Shadows flickered in the forest, a cold wind blew gently, and a chilling "hissing" sound drifted from the surroundings.
"This is the Snake Pool." Shin'ya flicked its tongue and suddenly said.
Orochimaru pursed his lips slightly, his ninja instincts putting him on alert, a cold wind seeming to blow down his spine.
Shin'yu glanced around indifferently. The surrounding environment was certainly dark, but that was only for ordinary people. In his eyes, it was as clear as day.
After evolving into the "Sea God Body," his already extraordinary eyes were endowed with powerful observation abilities. They could automatically adjust the light-reflecting tissue behind the retina based on air humidity and the refractive index of light, fully capturing available light, thereby enhancing visual ability in dark environments. This allowed him to directly see the deepest parts of the trench.
After transplanting Uchiha Kagami's Mangekyo Sharingan, these eyes were also passively adapted to a similar state, and even with the blessing of eternal Eye Power, their observation ability was even better than before.
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At this moment, in Shin'yu's vision, countless dark and deformed snake-shaped masses were surrounding them.
There was no way to describe their faces, which were distorted and deformed features. The only thing they had in common was the snake tongues constantly spitting from their mouths.
"These things are the failures who passed the Trial but couldn't withstand the erosion of Natural Energy."
Shin'ya slowly said, "Because they are too ugly, even Tagorihime and the others can't bring themselves to eat them, so they are simply abandoned outside Ryuchi Cave, and over time, they formed the Snake Pool."
"I understand the reasoning, but what's with this strong hostility?" Shin'yu glanced at it.
Shin'ya sneered, "This is the tragedy of humans. Although their bodies have been eroded by Natural Energy and turned into monsters, most of their minds are still clear, retaining the seven emotions and six desires of humanity, but jealousy and greed have devoured their reason."
"They equally hate everyone who comes to Ryuchi Cave to practice Sage Art. Therefore, their favorite food is the Corpse of those seeking immortality."
Shin'ya raised its head, "A large number of people don't even get the qualification to pass the Trial and are buried in their mouths. This is why Ryuchi Cave is known as the most dangerous Sage ground."
"They'd rather not accept their own failure and hate the success of others?" Shin'yu muttered to himself, a certain understanding flashing in his eyes.
Shin'ya glanced at Orochimaru, who was full of vigilance, and sneered: "Don't be afraid, with this great one here, these monsters can't hurt you..."
Before it could finish speaking, it saw Shin'yu slowly raise his hands.
"Things that have had their humanity devoured are not worthy of living in this world. In that case... let me send you to reincarnation." Shin'yu opened his mouth calmly, his cold voice like the ghostly wind of a tomb.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
In an instant, his fingertips changed like butterflies, a burst of afterimages flashed in the air, and countless fine sounds of piercing air echoed continuously in the deep forest, like pebbles falling into a mountain stream, continuous and endless.
Shin'ya couldn't help but narrow its eyes. With the blessing of Sage Art, its snake eyes could see the night as if it were day. At this moment, it clearly saw that the surroundings were covered with dense silk threads!
Those silk threads were as thin as hairs, even more difficult to distinguish than real spider silk. Each one shone with a strong metallic luster, spreading like a spider web in all directions, and the only source was Shin'yu's hands!
"Die."
Shin'yu pulled his hands together, the silk threads intertwined and converged, a faint breeze blew, bringing countless subtle cutting sounds.
Immediately afterwards, a neat muffled groan suddenly sounded in the forest, and the chilling, dense "hissing" sound stopped abruptly, and everything was quiet.
"Boom! Boom!"
Trees collapsed, leaves fluttered, and a strong bloody smell instantly permeated every inch of the air, crimson soaking the earth, gathering into puddles in the fields.
"This... this..." Shin'ya's pupils trembled, completely dumbfounded.
It had thought that Shin'yu's methods were extraordinary. After all, it had already witnessed the Martial God-like complete body Susanoo, which was a power that could destroy and level Ryuchi Cave, but at this moment, this seemingly light and fluttering power that cruelly killed living beings in an instant made it even more fearful!
Shin'ya shrank his neck, and at some point, even the snake body wrapped around Shin'yu's arm loosened a bit.
Shin'yu turned his head intentionally or unintentionally, glanced behind him, and a cold, proud smile crossed the corner of his mouth.
Under Shin'ya's guidance, the two continued to walk for a while, finally stopping in the center of a clearing in the mountain forest.
"Alright, I can only lead the way to here. Ahead is the first Trial governed by Tagorihime."
Shin'ya twisted his body and crawled to the ground, turning his head to take a deep look at Shin'yu, "I'll wait for you inside."
With that said, the scarlet figure completely merged into the darkness, disappearing without a trace.
The surrounding area was shrouded in heavy fog, barely able to see the undulating outlines, which were the shadows of the mountains.
Orochimaru took a deep breath and subconsciously took a step forward, but found that Shin'yu suddenly turned around and walked in a strange direction.
"Master?"
"This white fog is a type of Genjutsu. If you continue to walk forward, you will keep going around in circles, which is the so-called ghost wall." Shin'yu said calmly, "The correct path is under my feet."
Orochimaru immediately followed, hesitating, "Master, doing this..."
"You think it's not fair for me to help you, and it doesn't represent your true strength?" Shin'yu raised his eyebrows slightly, instantly seeing through his disciple's thoughts.
"Yes."
Shin'yu spread his hands indifferently, "This layer of Genjutsu is just a method to test so-called 'sincerity'. For us, it's a complete waste of time and meaningless."
Orochimaru nodded heavily, obediently following behind Shin'yu. Sure enough, after a short while, a bright golden light lit up at the end of the field of vision.
The two continued forward, and as the white fog gradually thinned, a magnificent palace appeared before them.
Jade towers and pavilions, inlaid with gold and wrapped in jade, three rows of golden lanterns engraved with the character "Dragon" hung on the quaint building. The golden light seen earlier was emitted by them. Although the architectural style was simple and unadorned, it could not conceal the astonishing extravagance. On the plaque in the center of the palace gate were the three large characters "Ryuchi Cave".
Shin'yu stopped in front of the palace, habitually touching his chin, and remained silent.
"This is Ryuchi Cave?" Orochimaru took two steps forward, somewhat surprised, "It's not quite what I expected."
Just then, accompanied by the echoing "creak, creak", the palace gate opened to both sides, and a brilliant light suddenly bloomed, causing Orochimaru's pupils to contract slightly.
In the warm, sun-like light, the figure of a beautiful woman gradually became clear.
She had a standard beauty's pretty face, dressed in white, her black hair styled in intricate double buns, wearing a golden crown on her forehead, with a light blush, and her slender eyelashes carefully trimmed. At this moment, she respectfully gathered her long sleeves and gave the two a polite smile.
"You two, we have been waiting for a long time."
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