Will He Remember?

"Rest in peace."

Shi Yi did not know how Old Suanni had discovered him, but this request made him hesitate. What if this old bastard was trying to trick him into coming over so it could kill him?

Old Suanni saw Shi Yi's hesitation clearly. It said nothing more, merely spat out a Golden Horn covered in dense runes.

"This is a horn I shed in my youth. It contains the complete Suan Ni Precious Technique. I offer it as payment, hoping that after my death, little friend, you will not desecrate my corpse and will let me rest in peace."

After saying those final words.

Old Suanni fell silent. Its towering, majestic, resplendent golden body gradually dimmed, and its final breath vanished as its body collapsed.

"Willow Deity, is Old Suanni really dead?" Shi Yi asked cautiously.

Although he had repeatedly confirmed with his Double Pupils that the last trace of life within Old Suanni had vanished, and it was ninety-nine point nine percent dead.

He did not want to gamble even on that remaining zero point zero one percent of danger. He had to ask Willow Deity, his greatest backer, before he could be completely at ease.

"In its final battle, it underwent Limit sublimation. It has already left this world."

Willow Deity's voice was calm. She did not understand why Shi Yi was so cautious, but there was no doubt that it was a good thing.

Back then, she had been betrayed by her own people because she had not been cautious enough. She had been stabbed in the back and nearly died, her Dao scattered.

"Willow Deity, aren't these Ancient Descendants and Pure-Blooded Ferocious Beasts the ones who hate humans stealing their Treasure Techniques the most? Before dying, they always destroy their own precious bones. Why did Old Suanni give me a precious bone containing the Suan Ni Precious Technique?" Shi Yi asked again.

"Perhaps it was repaying the kindness of that meal. It did not want to owe you this favor." Willow Deity remained as calm as ever.

"Willow Deity, if I..."

Before Shi Yi could finish what he wanted to say to Willow Deity, the shimmering willow branch floating above his head vanished.

Seeing this.

Shi Yi shrugged indifferently. Six Cavern Heavens resembling volcanic craters emerged behind him, like six power furnaces, carrying him toward the depths of the Vast Mountain Range.

After a dozen breaths.

Shi Yi flew before Old Suanni. He picked up the palm-sized Golden Horn and examined it. After considering it for several seconds, he tossed it into a Cavern Heaven behind him.

Cavern Heavens could not only absorb the essence of heaven and earth to replenish oneself, but also served as portable storage spaces. The Golden Horn now lay beside the Runic Bone Fragment that recorded the Original True Understanding.

Shi Yi had no time to comprehend the Suan Ni Precious Technique right now. Since he had accepted the Golden Horn, he naturally bore the responsibility of fulfilling Old Suanni's final wish.

Resting in peace sounded easy enough, but it was difficult in practice.

Old Suanni's corpse stood a hundred meters tall and was still dozens of meters high even while lying down.

If he did not dig a pit a thousand meters deep.

How could he hide its corpse?

A hundred-meter pit would actually be enough, but not long after Shi Yi buried it, some passing Prehistoric Ferocious Beast or Desolate Variant might dig it back up.

That would be worse than not burying it at all!

Only a thousand meters underground would ensure that, unless someone deliberately searched for it, no passing Prehistoric Ferocious Beast or Desolate Variant would discover and desecrate Old Suanni's corpse.

"This is going to be exhausting."

Shi Yi felt a headache coming on, but unless he wanted to be inhuman enough to take the payment and renege on his promise, he really had to settle this properly and let Old Suanni's corpse rest in peace.

One month later.

Shi Yi, covered head to toe in black mud, crawled out of a bottomless pit. Six volcano-like Cavern Heavens hovered behind his back, making him look both ridiculous and comical.

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! What the hell is this? That brat is living it up at Martial King Manor, while I'm digging holes in the mountains like some wild man!" Shi Yi spat the dirt from his mouth.

After a whole month, relying on the six Cavern Heavens to continuously absorb the essence of heaven and earth and replenish his strength, he had finally dug a pit a thousand meters deep through sheer effort.

Of course, he had not dug it with his hands. He had stomped his feet, again and again, using the incomplete Qilin Treasure Technique, Kirin Steps, to excavate the pit. That was the only reason he had managed to dig a thousand-meter pit by himself in one month.

To be honest, if the Flame Kirin came back to life and saw Shi Yi using Kirin Steps like this, it would probably be enraged to death. This was not only insulting the Treasure Technique, but also insulting it.

"Old Suanni, I did what I promised."

Looking through the depths of the thousand-meter pit at Old Suanni's corpse with his Double Pupils, Shi Yi hovered in midair and gently raised his utterly unremarkable right foot.

"Kirin Steps!"

The void trembled, and heaven and earth seemed to collapse.

It was as though a magnitude-eight earthquake had erupted in the Vast Mountain Range. Countless boulders tumbled down, and the thousand-meter pit Shi Yi had spent a month digging rapidly caved in.

In an instant, as endless dirt and shattered rocks fell, Old Suanni's corpse was buried forever beneath the pit, becoming part of the Vast Mountain Range.

Perhaps that was what Old Suanni had longed for as well. It had grown up here, died here, and spent its entire life here. Naturally, it had wanted to be buried here too.

One day later.

Great Wilderness, Vast Mountain Range, Stone Village.

"Shi Yi, it's good that you're back. Willow Deity said you went out to train. Who would have thought you'd be gone for two or three months?" Old Clan Leader Shi Yunfeng warmly held Shi Yi's hand.

Although Shi Yi had come from outside, and it was obvious at a glance that his identity was far from simple, he was also surnamed Shi. In this village where everyone was surnamed Shi, he did not seem like an outsider at all.

"Old Clan Leader, I'm fine." Shi Yi shook his head slightly.

He was fine. Just frustrated.

He had spent a month digging holes and was about to turn into an earthworm.

"The Vast Mountain Range hasn't been peaceful lately. Deep in the mountains, there seems to be a Humanoid Beast constantly stomping the ground. The tremors have kept us from sleeping at night."

Old Clan Leader Shi Yunfeng looked terrified. Because of that Humanoid Beast, Stone Village's hunting party had not dared to go out for an entire month, afraid they might run into it.

"Don't worry. It won't happen again from now on." Shi Yi's smile was extremely perfunctory.

Noticing the utterly perfunctory smile on Shi Yi's face, Old Clan Leader Shi Yunfeng assumed that Shi Yi was tired. Realizing he should not keep talking to someone who had just returned, he stopped.

"Shi Yi, if you're tired, get some proper rest. Stone Village will always be your home."

After saying that, Old Clan Leader Shi Yunfeng did not let Shi Yi explain. He directly had a tall, sturdy woman drag Shi Yi back to his little house in Stone Village.

Shi Yi did not resist. He wanted to rest as well. After being a Burrowing Earthworm for a month, he was close to forgetting that he was still human, that he was still a Noble Scion.

A few minutes later.

The tall, sturdy woman forcibly dragged Shi Yi back to his little house with brute strength and complete disregard for reason.

The house was small, plain, and unattractive, but it sheltered him from wind and rain. The people of Stone Village had built it for Shi Yi.

Children Shi Yi's age were normally supposed to live with adults, but Shi Yi refused to accept that.

There was no helping it.

Shi Yi had grown up sleeping with Yu Yuexian, his own mother, and Shi Hao's Aunt. He could accept sleeping alone, but he could not accept sleeping with other people.

"Yi'er, you've just come home. Tell us whatever you want to eat! Your aunt will prepare it for you later. I guarantee that the moment you wake up, you'll have whatever you want to eat."

The tall, sturdy woman was not unattractive. She had no bulky muscles, and though her complexion was not especially fair, it was a healthy wheat color.

Combined with her curvy figure, she was the ultimate Big Rig among Big Rigs.

"Thanks, Aunt Hu."

Shi Yi pushed the woman outside and swiftly shut the door.

"Yi'er, Hu Niu misses you very much!" Aunt Hu called as she knocked on the door.

"Aunt Hu, I know. I'll go see her when I wake up," Shi Yi answered.

Hearing that satisfactory reply.

Aunt Hu finally left the door.

Her husband had died in the jaws of a Ferocious Beast, and now she only had one daughter, Hu Niu. Although Stone Village's younger generation was not bad either, Shi Yi, this outsider with the same surname, was the only one she liked.

During the months Shi Yi had been away from Stone Village, she had thought that her daughter Hu Niu's future husband had disappeared. She had no choice but to marry Hu Niu off to one of Stone Village's younger men.

Now that Shi Yi had returned, Aunt Hu did not need to think about anything. Shi Yi was still her first choice. She believed that her late husband, Shi Linhu, would feel the same way.

If they ever had a chance to leave.

Aunt Hu hoped that her daughter Hu Niu could leave, walk out of the Great Wilderness, and see the real world.

After Aunt Hu's footsteps faded into the distance.

Shi Yi looked over the little home where he now lived, and an unspoken bitterness quietly rose in his heart again.

He had once worn fine silks and brocades, but now he wore rough linen clothes and had even spent time as an earthworm in the deep mountains.

"Ah, Shi Hao, while you're enjoying the life of a Noble Scion at Martial King Manor, will you ever remember that, in the distant Great Wilderness, there's still a cousin suffering out here?"