Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 71 The best arrangement
Awakening the great serpent god from his slumber is no easy task.

It was at this moment that the 27th Akakage realized that in the past years, they had been too focused on studying the essence of food itself, and knew very little about the great serpent god. They only knew that the worship of the serpent god had begun in the era of the old king, and that the people in the mountains called the serpent god "the ancestor of the Way".

And that was it; their understanding of the snake god seemed to end there.

"Perhaps we could try doing it the way we do the harvest festival?"

That's all the 27th Akakage could think of.

Every year during the harvest festival, they would build an earthen altar to worship the serpent god, and then place the finest delicacies on it to attract the great serpent god's attention. It is said that in the time of the Old Kings, the ancestors of the Ignivas worshipped the serpent god in this way—so perhaps this method would be feasible if they wanted to awaken the serpent god now?
"Let's give it a try anyway,"

The 27th Akakage was a man of action, and he quickly gathered his men to build an altar outside the mountain where the Serpent God slumbered.

But this attempt ultimately proved futile; nothing showed any sign of waking up.

"Thinking about it, that makes sense. Even if I wanted to communicate with the snake god, I would have to do it when the snake god is awake. Right now, the snake god isn't awake... So what's the point of me saying anything more?"

After three unsuccessful attempts, the 27th Akakage sighed and went to think of other methods.

The only other way is to visit the descendants of those people who lived in the mountains back then—as for why not the people themselves, it's because so much time has passed that even if those people in the mountains were eternally youthful, they would eventually be lost to the long passage of time.

"But my master's master did mention how to communicate with the Ancestor of the Dao."

When the 27th Akakage found a descendant of a mountain dweller, the latter gave him a surprising answer.

"It is said that at that time, Master's master, in order to escape the pursuit of his enemies, actually hid directly in the nostril of the Dao Ancestor... You know what it feels like to have something in your nostril. The Dao Ancestor woke up with just one sneeze."

To crawl into the nostril of the Dao Ancestor...

The 27th Akakage scratched his head.

This sounds like an extremely dangerous task, after all, that is the ancestor of the Dao, a true god—and now, he is going to crawl into the other party's nostril.

No matter how you look at it, this kind of thing seems a bit too much...

"Done!"

The 27th Akakage made a decisive decision.

Even though it was outrageous, he did it anyway, because it concerned the safety of his people. He was willing to risk his life so that they could continue to have enough to eat.

With this in mind, the 27th Akakage once again came to the mountain where the Serpent God slumbered.

Finding the location of the nostrils wasn't too complicated, since two caves side by side were indeed quite rare—and after finding the cave, he gritted his teeth and went straight inside.

However, to the surprise of the 27th Akakage, nothing has woken up yet.

Even after he had entered the serpent god's nostril, the serpent god still showed no signs of waking up.
"Did I go to the wrong place?"

The 27th Akakage began to doubt himself.

"Or is it that I'm actually missing... a particularly necessary step?"

Those who can become Akakage are not ordinary people, and the 27th Akakage immediately realized the key to the matter.

The man from the mountains who came here back then was chased in by his enemies.

Now, although he has entered the snake god's nostrils, he still lacks that necessary enemy.

Or perhaps, it was an attack from an enemy?
"excuse me!"

Taking a deep breath, the 27th Akakage clapped his hands together, about to unleash a fireball.

But at that very moment, a wind suddenly began to blow in the cave where he was.

The howling wind grew louder and louder, but instead of blowing outwards, it inexplicably blew inwards. Then, a deafening roar followed.

"Ah... Achoo!!!"

The 27th Akakage was sent flying backwards.

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Du Yi was awakened by the tingling and itching in his nose.

He should have slept a little longer, since his mind was still a bit foggy. But just like last time, a sneeze woke him up this time—Du Yi, whose sleep had been disturbed, could barely open his eyes.

However, Du Yi quickly realized what was happening.

"They must need to talk to me about something, right?"

In just a moment, Du Yi had already guessed the cause of the matter.

Although he had made an agreement with those savages not to bother him unless necessary, if something really happened, they would probably still ask him for help—and the only thing they could do would probably be to clear his nostrils.

"It really is true... it was the same last time, and it's the same this time. These savages are really..."

Thinking of this, Du Yi couldn't help but shake his head.

If only he had gone to sleep in the snowy mountains to the west, at least he wouldn't have been woken up in the middle of the night... But given the current situation, perhaps those savages really have encountered some trouble?
"That's the downside of getting up too fast; my mind isn't clear right now."

Realizing that his thoughts were somewhat incoherent, Du Yi simply cleared his mind and began to observe his surroundings.

The surrounding environment felt both familiar and strange.

At least geographically, it was somewhat familiar; he could at least tell that he hadn't moved while he was asleep—but the unfamiliar parts were a different story.

Heaven knows how much time had passed, but the surrounding vegetation had all withered, leaving only large patches of rocks and soil exposed in his view.

Something seems to have happened to this mountain area; at least in his memory, this mountain shouldn't be this bald.

Fortunately, being bald has its advantages; he immediately spotted the figure in front of him.

Du Yi wasn't very familiar with the figure itself. Although in his eyes, these savages all looked pretty much the same, he really didn't recognize this particular savage.

Although he was unfamiliar with the figure, he was very familiar with the rammed earth mound next to it.

"This is how those savages want to communicate with me... They've made it quite formal."

Looking at the rammed earth piled up in front of him, Du Yi even felt a little nostalgic.

Long ago, the savage called the Radiant One had attracted his attention in this way, and he never expected that this habit would still be preserved.

"So, there will be some food or something on the altar, right?"

Thinking this, Du Yi looked up at the altar.

This time, however, Du Yi didn't see any ingredients.

Only large amounts of white powder were being piled up on the altar.

"What's this?"

Du Yi was speechless for a moment when he saw the inexplicable white powder.

(End of this chapter)