Turmoil

The world was vast. The Great Wilderness stretched for hundreds of thousands of miles, and once people parted ways, they might never see each other again. Many women in the village were crying. Even some of the grown men had red-rimmed eyes. "Little One, Shi Lin, you must come back soon! We're still waiting for you to take us out adventuring!" a group of children shouted. By the time they met again, they might already have grown up and become fathers and mothers.

"Goodbye!" Little One was in tears too. He took one last look back, then the three of them raced off into the distance.

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, several months passed.

Shi Lin and the others still hadn't made it out of the mountains. On foot, three hundred thousand miles was an astronomical distance, but the two of them were resourceful. Along the way, they subdued many ferocious beasts and used them as mounts. Of course, the death rate was extremely high, and they often had to find new mounts.

That was because their main goal this time was to temper themselves, not to hurry on their way. They kept exploring, venturing into many forbidden places, and nearly brought disaster upon themselves several times.

That was also why Little One hadn't brought the Unicorn along. He'd grown attached to it and didn't want it to die on the road.

A vicious bird flew by. Shi Lin knocked it out of the sky with one punch, his astral energy surging upward.

"Carry the three of us for a while, and then we'll let you go!" Shi Lin said, grabbing the bird.

Seeing how powerful Shi Lin was, the vicious bird nodded timidly.

"Whoa!"

Qingfeng shouted. Suspended in midair, he was especially nervous as the wind roared around them.

The three leaped onto its back and raced over the mountains.

Shi Lin steered it in a certain direction.

Only several days later, when the vicious bird was so exhausted that it foamed at the mouth and could no longer go on, did they let it go. As it happened, they also needed to replenish their food and water.

"That was thrilling!" Qingfeng was excited. The journey was a novel experience for him.

But traveling this way was dangerous too. Sometimes, the vicious birds and beasts were too fierce, charging straight into forbidden places and rousing incomparably terrifying creatures.

As it happened, they encountered danger the very next day. The three caught a beast covered in purple scales, its name unknown, and rode it into a swamp. They provoked a centipede more than ten meters long, which spat poison and destroyed an entire forest in an instant.

The Purple Scale Beast died on the spot, reduced to a pile of bones. If Shi Lin hadn't warned them to jump down early and flee back the way they'd come, they would have been reduced to bloody scraps too.

They weren't in a hurry. As they ventured onward and cultivated, they found more than a dozen spirit medicines and hunted the precious blood of many vicious beasts, all of which greatly benefited their cultivation.

In the end, after more than half a year, the three left the three-hundred-thousand-mile Great Wilderness and arrived at the border of the Stone Kingdom.

During that time, Little One had opened a fifth Heaven Cave. A volcano spewed golden liquid that bubbled forth and flowed into his body.

By then, volcano craters surrounded the top of his head, both sides of his body, his chest, and his back. And he was only a little over nine years old.

Shi Lin's Heaven Cave count hadn't increased, but his Qilin Precious Technique had reached the early stages of mastery. He had learned the Qilin Fist and Qilin Mark. A closer look at Shi Lin would reveal an auspicious aura about him and a Qilin-shaped pattern on his chest.

If Shi Lin learned the Qilin Step and Qilin Foot, he would be able to travel a thousand miles in a single day.

"Big Brother is so strong. It's only been half a year, and he's broken through again! Grandpa Clan Chief said that it takes other people at least several years to open a single Heaven Cave!" Qingfeng said, almost worshipfully. In his young heart, this older boy, so close to him in age, seemed capable of anything.

"It's still not enough. I want to become stronger. Brother Lin is still so strong; I have to keep chasing after him," Little One murmured, unconsciously looking toward Shi Lin.

Over the past half year, Qingfeng had made rapid progress too. With Little One's help, he'd hunted many vicious beasts, bathed in their true blood, and eaten spirit medicines. He'd entered the Blood-Moving Realm and was nearing the middle stage.

His runes were already profound. His only weakness was that his body wasn't strong enough, so he couldn't contend with the descendants of pure-blooded divine birds and vicious beasts the way Little One could.

At last, they entered the Stone Kingdom. They didn't take the route they'd used the last time, instead passing through another city.

Shi Lin and the other two were walking along the street.

"Hey, I can sense the Void God Realm now. Too bad I can't get in." Once they entered the Stone Kingdom and reached a large city, Little One discovered this fact.

"Qingfeng, go into the Void God Realm and look for Uncle Hammer, Lord Bird, and Grandpa Essence Jade. Ask them where Heaven Mending Pavilion is and how to get there."

Last time, he'd stayed there for less than a day and hadn't had a chance to ask.

In the end, Qingfeng sat cross-legged, quieted his mind, sensed the Void God Realm, and finally entered it.

It was more than half a day before Little Qingfeng's spirit returned to his body and he slowly opened his eyes.

"How was it?" Little One asked eagerly. In truth, he missed that mysterious world.

"Big Brother, I never expected you to be so famous. That world was in an uproar because of you!" Little Qingfeng said excitedly.

"What happened?"

Qingfeng said, "You did so many things—you shattered a passageway in the Void God Realm, broke one of the Double Pupil holder's records, and even destroyed the Record Stele. You haven't appeared in more than half a year, but you've become a legendary figure. Only... your reputation isn't exactly great." Qingfeng added the last part cautiously.

Little One's face darkened. He rubbed his chin, still brooding over it. He'd been wanting to storm back in and kill them all.

"Uncle Hammer let it slip. Quite a few people may know you're going to Heaven Mending Pavilion or Zhulu Academy. That world is going wild now, and it seems like lots of people are heading to Heaven Mending Pavilion and Zhulu Academy too," Qingfeng said, looking a little uneasy.

In truth, the Void God Realm was now in an uproar. It was all because that legendary troublemaking kid was about to appear again—and this time, in the real world.

Void God Realm, Initial Ground.

"Is it true? He's really going to show up? I'm looking forward to it. I'd love to meet him at Heaven Mending Pavilion or Deer-Hunting Academy and see just how extraordinary he is."

"Better to miss each other than meet."

"Miss him? What is he, your sweetheart? If I run into a freakish kid like that in one of those Pure Lands, I'll smack his butt into eighteen pieces!"

"That's true. Here, that Skinny Kid is way too vicious. His combat strength is absurdly high, frighteningly so. We're all restricted to the Blood-Moving Realm, so we'd be at a serious disadvantage against him."

Within the Initial Ground, the great blue stone kept flashing, forming golden passageway after golden passageway. One figure after another appeared and stepped out.

These people came from higher-level Heaven Caves and blessed lands. They'd heard about that little kid and took the news extremely seriously, coming here expressly to verify it.

"Look at the trouble my mouth has caused! I deserve a slap!" Uncle Hammer slapped himself, filled with regret. He'd been so excited to hear news of Little One today that he'd spoken too loudly and let it slip.

Lord Bird was completely calm and not worried at all. "Don't blame yourself. With that freakish kid's personality, he definitely won't come off worse. He's got a belly full of bad ideas. I bet he's already plotting some crooked scheme."

Grandpa Essence Jade was even more outrageous. He set up a sign in the busiest spot, with a line of large characters carved into it: "Want to know where Milk Baby is staying? Pay one Essence Coin."

"That old geezer!" Uncle Hammer nearly dropped his jaw when he saw it. The white-bearded old man was far too good at business. No wonder that freakish kid called him Grandpa Essence Jade.

Lord Bird couldn't stay calm either. He grabbed a rag and teamed up with Uncle Hammer to sell fake news, drawing a crowd of onlookers.

"See? Those two old men and that big fellow with the hammer are all cut from the same cloth as that brat. Every one of them is a freak and a piece of work."

People who knew what was going on pointed from a short distance away, gaining a deep understanding of the saying that birds of a feather flock together. It had never been more perfectly illustrated than now.

A group of people clad in black armor appeared, their bodies glinting with a cold metallic sheen. They strode out of a golden passageway, then quickly spread out, asking people about Little One.

Everyone was startled. These people were definitely powerful, and their origins were no simple matter. A superpower was keeping an eye on the child. Whether that was good or bad for him, no one could say.

Then a beast bone appeared, purple qi billowing from it as it flew through the air. Several people stood atop it, led by a woman dressed in purple. She had bright eyes and pearly teeth, and a slender figure; she was exceedingly beautiful. Behind her followed several powerful figures, looming over the crowd like mountains.

"Th-this... doesn't she look like someone from the royal clan of an ancient kingdom?"

"Shh! Keep your voice down. Don't talk carelessly; we can't afford to offend them."

Many people looked grave. They didn't dare approach and wanted nothing to do with them, afraid of inviting trouble.

The purple-clad woman stepped down from the beast bone, her gaze sweeping over the crowd. Without saying a word, she dropped an Essence Coin at each of the stalls run by Grandpa Essence Jade, Lord Bird, and the others, then listened as they told her what they knew.

"Fairy, you want the real story, of course." Grandpa Essence Jade put on a solemn expression. He wouldn't dare deceive someone like her, and frankly told her that he could only confirm the Skinny Kid would go to Heaven Mending Pavilion or Deer-Hunting Academy; he knew nothing more.

Lord Bird was just as grave and didn't exaggerate. Having lived as long as they had, they naturally knew whom they couldn't afford to offend—not even by telling the slightest lie.

"Those two old geezers really are rotten birds, and that big hammer-wielding man is no good either!" people remarked.

Still, they finally believed it: that child who loved to stir up trouble—who really loved to stir up trouble—was going to show himself in the real world. It wasn't just hearsay or fantasy.

That day, the Void God Realm wasn't the only place thrown into an uproar. There was also much discussion in the Stone Kingdom and elsewhere. Quite a few major powers were very interested in the child who had broken one of Shi Yi's records, then made the Void God Realm unable to endure him and forcibly expelled him.

Everyone agreed that although this Troublemaker Kid was a real piece of work, his talent was astonishing and his potential immeasurable. He was worth finding and recruiting to their side.

Over the next ten or twenty years, this child might well shake the many domains and become an almost invincible existence!

Some of the mightiest lords took action, sending out their generals to search for him.

"Hmm, the War King has made his move. He's actually sent out his eight most renowned generals. He's dead set on finding that child."

"The Wood King has emerged from seclusion too. He's sent his grandson to lead a group of experts out in search of the child. It seems he really values him. Is he planning to bring him into his residence?"

Many major powers took action, sending their forces straight toward Heaven Mending Pavilion and Zhulu Academy. They had no better option, so they planned to wait there for him.