Zhongshan Shenzhu Chi

Under the giant serpent's gaze, the demonic beasts that had not been assigned a medium all shrank their heads, lined up in an orderly long queue, and silently moved forward, waiting to come into contact with the ancient book.

The Golden Ape King and the Black Bear, two ferocious beasts, had been exposed to the same techniques from the ancient texts. At this moment, they stood there, seemingly pondering how to strike their entire bodies and what techniques to use.

"Candle, what did you use to strike your entire body?" the Golden Ape King asked, looking up.

"You want to be like me too?" The giant snake narrowed its eyes slightly, its expression playful. "But I'm afraid you can't handle it and you'll end up killing yourself."

"What a joke!" Golden Ape King said with a look of disdain.

Aside from the current giant serpent, it is confident that its physique is the best in Zhongshan, and the golden lightning granted by its talent can explode indiscriminately, and only it can withstand it.

Since the candle could forge its body into its current strength by following ancient techniques, it certainly could too.

"That's ambitious." The giant serpent raised its tail and pointed it to the sky. "Compared to me, your body seems more suited to forging lightning."

"But my lightning can only cleave your scales." The Golden Ape King looked up at the sky.

What comes into view is blue sky, white clouds, and... the sun.

The Golden Ape King felt a chill and abruptly looked down at the giant snake.

"Keep it up, I believe in you."

The giant serpent turned its head and instructed the mountain lord and the prison wolf to maintain order at the scene and wait for the right time to prevent any further private fights.

"What are you going to do?" The black bear came to its senses at this moment, and like the golden ape king, it still had resentment in its eyes.

"I'm going back to find Mother Goddess, with Little Black Crow." Huai Nianyou stepped forward, picked up the crow in his mouth under its terrified gaze.

"If you two want to stay, help keep things in order... I don't want to kill any living beings."

"Do you understand?" the giant snake said, almost pressing against the black bear's head.

"Hmph." The black bear retreated, turned around, roared, and charged down the mountain, leading the bears that had already come into contact with the ancient book away.

"Candle..." The Golden Ape King kept looking up and down, his gaze switching back and forth between the sun and the red serpent, his eyes full of disbelief.

"I will succeed."

"Then I wish you good luck, but you mustn't kill yourself with that." The giant snake smiled contemptuously, as if stirring up trouble.

The tactic of provocation works very well.

The golden ape roared with thunder, its fists cracking the rocks as its anger surged.

"Why are you looking at me?" The prison wolf lay on the ground, his tone icy. "Fighting is not allowed here, you know? Either come and help, or take your tribe and leave."

"Who knows if you'll favor your pack?" The Golden Ape King snorted, his anger accompanied by billowing white steam, as fierce as a raging fire.

"Hmph!" Prison Wolf snorted back, turning his head away from Golden Ape King.

It obtained the medium, but could only access the ancient books at the very end.

Although its instincts told it that the ancient books wouldn't provide the secrets, it still had to give it a try.

The once turbulent mountain and water paradise has finally fallen silent.

Bathed in the spiritual energy of the mountains and rivers, the stems of the blue lotus grew taller and taller, and the lotus seeds grew bigger and bigger, heavy, making the flower buds droop.

The fragrance of the medium, about to ripen, filled the minds of every monster present, stirring up greed in their hearts and causing saliva to drip from the corners of their mouths.

But the demons only dared to swallow their saliva; they dared not make a move.

Beyond the mountaintop, three ferocious demons intimidate the hordes of monsters. Deep within their hearts, a sun and moon also shine, their golden and silver snake eyes etching fear into their very bones.

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The red serpent, with a small black crow in its mouth, transformed into a torrent and swiftly advanced through the mountains.

After the media distribution was completed, its body seemed to undergo some kind of change.

In the past, wherever it went, flowers, birds, fish, and insects would flee in terror. But now, they are only startled by the sound of its advance, watching from afar without running away, and showing no sign of fear.

This was a state that Huai Nian had always dreamed of.

But now, it feels only confusion, bewilderment, and even a slight fear of the unknown future.

To merge oneself with nature, becoming a branch of the mountain, a babbling stream, and a clear, refreshing atmosphere in the eyes of ordinary living beings.

It had only ever experienced this state with its mother.

My mother is a deity of Zhongshan Mountain, so it is only natural that way.

As for myself, I am just a giant snake, not even a great demon. How could I possibly reach such a state of harmony between man and nature?

With its joys, sorrows, and pleasures, as well as its likes and dislikes, the great serpent considers itself not yet detached from the mortal world and acts with much selfishness in mind.

This kind of thing should never happen to me.

It must be my mother; what did she do?

Thinking of this, the shadow that had once been dispelled once again enveloped Huai Nian's heart.

The giant snake moved faster and faster, almost transforming into a streak of crimson lightning as it traversed the forest.

It wasn't until dusk that it finally arrived at the valley where the serpent god slept.

"May the long night be peaceful... May the long night be peaceful..."

Huai Nian spat out the little black crow from his mouth, his mind filled with the words his mother had said when she said goodbye to him.

"Zhongshan has four distinct seasons and a harmonious balance of yin and yang; where would there be a long night?"

"Lord Candle..." The little black crow, having tasted the snake's saliva, was now dizzy and unsteady on its feet. "Why did you bring me here?"

"If you consume the medium, there will definitely be monsters on Zhongshan Mountain that covet you, or perhaps humans from the foot of the mountain."

"You can grow up safely here with the Mother Goddess," the serpent replied.

"Oh..." The little black crow nodded, but then suddenly realized that it would be living in the same valley as the Zhongshan Serpent God. Its heart jumped into its throat, and it immediately prostrated itself on the ground: "Serpent God..."

"Don't shout, Mother Goddess is sleeping." Huai Nian lowered her head, suppressing the rest of its words.

It couldn't feel it before, but now, with its eyes closed, it can vaguely sense it in its mind: deep within the valley, in the rocks.

The mother's eyes were closed, and she lay motionless in a deep sleep.

The howling wind in the valley is her breath.

Unhurried and steady, yet powerful.

Huai Nian's anxious heart gradually calmed down, and the giant snake coiled up at the entrance of the valley.

"Lord Candle..." The little black crow cautiously hopped to the red serpent's ear and whispered, "What should I do now, sleep?"

"Live your life the way you normally do," Huai Nian replied.

"I secretly ate quite a bit of snake saliva..." The black crow crouched down beside the giant snake, resting against its red scales. "You're not angry, are you?"

"Why do you think I put you in my mouth? The sky above Zhongshan needs a powerful demon to guard it, and you are one of the ones I value now."

The snake's heartbeat gradually overlapped with the rhythm of the mother in the valley.

The anxiety and fear in my heart receded like the tide, and in the end, only questions remained in my mind.

Why would my mother do these things to me? Why do I hear the voice in my head saying "This is a reward" when I'm fighting alongside the demons?

And then there's the sound that echoes in my ears when the medium is being distributed.

just.

I made it myself. Was it right or wrong?

The giant snake knew nothing about it.

So it gave up thinking and fell into a deep sleep in front of the Valley of the Serpent God.

The crows would fly up and down, sleeping next to the giant snake every night. Eventually, they would fall asleep on the snake's body.

Having lost its parents at a young age, it harbored a secret in its heart, and the urge to confide in them surged as it spent more and more time with them.

On the seventh day, the giant snake suddenly awoke.

Before Xuanya could speak, seeing the doubt in the snake's eyes, he immediately swallowed the words that were about to come out of his throat.

"Someone has come up the mountain," the large snake hissed.

Now, it can sense who is going up the mountain.

Zhong Yan, the village chief of Xincun, whom I met only once.

There was also a fat businessman.