Tianxin Shenji's delicate lips parted, and a soft, alluring invitation reached Orochimaru's ears. Combined with her serpentine grace and the slight blush on her cheeks illuminated by the dim light, anyone else might have been instantly mesmerized by the vision of beauty under the lamplight, passively accepting whatever she proposed.
However, Orochimaru was no ordinary person.
A beautiful woman who was merely a shell, with a heart that harbored a desire to devour him whole, was not someone he could indulge in at this moment.
"You must be one of the renowned Three Shenji of Ryuchi Cave?"
Orochimaru gazed up at the magnificent palace before him for a while, nodded gently, and then shifted his attention to Tianxin Shenji.
"There's no need to go inside!"
"The genjutsu constructed with Sage Mode energy is indeed impressive!"
A flicker of surprise crossed Tianxin Shenji's eyes. She swayed her waist, gracefully approaching Orochimaru. Looking into his clear eyes, she reached out to his chest with a hint of regret.
"As expected of the fated one specifically warned about by the Great Sage, you have seen through the first trial before it even began."
"Human, what is your name?"
Orochimaru gently pushed away her restless hand, frowning slightly.
"Orochimaru!"
Tianxin Shenji felt no embarrassment. She smoothly withdrew her hand, covering her mouth as she let out a soft giggle.
"I'll remember you!"
"You have passed the first trial, but the subsequent trials will not be simple for you."
Sensing the amount of chakra within Orochimaru, Tianxin Shenji's eyes held a hint of disdain. She released her hand from her mouth. Her face, previously as fair as jade, contorted, revealing her original ferocious, fanged serpent maw.
"If you fail the trials..."
"You will be eaten by my two sisters!"
"Hee hee..."
Amidst malevolent laughter, Tianxin Shenji vanished into thin air before Orochimaru's eyes. The imposing palace that had stood before him also disappeared, and the cave returned to its original darkness.
"Ichikishimahime's chakra extraction trial?"
Orochimaru murmured, suppressing the restless dark chakra within him.
"I want to see who is stronger: Sage Mode, which is based on natural energy, or dark chakra, which absorbs all negative powers."
"I hope your appetite can handle it!"
With a cold smile in his eyes, Orochimaru strode into the deeper darkness.
Along the way, he dealt with several more foolish snake creatures that mistook him for prey. At this depth within Ryuchi Cave, the snakes that appeared were noticeably larger than before.
However, these beasts with extremely low intelligence posed no trouble to Orochimaru. The emotional sensing granted by his dark chakra allowed him to accurately pinpoint the location of these snakes without any visual aids; their attack times and directions appeared incredibly crude to Orochimaru's perception.
Not only that, but these giant snakes, upon their demise, provided Orochimaru with a large amount of dark energy that could be converted into Yin-Yang Release.
When light appeared before Orochimaru's eyes again, the Yin-Yang Release chakra within him had nearly doubled.
"Trial-taker, to obtain the power of Ryuchi Cave, you must pass my trial!"
"Otherwise, your path ends here!"
A clear, cold voice echoed from a cave emitting a radiant glow. Ichikishimahime, playing with a piece of colored stone, appeared at the cave entrance, her snake-like eyes devoid of emotion fixed on Orochimaru.
Orochimaru nodded slightly, walked directly past Ichikishimahime, and entered the cave.
"Esteemed Shenji, may I be so bold as to ask."
"Does this second trial have anything to do with this stone door and these stones on the ground?"
Orochimaru glanced at the stone door blocking the path ahead, then his gaze shifted to the scattered, strangely shaped crystals, and he inquired with a peculiar expression.
Ichikishimahime slowly walked to the stone door, her hand caressing the numerous grooves on its surface. Her eyes arrogantly surveyed the man before her, whose chakra levels were not particularly overwhelming.
"Indeed!"
"You need to fill these blank crystals on the ground with chakra, and then place them into the corresponding grooves on the door according to their shapes."
"This trial is to screen for contractors with sufficient strength to bear natural energy."
"If you don't have enough chakra..."
"Hmph!"
"Your fate will not be much better than those snakes you just killed!"
Orochimaru paid no mind to Ichikishimahime's taunt. He bent down, picked up a crystal, tossed it in his hand, and asked with interest,
"Where does the chakra from these crystals ultimately go?"
"It's not the key to opening this door, is it?"
Ichikishimahime, unsure of Orochimaru's intentions, merely let out a cold laugh and said dismissively,
"The key to opening the stone door lies solely with me!"
"If I deem you qualified to pass, then you may pass through this door."
"Otherwise..."
"Hmph!"
"As for the chakra in these crystals, whether you have the ability to fill them or not, it will ultimately be my offering."
Orochimaru feigned understanding, nodded, and channeled a portion of his dark chakra, slowly injecting it into the crystal in his hand.
The crystal, which had originally emitted a faint colored glow, rapidly turned pitch-black as the dark chakra was injected.
"Esteemed Shenji, I wonder if this level of chakra is to your liking?"
Orochimaru casually tossed the darkened crystal towards her.
Ichikishimahime's snake-like pupils contracted, and she instinctively reached out to catch it.
"Human, this Shenji detected no action of chakra refinement from you. How did you do it?"
Seeing the surprised and uncertain look in the snake princess's eyes, Orochimaru chuckled and shook his head.
"This involves some of my secrets. If you wish to know, you will have to pay a price!"
The snake princess sneered, and a suction force emanated from her palm holding the crystal.
"A mere mortal, you merely possess some unspeakable tricks!"
"Once this Shenji absorbs this chakra, I will naturally know..."
"Ah!"
"Damn it, what kind of chakra power is this!?"
As soon as the pitch-black dark chakra surged into Ichikishimahime's body with the suction, before she could even begin to absorb and refine it, the dark chakra became agitated.
It frantically absorbed the malicious power within Ichikishimahime's body while simultaneously aggressively corroding her entire meridians. In just a moment, the snake princess's entire arm turned black under the erosion of the dark chakra, and it rapidly spread towards her whole body.
Watching the snake princess howl in pain, clutching her arm and attempting to dispel the dark chakra with the Sage Mode energy of Ryuchi Cave, a playful smile appeared on Orochimaru's lips.
"Even Sage Mode cannot stop the erosion of dark energy?"
"It seems that among the known powers in the ninja world, other than Yin-Yang Release, dark chakra has almost no natural enemies!"
"Esteemed Shenji, thank you for providing me with important intelligence!"
Ichikishimahime opened her fanged, gaping maw, her crimson tongue flicking out as she let out a roar of painful rage, lunging towards Orochimaru.
"Mortal, you shall die!"
Facing the lunging snake princess, Orochimaru's expression remained unchanged. Dark chakra erupted from his seal, instantly condensing into over a dozen eerie black tentacles around him.
Under Orochimaru's mental control, these tentacles coiled around the snake princess's body as if they had a mind of their own. He pulled the immobilized snake princess before him, and with a cold killing intent in his eyes, grabbed her slippery, snake-like neck.
"If the power of Ryuchi Cave wasn't of some use to me, you would be dead by now!"
Ichikishimahime struggled in terror but could not budge the tentacle-like wisps of black mist at all. Feeling the chilling killing intent emanating from Orochimaru, this Shenji of Ryuchi Cave, who had lived for hundreds of years, became afraid.
"Stop!"
"Orochimaru, since you have come to Ryuchi Cave, you must abide by its rules!"
"Ichikishimahime was merely acting according to the rules and did not intentionally intend to make things difficult for you."
"Enter!"