Big Old Black lapped greedily at his own fur, his rough tongue scraping away the splatter of snake blood coating his hide.

Wu Yuan watched the display with a frown. “You’re being too wasteful! Look at all that blood soaking into the dirt.”

Big Old Black paused, dug out the Mother Snake Demon’s gallbladder, and handed it over with a fawning expression. “It’s not a waste, Boss! I’ll eat the dirt in a minute, too!”

Wu Yuan snatched the gallbladder and swallowed it whole. The bitter organ slid down his throat, releasing a burst of energy.

“Save the Mother Snake’s heart for me,” Wu Yuan commanded, wiping his mouth. “You lot can split the rest of the carcass. As for the blood on the ground? Leave that for the little ones.”

He turned his gaze toward the exit of the valley. “Clean up the battlefield quickly and haul the spoils back to the nest. I’m going ahead to see the Cat King.”

Wu Yuan moved away from the carnage, but a cold shiver ran through his fur. Ever since the Snake King drew its last breath, a subtle sense of discord had settled over the valley.

He had scanned the environment multiple times with his spiritual senses. Nothing seemed out of place.

Is it just my imagination? he wondered, his whiskers twitching nervously.

No.

He immediately rejected the doubt. I must trust my intuition. If I feel something is wrong but can’t find the source, I must assume the danger is real and hidden.

Either the environment of Snake Valley itself was hostile, or something was watching him from the shadows.

Since nothing has attacked me yet, I’ll pretend ignorance.

Dragging the massive corpse of the Snake King behind him, Wu Yuan began the slow trek out of the valley. Around him, the ordinary rats prostrated themselves, pressing their bellies to the dust in reverence.

As he put distance between himself and the center of the valley, the sensation intensified. It felt as though a pair of eyes were boring into his spine, a gaze as scorching as the midday sun.

Wu Yuan forced himself to keep a steady pace, not speeding up, not looking back. To maintain his composure, he filled his mind with petty complaints.

That idiot Big Old Black really has no eye for social cues. Doesn’t even know to offer to carry the heavy stuff for his Boss…

The journey of a few minutes stretched into an eternity. Sweat matted Wu Yuan’s fur beneath the oppressive weight of that invisible stare.

It wasn’t until he stepped past the valley’s boundary that the gaze vanished.

The pressure lifted instantly. Wu Yuan didn’t dare turn his head. He kept his eyes fixed forward, crawling towards the setting sun, putting one paw in front of the other until the valley was far behind him.

Only after trekking for an unknown distance did he finally dare to speak, his voice rasping like sandpaper.

“Go straight to the Cat King. The King should protect his little brother.”

His throat felt dry, parched as if he had wandered a desert for a month.

When the familiar silhouette of the Cat King finally came into view, Wu Yuan’s mood instantly lifted. His eyes sparkled. Before him lay his ultimate safety net—his Golden Thigh.

He scurried forward, his voice trembling with an emotion akin to reuniting with a long-lost ancestor. “Cat King! It’s been so long!”

The black-and-white cat cracked one eye open, glancing at the frantic rat with mild surprise. Then, he lazily shut it again, basking in the twilight warmth, ignoring Wu Yuan’s theatrics.

This rat is mentally ill, the cat thought dismissively. Good thing I didn’t eat him. Mom always said eating a fool makes you stupid.

Oblivious to his patron’s internal roasting, Wu Yuan presented his offering with practiced reverence.

“Cat King, behold! This is a Snake Demon I just hunted. It’s still warm! I’ve even paired it with some freshly picked mustard grass. The flavor is absolutely divine!”

The Cat King opened his eyes again, genuinely surprised. He hadn’t expected the rat to maintain the tributary relationship so diligently, let alone with such unfeigned enthusiasm.

It was… pleasant. The cat’s gaze softened.

“Alright,” the Cat King meowed lazily. “Leave it there. I’ll have a taste when I find the time.”

Wu Yuan dragged his tired body back to his own territory, crawling deep into the mineral vein cave before finally collapsing into his nest.

He lay there panting, his heart hammering against his ribs. The terror of the valley finally caught up with him.

What the hell is hiding in that valley?

A massive bluestone, a Spirit Copper mine, and now that gaze… That damn place is a melting pot of anomalies.

Don’t tell me I’m going to accidentally dig up some ancient horror.

He didn’t dare vocalize the thought, keeping his paranoia locked tightly within his mind.

Little Huang squeezed out of a nearby tunnel, sensing his leader’s distress. The yellow rat nuzzled against Wu Yuan, squeaking softly.

Wu Yuan grabbed the chubby rat and began to knead him like a ball of dough. He rubbed Little Huang’s soft fur vigorously, spinning the confused subordinate around until Little Huang was dizzy.

“Comfortable!”

Wu Yuan exhaled a long breath of turbid air. The tactile sensation grounded him. He finally felt calm enough to analyze the situation.

The [Karma Pearl] identified it as a Green Fated Chance. That usually implies low risk.

The Pearl hasn’t been wrong before. That means whatever ghostly thing resides in Snake Valley can’t—or won’t—hurt me right now.

I was likely scaring myself.

Wu Yuan sat up, his eyes narrowing. However, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall, and a wise rat does not burrow into a snake’s hole. I won’t be returning to Snake Valley personally.

Not long after, the tunnel entrance bustled with activity. Big Old Black and the rest of the squad returned, hauling a mountain of loot.

The rat swarm poured into the cavern like a living black river, dragging giant pythons and small hatchlings through the cracks in the walls. They deposited the food into the storage chambers before flowing back to their nests.

The python meat would serve as the staple diet for the mouse demons and the growing pups. Wu Yuan planned to mix the Spirit-rich snake blood into the pups’ food; a diet infused with Spiritual Qi would breed a stronger generation of soldiers.

Under Big Old Black’s jealous glare, One Ear stepped forward and presented a cluster of seeds to Wu Yuan.

“Boss, the moment we picked the Snake Tooth Rice, the main plant withered and died. This is all that’s left.”

Wu Yuan nodded, taking the grains. “Good work.”

“He never lets me touch the Snake Tooth Rice,” Big Old Black muttered from the side, kicking a pebble. “It’s not like I’d steal it. I just wanted to look…”

Wu Yuan ignored him, examining the prize. The [Snake Tooth Rice] emitted a peculiar scent—a blend of fishy musk and fresh plant crispness.

This was a treasure for beast cultivation. Even a common beast could gain a trace of Demon Power by consuming it regularly.

Wu Yuan turned to Little Huang, who was drooling at the sight of the grains.

“We can cultivate this rice on a large scale,” Wu Yuan explained, his eyes gleaming with ambition. “With a stable source of Spirit food, we can expand the swarm indefinitely.”

“Once we harvest the first batch, Little Huang, you can eat until your belly bursts.”

Until now, the rat swarm’s population had been capped by the food supply. Wu Yuan had been forced to focus on quality over quantity, weeding out the weak.

But with Spirit farming?

“We won’t just survive on tree bark and grass anymore,” Wu Yuan said, turning to Big Old Black. “Keep raising the baby snakes left in the valley. Try to breed more snake demons.”

“The bloodline in that valley is special. A freak like the Snake King didn’t appear out of thin air.”

The Green Fated Chance might not have given Wu Yuan an immediate power boost, but it had handed him the keys to an empire.

If the Snake Tooth Rice could be mass-produced, Wu Yuan would have a self-sustaining base.

If strength isn’t enough, make up for it with numbers!

Wu Yuan closed his eyes, losing himself in a vision of the future—a tidal wave of millions of rat demons, devouring everything in their path at his command.

Three months later.

Wu Yuan sat motionless, his eyes locked on the [Moon Spirit Grass].

He inhaled deeply, drawing in the ambient [Lunar Essence] filtering down from the surface, and channeled it directly into the plant.

Under his excited gaze, the spirit herb stretched upward, consuming the energy greedily. Thanks to Wu Yuan’s relentless infusion of Lunar Essence and Spiritual Qi, this stalk had grown far larger and more potent than the wild one he had consumed previously.

A moment later, the grass shuddered. It had reached maturity.

Wisps of a refreshing, silvery fragrance drifted into the air.

Before the scent could even spread, the surrounding mouse demons inhaled sharply, sucking every trace of the aroma into their lungs. They watched with glassy eyes, saliva dripping from their jaws.

“So fragrant…”

Even Little Huang looked ready to pounce.

The Moon Spirit Grass was a potent catalyst for increasing Demon Power and awakening dormant bloodlines. Its allure to low-level beasts was irresistible. Even Wu Yuan felt a primal hunger clawing at his stomach.

Truly worthy of being my first Blue Fated Chance!

The silvery-white glow of the herb reflected in Wu Yuan’s eyes. He swallowed his saliva, suppressing the urge to devour it instantly.

He had a better plan. He began to weave his Qi, applying Lunar Essence in a specific, complex sequence…