Once upon a time there was a greedy snake

"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 was blowing inwards for no apparent reason.

Immediately afterwards, there was a loud bang.

"Ah... Achoo!!!"

The 27th Akakage was sent flying backwards.

----------

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.

Chapter 72 Things You Should Know

Although Du Yi's head was still a little groggy from just waking up, he could at least recognize the familiar mound of earth.

Based on the way those savages communicated with him, there must have been food on the mound. If it were according to his previous custom, he would have used these ingredients to cook a good meal for the savage who came to communicate with him.

But now, no matter how Du Yi looked at it, he couldn't figure out what kind of ingredient this white powder was.

Although these powders are very fine, they don't look like flour at all. As for rice noodles, they don't even come close. If I had to say, they look more like finely ground salt, but upon closer inspection, they don't look like table salt.

"What if it really is salt?"

With that in mind, Du Yi cautiously peeked out.

Then, with extreme caution, he licked a tiny bit.

He didn't taste anything.

"It's not salt... then what could it be?"

Du Yi always felt that perhaps his method of using it was not quite right.

Perhaps this white powder shouldn't be ingested, but rather inhaled through the nose...

"Forget it then!"

Du Yi decisively gave up the idea of ​​continuing to explore, as he didn't want to pick up any strange bad habits.

Moreover, these white powders held no appeal for him; they were among the few things Du Yi had ever encountered that failed to arouse his interest whatsoever.

More than the white powder, Du Yi was concerned about who had just been putting it up his nose.

"Perhaps it was those savages, after all, that was probably the only way they could think of to wake me up."

Du Yi thought to himself.

Although he had made it very clear before that he needed to molt and not to be disturbed while he slept, he could still understand that if those savages really encountered any trouble, they would probably come after him. Of course, while he could understand, it didn't mean he would let it go so easily, since it was too dangerous for them to crawl into his nostrils.

"Next time you shed your skin, make sure your nostrils aren't exposed, or find a safer spot."

Thinking this, Du Yi prepared to teach those savages a lesson.

But to Du Yi's surprise, the savage that appeared in his sight was not the familiar savage.

Instead, it was a giant savage.

Before he molted and went to sleep, he had heard these savages mention the giants, or rather, the so-called "giants" in their words. According to them, these giants were hostile to them and extremely cruel, even capable of committing all sorts of evil deeds.

"And these so-called giants have a very obvious characteristic, that is, their height is roughly equivalent to that of two savages..."

Du Yi took a look at the large savage that was embedded in the ground.

This size was indeed twice as big as the savages he remembered.

"Could it have been him just now?"

Du Yi was immediately startled.

If it were familiar savages, Du Yi wouldn't care, since he knew those savages and knew they wouldn't do anything—but if it were their enemies, those so-called giants, it was a different story.

Add to that the familiar rammed earth mound, and those strange white powders...

"Or maybe we should just kill him."

Alert, Du Yi decided to nip the danger in the bud.

However, before killing him, he decided to torture him first to see if he could get any information out of him, since he didn't know how long he had been asleep or what changes had occurred outside.

It was this one thought that allowed the 27th Akakage to survive by sheer luck.

When Du Yi asked, the 27th Akakage immediately recognized that the dialect-like accent was the ancient Ignis language. Although it was quite difficult for him to understand these difficult words now, he still immediately learned the pronunciation and tried to communicate with the Serpent God using this language from who knows how many years ago.

"So, you're actually a descendant of those Ignis people from back then?"

Even as the 27th Akakage began to defend himself, Du Yi remained vigilant.

How will you prove yourself?

"I……"

The 27th Akakage was stunned; he had never imagined he would encounter such a problem.

The great serpent god mistook him for a frozen tundra dweller; how could he explain that?

Fortunately, the 27th Akakage was quite capable; he came up with a solution almost immediately.

He clapped his hands together, and a ball of flame exploded in front of him.

Only the Ignivas can use the magic from the serpent god; the ice field people do not have this ability.

However, this time, instead of the serpent god's understanding, he was met with a massive, long tail crashing down on him.

"I really am an Ignivas!"

The 27th Akakage was utterly shocked. He never imagined that even though he had already proven his innocence, the Serpent God would still try to kill him.

"I……"

Before he could even finish speaking, the 27th Akakage was slammed into the ground.

It was at this moment that the 27th Akakage remembered those ancient legends, those records passed down through generations, that in the era of the Old King, the magicians of that time had betrayed the great Serpent God—but this legend was so ancient that almost no one cared anymore.

This directly led to the fact that he himself didn't even think of this incident at the first moment.

"This……"

The Twenty-Seventh Akakage's mind went completely blank for a moment.

Even using magic would make him an enemy of the snake god, so how would he prove himself?

"I……"

It was at this moment that the 27th Akakage, Fukurei, suddenly raised his head and shouted.

"Great Ancestor of the Dao! I have come to seek the Dao!"

The giant tail, which was about to crash down again, stopped in mid-air.

And those snake eyes turned to him once again.

"What did you call me just now?"

"The Ancestor of the Dao".

The 27th Akakage quickly continued speaking.

“The great ancestor of the Dao guides the Ignis people on their path... The reason I have come to see you is because I have some doubts in my heart.”

"The Ignis?"

Du Yi finally heard a familiar address.

As for guiding him on the path forward, he had no idea at all, and he had never even heard of the title "Ancestor of the Dao".

"So what exactly happened while I was sleeping?"

Du Yi looked at the giant savage in front of him.

“Tell me everything you know.”

"This……"

The 27th Akakage was momentarily dazed.

What happened during the time the Serpent God slept? There are so many things. Counting back from his generation, there have been a total of twenty-six generations of Akakage. If you ask him to tell you now... where should he even begin?

"Then let me start from the very beginning."

With that, the 27th Akakage began his narration.

Chapter 73 The Nickname Wasn't Wrong

The narration of the 27th Akakage lasted for three full days and nights.

And Du Yi finally learned that these savages had done so much while he was asleep.