"If I hadn't returned in time, you would have attacked the village, slaughtered its women, children, and able-bodied men, then seized our inherited Precious Techniques. Every last one of you deserves to die. Killing you would be entirely justified."
The Azure Heaven Roc gave an annoyed snort, its gaze icy.
Those damned humans had nearly caused it to fail to complete the task entrusted to it by the Sacrificial Spirit. They could die a hundred times over and still not pay for it.
At this, the four clan chiefs looked uncomfortable.
Why had the four of them stayed hidden behind the scenes, holding back from acting?
Wasn't it because the Precious Techniques were so tempting? They had deliberately sent their clansmen in first to lead the charge, figuring that if things went badly, the four mightiest clan chiefs could still step in and clean up the mess.
But who could have guessed that this blasted village would pretend to be weak while hiding its true strength?
"But why did you have to attack my Peng'er? He was only six..."
The Lord of Luofu Marsh's eyes were bloodshot. He had yet to recover from the pain of losing his son.
"Then how about I send you down to keep him company?!"
Killing intent suddenly surged in the Azure Heaven Roc's shadowy eyes. Its fearsome, iron-hard talons shot out like lightning, lunging straight for the Lord of Luofu Marsh.
It meant to make an example of him!
"Roar! I'll fight you to the death!"
With the attack bearing down on him and nowhere to flee, the Lord of Luofu Marsh was both shocked and furious. He slammed his right fist into his chest, and a fiendishly vicious Flood Dragon burst free from the spine in his back. It was the remnant soul of an Ancient Fierce Flood Dragon, which he had long nurtured with his own blood essence.
"Roar!"
The Ancient Fierce Flood Dragon, its entire body wreathed in baleful energy, roared and rapidly swelled to more than two hundred zhang in size. It charged to meet the Azure Heaven Roc, claws and fangs bared.
"Bang!"
But in the next instant, the fearsome talons came down. The Ancient Fierce Flood Dragon's remnant soul could not hold out for even a second before it was crushed—along with the Lord of Luofu Marsh.
Elsewhere.
The moment the Azure Heaven Roc attacked, the three clan chiefs beneath it reacted with extraordinary intensity.
With a roar, Purple Mountain Marquis unleashed a torrent of purple qi that poured forth like an ocean. It swiftly formed into a towering giant of purple qi, which shielded him within.
Thunder boomed. Behind Thunder Marquis, whose entire body was threaded with lightning runes, the faint silhouette of an enormous thunderbird took shape.
The Golden Wolf Clan Chief, a tall, dignified old man, took an object from his arms. It blazed with light, like a dazzling golden sun illuminating the heavens and earth.
It was a glittering golden dagger made of bone.
Before the Golden Wolf Tribe migrated, it had paid tribute year after year to a supreme Ancient Kingdom.
The clan chief of that time had rendered unparalleled service in battle to the Ancient Kingdom. For his achievements, the Human Emperor had rewarded him with a powerful treasure made from a tooth shed by the Ancient Kingdom's Sacrificial Spirit. Its might was terrifying.
The Wolf Tooth Dagger, the Golden Wolf Tribe's foremost Ancestral Artifact!
"Roar!"
Under the immense pressure, the Golden Divine Wolf threw back its head and roared.
It was shedding its skin. The fur along its back split apart and quickly peeled away, and from within stepped a slightly smaller yet far more brilliant and extraordinary Golden Divine Wolf.
The old skin left behind swelled as well, swiftly transforming into a Divine Wolf identical in appearance to the Golden Divine Wolf. It bared its teeth, warily facing the attack from the sky.
The instant it shed its old skin, the Golden Divine Wolf's cultivation surged from the peak of the Spirit Transformation Realm to the threshold of the Inscription Realm, making it even slightly stronger than Purple Mountain Marquis.
As it turned out, the Golden Divine Wolf had already undergone rebirth once, shedding a layer of old skin.
This great secret had always been known only to the Golden Wolf Clan Chief. The wolf had kept its strength hidden, planning to reveal it only after fully entering the Inscription Realm.
It truly deserved its title as the foremost Sacrificial Spirit within a radius of fifty thousand li.
Unfortunately, the situation was no longer under the wolf's control, and it had been forced to reveal its secret early.
Even though the three clan chiefs and the Golden Divine Wolf reacted with such force, they still did not dare launch an attack. Instead, they secretly rejoiced at the Lord of Luofu Marsh's grisly death.
The attack didn't seem to be aimed at their clans?
Better another fellow die than oneself. Excellent!
"Beneath an avalanche, not a single snowflake is innocent."
After killing the Lord of Luofu Marsh with one strike, the Azure Heaven Roc did not attack again. Instead, it murmured the words, then drew over the Flood Dragon bones that had burst out nearby and passed them to Little Shi on its back.
The ancient Flood Dragon bone seemed to record the Fierce Flood Dragon Precious Technique of Luofu Marsh.
"Your Excellency, we are willing to compensate your village for its losses. Could we put this matter behind us?"
The three clan chiefs exchanged glances, then ventured a tentative offer.
Whatever the cost, they first had to escape, then find a way to take the surviving members of their clans with them.
"Honestly, if I just killed you, I could get what I want just as easily."
His words left the clan chiefs drenched in cold sweat. But then the Azure Heaven Roc changed tack and left the decision to the figure on its back. "Enough. Little one, I'll leave the rest to you."
With that, the Azure Heaven Roc carried Shi Hao down to the ground.
"If you want the village to put this behind us, that's not impossible. Just hand over all the inherited Precious Techniques of your respective clans."
Shi Hao jumped down, then added after a moment's thought, "Oh, right. The Golden Wolf Tribe doesn't need to hand over its Precious Technique, but the dagger in the clan chief's hand and that Divine Wolf Pelt must be handed over."
The Wolf Tooth Dagger, the Golden Wolf Tribe's foremost Ancestral Artifact.
The Divine Wolf Pelt could turn whoever wore it into a Golden Divine Wolf and temporarily grant them the formidable strength of the Spirit Transformation Realm.
"This..."
The Golden Wolf Clan Chief gripped the Wolf Tooth Dagger tightly, his heart bleeding with every passing moment.
But the Golden Divine Wolf was a beast, and the sight of the Azure Heaven Roc—a fully grown Ancient Relic—had already scared it witless. Without a moment's hesitation, it offered up its pelt, then turned and fled.
"Sacrificial Spirit! Sacrificial Spirit!"
The dumbstruck Golden Wolf clan chief opened and closed his mouth helplessly, then resigned himself to hurling the Wolf Tooth Dagger away. He hurried after the ancient Sacrificial Spirit his tribe had worshipped for countless ages.
"Ah! Fine, we'll hand them over!"
Seeing that all was lost and they could do nothing alone, Purple Mountain Marquis and Thunder Marquis sighed in unison. With heavy hearts, they handed over their clans' inherited Precious Techniques.
One piece of Ancient Beast Skin and one dull beast bone, each engraved with the Purple Qi Secret Technique of the Zishan Tribe and the Thunderbird Precious Technique of the Thunder Department.
Thunderbirds were descendants of the ancient thunder beast, the Thunder Sky Sparrow.
After that, the two clan chiefs hurriedly gathered up the remaining powerful members of their clans and fled toward the depths of the mountains. They didn't even dare take the flying treasures or the many unusual mounts their clansmen had left behind.
The forces of the twenty or thirty other great clans did not dare linger either. Afraid that Shi the Skinflint would strip another layer of fat from them, they quickly fled together.
"Mutated Scaled Horses, black panthers, Moon Rhinos, Feathered Tigers, Unicorns... Heh, the village's made a fortune this time! Especially with the Unicorns—they can travel ten thousand li in a day, and can even evolve into Primordial Pegasi, the finest steeds!"
The people of Stone Village didn't mind. They rushed out of the village in high spirits, leading back all the unusual mounts the various tribes had left behind. They made sure not to leave a single treasure behind, either.
"Senior, please wait a moment."
The trio from Cloud Heaven Palace—one old man and two youths—had just been about to slip away on their white Snow Feathers when a familiar voice came from behind them.
"Uh, little brother Shi Hao, Cloud Heaven Palace has never held any ill will toward your village."
The old man from Cloud Heaven Palace stiffened, then turned around trembling, his face full of misery as he spoke.
Before you continue