Chapter 19

After taking a drag from her pipe, the White Snake Sage leisurely blew out a few smoke rings and addressed the four snakes.

"Although I'm not particularly skilled in the art of prophecy, I've discovered that this person's fate was severed long ago. Why do you think that is?"

"Granny's lying again. How could someone with a severed fate still be alive?" The enormous white serpent clearly didn't believe the White Snake Sage and immediately objected.

The White Snake Sage looked at the white serpent with disdain and replied with a smile, "You're still so young. What could you possibly know? It's true that most people whose fate is severed can't survive. But there are always some who can!"

"People who defy fate! They alter their own destiny through immense power. Granny, do you think a child under twenty could accomplish that?"

Manda cut in coldly to explain to the other three snakes, then turned to question the White Snake Sage.

"That's what I can't understand, either. No outsider can change someone's fate. If that weren't true, the Sage of Six Paths wouldn't have died of natural causes back then. Yet this boy's fate was changed! He doesn't have the ability to do it himself, and I haven't sensed anyone out there who could. So why did it happen?"

The White Snake Sage rolled her eyes, just as baffled. If that plump toad knew about this, perhaps it could figure out the reason after a nap. She wasn't a prophetic sage, so there was no way she could understand why this had happened: someone without the ability to alter his own destiny, who should already be dead, was still up and about.

"He's from the Uchiha Clan. He can't learn Sage Method!"

As everyone fell into deep thought, another black serpent spoke up. Uchiha Clan ninjas couldn't possibly learn Sage Method. Their bodies couldn't contain this kind of Senjutsu at all. The clan's natural power was concentrated in their eyes—that was the famous, deadly skill that had made their name. In his eyes, the three-day test was nothing more than a death countdown, with the White Snake Sage entertaining herself by toying with Mingye.

"That was true in the past! Now his body is like a lump of cotton, and chakra is like a pool of lamp oil. His body can cultivate chakra now only because the flame isn't strong enough and the oil is still cold. But once he's a little older and has refined more chakra, he'll spontaneously combust. It's inevitable!"

The White Snake Sage shook her head slightly and explained Mingye's current condition. He had chakra but couldn't release it. Once the amount of chakra in his body—

"Then why make him cultivate Sage Method?"

Ara couldn't understand it, either. After all, he was the one who had brought Mingye here. Even if the boy died, he deserved to know why.

"I just wanted to see whether the Uchiha Clan's ninjas really lost all their chakra when they went blind after awakening their eyes. If he truly can't circulate chakra through the yin and yang of the Five Elements, sensing energy should be easy for him. Taking on a disciple like that wouldn't be a bad thing!"

The White Snake Sage knew what happened when members of the Uchiha Clan awakened their eyes, so she gave them the playful excuse she'd come up with. Oddly enough, she found the boy rather likable, so she'd given him the chance to sink or swim.

"And if it doesn't work?"

"Then he's my food! Manda, you already ate three hundred people last time!"

Just as Manda was about to suggest eating Mingye, the white serpent interrupted, claiming that Mingye was already hers to devour. The black serpent joined in, too. The three giant serpents collided and fought over him, then left the White Snake Sage's dwelling.

Seated cross-legged on the ground, Mingye had no idea what the White Snake Sage had said. Even if he had known, he wouldn't have been able to refuse. As she'd said, in this chaotic Warring States era, losing his chakra meant he'd been removed from the game of black and white stones. Death was only a matter of time. Madara could protect him for a while, but never for the rest of his life. In the end, he had to rely on himself to survive in this world.

As time passed, Mingye's body began to sense changes in the surrounding environment. Faint rays of light seemed to pass before his eyes. This wasn't a sign that his sight was returning; it was because his body had merged with the earth and become part of nature.

Like a lone boat tossing on a stormy sea, he was battered by wave after wave of energy. A stinging pain followed each one.

"It hurts! It really hurts!"

He grumbled inwardly, but didn't abandon his wary focus. There was one thing Ara hadn't told him, something he'd only just realized: the Dragon Transformation Pool was never meant for humans. Nor was energy something humans were meant to cultivate. Drawing in nature's power was gentle and smooth, but nature also had a furious side—violent and restless. Energy was that negative force. Only snakes, toads, and slugs, the three great summoning lands, could harness it according to their nature and incorporate it into their fighting styles.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye. Mingye spat out a mouthful of blood and coughed, clenching his fists in frustration. Three hours. That was his countdown to death. He was going to die because he was so useless!

"Giving up so soon?"

A voice suddenly sounded beside him. Mingye hurriedly sat upright and bowed respectfully. Now that he knew who she was, he answered frankly, "I wouldn't dare. I just didn't realize how useless I was."

"Do you know what energy is?"

The White Snake Sage's voice sounded again, as though mocking Mingye's ignorance. He furrowed his brow slightly and answered, "The source of Sage Method."

"Clever boy. Unfortunately, your kind has abandoned this source."

Her words were praise, but her tone sounded mocking. The mention of abandoning it left Mingye confused. He didn't understand what she meant.

"Isn't this something humans were never able to use?"

"Ha ha ha! All things possess spiritual energy, but not everything can develop a mind. Even those that do must contend with life and death, spending tens of thousands of years in a muddled state without ever accomplishing anything. Without human intelligence, how could there be such a thing as a sage? Energy was a method your kind created by observing all living things—a way to share the lifespan of heaven and earth! And you think humans can't cultivate it? Absurd!"

Hearing the White Snake Sage laugh, Mingye didn't know how to respond. Even though he'd been a doctor in his previous life and knew a little about traditional Chinese medicine and Taoism, he'd never believed that immortals were real. As for energy, to him it had only ever been something martial artists talked about when cultivating their bodies and minds. He'd read so many books in his previous life and had always imagined the characters traveling through time and finding legendary manuals without even opening their eyes, or himself stumbling across one while strolling through a street or browsing an antique shop. But he'd never found a single one. Chinese people hadn't even cherished the books on ancient medicine. He'd once read online about a European collector who owned as many as three or four thousand rare old books. His collection couldn't rival an entire country's holdings, but knowing that his ancestors' life's work had been sold abroad by their descendants for money still caused a pain he couldn't put into words.

"Don't doubt it, boy. A thousand years ago, before that so-called evil appeared, this world had no such thing as chakra! Most humans were still our food, but a small number focused on cultivating energy. Unfortunately, there's no point talking about it now. They're all extinct!"

Her voice rang out dismissively once more as the White Snake Sage explained further. Mingye was stunned; he'd never considered this. The manga had only mentioned that the woman ate the fruit of the God Tree, without saying what the world was like before she did. Chakra hadn't spread until later, when the Sage of Six Paths defeated his mother and sealed away the Ten-Tails. The Sage of Six Paths had then sown chakra throughout the world. The Nine Tailed Beasts hadn't been released into the world for no reason; they must have had a purpose of their own—

"Sage!"

"Ha ha ha! What is a sage? A so-called sage is simply a creature that lives a little longer and is a little stronger than ordinary birds and beasts. Enough talk. I came only to give you a small hint: even the fiercest wind can't move a vast forest, and even the strongest fire can't consume the sea. The sky won't change, and the earth won't change. Only the myriad beings between them can change. Whether you understand or not, that's all I have to say. Live or die—it's your choice. Think it over, child!"