"Begin," the Cult Leader commanded mildly.
Entering another stone chamber, they saw two terrified, unfortunate souls bound to cross-shaped wooden frames, much like Jesus. Their wrists had already been slit, and their blood was pouring steadily into bowls placed beside them. The bowls filled up quickly.
Faced with this gruesome scene, everyone in the room remained completely indifferent, including Shinji Akagi, who had already grown accustomed to this twisted routine over the past few days.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Hidan marched straight up to one of the poor bastards. Without a hint of hesitation, he picked up one of the bowls of fresh blood, tipped his head back, and downed it in one go!
Gulp, gulp...
Smash!
Hidan threw the bowl to the floor, shattering it into pieces and letting the leftover blood spill across the stone.
With a savage grin, he stomped his foot into the puddle of blood and began drawing a very specific, occult symbol on the ground.
Within moments, a circular symbol encasing a triangle was drawn perfectly in fresh blood.
Having completed the preparation, Hidan stood in the center of the symbol, practically vibrating with excitement. He could feel it. At that exact moment, the Chakra inside his body rapidly converted into a bizarre, alien energy. This energy surged forward, completely enveloping the fresh blood he had just swallowed!
"Yes! This is it! This is exactly it! HAHAHAHA!"
Unable to contain his manic laughter, Hidan clutched his forehead and doubled over.
By the time he straightened back up, his entire appearance had undergone a horrifying transformation!
His skin had turned pitch-black, and stark white markings rapidly spread across it, resembling a skeletal structure superimposed over his flesh. He looked absolutely terrifying!
Still laughing maniacally, Hidan pulled a black spear from his robes. With a look of excited curiosity, he lightly dragged the blade across his own chest.
Instantly, a long, bloody gash opened up.
Was he simply indulging in self-mutilation?
No!
Hidan's eyes grew even more manic and restless!
Because at that exact same moment, the poor bastard tied to the cross—the one whose blood Hidan had just drank—suddenly had an identical, gaping slash tear open across his chest!
Squelch!
Never breaking eye contact with his victim, Hidan abruptly drove the black spear straight through his own right leg.
"Mmph... Mmmph!"
A geyser of blood erupted from the gagged victim's right leg, and all he could do was let out muffled screams of agony.
"It hurts so much... but it feels... IT FEELS SO DAMN GOOD!!!"
"HAHAHA... LET'S GO TO HELL TOGETHER!"
Amidst his crazed laughter, Hidan began rapidly stabbing himself over and over with the wickedly sharp spear. He opened one bloody hole after another in his own body, sending blood splattering everywhere. Yet, his expression was one of pure, transcendent ecstasy amidst the agony!
Thud!
The Cursed Technique suddenly deactivated on its own. Hidan collapsed onto his back, splayed out in a star shape with a look of absolute, post-climactic satisfaction on his face. He probably didn't even need a cigarette after that.
At some point during the frenzy, the unfortunate victim on the cross had died. His eyes were bulged wide open—he had literally been scared to death!
Witnessing this, the cultists observing and recording the experiment from a distance all revealed expressions of extreme excitement.
They had succeeded yet again!
Even the Cult Leader couldn't help but smile with deep gratification. Hidan truly was the most precious treasure Lord Jashin had ever bestowed upon them. In just a single month, he had managed to cultivate this Cursed Technique to such a terrifying degree.
Although the duration of the technique was still quite short, it was already incredibly inspiring.
Compared to Hidan, the other survivor seemed to be a neutered, defective version in every possible aspect...
The Cult Leader's eyes flickered slightly as he turned to Shinji Akagi. "It is your turn, Shinji."
Shinji immediately stepped forward. The surrounding gazes, which had just been filled with excited admiration for Hidan, instantly shifted into looks of scrutiny and blatant skepticism when they landed on him.
The reason was simple. Compared to Hidan, who had taken only a month to successfully unleash the [Death Controlling Possessed Blood] technique to this extent, Shinji's progress was... absolutely zero!
Truthfully, even Shinji himself hadn't expected that he would be completely incapable of learning the [Cursed Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood]!
He had even forced himself to overcome his psychological germaphobia. Using the ridiculous, nonsensical excuse of "Well, at least drinking human blood probably has fewer parasites than drinking raw animal blood," he had braced himself and actually drank a bowl of blood once...
But it seemed his very existence was an anomaly.
He was someone who shouldn't have come back to life, but inexplicably did. Then, by some stroke of dumb luck, he acquired a neutered version of the [Immortal Body].
So, being completely unable to learn the [Death Controlling Possessed Blood] technique actually made a twisted sort of sense.
Besides, he was never really enthusiastic about the idea of drinking other people's blood anyway.
There was no deep philosophical reason; he just found it absolutely disgusting!
God only knew if the victim had some sort of blood-borne disease, like HIV or something!
If he caught something incurable, but his [Immortal Body] meant he couldn't even die from it...
That would be peak fucking misery!
Therefore, aside from the initial anxiety of not knowing how to stall the cultists' expectations, Shinji wasn't actually disappointed at all.
After all, he was a man with a Golden Finger!
And the reward he had just received was perfectly suited to get him through this exact crisis.
Stepping up to the center of the room, Shinji didn't follow Hidan's example. He completely ignored the bowl of blood—which could very well be harboring a pathogen—and instead pulled out a razor-sharp kunai. Without hesitation, he slashed it deeply across his own left wrist!
Drip, drip, drip...
In the dead silence of the stone chamber, Shinji simply held his left arm out horizontally, allowing the steady, unbroken stream of his own blood to pool onto the floor.
Seeing this, Cult Leader Takiki frowned slightly, a flash of displeasure crossing his eyes. He opened his mouth to ask, "What are you doin— Hmm?!"
Shinji made no attempt to explain. Instead, he closed his eyes and focused on the new power surging within him.
His Chakra suddenly accelerated, rushing through specific pathways in his meridian system. Then, fueled by his intense emotional intent, the Chakra rapidly converted into an entirely different type of energy—the very energy required to fuel a Cursed Technique: Cursed Energy!
Shinji's eyes snapped open, and he formed a one-handed hand sign—the Ram seal.
Blood Manipulation!
Under the utterly shocked gazes of everyone present, the large puddle of blood that had poured from Shinji's wrist suddenly seemed to come alive. It fractured into dozens of thin, crimson tendrils that rapidly swirled and hovered in the air around him in a chaotic, unpredictable orbit.
The flickering torchlight of the chamber, the mutilated corpses on the crosses, the eerie occult symbols drawn on the floor, and the levitating, writhing ribbons of blood...
The entire scene possessed an inexplicably demonic, mesmerizing beauty!
The question Cult Leader Takiki had been about to ask clearly didn't need answering anymore. But, to thoroughly bluff the room and solidify his standing, Shinji spoke up anyway.
"This is the new Cursed Technique that Lord Jashin personally bestowed upon me: Blood Manipulation!"
A new Cursed Technique?
Blood Manipulation?!
Cult Leader Takiki snapped out of his shock. He stared deeply at Shinji for a long moment before his face shifted back into its usual, benevolent smile.
Looking at Shinji with immense approval, the Cult Leader said, "Excellent. Since Lord Jashin has seen fit to bless you with a new Cursed Technique, you shall focus your efforts entirely on mastering it. Praise be to Lord Jashin~"