Blood Moving Realm

Two years later, Little Shi was four and a half.

In an open space at the northeast corner of the village, a group of kids around ten years old were wrestling.

They gathered together, bare-chested, their sturdy muscles on display as they lifted stone disks or enormous cauldrons, now and then shouting, "Heave-ho, heave-ho!" Their laughter never stopped.

The huge stone millstone weighed well over a thousand pounds, yet most of the boys there could lift it with ease, as though it weighed nothing.

It seemed that over the years, the village elders had painstakingly brewed all sorts of potent medicines from the true blood of vicious beasts and ancient recipes, using them to temper the children's bodies. The results had been excellent.

Perhaps they had played themselves tired. Before long, the little monkeys lost interest in competing and sat down in twos and threes to chat.

"Uncle Lin Hu said a vicious bird called the Green-Scaled Eagle recently came to the mountains. It built a nest not far from the village and laid several eggs. If it settles here and breeds, it'll be dangerous for our village to go in and out of the mountains."

"It's on a cliff about ten miles east of the village. Uncle Lin Hu and Uncle Fei Jiao are already observing the Green-Scaled Eagle's habits, to see if they can get rid of its nest."

"Heh, the nest isn't that far from the village. Why don't we go steal those eggs together? Then our village will have vicious birds guarding it. How impressive would that be?"

Dazhuang, Ermeng, and Pihou, some of the older children, were the liveliest.

"The Green-Scaled Eagle is here? Then it can't be long until the Willow Deity awakens."

Among the crowd, the somewhat frail-looking Little Stone thought to himself.

"Little One, why aren't you saying anything? Want to come with us? I heard from my father that you've already reached that thing called the Blood Moving Realm. You must be pretty strong, right?"

Pihou, whose proper name was Shi Zhonghou, was skinny as a rake but very clever. Among the village children, he often played the role of their strategist.

"Yeah, I'm in the late stage of the Blood Moving Realm. Strong? I'm all right, I guess. I probably just eat two more bowls of rice than you."

Shi Hao leaned against a stone stump and answered casually.

After two years of growing, Little Shi had grown sturdier, but among the rough-and-tough children of the Great Wilderness, he still looked delicate and refined.

"Two more bowls of rice? I think you mean two more jars of milk."

Pihou exchanged a glance with his companions, and they all burst out laughing.

"Who on earth let that slip... Hmph, forget it. I'm not talking to you. Actually, I was weaned when I was three. Really!"

Shi Hao's fair face turned bright red. He immediately got up to leave.

It wasn't that the willpower of the Desolate Heaven Emperor was weak. It was just that the Hundred-Beast Milk was so delicious!

"Hahaha, Little One, if you don't want to come, then don't. Just remember, you absolutely mustn't tell the village elders about this."

Watching Little Shi flee in a sorry state, Dazhuang tried to hold back his laughter as he called after him.

"A real man keeps his word. If I say I won't tell, then I won't."

The retreating figure seemed to answer, then quickly vanished from sight.

Half an hour later, a chorus of wails and howls shattered the village's peace.

"I told you to go raid the Green-Scaled Eagle's nest? I told you! Even Big Brother Lin Hu wouldn't dare touch that vicious bird's nest, and you had the nerve to go!"

"And you, Dazhuang! You're the older brother, yet you set a bad example, taking your younger brother along to do something so dangerous every day. I'm going to beat you to death!"

"Pihou! Where's Pihou? Get out here!"

"Waaah, Father, I was wrong! I won't ever do it again..."

The furious roars of the grown men and the children's pleas for mercy tangled together and drifted over the village, drawing the elders out to watch with cheerful smiles.

Mm, those cries were full and loud. The children seemed quite healthy.

"My foolish brothers, how could a four-year-old like me count as a real man? I'm still just an ignorant child!"

On a stone stump by the village entrance, the culprit, Shi Hao, held a jar of beast milk. He stirred it now and then with a wooden spoon and brought it to his mouth, so happy his eyes were nearly squeezed shut.

Moon Rhino Milk was clear and lustrous, with a rich, mellow flavor.

The village chief had just rewarded him with it for his "noble deed."

The Green-Scaled Eagle was descended from the Ancient Demonic Bird, the Azure Heaven Roc. Though it wasn't an Ancient Relic, it was still an exceptionally ferocious bird. Once grown, it could rival a cultivator in the Cave Heaven Realm, while the very best could even match an existence in the Spirit Transformation Realm.

The mother Green-Scaled Eagle that had built a nest near Stone Village was undoubtedly a vicious bird in the Spirit Transformation Realm. One swipe of its talons would be enough to kill even Shi Linhu, the captain of the village hunting team.

According to the original course of events, Dazhuang and the other children first stole three eggs, then were chased by the Green-Scaled Eagle and hid in a cave. They only managed to make it back to Stone Village after the village's experts arrived with the two Ancestral Artifacts.

Every step had been perilous. One careless mistake, and the frenzied mother Green-Scaled Eagle could have swallowed the defenseless children whole, bringing about a tragedy.

Shi Hao didn't want his little companions, who were with him day in and day out, to meet their deaths because of a moment of mischief. But since he was already in the late stage of the Blood Moving Realm, he could give it a try.

First, as long as he avoided the Green-Scaled Eagle's feeding time, his chances of success would be high.

Second, even if the Green-Scaled Eagle spotted him, without his companions holding him back, he could rely on his mastery of Bone Text and knowledge of the terrain to retreat unharmed.

"Finished. Time to set off."

After swallowing the last spoonful of Moon Rhino Milk from the pottery jar, Shi Hao patted his bulging belly with satisfaction. He leaped up and vanished into the vast mountains like a nimble monkey.

The vast mountains stretched without end. Not only were they crawling with poisonous insects, but all kinds of beasts roamed there too. The roars that echoed from time to time were enough to scare an adult half to death.

But Shi Hao wasn't fazed.

Starting two years ago, Shi Hao had deliberately begun scouting the surrounding mountains.

Of course, with his weak strength, he didn't dare venture too far.

His goal, naturally, was the inheritance cast out by the Mystic Tortoise of the Supreme Hall—the so-called Mountain Treasure.

After all, the Mountain Treasure had appeared two years earlier. Four Supreme Beings had fought fiercely over it without success, and now, two years later, the storm would rise again, bathing a radius of a hundred thousand miles of wilderness in blood.

If he could get there first and snatch it up, that would be ideal.

Ahem, of course, Little Shi, who didn't dare venture far, had found nothing.

But that didn't matter. The knowledge he'd gained over the past two years was still useful now.

With his knowledge of the surrounding terrain, Shi Hao soon reached the cliff that Ermeng and the others had mentioned. He climbed nimbly to the summit like a demon ape in the mountains.

At the edge of the steep cliff stood a pitch-black nest.

Scattered around the enormous nest lay one animal skeleton after another. Mottled patches of blood, darkened almost to black, silently testified to the strength of the Green-Scaled Eagle, whose veins carried the bloodline of an Ancient Demonic Bird.

At the center of the nest, three enormous vicious-bird eggs rested quietly, glistening and translucent.

"I'm here. This is the place."

Shi Hao's eyes lit up as he reached the summit, and his spirits immediately soared.