Original True Interpretation

"Willow Deity, could you take a look at this for me?" Bai Yixin took out the Bone Cube he had found earlier.

A tender green branch descended from the charred trunk of the willow tree. An invisible force lifted the Bone Cube from Bai Yixin's hands and held it aloft.

"It is made of the same bone as the Original True Interpretation. There is a Restriction on it, and it can only be opened with a specific method."

"I found it outside. Can you open it, Willow Deity?" Bai Yixin asked, hope shining in his eyes.

"No."

A trace of disappointment crossed Bai Yixin's face, but he had expected this, so he quickly regained his composure.

Willow Deity had only just awakened from her Nirvana. She might have forgotten many things, and her power might not even be one hundred-millionth of what it had been at her peak.

Still, hearing Willow Deity say she couldn't do it left Bai Yixin a little disappointed. If she could open it, he would not only gain a powerful technique, but also have no shortage of Treasure Techniques.

After all, the Bone Cube contained the inheritance of the Supreme Hall!

"Little Bai, there you are."

The old clan chief, Shi Yunfeng, came over with Little One.

"Grandpa Chief, what do you need me for?" Bai Yixin caught Furry Ball as it lunged for the Bone Cube in his palm, gave it a fierce rub, then tossed it a piece of dried meat to distract it.

Shi Yunfeng's expression was solemn as he addressed Bai Yixin and Little One. "Children, there is nothing more I can teach you. You are both true prodigies, born with extraordinary talent. I still have a bone here, covered in Runes so complicated that just one look is enough to make a person spit blood. I never dared show it to you before, afraid you would be badly hurt. But now I have nothing else to teach you. This is all that remains, so be very careful!"

Shi Yunfeng cautiously took a bone from inside his robes. It was lustrous and white, like a palm-sized piece of fine jade—pure, translucent, and dazzlingly clear.

Though small, it was densely covered in countless symbols. Faintly, the chanting of gods and demons from the Heavens seemed to ring out, making one's blood churn.

It was astonishing. It was only a bone, yet the moment it appeared, it was already so extraordinary.

"Don't stare at it for too long. After each glance, look away for a while, or you'll hurt yourself," the old clan chief warned gravely.

"Mm, Grandpa Chief, I know." Bai Yixin took it and gently rubbed its smooth surface. It felt cool to the bone and wonderfully comfortable in his hands.

"This texture..."

The bone really did feel exactly like the Bone Cube.

"Willow Deity, is this the Original True Interpretation you mentioned?" Bai Yixin looked up at her, asking a question he already knew the answer to.

"Brother Little White, how did you know it was called the Original True Interpretation?" Little One asked, unable to hold back his curiosity.

"I just asked Willow Deity, and she told me." Bai Yixin handed the Bone Cube to Little One.

"I found this one."

The fist-sized Furry Ball squeaked incessantly, scratching its head and cheeks. When it saw the Bone Cube in Little One's hands, it darted over and clung to the white bone like a golden koala, refusing to let go.

It was clearly saying, This is mine! Nobody else can have it!

Could this be the Mountain Treasure? The old clan chief wondered.

After all, the bone he had taken out had descended from beyond the heavens alongside Willow Deity. And now Bai Yixin had found a Bone Cube outside that was made of the same material as the bone in his hands. It was hard not to think that such a precious object might be the Mountain Treasure that had appeared earlier.

They were clearly both extraordinary.

Shi Yunfeng didn't dwell on whether it was the Mountain Treasure. Instead, he asked Willow Deity, "Please guide us, Willow Deity. How exactly should we cultivate the Original True Interpretation?"

This concerned the children's futures. It was the most important thing right now.

"To comprehend the Original True Interpretation, you must first lay the firmest possible foundation.

"While still young, in the Blood-Moving Realm, you must be like the young of Heaven-Ranked Primordial Fierce Beasts: able to lift one hundred thousand jin of divine iron with your physical strength, and temper your will until it is harder than iron. Only then will you be ready."

The willow tree spoke, and her words made the old clan chief's heart tremble.

"We're confident we can do it as quickly as possible, right, Little One?" Bai Yixin said with a smile.

"Mm! I'll work hard!" Little One nodded earnestly, his gaze resolute.

From that day on, the two began an even more arduous training regimen. Unlike their previous cultivation, this time they occasionally received guidance from Willow Deity, tempering their bodies and strengthening their bones and muscles.

Every day, the villagers could see Bai Yixin and Little One charging across the earth while carrying ferocious beasts weighing tens of thousands of jin.

They also took medicinal baths regularly: a small bath every three days, and a grand bath every seven. They tried every ancient recipe recorded in the village.

There was no need to worry about medicinal ingredients. The treasure-rich land they had found not only solved their food shortage, but also provided them with all kinds of spiritual herbs.

They could find traces of almost every ingredient mentioned in the ancient recipes. Meat stews and medicinal powders prepared with them had remarkable effects.

The most precious was a recipe Willow Deity had given them, one used to lay the foundation for the young of Heaven-Ranked Primordial Fierce Beasts. Although substitutes had to be used for every ingredient, with Zhu Yan's blood from Furry Ball as the main ingredient, the results were still astonishing!

Several dozen li away, stone mountains stood side by side, with raging waterfalls hanging from them. Perhaps they could no longer be called waterfalls, but were more like mountain torrents. Their rumbling was so loud it nearly deafened anyone who heard it.

Three great rivers converged and rushed through the rocky mountains. Below lay a vast valley, where they formed a sweeping cliff. The waters raged as if cascading down from beyond the heavens, forming curtains of waterfalls as rocks tumbled down with them.

At this place, even approaching was terrifying, let alone climbing against the current. The boundless mountain torrents were simply too fearsome. Countless boulders hurtled down with them, many weighing several thousand, even ten thousand jin. With the water's force carrying them down from such a height, how powerful would their impact be? It was enough to make one's soul tremble!

This was the training ground Willow Deity had recommended. She wanted Bai Yixin and Little One to climb up the cliff against the mountain torrents, enduring the falling boulders as they went.

Boom!

The moment Bai Yixin stepped beneath the waterfall, its white torrents knocked him off his feet and sent him tumbling away. The waterfall plunged from stone cliffs hundreds, even thousands of meters high. Its force was tremendous.

He didn't rush to climb right away. With difficulty, Bai Yixin stood on a rock beneath the waterfall, first using the white torrents to temper his body. Once he had adjusted, he would try climbing.

An unending, ceaseless force battered Bai Yixin's body. The torrents were so fierce that every muscle in his body trembled.

But that was still manageable. What he really had to watch out for were the things that occasionally fell from the top of the waterfall—giant trees or boulders. If one hit him, he would be badly injured even if he wasn't crushed into a lump of flesh.

But Bai Yixin wasn't the sort to take needless risks. After all, he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

With Bai Yixin's keen spiritual sense, even if a boulder came crashing down on him, he would have enough time to shield himself with Spiritual Energy—so long as he wasn't being reckless.

Bai Yixin and Little One left early and returned late. They went out full of energy in the morning and came back covered in injuries, then drank a pot of simmered Treasure Medicine and slept soundly through the night. Day after day, they repeated the routine, living full and satisfying lives.