Omnipotent Overlord

Deep in the Daliang Mountains there was a place in a bamboo forest that stretched for a hundred meters with visible, but faint, blue qi drifting within.  

In the center of this area was a lush and mesmerizing bamboo. To humans, it looked nothing more than a great view, while to some national treasures, a promise to the best feast in their lives.

Five pandas winded around the bamboo. They’ve been at it for an hour now.

They so wanted to enjoy the taste of that amazing bamboo, but no matter how hard they tried, the faint red wall put a stop to their appetite.

Outside the hundred meter circle, Li Mo looked at the five pandas with a slight shake of his head.

The Awakening Array he set up had driven the intelligent creatures into approaching this place. Natural selection. From time immemorial, only intelligent creatures had the highest thirst to evolve. The Awakening Array would make an intelligent creature gain awareness, to understand good and evil, beauty and ugliness, and raise their thinking process.

‘Too few…’

Li Mo set it up a day ago and only five had come. He did nothing all this time, wasting it on making sure no other animals reached the Awakening Array. 

“Mew….”

Roar~

Wu~

As Li Mo lamented the national treasures’ poor numbers, three more arrived in an hour. 

Li Mo closed his eyes to rest, waiting in silence.

A night passed and the number of pandas around the Awakening Array grew to 21.

They came in different sizes. With the biggest around 200 kg, and the smallest just 15 kg. Most of them were adults, while only four cubs.

“Meow….”

“Meow….”

The national treasures circled the green bamboo.

“Time to get started.”

Li Mo walked into the Awakening Array. The national treasures didn’t spare him a glance, their eyes focused on the green bamboo.

“Natural selection, survival of the fittest. You are no mere animals, you are the descendant of the mighty and glorious Pixiu, one of the ten ancient beasts. Before you lies an opportunity, to go beyond the limits of a mere wild animal, to shake the universe as your ancestor did before you. Choose! But let me remind you, if you decide to walk the path of your ancestor, the journey promises horrors worse than death.

“I will now activate your ancestor’s mark in your blood to come out of obscurity and into the light.”

Li Mo threw ten blue qi beads into the Awakening Array.

With enough spiritual qi, the Awakening Array would reach its peak effectiveness.

In an instant, thick blue spiritual qi covered the entire Awakening Array.

The 21 pandas let out different roars as the baptism of spiritual qi commenced. It aroused the deeply hidden ancestor’s mark in their blood.

Eyes reddened, their bodies enlarged, their claws sharpened, and their fur shined.

“The barrier on the green bamboo will lift itself in five minutes. The one to eat it will have the right to walk alongside me on the road of power throughout the universe.”

Roar~

The bulkiest of pandas sprung up, clawing at three others and sending them meters back.

Roar~

The smallest of the cubs used his speed advantage into leaping on the bulky panda and started waving its claws.

The bulkiest panda received repeated blows to the head and hit the ground before it even realized…

Having their ancestor’s mark awakened, their contest relied on their inheritance, not their bodies. The inheritance from Pixiu, one of the ten ancient beasts!

Humanity’s cultivation method was passed down through generations, whilst sacred beasts’ inheritance was passed down through blood. Even after thousands of generations, if the bloodline hadn’t dried up, the inheritance existed. 

However, a sacred beast’s inheritance came with the good, and the bad. Any descendant could awaken the inheritance, but as the bloodline thinned, it got damaged with each generation.

The 21 pandas were at each other’s throats, throwing the place in chaos.

Awo~

A panda of average build stood up and spread its claws, like a human looking for a hug.

‘Is it… a sacred beast skill?’

Li Mo’s eyes shined.

Bang!

While Li Mo looked on engrossed, the average panda brought his claws down on the head of the quickest cub.

Roar~

The cub took a heavy hit but still had some fight left in him, throwing itself at its attacker, despite the blood leaking from its mouth…

“Only similar in appearance…” He was let down.

What Li Mo wanted to see the most was for them to display the ten sacred beast’s skill after awakening their mark.

The ten sacred beasts had the power to shake the universe because of their divine skill. A skill that only they could use, a rare power in this world. 

Ss~ 

As the pandas brawled, the barrier on the bamboo lifted.

Roar~

Roar~

All the fighting stopped as the pandas rushed to it. They had awareness now and could think, a large difference from those wild animals relying on instinct alone.

The fighting devolved into massacre. Every single panda in this battle had their prized and lustrous black and white fur riddled with blood. They needn’t worry about endangering their lives, since they were filled with blue spiritual qi. Wounds they could not avoid, but at least it wouldn’t come to receiving the final strike. 

The battle ensued for half an hour resulting in only the average panda and another similar to it left standing.

One clawed, the other smacked. The two pummeled each other a meter shy from the green bamboo.

Li Mo thought, ‘Looks like it’s down to the two of them.’

Li Mo sided with the average build panda. He couldn’t unleash a true sacred beast skill but its pose was strikingly similar.

Awo~

It once again assumed the position of a hugging man and dropped his claws on his opponent’s head. Its adversary didn’t let up either, using ‘panda boxing’ to punch one of its incisors out.

The both of them hit the ground at the same time.

Wu~

After five seconds, the average build panda struggled on its feet. 

It had a prideful look and turned towards the green bamboo only to freeze.

A large and unharmed panda was gulping down the bamboo with relish.

Nani?(T/N: Japanese slang for what)

The average build panda could barely stand at this sight.

Li Mo was also shocked.

The average panda pointed a claw at the eating panda and opened its jaw, only to plop on the ground… 

The large panda ate it all then drummed its chest as it strolled around and howled.

It was celebrating…

Li Mo remembered this panda. It was the first to act , and the first to fall.

‘Back up…’

‘Fall?’

‘Fricking hell! It was playing dead…’