Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 55: The essence of combat is throwing stones at each other.
"The Ancestor of the Dao has entered a deep slumber."

The Ignis people of the past, now known as the mountain people, recorded the events of this day on birch bark.

The contents on the birch bark included the Dao Ancestor's instructions to them, as well as the location of the Dao Ancestor's slumber. This was to prevent anyone from disturbing the Dao Ancestor's slumber. However, this part was too brief, and there were too many blank spaces on the birch bark, so these mountain people also filled in some of their conversations with the Dao Ancestor.

"The contents of this piece of bark will guide us in the right direction."

This is how the people in the mountains understand it.

Because of their small numbers and the abundance of resources in the mountains, they had no need to leave the mountains. Normally, they might have felt that life was meaningless, like the first deserter who came here, and just lived out their old age and died. But after being enslaved by the giants, that is, by the Ice People, they had a new name for this situation.

They called that state of nihilism "the Waylessness."

The giants are wicked; having acquired everything, they only know how to enjoy themselves. As a result, the giants are no longer brave and skilled in battle, but only weak and confused.

The former royal family of Ignis, those magicians, were also wicked. So, despite having everything, they went mad and even dared to challenge the serpent... the progenitor of the Way. This arrogance brought them their downfall and even caused the entire city of Ignis to fall.

As time went by, the people in the mountains became more and more certain of this, after all, they had been observing the situation outside the mountains all along.

Whether they were once royalty or frozen giants, these former strongmen gradually became weak because of their lack of morality.

On the contrary, those who live in seclusion in the mountains, because of their Taoist principles, gradually become stronger.

Although the days of enslavement were difficult and arduous, they also found their own path—the whipping of the overseers and the batons of the giants made them realize that what they had cared about and wanted before was insignificant.

Only by becoming strong ourselves can we achieve everything.

No matter what you do, strength is a necessary element. If you don't even have the most basic ability to protect yourself, you won't have the life to do what you want to do. In fact, sometimes losing your life is not necessarily the worst outcome.

More likely, people will still be alive and doing things, but everything they do will be plundered by the stronger ones.

"If you want to practice your own way, you must at least have the power to protect it!"

The people in the mountains made their conclusions.

Fortunately, they had no shortage of ways to become stronger. Although they did not have royal blood and could not learn royal magic, they had at least seen how the royals cast spells and had a certain understanding of how the royals became stronger. Although the royals did not open up their knowledge of magic to them, they could not live without the food they ate, so they knew that eating more of it could make them stronger.

Furthermore, the methods of becoming stronger that they learned were not limited to those of the Ignis people themselves. The giants from the frozen tundra and the ice warriors never deliberately hid these methods when they were gathered together to practice combat skills. This directly led to some people in the mountains also secretly learning these combat and physical training techniques, and even bringing them back to teach their other companions.

This was originally a technique they used to resist the giants' enslavement. Although they never used the combat power they had developed until they escaped, it was still preserved as a way for everyone to become stronger.

Moreover, as original Ignis, their ranks already included hunters who had fought against giants. Even though those hunters were far less capable in direct combat than mages, it was still a form of fighting.

In the end, they even received personal guidance from the Ancestor of the Dao.

Before the Dao Ancestor fell into slumber, some people from the mountains had inquired about this matter. Although it was rather offensive to ask the Dao Ancestor, out of their thirst for knowledge and desire to become stronger, they still wanted to see how the Dao Ancestor understood combat.

"If you ask me that... I don't know how to answer." They remembered that the Ancestor of the Dao had replied in this way.

"If you're asking about any martial arts manuals, I definitely don't have any, I can be frank about that, you don't need to overthink it... But when it comes to fighting, no matter how fancy the moves are, it all boils down to one thing."

"If I can hit you and you can't hit me, you lose and I win."

"So if you insist on fighting, I suggest you throw stones. At least that will create a safe distance."

As always, the Ancestor of the Dao spoke in great detail, even to the point of being somewhat tedious.

But these very easy-to-understand words opened up a new direction for these people in the mountains.

"This is the essence of battle!"

After observing the battles outside the mountains, the people in the mountains came to their conclusions.

"I can hit you, but you can't hit me." The great Dao Ancestor used only one sentence to reveal the essence of battle—as long as you can injure your opponent without getting hurt yourself, that truly means victory.

As for how to injure the opponent...

"That means throwing stones."

The more these mountain dwellers pondered, the more they perceived the profound meaning in the words of the Dao Ancestor.

Indeed, it was all about throwing stones. The Dao Ancestor even succinctly revealed the core of the battle—although the mages and frozen warriors outside the mountain were throwing fireballs and spears, it could also be understood as stones that could explode and stones with sharp points like sticks.

Extending this further, even in close combat using spears and stone axes, it's still about throwing stones, only the stones aren't completely thrown; they're still being pulled along by sticks or even arms...

"In other words, becoming stronger means gaining a deeper understanding of how to throw stones."

Following the guidance left behind by the ancestor of the Dao, these people in the mountains felt that they had understood everything.

Becoming stronger is the foundation of everything; only by having the ability to protect oneself can one be qualified to pursue one's own path.

"Therefore, as those who build our own roads, we must at least first complete the foundation of the road."

This method of building the foundation for roads has gradually been simplified into a single, concise term.

Build the foundation.

However, as people who follow the guidance of the Ancestor of the Dao, they also value the continuity of the path. Although for them at present, the Foundation Establishment stage is already far away, they still firmly believe that the Foundation Establishment stage is just the beginning.

Under the guidance of the Ancestor of the Dao, they will go even further.

(End of this chapter)