Volume One, Chapter 12: Feudal Superstition??

Looking at the food on the plate, Kiki, feeling a bit impatient, reached out to twist off the chicken leg. But just as she made a small move, an anxious voice reached her ears: "Assistant, not yet. We have to feed the Snake Immortal first."

Though the old man's voice was frail with age, it was strong and commanding enough to halt Kiki’s hand.

“Snake Immortal? Where is this Snake Immortal? Isn’t this chicken meant to be eaten?” Kiki retorted, questioning the other.

“Child, you just got back and don’t know yet. Our village worships the Snake Immortal. This poultry has to be taken to the ancestral hall for offerings before it can be eaten.”

“Ah, the Snake Immortal? Isn’t that just feudal superstition? Grandpa, you’re quite old now—how can you still believe in this?”

“That’s not something to speak of lightly,” the old man stepped forward and, with his wrinkled arm, tried to cover his granddaughter’s mouth to stop her from speaking nonsense.

Startled by the sudden gesture, Kiki took a few steps back in fear and quickly said, “Alright, I won’t say anything more. If we’re going to worship, let’s do it quickly.”

“Then bring the chicken, let’s go!” The old man, at some unknown point, produced a vegetable basket. After packing the food, they headed to the village’s ancestral hall.

The ancestral hall in Tian Village spanned over 100 square meters and enshrined the first ancestors. Upon closer inspection, in the center of the hall stood a snake-shaped sculpture about a meter long, carved from an unknown type of wood. It looked vividly lifelike, painted with some unidentified liquid pigment that gave it a striking realism.

Before long, Kiki and the old man arrived inside the hall.

With practiced ease, the old man approached the center, gazed at the snake sculpture, and carefully presented the rooster.

Meanwhile, as a 21st-century university student, Kiki was somewhat curious about the lifelike arrangement of the ancestral hall. Three years ago, she remembered this place as quite dilapidated, with leaks often dripping from the ceiling.

“Snake Immortal, please bless our village with favorable weather,” the old man knelt before the serpent statue, bowing three times with nine kowtows.

Watching this scene, Kiki twitched at the corner of her mouth, thinking, “Grandpa, you’re so old yet still believe in these superstitions. Luckily, I’ve had three years of university, or else...”

Meanwhile, deep within the vast Ten-Thousand Mountains, there was a dark, gloomy pool with a diameter of over fifty meters. From afar, its surface appeared pitch black, but as one approached and scooped a handful of water with the right hand, it was crystal clear—like pure, untouched spring water.

Suddenly, the once still black surface churned as Wang Long shot up from the water. He had just been swimming and was now surveying the surrounding water surface.

Pitch dark and unfathomably deep like an abyss, his long body floated comfortably atop the water. The water was remarkably clear and unpolluted.

A day ago, Wang Long had twisted his twenty-meter-long serpent body and plunged downward, diving for a day and a night without finding the end. It seemed to be thousands of meters deep—no matter how far he looked, he couldn’t see the bottom. The deeper he went, the colder and darker it grew, as if even light could be swallowed whole.

Eventually, after a full day, he swam back up and surfaced at dawn. This confirmed the pool was deep—after all, dark water implies profound depth.

This pool lay deep within the mountains, isolated from human habitation, making it an ideal residence for Wang Long. After all, when he eventually transformed into a true dragon, he needed a proper lair—a dragon’s pool.

Fortunately, he decided to make this place his own.

Wang Long emerged from the water onto the shore. The morning sun had fully risen, shining on his elongated body, causing his glossy black scales to shimmer with white reflections.

“Oh, I almost suffocated, barely making it out. If it weren’t for the faith boost from two days ago, I’d have died for sure. Even a sperm whale couldn’t hold its breath this long!”

“Ding! Faith +1 from Old Lin.”

“System: Opening personal panel.”

“Personal panel opened. Faith power: 108. Evolution power conversion loading...”

“Congratulations, host has broken through to first-tier exotic beast, corresponding to the human warrior realm.”

The cultivation levels were: Warrior, Martial Master, Great Martial Master, Martial Spirit, Martial King, Martial Emperor, Martial Ancestor, Martial Lord, Martial Saint, and Martial God—ten tiers in total. Specific abilities referenced from “Battle Through the Heavens.”

Spiritual beasts’ cultivation levels ranged from tier 1 to 10, paralleling the human realms.

Wang Long glanced at his stats: “First-tier exotic beast, huh? Still too weak. Looks like I need to make a divine appearance in the village.”

Around the pool, countless trees grew wildly, blocking the shore completely. The nearest tree stood just one meter from the water’s edge.

Seeing this, Wang Long regarded the trees as obstacles and decided to test his strength on them.

With a swift motion, he twisted his enormous serpent body, sweeping his tail toward a tree as thick as a bucket.

Crack!

The tree was snapped in half as if struck by an overwhelming force. The more than ten-meter-tall tree toppled straight down.

Then, Wang Long swiftly slithered along the shore, uprooting all trees blocking his view. In just two and a half minutes, there wasn’t a single tree within a fifty-meter radius.

“Unexpectedly, a first-tier exotic beast’s power is so formidable. If this were focused on a human, they’d be shattered into a bloody mist with no intact body left,” Wang Long muttered to himself.

What he didn’t realize was that other first-tier exotic beasts wouldn’t be able to clear the surrounding trees so effortlessly.

“Warning: Spiritual energy resurgence of 2025 has begun. Host, please prepare accordingly.”

“It’s finally here,” Wang Long looked skyward as the sky’s color shifted. The once clear sky darkened.

Not only that, but rare seven-colored auspicious clouds appeared, enveloping the entire world’s sky.

Meanwhile, at the Huaxia Military Intelligence Office,

dozens of scientists in their fifties and sixties stared intensely at a stream of fluctuating data on the laboratory screen. Among them, a younger scientist in his early thirties exclaimed,

“The oxygen content in the air has increased tenfold! How is this possible?”

At another secret military research institute in Huaxia, a seventy-year-old senior commander murmured while observing the data on the screen, “This day has finally come.”

...

Deep in the Ten-Thousand Mountains...

Rumble... rumble...

The earth trembled beneath, perhaps stirred by the resurgence of spiritual energy, signaling the awakening of underground creatures.

Ten meters underground in caves, countless army ants, long accustomed to subterranean life, sensed the spiritual energy and rapidly swarmed upward.

Within minutes, hundreds of thousands of ants emerged. Above them, spiritual energy poured down from the heavens.

These army ants, empowered by the spiritual energy, grew as enormous as the rooster. In no time, they claimed a forest area with a diameter of one kilometer as their base.

Meanwhile, the celestial phenomenon induced by the spiritual energy resurgence persisted for two and a half hours before dissipating.

In the following three days, countless people experienced enhanced physical constitution. Even overcrowded hospitals gradually emptied.