Volume Five: Ancient Legends Chapter Forty-Five: Chen Chen’s True Form

Legend has it that in the distant firmament, there are also suns, moons, stars, boundless rivers and mountains, ancient heritages, and endless living beings.

The heavens and myriads of realms teem with countless creatures.

Chen Chen's arrival this time brought him to Fomalhaut b, a companion planetary region of Fomalhaut. There were several continents there, upon which stood numerous nations. Fomalhaut b was once considered a zombie planet, and alongside its primary star Fomalhaut, it was even dubbed the Eye of Sauron. Upon Fomalhaut dwelt immortals who rode upon giant dragons, sustaining the persistence and navigation of that world.

Amidst endless stars and graceful journeys, there were always petty villains plotting against that realm.

Thus, Chen Chen was conceived and born upon that star, on that companion continent. Beyond that continent lay several others, each sustained by its own powerful entities. Some rode upon magnificent steeds, some sailed advanced warships, while others still maintained relatively primitive civilizations. Coexisting upon that star, they survived by supplying provisions to the more advanced continents.

Surviving on such a star, Chen Chen transmigrated in an instant into the continent sustained by immortals, reincarnating within.

Blessed with a hint of small fortune, Chen Chen was finally born onto that continent, in a nation known as the Great Xiu Kingdom.

At that moment, within the Great Xiu Kingdom, a woman with a distended belly was nearing her confinement. She was Chen Chen's birth mother in this lifetime. Chen Chen's soul had entered her womb, and day after day, several months passed in the blink of an eye.

Having weathered the months, after a single labor, he was finally born into that mortal realm.

Compared to others, Chen Chen's life in this world was relatively stable. The physical body he was born into belonged entirely to him. Born as flesh, he lived as flesh; dead as flesh, he died as flesh. He owed nothing to anyone else, nor was his body claimed by another; he did not possess some predestined nemesis who would force him to surrender his vessel and become a wandering ghost once more.

Fortunately, immortals had their mountains, and immortals sat upon mountains awaiting visitors. Immortal mountains guarded nations and protected national fortunes, while immortals kept watch to safeguard their mountain paths.

In this lifetime, Chen Chen was the son of the mortal realm, born in the Great Xiu Kingdom. The Great Xiu Kingdom placed great emphasis on cultivating immortality; both sword cultivation and Daoist cultivation flourished. To become the peerless paragons among men across the continent, most of the youth there embarked upon the path of cultivating immortality.

There were numerous immortal cultivation sects in the Great Xiu Kingdom, and one such sect stood not far from the small mountain village where Chen Chen lived.

As a villager, Chen Chen resigned himself to his lot; he never harbored delusions of striking it rich overnight. A monk who strikes the bell for a day must toll it for that day. As a mountain dweller, Chen Chen had to fulfill the duties of a mountain dweller. If one wished to alter their destiny, an immortal mountain where immortals dwelt lay not far from the village.

How could Chen Chen be content to submit to fate for a lifetime? He had also considered seeking the immortal Dao at that immortal mountain one day.

Upon the vast lands of the Great Xiu Kingdom, there was always a day to walk further.

And so, in that small village of the Great Xiu Kingdom, Chen Chen grew up within his family during his early years. In those days, he was merely a child newly arrived in the mortal world. He did not need to attend classes at a study hall day after day, nor did he need to mechanically learn characters, read books, or study basic knowledge. Before the age of seven, living in that mortal haven, Chen Chen was simply a carefree child.

"Abba! Abba!" Chen Chen developed quite healthily and had learned to walk at a tender age.

Waking up with sleep still in his eyes like a mischievous imp, he toddled over to his sleeping father and pushed his body, calling out to him.

His slumbering father started awake from his dreams, rubbing his bleary eyes. Looking at the unruly child before him, he broke into a wide smile. Although his body ached with fatigue, the little scamp was his own flesh and blood after all; no matter how bitter or exhausting it was, it was all worth it.

"Abba, I'm hungry!" With a boyish innocence on his face, Chen Chen rubbed his belly.

In this lifetime, he hoped to grow up alongside this physical vessel—perhaps gallivanting across the martial world, living life to the fullest, establishing monumental achievements, or becoming a renowned powerhouse across the continent.

"Mm, coming right up!" Saying this, Chen Chen's father roused himself from sleep and, dragging his weary body, prepared food for Chen Chen.

Their family still had a modest store of grain, and soon Chen Chen's father prepared a meal to nourish him.

Chen Chen ate with great gusto; although the fare was not lavish, it was enough to fill his stomach.

The national conditions of the Great Xiu Kingdom were relatively sound, with most people living in tribal communities. Usually, several small mountain villages clustered around an immortal mountain. Acting as the faction guarding the surrounding villages, these immortal mountains formed such tribes that struggled stubbornly for survival within the Great Xiu Kingdom.

The national power of the Great Xiu Kingdom was formidable, and villagers taught their children from an early age to exercise and strengthen themselves so as to better adapt to the cruel and realistic survival rules of the kingdom.

A portion of the territory within the Great Xiu Kingdom was partitioned off and allocated to ferocious beasts as their living spaces and habitats. Those areas were typically famous mountains and great rivers. Moreover, the beasts had their own territories located just beyond the sphere of influence cast by the immortal mountains; even outside those boundaries, the beasts possessed their own domains.

Within the perimeter guarded by the immortal mountains, the people fought stubbornly for survival every day. Because the external beasts exerted tremendous pressure on their existence, the people living there had to train their bodies diligently every day just to have a chance of resisting beast tides and the brutal law of the jungle where the strong preyed upon the weak.

The people in the small mountain village survived tenaciously in family units, each household comprising men and women—the men toiling outside while the women tended to the inner household. By day, the men sought survival outside, and by night, they returned home to keep company with their wives.

By day, they farmed in the mountain village or ventured out, avoiding the immortal mountain to hunt in the nearby ranges. Some sold their hunted game to earn money and subsidize household expenses, while others preserved the meat to be consumed slowly.

Chen Chen's father was just such a diligent hunter, making a living by hunting in the mountains by day. His mother was a virtuous wife who wove clothes, cooked, and managed household chores.

As the years added up, Chen Chen quickly reached the first decade of his life.

That year, although his face still retained a hint of youthful tender immaturity, he never thought of wasting his youth.

The beasts there were notoriously vicious, especially during beast tides. Without adequate military preparations for defense, it would transform once more into a bloody Sh修罗 (Asura) battlefield.

Accumulating daily, striving desperately to live, or otherwise perishing in the bellies of stronger creatures—the beasts of the Great Xiu Kingdom ate meat; herbivorous beasts were rare.

Living there, one could sometimes capture beasts to serve as meals, but at other times one had to guard against their ferocious counterattacks and become food in their maws. This was the most prevalent law of the jungle currently reigning in the Great Xiu Kingdom.

One could not rely on connections, pull strings, or borrow the prestige of others.

If one had the ability, they had to rely on years of diligent practice and bitter cultivation to successfully weather the crisis of survival. They had to race against time, seeing whether beasts would become dishes on the human race's dining tables or humans would end up as food in the beasts' bellies.

It was a new day, and ten years remained until the Great Xiu Kingdom's once-a-century beast tide.

Time was tight, leaving no room for slackness or error.

Clad in garments crafted from tiger skin, Chen Chen already possessed the bearing of a fledgling hunter despite his youth.

Not satisfied with the status quo, and seeing that his father was a hunter, Chen Chen resolved to inherit his father's profession, stand on his own two feet, support himself, and even provide for others. To achieve this, he needed to possess sufficiently formidable strength.

Fortunately, the tribe to which Chen Chen belonged understood the gravity of the situation and had adapted to survival long ago. From a very tender age, they began tempering their bodies and building up their strength, passing these survival methods down to instruct their descendants so they could persist stubbornly.

That tribe was quite progressive, selecting talented individuals with superior aptitudes from one small mountain village after another to nurture them.

Those with excellent aptitudes were led onto the path of immortality, taken to the immortal mountains to study, encouraged to grow, and taught to strive for early enlightenment so they could become guardians of the immortal mountains or protectors of the tribe.

Those with slightly lesser aptitudes achieved the divine path, remaining in the mountain villages to stand on their own feet. They conditioned their bodies, worked hard to grow, tended to their immediate families first, and then cared for the wider community. One day, these individuals could also become outstanding figures within the mountain villages, guarding the settlements and denying malevolent forces and beasts any opportunity to conquer them.

As for humans with even poorer aptitudes, Chen Chen did not know what kind of fate ultimately awaited them.

Since ancient times, the strong preyed upon the weak. Chen Chen firmly believed that as a member of the human race, he must dedicate himself to achieving godhood or immortality to protect himself, his family, and his nation. He would never allow himself to sink to the level of a mediocre human.

Even if he remained a human, he would be a pinnacle among humans—the kind who could effortlessly protect himself, his family, and his village.

Those mediocre humans would either one day become food in the bellies of beasts, or vassals to the faction of powerhouses, or simply grow so unremarkable that they gradually became unsuited for survival in the mortal world.

The tribe to which Chen Chen belonged was called the Qingfeng Tribe. Although Chen Chen was born into an ordinary family, having undergone multiple cycles of reincarnation, he had long since comprehended the true meaning of survival.