Chapter 118, extra: Xionghui and Mingshe

From birth, Xionghui knew that his parents were the Heavenly Father ¹ and the Earthly Mother ² . Although perhaps not the strongest, its existence was also one that couldn’t be easily erased, and as a result, Xionghui lived an unrestrained life.

But seemingly, the Heavens could no longer abide this unbridled freedom.

Xionghui’s freedom ended on Xianshan ³ Mountain ⁴ .

On Xianshan there was one type of snake which was known under the pale sky as mingshe. The mingshe’s entire body was golden, and it had four wings: two large and two small. Its voice was like the sound of rocks being broken. It had a fire-gold root and, wherever it was seen, drought would strike. According to legend, its duty was to guard earthly treasures ⁵ .

Xianshan was naturally rich in fire and gold, and it was here that the first mingshe was born.

However, there was more than one mingshe on this earth. Although earthly treasures were hard to find, the earth was large and there was more than one place rich in earthly treasures. Mingshe were picky but there was still, in all the land under heaven, many places to find such precious deposits.

By nature, mingshe were greedy. On Xianshan, no matter how much was consumed, the supply of fire and gold was inexhaustible. However, there was no harmony among the mingshe, and each mingshe tried futilely to control the entire mountain. However, this was no realistic. Since Xianshan was the birthplace of mingshe, how could one mingshe dominate it? Mingshe were born from Xianshan so, as long as Xianshan existed, mingshe would be born.

The strong remained on Xianshan and carved out their own territory. Those that were strong but couldn’t hold their own territory left and went to other areas to find earthly treasures. And the rest, those who were small, furtively roamed the earth, fearful of remaining on Xianshan and having to fight.

And now, let us turn our attention to a small and weak mingshe that hadn’t left Xianshan. At that time, it wasn’t yet called Mingshe, but “Huang” ⁶ .

Huang was weak in strength and was already going to leave for the world outside. It wasn’t greedy. It just wanted to find a small cache of earthly treasure. However, the Wu-Yao war ⁷ was still being waged, and there were many Wu ⁸ clans and Yao ⁹ clans. Huang was afraid that, if it left, it would be taken by either the Wu clans or the Yao clans, and it had no choice but to stay on Xianshan.

When Xionghui saw Huang, Huang was in the territory of a mingshe, secretly consuming the fire-gold there.

At a glance, Xionghui saw that this mingshe looked very thin and weak due to its deficiency in fire and gold. Its golden body was extremely dull and two of its wings hugged its body closely. A mingshe’s length was determined by the amount of fire-gold it had absorbed, and Xionghui saw that this mingshe was only about ten meters ¹⁰ in length. The average mingshe was about thirty meters ¹¹ in length, and the largest were about seventy ¹² or eighty ¹³ meters. Thus it could be clearly seen how weak the mingshe before it was.

Although this was a thin and weak mingshe, Xionghui’s heart, for no discernable reason, suddenly trembled.

Xionghui, always the sort to do whatever came to mind, quietly stopped behind Mingshe. “What’s your name?”

Huang had been continuously watching its surroundings. But with its current strength, how could it have noticed Xionghui? Xionghui’s question left Huang stricken with terror. At this moment, how could it still care to remain and consume the fire-gold here? Within a span of seconds, it thought about escape.

Huang had only slithered a few steps when Xionghui barred the way.

This time, Xionghui could choose between nine human heads or snake heads. Fortunately, this time he had the head of a snake. If he’d had nine human heads, Huang would’ve been scared to death before the events of this novel would have even occurred.

Huang saw Xionghui’s nine heads and, at first, yelled in fear. Then…then it let out a sigh of relief, grateful that it wasn’t a mingshe. If it had been a mingshe, Huang would have been killed today.

–Huang,why are you so confident that this guy won’t kill you?

Xionghui asked, “What’s your name?”

“I’m called Huang,” the mingshe cautiously answered.

“Huang?” Xionghui nodded. “I’m Xionghui. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Xionghui?” The mingshe jumped in alarm. “I’ve heard of you!” After the mingshe finished speaking, it paused and a look of envy crossed its face. “I really envy you. You can eat until you’re full every day.”

If any other snake had said something like this to Xionghui, even if Xionghui hadn’t beat up that snake, Xionghui still would’ve turned around and walked away. However, faced with this mingshe called Huang, Xionghui felt incapable of doing anything like that.

Xionghui thought for a moment. “So can you.”

“Huh? I-I can’t.” Huang shrunk back. “I’m too weak. Each day there’s less to eat. I absolutely can’t eat until I’m full.”

“Then you can come with me!”

Huang couldn’t help but be startled by words Xionghui blurted out. Even Xionghui appeared surprised by the words uttered. Who didn’t know about Xionghui’s love of freedom and loathing of commitment? Yet Xionghui, without even thinking, said these words, startling even himself. But Xionghui had not even the slightest regret saying this. It was even looking forward to being together with Huang.

Huang didn’t know that Xionghui, by nature, enjoyed freedom and was only startled that Xionghui wanted to travel with it. “Is that okay? I fear I’ll trouble you.”

Huang’s words weren’t unreasonable. It was a time of great unrest in the land due to desolation left by flooding. If it traveled with Xionghui, it’d mean Xionghui would be crossing the flooded desolation with a snake who had very little fighting ability, which would be very dangerous.

“Don’t worry, I will protect you!” Xionghui solemnly swore. Then, without giving Huang the chance to object, said, “You eat quickly now. I’ll stay here and protect you. When you’ve eaten your fill, I’ll take you away.”

Huang hesitated then agreed. Huang considered whether this Xionghui was planning something, but dismissed this train of thought. What purpose could Xionghui have for Huang the way it was now?

Huang sent a thankful look over to Xionghui, then concentrated on taking in the fire-gold.

Hidden and observing from a distance was a powerful mingshe which reluctantly waved its tail and left. Although it was strong, it couldn’t compete with Xionghui. Instead it allowed the trespassing mingshe to take its fire-gold.

Huang gorged itself until it was full. This was the first time since it was born that it had eaten its fill, and it couldn’t help but feel even more grateful to Xionghui.

Huang climbed onto Xionghui’s back. Xionghui was almost two hundred meters ¹⁴ long, so carrying a snake only ten meters in length was effortless. Although Huang was a mingshe and could fly, Huang’s flight speed was nowhere close to Xionghui’s flight speed.

Although carrying a mingshe, traveling together ¹⁵ wasn’t as difficult as Huang had imagined it’d be. Xionghui changed its custom of wandering everywhere and instead looked for places rich in earthly treasure to stop. “Ah, first recuperate your body, wait until you get better and then we can travel all over the flooded desolation.”

Huang obediently nodded, doing its best to eat all the food Xionghui found for it. Huang, unaware of its feelings, simply knew that it was going to do its best to catch up with Xionghui. It wasn’t going to remain forever on Xionghui’s back. It was going to fly in the sky, body to body with Xionghui.

When it had finished eating, Xionghui brought Huang to another place with treasure. Tthen, after it had finished eating, another place. And then another.

Even though the Wu-Yao war waged in the background, a lot of attention was still paid to Xionghui and Huang. Slowly, all in the flooded, desolate land knew that Xionghui was carrying a thin and weak mingshe on its back. The overwhelming majority dismissed it with a laugh. It simply didn’t matter. That guy, Xionghui, couldn’t die, and the vast majority had never seen a mingshe. For these two snakes, the days passed smoothly.

But this smoothness was only temporary.

Gonggong had seen Xionghui hurrying on its way with Huang. There was a look of devotion in Xionghui’s eyes as it looked at Huang, perhaps caused by Xionghui thinking of Huang.

Thoughts churning, Gonggong came up with a plan involving Xionghui.

At this point, the Wu-Yao War had already finished and the two races left the world. Gonggong and Zhurong had already had a falling out, and Gonggong was eager to increase in strength. Thus, Gonggong came up with the plan to use Xionghui. Although Xionghui wasn’t the strongest, it wasn’t weak. Now that Gonggong had found Xionghui’s weakness, naturally he was going to use Xionghui for his own gain.

Gonggong secretly captured Huang.

As Gonggong expected, Xionghui had no choice but to obey Gonggong. It was through Gonggong’s actions that the two snakes realized their feelings for each other, but after realizing their feelings, they were then threatened by Gonggong.

Xionghui obeyed Gonggong’s orders while simultaneously looking for the place Gonggong had hidden Huang. And – a cold light flashed through Xionghui’s eyes – when it found Huang, it was going to kill Gonggong!

It was due to these circumstances that Xionghui, for the first time since its birth, cultivated assiduously. Finally, Xionghui perfected itself until it had nine identical human heads!

Although Gonggong was no match for this Xionghui, it still didn’t matter. Gonggong knew that, as long as he had Huang, Xionghui couldn’t do anything to him. Xionghui had no choice but to swallow its rage and follow Gonggong’s commands.

Then later, Gonggong and Zhurong found, and Gonggong was defeated. In his rage, Gonggong smashed Mount Buzhou. The mountain collapsed ¹⁶ , and Gonggong escaped, barely alive. Xionghui immediately stepped up its plans, wanting to find Huang’s location as quickly as possible.

However, the sudden appearance of the human emperor, Da Yu, caused a problem. Gonggong had caused catastrophic flooding across the land, resulting in disastrous loss of human life. As a descendant of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Da Yu ¹⁷ was favored by Heaven, and he vowed to kill Gonggong as reparation for humanity’s grievances.

Da Yu was stronger than Gonggong. Now that Gonggong’s strength had decreased by more than half, Da Yu killed Gonggong with ease. After killing Gonggong, Da Yu took Huang with him.

Xionghui was furious. After being forced for so many years to work for Gonggong, a lot of resentment had built up in Xionghui’s heart. Now Gonggong had died but, because Xionghui was too slow, Da Yu had taken Huang.

After Xionghui killed Da Yu’s clan, it hovered in the sky, bellowing for Da Yu to relinquish Huang. Naturally, Da Yu was unwilling to lose face in front of his people and refused to hand over Huang. The two fought.

Xionghui and Da Yu’s strength were equally matched. However, since humanity was prospering, the will of heaven ¹⁸ favored Da Yu, and Xionghui suffered an unsurprising defeat. Xionghui was beheaded and his corpse became a swamp where his soul was trapped.

When Da Yu had captured Huang, he’d had some plans in mind. The current Huang was different from the Huang of the past. When Xionghui had carried Huang everywhere looking for earthly treasures, Huang grew very rapidly. After being captured by Gonggong, Gonggong continued to provide for Huang. By the time Da Yu took Huang, Huang was already almost a hundred meters ¹⁹ long, a length never before seen in the history of the mingshe.

However, even if it had already become the most powerful mingshe, this wasn’t very useful. The main purpose of a mingshe is to guard treasure, the prerequisite of which was to satisfy the mingshe’s hunger. After that, it would cause a terrible drought.

Since Da Yu had captured Huang, he had Huang find precious treasure for himself – this was a mingshe’s instinct. Naturally, in advance, Da Yu had looked for items that would suppress the mingshe’s ability to cause drought. However, although Da Yu had had many plans, he had unfortunately not accounted for Huang’s feelings for Xionghui. When Huang found out about Xionghui’s death, he grew no less than fifty meters ²⁰ , making Huang the true King of the Mingshe. Because of this, the curse carried by the mingshe could no longer be prevented.

A great brought struck mankind.

Da Yu wanted to kill Mingshe. Unfortunately, Da Yu’s merits and virtues were already full and he was taken away by Shengren ²¹ . Among the remaining humans, there was no one who could contend against Mingshe.

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Mankind suffered under a great drought, but Mingshe still wasn’t satisfied. All day long, it would linger around humans, looking for earthly treasure. When it found some, it would consume it. If it couldn’t finish eating it, it would take it with it away from civilization. But these actions gradually came to a stop when it heard news that Xionghui might still be alive.

Huang returned to Xianshan, waiting for Xionghui to come back for it at the place where they’d first met.

Xianshan’s mingshe didn’t dare provoke Huang. For a long time, they named Huang their king.

There wasn’t a snake that didn’t know Huang’s name. All called Huang the King of the Mingshe.

Only Xionghui was allowed to use the name “Huang”.

&

“Huang, what is it?” One of Xionghui’s heads moved closer and pressed against Mingshe’s body.

Mingshe recoiled a step, keeping away from Xionghui’s human head. “Xionghui, from now on keep your head out of my sight. It’s so ugly.”

Xionghui, aggrieved, withdrew its head. Ah, really! Huang really was becoming less and less cute.

Mingshe suddenly remembered something. It said to Xionghui, “Doesn’t it seem like Xiaoxiao hasn’t come here in a while?”

Xionghui answered unconcernedly, “Calm, calm. I heard Xiaoxiao is pregnant again. Well, by my calculations, this should be the fourth time.”

Mingshe had a smile on his face. “Really, I wonder when Xiaoxiao is going to give birth. The last time Xiaoxiao and Mo Laoda came, I saw that Mo Laoda had a very ugly expression on his face.”

“God knows!” All nine human heads shook simultaneously. Then, with a schadenfreude-laden smile, “Seeing Mo Laoda’s unhappy face makes me very happy.”

“Speaking of, doesn’t Mo Laoda no longer want to be the Clan Head? Then, is Bai Jiahei going to be the Clan Head?” Mingshe asked.

“That’s probably the case.” Xionghui nodded. “But even though Bai Jiahei is the strongest after Mo Laoda, his coloration will surely cause the snakes a headache.”

“But it also doesn’t matter. Let them worry about that,” said Mingshe. “Last time Xiaoxiao came, he said that, when he gives birth again, he’s going to have us look after the baby snakes. I’m really looking forward to seeing those baby snakes.”

“Haha, it’s going to be very lively below the cliff when that happens.” While saying this, Xionghui felt a little excited.

Mingshe nodded its head in agreement.

&

It didn’t take long for Yin Xiaoxiao to bring the baby snakes over. Soon after, he and Mo Laoda left. Yin Xiaoxiao and Mo Laoda didn’t return to the mountain, instead leaving to begin their lovey-dovey two-snake world.

Two hundred years sounded like a very long time, but Yin Xiaoxiao was already eighty-two years old at this time, and Mo Laoda was already one hundred. Although they were still in the prime of their lives, the years had left their mark.

However, it didn’t matter.

Yin Xiaoxiao turned his head and wound his upper body around Mo Laoda. Mo Laoda also turned his head and lightly kissed Yin Xiaoxiao’s forehead.

We’ll have countless two-hundred year lifetimes together.

Not only the two of us, but the strange snakes and also Ji Zhao and Ji Kang. We will remember all snakes and humans fondly, and we will never be lonely.

It was, in short, like this: The mountains are timeless, a dream lasts a millennia ²² .

—End—

T/N: And that’s it! This last chapter was like a culture/mythology dump. Sorry about that! Hope you all enjoyed!

Footnotes

<ol>I believe this refers to the Jade Emperor 地母: seems to refer to Houtu, otherwise known as Dimu 鲜山上 :currently known as Xinshan Mountain, located in Henan added the word mountain so that readers know that this is, in fact, a mountain. I won’t be calling it Xianshan mountain from here on out. The -shan part (山)means mountain. 宝藏: literally, hidden treasure; these are precious minerals and metals that are still in the ground 荒: meaning desolate, scarcity, uncultivated, or neglected 巫妖大战: one of three legendary wars that marked the beginning of the dominance of humanity ; google translate likes to translate Wu-Yao as lich, for some reason. Also, for anyone who plays Tale of Immortal, the main quest lines (such as Da Yi shooting the sun and Kuafu chasing the sun) are all parts of the Wu-Yao War translates witch/shaman, but in this myth, it refers to those who are created from Pangu and are like deities, such as the Earth Mother/Houtu supernatural creatures of variable morality who may also be able to take on human forms about 32 feet about 98 feet about 230 feet about 262 feet about 656 feet added for clarity Mount Buzhou was the pillar that supported the sky. This collapse resulted in Nuwa repairing the sky with the five-colored stones, one for each of the five elements. The ones she didn’t use, she scattered throughout the world, and they became jade direct descendent of the Yellow Emperor who supposedly became a deity after his death 天道: basically, the laws that dictate the world about 328 feet about 164 feet; making Huang, in total, about 492 feet “被圣人带走”: pretty sure this means that he died; like he’d maxed out his karma so heaven took him “山中无岁月，一梦已千年。” a quote from Journey to the West. It basically refers to the solitude and isolation felt by those living on a mountain. Basically the mountainous equivalent of the German word waldeinsamkeit.</ol>