The Great Qian Dynasty, land of Yongzhou, was mountainous, and in the mountains there were snakes.
A brown snake slithered through the forest.
Before long, it stopped moving, poked its slender neck out from the grass, and human-like, it sized up its one-meter-long body:
“Sigh, it has been over a month since I transmigrated, but I still haven’t gotten used to the days without legs.”
Mo Lin, which was the name of this brown snake, was astonishingly a human reborn into the body of a snake.
Mo Lin could not understand.
In his previous life as a human, he might not have been someone who brought blessings to all, but at the very least, he was a law-abiding citizen.
Why then, in this life, had he fallen into the Path of Beasts, and worse still, into the body of a powerless reptile?
“Could it be because in my last life, I said ‘I don’t want to be human anymore’ too many times?”
Mo Lin shook his snake head, no longer dwelling on such useless matters:
“Fortunately, though I fell into the Path of Beasts in this life, I am not completely without support.”
At that thought, Mo Lin felt a little better, for he possessed a very special talent, and that was—
By eating, he could grow stronger!
Moreover, there was a chance that by eating, he could extract part of his prey’s abilities.
When Mo Lin first transmigrated, he had only been a grass snake that could swim in the water, and among grass snakes, he had been one of the weakest.
If the physical quality of an ordinary human body was measured as 100, then Mo Lin, upon just crossing over, had been as follows:
【Abilities: Devour (grow stronger by eating, chance to extract prey’s ability), Shedding (when reaching ability limits, evolve by shedding skin)】
So pitifully weak that he could only eat some tadpoles and little fish to barely survive.
But after several days of eating tadpoles and small fish, Mo Lin felt his strength, agility, and defense slowly increase bit by bit, +0.1, +0.1, creeping upward.
The creatures swallowed into his belly were absorbed by his Devour talent, becoming nourishment to strengthen his body.
Mo Lin hunted fish and shrimp in the spring, and gradually became the overlord of the waters:
【Abilities: Devour, Shedding】
But the spring where Mo Lin lived was shallow, and aside from small fish and shrimp, there was little else.
Mo Lin did not wish to only scrape by in the spring.
That way, he would be nothing more than a grass snake for life, at best stronger than the others.
Yet a grass snake’s lifespan was no more than fifteen years.
Thus, to make use of his Devour talent, after being a snake for one whole month, Mo Lin thought it over for a long time before finally making a decision—
Though the land held far greater dangers than the spring, it also promised far more opportunities.
Even from the water, Mo Lin had seen mice passing by the banks more than once.
So after being a grass snake for a month, Mo Lin finally chose a gloomy day, when it seemed as though a downpour might break at any time, to slither out of the spring.
Yongzhou was mountainous, and the mountains held many beasts.
Within mere minutes of leaving the spring, Mo Lin sensed a creature moving nearby.
Grass snakes had no external ears, so Mo Lin pressed his jawbone against the ground, feeling the vibrations of the creature transmitted into his body.
Through those tremors, Mo Lin quickly located the creature and judged that it was not large.
He flicked his tongue and silently approached the source of the noise.
Soon, Mo Lin found the target: a field mouse digging in the soil!
Mo Lin was overjoyed.
Risking the land had indeed been the right choice.
By the looks of it, he would have a full meal today.
Fixing his eyes on the digging field mouse as his “prey,” Mo Lin used the cover of the grass to creep closer, bit by bit.
The field mouse had no idea it had already become someone else’s prey and was still absorbed in its digging.
Suddenly, the field mouse froze, muddy claws still, and warily scanned its surroundings.
Perhaps its instincts, sharpened by long years of living in danger, had caught a hint of something.
The mouse stood at the entrance of the burrow it had dug, glancing around, yet saw nothing unusual.
But in the grass downwind, less than a meter away, a snake silently coiled its body.
Though this was Mo Lin’s first hunt on land, he knew very well that to catch such a vigilant creature, patience was the key.
The slightest rustle would send the mouse diving into its burrow, ruining his hunt.
Thus, though the mouse was so close, Mo Lin did not rashly strike.
Instead, he lay motionless in the grass.
His brown scales blended perfectly with the earth.
With his aura deliberately concealed, not even the wary mouse could detect him.
Seeing no predator, the mouse finally relaxed and resumed digging.
It planned to store food in the freshly dug burrow.
Mo Lin, hidden in the grass, chose his moment and suddenly launched himself!
The mouse, startled by the rustling grass, instinctively tried to dive into its burrow, but it was already too late!
Mo Lin, who had waited so long, bit down precisely on the mouse’s neck.
For a non-venomous snake, sharp teeth and a strong body were its only weapons.
Since his fangs had pierced his prey, Mo Lin would never let go.
In just a few seconds, under his crushing bite and constricting coils, Mo Lin felt the mouse’s struggling weaken.
The mouse’s blood gushed from the puncture like a flood breaking through a dam.
The sweet taste spread across Mo Lin’s mouth, and the pleasure made his snake eyes narrow to slits, flashing with human-like joy.
This was his first hunt on land, but he seemed like a born killer—patiently waiting for his prey’s mistake, then striking with a fatal blow!
After confirming that the mouse was well and truly dead, Mo Lin swallowed it whole.
Warmth spread through his body, surging into every part of him.
He could clearly feel his snake body growing stronger.
With his Devour talent, as long as he maintained a steady pace of feeding, even in this world, he would at least have the means to protect himself.
Ten days after his first successful hunt on land, Mo Lin remained near the spring, preying on worms, toads, and other creatures.
The area within a hundred meters of the spring had already become his hunting ground.
Once, by chance, Mo Lin even managed to snatch an incautious sparrow with his leaping ability.
And every creature he ate became his “nourishment,” just as expected.
Feeling the vigorous energy coursing through his body, Mo Lin felt as though he were playing a growth-based mobile game, unable to stop.
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But for Mo Lin, a little snake in this life, when you ate—you truly became stronger!
Gradually, Mo Lin was no longer content to linger near the spring.
He raised his head high, gaze cast toward the distant forest, desire glimmering in his eyes:
“In that forest, there must be prey stronger than mice and toads, prey that can make me even stronger.”
With that thought, Mo Lin’s heart burned with excitement.
Though he knew the road ahead was full of danger, he resolutely slithered away from the spring, deeper into the mountain.
And so, filled with ambition, Mo Lin did not notice that soon after his one-meter-long body left the spring,
A creature over two meters long, with black scales patterned in yellow, was staring at him with elliptical eyes, tongue flickering silently.
On the creature’s forehead, between the black scales, the yellow markings faintly formed the character for “King”!