Mountain Treasure

A river flowed past the village, and every so often, a large fish leaped from the water, golden scales glinting as it sent up sprays of foam.

Not far away lay a lake, clear and blue. A flock of magnificent birds with brightly colored wings strolled leisurely along its shore, each over two meters long and shimmering with flowing rays of light.

A herd of unicorns shimmered with silver light as they drank by the lake.

"Spatial Great Teleportation?"

Bai Yixin shot into the sky, soaring straight into the clouds to survey Stone Village's new location from above.

The land beyond the village had changed completely. Willow Deity had used her divine powers to move Stone Village to this place of abundant resources and beautiful scenery.

Suddenly, a streak of crimson lightning split the sky, dazzlingly bright. In an instant, it dyed the entire sky red, as though a vast sunset had appeared.

A fiery red sparrow, its whole body crystalline and scarlet as fresh blood, no bigger than a palm, plummeted from the sky and landed headfirst in front of the great willow tree at the village entrance.

"Little Red Bird, the Fire Kingdom's Sacrificial Spirit—the Vermilion Bird." Bai Yixin took one look. The little bird, red from head to toe, was in a terrible state, gravely wounded. Terrifying runes flickered faintly in its wounds, still eating away at its vitality.

"None of my business."

He had no urge whatsoever to join the commotion. After signaling to Shi Yunfeng that he was heading out to hunt, Bai Yixin flew off in the opposite direction from where Little Red Bird had come.

He had two reasons for going out this time. First, to grind experience as usual and make some money. Second, to try his luck and see if he could run into Zhu Yan out in the wild—or even...

The Mountain Treasure!

Since the Vermilion Bird, one of the four Supreme Beings who had unleashed the Great Wilderness Cataclysm, was so badly injured, the other three—Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow, Zhu Yan, and Qiongqi—couldn't be in good shape either.

At the very least, Bai Yixin was almost certain about Zhu Yan's condition. Even if it hadn't shrunk and lost its memories, it was probably already on the verge of collapsing into a deep slumber.

Whether it was a few months or just a few days, even if he ran into Zhu Yan, it shouldn't pose much of a threat to Bai Yixin.

"Whooooo..."

The wind howled. Bai Yixin rode the wind, flying toward the distant land.

It was a stretch of shattered mountains and fissured earth, with countless toppled peaks. There was not a sound; desolation lay everywhere.

Bloodstains were scattered all around, and even the dried blood still gave off a foul, fishy stench.

"How devastating was this disaster?!"

Bai Yixin flew more than a thousand li without seeing a single living creature. Not one. Everything was dead!

Even the savage beasts and the fierce birds that had once blotted out the sky had all vanished. He didn't know whether they had fled or had all been eaten by the Supreme Beings.

It was clear that this wasn't limited to the thousand li around him. Farther away, the land must have been just as lifeless. Not a single living creature could be found; they had all been wiped out!

"Absolutely brutal!"

The sight made Bai Yixin's heart tremble. If he hadn't entered Stone Village back then, he would probably have become a puddle of minced flesh somewhere by now.

"Get stronger!"

Only by growing stronger, by gaining power of his own, could he live well!

The world was so vast; he still wanted to see it all. If he died so easily, wouldn't crossing over here have been for nothing?

Leaving aside the fairies and saintesses, now that he'd come to this primeval world, he wanted to taste the flesh of mythical beasts like True Dragons and Phoenixes. What did they taste like?

As he thought about it, Bai Yixin's imagination began to run wild.

If he could ultimately become an immortal, could he break through the dimensions and return to his own world? Or perhaps he could go to the Two-Dimensional world and fulfill the wish he'd once only dared to dream of...

"Anything... is possible!"

Bai Yixin smiled, his gaze growing even more resolute.

"Let's set a small goal first!"

"Cave Heaven Realm: Hundred-Broken Mountain Range. Spirit Transformation Mirror: Kunpeng Nest."

The Hundred-Broken Mountain Range and the Kunpeng Method were both opportunities he couldn't afford to miss.

Only after half a day, when he had traveled deep into the region, did Bai Yixin turn back, just in case something went wrong. The Post-War Wasteland could also conceal enormous dangers.

Aside from sensing a trace of Supreme Battle Intent on a few battlefields he passed, Bai Yixin had gained little.

But he wasn't discouraged in the slightest. He knew better than to expect his wishes to come true so easily.

It didn't matter. Until he found Zhu Yan, any time spent searching for the Mountain Treasure was worthwhile. Once he found it, Bai Yixin would be no worse off in Supreme Treasure Techniques than the prodigies from those great clans.

Besides, Bai Yixin wouldn't just sit around, blindly hoping to stumble upon the Mountain Treasure. Other precious treasures still lay scattered across that broken land.

Of these, Bai Yixin considered the traces of battle and Supreme Battle Intent left behind by the four Supreme Beings to be the most valuable. If he was lucky, he could use them to temper his resolve and prepare himself in advance for studying the Original True Interpretation.

Apart from that, Bai Yixin could sometimes dig up decent treasures in the ruins of other Human Tribes. Even selling the junk to a shop could bring him a tidy sum.

And so, day after day, Bai Yixin grew stronger at a steady, gradual pace. Time flew by, and more than half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

"I should go down and take a bath."

A small lake appeared not far away, clear and blue, its water blending with the sky and shimmering with flowing rays of light.

"This looks like an Acquired Lake."

A person slowly descended from the sky, soft, flowing strands of hair falling over his shoulders. Though only six or seven years old, he was already beginning to show signs of a graceful, handsome bearing.

After taking off his clothes, Bai Yixin slipped into the cool lake like a fish.

"Refreshing!"

The rippling water washed the grime from Bai Yixin's body. Beneath the surface, a pale, crystalline form flickered in and out of sight.

"I wonder what blasted this lake into existence. Is this really an Acquired Lake?"

Bai Yixin scooped up a handful of water. As he examined it closely, he sensed that it seemed to contain some kind of energy.

"Could this be a newly formed spirit spring?"

"That can't be right. This lake is clearly stagnant water. Most likely, it formed from the heavy rain a few days ago."

"Oh?"

"In that case, the most likely explanation is that something at the bottom of the lake infused the water with this faint trace of energy."

"Could there be a treasure down there?!"

Bai Yixin's eyes lit up. He plunged toward the bottom of the lake and began searching carefully.

Bai Yixin wasn't expecting to find anything particularly powerful. He just needed money to buy a decent cultivation manual for Foundation Establishment, so anything valuable was worth looking for.

The small lake wasn't very large, only a few thousand square meters. After searching carefully, Bai Yixin found that only the center of the lake was unusual.

The entire lakebed sloped downward toward the middle, and whatever had fallen into the lake had landed there.

In the mud, Bai Yixin carefully dug around the spot where the energy was strongest.

"Hmm, what's this...?"

Bai Yixin felt a cold cube, smooth and warm like jade.

He took it out for a closer look. It was a pristine white bone fragment, as flawless as jade. It didn't look like bone at all, but rather a piece of jade.

He tried squeezing it hard, but it didn't budge, and not a single crack appeared.

"Could I really be this lucky?" Bai Yixin still couldn't be sure. He had picked up plenty of bones before, but this Bone Cube felt completely different.

"I'll take it back and show it to Willow Deity when she wakes up." Bai Yixin carefully put the Bone Cube away.

"If this really is the Mountain Treasure, Zhu Yan should be somewhere nearby, too, right? After all, Zhu Yan was the one who won the Mountain Treasure in the end."