Bone Script

Under the prayers of the clan chief and several elders, all the young and able-bodied men wore solemn expressions and performed their rites. Many women and children had also hurried over, praying silently for their loved ones who had gone hunting to return safely. The mountains were far too dangerous. Beyond the village protected by the Willow Tree lay an utterly different world, one filled with terrifying birds of prey and gigantic beasts.

Thus, the strongest men in the village set out with huge bows on their backs and broadswords at their sides, entering the mountains and marshlands. At once, the breath of the Great Wilderness rushed into their faces.

Watching the hunting party depart, the old clan chief Shi Yunfeng led a group of children to the grassy clearing at the village entrance. They sat cross-legged, and he said, "All right, you little monkeys, it's time you studied properly."

The children immediately pulled long faces. One by one, listless and unwilling, they sat in a circle around him like leaves wilted beneath the sun.

"Grandpa Clan Chief, those bird-scratch and tortoise-shell characters are as complicated as ghost talismans. They're too hard to learn. Why should we bother memorizing them?"

"Exactly! They're nowhere near as useful as the archery Dad taught me!"

The children all looked as bitter as gourds, thoroughly resistant.

"You little brats truly don't know what's good for you. Bone Script is made up of symbols naturally manifested upon the skeletons of powerful ancient descendants. They contain unfathomable power. Countless people want to learn them but have no way to do so. Once you achieve something in this, who knows how much stronger you'll become than your fathers." The old clan chief scolded them, frustrated that they failed to live up to expectations.

"Grandpa Clan Chief, show us the power of Bone Script," said one of the older children.

"Little Dot, come here," the clan chief called toward the distance.

After chasing the Five-Colored Sparrow, Little Dot had been busy tugging with all his might at a big yellow dog's tail. Hearing the call, he turned around in confusion. He let go, then scampered over, blinking his bright eyes. "Yiya, yiya, what is it, Grandpa Clan Chief?"

"Use that Bone Script I taught you," Shi Yunfeng said.

"Okay." Little Dot was very obedient. He stretched out both tiny hands, clamped his mouth shut, and strained with all his strength until his little face turned rosy red.

With a buzz, a patch of radiance appeared in his palm, and a strange character emerged. It looked as though it had been cast from metal, possessing a metallic gleam and texture. Very soon, the same appeared in his other palm.

Little Dot took two steps forward and lifted up a bluestone taller than he was.

"That's amazing!" the children cried out. He was only a little over one year old—how could he lift such a large stone?

"Little Dot, you used up all the strength you had from drinking milk, didn't you?" one of the older children teased.

"Yiya, yes, I used all my strength." Little Dot tossed down the bluestone and plopped onto the ground. He grinned carelessly, pure and innocent, while the symbols in his palms rapidly dimmed and vanished.

"Grandpa Clan Chief, is this the power of the mysterious Bone Script you've researched for more than ten years?" The children's eyes shone, utterly unlike their earlier lack of interest.

"Don't get too excited. This can only set you on the path. It is still far inferior to the Heavenly Bone Script spoken of in ancient legends." The old man nodded, then shook his head.

"Grandpa Clan Chief, tell us about the world outside." The children's faces filled with anticipation.

Everyone in Stone Village knew that in his youth, the old clan chief had once traveled to the far ends of the land with more than a dozen powerful clansmen and ventured into the outside world.

Yet more than ten years ago, only two people had returned, covered in blood. One of them died soon afterward, leaving Shi Yunfeng as the sole survivor.

Over the years, he had constantly researched the mysterious Bone Script, occasionally using the strongest people in the village for experiments. These children knew all too well that whenever their fathers—strong as tigers and dragons—were summoned, agonized howls would ring out from that stone courtyard, causing the children to develop resistance and awe far too early.

Only in recent years had the old clan chief's research become gentler, no longer frightening the villagers so much. Moreover, Little Dot, who had grown up drinking the milk of a hundred beasts and eating the food of a hundred households, had been adopted by him and became the finest subject for his research.

"The outside world..." A look of remembrance appeared on the old man's face. After a long spell of absent-minded melancholy, he said, "The world is far too vast, boundless and endless. Traveling from one region to another can mean millions of li. No one knows how broad it truly is. Even if a person walked his entire life, he could not cross a single region. The Great Wilderness stretches on without end. It is difficult for human settlements in different regions to communicate or travel between one another, because it is simply too dangerous. There are countless powerful species upon this land, terrifying and mysterious. Even tribes of hundreds of thousands or magnificent giant cities may be destroyed overnight by a few ancient descendants. Of course, there are also humans so powerful they defy imagination, able to rival the greatest fighting strength of other species. Their divine might is unmatched; they may be called the human race's heavenly prodigies."

The children felt awe, yet also deep longing. Curious about the unknown world, someone asked, "Are there spiritual treasures and immortal medicines in the mountains and rivers that can remake a person overnight? How mighty are the strongest human heavenly prodigies?"

The old man smiled. "If you want to know, then first make yourselves strong."

"If we master the mysterious power of Bone Script, can we roam the regions of the world?" Some of the children looked dreamily expectant.

Shi Yunfeng rubbed one child's head. "Forget other regions. Even within our own region, if some extraordinary person could cross half its territory, that would already be remarkable!"

All the children were stunned.

"All I can do is set you on the path. How far you go afterward depends on yourselves. What I teach you should be no worse than what children your age learn in the outside world." As the old man finished, a strange gleam appeared in his eyes. He touched a peculiar piece of jade bone in his robes.

The children gathered around the old clan chief. At last, they settled their minds and began listening earnestly to his teachings, not dispersing until noon.

"It's too hard. The clan chief said it will take years before only a few people can integrate even a little Bone Script into their bodies, while most may never succeed."

"But Little Dot is only the size of a bean sprout, and he already did it."

Little Dot blinked his big eyes innocently, then went back to tugging at the big yellow dog's tail. The yellow dog looked even more innocent as it began barking.

The crimson sun sank westward. Beneath the lingering glow of sunset, all of Stone Village was dyed with a pale golden radiance. Apes cried and tigers roared in the distance, while the sprawling stone houses here seemed as sacred and peaceful as ancient temples.

Several dozen figures appeared on the horizon. The setting sun stretched their shadows long across the ground, while the evening clouds edged their outlines in gold, making them appear incomparably tall and robust. Nearly every one of them dragged a huge ferocious beast behind him, returning with full loads.

"They're back!" The women and children who had long been waiting at the village entrance burst into cheers. The unease and fear in their hearts vanished at once as they shouted loudly.

"Dad and the others came back safely!"

"Heavens, there are so many prey animals! What a rare bumper harvest!"

This hunt had been extremely successful. All several dozen adult men had made gains. Among the prey were enormous Dragon-Horned Elephants, One-Legged Kui Beasts shaped like oxen, and Flying Pythons as thick as water buckets with wings growing from their ribs...

The village elders revealed looks of shock. These creatures were usually difficult to deal with, and some could be called vicious beasts. Yet so many had been slain today, their bodies covered in blood. It was truly unexpected.

Take the Dragon-Horned Elephant, for example. Its body was as tough as iron, impossible to pierce even with an iron spear. Its pair of dragon horns were as sharp as drill blades, easily smashing huge boulders. The Kui Beast's cry was like thunder; if one stood too close, the sound could shake a person to death. As for the Flying Python with enormous wings along its ribs, it was a killer of the mountain forests, able to suddenly pounce down from a mountaintop. It was exceedingly terrifying.

There were several even more formidable creatures among the prey, such as the entirely crimson Twin-headed Fire Rhinoceros and the impure-blooded Pixiu... These were genuine vicious beasts. Upon encountering them, one ought to make a wide detour, yet now they had been slain. It was completely against all reason!

"This time, we were truly fortunate. We returned with full loads, yet not a single person was injured." Shi Linhu, the leader of the hunting party, laughed heartily as he explained to the clan chief and villagers. Over the past few nights, supermassive beasts had passed through the mountains, making the earth tremble and the hills shake. They had trampled many mountain beasts to death or badly injured them. During the day, the hunters tracked them all the way and killed quite a few severely wounded vicious beasts—powerful creatures the villagers normally had to avoid.

"Some of the enormous footprints in the mountains resembled human feet, but they were truly too huge—nearly a hundred meters long!"

"That huge?!" The villagers cried out. It was truly a horrifying piece of news.

Even the village elders could not help drawing in sharp breaths. They became ever more certain that something unusual had occurred deep in the mountains, drawing some ancient descendants from the vicinity of the Great Wilderness.

No matter what, it was a great harvest. The clansmen were all overjoyed, and Stone Village was filled with children's laughter in an atmosphere of celebration.

Clan chief Shi Yunfeng led everyone toward the Willow Tree. After carrying several dozen beast corpses over, they placed all the bloodstained vicious beasts upon the stone platform. Clearly, it was a large sacrificial altar.