When Tagitsuhime suddenly bit down on Hibari's neck, the loli Ichikishimahime was left completely speechless.
The three trials of Ryūchi Cave actually had no set order. In the past, if someone stumbled in by accident, the three Princesses of Snakes wouldn't fight over them. In fact, their relationship was quite good.
Basically, whoever found the person first got to eat them. After all, they weren't exactly hurting for food. If they really wanted to eat people, they could just take a page out of Manda's book and go outside Ryūchi Cave, where there were plenty of humans for them to feast on.
Therefore, the trials were more of a diversion for the three of them, something to do for fun in between their training.
But this time, it was different. Hibari's appearance had significantly increased their appetite. Didn't Ichikishimahime's mouth water earlier? So this time, none of the three were going to be polite with each other. It was first-come, first-served!
Ichikishimahime truly didn't expect that her two good friends would break the rules. She was the one who found Senju Hibari first, but now she was the last one who would get to test him.
"Tagitsu, that's just too low!" Ichikishimahime complained, fuming.
But Tagitsuhime didn't respond. After injecting a stream of chakra into Hibari's body, she was also a bit bewildered. In the past, whenever this happened, she would bite down and inject her chakra, and the other person would be forcefully dragged into an illusion. They would face their inner doubts, and the test was to see if they could remain true to themselves.
But this time was different, and she couldn't figure out why. She had clearly bitten Hibari's neck and injected a stream of chakra, yet he had no reaction whatsoever. Instead, he was looking at her with a look of confusion.
Hibari was also feeling bewildered. Based on the usual tropes, being bitten should have been the start of the second trial. Why was there no change? Could the test have already started without him realizing it?
Thinking about this, he tilted his neck, looked at Tagitsuhime, who was still biting him, and said hesitantly, "Tagitsuhime?"
As soon as he spoke, Tagorihime and Ichikishimahime also showed shocked expressions. Tagitsuhime finally confirmed that this guy had not been pulled into her illusion.
But in this situation, she was a snake sage who also had a reputation to uphold. How could she possibly say that something had gone wrong and her plan had failed?
Ichikishimahime would never let her live it down.
So Tagitsuhime pretended that nothing was wrong. She kept biting Hibari's neck and mumbled, "…I'm just giving you some time to prepare. We will begin once you are ready…"
Hibari actually believed her. And since this had never happened before, Tagorihime and Ichikishimahime didn't suspect anything. They just assumed Tagitsuhime had suddenly turned kind and was giving him time to prepare.
So Hibari's impression of Tagitsuhime improved a bit. He didn't think she was a cold-blooded monster.
Hibari nodded and said, "I'm ready. You can begin now…"
Tagitsuhime's heart sank. She didn't let go of him and bite again. She simply injected another stream of chakra into Hibari's body. But Hibari remained motionless. Not only that, he was still looking at her with a confused expression.
This made Tagitsuhime feel even more embarrassed, and she didn't dare to stop, afraid of embarrassing herself again. She continuously injected her chakra into Hibari's body.
As one of Ryūchi Cave's snake sages and one of the three Princesses of Snakes, Tagitsuhime had lived for hundreds of years. She rarely interacted with people, so the chakra she had accumulated wasn't ordinary. Otherwise, she wouldn't deserve her title.
The chakra she injected into Hibari was the senjutsu chakra she had honed in Ryūchi Cave.
Normally, she wouldn't dare to inject too much into a challenger, fearing that the person wouldn't be able to handle the senjutsu chakra and would turn to stone.
This time, she went all out, yet despite injecting so much, Hibari still had no reaction.
Well, it wasn't exactly "no reaction." At first, Hibari didn't feel anything, thinking that Tagitsuhime hadn't started the trial. But after a while, he felt his Wood Release, which had been nurtured with his life force, greatly increasing in power. In just a few breaths, the strength of his Wood Release had grown significantly, as if he had been training it for two or three days.
This change finally made Hibari realize what was happening. For some reason, the chakra Tagitsuhime was injecting into his body was being absorbed by his Wood Release kekkei genkai and turning into nourishment!
'Holy crap, is this for real? Is she buffing me? I love it. The people of Ryūchi Cave are truly hospitable and not as malicious as the legends say. Coming here is like coming home! Give me more! Yes, more! Grow, my little sapling, grow! Hahahaha.' Hibari thought to himself.
He wasn't an idiot. When something this good happened, he wasn't going to expose it. He had no intention of stopping Tagitsuhime. He would just stay quiet and get rich. Not only that, he also put on a blank stare, pretending he was in the middle of a trial. He looked straight into Tagitsuhime's eyes and didn't move.
Tagitsuhime knew that she hadn't pulled this guy into her illusion; otherwise, she would've already started to question him. But Tagorihime and Ichikishimahime didn't know that. They thought everything was going according to plan, so they didn't ask anything and just watched the two of them, wanting to see if Senju Hibari could withstand his inner questions.
When the two weren't looking, Hibari even managed to wink at Tagitsuhime, which made Tagitsuhime even more embarrassed. She really thought something had gone wrong with her technique and that Hibari was pretending to be under her control to save her face.
In this situation, Tagitsuhime truly couldn't admit her failure. Otherwise, her action of biting Hibari's neck first would become a complete joke. Ichikishimahime would laugh at her for who knows how long. With their long, boundless sage lifespan, they would laugh for at least two or three hundred years, which would be worse than dying.
So, seeing that Hibari was playing along with her 'act,' Tagitsuhime also played along, and the two of them just stood there with their heads together, motionless.
After a long time, Tagitsuhime, being an experienced sage, judged that enough time had passed and stopped injecting chakra into Hibari. She slowly pulled her fangs out of his neck and greedily licked the blood that had seeped out. It was truly a supreme delicacy.
Hibari felt like his Wood Release kekkei genkai had suddenly gained two to three months of growth, and its power had increased significantly. It was a complete freebie. So he didn't expose Tagitsuhime for secretly drinking his blood.
Seeing Hibari's 'return to normal,' Ichikishimahime was the happiest. This meant Hibari hadn't failed the trial, which meant she still had a chance to 'hog him' for herself.
"Amazing, truly amazing. The trials of Ryūchi Cave are living up to their name. I am truly impressed. If I have time in the future, I'd really like to experience this feeling again…" Hibari said with a smile to Tagitsuhime.
He wasn't lying. He really wanted to be bitten again. If he could, he truly hoped Tagitsuhime would bite him for a whole day without letting go, and preferably pour all her chakra into him, so his Wood Release kekkei genkai could quickly reach the monstrous level of his grandfather, Senju Hashirama.
Tagitsuhime didn't know the true meaning of Hibari's words. She thought he was just saving her face and saying some things to maintain her reputation. She suddenly felt a great liking for Hibari. When she thought about her 'pathetic' performance, she even felt a little shy and said with a blush, "You have incredible willpower, Hibari-dono…"
Perhaps because of the 'little secret' they shared, Tagitsuhime's feelings for Hibari were slightly different than before. Previously, she had only wanted to make things difficult for him so he would fail and she could eat him.
But now, she felt like she didn't want him to die here… a subtle change in feelings that Tagitsuhime couldn't quite understand.
'But if I can keep him as a pet, I can drink his blood often, can't I? And the chakra in his body is also very captivating…' Tagitsuhime thought as she looked at Hibari, feeling like she had just found a new path.
'It's okay if I can't eat him. Isn't it better to have a good relationship with him? It's a long-term plan, to catch a big fish later. I can get a couple of bites whenever I have a chance, and that would be great.'
While Tagitsuhime was thinking about this, Ichikishimahime seemed to have run out of patience. She came forward and grabbed Hibari's arm, then said, "Tagori, Tagitsu, since Hibari passed both of your trials, you two have failed. So you can't fight with me over him anymore."
Tagorihime and Tagitsuhime didn't try to argue. If they had to be honest, they had both failed, and they had no right to fight over him. They couldn't go against the White Snake Sage's wishes and forcefully eat Hibari, could they?
"Hmph, Ichikishima, don't get ahead of yourself. I can see that Hibari-dono has a firm will and great talent. You might not be able to make things difficult for him either. If Hibari-dono truly gets approval from Hakuja-sama, then he won't be our guest anymore. He will be one of us. And you'll have no reason or right to eat him," Tagorihime snorted, speaking to Ichikishimahime.
Ichikishimahime licked her lips. A wicked smile appeared on her cute loli-like face. She said, "Don't you two forget what I'm best at. I'm going to use the highest difficulty trial to test him!"
After she finished, Ichikishimahime didn't give Tagorihime a chance to retort. She grabbed Hibari's hand and started walking forward, saying, "Hibari, let's go quickly…"
Hibari looked at Ichikishimahime and felt helpless. He didn't know what to say. If he called her 'scheming,' it wouldn't be right, since she was upfront about everything and never hid her intentions. She could be called an 'honest' child.
However, her motives were making him feel a headache; she was always thinking of ways to eat him and make things difficult for him… this was truly infuriating!
But Hibari was still very confident in himself. He had already passed two trials, so he wasn't afraid of what kind of tricks Ichikishimahime would pull. So he nodded and said, "Okay. I want to pass this trial as soon as possible as well…"
Then, without hesitation, he let Ichikishimahime lead him away. Just then, Tagitsuhime, as if a wire in her brain had crossed, suddenly said to Hibari with great concern, "Be careful, Hibari-dono…"
Hibari was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "I will…"
Ichikishimahime just thought that Tagitsuhime was resentful of her failure and was trying to encourage Hibari to fail her trial too so that no one would get to eat him. So she just glared at Tagitsuhime angrily and didn't say anything, dragging Hibari away.
Tagitsuhime herself felt a blush on her face, not knowing what she had been thinking just now.
After Hibari and Ichikishimahime's figures disappeared into the end of the cave, Tagorihime looked at Tagitsuhime and asked, "How did the trial go?"
Tagitsuhime's face froze slightly, then she said ambiguously, "Hibari-dono has a firm will…"
The two of them's trials were very similar, so Tagorihime didn't think much of it when she heard Tagitsuhime's words. She just nodded and said in agreement, "Indeed…"
And just like that, Tagitsuhime's failed trial was haphazardly glossed over. No one suspected a thing, and it became a secret between her and Hibari…
"Do you hope Hibari-dono passes Ichikishima's trial?" Tagorihime suddenly asked.
Tagitsuhime was surprised for a moment, then she licked her lips with a chuckle and said, "Of course. I secretly drank a little of his blood just now, and it was truly delicious. So I was thinking, if Hibari-dono can become a regular in Ryūchi Cave, maybe after we build a good relationship, I can often ask him for a little blood to drink?"
Tagorihime showed a surprised expression when she heard Tagitsuhime's words. She then said, "So there's a way to do that? Right, isn't that what humans do… it's called… yes, 'raising' them?"
"Something like that…" Tagitsuhime said with a smile.
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