Zhu Yan, the Village Guardian Beast

"Stupid bird, you don't even know my name, so how could you possibly remember me?"

Shi Hao muttered with disdain, then bowed to the Willow Deity. "Willow Deity, I intend to go out for a walk and see the Great Wilderness within a hundred thousand li."

"Qiongqi and the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow, in order to vent their dissatisfaction, dispatched over a dozen archaic remnants to launch a beast tide and bathe the hundred thousand li of land in blood. I fear there is no life left in the surrounding areas."

"Going out to see for yourself is fine. This vast expanse of land has become a vacuum, which is perfect for Stone Village to develop and grow, with no one left to spy or disturb us."

The Willow Deity spoke softly, and Shi Hao agreed.

A moment later, an archaic demonic bird carried Little Shi into the sky.

This flight lasted for several full days, covering over ten thousand li.

Under the guidance of the Azure Heaven Roc, Shi Hao saw one giant city after another washed in blood, and one super tribe after another broken. Mountains had been leveled, the earth cracked, and the sky stained red.

For ten thousand li, the land was scorched, and not a single trace of human life remained.

"Little one, shall we continue flying?"

High above the nine heavens, the Azure Heaven Roc, constantly flapping its wings, asked in confusion.

"Keep flying."

The person on its back replied with ironclad resolve, so the Azure Heaven Roc had no choice but to continue forward, flying several thousand more li to the north.

Finally, they landed at the bottom of a dried-up lake.

There, a golden creature with three heads and six arms lay in the silt with its eyes tightly shut. Its entire body was covered in golden fur, its feet were as red as charcoal, and a small, delicate golden dragon horn protruded from its head.

"Shaped like an ape, red feet, white head—it is undoubtedly the archaic vicious beast, Zhu Yan."

Shi Hao's eyes lit up, and he leaped down from the back of the Azure Heaven Roc.

"Three heads and six arms? The innate divine ability of the Zhu Yan clan? Could it be one of the four pure-blooded creatures from before?"

The Azure Heaven Roc also recognized the identity of this golden creature.

The archaic vicious beast Zhu Yan was a terrifying existence no weaker than the archaic demonic bird, the Azure Heaven Roc. Its appearance always signaled that a region was about to fall into chaos.

Shi Hao carefully lifted the Zhu Yan, revealing a crystalline bone block in the shape of a hexahedron beneath it, emitting faint fluorescent light amidst the silt.

"The Mountain Treasure? I never expected the final victor of that supreme battle to actually be the Zhu Yan!"

The Azure Heaven Roc's eyes flickered as it recalled the crystalline holy object that had shot into the sky that day.

"No, the final victor is us. Let's go, return to the village immediately."

Shi Hao chuckled softly, quickly moving the Mountain Treasure and the unconscious Zhu Yan onto the back of the Azure Heaven Roc, then transformed into a streak of azure light that tore through the air.

Half an incense stick of time later.

A middle-aged man in black with a gloomy expression appeared abruptly, exuding an aura of evil.

He stood in the center of the lake bed, closing his eyes to investigate for a moment, but unfortunately, he found nothing.

"The final aura of the Mountain Treasure clearly appeared here. Damn it, who? Who exactly intercepted this seat's Mountain Treasure?!!"

As his roar fell, the phantom of a towering, pitch-black archaic demonic bird flickered behind him, and its two eyes, red as blood moons, radiated a monstrous, vicious aura.

At the village entrance, beneath the charred willow tree.

"Willow Deity, that Vermilion Bird is the sacrificial spirit of the Fire Kingdom; we couldn't force it to stay, so we had to let it go. Look, I've brought back a severely wounded, dying Zhu Yan. It has no ancient kingdom to reside in, nor billions of ancestors to protect it."

"If we save it, our village will finally have another village-protecting divine beast, right? This is a pure-blooded creature at the Venerable level; even the archaic sacred mountains are nothing more than this."

Shi Hao had always been obsessed with finding an adult archaic vicious beast to guard the village, so as not to tarnish the name of the First Ancestral Land of the Stone Clan.

Within a few days, he had brought back two severely wounded, dying archaic vicious beasts.

Even the Willow Deity, having witnessed countless ancient eras, couldn't help but sigh that Little Shi was a person blessed with great fortune. It replied calmly, "Healing it is not difficult; the difficulty lies in how to make it stay in the village. After all, the Zhu Yan is a divine beast with divine wisdom and intelligence, not a fool."

"Please, Willow Deity, cast your spell. Leave the rest to me."

Little Shi patted his chest with full confidence after hearing this.

The Zhu Yan, like the Chaos Demon Ape, belonged to the lineage of the archaic divine apes.

The Eight-Nine Profound Art, an ancient heavenly art passed down through the archaic divine ape lineage for countless years, was a supreme treasure of the Great Dao that all its bloodline descendants dreamed of.

Currently, although Little Shi did not possess this heavenly art, the Lord of the Forbidden Zone did. He would just have to go and ask for it when he had the chance in the future.

With this thing dangling in front of the Zhu Yan, he didn't believe it wouldn't take the bait.

"Very well."

The Willow Deity did not ask for the specific reason and simply cast the spell.

Tender green willow branches hung down, and a drop of crystalline golden divine liquid fell straight onto the Zhu Yan's crown. Immediately, boundless, brilliant golden light erupted outward.

The ancient primordial essence between heaven and earth gathered toward this location as if driven by madness.

"Hum! Boom!"

As the boundless radiance dissipated, a golden phantom of a divine ape, towering between heaven and earth, stood tall in the center of Stone Village, its height reaching the clouds as if it could pluck the sun and moon.

Its massive golden beast-body stood like a mountain range, clutching a Heaven-Reaching Demon Staff. Its eyes, sharp as lightning, surveyed the masses like a wrathful war god clad in golden armor, exuding an awe-inspiring aura without even needing to show anger.

"That is... a supreme creature has descended!"

"A simian form, red feet, white head—it is the archaic vicious beast, Zhu Yan."

"Could it be a guardian beast captured by the Sacrificial Spirit to protect our village?!"

The massive disturbance at the village entrance immediately drew the entire village out.

Seeing it appear beside the charred willow tree, the clansmen quickly set their hearts at ease, even beginning to discuss whether this Zhu Yan had been captured by the Willow Deity after being defeated in battle.

"Roar!"

Having just fully recovered, Zhu Yan let out a low, embarrassed growl at these words, hastily retracting its heaven-reaching manifestation to return to its original form.

"Respected Sacrificial Spirit, thank you for your assistance."

The golden monkey, transformed from Zhu Yan, bowed deeply and respectfully beneath the willow tree.

"It is nothing. I acted at the invitation of this Little Stone; if you have matters to discuss, address them to him."

The Willow Deity waved a tender green willow branch toward Shi Hao, then fell silent.

"Little one, thank you for saving me. There is something I wish to ask you. I wonder, when you rescued me, did you happen to find... find..."

Zhu Yan bowed stiffly to Shi Hao, scratching its ears and cheeks in agitation.

"You mean you want to know if I found the Mountain Treasure, right?"

Shi Hao finished the sentence with a beaming smile.

"Yes, yes, the Mountain Treasure, that's it! I fought those bastards Qiongqi and Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow for months, and in the end, it was I, Zhu Yan, who was more skilled and successfully snatched it."

Speaking of this, Zhu Yan nodded with considerable pride.

"I did find it, indeed."

Before Zhu Yan could even break into a smile, Little Stone's next words drifted over: "But from now on, it belongs to me."

Just as Zhu Yan was about to utter a threat, it remembered the unfathomable and mysterious Sacrificial Spirit standing nearby, and could only argue aggrievedly:

"That is my spoils of war. Please, return it to me. I will reward you handsomely afterward; I might even be willing to gift you a precious technique of my clan."

"No, the Mountain Treasure is an ownerless object. Whoever gets their hands on it, it belongs to."

Shi Hao shook his head with a straight face.

He wasn't stupid; he would first use the Eight-Nine Profound Art to keep Zhu Yan tethered to Stone Village, and when the time came, he could pick and choose from its entire repertoire of precious techniques, learning whatever he pleased.