"Bring it on!"
Facing the Kusanagi Sword's edge, sharp enough to cleave adamantine and pierce anything, Shengu Xuan showed not a trace of fear. Instead, his eyes blazed with the feverish excitement of meeting a worthy opponent!
His whipping kick accelerated rather than slowed, carrying tremendous force as it crashed into the sword tip glittering with a deathly chill!
Madness and anticipation flickered in Orochimaru's eyes!
The Kusanagi Sword was his strongest means of physical attack. Combined with his uncanny movements, even the Third Hokage's Enma would not dare take it head-on lightly!
He would pierce this monster's body with this strike and obtain his cellular tissue! So long as he obtained even the tiniest sample, he was confident he could unravel the secret of "eternal life"!
Pierce him! Orochimaru roared madly inwardly.
Clang-!!!
Yet the anticipated sight of blood and flesh flying never appeared.
Instead, a deafening clang rang out, as though metal had struck metal!
The sound was so loud that it sent a visible ripple through the air!
Orochimaru's snake-like pupils widened abruptly!
What was he seeing?
He saw his Kusanagi Sword, which could cut through anything, strike Shengu Xuan's lower leg as though it had hit an immovable, primordial divine mountain!
Dazzling sparks even burst from the point where the sword tip met his skin!
Not even a faint white mark remained on Shengu Xuan's lower leg!
Yet under the tremendous recoil, the incomparably sharp Kusanagi Sword gave an overwhelmed, mournful hum, its entire blade bending backward into an astonishing arc!
"This... how is this possible?!"
Orochimaru's mind crashed once again.
Taking the Kusanagi Sword head-on?!
Taking the Kusanagi Sword head-on with his flesh?!
This had completely surpassed his understanding of the very concept of a "living organism"!
Even Lightning Release Chakra Mode cultivated to its utmost could never achieve anything like this! This body's toughness had reached an inconceivable, mythical realm!
"Not bad." Feeling the slight sting in his lower leg, like a mosquito bite, Shengu Xuan nodded in satisfaction.
Then his ankle jerked sharply!
Bang!
An irresistible, terrifying force instantly traveled along the blade into Orochimaru!
Pfft!
As though struck by a heavy hammer, Orochimaru was forcibly kicked away, Kusanagi Sword and all!
He tumbled through the air more than a dozen times, smashed through several remaining charred tree trunks, and finally slammed into a field of scattered rocks, sending dust billowing everywhere.
"Cough... cough, cough..."
Within the dust, Orochimaru struggled to climb to his feet. The web of his hand gripping the Kusanagi Sword had split completely open and was bleeding freely, while his entire arm trembled violently beyond his control.
He looked at the boy in the distance, who slowly lowered his leg with even his trouser cuff completely undamaged. Nothing remained in his eyes but endless bewilderment and... a faint trace of despair.
The Horse Talisman represented "healing."
The Dog Talisman, however, represented "immortality"!
It granted its bearer eternal life, as well as... an indestructible body!
In that instant, Shengu Xuan had channeled the Dog Talisman's power into his lower leg. Its defensive strength had already surpassed that of any known substance in this world!
Never mind the Kusanagi Sword-even a direct bombardment from a Tailed Beast Bomb could not hope to harm him in the slightest!
"An Immortal Body indeed... in the truest sense... Indestructibility..." Orochimaru murmured dazedly.
Super-speed regeneration meant being able to recover no matter how severe the injury.
Indestructibility, however, meant never being injured at all!
Together, these two constituted true, flawless "eternal life"!
Looking at Shengu Xuan, Orochimaru felt as though the ultimate dream he had pursued all his life was standing alive before him in its most perfect, most merciless form.
And he himself was so insignificant, so pitiful.
"Do you still want to continue, Orochimaru?" Shengu Xuan brushed nonexistent dust from his trouser leg and walked toward Orochimaru, step by step. "My patience is very limited. If you have no other interesting tricks, it's time this game ended."
Ended?
Hearing that word, Orochimaru shuddered.
He knew what "ended" meant.
This monster might kill him outright, or treat him as an actual "toy," imprisoning him forever for endless, inhumane "research."
Neither was what he wanted!
He had to escape!
He had to return to his base with the earth-shattering secret of the "immortal"! Then he would devote every resource he had to researching how to deal with this monster, how to... seize the power of "eternal life" from him!
A glimmer of the will to survive reignited in Orochimaru's eyes!
He glanced at Sasuke Uchiha nearby, whom he had beaten unconscious but whose chest still rose and fell faintly. An extraordinarily bold, extraordinarily insane plan instantly formed in his mind!
"Lord Shengu Xuan... you are right. I... have no trump cards left."
Orochimaru suddenly put away the Kusanagi Sword and once again showed Shengu Xuan that humble, fervent expression.
He slowly knelt on the ground and bowed his head deeply.
"I am willing to submit to you and become your most loyal servant. Please... accept my loyalty."
Shengu Xuan stopped and raised an eyebrow. A hint of amusement flashed in his eyes as he watched Orochimaru suddenly "surrender."
"Oh? Giving up so soon? How boring."
"Before your absolute power, any resistance is futile." Orochimaru's voice was utterly sincere. "I only hope to follow at your side. Even if I could only watch you from afar and feel the radiance of 'truth,' I would be fully content."
Shengu Xuan watched Orochimaru kneeling on the ground and fell silent for a moment, seemingly considering something.
And at that very moment!
At the very instant Shengu Xuan's attention was drawn to him!
Orochimaru abruptly raised his head from the ground!
His neck once again stretched wildly in defiance of the laws of physics!
But this time, his target was not Shengu Xuan!
It was... Sasuke Uchiha, lying more than ten meters away!
Whoosh-!
Like a venomous snake loosed from a bowstring, Orochimaru's head crossed those dozen-odd meters in a flash and appeared beside the unconscious Sasuke!
He opened his mouth wide, baring two sharp fangs, and without hesitation sank them viciously into Sasuke's neck!
Cursed Seal of Heaven! Inject!
"Aaaah-!!!"
Still unconscious, Sasuke abruptly let out a piercing scream under the intense pain!
A black mark composed of three tomoe instantly appeared on his neck and rapidly spread!
Having finished, Orochimaru's head did not linger for even a moment. It snapped back as he slammed both hands against the ground!
"Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique!"
His body instantly merged into the ground and vanished without a trace!
From kneeling, to ambushing Sasuke, to escaping with Earth Release, the entire sequence flowed seamlessly in one continuous motion, its speed pushed to the utmost!
This was his escape plan, with everything riding on it!
He gambled that he could draw Shengu Xuan's attention!
He gambled that Shengu Xuan was not entirely indifferent to whether his "companion," Sasuke Uchiha, lived or died!
As long as he could create an opening of even a tenth of a second, he was confident he could escape with his life!
And now, he had succeeded!
"Hahahahaha! Shengu Xuan! I'll remember you! We'll meet again very soon! When that time comes, I will have your body! I will have your 'eternal life'!!"
Orochimaru's deranged laughter came from deep underground, growing ever more distant.
Shengu Xuan stood where he was and did not pursue him.
He merely watched quietly as Sasuke Uchiha struggled and screamed in pain on the ground, watching the black Cursed Seal spreading incessantly over his neck.
A long while passed.
A smile slowly spread across Shengu Xuan's face, more brilliant and more sinister than any before.
"Oh? You actually left behind such an interesting 'contingency'?"
He slowly walked over to Sasuke, crouched down, and extended a finger to tap the scorching Cursed Seal lightly.
"Injected with a deadly poison called 'power,' then shrouded in the 'despair' I revealed."
"Uchiha brat, I'm really looking forward to this..."
An unprecedented gleam shone in Shengu Xuan's eyes, as though he were watching a good show.
"Just what kind of... dazzling flower of evil will you bloom into along this thorn-covered road?"
Before you continue