Shikkotsu Forest.
It was a milky - white world without the sun or moon, shrouded in a mysterious, ghastly white light.
The air was filled with a damp and putrid smell, which made Kaze feel extremely uncomfortable.
The ground beneath his feet didn't feel like soil; it was more like a soft substance with the texture of cotton.
Kaze was walking on a narrow path. On both sides were...
Weird mountains?
The mountains were entirely milky - white, covered in mucus and strange black veins like blood vessels.
Every few meters, there was a big tree formed by clusters of growths, which indeed lived up to the name "Shikkotsu Forest".
Looking around, these strange mountain bodies almost covered the entire world. They extended for at least tens of thousands of miles.
What was worse, Kaze felt that these mountain bodies seemed to be slowly wriggling.
He had a feeling of constantly going deeper into a living body...
The grotesque and distorted scene before his eyes was hard to describe in words. Kaze's sanity was dropping rapidly.
"Little Kaze, you're here."
A familiar, gentle female voice sounded, soothing the uneasiness in Kaze's heart. It was the voice of Katsuyu!
"Lady Katsuyu, where are you?"
Kaze looked around. Katsuyu's voice was erratic, and he couldn't determine the source for a moment.
"I'm right in front of you, little Kaze." Katsuyu said gently.
"Everything you see now is part of my body... Well, a very, very small part."
Oh my god!
Although he had already had a faint suspicion in his heart.
But when he heard Katsuyu say it with her own mouth, Kaze was still extremely shocked.
These towering and continuous fleshy mountains were actually just part of the body of the Slug Sage?
Goodness gracious!
Kaze knew that the Slug Sage's real body was huge, but he didn't expect it to be this big!
In front of the Slug Sage, Gatanothor, the big boss in Ultraman Tiga, was just a nobody!
Creak~ Creak~
The fleshy mountain beside Kaze wriggled violently and split open a gap of forty to fifty centimeters.
A thick fleshy wall squeezed out a young and gentle - looking woman.
The woman slowly opened her eyes and gently parted her red lips. Katsuyu's voice came out of her mouth.
"This is a former inheritor of my Shikkotsu Forest. I'm borrowing her appearance to make you less scared."
Some uncontrollable tears dribbled down the corner of his mouth.
"Lady Katsuyu, you're really a kind and considerate sage!"
Looking at the mature and charming woman with no clothes on in front of him, Kaze said sincerely.
"Little Kaze, do you see those overlapping black - and - white patterns on me?" Katsuyu whispered.
Hearing this, Kaze observed the milky - white fleshy mountain beside him again.
Only then did he notice that there were not only black patterns on it but also abnormally pale white ones.
Wait a minute?
The more Kaze looked, the more familiar this combination seemed.
These black-and-white markings, why do they look so much like Hidan in his Death God state?!
"Is this a coincidence, or...?"
The woman took a small step and looked at her own body, sighing emotionally.
"[The Sage Art] of Shikkotsu Forest differs from those of the other two great holy lands. Rather than being a [Sage Art], it's more like a curse and contamination."
Curse?
Contamination?
When hearing these words, Kaze couldn't help but have second thoughts.
He was reluctant to practice [Sage Art] before because the risk was too high.
One careless move, and he could turn into a stone frog or the food of a large [Python].
It was only because the great enemy was approaching and the [System] was unreliable that he thought about trying the path of [Sage Art].
But this [Sage Art] of Shikkotsu Forest sounds... even scarier than those of the other two great holy lands!
"These markings are a tangible manifestation of spiritual contamination," the woman said to herself.
"Once they completely cover my body, I'll be transformed into a [Puppet] that only knows how to kill, losing all humanity and conscience."
"To slow the spread of the contamination, I can only keep splitting my body. Shikkotsu Forest is actually a world formed by my body over thousands of years."
Damn it!
Apart from "damn it", Kaze couldn't think of any other words.
[Damn it! Damn it!]
In Kaze's mind, the [System] also started swearing.
[Host, this is the original contamination from a high-level world!]
[If it weren't restricted by this world, you'd go crazy just by taking a look at it!]
After the [System] said this, Kaze got even more panicked and asked tremblingly.
"Lady Katsuyu, so, if I practice the [Sage Art] of Shikkotsu Forest, I'll be 'contaminated'?"
The woman nodded slightly, sighed, and said softly.
"Yes, I'll transfer a part of the curse to you. If you can resist the contamination, you can share some of it for me."
"If you can't resist the contamination, you'll be assimilated by me at the last moment and share the curse for me in another form of existence."
"This is the truth behind the [Inheritance of Shikkotsu Forest]!"
"Little Kaze, do you still want to practice the [Sage Art] of Shikkotsu Forest now?"
The amount of information was too huge. It took Kaze a while to digest it and roughly sort out the context.
[The Slug Sage] was contaminated by an unknown evil god thousands of years ago, likely the one Hidan believed in.
To prevent itself from becoming a puppet of the evil god, it kept eating so that the speed of contamination couldn't catch up with its weight - gain speed.
Then it also used the method of "waiting for the fish to take the bait" to find inheritors (poor souls) to share the curse with it.
No wonder it always summoned clones. One reason was the limitation of [Chakra], and the other was that there was a major issue with the [Slug]'s main body.
Kaze shook his head and said with a bitter smile.
"Lady Katsuyu, you're really honest. You just told me everything like this."
"
The woman transformed from Katsuyu smiled and even playfully stuck out her tongue.
"If I hadn't always adhered to my 'true self,' how could I have resisted this terrifying corruption over the past few thousand years?"
As she said that, she patted Kaze's shoulder and said gently.
"Alright, little Kaze. Unless it's absolutely necessary, I don't recommend that you practice the Sage Art of Shikkotsu Forest."
"Of course, it all depends on your own choice."
Choice?
"System, how about you give me a question to refer to?" Kaze asked in his mind.
[No problem, host.] The System readily agreed.
[To be honest, I'm very interested in this kind of corruption. If I could study it thoroughly and write it into my graduation thesis...]
"Cut it out!" Kaze interrupted the System irritably.
"I'm a real person, buddy, not the material for you to graduate!"
[Tsk, what a pity. Host, please listen to the question.]
[Option 1: Accept the inheritance of Shikkotsu Forest. With the System by my side, this little bit of corruption is nothing to worry about! Completion reward: Six Paths - Four Symbols [Eight Trigrams Sealing Style].]
[Option 2: Give up the inheritance of Shikkotsu Forest and be a spineless coward. Completion reward: Defense +2.]
[Option 3: Sever ties with Shikkotsu Forest on the spot and definitely not be a big fool. Completion reward: Defense +3.]
Kaze: "..."
"System, you're... a bit biased here, aren't you?"
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