At that moment, the old clan chief opened two special clay jars and poured their contents into the cauldron one by one. A scarlet glow burst from one jar, coalescing into a Pixiu the length of a palm. It looked mighty and ferocious, as if it meant to tear someone apart and escape. Its savage nature was formidable. Glowing characters appeared in Shi Yunfeng's palm, and the Bone Text lit up. He slapped the Pixiu apart, turning it into blood that fell into the cauldron.
A Double-Headed Rhino burst from the other jar, crimson as fire and dazzling enough to awe the onlookers. It raised its head and roared furiously, but the old clan chief struck it apart, and it fell into Shi Lin's cauldron.
The children sharing a cauldron with Shi Lin all jumped out.
"Ah! It hurts, it hurts!"
After that, Shi Lin got a cauldron to himself, just like Little One.
When the water cooled a little, Little One was lifted up and tossed into the cauldron. He struggled with all his might. He was still so young that he would choke if he sat in there, and the moment he plunged in, he gulped down several mouthfuls with a series of "glug, glug" sounds.
The children across from him looked sympathetic. They suddenly felt very lucky: the medicinal mixture in their cauldron, made mostly from special true blood, beast bones, and chunks of sinew, with only a little water added, would surely make their skin and bones hurt even more. Poor Little One.
Even some of the adults felt a little sorry for him. The little fellow struggled with all his might, baring his teeth and grimacing, and kept swallowing great mouthfuls of the viscous liquid. It was enough to make anyone worry.
"It's fine. It isn't his first time. He's been like this before, and he can take it. It's not bad for him to drink more of the medicinal liquid. If he can absorb it, it'll do him a world of good," the old clan chief said. At times, he was rather rough in how he treated and cared for Little One.
"His constitution is exceptionally strong. Besides, the mysterious power of the Bone Text may be circulating and helping him refine some of the medicinal power. Little One probably won't suffer too much," another elder said, stroking his beard.
"Lin Hu, your Lin is something else. He's held out this long through sheer physical strength!" a clan elder remarked.
"Heh, heh, heh!" Shi Linhu chuckled.
The medicinal bath lasted a long time. The children came out looking like a bunch of red-skinned monkeys, miserable and glancing at one another as tears streamed down their faces. They only stopped crying once the bath was over. At last, they were free.
Little One hadn't cried while he was in the Black Cauldron. His large eyes had rolled around brightly, and his little face had been as red as a big apple. But when they lifted him out, he swayed like a drunk.
"How do you feel?" an old man asked.
The little fellow burped and said woozily, "I'm full."
His innocent, carefree reply made all the adults laugh.
"I'm sleepy." Little One staggered unsteadily, then collapsed into Shi Yunfeng's arms. He murmured softly, let out another little babble, and drifted into a deep sleep.
"Take these children to get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, they'll all have a lot more strength," clan chief Shi Yunfeng said.
After that, Shi Lin climbed out of the cauldron, stumbling and bumping his way out. Then, as if he'd gotten drunk, he staggered through a set of drunken boxing moves.
"You little rascal!" Shi Linhu picked up Shi Lin, who was several times smaller than he was.
"Let's go home and sleep."
At last, several old men gathered up the leftover liquid. They didn't waste any of it. Instead, they stoked the fire beneath the bronze cauldron and added some special herbs, boiling the mixture down into medicinal powder. It was not only a tonic but also a precious remedy for injuries. Carrying some along when hunting in the mountain range could save a life.
The living conditions were harsh, savage beasts were difficult to hunt, and true blood was precious. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gone to the trouble of boiling the mixture down into powder after the children had used it. They couldn't bear to waste a single drop.
Of course, the village's able-bodied young men didn't care about any of that. As long as it could save their lives when applied to a wound, that was enough.
The children slept soundly that night. When they woke the next day, many of the little ones wailed, because sheets of old skin had peeled off their bodies, leaving their beds filthy.
"Go fetch a bucket of well water and wash yourself clean. Then lift that millstone for me."
"Dad, that's Third Brother's stone. He uses it to train his strength every day. How could I lift it?"
"Quit whining and lift it. After all that true blood and bone medicine last night, was it all for nothing? If you haven't gotten any stronger, I'll smack your bottom into eight pieces!"
At dawn, Stone Village erupted into chaos. A whole group of children were forced to haul boulders and carry bronze cauldrons, groaning and complaining nonstop.
The results were obvious. The children had grown much stronger, and their constitutions had improved noticeably. But saying they'd been reborn from the inside out would have been going too far. That simply wasn't realistic.
"Crack, crack."
At the entrance to the village, the runes in clan chief Shi Yunfeng's palm shone brightly. He held the Purple Gold Hammer and smashed the rarest section of the Dragon-Horned Elephant's horn to pieces. Then he took part of a Pixiu's claw bone and a small section of the Fire Rhino's red horn and smashed those as well, grinding everything into powder. He mixed the bone and horn powder with some of the savage beasts' true blood and put it all into the beast milk simmering in the pot. Fragrant steam rose at once.
Then the old man tossed in one unusual herb after another. Before long, the liquid in the clay jar thickened into a paste, and its fragrance grew even richer.
"Little One, come eat!"
Inside the stone house, the little fellow heard the call and flipped himself upright in bed. His big eyes were still bleary from sleep, but when the fragrance reached him, he twitched his little nose several times and instantly perked up. He murmured, "Smells so good."
"Of course it does. This is a whole pot of precious medicine. Don't waste a single bit. Eat every last drop," Shi Yunfeng said with a smile.
Little One wolfed it down. Before long, he had finished all the paste in the clay jar, but the side effects appeared at once. He was still far too young, and the medicine was simply too potent. That morning, the normally adorable Little One turned into a little terror. His eyes grew red as a rabbit's, and he ran all over the place, crying out "Ahya!" nonstop.
Poor Big Yellow Dog. After Little One caught him by the tail, he yanked and yanked until the tip was nearly bald. The dog barked furiously for half the day, causing a ruckus throughout the village and leaving no one in peace.
"Hey, Little One, why are you pulling down Auntie's fence?"
"What's gotten into the little fellow? Why has he climbed onto my roof? Stop that! Don't pull off the tiles!"
The villagers were dumbfounded. Little One, who was usually so well-behaved, had turned into a little savage beast, charging around and wreaking havoc wherever he went.
"He absorbed the whole pot of medicine. The effects are excellent." Shi Yunfeng and several elders stood together, speaking in low voices and nodding with satisfaction.
In the distance, many children watched and felt even more in awe of the clan chief. They shivered and hurriedly backed away, huddling together to whisper, "Poor Little One!"
Light shone from Little One's palm and spread upward, with Bone Text appearing on his little arm as well. It flickered in and out, mysterious and elusive. His constitution had grown stronger, too, and his speed and strength had increased by a great deal. That was why the old clan chief was so satisfied.
It wasn't until two hours later that he finally calmed down. He scratched his head in a daze and said softly, "Ahya, I've been naughty."
Shi Linhu had made Shi Lin get up early to lift stones. To everyone's surprise, he managed to lift a stone weighing a thousand catties.
Everyone laughed and praised Shi Lin, while Shi Linhu declared that the boy had made him proud.
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