As soon as Haoyuan's massive dragon head drew near, the Red Dragon immediately let out a submissive cry of fear. It pressed its entire body flat against the ground, shoving its head tightly into the soil, and looked up at him with a look of dread and grievance.
Haoyuan stared at it with curiosity. His Divine Ability, Language of All Things, had evolved to an absurd degree, allowing him to easily understand the Red Dragon's meaning. Before he could make a move, his swaying dragon whiskers suddenly twitched, and he raised his head in surprise.
In the distant sky, silhouette after silhouette was flying toward him. His brow twitched slightly, and using his dragon whiskers, he casually placed the human girl onto the ground.
As the figures flying from afar drew closer, they turned out to be dragons gliding through the air—multi-colored and flying toward him at full speed.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.
With a series of soft thumps as they landed, the multi-colored dragons came to a halt before him. Regardless of who arrived first or last, they all prostrated themselves, bowing in submission.
Haoyuan narrowed his eyes.
Not far away, a chaotic rolling sound rang out as the crowd of dragons that had been piled together scrambled to stand in their respective places, bowing in submission.
Beside him, with a soft plop, the standing girl immediately knelt down, likewise bowing in submission. Following her lead, the tribe members fell to their knees one after another, kowtowing in submission.
Haoyuan watched this scene in astonishment. His gaze swept over the crowd of dragons, looking at the multi-colored beasts all bowing in submission to him. Finally, his gaze fell upon the most massive one, the Red Dragon, who had already prostrated itself in submission with a face full of grievance.
“???”
What was going on here?
Haoyuan wanted to find a dragon or a human to ask, but every single one of them was bowing in submission, quiet and completely still, seemingly waiting for his command.
His brow furrowed deeper and deeper, his eyes narrowing, until finally, his body glided backward as smoothly as flowing water, carrying his long neck and head back to a position on the mountainside where he could easily overlook the dragons.
He cast a scrutinizing gaze over them once again.
After a moment of thought, he let out a low growl, conveying the command for them to stand.
This sound was a syllable roared out in his own dragon roar, not belonging to any known species' language.
Yet the moment the sound fell, the dragons seemed to understand perfectly. They stood up one after another, looking at him with burning eyes, as if gazing upon some great, adored, and respected entity that they passionately followed.
“As expected...”
Haoyuan thought to himself. These dragons could understand his language.
This indicated that there was some sort of connection between them.
Haoyuan found it hard to believe. He looked at the Red Dragon, which had stood up again, looking energetic and sharp. It stood proudly among the other dragons with a hint of pride on its face. Haoyuan directed a puzzled inquiry to it.
“Who are you? Where is this? Why do you worship me?”
These three short questions left the Red Dragon momentarily dazed. It then let out a long, passionate, and rhythmic cry, slowly recounting what had happened to him.
Haoyuan was completely stunned, his Dragon Eyes widening.
What?
You can actually understand me?
What?
You're my offspring? No, wait, hatched by me? No, created by me?
What?
I'm your Dragon God?
What?
Our brothers have scattered in all directions, desperately needing my rescue?
What?
There are bats in the West Ridge with red eyes and fangs, sleeping by day and active at night, whose consumption can extend one's lifespan?
“...”
Amidst all the chirping and babbling, Haoyuan finally understood the current situation.
In short, this crowd of dragons was the result of the radiation he emitted while asleep.
Perhaps his Life Tier had evolved to a certain stage that granted him the ability to radiate life, thereby causing living things to evolve in a direction similar to himself.
This evolutionary convergence was easier to influence, so the dragons bowing to him had actually evolved from snakes.
At first, it was the Red Dragon—then just a red snake—foraging near the volcano when the mountain suddenly shook, collapsing to reveal an opening, which was the current cave.
One day, driven by curiosity, it slithered inside and happened to see him slumbering there. Although terrified at first, after staying around for a long time and realizing he posed no threat, it felt at ease foraging nearby.
Over time, its body underwent a change one day, and it developed a faint sensation. It felt like a gift from heaven, making it instinctively feel that staying by his side would bring benefits.
Thus, it slithered right next to him and fell into a deep sleep.
Under the prolonged exposure to his radiation, its body grew larger and larger, undergoing more and more changes. Gradually, it gained all sorts of wondrous abilities. To normal terrestrial creatures, it was like a higher-dimensional strike. After eating and drinking its fill, it would simply lie down here, losing track of the passing years.
Later, it gradually realized that many other similar snakes were lying beside it, all here to bask in the radiation. No one disturbed one another, peacefully accumulating the radiated energy. As the duration of exposure grew longer, they actually became intelligent and could gradually communicate.
Afterward, as time flowed, the dragon race was born.
Haoyuan was shocked. He didn't expect that he could actually give rise to a whole race.
At this moment, his thoughts couldn't help but drift back to the water monster.
As the first highly troublesome monster he had encountered in the water, it had left an extremely deep impression on him.
In particular, the terrifying existence at the bottom of that lake that had opened its colossal golden eyes at the end had left an indelible shadow on his mind.
Even then, he had noticed that the water monster's golden spiritual eyes were extremely similar in effect to those colossal golden eyes, though he had never been able to find an answer.
Looking at it now, it was clearly a case of radiation-driven evolution, just like how he had given rise to the dragons. That water monster was most likely a native species transformed by radiation, which was later invaded by a mimic monster for some unknown reason.
Yet its overall form had been completely natural, showing how satisfied the mimic monster was with that body, to the point that it didn't even bother with any stitching.
The colossal creatures he encountered later, though bizarrely shaped, were all perfectly natural, possessing no traces or energy of the mimic monster. They were clearly all products of radiation as well.
As for where the source of this radiation lay?
Haoyuan couldn't help but look down at the vast earth beneath him.
If creatures were able to receive this radiation without him ever noticing, it could only be subterranean.
Just like that entity with the colossal golden eyes, slumbering deep beneath the earth. A single eye of its made up the entire bottom of the lake; he had no way of knowing just how massive its body truly was.
Just imagining it was enough to leave him in awe.
This also solved a long-standing mystery he had about this planet.
He had assumed that biological development here relied solely on evolution, but on this planet, that was not the case.
He speculated that evolution on this planet had multiple paths: first, natural evolution; second, radiation-driven evolution; and third, the interconnected, interwoven radiation-driven evolution of various entities.
If these giant beasts could also breed with one another, there would even be hybridization-driven evolution.
All these evolutionary paths collided and underwent continuous natural selection, ultimately forming a magnificent, breathtaking ecological spectacle.
Taking this theory a step further and making a bolder guess...
If most species in this world were radiated into existence like he and his dragon race, then could it be possible that every creature on this planet did not originate from natural evolution, but was initially created through radiation?
For instance, dinosaurs might have actually been radiated into existence—some entity suddenly radiated a whole batch of them, but because it didn't last long, they failed to transcend.
For instance, Titanoboas might have also been suddenly radiated into existence, without any so-called selective evolution. They simply appeared out of nowhere and dominated the rainforests.
If this hypothesis were true, then at the very dawn of life, those inexplicable, unknown entities must have already existed. Back then, they were too far from the surface to radiate life. Later, they gradually rose to the surface one after another following the movements of the subterranean veins, radiating group after group of organisms. This resulted in every ecological niche containing certain unexplainable colossal creatures—creatures that clearly lacked the normal energy resources to sustain themselves, yet could still exist perfectly fine.
Because they only needed radiation energy to survive.
...
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