Chapter 361: Chapter 59: Are Humans Okay?
In the chaotic Ancient Era, such a harmonious and peaceful relationship of mutual aid was exceedingly rare.
And so, a boy was born into this harmonious mountain village. An Elder, who had once left the mountains to explore before returning home, named him Cen Yun. The name meant "dense rain clouds," for on the day he was born, the mountains were blanketed in dark clouds, and a few days later, a great rain fell, the likes of which had not been seen for centuries.
Cen Yun gradually grew up, planting and hunting alongside his elders and maintaining a relationship of mutual aid with the Spiritual Serpents. In his memory, the happiest days were during the harvest, when he could sneak a piece of fruit or two while delivering them to the Spiritual Serpent Nest and spend half the day playing with a few familiar Spiritual Serpents.
Cen Yun never thought about anything too complicated. He just figured life could go on like this forever—until he grew up to become the strongest Hunter like his father, until he had children of his own, until he died like the Elders, was buried in the valley’s wastelands, and his name was carved upon the stone monument, becoming just one more part of the epitaph.
’Nothing wrong with that, is there?’
But on the day Cen Yun turned sixteen, the surrounding mountains were struck by a great drought—one the village had never experienced since its founding.
It was said that someone saw a Yong bird fly past, carrying away all the moisture in the air. Others believed two Exotic Beasts, the Bao Yu and the Feiyi, were battling nearby. Their overflowing power had turned the land for thousands of miles around into a Red Land... There were many theories.
But regardless of whether it was a battle between Divine and Exotic Beasts or just them passing by, the great drought had arrived.
In the mountains, water sources vanished and all vegetation withered. Not even the weeds in the fields survived, let alone the fruit trees and crops favored by the Spiritual Serpents. The earth cracked open like wounds on skin, yet no blood flowed.
To fight over the few remaining water sources and to stave off hunger, countless Spirit Beasts in the mountains began to slaughter one another. The victors would drink their blood and eat their flesh, claiming the water source for a time, while of the vanquished, not even bones remained.
The relationship between humans and the Spiritual Serpents was no exception.
When starving and thirsty, people go mad. In that state, they can turn on their own kind, even their own children. And the serpents were no exception... At first, both sides managed to hold back. But for the sake of a single small puddle remaining in a shaded spot on a mountain ridge, maddened humans and serpents finally fought.
Serpents killed humans, and humans killed serpents. A few Great Serpents were slain by the Hunters, and several Hunters were in turn devoured by Giant Serpents.
The seeds of hatred were sown.
Cen Yun’s father was one of them. He was an old Hunter who had once traveled to the serpent nest to learn the Snake Breath. He stood against the old Snake King from the nest, and though it cost him his life, he wounded the Snake King badly enough to force its retreat.
The Illusion Realm, manifested from Spiritual Power, was visible even on the live broadcast. This unexpected development, far from driving viewers away, caused the audience to grow even larger. The officials, though shocked, chose not to cut the feed and allowed the broadcast to continue.
"I thought those serpents were the Celestial Pool Dragon King. I never imagined it was actually him..."
"Can a human cultivate into a Dragon King? I thought it was something you were born with!"
"When I saw them learning the Snake Breath, I thought that was how the Dragon King was made—by emulating a Spirit Beast. But then they started fighting... so how did the Dragon King become a Dragon?"
The vast majority of the audience was deeply interested in the Celestial Pool Dragon King’s past. The Illusion Realm continued to unfold, fueled by the overflowing fragments of memory.
The drought eventually ended. Water sources were restored, and heavy rains brought new life to the mountains. But just as the plants began to grow again, the hatred that had been sown also took root and sprouted in the hearts of the people... The relationship between humans and serpents was no longer as intimate as before. They continued to hunt and slaughter each other, their days of mutual aid long gone.
Perhaps this was simply a return to the natural order.
The battles were long and drawn out. In the process of killing Spiritual Serpents, dissecting their innards, and consuming their blood and marrow, Cen Yun, now silent after losing his father and friends, learned the Spiritual Serpents’ method of Cultivation. A unique Spiritual Power began to grow within him, strengthening and ultimately transforming his body and organs.
His power grew ever greater, ever stronger, and his acumen in battle progressed by leaps and bounds.
Time flowed on. More of Cen Yun’s friends and family died from the bites of Spiritual Serpents, and the number of serpents that died by his hand grew in turn. By constantly consuming and emulating them, his eyes gradually became serpentine, and his body grew supple and flexible. Eventually, even the Spiritual Serpents themselves could not detect his presence when he hid in the forest.
Cen Yun remained silent through it all. Only when killing a Spiritual Serpent he recognized would he occasionally remember playing on its back as a child, feeding it fruit.
But it was all gone, like raindrops lost in the sea.
Finally, in the thirtieth year after the great drought, Cen Yun led a hunting party on a raid, storming the Spiritual Serpent Nest. In the fierce battle that followed, Cen Yun killed the last Spiritual Serpent—the aged Snake King. It could have taken Cen Yun down with it in the end, but it chose not to resist.
In its cold, merciless serpentine eyes, there was an unexpected glimmer of wise relief.
’That’s right... the Spiritual Serpents are intelligent, too. The Snake King must have remembered what it was like, all those decades ago.’
With this thought, the silent Cen Yun turned and surveyed his surroundings. All around him lay the bones of Spiritual Serpents and humans, filling the air with the stench of blood and decay.
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