"Hehehe!"
"So the technique of faking death and reincarnating to cultivate anew truly works!"
That laugh didn't sound like it belonged to anyone good.
Xu Chengxian lay with his eyes closed, muttering to himself,
"What a bunch of nosy, meddlesome piles of bones in graves!"
"They not only forced me, Ling Yunzi, to disperse my cultivation and start over—they couldn't even let me keep my original body. And now, I've ended up as a little snake?! Once I return, I'll grind every last one of you to dust and refine you into my Ten Thousand Souls Banner!"
Just as that voice rang out, the snake egg on the right also began to stir.
No need to guess—who else could it be but his newly hatched little brother?
Xu Chengxian hesitated for a moment, but his natural curiosity got the better of him. He poked his head out and took a peek.
His gaze met that of a little white snake on his right—their two pairs of tiny bean-like eyes locking.
"Hm? So this is my brother in this lifetime? Sure, he's a bit ugly—but no matter. Once refined into the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, we'll all just be a bunch of black mist anyway. Beauty or ugliness won't matter."
"I've heard that between blood relatives, there's a spiritual resonance. If I refine one as the main soul in the Soul Banner, the effects will be even more extraordinary!"
"In my previous life, I had no parents, no kin—no close blood relations whatsoever. Yet in this rebirth, I've somehow ended up with flesh-and-blood siblings."
"But before that, I'll need to raise it to be a bit stronger. Weak, pitiful creatures are nothing but annoying!"
"My Ten Thousand Souls Banner doesn't accept useless souls!"
Xu Chengxian: =.=
Old man here gives another solid "6" to express...
"What the heck kind of brothers and sisters are these?!"
At least the Holy Dynasty's imperial daughter, Lingxiao, was somewhat tolerable. Sure, she thought he was ugly, but she did offer him the prestigious role of dragon horse for her carriage.
In comparison, his Daoist Brother-turned-enemy, Ling Yunzi, took the cake—he was planning to refine him into a creepy-sounding Ten Thousand Souls Banner!!
His only brother across two lifetimes gets treated the same as the very enemies who caused his previous downfall and annihilation?
This trash little brother is getting kicked out of the family roster!!
Whoosh—!
Without waiting for any reaction from Xu Chengxian, the little white snake finished its one-sided rant and instantly retracted its head back into its eggshell.
So fast it left a blur in the air.
Xu Chengxian thought to himself: If you weren't so quick on your feet, I'd have given you a good smack on the head with my tail!
"...System."
He also retreated back into his eggshell and called out silently, Why can I hear their thoughts?
[Within a one-meter radius, beings with spiritual intelligence and whose cultivation does not exceed the host's by more than three tiers can have their thoughts heard.]
A rather evasive answer.
Xu Chengxian realized something—his system was really rigid. Instead of answering questions naturally, it just pulled responses from some kind of database.
They can't hear me?
[No, they cannot.]
Huh, that's kinda interesting, Xu Chengxian thought to himself.
Let me think... which cultivation method should I go for?
This baby snake's body is way too weak, and it's not even human-shaped. None of the Taoist methods I know are compatible with it.
"Haha!! Managed to guide Qi into my body in just a cup of tea's time? As expected of me, the Emperor!"
Got it—I'll cultivate the "Supreme Clarity True Scripture." That's the only immortal cultivation method that doesn't require an innate Dao physique. I...
"Finally, a trace of Qi has gathered in my dantian..."
"This body of mine...
The voices overlapped inside his mind, each brimming with excitement and determination as they each began plotting their own path of cultivation.
"...System."
He also retreated back into his eggshell and called out silently, Why can I hear their thoughts?
[Within a one-meter radius, beings with spiritual intelligence and whose cultivation does not exceed the host's by more than three tiers can have their thoughts heard.]
A rather evasive answer.
Xu Chengxian realized something—his system was really rigid. Instead of answering questions naturally, it just pulled responses from some kind of database.
''They can't hear me?''
[No, they cannot.]
''Huh, that's kinda interesting'',Xu Chengxian thought to himself.
''Let me think... which cultivation method should I go for?''
''This baby snake's body is way too weak, and it's not even human-shaped. None of the
Taoist methods I know are compatible with it."
"Haha!! Managed to guide Qi into my body in just a cup of tea's time? As expected of me, the Emperor!"
"Got it—I'll cultivate the "Supreme Clarity True Scripture." That's the only immortal cultivation method that doesn't require an innate Dao physique. I..."
"Finally, a trace of Qi has gathered in my dantian..."
"This body of mine...
The voices overlapped inside his mind, each brimming with excitement and determination as they each began plotting their own path of cultivation.
"System, can I block out their thoughts?" Xu Chengxian asked.
Hearing other people's inner monologues was kinda fun, but it was seriously messing with his sleep too.
[Affirmative.]
Following his command, the system immediately muted the mental chatter from both his Empress sister and his Daoist Brother.
Instantly, Xu Chengxian's mind went quiet.
"Now I can sleep in peace," he thought to himself.
And just like that—
[Qi and Blood +1+1+1...]
[Qi and Blood +1+1+1+1...]
...
[Qi and Blood +1+1+1+1...]
[Congratulations, Host. You have advanced to Tier 2 Demonic Beast. Refinement Point +1.]
[Qi and Blood +1+1+1+1...]
...
Who knows how long he slept—but eventually, Xu Chengxian woke up.
He woke up hungry.
The moment he opened his eyes, one thought popped into his mind:
Where's my phone? I'm ordering some takeout.
Then he turned his head—and saw his own scaly body.
That's when he finally snapped back to reality.
"I'm a snake now, not a human. And I'm not even in my original world."
So... how exactly does a snake go about filling its belly?
Maybe nibble on the edge of the eggshell? He'd heard that some oviparous animals actually ate their own eggshells.
Did snakes do that? No idea—but it was worth a shot.
Xu Chengxian poked his head out, just like before, pushing up against the eggshell. He positioned his mouth near the edge and—
Bit down.
"Ugh!! Ughhh!!"
The inside of the snake eggshell was soft. His teeth sank right through, but the texture was just... wrong.
He gagged instantly.
Xu Chengxian loved good food.
When you're a human, you've gotta have some standards—at the very least, you should eat well. You shouldn't let your taste buds down.
Even a humble workhorse deserves decent feed, right?
Earn a little money and you want to show off by stuffing your face—whether it's edible or not, you wanna take a bite and try everything. There's very little he couldn't stomach.
But this?
This was a whole new level of gross.
"Sssss!"
On the left side of the nest, a small green head poked out from a cracked eggshell, its mouth stretched into a grin that revealed two tiny, pointed fangs.
Even without hearing its thoughts, it was obvious the little snake was mocking him.
Then Xu Chengxian noticed two suspicious little holes on that snake egg too.
"Sssss!" You little empress are chewing on eggshells too, and you're laughing at me?!
Xu Chengxian couldn't help but laugh angrily—and decided to lift the mental block.
Immediately, he heard his dear "sister" gloating inside her own egg:
"Haha!! So the ugly little patterned snake doesn't know you're not supposed to eat eggshells either!"
"Eh? Did it just make a noise? What's it saying? Ugh, I don't understand!! Is it laughing? Wait… did it see the bite marks on my shell? No way!! A baby snake couldn't be that smart. Unless… unless it's also reincarnated like me?"
Xu Chengxian: …Well, well.
That was a lot of information.
So the so-called empress didn't understand snake hisses either.
"Sssss!"
Just then, another little head emerged from the egg on the right.
His Daoist Brother had woken up hungry too?
Now, one green head and one patterned head turned toward each other at the same time, their tiny bean-like eyes wide with hopeful anticipation.
"Sssss!"
"Strange... why are these two idiotic snakes both staring at me? Could they have noticed something unusual about me?"
Xu Chengxian immediately turned his head back.
He wasn't ready to blow his cover yet.
Because just then, he decided—
The game of "who can hide their secret best" has officially begun!
"Hm? Why did that patterned snake suddenly turn its head? Could it be... spying on my thoughts?"
What the—?!
Xu Chengxian's eyes widened.
Luckily, at that exact moment, three bird eggs rolled in diagonally from the cave entrance.
Plop!Plop!Plop!
They landed not far from the muddy platform where the snake eggs rested.
That immediately caught the attention of the Daoist Brother.
"Seems like it's just an instinctive reaction to movement. As I thought—baby snakes have fragile souls. There's no way one could spy on someone else's thoughts."
Phew!
Xu Chengxian let out a silent sigh of relief.
But then—
His vision flickered.
"Bird eggs!! They're mine!!"
"The bird eggs are mine!"
The two baby snakes—one green, one white—darted forward.
What a hungry dash out of the nest that was.
Then the scramble began.
Each of them first wrapped their tails around one egg.
Then they turned their heads toward the biggest one in the middle—and lunged for it.
What the heck?!
Xu Chengxian suddenly jerked his head up.
Three bird eggs. Three baby snakes. How are you all trying to hog them all?!
Time to move—if he didn't act fast, he'd lose his meal.
Wait.
He quickly glanced at his status panel.
[Host: Xu Chengxian]
[Race: Water-Repellent Snake]
[Rank: Tier 2 (To reach Tier 3 Demonic Beast, Qi and Blood must exceed 100,000 points)]
[Qi and Blood: 10,187]
[Physical Constitution: 13]
[Soul Spirit: 63]
[Combat Skills / Divine Abilities: None]
[Refinement Points: 2/2]
"System… did my Physical Constitution and Soul Spirit just get stronger?"
[Host, Qi and Blood can nourish your physical body and soul, but without actively refining it, the rate of improvement will be very slow.]
"I can see that," Xu Chengxian replied. "Alright then, I'm using a Refinement Point to boost my Physical Constitution!"
A strong body is great for fighting—well, great for fighting other snakes, anyway.
[1 Refinement Point can refine 10,000 Qi and Blood. Every 100 Qi and Blood points can increase Physical Constitution by 1 point. Currently, you have enough Qi and Blood for 1 Refinement Point. Do you wish to proceed?]
"Proceed!"
Hurry up!! My egg's about to get snatched by another snake!!
Other things I can let slide—but food? Absolutely not!!
[Now refining Qi and Blood for the host.]
[Note: For your safety, the system has automatically activated a Concealment function, masking your Qi and Blood fluctuations to prevent others from sensing them. You may call upon the system again if you wish to deactivate this.]
"Nicely done, Little Blood!" Xu Chengxian said with satisfaction.
So thoughtful. Of course he'd rather get rich quietly.
Then—
A flash of crimson light rippled across his body.
Waves of Qi and Blood surged and churned violently, washing over every scale, every strand of flesh, every bone...
In just a few breaths, an incredibly mysterious and powerful sensation spread throughout his entire body.
It was hot—scalding, even—accompanied by a faint itchiness, but not unpleasant. On the contrary, it brought an indescribable sense of exhilaration.
Surging. Mighty. Abundant.
It made him want to pick a fight with someone.
[Ding!] The host has received a new task.]
[In the world of demonic beasts, survival of the fittest rules all—but as the eldest sibling, you bear the responsibility of maintaining family harmony and disciplining your juniors.]
[Task: Teach your disrespectful younger brother and sister a lesson, snatch all the bird eggs, and redistribute them. Task Reward: +3 Refinement Points, 1 Random Spirit Seed.]
Xu Chengxian grinned.
So he could also complete quests and earn rewards on the side?
"Sssss!"
Dare to snatch my bird eggs?
Even empresses and dao lords are gonna get smacked down.
Watch out, world—here comes Little Snake's Tail Swipe!
I'M GONNA FIGHT!!