The rainy season arrived.
With the abundant rainfall, waterways appeared on both the eastern and western sides of Blackwater Swamp. The eastern waterway led to the Mara River system, while the western one ran underwater toward a place closer to the Samei River. That area had reportedly been far from peaceful lately.
Floodwaters from the mountains poured into the Samei River, restoring it to its former, ocean-like state. The great river that wound through the heart of the Samei Rainforest easily overflowed across vast stretches of land, submerging forests and sweeping hundreds of millions of tons of fresh water into the deep sea.
Beneath the murky waters of the floodplain, a massive serpentine shadow would occasionally glide past.
The serpents left their nests, following a route engraved in their ancient bloodlines, swimming toward the same destination.
It was the Sea of Doern, upstream on the Samei River, where the Queen's Temple stood.
The adult warriors set out on a pilgrimage to pay homage to the supreme ruler, seeking the baptism of battle and the authority to carve out territories.
Along the way, the older Typhons who occupied the various waterways, and even the exalted Muerjias, showed these young pilgrims rare tolerance and protection. This was a journey blessed by the sacred, and by extending goodwill in advance, the elders might one day gain a Muerjia's friendship.
That was how ties grew close.
None of this had anything to do with this swamp.
A black Typhon lay coiled underwater. He poked his head above the surface to breathe, and the ripples from the vibrations of his breathing spread outward, sending schools of fish scattering.
He was not yet an adult, and his territory did not lie along the serpents' pilgrimage route.
That was why Blackwater Swamp was called a barren land. It was not connected to the Typhons' network of waterways.
Amid a rainforest that trembled as though under an earthquake, Famu's swamp had remained quiet. Today was an exception, however: another tremor came from the east.
A visitor had come to the swamp. Xing Rui had come to say goodbye to Famu.
Famu treated her to some cooked food he had stored earlier. Before the torrential rains descended upon the Samei Rainforest, he had used those stones to roast quite a few chunks of meat, purely to indulge his appetite.
"What meat is this? It's delicious," Xing Rui said, praising it as she swallowed the chunks one after another.
Famu felt that she had no idea what the meat tasted like. Xing Rui swallowed in the traditional Typhon fashion, gulping it down whole with hardly any chewing.
After watching Xing Rui for a few moments, Famu was sure she would praise anything she ate. Cooked food and raw meat made no difference to her.
Famu decided that next time, he would treat her to larger, simpler prey instead.
After eating, Xing Rui said, "The pilgrimage is a long journey for us. To be honest, I've never traveled so far from home."
Typhons were highly territorial. Once they found a pond or swamp, they could stay there until the end of time if it was comfortable.
"You can go and give it a try. It's nothing to worry about," Famu reassured her.
"Do you swim far?" Xing Rui asked.
"Sometimes. For food, I swim to wherever prey gathers," Famu answered. "You can think of the pilgrimage as a long hunting trip. With that in mind, I can follow the waterways a long way."
"You actually swim far just for food?" Xing Rui was a little surprised, but after looking around the barren Blackwater Swamp, she found herself thinking Famu's behavior was only natural.
Famu could never have grown this big on this swamp alone. He would probably have entered a growth stagnation period long ago.
"That's what you've learned from experience, Famu. Thank you for sharing it," Xing Rui said.
"If food were scarce in your territory, what would you do?" Famu asked, gently guiding her.
"Go hungry," Xing Rui answered without hesitation.
What a lazy creature.
Famu did not know that the creature he considered lazy was already exceptionally hardworking. Since the age of three, Xing Rui had only entered a growth stagnation period for one dry season, and she had made up for that stretch of growth afterward by eating large quantities of food. As a result, her size was perfect among young Typhons her age.
"If I meet an unfamiliar Typhon, should I go up and greet them?" Xing Rui asked.
Xing Rui did not really know why she was asking Famu these questions. He was clearly a male Typhon younger than she was.
Perhaps it was because he truly possessed extraordinary wisdom. Xing Rui felt that Famu had qualities like those Sifu once had: he was learned and knowledgeable, spoke in a steady tone, and used Mud Language with practiced elegance. He often used words that amazed Xing Rui, all of which were signs of wisdom.
"The coming-of-age rite is cruel. I'll be gone a long time," Xing Rui said, bubbles gurgling up around her.
"The queen selects warriors. The victors earn the right to receive a baptism and the right to carve out territories of their own. The losers become fuel for the defense of the borders, and some even die in the King's Territory," Xing Rui said in a low voice. "Several of my older sisters never came back, and they didn't carve out territories in other waters either. They all died, but I thought they were already strong enough, at least no weaker than I am now. I can't guarantee I'll come back alive."
"You should be the most outstanding one," Famu said.
"Isn't there anything else you want to say?" Xing Rui kept blowing bubbles.
Famu paused briefly.
He had few feelings about this bloody selection within their kind, or the fate it held for adult Typhons.
He was simply curious about the Typhons' King's Territory. He could not offer words of comfort either; the Typhons' coming-of-age rite was not something worth offering comfort over.
Too many words of comfort would only make her seem weak.
Xing Rui was obviously not a weak creature.
"May your Furnace Core never cease to tremble. May you return alive to your Bend. May the river remember you before it forgets you."
At last, Famu offered a blessing.
In truth, Famu did not know what to say at a time like this. He had simply thought of some pretty words.
It was roughly like the human wish for blessings as vast as the Eastern Sea and a life as long as the Southern Mountains.
The difference was that human blessings were spoken aloud and contained only the meaning of a heartfelt wish. Some were even spoken against the speaker's true feelings.
But a Typhon's prayer came from the frequency of the Furnace Core's vibrations. After Famu spoke those words, a deep rumble came from his Furnace Core, and some of his Earth Vein Energy flowed away, as though he had truly infused his blessing into the earth beneath him and received a response.
Xing Rui was stunned by the extraordinary grandeur of the prayer.
In her eyes, these were syllables only a trained priest could utter. Even the Priest Candidates lacked such ability. The prayer was sacred and wholly natural, and the one blessed would receive help from the shadows.
For the river to remember you before forgetting you meant that you would become a lord, and the river would remember your name until your death.
She gave Famu a long look.
"I brought you a gift. You should like it," Xing Rui said.
Her expression was solemn, as though she were about to offer up her own life.
Famu had not seen Xing Rui bring any prey, so he was somewhat puzzled.
But then Xing Rui opened her mouth. The muscles in her throat and body surged as she vomited something up from her stomach, accompanied by stomach acid. It was enormous, and on the whole it looked like a piece of pale, tattered cloth.
But what tattered cloth could remain undigested in a Typhon's stomach?
Xing Rui saw Famu's confusion.
"This is my mother's Slough."
Xing Rui left Famu one final gift, and then she departed.
That gift was a Muerjia's Slough.
By wearing the Muerjia's Slough, Famu would have one chance to enter a lord's territory.
This was actually a loophole the Muerjias had found in the Typhons' ancient rules. A female who left could not return to the nest unless she became a new lord. A Muerjia's latest Slough was equivalent to cloaking her in a lord's mantle. No Typhon in the nest would stop you; at least while you wore the Slough, you were a true Muerjia. You could even give orders to the priests in the nest.
All lords knew this rule, and they granted the opportunity by tacit agreement. But there was only one chance. The Slough had to be returned upon departure, and no Typhon would investigate your identity.
No matter who you were, once you wore it, you were the Muerjia of the Mara River.
Xing Rui had left this immensely precious token with Famu. If she failed the pilgrimage, the Slough could even serve as a token to save her life.
She understood perfectly well what the Slough meant.
It meant that her exalted mother had, in fact, been watching her growth and trials from the shadows all along.
But Xing Rui felt she had no need for the Slough's actual function. What difference would it make to visit the Muerjia's territory once before the coming-of-age rite? After the rite, if she was still alive, she would visit her mother as one who had received baptism, and surely her mother would welcome her warmly.
To this proud young female, the meaning behind the Slough was a hundred times more important than its function.
She felt she already had everything.
Her mother's watchful gaze from the shadows, and a sacred prayer worthy of an ancient priest.
Carrying these sources of strength that filled her with contentment, she would race toward the King's Territory to face a baptism of blood and fire.
Rain fell.
Famu swam closer to the mass of Slough floating in the black water.
The translucent, pale Slough gradually unfolded as the current washed over it. It looked as light as gauze, yet its texture was as tough as armor.
Being able to withstand a Typhon's stomach acid without dissolving, the Slough could already be considered top-tier protective gear in the rainforest.
Famu bit down on one corner of the Slough and picked apart its folds. He even used some force to see just how tough it really was.
At least with the strength Famu was currently using, it was difficult to bite through. He might have managed it with more force; his strengthened neck vertebrae and sharp teeth gave him tremendous piercing power, but there was obviously no need to damage it.
Famu worked along the edges of the Slough, spreading it flat across the water bit by bit as he tried to estimate the Ruler of the Mara River's size.
The pale Slough was spread out completely.
Famu slowly backed away. At that moment, it was as though a Muerjia had descended upon the swamp in person.
Spread out, the Slough swayed with the current and enclosed Famu. He looked around, surrounded on all sides by swaying membrane like light gauze. Even the narrowest part of the Slough's neck was larger than the thickest part of Famu's body. And this was a Slough, which meant the Muerjia's current size was even more staggering.
She was a monster beyond imagination.
A tyrant who truly stood at the pinnacle of this rainforest.
A chance to enter the Lord's Land was especially important to Famu. In the rainforest, he was an ignorant creature with virtually no common knowledge. In the Lord's Land, Famu could find the Typhons' language, knowledge, and social patterns. Only by learning these things could he truly know what kind of beings the Typhons were.
History and faith in particular would teach Famu the history of the entire rainforest.
He put the opportunity away, waiting for the best time.
For now, he was unwilling to place himself under that Muerjia's very eyes.
But one day, he would put on the Slough and head to the Lord's Land upstream on the Mara River.
The rain went on and on.
Famu's appetite grew stronger by the day, and he developed an increasing fondness for cooked food.
Given a Typhon's digestive ability, there was little difference between cooked and raw meat, probably only in the texture.
He really had fallen in love with the texture of cooked food.
But to Famu's dismay, flesh and blood were indeed becoming things that merely satisfied his appetite. He could feel that this food only helped him sustain his vitality and did nothing for his growth.
Whether for his body's growth or the Scepter's needs, Famu had to set his sights on the power of the earth veins. He had to search for nodes where earth veins might exist.
After Xing Rui left, she also entrusted her territory to Famu's care.
Given how rich Greenwater Marsh was, a new Typhon would soon occupy it once Xing Rui was gone. Rather than let an outsider who came from who knew where get such a fine place for nothing, she might as well hand it over to Famu along with everything else.
At least as Xing Rui saw it, Famu really would return the territory to her when she came back.
Besides giving him ownership of Green Marshland, Xing Rui knew Famu was unfamiliar with the surrounding waterways, so she also told him about some networks that led to other rivers.
During those days, Famu followed the waterways to explore the surrounding area.
As for the Slough, Famu did not feel safe leaving it anywhere, so he followed Xing Rui's example and swallowed it. It affected his eating, though. The Slough was simply too large; even though the membrane could be rolled and folded, it still occupied much of Famu's stomach.
There was not much time to use the Slough. He had to put it on and enter the Lord's Land before the Muerjia shed her skin again.
After the lord's next shedding, the new Slough would become the new token, and the old one would be invalid.
By that reckoning, the interval between a Muerjia's sheddings was the interval at which she opened a back door for her offspring.
Xing Rui said she did not know when her mother would shed next either. The interval between sheddings was long for a Muerjia, and this Slough had suddenly appeared in her swamp just as she was about to set out. There would not be another for at least five years or so.
The rare opportunity also meant that the Muerjia of the Mara River thought highly of Xing Rui.
The rainforest was more barren than Famu had imagined—not in terms of food, but Earth Vein Energy.
During those days of endless rain, Famu traveled over a thousand kilometers along the waterways without finding anything.
With floodwaters covering the land and the serpents leaving their nests, no fool would come out to draw attention. The Furnace-Core Creatures that had shown themselves during the dry season had all vanished. These creatures were scarce to begin with, and most were active while the Typhons lay dormant. The dry season limited the Typhons' range, but now that the rainy season had arrived, even the Furnace-Core Creatures that might previously have been located were hard to find.
More troublesome than his failure to find Earth Vein Energy was the curiosity he had aroused among others of his kind in the floodwaters.
Others of his kind occasionally approached him, but Famu simply sped past. Even if they were curious, they did not chase after him.
But Famu eventually ran into one that would not leave him alone.
Because of his enormous size, Famu was mistaken for an adult female on her way to the Queen's Temple. He was intercepted while heading toward another tributary.
The one who stopped him was a male trying to court him.