Chapter 18

"..."

Hearing the White Snake Sage's voice, which sounded as benevolent as a saint's, Mingye truly wanted to boil the creature and eat it. Unfortunately, he was currently no match for his opponent; he couldn't even muster the intent to make the creature move or attack him, as it had already issued his death warrant. Sighing helplessly, Ara coiled around Mingye's leg once more, crawled onto his body, and urged him on.

"Hurry up, kid!"

In a forest, Madara and Hashirama were locked in yet another duel, though neither could recall which number this was. Hashirama threw a punch at Madara's face; Madara leaned back to dodge, but he didn't account for Hashirama's other hand suddenly appearing at his chest. Seeing the smirk on Hashirama's face, Madara revealed a confident smile of his own. He dropped his body suddenly to evade the attack again, pressed his hands against the ground, and spun his body like a propeller, unleashing a series of kicks at Hashirama.

Hashirama recoiled sharply, then picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it at Madara's arm. Seeing the incoming projectile was impossible to block, Madara twisted his body to take the hit on his back, his foot sliding across the ground and kicking up a spray of gravel toward Hashirama.

Hashirama's legs acted like springs as he leaped nearly three meters into the air, dodging the flying stones. He dove at Madara like a sharp sword. The two collided once more; because of the momentum of his dive, Hashirama's strength slightly edged out Madara's, and he knocked Madara to the ground. Hashirama grinned and opened his mouth to mock him, but to his surprise, Madara—who was lying on the ground gasping for air—had a stone hidden in his hand. He flicked it out, striking Hashirama directly on the knee and knocking him to the ground.

"You're using hidden weapons again!" Hashirama was deeply dissatisfied with Madara's underhanded tactics. He was clearly about to win, yet every duel ended in a draw because Madara would always use a stone at the very last second to strike his head or leg, leaving him unable to stand.

"We're ninjas! Do you think there are rules in a real fight about what you can or cannot use?" Looking at Hashirama's resentful expression, Madara was completely indifferent, seemingly immune to his complaints, and lay back on the ground with effortless grace.

"Tch!"

Led by Ara, Mingye arrived before a giant dragon coiled around a rock formation. A massive dragon, stretching over a hundred meters long, lay in the center of the valley. Its enormous head looked down as if disdaining all living things. Directly beneath it, a spring bubbled up from the earth, emitting waves of white steam like a hot spring. Unfortunately, Mingye could perceive none of this. As soon as Mingye stood by the spring, Ara leaped off and dove into the water.

"Kid, strip off your clothes and get into the pool. To practice Immortal Arts, you need a focused spirit. In your current state, you'll never master them!"

"It's only three days. He couldn't possibly learn it anyway. Why don't I just eat him now? Why go through all this trouble?"

Suddenly, the giant black python Manda appeared above the dragon's head, looking down at Mingye as if eager to devour him. Ara, swimming in the spring, ignored Manda entirely and urged Mingye again: "Hurry up! You only have three days. If you don't want to die, do exactly as I say!"

Truth be told, if Mingye could see Manda, he would have been paralyzed with fear, his legs turning to jelly, even without the chilling gaze boring into him. Unfortunately, Mingye was blind and could not sense Manda's chakra; he couldn't perceive anything from that cold, sinister voice. The aura Manda exuded was also completely ignored by Mingye's body, which, while seemingly perfect, was still essentially useless.

Mingye knew this was no time for modesty. He stripped off his clothes with a straightforward, resigned air and slowly, cautiously stepped into the spring to sit down. The moment he entered the water, he felt his entire body enveloped by an inexplicable energy. This energy washed away all the soreness in his muscles, and even the scars on his wrists began to heal slowly upon contact with the spring.

Feeling a surge of excitement, he tried to cultivate and refine chakra within the pool, but the water acted like a cage, preventing him from circulating his own chakra. He couldn't even manage to refine any. Ara, swimming nearby, mocked him.

"The Dragon Transformation Pool is a secret heritage of our Ryuchi Cave. How could the chakra used by mere humans circulate here? Don't let your mind wander. Now, I will explain how to cultivate Qi!"

Hearing that they were getting to the point, Mingye asked skeptically, "Is Qi the same as Immortal Arts?"

"The kid is clever. That's right, Qi is the key to practicing Immortal Arts. However, it differs from cultivating the complete version of the arts. Normal Immortal Arts require one to first perceive natural energy from the outside world and bring it into oneself, balancing one's own energy, natural energy, and spiritual energy in a 1:1:1 ratio. That is how one unleashes the true power of Immortal Arts. Of course, Immortal Arts are divided into Yin and Yang; here in Ryuchi Cave, we inherit the Yin Immortal Path!"

Ara gave Mingye a rough, seasoned explanation. Mingye frowned slightly. The manga didn't contain many descriptions of Immortal Arts, and those who could use them were few and far between. Even a peerless genius like the Fourth Hokage had hit a wall on the path of Immortal Arts. Looking at the entire series, only four people could truly be said to use Immortal Arts in battle: Hashirama, Jiraiya, Kabuto, and Naruto. Aside from Hashirama—whose heritage was either innate to his clan or passed down from Shikkotsu Forest—Jiraiya and Naruto learned theirs at Mount Myoboku, while Kabuto's came from Ryuchi Cave. And of those, only Hashirama could be said to use Immortal Arts with divine skill. While Naruto worked hard to use them effectively, his path wasn't purely that of the Immortal Arts; with the will of a Tailed Beast and the protection of the Sage of Six Paths, even a fool wouldn't lose.

"How do I cultivate it?"

Those were thoughts for another time. Even if Naruto were to be born, that wouldn't happen for another seventy or eighty years. Whether he could survive until then was the real question, so Mingye stopped overthinking and asked for the method of cultivation.

"Qi is the energy that exists between all things in heaven and earth. Of course, if you refine it, it becomes natural energy. That is not what you need to practice right now. What you must do is step out of the Dragon Transformation Pool later, sit cross-legged on the ground, and perceive the breath of heaven and earth. The water of the Dragon Transformation Pool allows your entire body to merge with the world without barriers for one hour. If you can perceive Qi within that hour and draw it into your body, you have succeeded!" "Perceive it and draw it in!"

Ara explained the mysteries of Qi cultivation earnestly, and Mingye nodded, muttering to himself. Qi, put simply, was natural energy, but it was a completely different concept. If he had to use an analogy, natural energy was like a delicious braised pork dish, while Qi was the raw ingredients for that dish (forgive me, that was the only analogy my brain could come up with at the moment!).

What Mingye couldn't understand was that while possessing Qi granted one the qualification to further refine natural energy, it didn't mean one couldn't obtain natural energy without it. Why did the creature insist he obtain Qi first before teaching him anything else?

"Kid! I said you have three days, but you must understand one other thing: ordinary people cannot perceive the existence of Qi. Natural energy is easier to grasp than Qi, though that is relative. My Ryuchi Cave's Dragon Transformation Pool only allows one person to merge with all things for one hour each day. That is to say...!"

Just as Mingye was struggling to understand, Ara swam out of the Dragon Transformation Pool. After moving dozens of meters away, it suddenly turned back and shouted at Mingye.

"Actually, I only have three hours to sense and absorb the Qi!"

Hearing the end of Ara's words, Mingye interrupted and nodded.

"If you don't succeed in three days, we won't be seeing each other again! By the way, you can drink this spring water. After all, no one here will cook for you. Survival of the fittest—if you can't even endure three days of hunger, then no one will care if you die!"

"I understand!"

"Grandmother, I have told him everything!" When Ara returned to the place where the White Snake Sage resided in Ryuchi Cave, two black and one white giant pythons were coiled beside the Sage, seemingly waiting for Ara's arrival. Seeing Ara, Manda spoke first, questioning the White Snake Sage.

"Why help him? It would be better to treat him as food. Honestly, I've never eaten a ninja from the Uchiha clan! I wonder what they taste like."