The elders of Yufeng Mountain all knew and said that it was a true “man-eating mountain”, a place where only gods and demons could dwell.

 

When Chang An returned home, A Yan had already fallen asleep. He hesitated at the door for a moment, but in the end, he did not go in. He simply stood on tiptoe, leaning against the window, and stared at the woman’s silhouette for a while. Then he wiped the ash from his face, which had rubbed off from the fire, with his sleeve, and softly said, “Mother, I’m leaving.”

Just like that, without saying a word to A Yan, he left.

Chang An crossed through the familiar forest, passing by the training ground he often sneakily watched, then slipped through a crack in the door. In no time, he picked up a discarded blade, rusty and useless, and held it in his hand. Without stopping, he continued running up the mountain.

The continuous running caused his chest to hurt, as if a long needle was stirring around inside, the pain dragging on. He was bold enough to continue running up Yufeng Mountain, a place that people usually regarded as forbidden.

The elders who knew Yufeng Mountain said that it was a true “man-eating mountain,” a place where only gods and demons could dwell. The moment a mortal stepped onto the slope, they couldn’t help but want to worship, hearing the tremors and fear deep within their soul.

But perhaps because Chang An was still too young and his soul hadn’t fully grown, he held his breath and ran straight up the forbidden mountain. He had decided to find the person who had taught him a certain move, regardless of whether that person was a god or a demon.

On Yufeng Mountain, there was no difference from the bottom—still the thick forest. But the higher up he went, the sparser the trees became, and the colder it got. By the time he reached the peak, there was only snow.

Chang An’s sweat quickly dried in the night wind. He shivered violently and tightly gripped the rusted iron piece in his hand.

He made it up the mountain, but then he stopped. Looking up at the towering peak that seemed to reach into the clouds, he felt utterly lost. He suddenly realized just how high, steep, and vast the mountain was. He couldn’t even tell east from west, and not just humans—he thought even a lion would be lost here.

Yet, he couldn’t go back.

Having burned the carpenter and run out of A Yan’s house, Chang An felt he had completely betrayed Zheyan’s dying wish.

“Repay kindness with kindness, repay hatred with hatred. Once words are spoken, they cannot be taken back. Once you nod, you cannot go back on your word.”

These were the things Zheyan had drilled into him since childhood. Zheyan probably lived a miserable life, always trying to raise Chang An to be a tough man. He would repeat these words to him day and night, like a mantra, as if something would be missing from the day without them.

Having grown up with such teachings, Chang An believed that once he had made a promise, it was unforgivable to go back on it. He had promised himself that if he backed out now, it would be like breaking his word again.

At seven years old, Chang An still didn’t understand what “conscience” was, but he already felt like something mysterious was condemning him. With this thought in mind, he took a deep breath and continued to march aimlessly up Yufeng Mountain.

The night was deep, and the rustling sounds around him seemed like a shadow was relentlessly following him from behind.

Chang An glanced back under the moonlight, and his heart skipped a beat—he saw behind him countless pairs of red eyes, glowing in the dark. They had been following him for who knows how long, each pair of eyes dripping with hunger as they stared at him.

Chang An stopped, unsure whether to run or what to do.

As soon as he stopped, the creatures stopped too. The one in front took a few steps forward, its body revealing itself under the moonlight.

It was about the size of a large lizard, with a long tail and thin limbs. It had sharp teeth and its body reflected a rainbow of colors. Despite its slender body, it had an oversized head and staggered as it walked, as if it might fall over at any moment.

It looked quite comical.

The moment they lined up one after another, their blood-red eyes all fixed on Chang An, as if calculating where they should begin eating this delicacy, they were no longer the slightest bit comical.

What kind of monsters were these? Chang An had never heard of them before. He cautiously took half a step backward, but those creatures took advantage of the opportunity and edged forward after him, forming a semi-circle and surrounding the child in the middle.

Chang An swept his eyes over this group of unknown monsters that were lurking like hawks, waiting to eat his flesh. Then, for some reason, he lowered his head and looked at himself. With great confusion, he thought, ‘Did all of them come here just to eat me?’

Afterward, he looked at those monsters’ thin bodies and enormous heads, and his thoughts strangely drifted toward worrying about others’ worries: ‘I only have such a tiny amount of flesh. It wouldn’t even be enough to eat!’

These big-headed monsters did not care whether he was enough to eat or not. They had already smelled the delicious scent of flesh and blood drifting from the child’s delicate and tender body. They had decided that even if everyone rushed forward together and they only managed to snatch a single lick of blood, it would not be a wasted life to have grown into such an appearance!

Run? Chang An thought to himself.

However, he did not dare turn his head to look behind him at his escape route. He could tell that as long as he became even slightly distracted, the largest monster directly in front of him would pounce and bite him to death.

Chang An tightened his grip on the knife handle. Only now did he finally begin to feel a little afraid. But he had come up the mountain to find that person and learn the blade. How could he die halfway there?

This trace of fear instead made his mind clearer than ever before. However, although he was clear-headed, unfortunately, he truly had not had time to learn any skills. His mind remained empty—except for that one move taught to him by that strange person.

He only knew this one move, and he only had this one method. He did not know how long it could hold out, but if he did not want to die here, he could only try.

Chang An silently lowered his centre of gravity and lightly adjusted the angle of his wrist.

He drew his knife, but it could not create the slightest intimidation toward his opponent. The monster stretched out its long tongue, rapidly flicking it in and out of the air. Chang An saw clearly that its tongue was covered with backward-facing barbs. Once caught by them, a large piece of flesh would be torn away.

The rustling sound spread around him once again. Chang An firmly planted his feet on the ground. Thinking of that man’s movements from that day, he instinctively moved his foot back by half an inch.

Only then did he feel more comfortable and steady.

At the instant he tightened his grip on the knife handle, the fear in Chang An’s heart miraculously disappeared. It was as if he suddenly had an enormous support to rely on, as if the piece of scrap metal in his hand was some divine weapon capable of slaying gods and killing demons.

However, his “divine weapon” had no chance to display its power at this moment.

Just as the big-headed monster was about to pounce, a sharp cry suddenly came from the distance— It sounded like the cry of a crane, yet it was far sharper than a crane’s call. The sound made one’s scalp tingle, as if it could pierce through the clouds and reach the heavens.

The big-headed monsters beside Chang An immediately retreated a step at the same time.

Then the sound of wings beating rang out. A gigantic black shadow descended from the sky, pressing downward.

Chang An did not even think. Without seeing clearly what the shadow was, he took advantage of the gap created when the big-headed monsters retreated and suddenly ran forward.

He was already running extremely fast, yet he was still swept away by the wind created by the falling wings of that unknown giant bird, and he was violently thrown out, crashing into the roots of a large tree.

This impact almost scattered Chang An’s frail little body.

His vision went completely black, yet he still gritted his teeth and groped toward the tree roots behind him. He desperately supported himself, held back a breath, and climbed up the tree while dizzy and disoriented.

After quite a while, he finally recovered somewhat, and only then could he clearly see what had swooped down.

It was a strange giant bird. Its body was a full seven or eight zhang long. With its two wings spread open, to Chang An it was already enough to block out the sky and sun.

However, only one of its wings had flesh, feathers, and skin. The other side, for some unknown reason, was actually a row of ghastly white bones. As it moved, the bones made clattering sounds.

The giant bird’s beak was hooked, as if forged from steel. With just a downward thrust of its head, it could pierce the livers and brains of three or four big-headed monsters at once. It was extraordinarily majestic.

Chang An stared blankly at the giant bird. Then, as if possessed by some strange impulse, he lowered his head and glanced at his own small hands.

A feeling of being utterly unable to catch up suddenly arose within him. He was extremely envious. He wished desperately that he could also possess such imposing power. He even foolishly opened his arms and imitated the bird’s wing-spreading motion— which nearly caused him to fall head first from the tree.

For the first time in his life, he thought about this question: “Why am I so weak?”

Everything flying in the sky and everything running on the ground was so powerful. If they wanted to eat him, they could eat him. If he encountered a single big-headed monster like those just now, he might still have the courage to fight. But what if he encountered a giant bird like this?

With one spread of its wings, he would be thrown three or four zhang away. With one peck of its head, his skull would split open!

The big-headed monsters that had just been so imposing retreated like a tide. Clearly, they were merely weaklings who only bullied children while appearing strong on the outside.

The strange giant bird, however, did not pursue them.

Wherever it passed, countless monsters of all sizes became ugly corpses, lying scattered on the ground, ready to be cooked and eaten.

The living ones ran away; the bird did not care. The dead ones could already provide it with a satisfying feast.

However, just as it opened its belly and ate to its heart’s content, Chang An suddenly felt something behind him brush violently past him, raising a fierce gust of wind. The leaves carried by the wind cut across his neck, leaving a shallow bloody wound.

Chang An did not even see clearly what it was. But the bird’s sharp cry sounded again. He hurriedly focused his gaze and saw that it was actually a two-headed giant snake.

When it rushed toward the giant bird, it did not even glance at Chang An—not because it ignored him, but because one of its heads alone was already three or four times larger than Chang An.

Which lion would bother stepping on ants for fun?

The two hideous snake heads simultaneously bit fiercely into the giant bird’s body.

The bird cried out in pain, flapped its wings, and soared high into the air. However, it was dragged back down by the two-headed snake. Soon, one bird and one snake became entangled in battle, the wind and dust they raised striking Chang An’s face.

The giant bird frantically used its beak to peck at the snake’s body. Dark, blackish snake blood flowed down from its body in streams, yet it still refused to let go. Its enormous poisonous fangs were embedded deeply into the giant bird’s flesh.

The giant bird attempted once again to rise into the sky, but it happened to rush toward the direction where Chang An was hiding.

At that moment, one of the two-headed snake’s heads loosened its bite. Its scale-covered body shot upward, and it suddenly opened its bloody maw, which was several times larger than its own head.

At a distance of less than two chi (NT: one shi is roughly one-third of a meter) from Chang An, it bit the bird’s head off in one bite.

Hot blood sprayed out.

Chang An was on the tree and had no time to dodge. He was sprayed all over his head and face, becoming a little blood-covered figure. The bird’s blood was somewhat hot.

He hurriedly wiped it away with his hand, casually applied it on the tree trunk, and looked down.

The giant snake and giant bird crashed onto the ground together. The entire earth trembled with them.

Within several dozen zhang around them— apart from Chang An, every living creature had already fled, fearing being caught up in the battle between these two.

The bird twitched all over, finally dying completely.

The two-headed snake slowly coiled around it and swallowed it with both heads working together. The bird’s bones were crushed and distorted by the snake heads, and the cracking sounds were especially clear in the silent night.

Chang An had not expected that the giant bird, which had just been so mighty and arrogant, would so quickly become someone else’s food.

He could not understand what principle governed this. He only gradually developed a sense of awe afterward.

Only when the giant snake had eaten its fill and coiled itself into a small mountain to sleep did Chang An slowly slide down the tree. Carefully avoiding the two-headed snake, he continued running forward.

However, the dangers of Yufeng Mountain were far from limited to this.

As little Chang An ran, he suddenly stopped. A child who had grown up in a jungle tribe had keenly sensed that something was wrong. The sounds of insects and ants had disappeared. The surroundings had suddenly become completely silent.

Chang An stopped.

The bloodstains on his face and body had already dried, making him feel uncomfortable. He casually wiped at them a few times with his hand, then once again tightened his grip on his most loyal companion: his knife.

Like an alert little wolf, he cautiously moved forward step by step, while keeping watch in all directions and listening for every sound.

Yet even if he was like a sharp little wolf, he was still only a young wolf. His eyes, ears, claws, and fangs had not fully developed.

Chang An had not walked even ten steps when a huge shadow suddenly descended unexpectedly from above his head.

This time, the child failed to react. In an instant, his entire body tensed. But that was all he had time to do; before he could even make a dodging movement, he was completely wrapped up by that thing.

He was flipped upside down, with his head facing downward, and began falling.

In that flash between lightning and flint , Chang An instinctively reached out his hand, only to touch an extremely smooth mucus. The mucus rubbed against his delicate skin, causing a burning, stinging pain.

Chang An instinctively swung his hand violently to the side. The blade pierced into something. His falling body stopped.

His hand was covered in blood, and a layer of skin had been scraped away. Chang An could feel it.

When the blade pierced into the surrounding “walls” covered with mucus, Chang An felt the surroundings clearly tremble.

He lowered his head and looked. Below him was pitch-black. He could vaguely see something flowing, making clanging and splashing sounds, like a pool of water whose depth was impossible to determine, less than two chi away from his suspended feet.

Something was rising and falling within it.

Chang An’s eyes, already adapted to the darkness, looked carefully and recognized that it was a piece of bone. And then he understood— He had been swallowed whole by something.

 

Translator : DarNan