Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 48 Win by lying down
"I'm back from my adventure!"

In the distant sacred mountain, the enormous serpent raised its head, uttering the purest Ignis language.

However, the sound did not elicit any response, and the mountains remained deathly silent.

"That shouldn't be the case... why is there no one here?"

Du Yi was quite puzzled.

"I just went for a walk to the west, and now everyone's gone?"

Yes, the reason he wasn't in the mountains for a while was mainly because after making preparations for his trip, he went to the west to survey the terrain.

That was the only direction the Ignis people hadn't explored, and it was also the closest unknown direction for Du Yi. Now that there was nothing to eat in the mountains, he would naturally go elsewhere to look around—of course, moving was not an option, but it wouldn't hurt to see if there were any more hunting grounds.

However, the environment in the west was even worse than Du Yi had anticipated.

Du Yi had made ample preparations for this trip. He had a plan for dealing with everything, whether it was the ocean, the swamp, or other giant beasts. But the one thing he hadn't expected was that going west from the mountain where he lived would lead to a snow-capped mountain range.

The massive snow-capped mountains were beyond description; they seemed to connect heaven and earth themselves.

Even with Du Yi's current physical condition, he can only look up at the endless white snow.

"No wonder where I live isn't that cold, and there are so many mammoths..."

Du Yi exclaimed this when he first saw that snow-capped mountain.

However, the mammoths on the snow-capped mountains were not like the mammoths he had seen before, roaming freely in the wild. Those giant mammoths were all carefully hiding their tracks. It took Du Yi three whole days and nights to barely manage to hunt one, and it wasn't even very tasty.

The meat of mammoths from the mountains is quite coarse and cannot compare to that of mammoths raised in captivity; the taste is worlds apart.

"But at least it has some local products..."

After another three days and nights, Du Yi had gained a general understanding of the environment of the snow mountain.

Although the snow-covered mountains appear to be covered in snow due to the extremely low temperatures, you can still find many familiar plants and animals if you look carefully. Simply put, if someone were to be moved to the snow-covered mountains, they would most likely not have enough to eat, but they would definitely not starve to death.

"But when there's nothing else to eat, you can come here to make up for it."

Du Yi felt that he had done enough investigation.

Actually, he was already preparing to go back at this point. After all, even if there were mammoths to eat on the snow-capped mountain, it was still too cold. Staying in such an environment for a long time would make him uncomfortable. Compared to the snow-covered landscape in front of him, he preferred to stay on his original mountain.

Just as Du Yi was preparing to capture two mammoths to take back as reserve food, a thought suddenly arose in his mind as he looked at the endless mountains.

"What lies beyond the snow-capped mountains?"

Once the thought arose, it couldn't be stopped. The more Du Yi looked at the mountain range that connected heaven and earth, the more curious he became.

On this side of the snow-capped mountain, Du Yi already knew that if he went down the mountain and eastward, there would be a relatively warm hilly area, which was where he would live.

But if you cross the snow-capped mountains and head further west...

"Could there be similar places?"

With that in mind, Du Yi decided to take immediate action.

He still has plenty of physical strength and mental energy.

And most importantly, there is no shortage of food in the snow-capped mountains, which means that even if he loses physical strength, he can quickly replenish it.

Thus began Du Yi's journey of traversing mountains and valleys.

At first, everything went smoothly. Although the thick snow and cold environment slowed his progress considerably, his massive size allowed him to reach the halfway point in just a few days and nights. The real trouble began in the latter half.

In the first half, he could still see some vegetation, so he could eat some hot roasted meat while replenishing his strength. But as he continued forward, the vegetation became less and less, and with the shortage of fuel, roasted meat began to become a luxury.

Furthermore, the surrounding environment became even colder, so cold that Du Yi's body began to stiffen. It was at this moment that Du Yi remembered that snakes were cold-blooded animals. Heaven knows how he had managed to survive on the cold snow mountain until now.

But he kept climbing, gritting his teeth and continuing until his body was almost frozen, until he reached the summit of the great snow-capped mountain.

"I did it!"

Du Yi, perched atop the snow-capped mountain, gazed into the distance.

In the dim light, he seemed to see more, relatively low snow-capped mountains.

Then he fell backward and slid all the way down from the top of the snow-capped mountain.

This was the fastest way he could find to get down the mountain.

Having already seen the view on the other side of the snow-capped mountains, that was enough. As for crossing more snow-capped mountains and going further afield... even with his enormous size, he was already starting to feel the strain.

"Let's go back and have a good meal first, and then come back to continue our adventure next time."

Du Yi thought to himself.

In short, the expedition was a great success. He not only gained a considerable understanding of the western environment, but also found the habitat of mammoths. So on the way back, he simply spent some more time hunting a few more mammoths, partly to eat himself, and partly to bring some souvenirs to his new neighbors.

After all, he still remembered that his new neighbors, those wild men, had been eating vegetarian food in the mountains for a while.

However, when Du Yi brought the meat back, he couldn't find a single savage.

The entire mountain suddenly became empty, so empty that Du Yi was even a little unaccustomed to it.

"You can't exactly say they moved away while I was out exploring, can you?"

After thinking about it, Du Yi realized that this was probably the only possibility.

Or perhaps those savages were captured and taken back to the city. After all, he had heard those savages talk about some disputes in the city—of course, since the savages' disputes had nothing to do with him, he didn't bother to remember such things.

Regardless, he was determined to visit the city of those savages.

He didn't go there before because his appearance would probably scare the savages to death. But now, many savages have seen him and weren't scared to death, so it doesn't matter anymore.

But just as Du Yi reached the city gate, his massive frame witnessed the fierce battle taking place within the city.

As far as the eye could see, there were only ruins scattered everywhere, with charred marks left by the flames.

Amidst the wreckage, a giant eagle, nearly the same size as him, was panting heavily, its tattered feathers still stained with sparks.

That is, when Du Yi looked at the giant eagle, the giant eagle also saw him.

"You...good, very good, really good, amazing!"

At that moment, the giant eagle's previously bewildered gaze suddenly turned ferocious, as if it had seen something clearly.

"So it was all because of you!"

"So all of this was part of your plan!"

(End of this chapter)