The Great Toad Sage Has Passed Away

At the center of the hall stood an elevated main seat. A huge character for "Sage" was prominently engraved upon the red platform, and the Great Toad Sage's massive orange body lay half-submerged in a warm pool.

A string of prayer beads hung around his neck, with the character for "oil" carved into the purple stone at their center. A black cloth sage hat rested atop his head, and he usually sat there with his eyes closed in a serene, meditative pose.

But at this moment, the Great Toad Sage had become a stone statue.

In other words—he had passed away!

Or perhaps ascended as an immortal.

This—

Liao Wu released his sensory perception and searched for the Great Toad Sage's presence.

There was nothing—not the slightest trace of an aura.

It was simply a genuine stone statue, without a shred of mystery or supernatural power, no different from an ordinary rock by the roadside.

Like the toad statues in the Toad Stone Forest, the Great Toad Sage had turned into stone.

Liao Wu scratched his head, utterly confused. "Can someone tell me what happened?"

Liao Wu was somewhat angered. With the Great Toad Sage dead, who was supposed to tell him where the Sage Talisman paper was?

Liao Wu leaped onto the Great Toad Sage's head, preparing to smash the stone statue apart with a single punch.

Just then, a pink tadpole shot out from the towering scroll behind the Great Toad Sage and immediately knelt before Liao Wu. "Lord Liao Wu, p-please do not harm the Great Lord's stone statue!"

Liao Wu grabbed the tadpole and barked, "Who are you? Tell me how the Great Toad Sage died."

"Lord Liao Wu, I... I am Toad Jade. I manage the registry of the many toads of Mount Myōboku, and