"Then I'll burn you and your master into nothingness, until not even ash remains!"
Shengu Xuan's voice was quiet, yet like a death sentence from the Grim Reaper, it reached the ears of every "living thing" present with perfect clarity.
The instant that ball of dark-red Demon Fire appeared in his palm, the surrounding temperature soared! The air warped from the heat, and the snake blood and scraps of flesh on the ground even began to combust, hissing and giving off an acrid, scorched stench!
"This feeling... these flames... impossible!"
As Manda charged toward Shengu Xuan with his enormous, bloody maw wide open, an emotion called "fear" appeared in his huge serpentine eyes for the first time!
From that tiny ball of flame, he sensed a destructive power that struck at the deepest reaches of his bloodline-an irresistible power capable of erasing him completely from this world!
That power was even purer and more overbearing than the sage power he had once sensed in Shikkotsu Forest!
Run!
Manda forcibly twisted his enormous body in midair in a horribly awkward motion, trying to avoid Shengu Xuan!
But it was already too late.
"Only thinking of running now?" A cruel sneer curled Shengu Xuan's lips. "You're staying right here!"
He swung his hand sharply!
"ROAR!!!"
A dragon's roar, seemingly from the primordial wilderness, suddenly resounded through heaven and earth!
The ball of dark-red Demon Fire shot from Shengu Xuan's palm and swelled in the wind in midair!
In the blink of an eye, it became a dark-red fire dragon over a hundred meters long, its entire body blazing with raging flames!
This fire dragon had no physical substance, but was formed from the purest explosive demonic energy. Yet its shape was lifelike, complete with scales, claws, and whiskers! Its fiery dragon eyes brimmed with savage violence and the will to destroy!
The dark-red fire dragon circled through the air, caught up with the fleeing Purple Giant Snake at more than ten times Manda's speed, then wrapped its enormous flaming body tightly around him!
"HISSS-AAAAAH!!!"
Manda let out an agonized scream!
His cry was filled with endless pain and terror!
The dark-red Demon Fire was no ordinary flame! It carried the properties of "incineration" and "explosion" on the level of laws themselves!
Manda's tough hide, strong enough to withstand most A-rank ninjutsu, was like paper beneath the Demon Fire. It instantly burned through, charred, and peeled away!
Purple scales curled and blackened in the flames, giving off a nauseating burnt smell. His tough flesh rapidly cooked, and his fat melted with a sizzling crackle.
In the instant of contact alone, horrific burns spread over vast stretches of Manda's body!
"Orochimaru! Save me! Hurry and save me! Release the summoning! Hurry!!!" Manda twisted frantically, trying to break free of the fire dragon's restraints, but its flaming body clung to him like maggots to bone, tightening its coils!
He rolled and slammed against the ground over and over, smashing one enormous crater after another into it. But nothing he did could extinguish even the slightest trace of the Demon Fire!
Standing nearby, Orochimaru was completely dumbfounded.
He stared blankly at Manda howling in the flames, his mind empty.
Manda... his strongest summoned beast, the overlord of Ryūchi Cave, a terrifying being whom even Jiraiya and Tsunade had to treat warily, was now like a pitiful little snake thrown into a bonfire, utterly powerless to fight back!
That fire dragon... what on earth was it?!
Was it ninjutsu? Impossible! No Fire Release technique in the world could possess such terrifying power!
Was it a kekkei genkai? Or some form of Senjutsu he had never seen?!
Orochimaru's scientific curiosity trembled, but greater still was the fear rising from deep within him!
"What are you standing there for? Release the summoning! You idiot!" Manda's screams dragged Orochimaru out of his shock and back to reality.
"Right... right! Release the summoning!" Orochimaru snapped out of his daze and immediately moved to form hand seals.
But would Shengu Xuan give him that chance?
"I said I'd burn him into nothingness." Shengu Xuan's icy voice rang out again. "Until my flames go out, no one can save him."
With a thought from Shengu Xuan!
"ROAR!"
The dark-red fire dragon wrapped around Manda suddenly tightened its body!
At the same time, it opened its enormous jaws and unleashed an even more concentrated, even hotter blast of Dragon Breath at Manda's head!
"BOOM!!!"
Before Manda's enormous head could even let out one final scream, it burst apart beneath the impact of the Dragon Breath!
Red and white matter mixed with charred tissue, exploding like fireworks!
Under the blazing flames, the enormous headless snake body also began to rapidly fall apart, turning into ash that filled the sky!
Meanwhile, the ordinary venomous snakes still fighting the Shadowkhan seemed to lose their guiding force. They instantly lost all aggression, then vanished without a trace in puffs of white smoke as their summoning was forcibly released.
Only a few dozen seconds had passed from beginning to end.
The snake army Orochimaru took such pride in, along with his strongest summoned beast, Manda, had been completely erased before Shengu Xuan in the cruelest, most thorough way!
The entire battlefield instantly fell deathly silent.
Only the dark-red fire dragon remained, slowly circling in midair and radiating a terrifying aura of all-consuming destruction, as though proclaiming its victory.
The Shadow Ninjas, meanwhile, silently sank back into the shadow beneath Shengu Xuan's feet like the most loyal guards, as though they had never appeared.
Thud.
Orochimaru's legs gave way, and he collapsed onto his backside.
He looked at the fire dragon circling in midair, then at the enormous, still-steaming black scorch mark on the ground. His eyes lost all focus.
Defeated.
Utterly defeated.
All his methods, all his trump cards, seemed so laughable, so utterly fragile before this young man named Shengu Xuan.
Ninjutsu, forbidden techniques, the Summoning Technique... everything he had spent his entire life studying had lost all meaning before this monster.
Despair.
An unprecedented despair that sank deep into his bones engulfed Orochimaru completely.
For the first time, he realized how insignificant and pathetic the "ultimate truth" he had pursued his entire life was before a true "god."
Shengu Xuan slowly walked up to Orochimaru, who lay slumped on the ground, and looked down at him as though examining an ant he had already broken through play.
The fire dragon in midair dissipated as well, turning into sparks that flowed into Shengu Xuan's body.
"Well, Orochimaru?" That nasty smile returned to Shengu Xuan's face. "Was the fireworks show I prepared for you exciting enough?"
Orochimaru did not answer. He merely murmured dazedly to himself, "Why... why does something like you exist... this defies common sense... this isn't scientific..."
"Scientific?" As though he had heard some outrageous joke, Shengu Xuan could not help laughing. "In a world where rolling a ball in your hand can destroy a mountaintop, you're talking to me about science?"
Shengu Xuan stopped smiling and slowly crouched down. He extended a finger and lifted Orochimaru's chin, forcing him to meet his eyes.
"Still, since you brought me a little amusement, I can give you a chance." A devilish gleam flickered in Shengu Xuan's eyes. "A chance... to explore the 'truth.'"
At last, a flicker stirred in Orochimaru's eyes.
"What... do you mean?"
"I mean, haven't you always wanted to study every technique in this world and pursue the truth of immortality?" Shengu Xuan's smile grew increasingly teasing. "As it happens, hidden within me is the... ultimate secret you've dreamed of."
Before he had finished speaking, Shengu Xuan's other hand suddenly seized Orochimaru's right hand with incredible speed!
Then he gave a violent wrench!
Crack!
A crisp sound of breaking bone rang out!
Shengu Xuan tore Orochimaru's entire right arm straight from his shoulder!
"AAAAAH!"
The searing pain made Orochimaru scream in agony!
Yet Shengu Xuan seemed not to hear him. Holding up the severed arm, he gave Orochimaru an extremely eerie smile.
"Don't be impatient. The game has only just begun."
"Next, I'll let you witness with your own eyes what... true immortality means!"
A strange, spectral blue gleam flashed through Shengu Xuan's eyes!
The Rat Talisman-turning the inanimate animate!
Was he actually going to turn Orochimaru's own arm into a living thing right before his eyes?!
Before you continue