Return (Please Recommend and Favorite)

"Oh heavens, there's so much game! What an extraordinarily bountiful hunt!"

The hunt had been a great success. Dozens of adult men had brought back something, including enormous Dragon-Horned Elephants, one-legged Kui Beasts shaped like oxen, and Flying Pythons with bodies as thick as water barrels and a pair of wings...

The village elders looked astonished. These creatures were usually difficult to deal with, and some could be called vicious beasts. Yet today, so many had been hunted, their bodies stained with blood. It was truly unexpected.

The Dragon-Horned Elephant, for instance, had a body as hard as iron; even iron spears could barely pierce it. Its pair of dragon horns were as sharp as drill knives and could easily shatter boulders. The Kui Beast's roar was like thunder; anyone standing nearby could be shaken to death. As for the Flying Python, with enormous wings sprouting from its sides, it was a killer of the mountains and forests, able to swoop down without warning from a mountaintop. It was terrifying.

Among the prey were several even more formidable creatures, such as the scarlet Double-Headed Fire Rhino and the impure-blooded Pixiu... These were all genuine vicious beasts. Anyone who spotted them should have given them a wide berth, yet now they had been hunted down. It was completely unreasonable!

"We were truly lucky this time. We've returned with a full haul, and not a single person was injured." Shi Linhu, the hunting party's leader, laughed heartily as he explained it all to the clan chief and the villagers. For several nights, enormous beasts had passed through the mountains, shaking the earth and mountains as they went, trampling many mountain beasts to death or injuring them. During the day, the hunters had tracked them and killed quite a few badly wounded vicious beasts—creatures the villagers normally had to avoid.

"Some of the huge footprints in the mountains looked like human footprints, but they were just too big—nearly a hundred meters long!"

"That big?!" the villagers cried out. It was truly horrifying news.

Even the village elders couldn't help drawing in sharp breaths. They were all the more convinced that something unusual had happened deep in the mountains, drawing some of the Primordial Remnants near the Great Wilderness.

Whatever the case, it was a bountiful harvest, and the clanspeople were delighted. Children's laughter filled Stone Village, and the whole place brimmed with joy.

"Dad, you're back!" Shi Lin dashed to Shi Linhu's side.

"Ah, what a good boy!" Shi Linhu patted Shi Lin's head.

Led by the clan chief, Shi Yunfeng, the villagers headed toward the Willow Tree. They carried dozens of beast carcasses close and placed all the bloodstained vicious beasts atop the stone platform. It was clearly a large sacrificial altar.

The altar was built from huge stones and was very spacious. It stood beside the broken Old Willow Tree, and now it was piled high with fierce beasts, like a little mountain. Bright-red beast blood stained the stone platform and ran along the carvings on its surface. The crimson blood, the giant beasts' coarse fur, their glinting scales, and their fearsome horns made a shocking sight, a savage aura from the primordial wilds washing over them.

Under the old clan chief's leadership, the men, women, and children of Stone Village prayed together, asking the Willow Tree for protection. It was a solemn sacrificial ceremony, and a customary one, performed every time the hunters returned.

The charred tree stood silent as always, showing no response. Just like every other time, it did not take the offerings, but many villagers knew it had a spirit!

At last, the ceremony was over. Everyone let out a long breath, their smiles of joy returning as they began moving the fierce beasts' carcasses to drain their blood and carve them up.

"It's been so many years. The Sacrificial Spirit hasn't touched a single offering. Do we still need to perform the ceremony every time?" a boy muttered under his breath.

"You brat, what nonsense are you spouting!" His father glared at him with huge, bell-like eyes and raised a hand as broad as a palm-leaf fan to smack him.

The old clan chief waved a hand to stop him, then said gently, "The Sacrificial Spirit is the spirit we worship and nourish. What matters is sincerity. If we treat it with devotion, it will protect and bless our village."

The boy's face flushed crimson. He hurriedly said, "Clan chief, I'm not being insincere. I just feel like the Sacrificial Spirit doesn't need these offerings. It's never used any of them."

"As long as we've shown our good intentions." Shi Yunfeng patted his shoulder and explained patiently.

Having been a person in his previous life, Shi Lin naturally knew how powerful the Willow Deity was, so he behaved with the utmost reverence.

A Sacrificial Spirit, also called a "spirit of sacrifice," was short for the spirit a tribe "worshiped and nourished." It protected the village and deterred the vicious beasts of the Great Wilderness.

The clan's elders still remembered that the Sacrificial Spirit before the current one, several decades ago, had been different. It was an extraordinary stone, and every time an offering was presented, it would drain most of the creature's blood essence and absorb it.

Then one night, the Old Willow Tree arrived, and the extraordinary stone chose to leave. Everything changed because of that.

Thinking back to that rainy night, the old clan chief's mind drifted. At the time, he had been a boy, and he had witnessed that terrifying, earth-shaking scene with his own eyes.

That night, lightning flashed and thunder roared as torrential rain poured down. The storm raged at its fiercest; lightning struck down many mountains, mountain torrents surged like seas, and vicious beasts stampeded in waves. The scene was terrifying. It was then that an enormous willow tree reaching to the heavens appeared among the clouds, bathing in a sea of thunder. Lightning as thick as mountains coiled around it, and its countless willow branches became blazing divine chains, piercing the entire sky, as if battling something.

In the end, the giant willow snapped, its whole body charred black. It shrank to its current size and fell, taking root in Stone Village. At the same time, the lightning vanished and the torrential rain stopped. That very night, the extraordinary stone the village had worshiped and nourished departed.

Whenever the old clan chief thought of it, his heart trembled. The Old Willow Tree had not been transplanted from some other great tribe, mountain, or vast lake. It had descended from the heavens, damaged after encountering an endless sea of thunder and lightning. Few in the village knew this.

For its first several decades, its whole body had been charred black, without a trace of life, as though it had died completely. It was only ten years ago that it sprouted a tender green branch. Since then, it had not changed again.

"You brats, be careful. It's not easy to get these vicious beasts. Their blood essence, sinews, and certain bones are astonishingly precious. Don't let any of their essence go to waste." The old clan chief came back to himself and reminded them.

The clan's young men were busy cutting up the giant beasts, their silver blades flashing. Metallic clangs rang out now and then, sparks flying as they worked. The beasts' bones were astonishingly hard.

Someone had already prepared large pottery jars to collect the blood essence preserved in special parts of the beasts' bodies. It was an excellent blood tonic, exceedingly rare.

Of the heap of carcasses, the Pixiu was the most precious. Although it was only a descendant, far inferior to the pure-blooded Pixiu royal clan, it still contained some true blood, making it astonishingly valuable.

It had been over two years since they had last captured a vicious beast like a Pixiu. They were too savage and powerful; a single swipe of the paw could cost a strong warrior his life. They were truly difficult to deal with, and astonishingly ferocious.

It was no exaggeration to say that this harvest was jaw-droppingly abundant.

"Hmm, there's an astonishing amount of true blood preserved in the horns of this Double-Headed Fire Rhino, too. It's no worse than that Pixiu!" An old man personally took up his knife and cut through the flesh beneath the horns, which was hard as metal and stone. A stream of true blood, red as a flame, poured out.

Suddenly, the blood transformed into a mass of red light. A palm-length Double-Headed Fire Rhino appeared within it, scarlet from head to toe and lifelike, bellowing furiously.

"What a treasure! This true blood is immensely potent—no worse than the Pixiu's!" The old man laughed heartily as he quickly gathered the rhino blood in a pottery jar and sealed the mouth tightly. "Clan chief, the horns of this Dragon-Horned Elephant are good stuff, too. It was already on its last legs when we found it; otherwise, we could never have brought it down," a young man said.

Shi Yunfeng nodded. "This is truly a rare sight. Those dragon horns on its head have been growing for years. Carefully chisel them off—they're a rare bone-nourishing medicine."

"The tendon from this one-legged Kui Beast is so tough. Even an axe can't cut through it!"

"They're all good stuff. Brats, be careful not to ruin the Flying Python's precious blood around its wings!"

The clanspeople were delighted, all of them smiling.

Only the children hunched their shoulders and scattered like smoke. They knew most of these so-called blood tonics and bone tonics would be used on them, and that they were about to "suffer" again.

It was half an hour before all the "treasured medicines" growing within the fierce beasts had been harvested. The clan chief and several elders nodded in satisfaction, collected the pottery jars, and took them away for processing.

"With so much game, we can salt some of it, then smoke and roast the rest to make jerky," an experienced elder said.

There was so much game piled together that it looked like a little mountain. The whole village couldn't finish it in many days. Letting it spoil would be a terrible waste, something the villagers, who often faced food shortages, could not allow.

The women of each household came forward to divide up the meat, all of them smiling sincerely. They had worried about the men who'd gone out, but now not only had everyone returned safely, they had brought back such a rich haul. It was heaven's greatest blessing.

Smoke curled from the chimneys of every house. Half an hour later, the aroma of meat spread through the village. The meat simmering in the iron pots was nearly tender, and the children could hardly wait. The beast meat roasting over the fires had turned golden and glossy, its fat dripping into the flames with a sizzling sound. Even the burly men couldn't hold back. They began tearing off meat and wolfing it down, juices running down their chins as their appetites roared to life.

"Kid, this is Pixiu meat. Eat plenty of it, and you'll grow strong. It's a rare delicacy."

"Brat, eat more. This is Double-Headed Rhino meat. Eat enough of it and your skin and bones will be as solid as iron. Don't eat that useless Tree Pig meat."

All kinds of fierce beasts became the villagers' most sumptuous meal that evening. The tempting aroma of meat drifted into the streets, stirring appetites like a rising tide. Waves of laughter rang out, and the whole village was filled with celebration.

In the cruel Great Wilderness, where fierce birds and beasts prowled and lives were constantly in danger, the villagers' needs were simple: as long as they had food and could eat their fill, they were content. The bonfires flickered, and Stone Village was full of life. Men and women, young and old, wore smiles, surrounded by laughter and happy voices.

"Children, stop running around. You'll all come for a medicinal bath in a little while. Get a good night's sleep, and you'll be stronger than vicious beasts when you grow up," an old man said with a smile.

"Aaagh... no!" A group of children wailed as soon as they heard him, fleeing in all directions to hide around the village.

"Those little brats have no idea how lucky they are. That's rare medicinal tonic. If you keep taking medicinal baths, your bones and sinews can rival those of giant beasts." The adults scolded them, catching their own children like little chicks.

"It hurts! I don't want a medicinal bath. Last time it felt like knives were cutting me."

"Dad, let go! I don't want to be boiled alive."

The children fought back fiercely, but little arms couldn't overpower grown men. They were all caught and dragged back.

Eight enormous bronze cauldrons had already been set up in an open space in the village, roaring fires burning beneath them as the water inside boiled. Several elders tossed in medicinal herbs, along with a few foot-long centipedes and fist-sized spiders. The clear water turned dark and inky, enough to frighten anyone.

The children's faces turned green on the spot. They wished they could flee at once, but the adults held them down firmly.

Then clanspeople brought over dozens of pottery jars. Several elders took them and carefully opened them, pouring some of the scarlet liquid inside into the great bronze cauldrons. The already dark water boiled even harder.

It was a small amount of true blood taken from the vicious beasts they had hunted. It was extremely precious and could strengthen the bodies of adults and children alike. The villagers also knew several ancient recipes, and the true blood would work even better when combined with certain medicinal herbs.

Besides the true blood, the elders also had people painstakingly grind the Flying Python's wing bones and the Kui Beast's leg bones into fragments, then toss them into the boiling water.

Once the fires went out and the water in the cauldrons stopped boiling and cooled somewhat, cries and loud splashes rang out as the first batch of children was thrown in, two or three to a cauldron.

"It hurts! The water's going to boil us alive!"

"Help! It feels like knives are carving my body! My skin and flesh are splitting open!"

They bared their teeth, clawed and kicked, and struggled desperately to climb out, only to be pushed back down. Their screams rang out without end.

Just like that, the dozens of children were thrown in batch after batch. Most of them screamed fiercely and struggled nonstop. Only seven or eight children were a little better; though sweat poured down their faces, they endured without making a sound. Shi Lin was one of them.

Little One wasn't spared either. He was even given special treatment, tossed alone into a Black Cauldron. It held only a little clear water; everything else was true blood and crushed bones from vicious beasts.

The villagers didn't think anything of it, nor did they consider it unfair favoritism. Their own children couldn't endure it and were already crying out in agony in the ordinary cauldrons, while Little One could handle it.