This isn't just any snake shedding its skin; it's a special skill of Manda's.
The pain within its body suddenly all transfers to the outer layer of skin.
Soon, Manda breaks free from its skin, leaving behind a stone statue in the shape of a tube, and its real body appears on the other side of the cave.
Besides the three snake princesses, who are connected to Manda, Orochimaru and his shadow clones are left on the stone statue.
Without hurrying to follow, Orochimaru uses the vision from his magic lamp and a chakra tracker to see the changes in Manda's energy after it uses the skill. His eyes flicker slightly.
Manda can't use Sage Art, but using this skill doesn't just take chakra; it also uses up the natural energy inside its body.
This is good news. At least now, the natural energy in Manda's body is poison, and the less, the better.
After shedding its skin once, Manda and the three snake princesses feel much lighter.
Manda immediately gets ready to shed its skin again.
But Orochimaru flies over to Manda and stops it. "Don't use it carelessly. Your chakra is limited too. Wait until you're at your limit before you shed your skin."
Manda turns its head and glares at Orochimaru. Its snake eyes are full of blood, making it look especially scary, but it still listens to Orochimaru's advice and barely suppresses the urge to shed its skin.
Going against the instinct to escape danger isn't easy for Manda.
As a snake with maxed-out endurance, it relies on instinct. Now, Manda is fighting against its body's habits that have built up over time.
So, this resistance doesn't last long.
Even though it knows it's turning a hope for survival into a quick fix that will make things worse, Manda can't help but use the 'Skin Shedding Technique,' and the time between uses is getting shorter and shorter.
Because its animal instinct tells it that the shadow of death isn't getting smaller; it's actually getting bigger.
The more it uses the Snake Shedding Technique, the greater the danger becomes, and the greater the danger, the more it can't help but use the Snake Shedding Technique to escape.
It's already stuck deep in the mud and can't get out.
Orochimaru licks his lips, not really surprised by this.
Even a snake king that lives in Ryuuchi Cave and fought its way out of countless poisonous insects is still just a snake.
The law of nature of the strong eating the weak and the survival of the fittest can certainly create top predators, but asking them to give up their instincts and avoid harm is a bit too hard for a snake.
However, the success or failure of this surgery isn't on Manda's shoulders.
Orochimaru turns his attention to the snake princess to see what they will do.
He has never had a good way to deal with the invasiveness of First Hokage cells. Even the few successful transplants all came from Uchiha.
Sage eyes and sage bodies have some unknown factors besides chakra strength, kind of like fate.
This isn't what he wants.
Orochimaru licks his lips, looking expectant. Sage Art, natural energy... this system that's different from chakra might be the way to break the situation.
Under Orochimaru's gaze, the three snake princesses look a little unhappy. As the effect of Manda's skin shedding gets worse and worse, the pressure on them increases.
Not only are Manda's cells being invaded, but they even feel like that chakra is going to use the pipes connecting them to Manda to invade them in reverse...
Even though their chakra strength is a little weaker, it's somehow above them on some unknown level.
This is really bad… The three snake princessess' faces turn gloomy.
In the current situation, it's already hard enough to protect themselves, and they can't spare any energy to help Manda suppress natural energy. If White Snake Sage weren't watching, they probably would have already followed their instincts and disconnected from Manda.
In the end, making them suppress Manda's natural energy was a bad idea to begin with. Although they control Sage Art and are on a different level from Manda, the size of both of them is there, making the level difference very limited.
The three snake princessess are struggling to hold on, but they're starting to feel a little resentful, completely forgetting how easy they had it before.
"Ahhh..."
Finally reaching a limit, Manda can't hold on anymore and lets out a series of shrill screams.
Orochimaru looks at the chakra tracker. The curves on the instrument are exactly the same as when the gray giant snake collapsed.
Is everything over… Just as Orochimaru thinks this, a slender tentacle bursts out from the darkness deep in the cave and stabs hard into Manda's body.
In an instant, Manda's body, which was about to collapse because of First Hokage cells, becomes stable again.
The three snake princessess' faces turn pale, and they quickly release their Sage Art and leave Manda's body.
With White Snake Sage taking action, they're not needed here anymore.
Seeing this scene, Orochimaru narrows his eyes, thinking that White Snake Sage really lives up to her name as a white snake that has lived for thousands of years. He starts to have some expectations for the outcome of this surgery.
…
"This feeling… I was right."
On the chair, White Snake Sage suddenly opens her eyes. A flash of sharp light that doesn't match her old face appears in her eyes.
"Divine Tree… Where did Orochimaru get the power of the Divine Tree?"
White Snake Sage looks surprised, suppressing the natural energy going wild in Manda's body while deep in thought.
Although it's only a little bit, so incomplete that she can suppress it, this unreasonable invasiveness is undoubtedly a characteristic of the Divine Tree.
The symptoms on the gray snake and Manda are also very similar to those of the super creatures that were attacked by the Divine Tree in her memory.
Although there are some differences, like how the Divine Tree used to swallow those super creatures into its roots and trunk after invading them, but now it directly turns into a big tree, White Snake Sage doesn't want to look into those differences.
What she's thinking about now is whether she can use this power with Divine Tree characteristics for herself.
Complete Divine Tree power is of course impossible, but because it's incomplete, there's a chance.
White Snake Sage thinks for a moment and turns her attention back to the other side. The natural energy going wild in the All Gods' bodies has been suppressed by her.
Because that natural energy originally came from her. Even though the Divine Tree is very compatible with it, it can't compare to the original owner.
But White Snake Sage isn't proud of this.
She can limit the Divine Tree characteristics in Manda's body, but she might not be able to limit it in her own body.
Because Manda's limit is just that, and it can't bring out the terror of the Divine Tree characteristics, but it might be different on her.
Especially since the natural energy in her body has been compressed many times and is already close to its limit. She doesn't even dare to use Skin Shedding Sage Art casually, let alone add Divine Tree power into her body without thinking.
The white snake frowns, feeling very troubled, but she can't give up this Divine Tree power.
The Skin Shedding method can barely be used one or two more times, but that's just accumulating quantity. It's impossible to complete a life level jump with that.
And Divine Tree, having lived through the Kaguya and Sage of Six Paths eras, White Snake Sage knows how high the level of this power is.
Thinking of this, White Snake Sage flicks her snake tongue and licks her lips. She turns her gaze to Orochimaru.
He's the one who brought the power of the Divine Tree. Maybe the opportunity for her to transform will also be on this person.
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