From Swamp Dog to Crocodile Ancestor

With just a slight effort, Li Yi caused the large, colorful spider to burst open in his mouth, its delicious sap quickly swallowed.

A surge of heat coursed through my abdomen, quenching my primal hunger, accompanied by a tingling, throbbing sensation.

It is obvious that it is poisonous, and quite poisonous at that.

But for a Blackscale Crocodile that has already developed intelligence, this is not actually fatal, at least not for Li Yi himself.

Feeling a slight dizziness and double vision, Li Yi slowly crawled on all fours, sinking into the black mud and swimming around.

Soon, on a flat patch of ground in a small swamp, Li Yi lay there sunbathing, falling into a light sleep without resistance.

Its scales are extremely tough, and in Li Yi's memory, there is currently no opponent in this territory that can threaten it.

The previous threat, the centipede that terrified it, had already been ambushed and killed, and it watched as it tore the centipede to pieces, turning it into nourishment for other crazed beasts.

An hour passed during that nap.

Sunlight filtered through the miasma-filled swamp, casting an eerie, twilight-like glow that was quite hazy.

The translucent nictitating membrane surrounding his brownish-yellow pupils slowly opened like a curtain, and Li Yi felt the not-so-intense sunlight, so comfortable that he didn't want to move.

The giant spider's venom has been digested.

As his thoughts began to function more and more slowly, Li Yi's human soul, which had been in this body for several years, was gradually assimilated by the body's instincts and became sluggish.

With his eyes closed, feeling the rustling of the wind and the movement of grass around him, Li Yi couldn't help but start to ponder.

Am I a human now, or a Blackscale Crocodile that has awakened its intelligence?

The ability to instinctively absorb a certain energy from before heaven and earth, and to grow by devouring other prey—these two abilities that appeared in no particular order left Li Yi slightly puzzled.

I was thinking and then drifting off to sleep.

In the end, it was the primal hunger that awakened Li Yi, and this more instinctive tendency drove it to move, hunt, and fill its stomach.

This is something a swamp puppy has to go through.

The swamp's food options were very limited, but Li Yi had no intention of expanding them, choosing instead to leave his safe home in search of more powerful species.

The hunt lasted for ten days.

When Li Yi slowly swam back to his cave from the black silt, he saw the white python coiled on a pebble.

That pebble was incredibly smooth with beautiful patterns, and it seemed to have been moved here.

The white python adopted a strange posture, raising its head slightly. A trace of invisible and formless power in the world was attracted and entered its body.

Li Yi paused, turned his body to the side, and stared at it with a huge eye.

However, after watching for a while, Li Yi lost interest. Instinct made him more inclined to dark and filthy places. He wagged his tail and burrowed into the cave.

The white python suddenly opened its eyes, staring intently at the cave, hissing and flicking its tongue.

After a while, it seemed to have completed its training and went to other areas to hunt.

The two sides remained at peace.

Inside the solid mud cave, Li Yi curled up in the comfortable darkness and soon fell into a peaceful deep sleep.

In the blink of an eye, another three months have passed.

This vast swamp has no seasons; it remains a perpetually unchanging environment.

Li Yi was once again awakened by instinctive hunger, and little by little regained control of his body, his chaotic consciousness gradually clearing.

It's time to hunt.

As soon as Li Yi climbed out of the cave, he saw the white python.

Its size had increased considerably, and its aura was now almost identical to his own. When they first met, it… well, Li Yi was too lazy to recall.

The two pairs of eyes stared at each other.

After a while, Li Yi felt relieved. The white python seemed to have no hostility towards him, and in terms of age, it was much younger than him and seemed a little naive.

It is bloodline, or something else, that makes it grow so quickly.

The white python watched as the black crocodile slowly crawled out beside it, then suddenly raised its tail tip and swept away a large clump of mud from Li Yi's body.

Looking at Li Yi's broad back, it flicked its tongue, its eyes revealing an extremely difficult-to-understand emotional shift.

"Croak!"

Somewhere in the swamp, a nimble tongue shot out and instantly pulled back a beetle.

The toad opened its mouth, rolled its eyes, and suddenly leaped into the air, heading in one direction.

Suddenly, the black silt exploded, a dark shadow flashed by, and the toad disappeared into the gaping maw, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

This is the thirteenth prey.

Li Yi, with only a small part of his head showing, swam silently in the swamp without making a sound.

Hunting is always about killing with a single blow; Li Yi rarely tries to hunt prey that is similar to himself or even stronger.

Something that could be called spiritual awareness was key for Li Yi to judge the strength of the other party's aura.

Reduce risks and live a stable life.

This is what makes it very different from other black crocodiles that rely on instinct to grow, but it is unaware of this itself.

The human soul and the crocodile's instincts are still gradually intertwining, and it's unknown what kind of creature will eventually be born.

After hunting and filling his stomach, Li Yi returned to the vicinity of the nest, lay down on a flat area, raised his head slightly, and relied on instinct to breathe in and out the moonlight.

A cool sensation coursed through Li Yi's brain, making him more alert than ever before.

who am I?

Li Yi, a human?

Or is it a swamp puppy?

Or perhaps both?

the other direction.

Coiled on the pebbles, the white python, mimicking the moonlight, curiously turned its head to look in this direction. After a while, it hissed and slithered over.

The white body probed and approached little by little.

Li Yi did not react, but he kept a close eye on it.

Within a zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) of distance, Li Yi's nictitating membrane opened, revealing a brownish-yellow pupil inside, which stared fiercely at the white python.

This is already the minimum distance that it can accept.

When it absorbs and exhales the moonlight, it is at its most vulnerable.

The white python paused for a moment, cautiously stopping in place, a hint of grievance showing in its beautiful heterochromatic eyes.

Watching the white python flick its snow-white tail and leave, Li Yi slowly closed his eyes again after a long while.

Instinct drove it to make this judgment.

This time, the act of absorbing and releasing moonlight lasted for a very long time, longer than Li Yi had imagined.

Li Yi felt his spirit gradually becoming clearer from the murky mire, with all the silt and impurities being washed away little by little by the moonlight.

Without a doubt, this is a good change.

However, Li Yi's need for deep sleep gradually diminished. What used to be a carefree sleep no longer held the same appeal for it.

Something is resisting it.