The Shi Clan's Foundation

The grand harvest of the hunting team stirred the entire village. Almost every household was dispatching hands, working without pause to process the mountain of fierce beast carcasses piled at the village entrance.

"The brow bone of the Old Suanni can be crafted into a Suanni Treasure Mirror, the wings of the Devil Ape can be fashioned into Demon Wings, and the pair of horns from the Separated Fire Bull Demon can be forged into Bull Demon Twin Blades."

"If we add the Beast Tooth Bracelet made from the teeth shed by the old Sacrificial Spirit of Bei Village, our village will possess four powerful artifacts..."

A white-haired elder with a ruddy complexion circled the three ancient relic carcasses in excitement, his eyes glowing with fervor.

He was the only person in the village who knew how to forge artifacts.

The elders gathered to discuss how to fully utilize these three precious ancient relic bodies: specific parts would be crafted into artifacts, the true blood would be combined with ancient formulas to baptize the children's physical bodies, and the flesh, rich in divine energy, would be prepared as potent medicine...

"Little One, how has your physical tempering progressed?"

At this moment, Shi Hao was called over by the Willow Deity.

"Fifteen thousand jin with one arm, and with both arms... well, I'm not entirely sure, thirty thousand jin, perhaps even more?"

Shi Hao scratched his head, speaking with uncertainty.

"Even True Hou and Golden Winged Rocs, when tempering their young, only require them to lift one hundred thousand jin of divine iron with both arms. Not bad; you have reached the limit of the Blood Moving Realm, achieving perfection."

The Willow Deity replied with a smile after a brief silence.

"Does that mean I can now begin practicing the techniques you spoke of?"

Little Shi's eyes lit up upon hearing this; he had finally waited for this day.

"Of course, but since you have brought back three ancient relics, it would be better to first utilize their true blood for a comprehensive physical baptism; the results will be even better."

"I had originally intended to bestow upon you an ancient formula from the primordial era used by heavenly-tier ancient fierce beasts to build a foundation for their young, but having observed the several foundation-building formulas passed down in this village, I see they are no less potent, so I shall refrain."

The charred willow tree swayed slightly, and gusts of gentle wind brushed against them.

Stone Village appeared to be in decline, but in reality, its heritage was extraordinary.

The Stone Clan originally possessed five great ancient formulas, categorized into foundation building, baptism, and medicine refining.

During the primordial era, the Stone Clan Holy Emperor emerged from the ancestral lands of the Stone Clan and established an ancient imperial kingdom in the Desolate Region.

To ensure the continuity of their heritage, the far-sighted Holy Emperor deliberately severed the connection between the Stone Kingdom and the ancestral lands, allowing them to develop separately, one in the light and one in the shadows, without interfering with each other.

Initially, both the Stone Kingdom and the ancestral lands possessed the five great ancient formulas, but the Stone Kingdom lost the most precious one—the formula for refining the Lesser Nirvana Pill—amidst the changes of history.

The Lesser Nirvana Pill was a powerful ancient formula capable of helping top-tier Array Formation kings undergo another nirvana, thereby pushing toward the Venerable Realm.

The Venerable Realm was a level reached only by the Human Emperors of ancient kingdoms or the Daoist ancestors of great sects.

However, the five great ancient formulas of the Stone Clan ancestral lands had always been firmly held by the village; it was Little Shi, having walked out from the ancestral lands, who brought the refining method for the Lesser Nirvana Pill back to the Stone Kingdom.

As for the ancestral artifacts, the Stone Kingdom's royal treasury contained four divine artifacts and one true divine artifact, while Stone Village possessed three true divine artifacts: the arm bone, the beast skin, and the ancient tripod. Stone Village was superior.

In terms of heritage, Stone Village, the ancestral land of the Stone Clan, completely surpassed the Stone Kingdom.

The so-called decline of the Stone Clan ancestral lands was merely a superficial phenomenon; the true, ancient heritage had not been lost in the slightest, remaining even more complete than that of the ancient kingdom in the outside world.

As long as a true prodigy emerged, they could lead the Stone Clan ancestral lands to a rapid resurgence, and Little Shi, who later walked out of Stone Village, was proof of this.

The Stone Clan had two lineages: the Stone Kingdom and the ancestral lands.

The two supreme techniques inherited by the Stone Kingdom were those of the Suanni and the Bian, while the true divine artifacts inherited by the ancestral lands were the Suanni arm bone and the Bian beast skin.

This inevitably led one to suspect that the Stone Clan Holy Emperor, that man who walked out of the Great Wilderness, had once hunted two true divine-tier primordial beasts, taking their bones to craft ancestral artifacts and observing their methods to create inherited techniques—a truly peerless powerhouse.

Furthermore, although the inherited techniques of the Stone Clan ancestral lands had been lost, they had regained the two great techniques of the Azure Roc and the Suanni, which was not much worse than the other lineage.

After all, whether it was an ancient clan, a great sect, or an ancient kingdom, they usually only inherited one supreme technique, paired with a few minor divine abilities, to dominate a region.

To possess two was to have a profound heritage indeed.

"A physical baptism? I understand, Willow Deity."

Shi Hao nodded and withdrew as instructed.

Night shrouded the earth, dotted with a few stars.

To celebrate the harvest, the villagers sang and danced around piles of bonfires.

They drank and ate meat to their hearts' content, the children chased and played happily, and the elders sat to the side, watching it all with smiles.

Joy filled every corner of the village, warm and inviting.

Meanwhile, the elders who mastered the inheritance of Bone Text quietly began to busy themselves.

The thousand-jin Bronze Tripod, the five-thousand-jin Black Gold Tripod, the eight-thousand-jin Hou-Patterned Cauldron, and the ten-thousand-jin Black Ancient Tripod were all moved out from the corners.

Among them, the Black Ancient Tripod looked the most mysterious; its pitch-black surface was engraved with mountains, rivers, sun, and moon, as well as flowers, birds, insects, and fish. It even depicted scenes of ancient ancestors emerging from the Great Wilderness, enduring hardships to create a great legacy.

"Little One, the village intends to use today's harvest to give you children a proper medicinal bath baptism."

"Those powerful ancient clans outside the Great Wilderness perform foundation-building baptisms on their clan members at the ages of five, ten, and fifteen to lay the strongest foundation, hoping they will achieve greatness in the future."

"You are five years old this year, so the timing for this baptism is just right."

Seeing Shi Hao staring intently at the elders' movements, the village chief Shi Yunfeng stroked his head and spoke.

Shi Hao nodded gently.

However, Shi Yunfeng clearly misunderstood something, as he said with a hint of guilt, "Grandpa knows your talent is no worse than the legendary cubs of Archaic vicious beasts, but this is all the village can do for you."

"We've rummaged through every chest and cabinet to find these few tattered ancient recipes and a handful of medicine cauldrons that are barely usable. I know these can't fully nurture or transform your divine potential, and I hope you don't blame me or the village."

Shi Hao lowered his head upon hearing this, his expression extremely peculiar.

Ancient recipes comparable to those used to build the foundations of top-tier Archaic beast cubs, medicine cauldrons that reached the rank of True Artifacts, and the complete precious bodies of three supreme Archaic remnants—even the sons of the Human Emperor in the ancient kingdoms didn't receive such treatment.

With such terrifying resources provided, Grandpa Chief was still asking him not to blame the village.

Willow Deity above, is this even something a person should say?!!

Hmm, should he tell Grandpa Chief the truth?

Forget it, forget it. Although Grandpa Chief is a late-stage Cave Heaven Realm cultivator, he is getting on in years after all. It's better to wait until the time is right in the future!

"Grandpa, it's fine. This is already more than enough."

Thinking this, Shi Hao shook his head as if nothing were the matter.

"Sigh, what a good child~"

Hearing this, Shi Yunfeng's eyes grew slightly moist as he patted Little Shi firmly on the shoulder.