Mage Adam-Chapter "366"

“Things haven’t been peaceful lately.”

“Yeah. Before, it was just a few cities fighting each other, but now they’ve even stretched their hands into the mountains.”

“Yesterday, Fallen Star City sent people into the mountains to notify us. They said if we don’t want to suffer alongside them when they’re destroyed, we should immediately send our clan’s warriors to support them. But with our situation…”

He pointed at the panda cubs tumbling and rolling about in the valley’s bamboo forest, smiling bitterly. “Sure, we’ve got plenty of warriors… but us, fighting?”

“Isn’t that just a joke?”

“Our Panda Clan—how many of us actually like fighting? On the battlefield, before anyone else kills us, we’d probably die of fright ourselves.”

“That’s true… but then, what should we do?”

Inside the bamboo hut, the few pandas gathered wore troubled looks. They didn’t like battle, but now that they lived under the shelter of Fallen Star City, if the city were destroyed, they would inevitably be dragged into disaster too.

“How about we find a leader, and at least send some support?”

“Easy to say. A leader we can find, sure, but who would they lead? The ones who like to fight all left the clan once they became warriors. The ones who stayed behind don’t like fighting at all. Where are we going to find pandas to follow a leader?”

One panda put down his smoking pipe, coughed twice, and spoke seriously: “In my opinion…”

Everyone turned to look at him, waiting for his decision.

“In my opinion, we should just run. Let’s hide deeper in the mountains. If we can escape for a while, that’s good enough. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

Someone hesitated. “But wouldn’t running away be too shameful?”

The smoking-pipe panda replied, “Shame? Since when has our Panda Clan ever been afraid of shame? We’ve always run when we had to. If not, the Bear Clan wouldn’t have expelled us in the first place. Run! Every panda across the entire Qianyuan Realm has fled at some point. Is face more important than staying alive?”

“That’s true.”

“Yeah, makes sense.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The smoking-pipe panda slammed down the final word: “Then it’s settled. Pack up our things and wait a few more days. After this year’s mating season passes and the cubs are born, we’ll immediately flee deeper into the mountains.”

When the Reincarnation Technique carried Adam into the body of a mother panda, his thoughts still spun in his mind.

If he wasn’t mistaken, weren’t those creatures down in the bamboo forest—the black-and-white, round, fat, sleepy things—pandas?

The reports Sandy sent back had mentioned that this world contained many races. But this level of biodiversity? In this plane, even pandas had become intelligent, cultivable beings?

Cultivation required intelligence—that much was certain. In all previous planes, the powerful species had been innately intelligent. None of them were animals Adam recognized from his memories. But in this world, even ordinary animals had awakened intelligence.

Adam preferred to believe this was due to the special biological rules of the Void, rather than the cultivation system itself. Otherwise, the threat of the Third Era would be even more terrifying. Just imagine: if cultivation could grant intelligence to creatures without it, all of them would devour energy ceaselessly… that scene would be horrific.

The Transcendent Reincarnation Technique was far gentler than at the formal mage level. Reincarnation no longer required large-scale death of hosts.

This was because upon reaching the transcendent level, the soul had undergone another transformation. Its ability to gather and control external information had risen to a higher level. With deliberate control, it could quickly absorb genetic information and complete the embryonic body. The souls and control abilities of formal-level mages could not compare.

This also made exploration safer. Missions requiring transcendent explorers were always in high-level worlds, where large-scale abnormal deaths carried too high a risk of drawing the attention of local powerhouses.

Adam smoothly occupied the developing embryo and then fell into natural sleep. As Sandy had said, newborns in this world came with nothing—no inherited memories, no inherited energy. They were just like ordinary animals. Acquiring their genetic information was no obstacle to the Reincarnation Technique.

Half a month later, more than twenty panda cubs were born in the valley. They couldn’t open their eyes yet, each small as a mouse, greedily burrowing into their mothers’ arms for nourishment.

The pandas had already packed up everything for escape—food and cultivation materials strapped to their backs. But they couldn’t leave just yet.

“How’s Bamboo Leaf doing?” the smoking-pipe panda asked one of the mothers.

“Not good. She’s fainted. She may not survive.”

“I warned her long ago. Her foundation is too weak to bear children. She just wouldn’t listen!”

The mother shook her head. “She couldn’t be persuaded. She wanted this child too badly. And since she knew she was dying, she couldn’t bear to let the baby die with her.”

The smoking-pipe panda slammed his pipe into his palm in frustration, sending ripples through the air. “Damn it! Don’t let me find out who this cub’s father is—or who hurt Bamboo Leaf—otherwise I’ll—”

Before he could finish, a cry came from inside: “Bamboo Leaf can’t hold on! Her life is almost gone!”

With a thud, the smoking-pipe panda dropped his pack. He ripped open the bindings and pulled out an ornate box, handing it to the mother panda. “Feed this to her! Hurry!”

After she left, he muttered worriedly: “We’ve given you our most precious resource. You must survive.”

Adam hadn’t expected this. Half of his body was stuck, unable to come out. Clearly, the mother’s weakness left her without the strength to deliver.

But he had no good solution. He couldn’t use magic, and as for mental power—he didn’t dare risk exposing his identity.

If he was exposed, the pandas around him—busy and anxious though they seemed—would likely crush his newborn skull without hesitation.

The mother’s strength grew weaker and weaker. Her body stiffened—the sign of impending death.

Just as Adam was ready to gamble, a mother panda suddenly leapt more than ten meters, shoving a round pill into the mother’s mouth. A surge of vibrant life force erupted. The mother roared, using all her strength to deliver Adam.

Before he could relax, he felt himself gently lifted, a soft tongue licking him clean and biting through the umbilical cord. Then he was placed into a warm embrace, with something soft pushed into his mouth.

The tongue never left his tiny body. He heard faint murmurs:

“My child… Mama has to go. I can’t stay to watch you grow up. You must live well…”

“Don’t cultivate…”

“Don’t…”

“…cultivate.”

The tongue gradually cooled. The embrace lost its warmth. The voice faded away, and so did the feeding.

The door creaked open. A voice asked, “Was the baby born? How is Bamboo Leaf?”

“Bamboo Leaf… is dead.”