Several months later, Ye Liang had fully taught Zuming Wang and the others before completely ignoring them.
Refinement at Mount Myoboku was complete!
Ye Liang had also mastered the sage techniques of Mount Myoboku. He stood up once more as Fukasaku the Toad respectfully bowed behind him.
"Lord Ye Liang, are you leaving already?"
"Mm, I've already mastered the Sage Transformation of Mount Myoboku over these past few months. There's no point in staying any longer."
"Understood. Then Old Gua will prepare a space-time portal to Shikkotsu Forest for you right away." After saying this, Fukasaku immediately pulled out a scroll and performed the Summoning Technique on the spot.
Soon after, a roughly man-sized circular spatial portal appeared.
Ye Liang glanced into it.
Before facing Fake Ye Liang, he wanted to enhance his strength as much as possible.
The Power of the Sage was his first step.
In the canon storyline, each person only mastered one type of Power of the Sage. Yet to his surprise, Ye Liang discovered that not only could the Power of the Sage fail to display on the System Dashboard, but one could also learn multiple Sage Transformations simultaneously, indicating boundless potential!
During his time at Mount Myoboku, he had learned the toad-style Sage Power. If he could master all three Sage Transformations from the Three Sacred Lands, his power would experience a qualitative leap!
"I'm off then. Please tell the Toad Sage I sincerely appreciate his help this time."
Without the Toad Sage's assistance, Ye Liang wouldn't have been able to complete learning the Sage Power of Mount Myoboku so quickly.
"It's thanks to Lord Ye Liang's natural talent," praised Fukasaku as he watched Ye Liang step into the portal leading to Shikkotsu Forest.
After Ye Liang left, Fukasaku wiped some cold sweat from his brow.
"Finally got rid of this mighty Daibutsu; otherwise, all the Power of the Sage across Mount Myoboku might have been completely drained!" he sighed, glancing at the surrounding vegetation which had turned somewhat yellowish.
Ye Liang's absorption ability was incredibly shocking—in just a few short months, he nearly exhausted all the Sage Power Mount Myoboku possessed!
Such massive reserves of Sage Chakra—if someone else were using it, they could have transformed into a Sage dozens of times over!
This meant Ye Liang used the power of dozens of Sages combined to complete his own Sage Transformation. Such terrifying capacity for containment was simply mind-blowing!
"Now, let's quickly report back to the Toad Sage." With that, Fukasaku hopped away.
Fourteen minutes later.
Shikkotsu Forest.
As Ye Liang stepped out from the space rift, nightfall was approaching. The air here was humid, filled with moisture compared to Mount Myoboku.
He took a quick look around.
There were no dense trees—only endless moss-covered ground and the occasional exposed bones.
"So this is Shikkotsu Forest?" Ye Liang touched the surface when a slimy slug crawled out from underground.
Eww! How gross!
His expression instantly changed.
If given a choice, Ye Liang definitely wouldn't have come to this place known as Shikkotsu Forest.
Because the ruler of Shikkotsu Forest was none other than the incarnated slug—Katsuyu the Sage!
A giant slug!
People in the Naruto world could interact with toads and slugs due to Japanese folklore influences. But Ye Liang was different—he was ethnically Chinese!
Ugh, seriously? Dealing with this kind of gross stuff? That's asking a lot.
"No choice. For the sake of power, I've gotta push through!" He gritted his teeth, shut his eyes tight, and stepped deeper into Shikkotsu Forest.
Back at the original spot,
something slippery and slimy crawled out—it was a rather large slug, about the size of an open palm.
"What's a human doing here? What are your thoughts on this, Honored Slug?" It asked, speaking toward the ground below.
This slug clearly had intelligence.
As if understanding her words, the moss beneath the earth suddenly began to tremble. Then, a giant white eye burst right out from the ground!
Ye Liang would've lost his mind if he saw this!
That eye had popped up exactly where he had been standing just moments ago.
"It's unclear," came a voice from underground, "but since he managed to come here, it means he passed the Toad Sage's trial! I've sensed the surrounding space—he didn't arrive from the Human World, but from Mount Myoboku!"
"Mount Myoboku? Did Gamamaru himself approve this?" The intelligent slug exchanged words with the big eye before retreating back underground.
By now, Ye Liang had already been walking for several hours.
"Hell! Where the hell is Katsuyu already? This has been way too long—not even a sign of him yet!" As he kept moving forward, he hadn't seen any trace of the Sage, not even a single sentient being.
All he saw were endless patches of moss and the occasional appearance of regular slugs!
Yuck!
He cringed all over again.
Just then, the moss-covered path ahead vanished instantly, replaced by a slick, mucus-covered terrain.
"This must be the trail left by some slugs!" He ran his hand along the slime-covered ground and figured it out.
In his past life, after rainy seasons, the ground often had slugs crawling across it, leaving behind paths exactly like what Ye Liang saw now—completely coated in slime, incredibly nauseating.
Suppressing the unease in his heart, Ye Liang wrapped his feet in chakra and floated above the ground.
Nope. He wasn't touching that goo directly if he could help it.
He kept floating forward for a while longer.
Finally, ahead appeared the first slug worthy enough to catch his attention—a fist-sized slug. Ye Liang guessed maybe this was the smart one around these parts.
"Human ahead, stop right there! This is the territory of the slug clan! Unrelated individuals should leave immediately!" The creature sternly warned Ye Liang.
Its voice was rich and clear.
"Sorry to bother you, Miss… I'd like to meet Katsuyu the Sage and perhaps learn some of your clan's unique Sage Arts. Please announce my arrival."
"The Sage of Slugs isn't someone an ordinary human like you can casually meet! Leave immediately, or we won't show mercy!"
The slug clearly wasn't courteous at all—in fact, its tone carried a hint of mockery.
"So unreasonable?" Ye Liang was taken aback.
According to what he'd heard, the slug clan was supposed to be peaceful and gentle. In canon, Tsunade's summoned slug was always elegant—graceful in voice and movement, nothing like this aggressive creature before him!
Could it be that the slug clan treats people differently depending on who they are?
The original contract with the Katsuyu Clan had always been signed by women, so Ye Liang couldn't help but go down that line of thought.
Since the entire Katsuyu Clan consisted of females, were they only interested in young girls?
He had a vague sense of a long-held truth.
"Fine then, if you'd rather I didn't meet Sage Katsuyu, I'll drop it," Ye Liang suddenly said, halting his advance.
Honestly, meeting Sage Katsuyu wasn't something he insisted on anyway.
His ability to refine Sage Arts had already reached an extremely advanced level. Whether it was Ryuchi Cave or Mount Myoboku, Ye Liang had mastered powerful techniques of Sage Art refinement.
Even without the Katsuyu Clan's method, he could still refine ambient sage chakra—he just needed a short amount of time.
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