God of Snakes

Beasts that enjoy observing civilizations yet are themselves quite fond of sleeping are not limited to Kangqiao alone in this world.

Though Kangqiao is special, his uniqueness lies in his soul, while there are many other individuals in this world of giants whose bodies are slightly less extraordinary than his.

A very, very long time ago, when the entire world was still a vast ocean.

One night, a tiny creature that looked much like a millipede left the deep sea under the moonlight streaming through countless algae.

It entered the land, becoming the first creature to do so.

It was ignorant and naive, knowing nothing of the world's knowledge.

It simply fed by instinct, fled danger by instinct, and over the years underwent instinctive evolution in the process.

Unlike other marine creatures that also entered the land, it was not bound by lifespan; instead, it was very special, changing almost every so often.

Eventually, on the barren Primordial Continent, it gained the form of a serpent.

From that time on, it began to grow drowsy.

And it was during its cycles of slumber and awakening that it noticed, at some unknown point, a dense swarm of tiny creatures had suddenly appeared around it.

These creatures were so small that, despite their numbers, they were hardly enough to fill the gaps between its teeth.

Of course, that wasn't the key point.

The key point was that it realized these tiny creatures gathered around it all looked very much like itself.

Though minuscule, it was the first time it had seen beings resembling itself on this land.

Thus, this successfully caught the attention of its nascent intelligence, sparking a trace of curiosity.

Then, in the process of this dawning wisdom, it protected these little creatures, occasionally leaving scraps of its own hunted prey for them.

Over time, one day after waking from slumber, it found that the little creatures beside it had changed again.

They had grown larger, and some had even sprouted a pair of strange 'limbs' on their upper bodies.

Not only had these little ones become odd, but upon its awakening, they presented it with a large pile of food it found somewhat unappealing.

Though unappealing, for some reason, it still went along and ate the food.

It accepted the worship of these little creatures, did not harm them, and instead grew even more curious.

Afterward, it watched as these little ones went out to hunt creatures many times their size for it; even when a great many died, they stubbornly attacked the 'giant beast' until it was completely slain.

Seeing the thinned ranks of these little creatures, and then watching them joyfully deliver the food before it.

For a moment, its dim intelligence stirred with an inexplicable emotion.

Moved, comforted, pitiful.

It didn't know what was wrong with itself.

Nor did it understand the origin of emotions, for though its wisdom had long since emerged, no one had taught it knowledge, and it spent most of its time sleeping, so it wasn't particularly clever.

But, looking at the slain giant beast before it, and seeing the joyful cheers of those little creatures as it ate the food, for a moment, it felt immensely happy too.

This happiness came out of nowhere, yet it thoroughly enjoyed the scene of being surrounded and cheered by these weak little beings.

Because of this happiness, it personally went out hunting and brought back a pile of Blood Food to bestow upon these little creatures, who had suffered heavy losses.

And so, the story between it and its subjects has continued to this day.

In the vast underground cavern, it awoke today.

It was not awakened by its subjects, but by hunger, and also by a faint sense of crisis from the unknown.

The sense of crisis was very weak; it didn't even notice it upon waking.

One could say it had never fully understood or utilized its own power, so how could it possibly know this instinct-like precognition?

Unlike Kangqiao, it awakened many times, almost once or twice every thousand years.

Each time it awoke, it would see its subjects quickly offer it food.

Thus, it had developed a habit of laziness.

It almost never left its cave; after eating the food offered by its subjects, it would carefully observe how their clan had developed over the many years since its last sleep.

Watching the tiny subjects cheer, watching them come and go, watching them live in the dark world.

This feeling of looking down from a higher dimension was very amusing.

It had come to like and be satisfied with this life.

As for the goal of a serpent's life, what is living for?

Such profound cognition was beyond it—wasn't the existence of a creature just about eating and sleeping?

Oh, right, and also watching the living conditions of its weak subjects.

Today, it awoke again.

But today was strange—why had so many of those subjects that always surrounded it disappeared?

And the entire deep, dark cavern world didn't have as many subjects as it had seen last time.

Not just half gone, but nearly eighty percent.

Throughout the entire cave, the most numerous things in the distance were the serpent eggs of the Serpent People, along with the clansmen and Serpent monsters tending to them.

Seeing their own god suddenly awaken ahead of schedule, the few surrounding subjects guarding the area were greatly alarmed.

Yet within that alarm, there was also a trace of surprise.

Under the gaze of the God of Darkness and Poisonous Fog, the Serpent People began gesturing wildly, waving their hands and dancing about.

But the God of Snakes could not understand them at all!

Like Kangqiao, it had not yet learned the means to effectively communicate with its subjects.

It wasn't that it couldn't learn—rather, it was simply too massive, and its vocal organs differed from those of the Serpent People. Moreover, as a giant beast species, as a less-than-brilliant intelligent lifeform, it had never even recognized the importance of learning to communicate.

Furthermore, with such a disparity in life levels, why should it bother learning how to communicate with lower lifeforms?

And on top of that, it had grown thoroughly lazy. Even shifting its posture slightly while sleeping felt like a hassle, so how could it possibly bother learning something as troublesome as language?

These poor, weak subjects—it never saw the same individuals twice upon awakening. This was evident from their varying heights and the differences in their scales.

Though it was not clever, its memory was astonishingly sharp, so it could clearly recall the features of every Serpent Person it had ever met before.

Even after sleeping for a very long time.

"What a bunch of pitiful little creatures with such short lives."

Watching the tiny subjects gesticulating beneath it, it simply observed.

It had already reached a conclusion, subconsciously assuming that the Serpent People were likely out hunting.

Probably preparing a fine meal for it.

If these little ones knew it had awakened, they would surely return soon, wouldn't they?

With that thought, it regarded the dancing, gesticulating Serpent People as entertainment before mealtime, watching them with considerable interest.

However, what it did not know was that the Serpent People outside were indeed "hunting."

But the prey they hunted was all being handed over to a tribe called Water's Children.

What was more, just as the Serpent People were fulfilling their pact and delivering the last batch of Blood Food to the Shark People, an even greater crisis was already closing in.

Far beyond the several mountains surrounding the Serpent People's settlement, a massive horde of Dinosaur People was charging forth.

And following the Dinosaur People, at a great distance behind them, came a giant beast that looked somewhat helpless.