Heaven-Piercing Tower

"Jiuli! Jiuli!"

Zhong stood atop the corpse of a mountain-sized serpent. Hearing the many Innate Gods and Devils roaring below, he could not help but smile.

After decades of war, he had finally united every Hairy Folk tribe and founded the Nine Li Kingdom.

He had even discovered the Giant Beast Tribe and led over ten thousand warriors to wipe it out in one fell swoop!

The meat they had seized alone would feed his people for years!

This world had supernatural powers, after all. Those Innate Gods and Devils who possessed the Frost Bloodline could make ice and preserve meat so it would not spoil easily...

Several enormous underground ice cellars had been built in Xundi, the capital of the Nine Li Kingdom.

"I did it. I spread the name of Jiuli across the land. I am the true king!"

Chief Zhong's face was full of satisfaction. Only when he glanced at a few young Innate Gods and Devils did a trace of worry flash through his eyes.

They were his sons—Hong, Jue, Tang... Each was an accomplished Innate God and Devil, young and strong, and well liked by the army.

Zhong himself, meanwhile, had grown old.

He looked at his white hair, and emptiness swept through him. Fear followed close behind!

Zhong knew that even the oldest people in the tribes had died before reaching ninety.

And he was already past seventy!

If his campaigns across the land had not earned him such immense prestige, voices calling for him to yield the throne to someone worthier would likely have risen long ago.

"My throne, my kingdom... Why should I hand them to an outsider? I want to pass them to my sons..."

"No! I want to live forever... to hold on to youth and glory forever!"

Zhong quietly