chsdbacks Chapter 33: A Chance Encounter Across the New Year
Chapter 33: A Chance Encounter Across the New Year
Myoboku Mountain is now divided into martial and literary sections.
The martial arts toad is similar to later figures like Bunta, Hiro, and Gamaken, who rely on physical skills and swordsmanship for attacks.
Although there are also those who cultivate magic, they all rely on toad sounds or toad oil and toad fire for attacks.
"If I create hand seals, I can make Mount Myōboku even stronger."
He made up his mind ten thousand times, recalling the hand seals he had performed in his previous life.
He was familiar with this as well.
The nine characters of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai are also known as the Nine-Character Protection Method.
Nearly a century has passed.
Manji created hand seals and promoted them on Mount Myoboku, but he did not spread them among the human world; instead, they were only spread within a small area of Mount Myoboku.
..........
"Great Immortal, we have finished recording the events of the past hundred years. Your work in compiling history for the world is truly a meritorious deed."
The toad, responsible for recording world history, exclaimed in admiration, then respectfully handed over the scroll.
Wanci took the scroll, examined it carefully, and then nodded: "Very well done. Are you new here?"
"Reporting to the Great Immortal, I inherited this mission from my grandfather, who was the first toad to help the Great Immortal record history."
The toad nodded repeatedly.
Wanci was slightly surprised, recalling the little toad that had so respectfully recorded his history back then.
"So soon? What about your grandfather now?"
Wanci was surprised, never expecting so many years to have passed.
"Reporting to the Great Immortal, my grandfather has now passed away."
The toad looked sad.
"I see..."
A fleeting emotion crossed Wanci's eyes as he gripped the scroll in his hand, a sigh escaping his lips.
"You've worked hard, you can go now."
Ten thousand times, I waved slightly.
I can't help but sigh, time is a cruel mistress.
He looked at the scroll in his hand, which only recorded a short history of one hundred years of the ninja world.
In my own eyes, that was indeed only a short hundred years.
But in the eyes of most ordinary people, that is the life of countless people.
After sitting alone in the Immortal Hall for a while, Wanci...
With a flash, he disappeared and left.
"It's time to go check on Hagoromo..."
..........
A century later, I set foot on this land once again.
This was the very spot where I had asked the boy for directions years ago.
Nothing has changed, only the people have changed one after another.
Wan Ci paused slightly, about to use the Immortal Technique: Immortal Mist to instantly leave, when an aged yet excited voice trembled from behind him.
"Immortal... is it really you?"
Wan slowly turned his head, his gaze falling on the source of the sound.
There stood an old man with white hair and beard, his back hunched, leaning on a smooth wooden cane. He walked with trembling steps, his cloudy old eyes staring at me, filled with unbelievable joy and excitement.
Wanci sighed helplessly in his heart.
My face, which has remained unchanged through the years, is an indelible mark on the world, impossible to conceal wherever I go. Truly, who in the world does not know me?
It's all Yu Yi's fault for drawing herself too realistically back then.
If someone were to paint a portrait of Lao Tzu from his past life using ink and wash, not everyone would recognize them.
"Immortal! It really is you!"
The old man finally staggered forward, his wooden cane slamming heavily on the ground to support his swaying body. His voice trembled with emotion.
"Do you remember me? I'm the little boy from back then! The one you asked for directions from when I was playing in the mud at the village entrance!"
Upon hearing this, Wanci's pupils suddenly contracted.
I've actually met you before?
I remember clearly every time I set foot on this land a hundred years ago, it was this very child in front of me, covered in mud, squatting on the earthen slope at the entrance of the village, playing in the mud.
Manji: Kid, where is the Manji Temple around here?
Child: Wow, you look just like the Sage of Six Paths!
Who would have thought that the bright-eyed child from back then has now become a frail, elderly man on his deathbed?
Wanci smiled and sighed softly, "The little kid who used to squat at the village entrance playing in the mud has grown up to be like this now."
The old man quickly and shakily bowed.
"Ever since my grandfather took me to see the immortal, I have been hoping day and night to meet the immortal again."
"For the past hundred years, I have been guarding this village entrance every day before dawn, rain or shine, hoping that the immortals will set foot on this land again."
I never imagined... I never imagined I'd live to be 108 years old and finally have my wish fulfilled.
The old man's voice choked with sobs, and cloudy tears slid down his wrinkled cheeks.
Upon hearing this, Wan Ci felt even more deeply moved.
A hundred years is but a fleeting moment in his cultivation journey to immortality, but for mortals, it is a lifetime from childhood to old age.
"You are already 108 years old, which is truly a rare longevity in this world."
A smile ten thousand times.
"It's all thanks to the immortal's great blessings!"
The old man quickly bowed and said with utmost sincerity, "When I was a child, I saw the immortal's face and was touched by a trace of his divine grace, which is why I have been able to live peacefully to this day."
"A century has passed, yet the immortal remains as radiant as ever!"
"It feels like the first time we met, but I am already an old man with yellow earth buried up to my neck."
Wanci smiled and nodded, looking at the old man who had guarded him for a hundred years, a slight thought stirring in his heart.
So he spoke, "It is a rare opportunity for us to meet again after a century. Tell me, is there anything you desire?"
With his incredible abilities, it would be incredibly easy for him to change someone's fate in Naruto.
The voice just fell
The old man, however, knelt down with a "plop".
His aged forehead pressed firmly against the cold ground, his voice firm and respectful: "The immortal has already granted me a hundred years of lifespan, which is an immense blessing. I have no further desires. To see the immortal again in my lifetime is the greatest opportunity of my life, enough, enough!"
Wanci couldn't help but chuckle. Having lived for 108 years, this old man had long seen through the greed, anger, and delusion of the world, shedding worldly desires. He truly had a profound understanding of life.
"Grandpa! Grandpa! Something terrible has happened! Our big yellow ox has been eaten by a monster from the back mountain!"
Just then, hurried footsteps came from the end of the village road, and a child with combed hair rushed over, crying and running. His little face was covered with tears, and his voice was trembling with sobs.
Upon hearing this, the old man quickly got up from the ground, disregarding his concern for the ox, and pulled the child over!
"Child, forget about the ox, come here quickly and pay your respects to the immortal!"
The old man pulled his grandson and said...
The child was pulled in front of Wanci by his grandfather. He blinked his big, innocent eyes and stared at Wanci for a moment.
The child suddenly tilted his head and said innocently, "Hey? Aren't you the Six Paths Sage from the portrait in the ancestral hall? How did you get out of the painting?"
"presumptuous!"
The old man was both anxious and angry. He raised his hand and lightly patted the child's bottom, sternly scolding, "Don't you dare disrespect the Sage of Six Paths! Apologize immediately!"
"It's alright, children are innocent and speak without thinking."
Wanci waved his hand with a faint smile.
"Is this your grandson? He looks just like you back then, innocent and straightforward, just like when your father scolded you from the fields with a hoe."
Wan Ci said in a gentle voice.
Upon hearing this, a deep sense of nostalgia flashed in the old man's eyes.
He used to speak so recklessly, and was scolded by his father when he returned from the fields. Now, thinking back, it was a hundred years ago, and it feels like a lifetime ago.
"Alright, tell me what exactly happened."
"How could a monster eat a cow? What kind of monster is it?"
Wanci withdrew his gaze, looked at the child who was still wiping away tears, and asked in a calm tone.
The old man asked for nothing in return, so he stepped in to rid the village of its calamity, thus concluding their century-old bond.
The child sniffed, wiped away his tears, and timidly said, "It was a big fox monster, a really big one, with lots of tails, that snatched the big yellow ox away in one bite!"
"The child is ignorant and speaks incoherently, so I will report to the immortal himself."
The old man quickly stepped forward, bowed deeply to Wan Ci, and slowly said.
"This calamity began seven years ago when a great demon suddenly appeared in the mountains behind the village. It was a fox-like monster with nine fluffy tails behind it, and it looked terrifying."
This monster doesn't eat people, but it often comes down from the mountain to abduct the village's cattle and sheep. The villagers are terrified of its power and now dare not even go up the mountain to graze their livestock or chop firewood; their lives are becoming increasingly difficult.
After the old man finished speaking
Wanci frowned. Nine-tailed fox?
Wanzi heard the phrase "a fox demon with nine tails" and his eyebrows twitched slightly.
His first thought was of the Nine-Tails that he had released back then, but this place was thousands of miles away from the place where the seal was broken and the Nine-Tails was released back then. The regions were completely different, so how could it be it?
With doubts in his heart, Wanci slowly closed his eyes, and his immortal power spread outwards like a tide, instantly covering the entire back mountain and even the land within a hundred miles.
The next instant, a familiar chakra clearly entered his senses from the depths of the back mountain.
Wanci opened his eyes, a look of understanding flashing in them, and muttered to himself, "It really is you, Nine-Tailed Fox."