Uka, propping up its weary body, walked towards the direction it sensed.
As the {Endless Devourer}, the divine envoy of Uroboros, it could clearly feel its master's Qi, even if mountains crumbled and oceans dried, and time had passed.
The dense wild grass reached above its knees, and Uka laboriously pushed aside the grass, revealing a hidden entrance before its eyes.
The entrance was covered with crooked, bizarre runes; an uninformed human might have thought it was merely nature's marvel.
Uka swallowed, took a deep breath, and stepped inside.
Although the entrance looked only half a meter deep, as Uka entered, the runes suddenly glowed faintly, and in a blink, it arrived at a passage leading into the mountain.
No living creature had entered the passage for who knows how many years; the dust on the ground, stirred by Uka's entry, floated into the air, making Uka frown in discomfort.
The walls were embedded with faintly glowing crystals, their light weak and flickering, barely illuminating a small section of the path ahead.
Uka's heart pounded like thunder, excited to see the great Old Gods after so many years.
After walking for an unknown period, Uka's vision suddenly opened up, and a massive cave appeared before its eyes.
In the center of the cave, a magnificent statue stood silently, none other than the Titan Uroboros.
Its enormous head occupied most of the cave, its thick scales shimmered with a cold light, each one the size of a house, its majestic head held high, its hollow eyes seemingly able to see through everything, exuding a chilling sense of oppression.
The enormous cave could only house its single head; its entire body was connected to the mountain range, majestic and boundless, as if it had transformed into one end of the Huangshi Mountain Range, making its true size unimaginable.
Uka trembled all over, the statue before it was precisely Uroboros's transformation.
Separated by an unknown number of years, spanning across eras, master and servant finally met.
However, one had no true body, only able to occupy the body of a young beast, while the other had transformed into a stone statue.
"What exactly happened back then? Even a Titan as powerful as my great master turned into a stone statue." Uka felt its body tremble, tears streaming down its face, unable to accept the scene at once.
After a long while, Uka recovered.
Beneath the base of the statue, an ancient box was placed, its surface pitted and covered with complex patterns, like countless twisted snakes, subtly emitting mysterious energy fluctuations.
Uka excitedly rushed forward; as soon as it touched the box, the box emitted a dazzling light, then slowly opened with a creaking sound.
Inside the box, a gemstone emitting a colorful light lay quietly, within the gemstone, a galaxy seemed to flow, magnificent and mysterious.
Uka stared at the gemstone; it was indeed the Life Origin Stone, which could only be extracted after the death of high-energy life forms, and upon consumption, it could condense a new organ based on the essence of that high-energy creature.
Without much thought, Uka swallowed it whole.
In an instant, a hot current exploded within Uka's body, surging like raging lava.
Uka writhed on the ground in pain, letting out agonizing roars.
It felt its power rapidly increasing, its bones creaking, and its originally tender body began to change; its scales became harder, and its size gradually grew.
From its mouth, it involuntarily spewed a molten stream similar to flames.
However, before Uka could fully comprehend this power, a low roar suddenly echoed from the depths of the cave, shaking the entire cavern.
Giant dark figures slowly emerged; they were a group of rats, but these rats were unusually large, each no smaller than an adult hound, their bristles like steel needles, and their blood-red eyes fixed on Uka.
Uka understood with a glance; these must be ordinary creatures from within the mountain that had accidentally entered the cave, and being within the Domain of the great Old Gods Uroboros, they would slowly transform into its dependents.
Only dependents of equivalent Titans or Old Gods could avoid this transformation.
Now that Uroboros was in a deep slumber, these dependents were uncontrolled and began to go mad.
Uka was still fully immersed in the shock brought by its surging power, little did it expect that the group of giant rats would pounce on it like mad, baring their fangs and claws.
The leading rat pushed off with its hind legs and leaped high, its sharp claws gleaming coldly, looking exactly like four small daggers, aimed directly at Uka's throat.
Uka's heart tightened abruptly; instinct drove it to dodge sideways, narrowly avoiding the fatal blow.
At the same time, its tail swept out like a thick steel whip, making a crisp "snap" sound.
That rat, like a broken kite, was whipped away, crashing heavily against the cave wall with a dull "thud," raising a cloud of dust when it fell to the ground.
Fortunately, Uka had extensive combat experience, having fought wars almost daily in the previous era.
It was only regrettable that its Little Taicang Dragon body had not been born long ago, but luckily, it had just swallowed that Life Origin Stone, and now its size had surged, and a fire sac had grown within its body.
But the rat it had just repelled was only the beginning; more rats surged forward like a tide, instantly surrounding Uka, blocking all escape.
These rats seemed to have conspired, coordinating quite tacitly, attacking from all directions.
Some targeted Uka's legs, biting down, their sharp teeth embedding deep into its flesh;
Others climbed up its body, trying to find an opportunity to attack its back and neck.
Uka was flustered by these mad creatures, struggling to cope, and soon several new wounds appeared on its body, crimson blood seeping out, dripping to the ground, staining a frightening bloodstain.
"Damn it, a tiger fallen to the plains is bullied by dogs!" Uka was both shocked and enraged, its heart burning with fury; these creatures, at most mature low-level life forms, it wouldn't have even given them a second glance before.
But in the current situation, it couldn't afford to think much.
Uka endured the sharp pain from its wounds, gritted its teeth, and activated the newly acquired fire sac within its body.
It took a deep breath, its cheeks puffed out, and with a "whoosh," a thick molten stream spewed from its mouth, like a roaring fire snake, instantly engulfing the surrounding rats.
The rats hit by the molten stream instantly screamed miserably, like burning haystacks, their fur sizzling.
Their flesh sizzled as it cooked, and a pungent burnt smell immediately permeated the air, making Uka want to vomit.
But these rats seemed to be cursed, completely unaware of fear, rushing forward one after another, showing no intention of retreating.
Uka struggled to resist while anxiously looking for an opportunity to break through.
Its eyes darted around, it targeted a direction, gathered all its strength, continuously spewed several molten streams, forcefully carving a bloody path through the rat swarm, and then desperately rushed through...