A flash of Reverse Summoning blue light appeared, and the mist of the Shikkotsu Forest rushed towards them. The enormous Katsuyu Sage extended its tentacles, its voice laced with laughter. " Little Tsubasa, I've missed you so much! You've finally come to the Shikkotsu Forest to cultivate."
Tsubasa looked up at the starry Xingchen and suddenly felt a warmth fill his chest—the scent of grass and trees in the Shikkotsu Forest was more comforting than the sandalwood in the Hokage's office.
" Katsuyu Sage, this time I will be frequently in seclusion in the Shikkotsu Forest..." Before he could finish speaking, a Katsuyu suddenly slumped onto his shoulder, gently poking his face with its antennae. The distant waterfall murmured softly, as if the whole world was waiting for him to turn a new page.
Tsubasa retreated back to his old ways of cultivation. This time, he ventured into the birthplace of the Katsuyu Sage —a natural cave hidden deep in the clouds and mist. As soon as he stepped inside, he was hit by a wave of Spiritual Qi that made his nose itch— the Spiritual Qi inside the cave was so thick that it was like an impenetrable milky-white mist, so dense that you could wring out a damp spiritual aura from your clothes.
He sat cross-legged in the recessed area of Chakra Mother Metal Wall deep in the cave, entering a state of emptiness and absorbing the energy of heaven and earth. He felt a suction force like a whale swallowing seawater rising from the depths of his dantian. His physical body after reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm was indeed like a bottomless pit that had been opened. In the past, it would take him ten breaths to absorb Spiritual Qi outside the cave, but now it only took one breath to stir up a surging spiritual tide in his meridians.
"Tsk tsk, those little arms and legs, now they absorb Spiritual Qi like it's nothing." The Katsuyu Sage's avatar coiled on the stalactite on the cave ceiling, its eight tentacles dangling down, the fluorescent beads at their tips flickering with its voice. "Back when I first gained sentience, it took me half a month to struggle against the cracks in the earth's veins to absorb a single breath of Spiritual Qi."
After Tsubasa completed one cycle of his cultivation, he opened his eyes, caught the Azure Marrow Fruit thrown to him, and bit into it, its sweet juice bursting forth. "The cave where you were born has a natural spirit-gathering effect. Compared to this, the Spiritual Qi outside is like rice porridge filtered through a sieve." He flicked his finger at the newly carved spirit-gathering runes on the stone platform, and the pale golden patterns instantly lit up. The Spiritual Qi energy seeping from the cracks in the cave walls transformed into thin streams that flowed into the array's core. "I sealed thirty points of spiritual leakage with Chakra stones; now the Spiritual Qi concentration should be thirty times that outside."
"Thirty times?" The Katsuyu Sage's tentacles curled around the berries drying on the stone platform. "Once you finish inscribing the Spirit Gathering Array on the east cave wall, it might reach fifty times." It paused, its tentacles suddenly drooping listlessly. "I wonder when I'll be able to transform into human form!"
Tsubasa crushed the Spirit Gathering Grass in his hand, and the green sap transformed into a ball of Spiritual Qi in his palm. "You brought this up again. Didn't we agree last time that once I reached the Golden Core Stage, I would go to Ryūchi Cave to ask about the method of transformation, and I guarantee I can help you reshape your human form?" He looked up at the cave ceiling, and his eyes met the pair of watery compound eyes at the ends of the Katsuyu Sage's tentacles.
Suddenly, the Katsuyu Sage wrapped its tentacles around Tsubasa's wrist, the fluorescent beads flickering in the twilight. " Little Tsubasa, you've always been human, of course you can be calm." Its voice was like wind blowing through a pile of dead leaves, "But I've become prejudiced against human happiness, and in your home I've experienced what it truly means to be alive. I'm increasingly disgusted with being an insect. Lying here every day doing nothing is incredibly boring. And the joy the wind brings me can't satisfy my heart at all. How could you possibly understand how I feel?"
Tsubasa let the other's cold tentacles wrap around his wrist, recalling the moments he had spent with the Katsuyu Sage over the years. Indeed, no one who had witnessed prosperity could be content with solitude. However, once one truly experienced the beauty of the human world, how could one be willing to be a motionless insect lying here?
At this moment, the Spiritual Qi within the cave surged like a tide. He gazed at his reflection in the other's compound eyes, then suddenly reached out and grasped a tentacle, solemnly saying, "Once I Great Accomplishment of Foundation Establishment, I will travel to Ryūchi Cave and Mount Myōboku to help you obtain the secret technique for human transformation. Even if you fail to transform, I can use the Soul Reincarnation Technique to make you human again."
The Katsuyu Sage said in a gentle voice, "Thank you, Tsubasa. Then you should speed up your cultivation! Reach the Great Accomplishment of Foundation Establishment as soon as possible, otherwise I'm really afraid you won't be able to defeat that White Snake Sage and Toad Sage." After saying that, she left.
Tsubasa smiled and returned to his cultivation retreat. Outside, the mountain breeze rustled through the bellflowers at the cave entrance, creating a soft, whispering sound that mingled with the buzzing of the Spiritual Qi flowing within. He suddenly felt that this cave, permeated with Spiritual Qi, was more reassuring than any earthly paradise—after all, even the insect that always talked about "wanting to become human as soon as possible" had become an important companion on his cultivation journey.
Tsubasa's days were regular and fulfilling. Tensei, as the first rays of sunlight pierced through the mist of the Shikkotsu Forest, he would sit cross-legged in the recessed area of Chakra Mother Metal Wall in the cave where the Katsuyu Sage was born, entering a state of meditation. A suction force, like a whale swallowing the sea, would rise from the depths of his dantian, and the energy of heaven and earth would transform into a surging spiritual tide that flowed into his meridians. In the evening, he would repeat this process, absorbing the Spiritual Qi from different times of the day.
When his daily absorption of the energy of heaven and earth reached saturation, Tsubasa began tinkering with his various "side hustles." While forging equipment, sparks flew throughout the forging workshop. He wielded a specially crafted rune hammer, repeatedly striking Chakra Metal and various rare ores. The ores gradually deformed under the high temperature. As he forged, he infused his own Chakra, chanting incantations. "This time, I'm going to forge a Flying Thunder God Kunai that can automatically track enemies. I need to engrave tracking runes on the blade." As the last rune was completed, the newly forged Flying Thunder God Kunai shimmered with a pale blue light, as if announcing the birth of a divine weapon.
The process of refining elixirs was equally creative. Tsubasa placed various precious medicinal herbs into the furnace, carefully controlling the temperature of the flames and the amount of Chakra injected, experimenting again and again, improving the formula time and time again, creating all sorts of elixirs. "This Qi- Qi Replenishing Pill requires the addition of a three-hundred-year-old Ganoderma lucidum; the heat must be carefully controlled." He stared intently at the furnace, fine beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.
When the alchemy furnace was opened, and plump, round Qi Replenishing Pill with an alluring luster appeared, even the Katsuyu Sage couldn't help but come closer to curiously examine these magical little pills.
Inscribing the rune sealing array was an extremely delicate task. Holding Tsubasa, Tianyi meticulously inscribed runes stroke by stroke on various hard materials he had forged himself, or on specially made talisman paper. Each line contained a special power, and each symbol had a unique meaning. "This spatial stability sealing array needs to be strengthened; it must be able to resist the erosion of the laws of time," he muttered to himself, constantly adjusting the arrangement and combination of the various runes.
Once the sealing array was complete, a dazzling light shone in the room, and powerful spatial energy fluctuations echoed within. A stable alternate dimension appeared before Tsubasa's eyes. He was using time and space runes to create an independent alternate dimension, similar to the one Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan possessed.
Tsubasa also cleared a large area of land in the Shikkotsu Forest. He used Ninjutsu to turn the soil and sow seeds, carefully burying various precious medicinal herbs. On weekdays, Tsubasa would use a special Chakra irrigation technique to nourish these herbs, allowing them to grow strong. The Katsuyu Sage was responsible for weeding and also used his Senjutsu to provide nutrients to the herbs. Looking at the lush and verdant scene in the herb field, both the man and the insect were filled with joy. This must be the desire for cultivation etched into the genes of the Huaxia.
And so, the Shikkotsu Forest gradually became Tsubasa's private little world. It was not only an excellent place for him to cultivate, but also a secret base for him to study various Immortal Cultivation techniques.