Chapter 139: The Soul in the Relief
The night wind quietly swept through the grass and leaves, making soft shush-shush sounds that were clearly audible in the deep silence of the night.
Two figures slowly walked along a secluded, dark garden path in the backyard.
Orochimaru and Chi walked along the narrow, cobblestone-paved path toward the ancient, weathered ancestral shrine at the end.
The two stopped outside the door. Orochimaru slightly turned his head and commanded Chi: "Guard here. Don't let anyone come in!"
Chi remained silent, but nodded firmly. His entire body slowly faded into the shadows outside the shrine.
Creak! The old wooden door let out a teeth-grinding screech as Orochimaru confidently pushed it open and stepped inside.
The layout of the ancient family shrine was the same, but unlike the first time Orochimaru entered it after his rebirth, the shrine was spotlessly clean, without a speck of dust. Even the candle holders on both sides were completely lit with slender, smokeless candles, illuminating the entire shrine clearly.
The palm-sized golden bronze censer on the offering table gave off a faint, pleasant, clean aroma that seemed to bring peace and tranquility to the mind.
In the three-legged incense burner next to it, used for descendants to offer incense, there was a significant accumulation of ash, and six partially burned long incense sticks were currently placed inside.
Orochimaru was slightly taken aback by the scene.
Orochimaru had only told Maji that this wooden structure was the family shrine; he hadn't even mentioned it to Chi.
As for Chi, he was an unusually rigid child. He only moved back and forth between his room and the dining hall, a strict two-point routine every day. Unless Orochimaru ordered him to enter a room, he would never do so, adhering to a strictness comparable to an ascetic monk.
At that thought, the small figure of Maji immediately surfaced in Orochimaru's mind—busy cleaning, tidying up, lighting candles, and placing incense in the shrine.
A strange emotion welled up, causing the corner of Orochimaru's mouth to turn up slightly. Remembering Maji's intoxicated state earlier, his heart filled with even more affection for her.
Detaching himself from his sentimental mood, his characteristic calmness and rationality took over his emotions once again.
He slowly walked up to the offering table where the ancestral tablets were placed. He reached his right hand to the base of the fifth tablet on the left in the first row and meticulously felt around. The familiar, almost imperceptible circular indentation reappeared before his eyes.
Orochimaru pressed his index finger down without hesitation.
Click-clack-clack! The sounds of rolling metal mixed with a few crunching mechanical noises.
A person-sized hidden door to a secret room suddenly opened on the left wall of the shrine.
After a bright flash of light, the familiar hidden corridor appeared before Orochimaru's eyes. The torches on the walls lit up in sequence, following the sloping steps that extended down into the earth.
The dim passage, like an endless staircase, was like the wide-open maw of a beast, exuding a faint sense of danger and a mysterious allure.
Orochimaru, accustomed to the process, scanned the entire shrine once more, then stepped into the secret room.
After walking for a short distance in the corridor, the secret room door closed again.
Accompanied by the constant tap-tap-tap of his footsteps echoing in his ears, Orochimaru once again arrived before the ancient relief carving of an Eight-Headed Serpent (Yamata no Orochi). The fierce and ferocious Yamata no Orochi was as vivid and compelling as before, seeming ready to slither out of the old relief.
The astonishing, distant, and overbearing bloodlust, viciousness, and brutality—as if from the ancient period of the Tailed Beast Wars—reappeared, washing over Orochimaru.
At this moment, although his Chakra rank was only at the Jōnin level and hadn't recovered to his previous life's peak strength, Orochimaru's spiritual strength was far greater than before. Facing this terrifying and potent aura, which was stronger than any Genjutsu, he let out a cold laugh inwardly.
His mouth curved into a wicked smirk. His dark-golden, demonic snake eyes suddenly narrowed, and his suppressed, materialized killing intent violently erupted from his body like a volcanic blast.
A black, giant serpent of materialized killing intent slowly coiled behind Orochimaru, baring its ferocious fangs at the ancient relief door.
Just then, an unexpected event occurred that Orochimaru hadn't anticipated.
The eighth head of the Yamata no Orochi carved on the relief door—made of an unknown material—suddenly twitched.
Orochimaru sharply noted this subtle movement, a slight surprise welling up in his heart.
Then, a faint blue, semi-transparent, eight-headed, eight-tailed Yamata no Orochi phantom slowly slithered out of the ancient relief door.
"Hmm? Does it get stronger when faced with strength? This thing's state... could it be..." Orochimaru murmured to himself, watching the mysterious scene, "Is the soul of a real Yamata no Orochi sealed within this relief door!?"
The faint blue Yamata no Orochi Soul was vicious and dominant, yet elegant and nimble, like an aristocrat among snakes. Its eight heads and sixteen eyes slowly fixed upon the black, materialized serpent of killing intent behind Orochimaru.
In the next moment, the faint blue Yamata no Orochi Soul angrily opened its sixteen mouths, letting out a silent hiss and roar in unison, instantly emitting a terrifying aura nearly twice as strong as before.
Orochimaru's body swayed from the impact of the aura. Intense interest flashed in his dark-golden eyes, and he was just about to make a move.
Suddenly!
Orochimaru felt a strange movement near his heart.
The small, pale-golden Yamata slowly slithered out from under Orochimaru's clothes again. Its pair of scarlet snake eyes focused intensely on the faint blue Yamata no Orochi Soul on the floor, revealing a strong desire and greed, as if it had spotted an irresistible delicacy.
At that very moment, the faint blue Yamata no Orochi Soul's sixteen eyes immediately ignored the black serpent of killing intent. It actually lowered all eight of its ferocious snake heads, prostrating itself on the ground, trembling and fearfully watching the small, pale-golden Yamata proudly looking down at it from Orochimaru's shoulder.
A humanized expression of satisfaction appeared in the small Yamata's snake eyes. Its slender, crimson tongue flickered as it spoke to Orochimaru in a childish voice: "Master, I want that!"
Orochimaru's curiosity had been piqued, so he certainly wouldn't refuse. He nodded, preparing to watch the unfolding scene with great interest.
Suddenly, the area before them burst into light!
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