Dense threads covered the entire sky. The Human God controlled Earthbound Spirits one after another, waging campaigns and slaughtering enemies.
"Puppet threads?"
Inside a tomb in the imperial palace of the capital.
Nine Ears looked at the familiar strands of thread and gazed at the entire world formed like a spider's lair. It was as though some node buried deep in his memory had been triggered, sending his thoughts across time and space, back to the distant past.
"Yes."
"Why could I draw this picture? Because I was born in the Rong Tian Ji Era."
He reached out and gently stroked a scroll.
On the scroll, a gigantic ape's face looked down upon Heaven and Earth, while strands of thread extended from its ten fingertips, controlling all living beings upon the earth.
"I was born in an era long, long ago. I once witnessed the Human God era with my own eyes, so naturally I knew he was hidden within history."
When Nine Ears was young, his family was not well-off. At that time, there was no such thing as humanity. The earth was still inhabited by apes in one tribe after another, and his parents were apes as well.
The birth rate was quite high back then. A single pregnancy could produce four or five children.
They lived in a small tribe. His mother raised him, a little monkey, but quickly fell ill from overwork and passed away when he was three.
Three years later, his father died as well.
He could only raise his seven younger brothers and sisters.
He was only six that year. He was not clever—in fact, he was somewhat simple-minded and foolish. His aptitude was mediocre too. He had dug for worms in the mud, stripped tree bark, picked wild fruit, and raided birds'