After the White Snake Sage called out, it wasn't long before three large serpents appeared in her huge cave. The three serpents then transformed into human forms: a little girl and two beautiful young women.
They were Ichikishimahime, Tagitsuhime, and Tagorihime. Upon seeing the White Snake Sage, they all respectfully bowed their heads and greeted her softly.
The White Snake Sage nodded, looking very pleased with her three favorite disciples.
There were many powerful serpents in the Ryūchi Cave, but only the females liked to developed human forms.
The male serpents preferred to train in their natural snake forms. The strongest male serpent in the Ryūchi Cave was Garaga, but he had lost an eye a long time ago, and since then, his personality had become more and more extreme and irritable.
Even the other large serpents in the Ryūchi Cave couldn't do anything about him. They couldn't beat him, and it was difficult to drive him away, so they had to let him live a reclusive life in his cave. The White Snake Sage herself was often troubled by him.
So, whenever the White Snake Sage had something to instruct or arrange, she would never call Garaga, but rather have Ichikishimahime and the others come to listen to her instructions, since the three of them were also very powerful.
"Did that child, Manda, run out again?" the White Snake Sage asked softly.
Tagorihime thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes, it's his day to go out and eat."
"Then it must be so. He'll be back soon, and he'll bring two people with him. These two will have some impact on our Ryūchi Cave, so don't do anything rash. Do you understand?" the White Snake Sage said softly.
Tagorihime, Ichikishimahime, and Takitsuhime were all stunned. It wasn't unusual for people to accidentally stumble into the Ryūchi Cave. If they happened upon someone, they would eat them right away. As for trials, or opportunities, none of that existed. You come to a snake den for that? That was a joke!
That's why the Ryūchi Cave was the least understood and considered the most dangerous of the three Sage lands.
If the White Snake Sage hadn't brought this up, when Orochimaru and Hibari arrived, Tagorihime and the others might have tried to eat them.
Would Hibari put up with that? Of course not. A fierce battle would ensue, and how would the White Snake Sage be able to build a good relationship with Hibari? If she forced this kid to the Shikkotsu Forest or Mount Myōboku, their Ryūchi Cave would suffer a huge loss!
"Hakuja-sama, didn't you say it was only one person last time?" the little girl Ichikishimahime asked, confused.
The White Snake Sage looked at her and said, "The extra person is more unique. I don't sense the scent of destiny on him, so it's hard to predict his movements. I'm afraid even that pesky toad, who is the best at this, didn't foresee this. Otherwise, their Mount Myōboku would have already taken action. They would never allow such a person to come to our Ryūchi Cave."
The three snake princesses, Tagorihime, Ichikishimahime, and Tagitsuhime, all looked surprised. They were very curious, as people without destiny were often very interesting.
"Then we must meet him. Should we go easy on him?" Ichikishimahime asked, very interested.
Unlike Mount Myōboku and the Shikkotsu Forest, you could only enter those places if you were "fated," which basically meant you were chosen by them.
So once you got in, there were no trials or anything. After getting to know each other, you could start learning and cultivating.
The Ryūchi Cave was different. The great serpents here were very extreme and loved to play games, so they always came up with strange trials. Even if they were interested in you, you still had to go through a trial first. Those who passed would naturally receive special treatment, and those who failed would be eaten.
Ichikishimahime's question was to test the White Snake Sage's attitude. The trials were basically controlled by the three snake princesses. The difficulty and hints were all up to them. Asking this question was a way to find out what the White Snake Sage was thinking. If she really valued this person, they would go easy on him during the trial and let him pass quickly...
The White Snake Sage didn't even think about it and said directly, "No need. On the contrary, you must test him properly to see if he has real substance. If he only has a 'false reputation,' it would be better to eat this kind of person who can disrupt the trajectory as soon as possible."
The White Snake Sage did want to cause trouble for Mount Myōboku, but she needed to find the right person. Otherwise, if she failed and lost more than she gained, it would tarnish her name as a Sage. So the test had to be done, and she couldn't go easy on him. She had to figure out if this person had true substance or if he was just a poser.
After all, if Hibari was foolish and she went easy on him, allowing him to pass the test, he might make a fool of himself and bring shame to the Ryūchi Cave. If that news reached the pesky toad at Mount Myōboku, they would surely be mocked, which would be a terrible thing.
But if Hibari was a calm and smart person, she wouldn't mind. It would be great to stir up some trouble and annoy Mount Myōboku.
The three snake princesses, Ichikishimahime, Tagitsuhime, and Tagorihime, raised their eyebrows and looked excited when they heard the White Snake Sage's words. Among them, Tagorihime whispered, "I'm really looking forward to seeing such a rare person, and tasting his chakra and blood."
"I want a taste too..." Ichikishimahime said, licking her lips.
Just then, Tagitsuhime suddenly spoke, "They're here. That boy, Manda, really brought people back to the Ryūchi Cave..."
Ichikishimahime seemed to remember something and asked, "Hakuja-sama, what about the other guy?"
"The other one? That boy was drawn here by destiny. There's no need to test him. All he wants is a summoning contract. Just give it to him. As for how well he can use it and who he can summon, that's up to his own ability," the White Snake Sage said softly.
In essence, Orochimaru had no great significance to her, so she didn't care much about him. She would just give him what he wanted and send him on his way.
"What about Senjutsu? Should we teach it to him?" Tagorihime asked.
"Senjutsu? He's not worthy yet..." the White Snake Sage said without a second thought.
"We understand, Hakuja-sama," Ichikishimahime said with a smile.
The White Snake Sage nodded and said, "Then go. Don't keep our guests waiting."
The three snake princesses all nodded, then floated into the air and quickly left the White Snake Sage's cave, flying toward the outside.
At the same time, Manda led Hibari and Orochimaru to the entrance of the Ryūchi Cave.
The Ryūchi Cave's entrance was not at all grand. Under a barren mountain, there was a huge, ominous-looking cave entrance. There was no archway or anything that said "Ryūchi Cave."
Even if someone passed by this out-of-the-way place, no one would be brave enough to venture inside to take a look.
But Hibari knew that the deepest part of the cave, where the White Snake Sage resided, was quite grand. The true entrance of the Ryūchi Cave was located there!
"Hibari-sama, this is the Ryūchi Cave..." Manda said softly.
Hibari and Orochimaru jumped off Manda's head, standing in front of the cave entrance. Hibari grinned, sensing the dark and dangerous aura inside, and showed a satisfied smile.
"After all this trouble, I finally found the Ryūchi Cave. I wonder if the White Snake Sage is free today? We came uninvited and didn't even bring a gift..." Hibari said with a laugh.
Just then, a crisp, cute voice came from the cave.
"Since you are destined to come to the Ryūchi Cave, you are our guests. There is no need for gifts," the little girl, Ichikishimahime, floated out of the cave first and looked at Hibari and Orochimaru with great curiosity.
She first looked at Orochimaru, and just like Manda, she was a little surprised. This human's "snake aura" was too strong, as if he was born into the wrong body. He should have been born in their Ryūchi Cave as a snake.
No wonder he was a man guided by destiny to find the Ryūchi Cave. It was like he was just coming home.
But even though Orochimaru's "snake aura" was strong, Ichikishimahime didn't look at him for long. After all, there were plenty of snakes in the Ryūchi Cave. It wasn't a rare thing; it was just surprising to see it on a human.
When she turned her gaze to Hibari, her eyes, which had looked no different from a human girl's, suddenly contracted into vertical snake pupils. At the same time, her delicate, cute, and beautiful face also changed, revealing a hint of a snake's wildness. When she opened her mouth slightly, her flat white teeth sprouted two fangs, then quickly disappeared.
Under her red eye shadow, a few snake scales were also revealed.
The sudden change quickly reverted, leaving Ichikishimahime with her cute little girl appearance. But Hibari, with his keen eyes, had already seen it all.
He had to admit that even with the slight snake-like changes, she was still very cute. She had a unique, otherworldly beauty that made Hibari raise an eyebrow. After all, this was the first time he had seen something like this.
Although Ichikishimahime had calmed her outward appearance, she was still very agitated inside. Just one look at Hibari had increased her appetite and almost made her revert to her true form. Even now, she felt she couldn't tear her eyes away. The scent on this person was too alluring, almost like the "perfect" ingredient.
As one of the three snake princesses of the Ryūchi Cave, Ichikishimahime's eyesight and strength were very high. She could see Hibari's unique qualities with one glance. First, his chakra's scent was incredibly attractive, full of life, as if it were alive. It was unusually alluring.
This made Ichikishimahime, a snake princess who normally didn't like energetic chakra, have a huge appetite for it, and she wished she could go up and take a few gulps of Hibari's chakra right now.
Second, Hibari's body scent was also perfect. It was as if there was no other human scent as perfect in the world, and it seemed to contain all the perfect human scents. At the same time, his strong and firm muscles made Ichikishimahime want to go up and take a few bites.
The tempting chakra alone wasn't enough, and the alluring body scent alone wasn't either. But the combination of the two was a killing blow to Ichikishimahime.
If the White Snake Sage hadn't repeatedly stressed how much she thought of this person, she would have turned on him and eaten him right there.
After taking a deep breath and controlling her desire, Ichikishimahime turned her attention to the miserable-looking Manda, who looked as if he had just been beaten senseless. She frowned slightly and said, "Manda, you need to watch your image. Don't be an eyesore here. Take that little guy to sign the contract."
Manda was stunned when he heard Ichikishimahime's words. What the hell? When did their Ryūchi Cave become so hospitable? That kid hadn't even spoken, and you already knew he wanted to sign a contract with me? What about the trial? There's no trial? Ichikishimahime, aren't you going to eat people anymore? What, you've been eating too much fiery food lately and switched to a vegetarian diet?
But Manda didn't dare to say anything. He was just a "little brother" in the Ryūchi Cave. He couldn't afford to offend either side right now, so he could only obey.
Orochimaru was also very surprised. He never expected it to be so smooth! He was approved before he even spoke? Could it be that he really was destined to be with the Ryūchi Cave?
Not only that, Hibari was also stunned. He didn't expect it to be so simple. He looked at Orochimaru, who was looking at him, and nodded. "Go ahead..."
In fact, Ichikishimahime didn't want to rush things, but after she saw Hibari, she didn't want to wait another minute. She only wanted to quickly take Hibari to the trial, use the most difficult trial to trouble him, and hopefully kill him in the Ryūchi Cave.
That way, she could have a delicious, top-tier meal. Compared to that, she had no interest in the "small fry" Orochimaru and Manda.
'Could this be what humans call 'love at first sight'? The feeling of one's heart fluttering?' Ichikishimahime licked her lips and thought to herself, looking at Hibari.
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