"This thing was no ordinary creature!" The clan chief took one look and jumped, his expression turning grave.
"Clan Chief, what kind of monkey is that?" one of the children asked.
"This is no ordinary ape." As he spoke, Shi Yunfeng lifted its little legs and examined them closely. Everyone leaned in to look, and to their surprise, its feet were scarlet, red as burning coals.
They were hidden beneath the golden fur on its legs unless you looked carefully. You had to lift them up to see its feet, which were as bright red as flames.
Whoosh! A fierce gust swept across the lakeside as three young birds landed on the green grass.
Little Shi Hao had returned from a walk with the three Green-Scaled Eagle chicks.
"Grandpa Clan Chief, what are you all looking at?" Shi Hao came over and saw everyone gathered around a golden ball of fur.
The golden ball looked harmless, just a glutton with no hint of danger about it.
"According to ancient legends, there was a peerless ferocious beast called Zhu Yan. It resembled an ape, with scarlet feet and a white head. Its appearance heralded great upheaval across an entire region."
"But this one should be a descendant of an ancient species, with perhaps an impure bloodline. Its head isn't white, and for some reason, it has suffered a terrible injury," Shi Yunfeng said.
It's nothing. He just went off to fight over a treasure. He won, but not completely—the Mountain Treasure slipped away, leaving him covered in wounds. In the end, he could only undergo a transformation to save his life. Bai Yixin chuckled to himself, thinking of how he'd lucked into the find.
"Brother Little White, why are you smiling so happily?" Shi Hao stepped forward, gave the monkey's head a pat, then left the crowd and spotted Bai Yixin standing nearby with a radiant grin.
"Little One, it's nothing. I just thought of something that made me happy." Bai Yixin patted Shi Hao's head. He was a head shorter than him.
"What happy thing? Can you tell me?" Shi Hao asked.
"Uh, I've just broken through to thirty thousand jin of strength," Bai Yixin said after a pause.
It would be hard to explain the Mountain Treasure—or how he knew the Bone Cube he'd found was one—so he simply changed the subject and mentioned his increased strength.
"Brother Little White, you're so fast! Hehe, but I could already lift a thirty-thousand-jin boulder two days ago!" Shi Hao said happily.
"Good job, Little One. Want to spar with me and see how much you've improved?" Bai Yixin asked with a beaming smile.
"Sure, but Brother Little White, you can't fly up into the sky this time. You cheated like that last time." Shi Hao's eyes darted about as he spoke.
"Hmph, this time is different! I went easy on you last time and didn't use my spiritual power. Besides, I didn't expect you to be so crafty—you even pretended to faint!"
Bai Yixin thought back to his last spar with Shi Hao. He had no idea who'd taught the kid such bad habits, but he'd secretly learned how to fake passing out, then launched a sneak attack while Bai Yixin came over to check on him. What a shameless little rascal!
"Hehe, that's because you taught me so well, Brother Little White!" Shi Hao said sheepishly.
"..."
"Emm, all I did was trick you a few times, but last time you sneak-attacked me and kicked me in the kidneys!" Bai Yixin said, exasperated. He'd never taught Shi Hao to aim a kick at his kidneys.
"It'd be one thing if you did that to an outsider, but I'm your big brother! You actually kicked me in the kidneys? A man's kidneys are precious. When sparring with your own people, you can't hit them there. Got it?"
"I got it, Brother Little White. I'm sorry." Shi Hao blinked his big, pitiful eyes.
"Alright, if I were really angry, I'd have hung you upside down and spanked you by now."
Bai Yixin helplessly patted Shi Hao's head. Did he really think Bai Yixin's Foundation Establishment cultivation was just for show?
Laughing and chatting, Bai Yixin and Shi Hao made their way to the training ground outside the village.
They cleared away the boulders piled across the open space, then stood a hundred meters apart, ready to begin their spar.
The spar wouldn't involve Treasure Techniques. It would be a straightforward contest of Rune-empowered physical strength.
Little One's movements were simple and incredibly fast. He grabbed a heavy boulder nearby and flung it with all his strength. It howled through the air as it hurtled toward Bai Yixin.
At the same time, he leaped more than twenty meters, diving forward like a flood dragon. Though small, his aura was astonishingly powerful.
Little One struck first, charging at Bai Yixin!
"Plenty of momentum! Just what I wanted!" Bai Yixin's fighting spirit soared. A battle that couldn't take my life, whether won or lost, would only make me stronger!
With a rumble, the boulder came hurtling in, powerful and heavy. The impact looked terrifying.
Bai Yixin watched the boulder fly toward him and moved with the strength and agility of a Demon Ape. He shifted more than ten meters to the side. Runes shimmered across his arms, lighting up in an instant and cloaking his whole body in a hazy glow.
Once the runes on Bai Yixin's arms had fully lit up, he charged straight at Little One without hesitation, ready to face him head-on.
The runes flashed, granting him astonishing speed and strength.
Bai Yixin leaped off the ground. His left fist swung from right to left like a heavy hammer, smashing into the oncoming boulder, while his right fist stayed hidden behind him, poised to strike.
With a deafening crash, the boulder shattered into pieces and a cloud of dust burst outward.
Divine light flashed in Little One's eyes as he pounced through the air. Seeing Bai Yixin's response, he wasn't surprised. Just as he was about to plunge into the dust, radiance burst from within him, and Divine Radiance surged forth, refining the creation of heaven and earth. His palms and fingers turned luminous white.
BOOM!
Inside the dust cloud, their fists and palms collided with a thunderous crash, as if a mountain had collapsed!
Their hands parted at once. Little One's body plunged down, while his right leg whipped up from behind like a lightning bolt, swift and fierce as a scorpion's tail.
Bai Yixin stepped forward with his right foot and sharply raised his left arm to block Little One's kick. Then he twisted his waist hard to the right and lashed out with his left leg like lightning.
Little One reacted just as quickly. He clasped his hands together to block Bai Yixin's rising kick, aimed at his chin. Using the force of the blow, he flipped backward through the air and landed more than ten meters away.
But Bai Yixin wasn't about to let Little One escape his attack so easily.
Little One's leap into the air was exactly the opportunity Bai Yixin needed!
BOOM!
Bai Yixin slapped his right palm against the ground, leaving a handprint in the dirt. He turned the upward momentum of his kick into a diagonal thrust, sending himself flying straight at Little One, who was helplessly suspended in midair with nothing to push off against.
THUD!
Little One's expression turned grave. His old strength had just run out, and his new strength hadn't yet gathered, so all he could do was swing a palm to meet Bai Yixin's flying kick as it came straight at his chest.
Like an elephant slamming into a mountainside, the impact boomed like thunder.
Little One's palm throbbed with pain, and the runes on it flickered.
He had blocked the attack, but his right hand had suffered a serious injury. At least for a short while, he wouldn't be able to put his full strength into it.
Even so, Little One's situation hadn't improved. He still hadn't landed—he'd been sent flying more than ten meters higher into the air.
"Hehe, since you're up there, don't even think about coming down!"
Taking advantage of Little One's inability to push off in midair, Bai Yixin kept striking him, batting him upward like a shuttlecock and refusing to let him land. Little One had no chance of beating him that way.
After all, Little One couldn't fly.
"Waaah!"
"Brother Little White, I give up!"
Against Bai Yixin, who gave him no opening at all, Little One struggled up and down in the air for more than ten minutes, then finally had no choice but to surrender.
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