Over time, the little ones came to regard Shi Yongheng with far more awe than anything else.
That was right. Shi Yongheng never went easy on them during their training. Whenever a beating was warranted, not a single butt escaped, the smacks ringing out sharply.
Of course, the girls had it a little better. They were whipped across the palms with wooden switches!
More than one bonfire gathering was held during that time. The open space where the festivities took place was packed tightly with men, women, old folks, and children, all watching the youngsters perform.
A group of children stood bare-chested, swinging stone locks weighing several hundred jin. Some wrestled wild oxen, while others could lift stone mills weighing several thousand, even nearly ten thousand jin, freely spilling their sweat.
Every adult praised their own child for being strong, declaring that they would surely become fine men in the future. They argued until their faces were red, their brows dancing with excitement.
The old Patriarch was delighted as well. It showed that the medicinal baths had not been wasted; their effects were now on full display. Some fierce warriors would surely emerge from among these children.
At the village entrance, Shi Yongheng activated his Martial Dao Heavenly Eye and stared at the stone cauldron there.
"What is it?" the Willow Deity asked. Though her cultivation had once shaken heaven and earth, she was still undergoing Nirvana, so the unusual aspects of that cauldron were what mattered most to her.
"I never expected this cauldron to be so extraordinary.
Could Shi Village truly be nothing more than an ordinary little village?
If I am not mistaken, this cauldron should be the Original True Explanation: Transcendence Fragment.
It would be of great use to both my cultivation and your recovery."
"What...