Zhongshan Shenzhu Chi

The giant snake burst forth from the Luo River, like a flood bursting its banks, sweeping across the mountains and forests.

Its enormous body surged with a tsunami-like bloodlust, and its overwhelming ferocity was like dark clouds hanging low, obscuring the sky. Wherever it passed, birds and beasts all retreated, daring not to approach.

Far away in Golden Ape Valley, the bloodhound, who was recuperating from its injuries, sensed the darkness and was so frightened that it immediately bared its fangs, its body trembling as it looked around, a low whimper escaping its throat.

That is an instinctive fear of true predators that comes from the depths of one's blood.

The Golden Ape King, who was fast asleep in the cave, was also startled awake by this ferocious aura. His heart pounded violently, and he was so frightened that his skin trembled and the hairs on his body stood on end.

"It seems something happened to Zhu. I'll go check it out. You stay in the valley and don't go out." The Golden Ape King roared, summoning back his offspring who were foraging for food outside, and then leaped away from the valley.

After sleeping for twenty days and refining the essence of the full moon, the giant serpent's speed was far beyond what it used to be.

In the short time it took for the sun to rise in the east, Huai Nian rushed to the entrance of the Snake God Valley.

"Mother!" the giant snake cried out anxiously, its sound waves visibly echoing into the valley.

The serpent god, who had been sleeping deep in the valley and had never shown himself, heard a shout in his hazy consciousness.

She wanted to move her body.

But this seemingly insignificant movement caused the valley to tremble immediately.

It was as if a mud dragon was turning over underground, the earth was roaring, the rock strata were groaning, and countless cracks broke through the rock walls, intersecting like the roots of a large tree.

Large chunks of rock collapsed from the heights, crashing down with a deafening roar. Amidst the tumbling debris, dust billowed into the sky, almost engulfing the entire valley.

"A-Nian, come in." The snake god immediately stopped moving, but the earthquake still had aftershocks, as if the anger after being provoked had not dissipated.

"Yes." Huai Nian nodded and, relying on his brute strength, stormed into the Snake God Valley.

Large rocks rained down like a storm, but the red snake neither dodged nor avoided them, letting the boulders smash into it.

As it travels deeper into the valley, it sweeps across its long tail, its powerful force dispersing the mud and smoke.

The serpent god's current appearance was revealed to Huai Nian.

"Mother..." the giant snake choked up.

"It's alright, I just can't move."

The mysterious stone that once covered only half of the serpent god's body has now spread out and crawled all over the serpent god's body.

The enormous snake's body was firmly sealed in the valley by the black stone, like an amber specimen.

At this moment, of her head, which was over ten feet wide, only one eyeball was still movable.

The eyeball slowly turned, reflecting the gloom and dust that filled the valley, then slowly lowered, no longer moving an inch.

"Don't let Zhongshan's quiet demeanor fool you," she said in a low, gentle voice, carrying a composure honed by the years. "He's actually quite warm-hearted."

"Mother..." Emotions surged into her heart like a tide. Huai Nian lowered her snake head, her forehead scales pressed against the cold cliff wall.

"Now that the moonlight has transformed into the entire river, is the yin and yang energy within your body out of balance again?" the serpent god asked softly.

"Yes," Huai Nian replied in a low voice.

"Come in. It's time for you to know why the Four Immortal Sects wanted to sever my lineage... and why the Crimson Immortal Sect took over Xia'an City."

As the serpent's divine voice faded, the valley trembled once more.

This time, however, it was not with the same earth-shattering force as before; it was simply the earth slowly stretching its limbs.

Before the red serpent, a huge rock rose up, revealing a deep passage.

"Come in," came the mother's voice from the passageway.

Huai Nian lowered his head and swam into it, his golden and silver eyes shining brightly, illuminating the darkness ahead.

The passage is long and enclosed, and the stone walls are not flat, but rather raised in sections, arranged in an orderly manner, like ribs weathered by time.

This is... the transformed form of a giant serpent, many times larger than itself, which has long since lost its life.

The red serpent roamed among them, its scales rubbing against the rocks, playing a mournful melody, low and rhythmic.

Following her mother's voice, Huai Nian continued forward. She didn't know how long she had walked when she suddenly saw a corner ahead.

At the corner, the heatwave rolled in, and the air was visibly distorted by the steam.

With its tongue flicking in and out, the red snake shifted its perspective and saw what had left the deepest impression on it this year.

Nisei.

"Come in," the mother's gentle voice echoed in the dark passageway.

The red serpent lowered its eyes, its enormous body moving silently as it plunged into the surging heat.

The internal vortex rotated spontaneously again, drawing the scattered micro-essence of the sun into the red snake's body.

Before the essence of the sun could display its tyranny, it was enveloped, suppressed, and refined by the moonlight surging from the flesh and blood of the red serpent.

The red serpent, the moment it raised its head, was deprived of its speech.

Before me lay a heart so enormous it seemed absurd.

Its diameter even far exceeds the maximum length of the red snake when fully stretched out, resembling a small mountain.

This mountain-sized heart is still beating, even though it is still completely covered by the black stone.

Under the gaze of the red serpent, his heart beat once.

The terrifyingly high temperature instantly melted the surface of the black stone into magma, which slid down in streams.

The source of this intense heat is the sun trapped within my heart...

"Mother..." Huai Nian murmured.

It was only the sun's essence that burned its flesh and blood, and it was in so much pain that it almost fainted.

At this moment, Huai Nian exhausted all the knowledge he had accumulated over fifty years across two lifetimes, trying to understand and feel the pain his mother endured every day.

However, even the slightest bit is beyond my reach.

"You haven't even broken free from the shackles of the three realms yet, so don't think about things beyond your comprehension." The Serpent God's gentle voice echoed in the vast cavity. "Actually, at my level, I can no longer feel pain."

"Mother..." Huai Nian choked up, unable to utter any words.

"This is the purpose of the Crimson Immortal Sect, and also the source of the drought three hundred years ago."

"Heaven and earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs... Yongningzhou has enjoyed favorable weather for countless years, but it will surely suffer this calamity."

"But I haven't reached the level of understanding the principles of Heaven and Earth, and I couldn't bear to do it... so I borrowed the humanistic fortune of the dynasty at that time to seal this sun."

The serpent god spoke softly, his divine sense transforming into a hand that lifted the red serpent's drooping head.

"I am suffering the Heavenly Punishment of the Mysterious Stone and am about to be assimilated by Zhongshan... But this sun cannot be released."

At that moment, his heart pounded again, and the serpent god blew out a wisp of blazing sun wind through the gap.

Even before they made contact, the once surging blood energy within the red serpent instantly shrank back.

Its scales trembled, its joints creaked, and within its body, the pure Yang essence of the sun, which had been swirling and clashing with the Xuan Yin Moonlight, seemed to have encountered an irresistible supreme being...

Under the blazing sun, the red serpent's entire body went limp, and an irreversible thought arose in its mind: "I can't do anything."

"Child, you can follow the Luo River to Yunxi Continent for refuge." The Serpent God gently stroked the limp, red serpent who was struggling to stand up but could not move an inch.

"A hundred years from now, I will return to Yongning."

After he finished speaking, silence lasted for an unknown period of time until the oppressive force of the Great Sun Wind dissipated.

"Mother... I need to think." Huai Nian tried to stand up, but she couldn't straighten her body no matter what she did.

"Yes, I understand." The snake god had already accepted this outcome, and his touch on the red snake's forehead became even gentler.

Sometimes, it's harder to avoid than to face it.

"Mother..." Huai Nian suddenly mustered her last breath and straightened her body. "I need time to grow."

"You will have it, child."

"I am about to assimilate with Zhongshan. This period may take ten years or several hundred years."

The serpent god's voice remained gentle: "You will have plenty of time... to think."