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Tagorihime stared at Qianyu in stunned silence. His logic was… staggering.
Kill the one administering the trial, and any trial would be considered passed.
She'd never encountered this kind of reasoning before.
As her shock subsided, Tagorihime's entire face transformed. Her pupils elongated into vertical golden slits. Crimson markings stretched from her eyes down to her nostrils. Her skin turned deathly pale, sharp fangs bared over a blue tongue. She glared at Qianyu with pure fury.
"How dare you attack me directly!? You should have just eaten the food!"
Simultaneously, the entire palace darkened, dissolving into ash and dust. It vanished, revealing the true ground beneath—a carpet of dry, human bones.
Qianyu's eyes narrowed. Even the Sharingan couldn't see through that illusion?
"Of course not," Tagorihime's voice turned icy. "Knowing who you are, we knew about your Sharingan. This is my unique genjutsu-type senjutsu. A mere Sharingan could never break it. How infuriating! If you'd just eaten the food I offered, I could have devoured your flesh and chakra!"
Qianyu scoffed. "Is that so? So the food was the trial. How… profoundly simple. Who would be stupid enough to eat your suspicious offerings?"
Her hair bristled at his mockery. "Simple?! Look at these skulls! They are all that remains of those who ate my food!"
"Exactly," Qianyu sneered. "They were fools."
Tagorihime's expression froze. Well. He had a point.
She clawed at her own head in frustration, but before she could retort, a voice echoed from deep within the forest.
"You've lost. He was not deceived."
Tagorihime took a deep breath and turned towards the trees. "I know. Our task is to screen those who enter Ryūchi Cave."
"Correct. Lady White Snake only permits us to consume those who fail the trials. And he is… special. You cannot defeat him either. Let him proceed."
Tagorihime turned back to Qianyu, her face sour. "My trial is complete. You may go."
Then she vanished into the woods.
Qianyu was startled. His Kenbunshoku Haki could no longer sense her presence.
Does senjutsu also resist Haki?
And… he was 'special'?
What did that mean?
Unable to puzzle it out, Qianyu continued forward.
After a short walk, a small, child-like figure flickered in and out of view within a misty haze. She glanced at him, then drifted ahead.
"The second trial?"
Qianyu's hand went straight to his sword's hilt.
The little girl immediately halted and spun around. "Only passing the trial counts! Killing me won't let you pass!"
"Tch." Qianyu released the hilt.
The girl sighed in relief. This human wasn't normal. Others tried to pass the test; he tried to kill the tester.
She led him to a cave entrance.
The moment they entered, a massive boulder crashed down, sealing them inside. The rock's surface was pockmarked with numerous small holes of peculiar shapes.
"I am Ichikishimahime. The trial is to fill all the holes in the rock. Stones matching the shapes are all here in this room. This is the only way out. You may try as many times as you like until you succeed… or until you are exhausted."
Qianyu looked at the floor. It was littered with oddly shaped stones. He picked one up and tried fitting it into a hole that seemed to match.
Perfect fit.
But he also felt it—a small drain on his chakra the moment the stone settled.
A tedious little game to deplete my reserves. Once I'm empty, I become the meal.
"Pathetic."
With the Sharingan's precision, matching stones to holes was trivial. In moments, nearly every cavity was filled. Only one hole remained.
But there was no stone on the floor that matched its shape.
"Perhaps you missed one," Ichikishimahime chimed innocently. "No limit on attempts. Try as you wish."
Qianyu didn't even glance at the floor. He was certain. The correct stone wasn't here.
Shunshin.
He appeared behind Ichikishimahime in a blur, his hand clamping around her neck.
Her face morphed instantly into a serpentine visage, struggling wildly. "What are you doing?!"
"No matching stone? Then I'll use you. You said 'all the stones are in this room.' That includes you. Your flesh should fit the hole just fine."
He dragged her to the rock, pressed her face against the cold stone, and shoved her cheek into the remaining hole. Her flesh deformed, sealing the cavity.
The entire cave dissolved into nothingness.
Qianyu released her. Ichikishimahime scrambled away, putting distance between them, her eyes burning with indignation. "Such a crude human! Using me as the filler! That's cheating! The correct method was to shape a new stone from the others to fit! That was the intended solution!"
Qianyu shrugged, a smirk on his lips. "You don't say. It worked, didn't it? If you count as a valid answer, then my method is just as correct."
A presence materialized behind him. Jaws gaped wide, aiming for his neck.
Qianyu stepped forward. Steel cleared leather.
"Thunder Breathing, Sixth Form: Raiton Raigō!"
Lightning erupted from him in all directions—countless slashing arcs of pure electricity.
"Gyah—!"
A sharp shriek pierced the air. The figure that tried to bite him was flung back, body charred and smoking, multiple blackened gashes across her form. She hit the ground, twitching.
Qianyu advanced, blade raised for the finishing strike.
"Wait!" Ichikishimahime cried out urgently. "Don't kill her! That's Tagitsuhime! She administers the next trial!"
Qianyu frowned at the fallen snake-woman. "A trial? By ambush?"
Ichikishimahime looked embarrassed. "She… does that to everyone who comes before her."
"And her trial is?"
"A test of mental fortitude. Tagitsuhime injects her senjutsu chakra into you, inducing powerful hallucinations. Pass it, and all trials are complete."
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