Volume Five: Ancient Legends Chapter 55: Son Succeeds Father

After returning from the Misty Sect, Chen Chen followed his father into a life of mountain hunting.

His father was a renowned hunter in the village, and Chen Chen, taking up his father's mantle, accompanied him deep into the mountains to hunt.

Such a life was considered quite ordinary within the clear breeze tribe.

Time flowed like water, quietly slipping away. In the blink of an eye, another spring and autumn had passed for Chen Chen, bringing the heavy and cruel reality of life right before his eyes.

Immersed in the mountains and forests, the baring and snapping fierce beast before him was his mortal enemy.

There was no room for compromise; a hunter's sacred duty was the hunt.

A hunter's survival depended entirely on how much game he caught, or whether he caught anything at all.

Having hunted for many years, his father had already taught him everything he knew.

Facing the prey, a trace of coldness flashed in Chen Chen's eyes.

The beast was a reptile, a serpent, adept at slithering.

Venomous and capable of vicious biting, it was the most common creature in the jungle.

In ancient legends, serpents were the servants of gods, existing alongside them.

Especially in the ancient Tales of Mountains and Seas, some deities liked to grasp serpents in their hands to demonstrate their supreme power and affinity with the divine.

Chen Chen felt a sense of inevitability facing the beast before him. As a hunter, his prey was meant to be hunted down; no reason could ever change this fundamental rule.

Moreover, demonic beasts had been creating chaos frequently of late, and those culprits appeared to be serpents.

Chen Chen knew that snakes felt hunger, but Chen Chen, being a hunter, was also hungry.

Facing the serpentine beast, Chen Chen gripped his long sword and charged forward without a moment's hesitation.

The hunting methods his father had taught him were numerous: digging pits, setting traps, carrying sharp weapons, staking out a spot, and striking.

Demonic beasts were somewhat common in the jungle, and in Chen Chen's view, snakes were a species among these beasts that were relatively numerous and fond of coming out to wreak havoc.

This particular beast was as thick as an ordinary person's thigh. Though not the legendary serpent that once overturned the Nine Cauldrons, it had appeared right before a hunter's eyes, and therefore, it could not be left alive.

Chen Chen brandished his sharp sword and rushed toward the giant snake. The serpent possessed considerable agility; with a few swift movements, it vaulted up a large tree and coiled itself around the trunk.

As Chen Chen closed the distance, the serpent raised its head from above and spat a mouthful of venom straight down at him.

The venomous snake was entirely covered in flesh-colored scales, and given its formidable size and physique, it was clearly not an easy adversary.

Faced with this sudden toxic onslaught, Chen Chen executed a rolling dodge, narrowly avoiding the lethal spray of snake venom.

The giant snake proved equally adept. Seeing Chen Chen evade the blow, it uncoiled from the tree and slithered onto the ground,

stopping less than ten meters away from Chen Chen.

Relying on the weapon in his hand, Chen Chen engaged the serpent in battle.

With a sudden, violent lunge, the serpent propelled itself toward Chen Chen across the ground.

Enhanced by the propulsion of its muscular tail, the attack was as swift as lightning, instantly closing in on Chen Chen.

Unflustered by this sudden strike, Chen Chen remained calm.

Holding his long sword in his right hand while concealing a small blade in his left behind his back, he sidestepped the serpent's lunge just as it reached him, seamlessly bringing the hidden dagger into play.

The forward momentum of the giant snake's charge was immense, and when Chen Chen's small blade scraped against its flank, it felt as though it had struck solid iron, failing to pierce the hard scales.

Fortunately, certain areas of the serpent's body were more vulnerable; when the blade found these weaker spots between the scales, it managed to carve out several shallow gashes.

Having lived for quite some years, the serpent had developed extremely tough scales.

Accompanied by a few drops of fresh blood, the giant snake opened its massive maw and hissed menacingly.

Previously, Chen Chen had been troubled by his inability to find the right angle of attack to inflict severe damage on the beast.

Now that the serpent had closed in and even left marks on his hands, Chen Chen saw a glimmer of hope for slaying the creature.

The serpent was no fool either. After taking several gashes to its midsection in a single exchange, it decided to retreat.

Sensing the serpent's intent, Chen Chen quickly moved to block its escape route.

Realizing its path was cut off, the serpent abandoned all thoughts of flight and lunged fiercely at Chen Chen once more.

Meeting this onslaught, Chen Chen raised his long sword for defense while simultaneously thrusting his small blade forward, aiming to carve another wound into the beast.

The serpent was formidable; it clamped its jaws tightly onto the long sword while coiling its body, attempting to constrict Chen Chen.

Moreover, its gaping maw was not merely targeting his weapon, but rather aiming directly for his throat or head.

The duel instantly plunged into a deadlock. Chen Chen was no fool; he knew that if this continued, he would sooner or later end up inside the serpent's belly.

Fortunately, the serpent's body brushed against Chen Chen's defensive small blade, preventing it from foolishly tightening its coils and dragging Chen Chen down with it in a mutual destruction.

Though short, Chen Chen's dagger was exceptionally sharp.

The glint of that sharp blade seemed to evoke memories of the pain it had inflicted when sliding into its flesh within the serpent's mind.

Through the fierce exchange, the serpent finally caught a clear look at Chen Chen's face.

As a hunter, Chen Chen knew all too well that if he failed to finish off the beast in this predicament, any future retaliation from it would make his survival even more precarious.

Hardening his heart, Chen Chen abandoned defense. Before the serpent's coils could close around him, Chen Chen took the initiative with his small blade.

Exerting force with his left hand, he plunged the dagger deep into the section of the snake's body closest to him.

Afflicted by sudden agony, the serpent released its death grip on the long sword in Chen Chen's right hand.

By this second round, the serpent had suffered yet another wound.

Yet Chen Chen did not emerge unscathed; this bout of offensive action had drained a vast amount of his physical stamina.

The foul, rancid stench emanating from the serpent's maw during their close-quarters combat had nearly caused him to faint.

Roused to fury once more, the serpent, having failed to take Chen Chen down after multiple attempts, grew enraged with humiliation.

From then on, the giant snake circled around Chen Chen, continuously scouting for any opening in his defense.

Not destined for an early grave in this lifetime, Chen Chen held his dagger forward and his sword backward, maintaining intense vigilance against the formidable enemy before him as it orbited around him.

After circling him several times,

the serpent finally spotted a microscopic flaw in Chen Chen's guard and lunged directly for his lower body.

Retaining his sharp vigilance, Chen Chen swiftly sidestepped the sudden strike and seized the momentum to plunge his long sword vertically down into the crown of the serpent's head.

Thus, the battle between Chen Chen and the giant serpent—the duel between hunter and prey—drew to its ultimate conclusion.

Having spent years training and honing his skills atop the Misty Sect, Chen Chen had acquired profound mastery.

Following that, he had spent time learning numerous hunting techniques from his father in the mountains and forests.

Relying on his agile reflexes, he drove his sword down to slay the giant serpent, completing the magnificent feat of a hunter subduing his prey.

On the journey back, Chen Chen shouldered the carcass of the giant snake as he walked home.

The cruelty of life and the fierce intensity of competition were vividly demonstrated here.

In this world, there were no shortcuts to quick wealth, nor rewards without arduous struggle and sweat.

Only through day-in, day-out persistence and grueling effort did one carve out a margin for survival.

Eating meat—indeed, these were all creatures raised on a diet of flesh.

Between hunter and hunted, mercy was a rare commodity.

The game upon the mountains served largely as sustenance to keep the hunters alive.

Should a hunter cease to hunt, or fail to catch any game,

it would be much like a farmer abandoning his fields or losing the strength to till the land.

That was the decaying reality of existence; living in the mortal realm, everyone employed their own means to survive.

Living in the mortal realm, everyone harbored their own silent cruelties in their hearts.

Living in the mortal realm, everyone had their own destiny—best not to overdraw it.

Living in the mortal realm, everyone left behind merits and faults for future generations to judge.

Countless deeds and legends had persisted since years long gone by.

Do not assume that an era of prosperity teeming with talent means an abundance of effortless food.

Those individuals were merely striving for survival, walking the path toward a better life.

Do not assume the mortal world is inherently warm and devoid of transactional warmth; those smiling acts of giving are often merely done to ease one's own conscience upon taking.

Chen Chen had finally reached the point of inheriting his father's mantle. His father was a hunter, and he too had become a hunter—what a fine destiny.