Chapter 897: Chapter 377: Jiu Shui and Ancestral Human Biography (Double Chapter)

The dense threads cover the entire sky, as the Human God controls each Earth-bound Spirit in battles and slaughter.

"Puppet Threads?"

In the Capital City’s Imperial Palace, within a tomb.

Jiu Shui looked at the familiar threads, gazing at the web-like world as if triggering a deep memory within him, causing his thoughts to transcend time and return to a distant past.

"Yes..."

"Why can I paint this picture? Because I was born in... the Rongtian Era."

He reached out, gently stroking a painting.

Within the painting, a giant ape face overlooked the heavens and earth, with threads at its fingertips controlling the lives on the ground.

"I was born in an age long ago, having seen the era of the Human God firsthand, naturally knowing his concealed presence in history."

...

...

When Jiu Shui was young, his family was not affluent, and at that time there was no concept of humans; the earth was inhabited by tribes of apes, and his parents were also apes.

The birth rate was quite high then, with each birth bringing four or five offspring.

They lived in a small tribe, with his mother raising him, though she soon succumbed to exhaustion and passed away when he was three.

Three years later, his father died as well.

He could only take care of his seven younger siblings.

That year he was only six, not clever, even slightly foolish, and mediocre, having dug for bugs, peeled bark, picked wild fruits, and fetched bird eggs.

He also once hid in a tree for three days, trembling as a tiger chased him, clutching the tree with monkey paws while watching the roaring tiger below.

No matter how hard he hunted, a month later his youngest sister died, followed by two brothers two months later. Within a year, he had only one brother left, whom he raised.

Until at nine years old, his brother died too.

Thus, the family completely perished. If this were written as a story, it would surely be among the most tragic tales.

One day, a sharp Three Flowers pierces his mind at night, and amidst violent resistance, he also died.

Ordinary, mundane, that was his whole life.

As a Wandering Soul, he roamed the world, maintaining his actions from life, catching mudfish and monkeys.

Until one day a young monkey fleeing arrived here and started talking to him.

Claiming to be from a distant mountain tribe, stating his tribe had been overrun by an unknown terror, with each tribe succumbing.

He alone kept running away, the fleeing monkey becoming the future Human Ancestor.

"What’s your name?"

"No name."

"How old are you?"

"Nine."

The young ape soon left.

The previous Pseudo-human possession failed, giving him a crooked Three Flowers and leading him to the path of cultivation, realizing this pitiful child as a Wandering Soul.

Wandering Soul, Embers, soon would disperse with the world.

A hundred years later, the Human Ancestor in an ape tribe meets the nine-year-old child again.

That nine-year-old ape had already resurrected as Embers, became a Ghost King, matured, lived a second life, married and had many small apes.

The Human Ancestor’s eyes filled with fatigue and chaos, "You’re still alive!?"

"It’s you, Jiu, Jiu Shui?"

"Now, Pseudo-humans have possessed us, and it’s been three hundred years; we’re totally finished."

"The Ape God... taught us the cultivation method."

"We are surrounded by Pseudo-humans, and when a child is born, Pseudo-human parents will root the newborn Pseudo-human into an infant’s body."

"Once the infant matures and cultivates the Three Flowers, at the moment of entering cultivation, the latent and sleeping Pseudo-human Spiritual Root within possesses."

"Cultivating the Three Flowers, knowing ’I know who I am’... is a sham! At that instant, they’re already dead."

But there’s a portion immune to parasitism, significant among the Human Race.

Those without a "Spiritual Root" for parasitism are called mortals, forever unable to cultivate.

The Human Ancestor discussed ideals, shared dreams, requesting "Jiu Shui" join his resistance army.

"I have a Dharma Method, able to crookedly grow a Spiritual Root on the neck; we can possess Pseudo-humans and gain their Divine Techniques, embarking on the path of cultivation."

Jiu Shui: "I don’t want to go insane; I have a wife and daughter."

"Don’t you want to live forever?"

Jiu Shui: "I don’t want a flower to crookedly grow on my neck."

"Don’t you want to save this world?"

Jiu Shui: "No."

"Your wife is a Pseudo-human."

Jiu Shui: "It’s fine that I’m not a Pseudo-human; their essence is just a special race, and I love her."

...

The Human Ancestor couldn’t persuade him to cultivate, so he left, "This time, this Jiu Shui should be dead, as a mortal, this is my last encounter with him."

Soon, five hundred years passed, and the Human Ancestor again saw the young man in a tribe, utterly shocked, "How are you not dead?"

Jiu Shui: "I died and revived."

"The lifespan limit of ordinary people is no more than a hundred years, now five hundred years have passed, how many times have you died?"

"I died and became Embers, living another lifetime. I don’t remember how many times."

The Human Ancestor encountered an unbelievable situation.

Ghost King, awakening—how is it so simple on this person?

A Ghost King’s awakening, living a second life is already a miracle, but this person lived countless lives.

As a mortal, he realized immortality in this way?

"How did you do it?"

"I didn’t want to die, persistently hypnotizing myself to live on, hence I didn’t die."