Warfare is a concept possessed only by Super Species.
For Savage Species, death is an individual matter.
The male beasts fight for a hunting ground, and for a female beast; the story ends after the male dies.
Super Species possess history. They remember their ancestors, and naturally, they remember hatred. They occupy the ley lines, rule the rivers, inherit territories, and perpetuate a massacre to the next generation, who then pass it on to even more distant descendants.
Thus, war was born.
This is a conflict between ethnic groups.
The clay tablets refer to this long period as the Blood and Fire Era, while later generations are more accustomed to calling it the Samei Thousand-Year War.
This name is actually not accurate, because the war lasted for two thousand years.
Over these two millennia, there have been dozens of long truces, as well as struggles for the throne, civil wars among lords, the extinction of bloodlines, changes of alliances, and localized wars. During that time, rivers could have several different masters in the lifetime of a single species, and leyline nodes changed hands repeatedly over centuries, unable to form a stable rule.
Because lords can also die in battle, and in the Blood and Fire Era, the death of a lord doesn't even cause a ripple.
Before everything began, in Famu's memory, there was a war between the Bronze Lords and the Dayseeker —a war that belonged to the Lords.
One Typhon family fought with another for control of the Typhon Lines, one Dead Sun Armor Lord attacked the territory of another Dead Sun Armor Lord, and the rivers and swamps changed hands with the death of each lord, a situation that had been going on for a long time.
The change came from a Dead Sun Armor King.
Aaron the Conqueror.
Before Aaron, it was a battle between lords. After Aaron, the Dead Sun Armor and Typhon truly entered into war. At that time, Typhon Queen mobilized all the lords to resist Aaron's invasion, and ultimately destroyed Aaron and his army on the Sea of Doern.
But Aaron's death was not the end of the war; rather, it marked the beginning of a real conflict.
The high priest of the Red God declared that Aaron's Furnace Core was a gift from the Red God himself, and whoever obtained that Furnace Core would be able to unify the kings. The Dead Sun Armor didn't care who could unify them, but they had seen the benefits of war; war was the most violent ladder to ascension.
They can freely absorb ley lines without worrying about their descendants; they can freely devour the Furnace Core of their enemies as nourishment. They practice strife, disrupt order, and ignite fires in the swamps of Typhon. The Red God will bless them and ensure their invincibility.
Aaron is the best example.
He wasn't originally that powerful; it was through his conquests that he became the first Dead Sun Armor to step into the Sea of Doern.
Even though he died, he successfully cast the Red God's raging fire into the Green God's gentle embrace, which was undoubtedly a great humiliation for Typhon. But it was a feat worthy of being sung about by the priests of the Red God for all time, an achievement that even Akhmons Dayseeker could not attain.
So the kings of the Dead Sun Armor began their operation, even surprised by the weakness of Lord Typhon.
The war Lord of Bronze and the Dayseeker had far-reaching consequences. During that battle, Typhon and the Dead Sun Armor believed that their respective lords possessed such catastrophic power. It wasn't until Aaron burned away that fear that the kings realized that as the ley lines in the rainforest depleted, the Typhon lords could absorb less and less of them. This directly led to shorter lifespans and smaller sizes for the lords, and the power that could raise riverbeds and tear apart thousands of peaks became a legend.
But the Dead Sun Armor is different; they possess the Holy Mountain Soligni. Even as the ley lines in other territories weaken, that giant active volcano continues to burn, providing a constant source of energy for the kings.
"The brutal war continues," Dalenmayou said quietly.
"Fortunately, the Kings of the Dead Sun Armor fight independently, caring only about their own gains while also being wary of the victories achieved by other Kings of the Dead Sun Armor. Typhon, on the other hand, has a Queen who can rally the lords."
Even if we fail, it will only be a temporary defeat; victory still belongs to us.
The priest stroked the mud tablet with his tail, looked at the silent listener, and was amazed by his learning ability.
In the beginning, the Mud Language on each clay tablet required Dalenmayou to interpret their meaning for Famu. However, as history progressed and the tablets that had been read accumulated, Dalenmayou discovered that the other party could directly understand the inscriptions on the tablets.
Compared to the children who gave him headaches, this Child of the Earth seemed more like a proper priest.
Famu rubbed the scales on its tail against the stone slab to read the writing on the clay tablet.
He encountered the third Super Species.
Emerald Skirt.
Around 1,500 to 1,200 years ago, the third super-ethnic group gradually became involved in the Samei War.
Emerald Skirt, the skirt of the goddess of the lake, is a Super Species in the form of a jellyfish. Emerald Skirts possess an extremely strong ability to modify their environment. They live in the large rivers, lakes, and estuaries south of the Samei Rainforest. Their dwellings are built tens of meters underwater, absorbing the earth's veins from underground fissures.
This Super Species has extremely strict requirements for water quality. The waters they live in are usually clear and transparent and have low temperatures all year round. If they were to enter a war, the environment alone would be a major problem.
But that's how the Super Species think. The Emerald Skirt doesn't adapt to murky waters; instead, they modify water bodies, transforming the Typhon and Dead Sun Armor Rivers and lakes into environments they can thrive in.
Therefore, the three parties began to compete with each other for the earth vein nodes.
However, as Typhon continued to gain victories and expand its control over the ley lines, the Dead Sun Armor and the Emerald Skirt gradually realized that if Typhon continued to expand, both races would eventually lose a large amount of their core waters.
The Emerald Skirt and the Dead Sun Armor formed an alliance.
Typhon faced threats from both the south and the west.
"The Furnace Core of the Emerald Skirts is very special; they can avoid Typhon's strangulation, their bodies almost disappearing into the water. But once those sharp tentacles leave a scar on Typhon's soft mouth, the terrible venom will endanger their lives," Dalenmayou said. "The Child of the Earth are never afraid of venom; their bodies can easily neutralize such harm."
Therefore, the poison of the Emerald Skirt is generally referred to as a curse.
The Emerald Skirt possesses a sacred Furnace Core, from which the water is purified; the Furnace Core is the same. The sacred Furnace Core can kill the Child of the Earth.
"With the alliance between the Dead Sun Armor and the Emerald Skirt, we are at a disadvantage."
"Until the birth of a queen."
Dalenmayou paused for a moment.
At the same time, Famu touched that name on the clay tablet.
In that instant, it was as if he could sense the emotions the Shadow Priest had inscribed that name had poured into it, and majesty emanated from the veins of the Mud Language.
"The White-Skeleton King, Baqiu."
She was the queen who ended the Blood and Fire Era.
About four hundred years ago, during the time of Typhon's repeated defeats, a female Typhon was born, her body covered in pale white scales, resembling a skeleton.
Baqiu was born during the darkest period of the war, when Typhon had lost many rivers and ley lines, the Emerald Skirt and the Dead Sun Armor controlled most of the important waterways of Samei, and the royal family of the Sea of Doern had even begun to discuss giving up some of their upstream territories.
Baqiu was born in such blood and fire.
After she came of age, she gradually became the most powerful ruler of Typhon.
The Pale Queen defeated the alliance of the Dead Sun Armor and the Emerald Skirt, drove both races away from the core water system of Samei, and personally killed the Red God High Priest of the Dead Sun Armor. Later, she led the lords to the south to execute one of the two kings of the Emerald Skirt, thus completely ending the millennium-long war in Samei.
After that, the Dead Sun Armor retreated to the western part of Samei and the volcanic hot spring area, while the Emerald Skirt completely left the Samei water system and moved to live in the shallow sea.
"The Typhons are all relieved."
"The most powerful lords live in the distant past, but the most powerful queen lives in the present, which is right before our eyes."
For the rainforest, which has been in conflict for over four hundred years, the war has just ended, and it is a time when all living beings are enjoying peace.
Famu was very curious about what happened to the queen afterward.
Then he heard Dalenmayou's somewhat chilling reply, "The White Skeleton King Baqiu, is still our queen; she is the longest-lived Typhon known."