Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 52 War and Peace

Under a sky full of stars, the Icefield Warriors and the Ignis were still fighting.

On one side, the Eagle God was killed, and on the other side, they fought to seize the blood of the gods. Both sides were almost bloodthirsty in their pursuit of what they wanted to achieve. When the flames of war gradually spread into the royal palace and the corpses of their respective kings were seen, the battle finally turned into a true fight to the death.

Although they had previously shown little respect for their own king, the appearance of the two corpses at this point, when they were about to tear each other apart, shattered their last shred of reason.

"This is simply...outrageous!"

The thought crossed the minds of both sides the moment they saw the corpse.

The burning ruins, the blood-soaked ground, and the frenzy of battle fueled everyone's frenzied attacks on the other side, their eyes fixed solely on the enemy before them.

However, while these two sides were fighting to the death, another group of people were quietly escaping.

Those were the Ignis people who had been enslaved before. They would have had no chance of escaping, but now the Icefield Warriors and Overseers who controlled them were fighting each other, and these slaves were left unattended.

So they all walked on the marks left by the giant serpent when it left.

The wide, serpentine tracks resembled a broad road.

This is precisely the guidance left to them by the Ancestor of the Dao.

"This time, I'm going back to the mountains and won't come out again."

Looking back at the city of Ignis, now ablaze with blood and fire, they made a silent vow.

Having decided never to return to Ignis, they stopped calling themselves Ignis people—from that day forward, they called themselves "men of the mountains," believing it represented their determination to distance themselves from the world.

Rather than enduring such suffering and torment in the secular world, they would rather follow in the footsteps of the ancestor of the Tao and find their own path in the mountains.

But what these "mountain dwellers" didn't expect was that their departure would actually cause the war in Ignis to gradually subside.

This is because both sides in the conflict have run out of food.

Without slaves to cultivate the land and graze livestock, there was no stable food source. As the war continued day after day, both sides' food reserves were quickly depleted.

Hunger gradually spread, and the large-bodied mages were the first to lose weight, followed by the ice warriors who had used the blood of the gods. Fewer and fewer people could lift their battle clubs.

Even at this point, the two sides continued to fight. The ice warriors occupied the western part of the city, while the mages were held back in the eastern part. They plundered any resources they could find in the area and were ready to seize anything the other side found.

As day and night continued to turn, they even forgot what they were fighting for; killing the enemy seemed to have become their entire life.

As for the food source...

“Red Shadow, it’s time to make a contribution to the Ignivas family.”

Deep underground in the ruins, the high-ranking mage Sardok looked at his apprentice with hopeful eyes.

"As long as you are here, we will definitely win this war and reclaim the blood of the gods!"

"Mentor, you mean..."

Akakage, who had miraculously survived the battle that slew the gods, looked at his mentor with a puzzled expression.

Could it be that his mentor finally understood and wanted him to go and beg the serpent god for forgiveness, and in return, share some food with him?
Although his mentor believed the Serpent God would surely punish them, based on Akakage's understanding of the Serpent God, he doubted the Serpent God would even consider their petty squabbles a threat—of course, begging for forgiveness was out of the question, but the Serpent God wouldn't bother with them at all for something as simple as going to the Holy Mountain to get some food. However, to Akakage's surprise, his mentor Sadok didn't say what he expected.

Instead, they brought out a large pot.

"Go in, Akakage. This is a creation left behind by the nineteenth Holy King. As long as you go in, everyone will be able to have some soup..."

"……Um?"

Chi Ying was speechless for a moment.

Although the title of the nineteenth Holy King is quite intimidating, having seen the crimson shadow of the Serpent God, he clearly knows what a pot is for—indeed, it can make soup, but only if the ingredients are put in first.

"Professor, you..."

"Come on, Akakage, for that chance to become a god..."

While Chiying was still hesitating, Instructor Sadok, his eyes bloodshot with hunger, reached out a large hand to grab him without warning.

Almost instinctively, Akakage launched his resistance.

In the past, Akakage would never have been able to resist, since his mentor was many times stronger than him, and he had no chance of resisting that immense strength.

But now, his mentor is so thin from hunger that he is even thinner than Akakage.

So, naturally, the one pushed into the pot became Sadok's mentor.

After the death of the high-ranking mage Sardok, Akakage, as his disciple, naturally became the new leader.

After taking power, this mage named Akakage did not continue the war, but instead chose to make peace with the Icefield Warriors.

"Regardless of why the fight started, let's eat first."

Akakage said this to the new leader elected by the people of the Ice Plains.

Centuries later, people also worshipped the Crimson Shadow as a holy king. Although the history from even earlier times has been lost, the ancient records still tell the story of how the Crimson Shadow ended the war.

Only Chiying himself knew that what he was thinking at the time had nothing to do with anything like the Holy King. He was simply starving and all he wanted was a normal meal.

You can't get food by fighting alone.

Especially since the other side was also a group of hungry ghosts.

In fact, the negotiation was not as easy as people said. Chi Ying remembered clearly that the hungry Icefield Warriors wanted to tie him up and roast him the moment they saw him.

But at that moment, an unparalleled aroma of meat suddenly wafted from afar.

The aroma was so enticing, especially to a group of people who had been starving for who knows how long; just smelling it was enough to make them yearn for it.

However, after identifying the source of the meaty aroma, they all calmed down.

Simply because that is the direction of the sacred mountain to the west, the direction where the serpent god resides.

(End of this chapter)