"Auntie Tsunade, it's been two years, and Konoha's ramen still smells just as good." A tall, slender young man in a black casual trench coat strolled into the Hokage's office, his bearing languid yet unfathomable.
Seated behind her broad desk, Tsunade was suffering a terrible headache over the mountain of paperwork piled before her. At that infuriating form of address, a vein instantly bulged on her forehead. She grabbed the ink bottle on her desk and hurled it at him.
"You little brat! How many times have I told you to call me Lord Hokage or Big Sister Tsunade?! Call me auntie again, and I'll pound you into a meat patty!"
Shengu Xuan did not even raise a hand, merely tilting his head slightly. Half an inch from his cheek, the ink bottle seemed to meet an invisible repulsive force and froze in midair before falling to the floor with a smack.
At seventeen, Shengu Xuan had already grown to over six feet tall. Having shed the immaturity of two years ago, his sharply defined face looked even more handsome and cold. Most striking were his deep, pitch-black eyes, which seemed to conceal an endless abyss. After two years of traveling, the thunder demon chi and water demon chi within him had become thoroughly integrated. Combined with the absolute strength of the Ox Talisman, he now radiated a terrifying, suffocating pressure even when he was simply standing there.
As Tsunade looked at the young man before her, who had grown into a towering tree, the anger in her eyes instantly gave way to gratification and amazement. She could sense that Shengu Xuan's strength had probably reached a terrifying level that even she could not hope to look up to.
"You little brat, where have you been gallivanting around these past