"I know. Shi Hao was only trying to warn you, senior. Powerful beings are fighting over the Mountain Treasure now that it has appeared. Even our village cannot afford to get involved. It would be best if the Cloud Clan stayed out of this matter."
Shi Hao glanced at the old man from Cloud Heaven Palace, who looked as though he were facing a formidable enemy, and spoke with amusement.
The Cloud Clan, which had founded Cloud Heaven Palace, had a far longer history and deeper foundations than the Purple Mountain Clan or the Thunder Department. Its bloodline originated in the Upper Realm.
Among the three thousand continents of the Upper Realm, the Cloud Clan controlled an entire continent, known as Cloud Province. It was also an Immortal Orthodoxy renowned throughout the region. In terms of its foundations, it was hardly weaker than the Celestial Clan, which controlled Heaven Province.
The Upper Realm was in turmoil. It was good to make a favorable connection in advance.
With that thought, Little Shi smiled at the pair of twin sisters from Cloud Heaven Palace. The two beauties turned pale with fright, much to his chagrin.
"Powerful beings are fighting? Could it be..."
The old man from Cloud Heaven Palace stirred, his expression growing even more solemn. He didn't dare say another word and could only clasp his hands in a salute. "Thank you for your kind warning, young brother Shi Hao. This old man will take his leave."
With that, he sent the pristine Snow Feather flying and sped off toward the horizon.
"Grandpa Clan Chief, we've had another great harvest."
Shi Hao withdrew his gaze and handed the ancient items offered by the clan chiefs to Shi Yunfeng.
"A great harvest is always good. The village can add three more powerful precious arts, along with two formidable treasures. The children will grow even stronger."
Shi Yunfeng cheerfully accepted the ancient items and repeatedly fondled them, unable to put them down.
Under the leadership of Shi Linhu, Shi Feijiao, and the others, the villagers swiftly cleaned up the battlefield outside the village, leaving not a single spoils of war behind.
"Deep in the Great Wilderness, the standoff between the powerful beings fighting over the Mountain Treasure is about to end. It probably won't be more than a few days before they erupt into an all-out battle."
"The village should store as much food as possible over the next few days. In three days, I will completely seal off the village. We'll stay far away from this disaster. Azure Heaven Roc, your family should help as well."
Just as the villagers were returning to the village, Willow Deity suddenly spoke from the entrance.
"Fighting over the Mountain Treasure? A battle between powerful beings?"
The old clan chief was startled. He hurriedly conferred in low voices with the other clan elders about how to urgently stockpile as much food as possible and prepare various other contingencies.
"Willow Deity, are you going to use a great divine ability to move the village away?"
Once the villagers had dispersed, Shi Hao, who had secretly stayed behind, asked.
He remembered that in the original story, Willow Deity had moved the village directly to a hidden paradise ten thousand miles away and sealed it off for a year.
"No. I'll simply activate the divine formation to conceal the village. I don't wish to fight those powerful beings, but they are no match for me."
"Besides, a high-grade divine corpse is buried beneath Stone Village. I still need to absorb its divinity and nourishment to restore my strength, and I don't want to make a major fuss over this."
Willow Deity replied.
Shi Hao asked curiously, "A high-grade divine corpse? What level of deity was it?"
"Probably a Heavenly Deity. Once I've recovered a little more of my strength, I'll hand the corpse over to you so you can strengthen the village."
Willow Deity spoke as though it were of no importance.
A Heavenly Deity was among the most powerful beings of the three divine ranks. They could regenerate severed limbs, and a single drop of divine blood could collapse a mountain range. Their divine might could overwhelm anyone of a lower realm; they were kings among deities.
"A Heavenly Deity who has already fallen?"
Shi Hao's eyes lit up, and he was thrilled.
Even with most of its divinity absorbed by Willow Deity, a Heavenly Deity's corpse would still possess boundless divine might. It might even be able to produce several powerful Venerables for the village.
But come to think of it, why was a Heavenly Deity's corpse buried beneath the Shi Clan's Ancestral Land?
Could it have been the work of the Stone Clan Holy Emperor, who had emerged from the Shi Clan's Ancestral Land?
If so, the Stone Clan Holy Emperor had to be at least a top-tier Heavenly Deity.
"Mm. Go help your people prepare to seal the village."
Willow Deity spoke softly. Shi Hao turned and left, deep in thought.
Three days later.
"Rumble!"
A deafening boom suddenly rang out from deep in the mountains. In an instant, radiant light blazed in every direction, and a translucent object no bigger than a palm floated in the center of a column of light.
The Mountain Treasure had appeared!
"Roar! The Mountain Treasure is mine!"
Amid the dense mists, a Primordial Ferocious Beast that towered between heaven and earth struggled to its feet. Fiendish energy swirled around it, its massive body rising into the clouds. Its pair of oily green eyes were like two lakes set into the sky.
"Qiongqi, you think you're worthy?"
The Ancient Demonic Bird, hidden among the clouds, gave a cold snort and swept down with its pair of Cloud-Drooping Wings. Its blood-red eyes were as evil as two blood moons hanging high in the Nine Heavens. Its enormous body, which blotted out the sky, slowly emerged into view.
"Rumble!"
On the other side, the mountains shook and the earth split apart as all the beasts fled.
A small scarlet sparrow cried out to the heavens, its blazing scarlet flames burning half the sky.
Suddenly, a furry golden claw swung the Heaven-Reaching Demon Staff down, shattering heaven and earth. It belonged to a golden creature with Three Heads and Six Arms.
At that moment, the four most powerful beings launched into an all-out battle!
The astonishing upheaval deep in the mountains immediately put the entire Stone Village on high alert.
"The Mountain Treasure has appeared again! Powerful beings are fighting over it!"
"After two years, that battle is finally going to reach its conclusion!"
"Thanks to our Sacrificial Spirit, the village is fully prepared."
Watching the Great Wilderness change in an instant, several white-haired clan elders knelt in reverence beneath the charred willow tree at the village entrance.
"I wonder when I'll be able to reach the same realm as those four powerful beings!"
The adult Azure Heaven Roc spread its enormous jade-green wings and sheltered its three trembling young beneath them, gazing gravely into the distance.
"Qiongqi, the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow, Zhu Yan, and the Vermilion Bird—four pure-blooded beings at the Venerable level, fighting each other. I'd love to bring them all back as guardian beasts for the village. Then the name of the First Ancestral Land of the Stone Clan would truly be deserved."
In the village, Shi Hao secretly drooled at the thought.
"The battle has begun. Seal the village!"
The charred willow tree swayed slightly and gently waved its Tender Green Willow Branches, releasing boundless light. Dense radiance enveloped the entire ancient village, making it vanish from the world in an instant.
"Hmm, that's..."
The powerful being hidden within the mist seemed to sense something and lowered its oily green gaze. But the enormous ferocious bird stretching across the Heavenly Domain relentlessly continued its fierce assault, its attacks shaking the heavens.
This infuriated the former, who could only fly into a rage and fight back.
The battle between the four powerful beings continued for more than two full months before it finally came to an end.
During that time, Qiongqi and the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow tried to keep the news of the Mountain Treasure's appearance under wraps. They rallied the mountain beasts and, led by more than a dozen adult Ancient Relics, swept across a hundred thousand miles of wilderness, laying waste to one giant city after another.
Even with Zhu Yan and the Vermilion Bird stepping in to stop them, the tide could not be turned.
The Purple Mountain Clan, the Thunder Clan, the Golden Wolf Tribe, Luofu Marsh... These super clans, each ruling over tens of millions, were destroyed beneath the terrifying beast tide. Only the deeply rooted Cloud Clan escaped the calamity.
Then, on this day, a vast green radiance burst across the sky. Stone Village, sealed off for more than two months, finally appeared once more at its original site.
At the village entrance, the charred willow tree remained as it had been.
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