One man and one little bear took their seats in turn, and the Great Panda Sage tapped the table.
“If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
We have plenty of time.”
“Great Sage, I do indeed have many questions, and I hope you can clear them up.” Genshin didn’t waste words—after a single courtesy, he voiced the biggest doubt in his heart: “Back in the Shinobi World, I’d only ever heard of the three great holy grounds—Mount Myōboku, Shikkotsu Forest, and Ryūchi Cave.
I’d never heard of the Fallen Star Pool.
May I ask… what is the relationship between the Fallen Star Pool and the three holy grounds?”
The place had such an air of antique elegance that even Genshin’s speech had taken on a bookish, formal tone.
“Relax a little, young Genshin, there’s no need to be so stiff.
Just think of me as an ordinary old panda.” The Great Panda Sage gazed at the crystal-clear Fallen Star Pool before him and spoke unhurriedly.
“As for the relationship with the three holy grounds—well, that’s a long story.
First, let me tell you a tale.”
“The Fallen Star Pool… a thousand years ago, this place did not yet bear that name.
Like the three holy grounds, it is a place where Natural Energy converges.
Our clan has lived in seclusion here for generations, devoting ourselves wholeheartedly to cultivating Senjutsu—we have dwelled here for several thousand years.”
“As for the Fallen Star Pool’s connection to the three holy grounds—a thousand years ago, I trained in the way of the sage together with three sages, friends from Mount Myōboku, Shikkotsu Forest, and Ryūchi Cave… In terms of seniority, they would be counted as my juniors, for along the path of the sage, I have walked the farthest.”
Though the Great Sage’s tone was slow, every single word left Genshin shaken.
An ordinary old panda… ordinary where?
This guy’s a grand elder of the sage path—old panda, you are really not an honest, unassuming fellow.
“As for the origin of the name ‘Fallen Star Pool’—this place was originally nothing but bamboo seas and mountain ranges; there was no pool of water here.
But then.” The old panda’s tone now carried a hint of frost.
“A thousand years ago, a being came from beyond the heavens, with horns growing from the top of its head, calling itself one of the Ōtsutsuki—an intruder from beyond this world.”
?
Genshin’s expression began to grow increasingly bewildered.
“It harbored sinister intentions, seeking to pierce through this land’s ley lines, plant an evil tree, and harvest the life and energy of the entire world.
Sensing the crisis, I stepped forth to stop it, and we fought a battle to the death right here.”
“That battle lasted ten days.
In the end, I struck it down at the cost of nearly my own life, but I too was gravely wounded by its bizarre ocular technique and lost half of my body.
I had no choice but to fall into a thousand-year slumber, quietly recuperating and healing my injuries.”
“It was also the aftershock of that battle that leveled the hundred li of mountainous terrain here—it vaporized the mountain ranges, caused the strata to collapse, and the shockwave shattered the earth.
Groundwater surged up through the fissures, forming this emerald pool.”
“So that’s why it’s called the Fallen Star Pool?”
What wild unofficial history.
Genshin was already numb.
So the “Fallen Star” of Fallen Star Pool actually meant “star shot down from the sky”—as in, an alien knocked out of the sky?
A solo kill on an Ōtsutsuki—was the old panda really that fierce?
…Wait.
Genshin spotted the crux of the matter.
An Ōtsutsuki from a thousand years ago… could it have been Kaguya or Isshiki?
That didn’t seem likely.
Kaguya and Isshiki were a duo, whereas the Great Panda Sage had killed a single Ōtsutsuki.
And judging by the Great Sage’s tone, they should never have encountered an Ōtsutsuki before this.
So this unlucky bastard who got killed was some wild Ōtsutsuki that descended upon the Shinobi World before Kaguya and Isshiki?
By now, the Great Sage’s story was slowly drawing to a close.
“And it was after that battle that our lineage came out of this place less and less.
Gradually, in the world outside… only the three great holy grounds remained.”
Genshin raised his eyes to the boundless, fathomless Fallen Star Pool before him, gazing at these hundred-some kilometers of clear emerald water, and truly felt the terrifying scale of that ancient war a thousand years ago.
To defeat an Ōtsutsuki head-on, with the battle’s aftershock collapsing entire mountain ranges and carving out a hundred-li colossal pool!
That kind of combat power would put it in the top tier even by the standards of the Hokage series’ grand finale, right?
As his thoughts churned, Genshin suddenly recalled someone—Ajisai of the Hidden Rain Village, the original body of Pain’s Animal Path.
That l0li shinobi had also formed a contract with a panda.
If it was a Fallen Star Pool panda, there was no way she should have been that weak, right?
Genshin voiced the doubt in his heart to the Great Panda Sage: “Great Sage, I once heard my master mention that there was someone in the Shinobi World who could also summon a contracted panda.
That panda’s body was extraordinarily tough.
Is it also a descendant of the Fallen Star Pool lineage?”
In the original story, the summoned bear of Pain’s Animal Path—when Jiraiya entered Sage Mode and unleashed the Sage Art: Thousand Fur Needles, its power was easily enough to punch through thick, massive boulders.
Yet when it landed on that panda, it could only cut through the surface layer of skin and flesh, utterly unable to inflict a serious wound.
That kind of unreasonable bodily hardness was completely unlike what an ordinary summoned beast should possess.
Now that he’d witnessed the panda clan of the Fallen Star Pool, he instantly made the connection.
The old panda nodded lightly.
“Yes—and no.”
“That great battle a thousand years ago was too devastating.
It scattered some of our clansmen to various corners of the Shinobi World, and from then on they completely lost contact with the holy ground.”
“These lost clansmen, having lost the Senjutsu inheritance of the holy ground, bred generation after generation and gradually degenerated into mere beasts—only their bodies still retained the characteristics of our clan.”
So that was it.
That explained it.
Having understood this matter, Genshin took a deep breath and asked his final question.
“Great Sage, since the Fallen Star Pool has stayed out of all conflicts and lived in seclusion for a thousand years, why did you lock onto me the moment you awakened?
A-Bao spoke of a qualified contractor—what does this ‘qualification’ mean?”
The Great Panda Sage’s gaze stirred slightly, its deep, profound eyes settling on Genshin.
“The sage path of the Fallen Star Pool lineage was never meant, at its heart, to vie for strength and victory, but to pursue the very source of eternal life and to transcend our current form of existence—though if we must fight, we won’t lose either.”
“Precisely for this reason, the Senjutsu of our lineage has extremely strict requirements for a cultivator’s aptitude.
Only one who can resonate with heaven and earth, with nature itself, can cultivate it.”
“So I meet this requirement of being ‘one who resonates with heaven, earth, and nature’?” Genshin asked, bewildered.
What was the reason I could qualify?
Why did no one else qualify?
Genshin thought it over and over, and the only thing that came to mind was Hamon—that was the decisive difference between him and everyone else.
According to the knowledge in Genshin’s mind, the deeper a cultivator trained in the Hamon Breathing Method, the more they could resonate with the life pulses in their environment—just as, in the original story, Jonathan could make plants grow rapidly.
And the most primordial Hamon Breathing—the Tibetan Hamon inheritance—was known locally as Sendō, literally the same as “the way of the sage,” sharing the same origin as Senjutsu: both were cultivation systems of “human → the energy of heaven and earth.”
So it was because of Hamon that they chose me?
Genshin gradually came to understand.
“It seems you already understand.
Your aptitude is enough to satisfy the cultivation conditions of the Fallen Star Pool’s Senjutsu.
Our lineage uses the pulse of our own life to resonate with all things of heaven and earth.
The more one cultivates, the tighter one’s link to the surrounding natural life becomes.
It is a cultivation system rooted in the self, linking to the energy of heaven and earth, and penetrating to the very source of life.”
“And as one’s cultivation deepens, the cultivator gradually comes to see things ordinary people cannot see.
When I was gravely wounded and on the brink of death from the Ōtsutsuki, I saw the future…”
“In the future I saw… you will step forward and become the one to stand against the Ōtsutsuki.”
Huh?
Me, fight an Ōtsutsuki?
What about Prince Naruto and Sasuke?
Sage of Six Paths, say something!
Somebody’s slacking off over here!
A heavy responsibility suddenly pressed down on Genshin’s shoulders.
A sense of urgency welled up all at once.
“Great Sage, so should I begin cultivating Senjutsu right now?”
The Great Panda Sage rose to its feet and said gently, “No hurry.
The time is not yet right.
Your foundation is still shallow.
As for the matter of cultivation, simply wait patiently for the proper moment.”
It tapped the bluestone ground lightly with its bamboo staff.
“When you are ready to cultivate, I will have A-Bao come and guide you into the mountain to train.”
“If you agree, we can form the contract right now.
From this day forward, my panda clan of the Fallen Star Pool will be your partners.”
Genshin quickly nodded in agreement.
A rare cheat-code opportunity like this—hesitating even a single second would be a disrespect to the cheat itself!
“A-Bao.”
“Coming!”
Hearing the Great Sage’s voice, A-Bao—who had been listening to the story to the point of drowsiness—jolted awake and hurriedly leapt onto the stone table, holding up a giant scroll.
It couldn’t interrupt while the Great Sage was telling the story, and the little guy had nearly burst from holding it in.
Genshin didn’t hesitate; he signed his name on the scroll.
The instant the contract was established, a long, gentle bond quietly took shape, spanning the hundred-li secret realm and firmly binding him to the entire Fallen Star Pool.
“Very well, it’s about time.
A-Bao, take him back.”
The moment the Great Panda Sage finished speaking, A-Bao was already tugging at Genshin’s trouser leg to leave this place.
By the looks of it, even this short while had been too much for it—no wonder it had run away from the Fallen Star Pool.
____
👻🔥Here: Walnut-chan (P4treon)🔥👻
🔥 New history: DanMachi: