Even Saints Rise from Humble Beginnings

“Just because things have always been done this way, does that make them right?”

The Little Beast’s clear voice echoed across the square.

The beasts were stunned at first, but their surprise quickly turned into fury. They pointed at her and berated her.

“What are you to question the traditions passed down through the beast race since ancient times?”

“The beast race has survived this way for all these years.”

“If we don’t rely on bloodlines, how could we have reached our current heights?”

The beasts shouted her down one after another.

Even Ao Xue pressed her advantage, saying coolly, “Because you have no bloodline, you’re resorting to desperate measures and questioning our ancestors now?”

The corners of her lips curled upward.

This fool had truly played the wrong move.

Ao Xue planted one hand on her hip and pointed at the Little Beast, adopting the air of a victor.

“Now, do you have anything else to say?”

In the face of the beasts’ accusations, the Little Beast remained completely unafraid.

She showed no remorse whatsoever.

On the contrary, she looked at the beasts mocking her with an expression of utter pity.

What a pitiful bunch of animals…

They still didn’t understand.

The very bloodlines they so fiercely defended were restricting their future and cutting off their path forward.

The Little Beast withdrew her gaze and spoke in a clear, ringing voice.

“If your rules have made you prosperous, then why has the beast race fallen to its current state? Humanity has been devouring our territory step by step, and we can barely even hold on to the Magical Beast Mountains!”

Her words were no different from tearing open the beast race’s scar.

But the Little Beast did it anyway.

And the effect was astonishing.

The beasts that had been shouting moments ago fell silent. Each one stiffened its neck, opening its mouth as if to argue, yet unable to utter a word.

Only after a long while did one of them finally speak.

“That’s because the Old Dragon King is gone! Without a leader, the beast race became disorganized and gave humanity an opportunity. Now that the Dragon King’s Daughter has returned, she can naturally lead the beast race back to its former glory!”

“That’s right!”

“With the Dragon Girl here, it won’t be long before the beast race returns to its peak!”

The rest of the beasts raised their hands and voiced their agreement.

“No! You’ve all been domesticated!”

The Little Beast suddenly raised her voice, overpowering the entire square.

Her eyes sharpened, radiating a fierceness entirely different from her earlier calm.

“You are always searching. Always waiting. Waiting for a savior with noble blood to lead you. You worship bloodlines so deeply that you have forgotten yourselves.”

“Bloodlines are the foundation of the beast race’s strength.”

“They give us bodies that humanity does not possess, allowing us to begin with a starting point humans would never dare imagine.”

“But! But ah!”

“You have placed bloodlines far too high!”

“You have raised them onto an altar and treated them as the only truth and law in the world.”

“Without realizing it, this is precisely a form of domestication!”

The Little Beast’s voice rang out with force, exploding like thunder beside the ears of every beast present.

“Y-you… What are you talking about?”

The beasts below the platform were shaken. Her treasonous words had left them at a complete loss.

“I’m saying that bloodlines are chains tied around your necks!”

The Little Beast shouted, “Does humanity rely on bloodlines? No! And yet their talents emerge generation after generation, suppressing us within these mountains!”

“You only know how to cling to old ways, blinded by a single leaf.”

“From the moment you are born, you see your bloodline and decide that you are destined to accomplish nothing in this life.”

“Those with noble bloodlines rejoice.”

“Those with lowly bloodlines hang their heads in despair.”

“The entire beast race is divided into clearly defined classes. From the moment you are born, your place is already decided!”

“Is that not a form of domestication?”

The Little Beast breathed heavily, but she remained resolute as she posed the question.

“Outrageous! Outrageous!”

The old veterans of the beast race trembled with rage, their lips quivering. The patriarchs of several high-rank clans pointed at her and cursed.

“This isn’t domestication! This is reality!”

“You’re wrong!”

The Little Beast flung her hand to the side and shouted coldly.

“This isn’t reality at all! It’s merely a shackle created by our ancestors to restrict those who came after them. And yet you have enshrined it as an absolute principle and treated it as truth!”

“You say I’m slandering our ancestors?”

“But I say you are the ones slandering them!”

The Little Beast’s gaze swept across every beast present as she spoke loudly.

“I want to ask everyone here a question.”

“Are bloodlines innate?”

“This…”

The beasts below nodded, then shook their heads.

If one traced the origin of bloodlines, they could be called innate, since the essence of a bloodline was the continuation of a species. But if one was speaking of the power contained within a bloodline, then it seemed inaccurate to call that innate.

“Good.”

Seeing their hesitation, the Little Beast nodded.

The beast race was not beyond saving, after all.

“Then let me ask you this: where did the bloodlines of the beast race come from?”

The Little Beast softened her tone slightly as her gaze swept across the various beast tribes below.

“Did your ancestors all hatch as ninth-rank magical beasts and ascend to immortality under the light of day?”

“Our ancestors rose from humble beginnings as well!”

“They grew from weakness, step by step, until they became towering trees, leaving their descendants the shade of their protection.”

“You say bloodlines are supreme.”

“But before our ancestors gained intelligence in the mountains, they didn’t even know what cultivation was.”

With every sentence, the Little Beast’s voice grew louder.

“You keep saying that without a bloodline, you are destined never to reach the heights. But the sages of our beast race rose from the humblest beginnings and climbed to the summit step by step!”

“Even the saints rose from humble beginnings.”

“…”

After hearing her words, the beasts below fell silent. Even Ao Xue was practically rendered speechless.

What else could she say?

The Little Beast had already taken the argument this far.

If she continued insisting that those without noble bloodlines could not lead the beast race, someone would simply slap the label of “disrespecting the ancestors” onto her—and she knew exactly how painful that would be.

“Every beast can become a leader.”

The Little Beast stood upon the platform, her voice drifting lightly through the air.

As her final words fell, countless rays of golden light suddenly descended from the heavens. Lines of golden text emerged from the void and began circling around the Little Beast, draping her in a golden ribbon and making her look as though she had stepped out of a painting.

“This is…”

Ye Shu stared at the Little Beast on the platform, utterly dumbfounded.

Had his eyes deceived him?

Why was the literary aura of a saint appearing around the Little Beast?

He had to still be dreaming.

And below the platform…

The Little Fancy Rat, mingling among the feet of the beasts, gazed through a gap in the crowd at the figure standing high upon the platform. She clenched her tiny paws, her large eyes shining brightly.

“Mom! I’m definitely going to become a beast like her!”

“Yes, you definitely can!”

The Little Fancy Rat’s mother had tears in her eyes. She gently stroked her child’s head with one paw and softly replied,

“You definitely can.”

The beasts below were also stunned by the strange phenomenon. For a time, they could only stare blankly, unable to find the words.

Just then, the Minotaur spoke.

“What this little girl said is indeed correct. But it is precisely because she is too correct that she is wrong.”

“She will definitely lose this election.”

“Why is that?” Ye Shu asked instinctively, startled by the Minotaur’s words.

“It’s simple.” The Minotaur spoke with indifference. “If saints can rise from humble beginnings and everyone can become a saint…”

“Then who will remain a low-rank beast, and who will become high-rank?”

“Who will protect the interests of the high-rank beast clans?”

“That is why she will lose.”