"So, you also want to sacrifice humans?"
A voice rang out from the crowd. It wasn't loud, but it drowned out all the other noises.
The immortal turned his head abruptly and roared, "Who dares to speak!"
The crowd parted to make way for Shinsei, who emerged as the same sallow-faced youth, but his eyes had turned cold.
Just as the immortal was about to curse again, Shinsei moved. He was as fast as a shadow, taking a step in front of the immortal, and reaching out with his right hand to grab the immortal's wrist.
Chakra surged into his fingers, scattering the Natural Energy in the Sage's forearm.
The immortal's expression changed drastically; his entire right arm felt as if it were clamped in an iron clamp, rendering him unable to move.
"Who are you!" the immortal roared.
"Just passing by," Shinsei said.
The immortal tried to use his left hand, Shinsei used his other hand to lock his throat.
It wasn't a lot of strength, but it was enough to leave him breathless.
The surrounding villagers were all dumbfounded, and no one dared to utter a sound. The copper bell in the old man's gray robe fell to the ground, jingled, and rolled a few times.
"Are you working for God's Kingdom?" Shinsei asked.
"Since you know, why don't you let go!" The immortal's voice was forced out from his throat. "I am an immortal from Takamagahara! Who are you? Knowing my identity, why don't you release me now? If you hurt me, your entire city will die!"
Shinsei didn't loosen his grip; instead, he tightened it further. "I'm asking you, why sacrifice humans?"
The immortal's face was flushed red, and large beads of sweat dripped down his forehead.
He knew he couldn't escape, and he knew this sallow-faced young man was no ordinary villager.
He finally stopped struggling, his throat feeling like it had been rubbed with sandpaper.
"I... I'm not qualified enough. I've cultivated for over forty years, but I still haven't become a true god."
In another ten years or so, I too will die of old age. I'm not willing to accept that! So... that's why I want to use the lives of those mortals to make amends. As long as enough sacrifices are made, I can eventually accumulate some qualifications."
"So you're just acting?" Kaguya stepped forward and stood next to Shinsei. Her eyes were still pale white, staring straight at the immortal.
The immortal gasped for breath a few times, as if he had given up.
"If we didn't put on a show, everyone would have run away long ago. Those mortals aren't stupid; they know you're capturing people for sacrifice, and they'd escape faster than rabbits."
Why don't we let the Toad out and cause some trouble? They'll get scared and come begging to me.
If I chase the Toad away in front of them, they'll think I'm a savior. Then, when I say I need to make a sacrifice, they won't dare disobey."
Shinsei listened quietly, his fingers not loosening. He suddenly thought of the altar in Takamagahara, and of the young boys and girls who were burned as firewood.
The person before me doesn't possess the identities of those gods from Takamagahara, yet he imitates them better than anyone else.
He lured people into a small temple he built himself, and then used a Toad show to slowly drain their lives.
Such a person can no longer be called an immortal.
You're more disgusting than those cannibalistic creatures in Takamagahara.
The immortal trembled all over and suddenly knelt down with a thud.
Ignoring the fact that Shinsei was gripping his wrist, he slammed his forehead against the ground.
"I was wrong! I was wrong! I'll never do it again! Let me go, and I'll leave right now and never come back!"
Shinsei didn't move, only looked down at him.
The man was crying so hard his face was covered in tears, his nose and tears mingled together, and his clothes were covered in incense ash. If someone who didn't know the situation saw him, they might really think he was pitiful.
"You know you were wrong," Shinsei said, "You know you're going to die."
He raised his hand, and lightning crackled in his palm.
The immortal's eyes widened, but before he could shout, the lightning struck. The sound was extremely short, like the shattering of a bamboo stalk.
The immortal collapsed to the ground, his body twitched twice, and then he lay still.
There was a moment of silence, then a villager knelt down with a thud.
They weren't kneeling before immortals, but kneeling before Shinsei, constantly expressing their gratitude.
Shinsei frowned as he looked at the group of people kneeling before him.
He had never liked these bootlickers, feeling they insulted human dignity.
But there's nothing we can do about this trend.
Shinsei glanced at them but said nothing. He knew these people were just afraid, just habitually looking for someone to kneel before.
Shinsei ignored the humans and instead focused his attention on the giant Toad.
The Toad noticed Shinsei looking at it with amusement. Its Toad skin tightened, and it vanished in a wisp of smoke.
Deep within the secluded mountains lie hidden realms of varying sizes.
Among these secret realms, one has been passed down for countless ages.
A giant, dark blue Toad rampaged through the forest, trampling down a patch of bushes before finally stopping at the entrance of a huge burrow.
The cave was deep, filled with a cool breeze and a faint, fishy smell. The giant Toad snorted, pushed off with its four legs, and burrowed inside.
The cave was dark, and it widened as we went down. The giant Toad complained the whole way.
"How come Mount Myōboku has become like Ryūchi Cave, hiding inside a cave! Were they so frightened by those immortals? They're really getting more and more backward as they get older."
He had barely finished speaking when he remembered how the boy's single glance had frightened him so much that he had returned to Mount Myōboku, and he immediately shut his mouth.
After turning several corners, the light suddenly appeared ahead. There was actually light in the cave, as if it were seeping from the stone, and it was greenish.
A giant orange Toad sat at the very back, with a thick white beard on its chin and a dry, withered body, like a piece of dried tree bark.
Next to it squatted an ordinary-sized old toad, with a string of beads hanging around its neck and a word - Maru - engraved on it.
The giant Toad croaked, as if to greet its master, "Lord Ancestor, I'm back."
The giant orange Toad didn't react. The Toad then croaked again.
There was still no response. After a long while, the giant Toad's eyelids finally twitched, as if it were emerging from an extremely long dream.
"Oh, it's Heipi," said Toad Ancestor, his voice as slow as a leaky bamboo pipe.
The Heipi Toad flicked its tongue. "Lord Zu, you're not old yet, how come you're already senile? I called you three times, and you didn't answer once."
"I'm listening to Gamamaru talk about his dream," Toad Ancestor said slowly. "He just had another one."
The Heipi Toad then looked at the small, old Toad beside it. Gamamaru was squatting at the feet of the Toad Ancestor, the string of beads around its neck glowing faintly in the green light.
It wasn't very big, even a bit thin, but its eyes were very bright, unlike what you'd expect from someone its age.
"What did you dream about?" the big Heipi Toad asked.
Gamamaru did not answer immediately.
It flicked the beads on its neck with its forepaws, its voice low and slow.
I dreamt that there were two more fish in the river. One was big, and the other was even bigger.
The larger ones went east, the even larger ones went west. The water was churned up so much that it was impossible to see clearly. Then I heard a voice say, "This world has gained two more variables."
The large Heipi Toad was taken aback. "Two variables? One a teenager, the other a middle-aged man?"
"The young man's face is obscured, but he's very bright, like a ball of fire falling from the clouds. The middle-aged man... his face is also unclear. These two shouldn't be in this river. Now that they're here, the original flow has been completely disrupted."
The Heipi, black Toad slapped the ground. "The boy you're talking about, I've seen him! He's in the city over there on the other side of the mountain. He doesn't look particularly remarkable, but the aura of Senjutsu power he exudes is even stronger than that of the gods of Takamagahara. He's also accompanied by a white-haired woman, as white as snow."
After listening, Gamamaru remained silent for a long while. Toad Ancestor was beside him, opened one eye but did not speak.
Water droplets pattered down from the cave ceiling, hitting the head of the large Heipi Toad, which shook its head.
"We can't go looking for that boy," Gamamaru suddenly said.
"Why?" the Heipi Toad, puzzled.
"He carries the scent of the God Tree, and also the shadow of the Ōtsutsuki. Especially the woman beside him. I've dreamt about her."
She is neither human nor god. If she were to awaken, Amaterasu wouldn't be able to suppress her. The world would be ruined in her hands.
When Gamamaru spoke, the beads on its neck tapped gently, as if they were counting for it.
We need to find that middle-aged man.
"Middle aged??"
"Hmm." Gamamaru nodded. "That boy is too dangerous; we can't get close. But that middle-aged man has a way; perhaps he can lure the Ōtsutsuki to where he needs to go. We Toad can't hide underground forever. We have to do something."
The Heipi, black Toad opened its mouth as if to say something, but in the end it only croaked once.
The cave fell silent. Toad Ancestor closed his eyes again, as if falling back into a dream. Gamamaru flicked the beads, making a series of very soft clinking sounds, like counting the days.
The Heipi Toad squatted for a while, then finally turned and crawled towards the cave entrance. It didn't look back, but just muttered something.
"I'll go back to town and take a look. That boy might already be gone."
After saying that, it pushed off with its hind legs and disappeared into the light outside the cave.
Mount Myōboku fell silent again, with only the wind blowing in from outside the cave, rustling the vines and grass on the cave walls.