama, they called him, bowing their heads politely to give him face. His father smiled and greeted them, and Zi Wuji observed he, knew almost everyone by name.
The new building they'd moved into was a living space meant to belong to a small family. The building was traditional, as was everything else within the clan, with sliding doors and tatami mats, and the minimalistic nature of things pleased Zi Wuji.
There was a small kitchen area, a single bedroom, a restroom, and not much else.
"This is where we'll be living from today on, Neji-kun," his father said. "I'll often be sent on missions, so when I'm not around, Yui-san and Hina-san will come around to take care of you."
His father waited for something, a reaction of sorts, but Zi Wuji did not show any. A normal child at this moment would have whined and protested and complained about being left alone, but this arrangement suited Zi Wuji perfectly. His father seemed to be gone long distances at a stretch on official missions and this meant little adult supervision and unrestrained freedom.
Without someone watching over him and expecting him to play the role of a child, it would be easier to raise his strength, acquire more intel about the world around him, and leave this accursed clan of kin slavers.
"I understand, father."
Fortunately, his father was a man of few words. Zi Wuji was grateful for this. Had the man been the overly affectionate or talkative sort, Zi Wuji would have found it difficult not to kill him.
Not long after they'd moved in, his father had taken him into the Main House side of the clan to meet someone The man they'd met was someone who looked exactly identical to his father, except the difference was in bearing. This man stood taller, he radiated pride and elegance and reminded Zi Wuji of individuals he'd known belonging to the Ancient Wudang Sect. They were facially identical, but the bearings they gave were worlds apart.
"Neji, extend your greetings to your uncle, Hiashi."
Zi Wuji clasped his hands into a fist and made a proper bow as he'd been instructed. Words, however, did not emerge from his lips.
"Forgive my son, brother. He's yet to be comfortable speaking in front of others."
"There is nothing to forgive," Hiashi said. "To be able to read, write, and move about alone at his age shows his natural talent.."
"Yes," his father's voice held a faint edge. "My only regret is that Chiharu is not here to see how much he's grown."
There was a divide between the brothers that was obvious as day and night. Zi Wuji gathered that much from the manner in which they referred to each other. The resemblance in their features was deep enough to hint at the possibility that they were twins, and his Uncle, by the looks of things, was most likely the Sect Leader.
Moreover, his uncle lacked a manji atop his forehead, meaning he had not been branded. Yet, they were brothers. Zi Wuji understood immediately.
The elder brother became the Sect Leader, and the younger became a disposable pawn.
All at once, any respect Zi Wuji held for his 'father' dissipated. To have your own brother capable of determining your life and birth at a whim, and choosing to exist in such a cowardly manner?
Nothing disgusted Zi Wuji more.
His disgust for the entire clan grew as well. Not only were they kin slavers, they were stupid kin slavers. Could they not fathom that such an arrangement was bound to breed conflict and envy? Unless one was utterly content with the life of a slave, one would not find peace living in this manner.
It matters not.
In the end, Zi Wuji decided it was none of his business. His only goal was to regain his strength and then leave. Should anyone seek to find trouble with him, he would crush them.
Should anyone oppose him, he would kill them.
Two days after moving in with his father, the man took him to an empty field within the Clan and began to tutor him personally.
"Chakra?"
"Yes, Neji-kun. Chakra is the basis of all living things. It is the combination of one's physical energy and spiritual energy, and —"
The man spoke as though forgetting he was teaching a child. Zi Wuji resisted the urge to laugh. The man had no doubt heard the rumors that his son was a genius, and wished to capitalize on it. Did the man seek to find some sort of salvation in him? Did he believe that raising his son's talents, it would make up for his status as a slave?
None of Zi Wuji's thoughts showed on his face. He'd survived as long as he had in the Rain World by learning to mask his true impressions and intents and mastering the art of playing the right role at the right time. Thus, he listened to the man's explanation and nodded in earnest, as though he were learning all of it for the first time, and utterly mystified by the explanation provided.
Eventually, his father approached a tree and casually began to walk upwards, before looking toward him with an expectant expression only for his features to deflate as Zi Wuji stared blankly.
The man walked up a tree and expected him to react to such a banal trick?
There were countless low-level Qiqong — Movement Arts — which would enable one to perform such a measly feat. Zi Wuji knew children could pull off what the man had just done, and do so without using chakra. Compared to the Lightning Crane Foot or Mantis Hunting Butterfly Steps, watching a grown man take pride in walking up a tree was almost pitiable. Zi Wiju had seen Cultivators leap entire mountains with the latter, and watched men disappear into the clouds with the former.
Regardless, he'd been able to grasp how the man performed the feat. He'd channeled his internal energy — chakra, Zi Wuji reminded himself — to the bottom of his feet to create an attractive force, and then turned it off to create a repulsive force when he wished to move, and then turned it on again, doing so repetitively until he ascended to the tap.
Zi Wuji glanced towards the tree and felt for the energy, the chakra within him.
"Now, Neji-kun, this is a rather advanced chakra control exercise. At your age, it's best to start with the leaf-sticking exercise, so don't feel discouraged if —"
"Father," Zi Wuji announced. "What is the next step?"
Zi Wuji didn't understand the man's expression of surprise. He stood at the top of the tree, utilizing his chakra to keep him affixed there without much effort. Zi Wuji didn't like the man lying to him, however. Such a measly trick couldn't be an advanced technique. For numerous Martial Arts, this would barely be considered a prerequisite needed to learn an intermediate-level technique.
"P-perfect… chakra control?"
Zi Wuji tilted his head. "Is my control not meant to be perfect?"
"Well, it's —" his father cleared his throat. "It's… actually rather rare."
Zi Wuji frowned. Surely the man was jesting. How did the cultivators of this world survive without training the control of their inner energy to perfection? What sort of incompetent combatant would fight without learning how to perfectly control their energy?
No one in the Rain World would risk it. It would spell utter disaster if one were to engage in a clash of Qi, and it would make it utterly impossible to properly control Flying Swords which were used as the most common means of transportation amongst Cultivators.
"Come down, Neji-kun. There's something else I want to show you."
They departed the open field and reached a small pond. Then his father performed the same trick again, this time, moving onto the surface of a body of flowing water without his feet sinking in. Zi Wuji's brows furrowed. The technique was the exact same but the utilization was advanced.
Rather than interchanging forces of attraction and repulsion, there was a perfect balance of both. In order to move and walk across the water, one needed their chakra to adhere to the individual molecules and at the same time repel them to create a strong foothold. The difficulty was somewhat greater than the previous one, but not all that great in truth.
The Lilypad Grasping Paradise Art was far better. With it, one could stand on the tip of a needle atop a vast ocean in the middle of a thunderstorm and not be swayed in the slightest. As Long Gongji, he once attempted to learn it from a female cultivator of the Eightfold Lotus Sect he'd captured and turned into a yin cauldron. Alas, his meager talent made him fail again and again, and ultimately, the Elders of her sect assaulted his hideout to rescue her.
Regardless, if it was this much —
Zi Wuji hopped atop the surface of the water and perfectly controlled the output and input of his chakra. Pushing and pulling at once, he strode across the water. However, soon, he felt drained. Compared to the stationary tree, he consumed far more energy atop the water's surface. The chakra within him was not all that bountiful, and as he grew exhausted, he hopped out of the pond and back unto dry land.
Despite doing what amounted to the most basic of exercises, Zi Wuji watched his father's eyes light up with amazement. The man exhaled loudly, and his expression filled with boundless glee and pride. The entire thing befuddled Zi Wuji. Surely, the standards of cultivation in this world were not so poor?
Is this even worthy of being considered cultivation?
The more he learned, the more Zi Wuji's doubts grew. Chakra and Qi were not at all similar. There did not seem to be available stages to break through and triple one's power, nor did there seem to be any signs of dangerous demonic beasts, alchemy, or individuals traversing millions of miles on a flying sword swifter than sound.
Could it be?
Zi Wuji did not want to believe it.
Have I reincarnated into a world without Cultivators?
No. It was too soon to confirm. He was a frog in a well, living in a small Clan, in probably an even smaller village.
This was why he needed to leave and learn about the outside world.
Then, and only then would he confirm the truth.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
A week after he'd proven that he'd mastered the art of walking on water, his father departed on another mission. In a stunningly short amount of time, his reputation as a genius had spread throughout the entire clan. Despite seeming like a man of few words, his father had bragged endlessly about his capabilities, and numerous individuals had watched him perform the feat with their own eyes.
The way they praised him irked Zi Wuji. It was akin to being praised for successfully writing one's name. Not only was it infantilizing, but it was also infuriating because he did not believe it was a thing worthy of praise. Yet, individuals of the Branch House touted his name endlessly and would approach him to greet him heartily. Maids would now sneak him extra sweets and meals and made it clear he could ask anything of them. Guards would tilt their heads in acknowledgment and offer him special privileges they did not offer anyone else.
All because he'd successfully walked on water.
There were always benefits to being favored, and Zi Wuji appreciated them, however, in his case, there were more disadvantages. He cared little for the clan and wished to simply raise his strength. Alas, during the day, he drew too much attention which prevented him from acting as he wished. There were certain Arts he wanted to experiment with and recreate, and if he did not wish to face scrutiny and uncertain questions, he could only practice in the dead of night, when most had long gone to sleep.
The first art Zi Wuji wished to recreate was the Phantom Treading Steps.
The Phantom Treading Steps was a Movement Art belonging to the Phantom River Sect that completely silenced one's footsteps and obscured any and all noise from their movements. The goal of the art was to make one akin to a ghost and was one of the reasons the Phantom River Sect was a peerless assassination Sect.
If he could not gather enough strength to oppose those who sought to brand him on time, then a backup plan to escape and break free from the shackles of his clan was required. He needed assurances that he could not be found or traced. As such, improving his stealth and mobility with Movement Arts were the most important thing to practice.
The idea to utilize chakra to recreate the Phantom Treading Steps came after watching his father walk up a tree and learning to walk on water.
Chakra could be utilized as both an adhesive to stick to objects and a repellent, to repel objects. One learned to repel solid objects in the Tree Walking technique and liquid objects in the Water Walking technique. Combining the repulsion and adhesion mechanics, he would utilize it to repel and suppress the propagation of sound waves.
With the presence of a thin sheet of chakra on the bottom of his feet, he walked on the earth and applied the Water Walking technique to act as though he were walking on water, and then, he applied the Tree Walking technique, ensuring to push gently against the earth.
His practice began slowly, moving one foot at a time. Anyone who saw him would assume he was merely walking around aimlessly. Yet, Zi Wuji's mind and body were focused to the maximum. He listened closely, paying attention to his movements in search of the right frequency of repulsion and attraction.
This is far more difficult than I presumed.
The longer he walked, the more he learned of the innate differences between chakra and Qi. The difficulty was too great. Qi was akin to a supernatural force, but chakra was not. There were set limits as to what could and could not be done, and though breaking those limits was possible, one would need supernatural senses to do so.
Rather than muffling his footsteps, all he achieved was the elimination of friction. Pushing and pulling at a frequency that allowed him to glide across soil as though it were ice. In a way, it was a success, as his gliding was silent, but in other ways, it was a failure, as he'd been unable to silence his footsteps, let alone his movements.
What should I call this? The Earth Skating Steps?
Zi Wuji clicked his tongue.
If only I had the Hound Hearing Heaven Ear, I'd be able to get the correct frequency to totally silence my movements.
The days passed by quickly, and unfailingly, at the crack of midnight, Zi Wuji would leave the comfort of his room to practice sliding around on the earth as though it were ice, and attempt, time and again, to completely nullify the sounds of his movement. His newfound Earth Skating Steps nullified the concept of friction to his feet which made for an amazing boost of speed, but Zi Wuji was not satisfied. He desired utterly silenced movement and would not stop until he got it.
One particular midnight, he'd strayed towards the edges of the clan gates and overheard a conversation.
"They'll never agree to it."
"I'll make them. I — I'll plead my case and — wait, Ichika, where are you going?"
"This was a mistake."
"Don't — don't say that. What we have —"
"A mistake."
"Ichika —"
"I'm a woman of the Branch House. We aren't allowed to marry outsiders. I — I don't know what I was thinking."
"We could leave."
"Leave?"
"Everything. Your clan, the village — we — we could just leave —"
"You're a Chūnin, Masaru. They'll come after you."
"They'll never find us. Once we cross the border into Tetsu no Kuni —"
"And become fugitives? Is that the kind of life you want for us? For our child?"
"No, I — I just…"
"The Elders will never allow the Byakugan to exist outside of the Hyūga Clan. Our child will be born with my eyes, and once that happens…"
"I won't let my child become a lowly slave like —"
"Like me?"
"That wasn't what I —"
"It's getting late, Masaru. My cousin's guard shift is ending soon. You… you should leave."
"Ichika —"
"Now, Masaru.'
Zi Wuji felt the light flare of chakra, and he could no longer feel the man's presence. He waited a short moment, and a young woman entered into the clan from the main gates. She wore a white headband across her head, indicating her status as someone of the branch clan. The guards at the gate paid no heed to her, leaving Zi Wuji curious about the details of the information he'd heard.
Byakugan?
He began trailing the woman deeper into the clan, only for her to stop and make numerous strange hand gestures which caused her chakra to fluctuate.
"Neji-sama?"
Zi Wuji sucked in a deep breath. She found me?
He was confident in his stealth, yet, this woman, without even turning around, found him effortlessly? She turned around and walked straight towards his hiding spot behind a tree, without so much as a moment of hesitation.
"What are you doing out so late, Neji-sama?"
Zi Wuji's eyes narrowed at the woman. There was something off about her eyes. It was the same white eyes he possessed, but there were veins bulging across her eyes and the pupil was centered and focused.
She noticed his odd stare and her expression morphed into one of mirth.
"Are you wondering how I found you?"
"Is it because of your strange eyes?"
"Strange… eyes?"
The woman laughed for several long seconds, which made Zi Wuji incredibly impatient. When she eventually stopped, she wiped a tear from her eyes and smiled warmly at him.
"Have you never seen someone activate the Byakugan, Neji-sama?"
"Byakugan?'
She tapped his nose with a smile. "Hizashi-sama never mentioned it?"
Zi Wuji shook his head.
"Every member of the Hyūga Clan is born with our Byakugan at birth. It is the special Dōjutsu of our clan."
"Dōjutsu?" Zi Wuji frowned. "Eye… Technique?"
She made a series of strange gestures with her hands, and her eyes returned to normal. The bulging veins vanished, and her smile grew. Then, she made the strange hand gestures again.
"Byakugan."
A series of thick veins popped around her eyes, as they gained a strange and potent intensity. Gazing into them, Zi Wuji felt she was looking through him rather than looking at him.
"The Byakugan grants us a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree field of vision and enables us to properly see the flow of chakra in all living things. With it, we can —"
"You can see in all directions?" Zi Wuji blurted out.
"Yes, Neji-sama."
"How do I activate it?"
She looked him over, her eyes colored with amusement. "It takes diligent training in order to be able to activate the Byakugan and get accustomed to —"
Zi Wuji did not believe any of it. Diligent training? To hell with that. He'd intentionally reincarnated into the body of someone meant to be a genius. He recalled the strange hand movement she'd made and thought deeply on the manner of how to activate such a thing. Most likely, he'd need to channel his chakra into his eyes and saturate them deeply enough to activate what was clearly a latent power.
Why had she needed hand motions for that, though?
Zi Wuji clicked his tongue and forced the chakra to flow to his eyes.
"Wait, Neji-sama —"
"Byakugan!"
A pair of naked breasts lay before him, which momentarily stunned Zi Wuji. Inverted nipples and a lithe stomach accompanied it, but he had not the time to focus on it as his brain was overloaded with visual information. He saw the side profile of the woman and the back profile of the woman simultaneously. He could see behind her neck, underneath her thighs, from the top of her head, and from the soles of her feet. He could see her from above and below, and there was not a single aspect of her immune to his piercing gaze.
Even stranger, Zi Wuji saw himself. He saw his own body, his hands, feet, legs, and even his back. The sensation of being able to see the back of his own head and the top of his head at the same time as seeing his front and his sides were disorienting. He rapidly calmed his mind and focused his vision elsewhere, only to find it zooming on a distance.
Despite the darkness of the night, his eyes could see his surroundings flawlessly as though it were day. He saw his room in vivid detail, every corner of it, from the tiny snippets of dust underneath the futon to the inside of the sink, to the minuscule formations of mold on the back end of the toilet.
Zi Wuji could not hold in his amazement.
He'd felt as though he'd been blind for the longest of time and was only now granted sight. Without moving his head or turning, his gaze intensified, and he peered past the walls of his room, several feet away. They became translucent objects in his path, enabling him to gaze into the next room. The inhabitants were having dinner, eating quietly amongst themselves. In the room beyond that, a young woman had recently entered the bath. In the room beyond that, a couple lay in bed and prepared themselves to turn in for the night.
His gaze continued to scan every room available until it reached the edges of the clan compound and observed the guards, yawning in their posts. Zi Wuji quickly reigned in his gaze back towards the woman in front of him. As entertaining as seeing through her clothes was, her body held no sex appeal to him with his underdeveloped infant sex organs, and thus, he instead peered past the naked flesh.
Past the second layer of skin and flesh, lay the nervous system and the organs, the small intestines, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and even the womb, where Zi Wuji noticed the formation of an organism, which indicated the woman's status as pregnant. He observed the heart and found it beating as intended, if not slightly quicker than normal, and peered upwards, towards her skull, her brain.
Then, Zi Wuji saw it.
Tendrils of chakra were deeply rooted in the brain and connected to the optic nerves, the central retinal vein, the inferior ophthalmic vein, and the superior ophthalmic vein. The chakra was foreign, akin to a parasite, and the manner in which it operated was such that it held the optic nerves and veins at knife-point, threatening to completely seal off and destroy the eyes of the individual connected to it.
Were the brain to fail to send electric signals to the chakra tendrils, the foul tendrils would immediately activate and sever the optic nerves, irrevocably destroying and sealing away the eyes.
Upon brain death, the eyes would be destroyed.
Zi Wuji delved deeper, finding an even more insidious aspect of the parasitic chakra which was leeching directly onto the thalamus and the pre-frontal cortex. It worked akin to a sleeper agent, primed to activate upon exposure to a certain chakra frequency and overstimulate these parts of the brain in a manner akin to slowly taking a hand drill to one's skull and slowly, intentionally, drilling away with the sole purpose of causing endless agony.
Lost in his analysis of the deeper machinations of the Caged Bird Seal, he could only stare in fascination. Whoever designed such a thing must have been an unfathomable evil. It was entirely possible to have made the primary function of sealing the eyes upon death without adding the secondary function of causing direct pain to the brain, but they'd added it regardless.
They did it for the sake of control.
"Neji-sama, that's highly inappropriate!"
Zi Wuji snapped out of his stunned reverie for a brief moment and zoomed out of scanning her mind to find the woman staring at him in thinly veiled disapproval. She'd mistaken his enthrallment with the inner mechanism of the Caged Bird Seal for enthrallment with gazing through her clothes to her physical body.
He almost sneered. With such a plain face and an unsightly body, did she truly think she was worth gazing at lustfully? The kind of women he'd turned into yin cauldrons were such renowned beauties that this woman could spend her entire life striving to compete, only to find a place at their feet as mere handmaids.
He ignored her expression and returned his gaze, peering past the nervous system, and to the chakra pathway system. He saw the flow of energy within her body and how it accumulated in her eyes. He swiftly counted a total of three hundred-and-sixty-one minuscule nodes by which chakra could exit the body, and the further he studied it, the more enthralled he became.
"Neji-sama!"
The fluctuations of her heart hinted to him her emotional state. Zi Wuji gazed past it and examined her brain even more closely. The connectedness of the eyes to the chakra pathways was decent, yet, flawed. There were veins and muscles which had not been used and entire connections were completely left stagnant. She had not practiced deeply with her eyes, and it showed.
They were akin to muscles, it seemed. Constant use strengthened it, and in turn, diminished the chakra consumption. Zi Wuji was pleased with this revelation.
The longer he kept his eyes open, however, the more tired he began to feel. As anticipated, his major weakness lay in the amount of chakra he possessed. Examining his own body, he found the overall quantity to be quite unremarkable. Zi Wuji was displeased. He wanted to keep his eyes activated at all times, but his body, young and undeveloped, would not let him.
Bitterly, he withdrew the chakra from his eyes and once more could only see the world in a drab, boring, limited fashion.
The woman began to chastise him for his actions, but Zi Wuji could tell it was half-hearted. If anything, the previous pounding of her heart told him she'd been amazed and terrified that he'd been able to activate his eyes effortlessly. She began to lecture him on the proper uses and utilizations of his eyes, none of which Zi Wuji cared for. He made a show of listening, all the while he contemplated the newfound information.
Eventually, she escorted Zi Wuji to his chambers and watched over him to make sure he turned in for the night, but Zi Wuji could not sleep. He practiced activating and deactivating his eyes repetitively, training the speed at which he could turn them on and off, but also measuring how long he could keep them activated.
With his practice, Zi Wuji determined there were three major weaknesses of the Byakugan.
The first was a small blindspot he discovered located at the back of the neck above the thoracic vertebrae. Despite it being so innocuous, it posed a threat if it was ever discovered.
The second was chakra consumption. As it was, activating the eyes consumed a fair amount of chakra, and zooming in on distant objects took even more chakra.
The third, and most important, was that its activation was obvious. The bulging veins across his eyes made it clear to anyone with an iota of common sense that his eyes were in use. Zi Wuji loathed this. If everyone could tell when he was using his eyes, it lost a lot of potential applications.
Despite these major weaknesses, he found the Byakugan to be beyond excellent. The potential value was not enough to justify enslaving one's own kin, however. Especially seeing as how such a thing could have been removed entirely, to begin with.
Using his eyes on and off again, Zi Wuji realized he could finely see chakra, which immediately made him realize something else.
Could I…?
Experimenting in his room, he attempted the repulsion and attraction of chakra on his feet against the ground, using his eyes as a gauge of how much and how little was needed. The Byakugan worked akin to a cheat sheet, and within a manner of minutes of precise practice —
Zi Wuji's footsteps could not be heard as he walked silently across the room.
With this….!
Then, came the real challenge.
Learning to apply it to his entire body.
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực