After the Heavenly Emperor died, the little snake with a human face and a serpent's body was left with nowhere to go. He could only make his home in the Weakwater.
But the human world fell into chaos, and people mistook the little snake for a monster. They drove him away with stones and arrows, leaving him to wander from place to place, waiting for the Heavenly Emperor to come take him home.
Wei ordered Fu Chen to kill him on Mount Kunlun. His soul fell into the Three Thousand Miles of Weakwater, where it lingered even after death.
Three thousand years later, a new Heavenly Emperor finally emerged from chaos. He entered the Weakwater and carried the long-cold little snake back to Heaven.
The Heavenly Emperor went to the summit of Mount Kunlun and summoned several immortals. They exhausted their supply of immortal medicine to bring the little snake back to life.
But the resurrected little snake had changed completely. He was unruly and incorrigible, and his voice sounded like a baby's.
The demigod Yi wanted to kill him, but the Heavenly Emperor could not bring himself to do it for a long time. Instead, he spoiled the little snake until he could get away with anything. The little snake raised enormous waves in the West Sea, causing a devastating flood and unleashing a calamity of unprecedented scale. With tears in his eyes, the Heavenly Emperor shot him dead.
--
Yayu did not raise those enormous waves, but he was willing to die once for the human world.
Haotian Dijun, revered by all the gods, had once been his master. The immortals' magical artifacts had once served as bricks for him to step on.
The Heavenly Emperor had given him all this glory and disgrace. He would carve away his entire honored self and return it to the Heavenly Emperor.
He would rather be a wild ghost for seven days and seven nights than claim the seat of a celestial god and eternal life on the Great Way.
--
Everyone said that Yayu's soul had completely dispersed after seven days and seven nights, and that the Heavenly Emperor had arrived too late. The Three Thousand Miles of Weakwater had dried up overnight, and the spiritual energy on Mount Kunlun's summit was exhausted. Nothing could bring him back.
--
Far away, on Qingqiu Mountain, the little snake wriggled out from beneath some leaves. A fox grabbed him, and he began flailing about.
Hearing the foxes talk about the Heavenly Emperor going mad from cultivating, the little snake tilted his head.
What did that have to do with him?
All he cared about was what he would eat today.
Theme: The dignity you cannot obtain in life should never be won through death.