Chapter 1 The Truth of the Yao

“Yao race…”

Su Zhou deliberately repeated the term. As a young person of the new era, countless different settings for the Yao race flashed through his mind, each almost completely different, mixed with various folk legends, classical anecdotes, and even modern urban myths.

But in the next instant, Su Zhou retracted these settings back into his mind. He directly asked: “What’s the specific situation with the Yao race? Are they just the kind of legendary wild beasts that become spirits?”

[Yes, and no. The essence of the Yao race is humans who cultivate the ancient Dao of Mimicry. The kind you mentioned are actually classified as ‘Jing’ (essence, spirit).]

The middle-aged male voice, as steady as a machine, spoke a startling answer calmly: [Humans who falsely create become Yao, the innate spirituality of objects becomes Jing, and human souls that do not dissipate become Gui (ghost).]

[When the heavens and earth are out of harmony, and there is something extraordinary, it becomes Guai (strange). Gods and spirits that are not righteous become Xie (evil). The human heart that is demented becomes Mo (demon). Leaning towards heterodoxy is an Outer Path.]

This passage comes from a note written by a Celestial Master of a Daoist sect, the predecessor of the Zheng Yi Academy, before the founding of the Zheng Nation. There are many interpretations, but in the context of the present, it is very simple.

—The existence or non-existence of Yao lies in humans. Livestock, plants, and tools that develop spirituality are Jing. Human souls that do not dissipate are Gui.

Hearing this passage, Su Zhou lowered his brow and pondered for a while. He looked at Yala, then at his own hand, and then said thoughtfully: “So, the Yao… are actually cultivated by humans?”

[Yes, just as humans can cultivate into ‘Xianling’ (celestial spirits), ‘Jingguai’ (spirits and monsters), and ‘Shenfo’ (gods and Buddhas), humans can naturally also cultivate into ‘Yaomo’ (Yao demons).]

The male voice carried agreement. Su Zhou understood so quickly, saving it a lot of explanation: [In the era when cultivation was possible, the differences between species were not as detailed as they are now, because the biggest separation and difference did not come from appearance and the physical body, but from the ability to ‘cultivate’.]

[In a very ancient era, far beyond our historical records, there were countless powerful wild beasts in the world that were born with extraordinary power. Even if there were primitive transcendents among the human race at that time who were born with supernatural powers, it did not affect humans learning to imitate the power of those powerful wild beasts. Through a long period of learning, primitive humans learned how to simulate the power of the other party by devouring the extraordinary organs of wild beasts.]

[This is the original form of the Yao, ‘Ni Dao’ (Mimicry of the Dao). Beast heads and human bodies, human heads and beast bodies, and even complete beast bodies are all characteristics of this Dao. Of course, with the gradual development of cultivation techniques, humans can also maintain their original form and master the power of those extraordinary wild beasts, but similarly, they can also transform into the true form of Yao demons and release their full power. Therefore, the Yao were an important part of the civilization circle at that time.]

“In ancient times, humans and Yao lived together? The Yellow Emperor's wife, Qingqiu Shi, King Yu’s wife, Tushan Shi, and the legends of the Xi Emperor and Nuwa… it seems there is some truth to them.”

The male voice's words made Su Zhou recall the immortals and gods in ancient legends of various countries, who all had beastly characteristics... In this way, it is easy to understand why those immortals and gods with beastly characteristics are also human ancestors, and why there were no taboos in ancient times for humans to marry various Yao races.

Everyone is human. For ancient humans, those beastly characteristics were nothing more than differences in appearance among modern humans, differences similar to having large ears or thin lips, nothing big.

To be honest, if he himself achieved a high level of transcendence and all kinds of organ structures in his body were completely transcendent, then apart from having a human form, he would indeed not have much similarity with normal humans.

For example, can a normal human eat 20 kg of hard dishes, large pieces of meat, and several times that amount of side dishes and rice? Obviously not!

The path of celestial spirits doesn't even require a physical body, so what's wrong with having a different physical structure? In ancient times, there were immortals with three heads and six arms, and there was no essential difference between growing a snake tail or dragon claws.

"No wonder I awakened such a strong dragon bloodline, and the country hasn't eliminated me as an alien."

Thinking this, Su Zhou couldn't help but joke. He asked, "Then that Yao race Dragon King, I guess he's some ancient immortal god who cultivated the Dao of Transforming into a Dragon?"

[Actually, not entirely. Among the Yao, there are not only humans who simulate extraordinary wild beasts, but also extraordinary wild beasts who simulate humans. So we can't really be sure where your dragon blood, and the Yao race Dragon King at the bottom of the sea, actually come from.]

The male voice was still calm: [But this is not important, after all, ‘Yao are falsely created by humans’, and Yao exist by relying on humans.]

[I said, in ancient times, the differences between races were not large. As long as you can cultivate, and can recognize the identity of humans, you can join the common collective... Intelligent extraordinary wild beasts who choose to simulate humans and transform into Yao were also considered a part of ‘humans’ at that time. They learned human language, human culture, and human living habits, and chose to simulate the human body, they were already humans, this is the ‘virtue of civilization’, the victory of human civilization.]

"So that's how it is... What about those who don't accept it?" Hearing this, Su Zhou became even more interested: "By the way, why did that Dragon King die at the bottom of the sea?"

He recalled his initial point of doubt.

[Beasts that do not accept the ‘thoughts of humans’ are Jingguai.]

The male voice's calm tone now had a kind of cold humor: [That is, the source of what we often call ‘extraordinary materials’. Tastes good, doesn't it?]

[As for why that Dragon King is sleeping at the bottom of the sea... in fact, it is very likely that because his true body was too large, his sensitivity to the concentration of spiritual energy was far greater than other extraordinary individuals, so before the spiritual energy was completely cut off, he ‘starved to death’ at the bottom of the sea due to lack of energy to move.]

This answer made Su Zhou click his tongue twice. It must be so, such a huge and unreasonable body must need an environment with a high concentration of spiritual energy to survive, just like whales can only live in the water: "In that case, what about this relic?"

[Put it aside for now.] The middle-aged male voice's answer had no delay from beginning to end. As soon as Su Zhou finished speaking, it replied directly: [The tide of spiritual energy resurgence is about to strike again, and many relics within the Zheng Nation are about to open. This kind of relic lost in a foreign land can be developed in the future.]

[However, the news that the Jiaolong (aquatic dragon) has appeared is indeed very important, which means that the Yao beasts in the sea are about to usher in a leader... um, no, we still have Professor Su Zhou, you.]

Speaking of this, the male voice carried a hint of a smile for the first time: [This is actually why the Central Committee values you so much—as long as you can advance faster than those Jiaolong in the sea, the Yao beasts in the sea will not have a universally respected ‘king’. If your strength is far stronger than those Jiaolong, then maybe those Jiaolong will serve you as their master?]

[This is also why even in later generations, when there were more cultivation methods for the path of immortals and gods, the ‘Dao of Transforming into a Dragon’ and the ‘various Dragon Kings’ have always existed.]

No wonder I'm being treated so well, this makes more sense. Su Zhou nodded slightly, and he also mentioned in passing the matter of him swimming on the beach before and being surrounded by many sea snakes and sea fish.

But Su Zhou didn't expect that this, which he saw as nothing special, a small matter mentioned in passing, would actually lead the other party to ask about it with such importance.

[Wait a moment, Professor Su Zhou, are you sure that those sea snakes and sea fish have all awakened their spirits?]

"Yes." Su Zhou didn't understand for a moment why the other party would be so serious. He recalled for a moment, and nodded: "They have all awakened their spirits—there is even a black sea snake among them that is particularly spiritual."

[...Just along the coast, there are so many. The resurgence of all spirits should have reached its end.]

The male voice on the other end of the line murmured: [It seems that the second wave of spiritual energy eruption is about to arrive... In that case, Professor Su.]

[The committee here has a task that it wants to entrust to you.]

…

“The truth of the Yao race is actually like this?”

When Su Zhou hung up the phone, he first closed his eyes and pondered for a while, then opened his eyes and said: “It has answered many of the doubts in my heart, and it’s no wonder that in today’s world, there is no rejection or suppression of humans who awaken all kinds of strange bloodlines and abilities.”

“Yala, what’s your opinion?”

To Su Zhou's inquiry, Yala was not as lazy as before, but thought for a while and seriously replied: "It's a bit strange, and I understand a bit. Your world, as the core of the Great Sealing Formation, seems to have some peculiarities."

It didn't say exactly where it was peculiar, nor did it say where it was strange and understandable, but Su Zhou didn't ask further.

In fact, Su Zhou himself could guess what was strange.

—Even in the ancient era of abundant spiritual energy, a Dragon King several thousand meters long was not something that could be ignored… but according to the middle-aged male voice, the Dragon King did not seem to be a rare existence, at least there were multiple. Not only that, in addition to the Yao Kings on the human side, there were other powerful beast kings among the Jingguai who could compete.

Although the Earth is vast, can it really accommodate these behemoths? And the immortals and gods of the major civilization circles, if every slightly stronger immortal god has the power of the Dragon King, is the small Earth really able to accommodate these existences? The struggle between them would probably destroy the surface without much difficulty.

But now there is not enough information, so there is no need to overthink. When school starts, I can completely rely on my professor's authority to find the answer in the official database of Zheng Nation.

"Didi di."

At this time, Shao Qiming sent a message. Su Zhou lowered his head to look at his phone and found that the other party had sent an emoticon.

Taking a closer look, his face immediately darkened—that emoticon was exactly the appearance of him being surrounded by fish before.

[Fish snake fish snake human snake fish snake] jpg. There was a line of small text below.

[Surrender to me, I am the master of all salted fish!]