"Child, thank you for coming to our aid."
An old man stepped out from the crowd and smiled at Bai Yixin, the little child who had suddenly appeared.
The group came from a place called Stone Village. The old man was their clan chief, Shi Yunfeng.
"I've just never seen a creature that looks like me before, so I was curious... Besides, maybe Little One could've handled those two tigers even without me."
Bai Yixin looked at Little One, who had just killed the giant Biao and was standing there in a daze, and said something strange.
"Child, how old are you? Are your parents nearby?" Shi Yunfeng was slightly taken aback. What did he mean, a creature that looked like him? Could this child really not even know the basic fact that people existed?
Shi Yunfeng carefully studied Bai Yixin, the strange child who had so cleanly killed the giant Biao, and suddenly realized that he was astonishingly young.
"Six," Bai Yixin said shamelessly, leaving out the twenty-two that came after it.
"Parents? I don't have any. I've always been alone."
"Knowledge just appeared in my head. It said having parents seems like a very happy thing." Bai Yixin raised his hands and rubbed his temples, deliberately covering his eyes so he wouldn't give himself away.
"Born knowing... an Immortal Reincarnation?" Shi Yunfeng had once ventured beyond the Great Wilderness and seen a little of the world. Those eight words suddenly surfaced in his mind.
"Big brother, what's your name?" Little One, who looked like a white porcelain doll, came over and gazed up at Bai Yixin with big, shining eyes, asking the handsome big brother who had saved his people.
"My name's Bai Yixin. What's yours, Little One?" Bai Yixin patted Little One's head and pinched his soft, fair cheek, the corners of his mouth lifting into a smile.
"I... I'm Shi... Shi Hao," Little One stammered in reply.
Christ! Could this really be Perfect World?!
He'd suspected as much, but having it confirmed still shook Bai Yixin to the core.
His mind was in turmoil, but after more than a month of life-or-death trials, his tempered resolve held firm. The smile on his face remained unchanged.
A long cry suddenly rang out from the clouds. A blue-scaled eagle, its feathers gleaming with a cold light, swooped down toward the group, whipping up a violent gust.
Almost instinctively, Bai Yixin drew his short sword and cleaved through the gale rushing toward him.
"Green-Scaled Eagle?" Bai Yixin steadied himself and looked up at the eagle, thinking.
The Green-Scaled Eagle glanced sideways, its scales gleaming coldly as though forged from refined metal. Its presence was icy and imposing, and its eyes shone as it gazed down at them.
"Big brother, she's Auntie Green. She's with us." Little One said this to Bai Yixin, then waved toward the Green-Scaled Eagle and shouted.
"Auntie Green, hurry up! We're running out of time!"
The wind howled as the Green-Scaled Eagle swooped down. Its wings spread fifteen or sixteen meters wide, like a dark cloud pressing down, casting a shadow that made everyone's hearts tremble.
With a whoosh, Shi Hao leaped five or six meters into the air and landed on the eagle's broad back.
"Little One, don't take any risks!" Chief Shi Yunfeng shouted. Everything had happened too quickly. Before he could stop him, Shi Hao had already leaped aboard.
"Don't worry, Chief Grandpa. We won't take any risks. We'll only act when we find an opportunity." Shi Hao waved his little hand to reassure him.
"Little One, be careful!"
"I know. Chief Grandpa, you should all go back first. It's too dangerous here. Even if our whole clan went out, we wouldn't stand much of a chance."
The others fell silent. It was a fact. Even if every able-bodied adult attacked together, they'd be swallowed by the hundreds of frenzied beasts, leaving their blood in the mountain forests.
"Let's go!" Chief Shi Yunfeng waved his hand and gave the order. Otherwise, they might bring disaster upon themselves.
"Child, would you like to come back with us?" Shi Yunfeng hadn't forgotten Bai Yixin, the child who might be an Immortal Reincarnation. With a smile, he extended an invitation.
"Okay." Bai Yixin slowly put away his short sword. He paused, as if hesitating over something, then finally nodded.
"Good child."
"Little Bai, we'll throw you a welcome party when we get back!"
Once Bai Yixin agreed to return to Stone Village with them, the others gathered around him, warm and welcoming.
For one thing, they'd soon be villagers together. For another, Bai Yixin had come to their aid just in time, saving many of their people from being devoured by the Biao. A life-saving favor naturally earned him a great deal of goodwill.
No one suspected that Bai Yixin had bad intentions. After all, what harm could a six-year-old child possibly have in mind?
I've successfully blended in! Nice! Bai Yixin secretly rejoiced. At last, he had a safe place where he could sleep comfortably.
Luckily, he'd run into Stone Village. If he'd encountered anyone else, they wouldn't have figured out so quickly that this was Perfect World.
And if he hadn't made it into Stone Village, the only officially designated safe zone, then when the four Venerables fighting over the Mountain Treasure began wreaking havoc across the land, he'd have faced certain death—or at the very least, a nine-in-ten chance of it!
Bai Yixin was just a six-year-old child now. Where could he run? That was a calamity that would leave blood flowing for a hundred thousand miles!
Terrifying. Utterly terrifying!
No wonder his sense of impending danger had been growing lately. So this was Perfect World! And the final battle for the Mountain Treasure was already close at hand!
"All right, all right. Let's hurry back to the village. This place isn't safe to linger in!" Shi Yunfeng pushed aside the villagers crowding around Bai Yixin to fuss over him, took the child's hand, and led him toward Stone Village.
They'd already wasted a lot of time and needed to leave quickly. If they ran into more ferocious beasts, they'd have to pay with more lives to escape.
Stone Village wasn't very large. Men, women, and children together numbered just over three hundred. The houses were built from giant stones, plain and simple.
At the head of the village stood a huge Lightning Struck Wood, more than ten meters in diameter. A single Willow Branch grew from its trunk, plain and ordinary.
"They're back!" A crowd of women and children had been waiting at the village entrance for a long time. When they saw dozens of people appear on the horizon, they cheered. The fear and unease in their hearts vanished, and they called out loudly.
"Father and the others made it back safely!"
"Heavens, they brought back so much prey! What a haul!"
The journey back had gone smoothly. With Bai Yixin's help, they'd even wiped out a few waves of beasts foolish enough to attack them. Nearly every one of the dozens of adult men dragged a huge beast behind him, including enormous Dragon-Horned Elephants, Flying Pythons as thick as barrels with wings growing from their sides, and two headless giant Biaos...
The village elders looked on in amazement. These creatures were usually hard to deal with, and some were considered ferocious beasts. To have hunted so many today, all of them bloodied, was truly unexpected.
Take the Dragon-Horned Elephant, for instance. Its body was as hard as iron, and even iron spears could barely pierce it. Its pair of dragon horns were as sharp as drills and could easily smash boulders. The Flying Python, with giant wings growing from its ribs, was a mountain-forest killer. It could suddenly swoop down from a mountaintop to strike, terrifyingly vicious. As for the giant Biao, its body was incredibly powerful and terrifying, with astonishingly lethal strength. When hunting, the villagers usually did their best to avoid encountering such creatures.
"This time, we have Bai Yixin to thank for everything." Shi Linhu set down the giant Biao's carcass and slapped Bai Yixin on the shoulder, laughing heartily as he introduced him to the villagers.
"Hello, Grandpas, Grandmas, Uncles, Aunties, big brothers, and big sisters." Wanting to make a good first impression, Bai Yixin greeted the villagers who had come over, polite and a little shy.
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