Cultivation

It was far too difficult. How could a child possibly do it? Even grown experts couldn't manage it. Without using the power of Bone Text, how many people had bodies that strong?

"I'll work hard and do it in the shortest time possible." Little One nodded seriously, his gaze resolute.

From that day on, Shi Hao began his arduous cultivation. Every so often, he received guidance from the Willow Deity, tempering his body with care and strengthening his bones and sinews.

Shi Lin sat cross-legged atop a boulder. Golden light streamed from his body, thread by thread, speck by speck, slowly spreading outward like a divine being...

"Rumble!"

The earth shook, and clouds of dust filled the air.

"Oh, my goodness! What's Little One doing? He's carrying a Dragon-Horned Elephant out of the mountains?!"

At dawn, a group of children stared in utter astonishment. At a glance, it looked as if a massive ferocious beast were charging toward Stone Village. But on closer inspection, it was rising off the ground and thrashing wildly.

Beneath the Dragon-Horned Elephant, a little fellow carried its enormous body with all four legs pointing skyward as he ran toward Stone Village. Every step made the ground tremble violently.

Dragon-Horned Elephants were enormous, each weighing tens of thousands of pounds. Their bodies were covered in scales, and a pair of huge dragon horns grew from their heads. They were exceptionally fierce.

Yet now Little One had subdued one. Carrying it on his back, he came racing over. By the beautiful lakeshore, a flock of rare birds and strange beasts drinking from the water stared in disbelief, lifting their heads to watch.

The children had been practicing beside the clear, blue lake. Now they all stopped, shocked and thrilled. This was astonishing. He hadn't killed the beast and dragged it back—he had captured a Dragon-Horned Elephant weighing tens of thousands of pounds alive and carried it all the way back. It left them speechless.

With a bang, Little One tossed the Dragon-Horned Elephant down at the village entrance. A group of grown men who had come running at the news immediately swarmed over and took care of the enormous prey on the spot.

"Squeak, squeak!" Furball leapt from Little One's shoulder onto the elephant's head and cried incessantly, as if declaring the prey belonged to him.

"Little One, you're unbelievably strong!" A crowd of children gathered around him, chattering excitedly, their admiration and longing plain to see.

"Just keep training." Little One scratched his head bashfully. Carrying such heavy prey as he ran had left him slightly out of breath. His little face was rosy, like a big apple.

"Kid, well done! You're the best hunter in our village now, hahaha..." The adults all laughed, patting him on the shoulder.

The next day, the earth shook again as Little One came running back, carrying another enormous Dragon-Horned Elephant. The weight of tens of thousands of pounds made the ground shudder with every step.

With a tremendous thud, he tossed it down at the village entrance, setting off another commotion. The children practicing by the lake were startled into gathering around to watch, and the adults came running out again.

The third day, the fourth day...

Half a month later, when Little One came running back with another Dragon-Horned Elephant, the children no longer lost focus, and the adults were completely unfazed. Everyone went about their own business. Only the two uncles in charge of preparing the prey hurried over to get to work.

People had grown used to it. This had been happening every day for half a month. Their initial shock had soon given way to numbness, and they had quickly adapted.

"Little One, there's too much meat. We can't eat it all. And having Dragon-Horned Elephant meat every day is getting sickening," one child complained.

The two "unflappable uncles" preparing the prey looked up as well. Their reply was brief: "True."

"Squeak, squeak..."

Furball protested. He was the only one who never got tired of it. Over the past half month, he had eaten more than half an elephant every day. His appetite was frightening. He was only the size of a fist, yet his stomach was a bottomless pit; he could devour an entire roasted mountain of meat.

"It's fine. We'll give whatever we can't eat to Furball. Starting tomorrow, I'll switch to a different beast. It wouldn't be good to keep hunting Dragon-Horned Elephants—we'd wipe them all out." Little One scratched his head bashfully.

Over the next two months, Little One hunted a different colossal beast every day. Each one weighed tens of thousands of pounds, and all were astonishingly huge.

During this time, the clan chief personally prepared a special pot of meat soup for him every day. He used Dragon-Tendon Snake to strengthen his sinews and bones and nourish his body, supplementing it with various aged medicines. Little One's strength surged.

Stone Village stood beside a lake. Dragon-Whisker Fish were plentiful in its clear, blue waters, and they were rare, spirit-bearing creatures that could also enhance strength. The clanspeople went out onto the lake almost every day, catching several large fish weighing dozens of pounds each. Their golden scales glimmered, and their dragon whiskers were crystalline. Their precious blood essence was considered a luxury even by great clans.

Naturally, the children ate them all, and their strength grew rapidly.

Little One in particular had an extraordinary physique, so the clan gave him special meals. His strength could practically be said to be surging. They put every one of the village's recorded ancient recipes to use on him.

After all, these ancient recipes were no ordinary things. The clanspeople hadn't understood before, but now they knew their ancestors had once been extraordinarily powerful, and that gods had emerged from their ranks. These ancient recipes had accumulated over countless years. How could they be ordinary?

Fortunately, the Willow Deity had found them a treasure land. It not only solved their shortage of food but also gave them access to all kinds of spirit-bearing creatures. They could find traces of nearly every ingredient mentioned in the ancient recipes. The meat soups, medicinal powders, and other preparations made from them had astonishing effects.

Three months later, Little One could lift objects weighing fifty thousand pounds. He relied solely on his body, without using Bone Text. His divine strength was astonishing, and he was only a little over six years old.

"Seventy li away is a stretch of cascading waterfalls among a field of boulders. You can train there. Also, I have an ancient recipe for laying a foundation for the young of Heaven-Tier Primordial Ferocious Beasts." The willow tree sent its voice to Little One, telling him about the recipe.

Little Shi Hao froze. The aged medicines and living creatures required by a Primordial Ferocious Beast's recipe were all far too extraordinary. Even a super-clan of tens of millions, or even a hundred million people, might not be able to obtain them.

Not to mention the rarest precious medicines—the blood essence and Treasure Bones of Primordial Remnants would be difficult to come by as well. Yet they were supposed to be eaten every day. How could Stone Village possibly produce such things? Those ingredients were simply too shocking and extraordinary.

Why were Primordial Ferocious Beasts so powerful? Even as young cubs, they were already so defiant of the heavens, far beyond the ordinary, like creatures from a myth. Their diet had something to do with it!

"Willow Deity, we can't find those things," Little One said softly, lowering his head.

"That's all right. Ordinary ingredients can replace everything except the primary ingredient," the Willow Deity replied.

"Then the primary ingredient..." Little One's eyes widened. He had caught the meaning behind the willow tree's words.

"You're raising this Zhu Yan. You can't let it eat and drink for free forever. Have it offer a drop of blood every other day as the primary ingredient," the Willow Deity said.

"Roar..." The golden Zhu Yan, only the size of a fist, bristled from head to toe. It stopped squeaking and let out a roar instead, glaring furiously at the willow tree with its round eyes.

"Furball, I'll take you to the Primordial Divine Mountain to eat precious medicines someday. For now, you have to help me..." Little One grabbed him and shook him vigorously.

"Brother Lin, let's go train together!" Little One said.

"Sure!"

"Squeak, squeak..." The golden Furball wailed, entirely unwilling. Dozens of li away, mountains of stone stood side by side, with violent waterfalls hanging from their heights. Perhaps they could no longer be called waterfalls, but mountain torrents. Their rumbling roar was enough to nearly deafen anyone.

Three great rivers converged and rushed through the rocky mountains. Below them lay a low valley, where they formed a vast cliff. The waters surged violently, as if plunging down from beyond the heavens. Waterfalls filled the landscape, and boulders kept tumbling down.

Here, let alone climbing upstream, even approaching the torrents was enough to make one's heart tremble. The boundless floodwaters were terrifying. Many of the boulders swept along with them weighed thousands or even tens of thousands of pounds. Carried by the water from such heights, how powerful would their impact be? It was enough to shake the soul.

This was the new training ground for Little One and Shi Lin. Little One intended to climb the cliff against the mountain torrents, enduring the impact of the boulders crashing down from above. It would clearly be extremely dangerous.

"Boom!"

Little One had barely stepped under the waterfall when the white torrents knocked him away. The falls plunged from cliffs hundreds or even thousands of meters high, and their force was tremendously fierce.

Shi Lin fared no better when he entered. The raging torrent struck him too, though it hurt him less. Shi Lin was probably stronger.

Little One wasn't discouraged. He stood up, clamped his hands around the rocks like iron pincers, held his breath, and began climbing. Each step was incredibly difficult.

The white torrents engulfed him. On the cliff face, only a raised spot of white water could be seen where he was. The force and volume of the water were simply too much for ordinary human strength to withstand.

"Thud!"

A boulder weighing over a thousand pounds fell toward Little One. Its speed and ferocity made one's heart tremble.

Though the white torrents had swallowed him, he sensed it and quickly dodged to one side. He avoided the boulder crashing down, but staggered all the same. With a rumble, he toppled down with the rushing water.

Little One leapt out of the water and sprang upright like a carp.

"Are you all right?" Shi Lin asked.

"I'm fine!" Little One replied.

"Little One, let's work hard together!"

"Mm!"...

This was only the beginning. The ultimate test was to climb the cliff against the boundless torrents and the boulders weighing tens of thousands of pounds crashing down from above. It was certain to be a difficult and terrifying journey of cultivation.

As the sun set, Little One returned to the village covered in bruises. No matter how strong his body was, even he couldn't emerge unscathed from those fearsome waterfalls and boulders.

His body was mottled with bruises, and the sight made people's hearts ache. He had never been injured during his previous training, so the clanspeople saw him and opposed letting him take part in such a dangerous trial.

Shi Lin was bruised as well. He didn't look much better than Shi Hao.

They had gone to see the place themselves. The terrifying scene there was more dangerous than charging into battle among thousands of troops. A boulder falling from such a height struck with a force of far more than ten thousand pounds. If it hit someone, it would turn them into a pulp!

"It's all right. I'll work hard and break through the physical limits of a Heaven-Tier Primordial Ferocious Beast as soon as I can." Little One blinked his big eyes, his gaze resolute.

"That's right. We have to work hard!" Shi Lin said.

Beneath the ancestral Black Cauldron, the flames blazed fiercely. Everything inside was boiling. The aged medicines, Dragon-Tendon Snake, golden centipedes, Dragon-Whisker Fish, and other ingredients had all dissolved, giving off a distinctive fragrance.

"We're only missing the primary ingredient," the old clan chief said, looking at the golden Zhu Yan, which was only the size of a fist.

Furball's whole body glowed beneath his fur. His round eyes rolled about, and he was just about to escape when Little One, who had been ready for it, caught him in one swift movement. Little One said gently, "Furball, will you help me?"

"Furball~" Shi Lin said in a sweet, coaxing voice.

The golden Furball let out a piteous wail, torn with indecision. In the end, he covered one eye with a tiny paw and steeled himself to bite the fleshy pad of his other paw.

Everyone laughed. Furball wailed like a chicken being slaughtered, covering his eye as he reluctantly let two golden drops of blood fall into the cauldron.

With a boom, the walls of the Black Cauldron glowed. The contents boiled, and a rumbling sound rang out. It was accompanied by a chorus like the chanting of the gods, as well as grand sacrificial music. The villagers were so stunned that they could only gape.

The cauldron walls glowed, and images appeared one after another: towering mountains, the sun and moon turning, and ancient ancestors making sacrifices to the heavens. The sounds were grand, sacred, and solemn.

It was as though they had returned to the ancient past and could hear the gods chanting.

Chi Dragons, Pixiu, and other Primordial Ferocious Beasts on the cauldron looked so lifelike that they seemed to carry a savage aura and would burst through its walls. Their presence made the soul tremble.

It was truly astonishing. The cauldron seemed to have a spirit of its own!

"This is... a supreme treasure!" The old clan chief's voice trembled. Their ancestral medicinal cauldron was so extraordinary.

Crystal-clear liquid appeared on the cauldron's inner walls, like drops of sweet dew. There was very little, but it gave off a fragrant scent that left people feeling refreshed from head to toe, their pores opening wide.

Using the golden blood of a Zhu Yan as the primary ingredient had astonishing effects. It had actually awakened the ancestral cauldron and produced such an apparition. Everyone stared in dumbfounded amazement.

The old clan chief had heard some secrets and legends. He said, "This cauldron is beyond price. It has been used to refine rare precious medicines over the years, and its walls have absorbed their medicinal properties. Now the golden Zhu Yan blood has fallen inside, and the two have resonated."

The liquid boiled in the cauldron, fragrant beyond compare and pale gold. It was accompanied by sacrificial music and the chanting of the gods, making it seem mysterious, as if a cauldron of divine medicine were about to emerge.

"Good, good, good!" The clan elders trembled all over. They reached out with their wrinkled hands, wanting to touch the cauldron. It was truly wondrous.

Dew slid down the walls of the cauldron and flowed into the boiling medicinal liquid, making its fragrance grow even stronger. The clanspeople stared wide-eyed, watching closely.

"This is the 'medicinal essence.' It's nourishing the medicinal liquid in the cauldron!"

The cauldron had refined countless precious medicines in the past. Its walls had absorbed a wealth of medicinal properties that were now part of the vessel. The drops of liquid appearing on its walls were "medicinal essence" accumulated over many years. They could enhance the quality of the liquid being refined inside.

A cauldron that produced "medicinal essence" had to be a priceless treasure, something no amount of wealth could buy. At this point, it had gained a spirit of its own and could absorb divine essence from the world and store it within its walls. The medicinal essence was a blend of accumulated medicinal properties and the world's divine essence, with countless wondrous uses.

Sure enough, after the medicinal essence dripped into the cauldron, the pale-golden liquid grew even more fragrant. It turned crystalline and luminous. Just one breath of its scent left people clear-headed, refreshed, and feeling as though their skin and bones had been cleansed.

"This can already be called a cauldron of precious medicine!" Shi Linhu exclaimed, scarcely daring to believe that a mere village could refine such a medicinal liquid.

The children began to drool involuntarily. The juice smelled so good that they couldn't wait to drink it. Their tongues already felt as if they were melting in their saliva.

"Squeak, squeak..."

Furball was restless too, jumping all over the place and almost falling into the cauldron. Little One hurriedly grabbed him.

"Although we're only a village and don't have the blood or Treasure Bones of Primordial Remnants, nor all kinds of rare spirit medicines, this medicinal mixture we've refined with the cauldron and the Zhu Yan's golden blood is still quite good." Shi Feijiao clenched his fists, visibly excited.

Little One had never hidden his origins from the villagers. He had already told them his story. The others sighed with emotion and encouraged him, hoping he would rise quickly in the Great Wilderness.

Shi Yi was an ancient sage, a genius with the makings of a god. He had also obtained the Supreme Bone and was destined to surpass ordinary geniuses by far. Born into an ancient kingdom and raised with the strength of his entire clan behind him, he was certain to become terrifyingly powerful.

Even the villagers knew about him. Anyone would feel uneasy having such a peerless opponent, and they naturally hoped Little One would soar to the heavens as soon as possible.

Shi Linhu snorted. "That brat Shi Yi lives in a royal house and can draw on endless resources. He won't lack the blood of Primordial Remnants or rare spirit medicines. If he keeps growing like that, it's truly frightening."

Shi Yi was already over nine and nearly ten. There was no need to guess: he was destined to shine like a brilliant sun hanging above the ancient kingdom, dazzling everyone and drawing all eyes.

Shi Linhu snorted. "Stone Village is no worse. With our ancestral cauldron, the precious medicines we refine won't be inferior to anyone else's. We can certainly stand against him."

"That's right. That glorious ancient kingdom originated in Stone Village and began here. Now we'll start over and see whether the geniuses of that branch are stronger, or the people of the ancestral land." Several clan elders were like stubborn old children, unwilling to yield. They told the villagers to rummage through every box and chest and bring out all the ancient objects passed down by their ancestors, to see if they could find anything extraordinary.

With a boom, the medicinal cauldron shook and sprayed out clouds of rosy light. The Zhu Yan's blood dyed the entire cauldron pale gold, and the liquid boiled violently.

Vapors billowed around them as iridescent light swirled. Everything looked dazzling and beautiful, and the fragrance seeped into their hearts and lungs, making them feel as if they were about to ascend on feathered wings.

"How fragrant!" Everyone swallowed again and again, eagerly anticipating the result. The children kept twitching their little noses.

The cauldron walls blazed brightly. The ancient people's sacrificial chants sounded once more, incomparably grand. Primordial birds of prey and ferocious beasts roared with savage might; the indistinct gods all scattered radiance, mysterious and unfathomable.

The medicinal cauldron shuddered. The fire beneath it went out on its own, and the pale-golden medicinal liquid was ready!

"Squeak, squeak..." Before Little One and Shi Lin could move, the golden Zhu Yan could no longer hold back. He was ready to "go first" and have a taste.

"Furball, this medicine was refined using your blood as the primary ingredient. Do you really want to drink your own blood?" Er Meng asked.

Furball hesitated, scratching his head, but he couldn't resist the fragrance. He snatched a porcelain bowl from one of the villagers, scooped some up, and gulped it down.

"He drinks his own blood?"

"Squeak, squeak..." Furball kept squeaking. That was his way of saying there was nothing wrong with it—he was happy to do it.

When Little One drank a bowl of the golden medicinal liquid, he immediately felt a flame surge through his body. His entire body glowed, and moments later, sweat poured from him. In an instant, he seemed to have been pulled from the water. Vapor billowed around him, rosy light streamed in every direction, his skin turned crystalline, and his bones crackled.

The medicine was incredibly potent. Its effects were immediately obvious. His limbs and bones seemed to be hammered into shape, the bruising all over his body quickly faded, and the bones within him glowed a lustrous white.

Strands of light rose from him and turned into clouds that enveloped Little One. It was a long while before they dispersed.

"How is it?" A group of clanspeople watched anxiously.

"It works wonderfully," Little One said.

The clan chief scooped out another bowl and handed it to Little One. He told him to drink it. A child's body had to be properly nourished while being tempered, or he would suffer the consequences later.

The clan chief then scooped out a bowl for Shi Lin as well.

Clearly, Little One and Shi Lin couldn't finish a whole cauldron of medicine by themselves. The children all held out little bowls and got a share, gulping it down at once. But their bodies were nowhere near as strong as Little One's and Shi Lin's. As soon as they drank a large mouthful, rosy light spouted from their mouths and noses, and they began glowing as if they were on fire.

"Awooo..."

The children bounced and darted about, all rushing toward the lake. One after another, they plunged into the water with splashes. They had to, or they would have burned up from the heat.

They had a restless night. They had only drunk half a bowl each, yet they had to soak in the lake until daybreak.

The cauldron of medicine had been boiled down into a thick liquid. Most of it went into Little One and Shi Lin's stomachs, while the rest was shared among the children and adults. The three young birds got some too. Everyone glowed with light and felt scorching hot. It was a sleepless night.

Little One slept soundly. His organs were crystalline and his bones white, as if he had been washed clean. When he got up in the morning, he found himself sticky all over, coated in what his body had expelled.

He picked up a clean set of clothes and left them by the lake, then jumped into the water with a splash. He startled a group of children whose eyes were as red as rabbits'.

"You're up early," Little One greeted them.

"Wahhh... We haven't slept yet," the children said miserably. They weren't tired, though. Otherwise, they wouldn't have stayed soaking here.

"Oh, carry on, then. I'm going to train." A new day had begun. After breakfast, Little One ran toward the waterfalls among the boulders.

Day after day, Little One and Shi Lin left early and returned late.

The waterfalls were like a river of stars, deafening as they plunged from the rocky mountains. Little One braced himself against the vast white torrent and struggled upward.

"Thump!"

When boulders weighing hundreds of pounds rolled down, he no longer dodged. He let them slam into him as he clung to the cliff and climbed. In only three short months, he had forged a body of bronze sinews and iron bones.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, a boulder weighing several thousand pounds rolled down from above. It hadn't fallen from the highest point, but carried along by the waterfall, it came with astonishing force. Though it weighed only a few thousand pounds, the moment it struck, the impact would be at least tens of thousands of pounds.

Little One was swallowed by the white waterfall, leaving only a raised white spot on the cliff. But his perception was keen, and he sensed the danger. This time, however, he didn't dodge. He relied on his body to take the blow head-on.

With a thud, the boulder crashed into his back. The white torrent surged skyward, filling the air.

Little One hadn't circulated Bone Text, yet his body shone with a crystalline luster and a hazy glow. He took the impact with his body alone—and succeeded!

His body shook violently, and the hazy precious light faded. His back hurt badly, but his sinews and bones were unharmed. He had endured the impact head-on. It was truly astonishing!

These were the fruits of several months of hard work. After training bitterly day after day, he no longer needed to circulate Bone Text. His body automatically gave off a layer of precious light. It was the power of his pure blood and qi, protecting him on its own.

"Is this the true meaning of the Blood-Moving Realm that the Willow Deity spoke of?" Little One murmured to himself.

The Willow Deity had described a realm with the same name as his current one, but the results of cultivation were completely different. It measured things by the standards of Primordial Ferocious Beasts.

And so the days and months passed. Little One left early and came back late, covered in bruises every day. But with the Willow Deity's ancient recipe, he often had precious medicine to drink. One sip of the thick, pale-golden liquid, and he would recover in an instant.

He still looked delicate and handsome, with a fair little face and bright, spirited eyes. But his body grew stronger by the day. When attacked, his blood and qi surged like a heavenly gale, and his body shone with a crystalline light. Ordinary boulders were knocked away as soon as they hit him, unable to harm him in the slightest.

Before long, nearly a year of cultivation had passed, and Little One was about to turn seven.

When Shi Lin was ten, he successfully broke through the hundred-thousand-pound limit and stepped into the peak of the Blood-Moving Realm!

At dawn, amid the rocky waterfalls, Little One held a boulder weighing tens of thousands of pounds aloft with one arm. Using only that arm and his legs to climb, he braced himself against the boundless torrents and the falling rocks as he made his way upward.

"Thud!"

Boulders came tumbling down, crashing into him, but they couldn't knock him back. He held his ground as steadily as a divine ape and surged upward with astonishing speed. The waves and boulders alike failed to send him tumbling.

At last, he climbed onto Stone Mountain and stood there, his whole body glowing with precious light. Nearly a year of cultivation had brought about a terrifying transformation in his flesh. He had already been capable of this a month ago; lately, he had simply been consolidating his gains.

"Rise!"

Above the vast waterfall, a tiny figure stood against the morning glow and lifted a hundred-thousand-jin boulder. His body shone brilliantly, radiating precious light.

The sight stunned the ferocious beasts nearby into roaring and the fierce birds into beating their wings against the sky. They all trembled, frightened by that tiny figure.

Amid the morning glow, the little figure shone brilliantly, radiating a terrifying aura. He stood atop the waterfall like a young Heavenly God, his entire body surrounded by an indescribable presence.

Only the young of Heaven-Tier Primordial Ferocious Beasts could manage it. The hundred-thousand-jin limit—Little One had broken through to that level!

He had broken through only a month after Shi Lin!