Serpent Ancestor

Wang Xiaoniu fell to the ground and slowly regained consciousness.

Spiritual Qi had been injected into his body, restoring some of his senses, but the long-term hunger and malnutrition left him weak and feeble.

Even attempting to hang himself had exhausted all his strength.

As a scholar, he didn't want to die silently in bed from starvation; he wanted to end his own life.

Wang Xiaoniu got up and planned to re-tie the broken rope.

Suddenly, he froze.

He sensed a familiar aura, one he hadn't encountered in two years but often appeared in his dreams.

Wang Xiaoniu looked around blankly and muttered, "Snake Immortal?"

Snake Immortal.

In the past, he was either called Old Snake Demon, Old Snake King, or some other derogatory term.

Xu Hei transmitted his voice, "What is an Immortal?"

Hearing the voice appear out of nowhere in his mind, Wang Xiaoniu took a deep breath and pondered, "A person and a mountain make an Immortal."

"A person and a mountain make an Immortal..." Xu Hei murmured to himself.

He wasn't asking about the writing but the meaning.

However, Xu Hei didn't want to ask such enigmatic questions; only riddlers did that.

Xu Hei then asked, "Why do you want to commit suicide?"

Wang Xiaoniu remained silent for a long time before sighing, "The country is about to fall. What meaning is there in my life?"

"You're just starving, about to die of hunger," Xu Hei said.

"..." Wang Xiaoniu was at a loss for words.

There wasn't a single coin left at home, and no food either. He just wanted to hang himself while he still had some strength.

Dying for honor was better than starving to death in bed.

Thinking this way, he even entertained the idea of dying for his country, feeling a surge of heroism, which led to the earlier scene.

Xu Hei sighed helplessly.

With a flash of light, a jade bottle appeared out of thin air in front of Wang Xiaoniu.

"You're severely dehydrated. Drink this first," Xu Hei transmitted his voice.

Wang Xiaoniu quickly picked up the jade bottle and drank the liquid inside in one gulp.

Immediately, he felt a cool sensation in his body, even his hunger lessened, and he regained some strength.

Xu Hei didn't carry mortal food, so he took out a lot of the Spiritual Qi liquid he had earlier and placed it on the ground.

Wang Xiaoniu drank several mouthfuls in a row, and his complexion became rosy.

"Now, do you still want to die?" Xu Hei asked.

Wang Xiaoniu hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.

However, he added, "Snake Immortal, don't underestimate scholars. Many of my classmates would rather die standing than live as slaves."

"If one day I am captured by the Qin army to be a slave, I will also commit suicide."

He wasn't lying; Wang Xiaoniu's eyes were clear and honest.

"Intelligence is hard to come by. Do you know how many lifetimes of reincarnation it takes to become human? Even so, you still want to commit suicide?"

Xu Hei voiced his confusion.

Wang Xiaoniu fell silent, unable to answer such a profound question.

"Wang Xiaoniu, where is your sister?" Xu Hei asked.

"My sister was sold to the Chen Family as a maid last year. Rather than suffer with me, she can at least have enough to eat and won't starve. Besides, Mr. Chu is looking after her, and she can learn to read and write."

Wang Xiaoniu said slowly.

Mr. Chu was a well-known teacher in Chen Family Town, quite talented, and wrote excellent poetry. He was the top scholar of his year.

It was said that he offended a powerful official and was suppressed, unable to become an official, so he returned to be a teacher.

Xu Hei had also heard the villagers speak of this teacher, who often held free classes to teach children to read. All the villagers praised him.

"Unfortunately, it's wartime now, and the Chen Family's situation is unknown. Many immortals are said to have gone there."

Wang Xiaoniu sighed and added, "By the way, Snake Immortal, I'm no longer called Wang Xiaoniu. Mr. Chu gave me a name, Wang Ding, as in 'a word as good as a bond.'"

"Wang Ding... a good name," Xu Hei thought to himself.

Maybe he should ask Mr. Chu to give him a name too. Xu Hei sounded so rustic.

Forget it, he was used to it and wouldn't change it.

When he named himself, he couldn't think of any good words with his limited vocabulary.

Xu Hei found talking to Wang Xiaoniu quite interesting. He went to the wild, caught a mountain chicken, and planned to roast it for Wang Xiaoniu.

However, his fire breath turned the chicken into charcoal.

Wang Ding didn't mind at all, grabbing the blackened chicken and stuffing it into his mouth.

It had been a long time since he had eaten anything.

Xu Hei also dug up sweet potatoes and caught some wild rabbits, bringing them to Wang Ding's home.

"I ate a few fish from the Wang Family before. Today, I'll repay the favor," Xu Hei thought to himself.

This was entirely out of character for him, and Xu Hei didn't know why he was doing it.

Compassion?

What a joke, he was a snake; how could he feel compassion for mortals?

However, Wang Ding was indeed different. Despite having no Divine Sense, he could always sense Xu Hei's presence.

Xu Hei pondered for a long time, planning to leave, but before he did, he wanted to say something.

"Wang Ding."

Xu Hei looked at the young man before him and said slowly, "Reincarnation into a human is not easy. Your current life is something countless beings can only dream of."

"Do you know that out of a thousand sea turtles born, only one hatchling makes it to the sea?"

"Countless salmon swim upstream, but only one percent successfully spawn!"

"You humans can't comprehend such cruelty!"

Xu Hei's voice, like thunder, echoed in Wang Ding's mind.

Wang Ding sat on the ground, recalling the words of sages and Xu Hei's words, falling into silence.

"This Great Chu Kingdom has billions of beings, but how many are human? One in a billion? Haha, being born human is incredibly fortunate."

"Treasure this hard-earned intelligence. At least you can think. Many beings don't even have the chance to think before they die."

"Don't take your life for granted!"

Since his birth, this was the first time Xu Hei had spoken so much, and it was to a human.

He didn't continue. This was his unchanging belief since his birth.

He envied humans.

If those beasts had intelligence, they would envy humans too.

…………

After the Qin soldiers searched house by house.

Finally, the Chu soldiers hiding in the pigsty came out, but only two of them.

The third had become a corpse.

They carried the third person's head to the village entrance and knelt before the early-stage Qi Refining Qin cultivator.

"Immortal, we tried to persuade Zhang San to surrender, but he refused. We were so angry that we cut off his head to present to you."

One of them knelt and said.

"We will definitely follow your orders and submit to the Qin army."

The other knelt sincerely.

The young cultivator nodded slightly, not even bothering to look at them, and ordered someone to incorporate them.

Xu Hei's Divine Sense saw this scene and could only sigh. These two were smart, choosing the only way to survive.

Living meant hope; if a person died, there was nothing left.

But at that moment.

As the young cultivator passed by the two...

One of the Chu soldiers suddenly sprang up, a steel nail in his hand, stabbing fiercely at the young cultivator's back of the head.

"Hmm?"

The young cultivator was taken aback, clearly not expecting this mortal to dare to attack him.

Even more absurd, the other also took out a jade blade, slashing at his neck.

"Courting death!"

Although he was only at the early stage of Qi Refining, his reaction was swift. His body surged with Spiritual Qi, and he struck back with a palm.

"Boom!"

The Chu soldier's chest was pierced, but he didn't retreat an inch, clinging to the cultivator's body, biting at his shoulder, only to be bounced off by a protective light shield.

The other's blade only made a small cut on his sleeve before being knocked away, spitting blood, and both died instantly.

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