Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 78 The Power of Faith
Although it's called a mountain-moving project, the Ignivas don't treat it as physical labor; they simply start chipping away at the mountainside.

After twenty-nine generations of Akakage's management, the people of Ignivas are now all magicians. Every adult can conjure a fireball by clapping their hands together, and the researchers who specialize in magic have an extremely skilled command of fire.

Now that they're going to open up the mountain, they'll naturally use their best skills.

Five thousand four hundred and thirty-two mages—that's all the combat power currently available to participate in this mountain-moving operation. As for the others, it's not that they lack combat power, but rather that they are not quite qualified for such a dangerous undertaking.

After all, the things we're about to do require extreme precision.

Simply creating a fireball is something any Ignivas can do, but precisely controlling the temperature of the flames, or even controlling where the melted snow flows, is beyond the capabilities of an ordinary mage—and this is merely a preliminary step in moving a mountain, not even touching the mountain itself.

The melted snow water will not be wasted, but will be channeled into reservoirs beneath the giant peaks.

Only after all of this is completed can the actual tunnel excavation work begin.

Yes, tunnels. After anticipating the enormous workload, the Ignivas, realizing they were not yet capable of destroying the giant peak, ultimately opted for the less strenuous option of tunneling.

However, this saving of effort is only relative to blasting the entire giant peak apart.

In fact, tunneling itself is an extremely complex task.

The mages would take turns melting a channel through the mountain. The melted snow would then come in handy – when the cooled snow water was poured onto the scorching hot rocks, even the hardest rocks would crack on the spot.

This is an extremely delicate task, not something that can be accomplished by simply blowing up two fireballs. They even need to precisely control the flames to prevent any explosions, otherwise, the avalanche triggered by the explosions would be enough to bury them alive on the spot.

However, once the work becomes more detailed, it means that the progress will slow down. In addition, they have never been to the other side of the mountain. They are just digging westward purely based on their judgment of direction. They don't even have a way of judging what progress they have made or when they will be able to completely dig through the tunnel.

Even as the 30th Akakage grew old, there was still no sign of the tunnel being completed.

"Does this mean that this mountain has no end? Is everything we've done in vain?"

The aging 30th generation Akakage vaguely considered this possibility, but he dared not voice his guess.

The tunnel has been under construction for decades, with countless manpower and resources invested. If we were to say now that all the previous efforts were in vain, or that the mountain has no end, countless people would collapse on the spot, or even die inside the tunnel.

and so……

"The tunnel must be dug, no matter what, we must continue digging."

The aging thirtieth Akakage spoke these words to his successor.

However, his successor, the thirty-first Akakage, eventually faced the same problem: the tunnel would never be finished, the other side of the mountain seemed forever out of reach, and that land filled with milk and honey seemed like nothing more than a dream.

And this time, it wasn't just the 31st generation Akakage; even the Ignivas who participated in the mountain-moving movement were digging themselves into a state of existential crisis.

"The tunnel cannot be stopped! It absolutely cannot be stopped!"

Although the 31st Akakage himself was somewhat disheartened, he keenly realized that if the tunnel construction stopped, the Ignivas people would probably collapse on the spot—this was not only from the 30th Akakage's dying words, but also from his own personal experience.

In their efforts to dig this tunnel, the Ignivas had unknowingly staked everything they had. To stop digging meant the death of all the Ignivas.

"Perhaps... we have no choice but to think of another way."

After consulting with several seekers of the Dao, the 31st Akakage finally had an idea.

He revived the harvest festival.

To celebrate the harvest festival, the tunnels in the Great Snow Mountain were naturally shut down for seven days, and the Ignivas people, as always, prepared delicious food to celebrate this festival symbolizing abundance—although their food looked rather strange, with powders and pills that didn't look like food at all.

However, the 31st generation Akakage has his own methods.

The pills were rolled into long strips, and the powder was used to outline and decorate. Soon, one after another, small black snakes were rolled out.

"Since it is a festival to celebrate abundance, it should naturally be made in the shape of Taiyi."

Taiyi is the serpent god who symbolizes abundance. However, the Ignivas people have always referred to the serpent god either as the serpent god or as the ancestor of the Dao. Only on very rare occasions have they used this new name, Taiyi.

However, right now, the 31st Akakage clearly intends to use this name to replace the other two names.

"The 'one' in Taiyi is the tunnel we are going to dig."

"That's what the 31st generation Akakage said."

"As for His former name, the Ancestor of the Dao, it guides us and tells us that we will surely be able to open up this path."

Yes, this is the plan of the 31st Akakage.

After exhausting all possible methods, his choice was to directly worship the gods.

When everything had been burned away, even hope itself had been consumed, what could sustain the Ignivas people to continue was probably only faith—as long as everyone firmly believed that the serpent god, the One God, was right, the tunnel could continue to be dug.

Unfortunately, he probably won't be able to see the light on the other side of the tunnel.

The excavation of the tunnel lasted for five generations: the thirty-first Akakage, the thirty-second Akakage, and finally the thirty-sixth Akakage took over before the long tunnel was finally dug to an end.

"Thank you, God Taiyi!"

The people of Ignivas had never been so jubilant, considering they had considered giving up several times, but they had done it and finally managed to break through the mountain.

However, just as they were preparing to go to the other side of the tunnel to continue their careful exploration...

On the other side of the tunnel, some strangely-looking strangers were already walking towards them.

(End of this chapter)