Once upon a time there was a greedy snake

"It's all your fault..."

Deep within the palace, Casaloron gripped his javelin tightly, gazing at the massive body before him, its limbs severed.

"You've been the one bewitching me..."

"Am I trying to bewitch you?"

Feeling the murderous intent so close at hand, David Day's face finally began to panic.

“I didn’t mislead you. I clearly answered your question. I am also a person from the Ice Plains. I was clearly thinking of the people of the Ice Plains…”

David Day's answer was more spears.

The javelin, swirling with force, pinned David Day to the wall, causing him to struggle incessantly—his limbless body writhing in agony looked to Casaloran like a snake spitting venom.

"snake……"

Casalon suddenly shuddered.

It was at this moment that he realized just how evil a snake truly was. It was as treacherous and cunning as a deadly poison, an evil that ordinary people could not comprehend at all. He rarely used the word "evil," because in his eyes, so-called evil was nothing more than a powerful enemy that could be defeated.

But now, he has personally experienced what true evil is.

Formless, intangible, and even elusive, by the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late—even though he had already thrown all the javelins on his body, even though he had torn that damned David Day to shreds, it was all in vain.

"Is there no one who can eradicate these evils? Is there no one who can punish these crimes?"

As the lamp burned out, Casaloron gazed up at the starry sky and let out his final roar.

"No matter who it is! No matter what they want! As long as it can destroy this evil... I am willing to give up everything!"

As if in response to Casaloran's words, a star in the sky suddenly winked at him.

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 that the Serpent God would definitely settle scores with them, based on Chiying's own understanding of the Serpent God, the Serpent God might not even care about their petty squabbles. Of course, begging for forgiveness was out of the question, but the Serpent God wouldn't bother with them at all if they were just going to the Holy Mountain to get some food.

However, to Akakage's surprise, his mentor Sadok did not say the things he had 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.

Chapter 53 Putting the Elephant in a Refrigerator

Cooking a giant eagle the size of a small mountain is no easy task.

The ideal way is naturally to stew it. After using open-fire grilling for so long, Du Yi had long wanted to try a different way of eating it. However, it was clear that making a big pot to stew the entire giant eagle was not an easy task.

"If we absolutely have to do it, we'll first have to dig into the mountain, then find a way to bring out the underground magma as a heat source, and we'll also have to bring in more water to make soup... Will this water really boil?"

After just a moment's thought, Du Yi realized that this was a rather troublesome matter, at least for now, the workload was considerable.

While theoretically it's not impossible to do it by spending more time, the giant eagle itself cannot be preserved for that long.

"Perhaps we could freeze it over at the snowy mountains... but I feel like that would affect the taste."

After a moment's thought, Du Yi began to shake his head.

As for ingredients, it's important to eat them fresh.

As for grilling over an open flame, that's fine for plucking feathers, but using it to process this giant eagle would be a waste of its resources. Besides, Du Yi has already tasted far too many smoky and fiery dishes, and he can't just waste such a rare and excellent ingredient.

So, after a moment's thought, Du Yi chose a rather old-fashioned, yet very practical, method.

"I need your help."

This time, Du Yi approached the wild men who had ventured into the mountains.

"As a reward, I will go to the snowy mountains in the west again and bring back the mammoths and saber-toothed tigers that have been eaten to extinction."

Those former Ignis people, now the mountain dwellers, would never refuse such an opportunity. They couldn't wait to stay by the side of this ancestor of the Dao and experience his astonishing wisdom.

Of course, to avoid angering the Dao Ancestors for stealing their knowledge, they cautiously expressed their desire to learn.

"No, what can you possibly learn from me?"

Du Yizhen didn't think he had anything to learn; he was surprisingly self-aware in this respect.

If you're going to learn, you should at least learn something good. What can you possibly learn from him? How to cook?

"It doesn't seem impossible?"

With that in mind, Du Yi simply nodded in agreement, indicating that these savages could learn whatever they wanted without paying him any copyright fees or apprenticeship fees.

"If these methods can help you eat something better, that's a good thing."

Du Yi said this to the savages.

The wild people, or rather, the people of the mountains today, were naturally overjoyed and worked even harder.

What Du Yi asked them to do wasn't complicated; it only required two things.

One task is called "picking leaves." The leaves must be large enough, the bigger the better, with no upper limit. After picking these leaves, the people in the mountains are responsible for attaching them to the giant eagle that has already shed its feathers, trying to leave no gaps.

The second task is to apply mud. After finishing the work of pasting leaves, they need to apply mud to the outer layer of the leaves. This is also a huge project, but this time the Ancestor of the Dao will participate. The mining and mixing of yellow mud will be done by the giant snake, and the giant snake will even be responsible for part of the application process.

After that, they were no longer involved.

The fine work was done; all that remained was the major project. Du Yi dug a large pit, buried the mud ball containing the giant eagle inside, then filled it in with soil and lit an equally enormous bonfire on top of the mud ball.

The towering flames were comparable to setting a mountain on fire, and the scorching heat swept all around.

But Du Yi was still somewhat dissatisfied.

"It's still too rough... If only we had a stove."

"……furnace?"

The savages following Du Yi were stunned; these were words they had never heard before.

"what is that?"

"As for the furnace, it's..."

Du Yigang was about to explain when he suddenly stopped.

This kind of thing, which is extremely common sense to him, is actually harder to say casually—after all, in Du Yi's eyes, everyone should know what a furnace is, and as for those who don't know what it is... do such people really exist?

As it turns out, it really exists; at least these savages genuinely didn't know what a furnace was.

After all, they possessed a more convenient so-called magic, the ability to ignite a fire with a clap of their hands, which was far more convenient than any stove. With this magical ability, they could heat anything they wanted with a simple clap, so there was no need to invent new tools.

However, Du Yi could tell that these wild people in the mountains didn't know any magic, so a stove was surprisingly useful to them.

"I'll just draw it for you guys."

Not knowing how to describe it, Du Yi simply raised its long tail and used the tip to draw patterns on the ground.

Having no hands or feet, Du Yi had long been accustomed to using this tail to perform various operations, and now it was surprisingly agile even when used for drawing.

In just a short while, Du Yi was able to sketch out the general shape of a stove. Although he himself couldn't even explain exactly what parts a stove should consist of, he taught him all the details, such as how to light the fire, how to burn the stove, and how to clean the ash from the stove.