"How tragic, how tragic. To think that the ancient Gold-Munching King Mouse bloodline has dwindled so, living on and on until the 'King' in your ancestors' very name has been lost. Remember—you are descendants of the Gold-Munching King Mice. That you now call yourselves Gold-Munching Mice is the greatest insult you could pay to your forebears."
"What do you mean?" The Gold-Munching Mouse King's gaze turned cold.
"What do I mean? The ancient Gold-Munching King Mouse clan was the most intelligent and the most adept at communication among all the ancient races. Who would have thought their descendants would become so unreasonable, utterly impossible to communicate with?"
"Communicate? You humans slaughter our Spirit Beasts and then you want to talk?" The Gold-Munching Mouse King let out a frigid laugh.
"Every grievance has its source, every debt its debtor. Don't make it sound as though your Spirit Beast world doesn't engage in its own slaughter. Survival of the fittest—that is the law of existence. Spirit Beasts are killed by humans, and humans are devoured by Spirit Beasts. That is an ironclad rule that has held for ages."
"You're not wrong about that. Which is exactly why we will devour you!" The Gold-Munching Mouse King bared its teeth in a savage grin.
"Devouring me—that's not difficult. You can manage it. But you'll never evolve into the Gold-Munching King Mouse bloodline. In the end, you'll remain nothing but a lowly clan, forever confined to a miserable existence, never able to become true rulers of the Spirit Beast world. In the old days, the ancient Gold-Munching King Mice roamed freely across the heavens—a truly magnificent race. What a pity. What a shame."
"Hmph! As though not devouring you would somehow let us evolve into Gold-Munching King Mice! Human, I know you are full of tricks, but do not insult the intelligence of our Gold-Munching Mouse clan! You think a few words of ancient Beast Language will convince me? Keep dreaming!"
"Ha! As expected, as expected. But I'll say it all the same: you are the Gold-Munching Mouse King—which is simply picking the tallest from a crowd of short ones. You are merely the king of a pack of Gold-Munching Mice. You are never a Gold-Munching King Mouse. Remember—though both titles contain the word 'King,' change the order of those words and the gap becomes one between heaven and earth. No matter how many mouse tides you unleash, it won't change the fact that you are merely the king of ordinary Gold-Munching Mice, not the true sovereign of the ancient and noble Gold-Munching King Mice!"
The Gold-Munching Mouse King grew agitated, bristling with humiliated fury, but ultimately suppressed its anger: "Human, what exactly do you want? If you simply want to regale me with the history of my ancestors' clan, I have no interest in listening. Our Gold-Munching Mouse clan was born with inherited memories. We know the origins of our bloodline. Our blood is lowly and cannot evolve into Gold-Munching King Mice—that much is true. But no matter how lowly our blood, we are not prey for you humans to hunt at will. If you hunt us, you will pay the price!"
"It seems you truly are a race with shallow intelligence. As a king, can you think of nothing but vengeance? Have you no thought at all for your clan's future?"
"Our clan's future? You, a human, want to discuss the future of the Gold-Munching Mouse clan with me? Don't you find that laughable?"
"Not one bit."
"And what makes you say that?" the Gold-Munching Mouse King sneered.
"Because perhaps I can help you—help you evolve the ancient bloodline, evolve into Gold-Munching King Mice!"
"Nonsense!" The Gold-Munching Mouse King refused to believe it. "We possess inherited memories ourselves and still cannot evolve into the ancient bloodline. You, a human with no connection whatsoever to our clan—how dare you make such an absurd claim?"
"I genuinely have a method. You have inherited memories—that is true. But you have no idea how to activate those inherited memories, no idea how to select superior bloodlines, no idea how to cultivate them. Superior bloodlines combined with inherited memories—that is the only way to have a chance of evolving into true Gold-Munching King Mice! Only when true Gold-Munching King Mice emerge can your clan truly become the ruling clan of the Spirit Beast world!"
"You… how do you know all this?" The Gold-Munching Mouse King wavered for the first time. It had been utterly resolute, absolutely unwilling to trust any human.
Even though Jiang Chen could speak the ancient Beast Language, it had never intended to trust him.
But in this moment, it faltered.
Because everything Jiang Chen had said was, without exception, closely guarded secrets of the Gold-Munching Mouse clan. Superior bloodlines, inherited memories—if one did not possess intimate knowledge of the clan's secrets, one could not possibly speak of such things.
"I told you—I happen to know certain secrets of bloodline evolution. Perhaps I can help you."
"You expect me to believe you?" The Gold-Munching Mouse King was still heavily on its guard.
"You can take the gamble. After all, devouring the few of us amounts to nothing more than a meat meal. A few more humans won't make much difference, a few fewer won't hurt either. For you, this is a gamble with no real stake. Win, and you gain enormously. Lose, and you merely miss out on a handful of human blood meals."
Jiang Chen wore a calm, composed smile as he continued: "I don't mean to discourage you, but your bloodline is simply too low. I haven't seen a single Gold-Munching Mouse that can fly among your entire swarm—and that alone proves how poor your bloodline truly is. If you don't actively pursue evolution, your future will be no different from that of ordinary rats. Sooner or later, you'll become meals in the bellies of other Spirit Beast clans. There is absolutely no future for you as you are!"
Those words struck the Gold-Munching Mouse King precisely where it was weakest.
To the surprise of all, the Gold-Munching Mouse King did not argue back. It knew that this human's words were not wrong. Its clan's bloodline quality had been deteriorating for a long time. Impressive as the mouse tide might appear, it was nothing more than sheer numbers.
Any truly formidable Spirit Beast could suppress their entire tide with nothing more than its beast pressure!
Bloodlines in the Spirit Beast world were everything. A low-tier bloodline meant low potential, and low potential meant low strength. Without strength, there was no status—only oppression, predation, and slaughter.
That was the law of nature.
"Human, are you truly… not lying?"
"I told you—I know certain things about bloodline evolution, but I can't make any guarantees. That's why I say: take the gamble. Truthfully, I'm gambling too."