Had the Rat Been in Contact with Humans?

Outside, a raging storm howled.

Inside, it was dry and comfortable.

The moment the snake loosened its jaws, the big rat that had been trembling just moments ago immediately performed an action that left Bai Chuan stunned.

First, it stood upright and pressed its two little forepaws together in front of its chest. Then its chubby little body dropped to its knees before Bai Chuan's snake head, and it let out ingratiating little squeaks as it kowtowed over and over, begging for mercy.

Come to think of it, it was hard to say whether this rat had been blessed with incredible good fortune or had suffered the worst luck imaginable.

It had been born among the rats in a human village near the foot of a mountain.

Not long after its birth, before its eyes had even opened, disaster struck: the villagers discovered its entire rat family and wiped them out.

Fortunately, it had survived. Just as it was about to be killed, three compassionate monks had arrived in the village.

The monk leading them had kind eyes and a compassionate expression. He stopped the villagers and offered them some money, pleading with them to hand the rat over to him.

The villagers had clearly agreed, and so they gave the rat to the monk in exchange.

For some reason, the monk stayed at a temple near the village and took the rat in.

He kept it by his side every day, reciting scriptures and chanting Buddha's name, and occasionally gave it something to eat—though sometimes the food tasted a little strange.

And so, under those circumstances, it managed to survive.

Perhaps it was because of the constant stream of people coming and going, and all the different things it heard.

As it grew, being immersed in that environment made it much stronger and cleverer than its fellow rats. It could even understand a few of the monk's hints.

Unfortunately, good times never lasted.

It had not lived that way for long before the monk who had raised it died. According to those two-legged creatures, he had "passed into nirvana," or something like that.

Whatever that meant, the rat didn't understand. It only knew that the monk would never wake up again, that no one would feed it anymore, and that there would be no more kind people around.

In a daze, it huddled inside the monk's sleeve, against his chest, and watched in terror as the two disciples who usually followed him around—

Their peaceful expressions were gone. Their faces twisted with rage as they fought over something or other.

In the end, they even stripped the clothes from the monk who had cared for it.

Terrified, the rat ran away in a panic. Fortunately, the two men paid it no attention.

And just like that—

It got its first taste of how hard life could be. No one fed it when it was hungry anymore, and it had to fight or steal for everything.

If humans caught it, they would beat it half to death. Fortunately, although it hadn't learned much else over the years, it had gotten pretty good at kneeling.

It discovered that when it was hungry, it could sneak into the grand homes of people dressed in fine clothes and steal food. Even if it was caught and had nowhere to run, as long as it cleverly copied them by kneeling and kowtowing to beg for mercy, there was a good chance they would let it go.

As for why, it didn't really understand. After all, it was just a little rat.

Unfortunately, it hadn't lived that way for more than a few days when a violent storm struck. A landslide and flood came rushing down and destroyed everything.

Unlucky as it was, the rat was swept away by the flood.

But fortunately, it didn't die. As the flood surged along, it somehow managed to cling to a large log and was carried by the current into this green forest.

And now, it was facing the most difficult moment of its rat life—it had come across its natural enemy, a snake!

A rat could actually learn to kowtow like a human?

The sight left Bai Chuan utterly dumbfounded.

It was the first time he had ever seen such a clever rat. For a moment, he had even forgotten what he had been about to do.

After a moment, he came back to his senses, and his curiosity was piqued.

To make sure it wasn't a coincidence, he leaned closer and carefully examined the rat.

In an instant, the rat kowtowing on the ground was nudged to the edge of the hollow by the snake's head. Wanting to get away from those dangerous jaws, the timid little creature instinctively stood upright and pressed itself against the tree wall, its forepaws spread wide as it trembled with its eyes shut.

Three seconds later.

"Drip~" A strange trickling sound fell.

Bai Chuan jerked his snake head away in disgust. Gross!

He suddenly realized he couldn't bring himself to eat it. What was he supposed to do?

He had never paid much attention to such things before, since the food he swallowed had always been dead by the time he ate it.

But after seeing this with his own eyes, he found himself reluctant.

Bai Chuan coiled his body back up and ignored the rat, closing his eyes to rest.

He could leave the rat where it was. It wasn't going anywhere, anyway.

Besides, he was just a snake. Even if he wanted to communicate with the rat, he couldn't.

The only thing he could be sure of was that the rat was unusually intelligent and somewhat humanlike.

He just didn't know whether such intelligence was common in this world or an exception.

If it was the former, things could get interesting.

That would mean this world wasn't ordinary. After he grew stronger, he might even evolve into a transcendent creature.

Just thinking about it made him—or rather, the snake—look forward to it.

Had it been spared?

The rat had shut its eyes, certain it was going to die. But after waiting for a long time, it still hadn't felt any pain, and the dense, dangerous scent around it had faded quite a bit.

Relieved, it furtively opened its eyes and saw the Great Serpent resting with its eyes closed.

That discovery finally let it breathe easy. It glanced beneath itself, where its urine had dripped onto the ground.

Was that another way to escape danger?

Stand up and pee, was it?

It didn't know exactly why, but the little rat had figured out yet another life-saving trick, following standing upright and kneeling to kowtow: stand up, stretch out its paws, and pee.

But since the Great Serpent had spared it, shouldn't it repay the kindness?

The little rat tilted its head, shook the water off its body, and recalled the days it had spent with the Kind Monk. Cleverly, it crept over to the Great Serpent and rubbed its little paws together.

It tentatively pressed down a few times, then raised its head and gave a few ingratiating squeaks.

At that moment, Bai Chuan felt a strange pressing sensation on his body as he rested with his eyes closed.

He opened his eyes and saw a little rat looking at him ingratiatingly, rubbing its little paws together now and then.

That expression was exactly like someone lowly and humble, carefully trying to please another person.

Good grief. Just from the way it acted, Bai Chuan immediately confirmed that the rat had definitely been in contact with humans—and for quite some time.

But he couldn't figure out what the rat was trying to do. He gave its damp body a disgusted glance, then shifted aside to avoid it.

By now, he had given up on eating the rat.

He still didn't know the exact circumstances of this world, but a rat with this much intelligence was clearly no ordinary creature.

If this were an ordinary world, it wouldn't matter if he ate it.

What he feared was that this world might be like the folk tales from his previous life, where all things could cultivate—humans could become immortals, while demons could become divine demons or demon immortals.

If he ate the rat and it turned out to have some kind of backing, like an old ancestor at home who was a demon immortal or a household guardian spirit, he would probably end up with a whole heap of trouble.

It wasn't that he was afraid. He simply believed that it was better to make friends than make trouble.

Maybe one day the rat would repay him by tossing him a cultivation manual or something.

Of course, that was only as long as his survival wasn't threatened. If he got hungry enough, who would care about all that? He'd just swallow it in one gulp.

After all, with his abilities, as long as he didn't go looking for trouble—

He could stockpile provisions, bide his time, and one day soar through the heavens.