Cave Heaven Realm

New Stone Village.

The blue-haired youth's robes fluttered in the breeze, his clear, mirror-like eyes shining brightly. Huo Yuhao gazed calmly at the silent willow tree before him, knowing that the Willow God had temporarily fallen into slumber.

During the half month before Shi Hao and Tang Wulin departed for the Stone Clan's Second Ancestral Land, Huo Yuhao had seized the time to focus on cultivation and meditation. He repeatedly studied the Primordial True Explanation imprinted in his mind, comprehending the deeper mysteries of the Great Dao within it, and ultimately broke through into the Cave Heaven Realm.

Looking at the several Cave Heavens surrounding his body, Huo Yuhao rubbed the tip of his nose. "This Cave Heaven Realm doesn't seem all that different from how I usually absorb the world's natural energy."

"Purple Cloud, Roc, and Xiaoqing were called away by their mother—the Azure-Scaled Eagle—to travel and temper themselves through cultivation." Having emerged from seclusion after his breakthrough, Huo Yuhao heard Shi Dazhuang discussing recent events with the other children.

"Chief, something's wrong—" Shi Linhu, Shi Feijiao, and the other young and strong villagers of Stone Village had just returned from hunting when they hurriedly shouted this toward Shi Yunfeng in the village.

The returning hunters panted heavily as they set down their weighty ferocious beast prey. After taking a few gulps of water handed over by the villagers, they impatiently began recounting what they had encountered during their trip.

It turned out that several nearby villages had been attacked one after another by a band of suddenly appearing bandits, who demanded black gold from each settlement. Because the villagers had failed to hand over a large amount of black gold by the appointed deadline, they had been brutally slaughtered by the vicious bandits.

Upon hearing this, Shi Yunfeng immediately recalled the dust-covered events of the past.

"Legend has it that a peerless supreme being left behind an inheritance in an ancient cave dwelling somewhere in this land, recording his Dao lineage. Because I had seen that cave dwelling, dozens of bands of vicious bandits coveted me. I fled here with my sworn brothers, but time is merciless. Now, only I remain."

Shi Yunfeng sighed and continued, "The world has changed beyond recognition, and the cave dwelling's whereabouts are unknown, but it should still be somewhere in this region. Now that the bandits have appeared again, it likely means news of the cave dwelling has resurfaced. Their slaughter of nearby villages is probably meant to let them plunder wealth and mineral resources while searching for it."

From Shi Feijiao and the others' descriptions, the people of Stone Village learned that the leader of these bandits was a Cave Heaven Realm expert who had successfully opened a Cave Heaven. Everyone knew they were no match for such an enemy. Their brows furrowed as though dark clouds weighed upon them, their hearts filled with indignation but also stifled by their helplessness.

"What a coincidence. I just broke through to the Cave Heaven Realm. I'll go pay them a visit."

Unlike the grim-faced villagers, Huo Yuhao remained calm, the corner of his mouth seeming to curl into an almost imperceptible smile.

"Remember, be careful in all things."

The people of Stone Village, led by Shi Yunfeng, were briefly stunned by his words. After calming their excitement, Shi Yunfeng repeatedly urged Huo Yuhao to place his own safety above all else.

Huo Yuhao smiled and nodded. "Of course. I still need to stay alive and wait for Wulin and Shi Hao to return. Don't worry, I'll definitely come back safely."

After waving farewell to everyone, Huo Yuhao gradually walked farther away, his figure slowly vanishing beyond the horizon as he temporarily left Stone Village.

On a stretch of high ground somewhere in the Great Wilderness, beneath hazy moonlight and flickering campfires, stood a bandit stronghold.

A figure arrived silently, concealing himself in the darkness. With a stern expression, he watched the bandits seated around the campfire, ready to witness the fine show about to unfold.

The bandits, who had been drinking, eating meat, and celebrating, suddenly came down with strange illnesses. One after another, they raised their weapons and began slaughtering one another.

Witnessing the chaotic scene before him, the bandit leader firmly refused to believe his men had gone mad from drunkenness. Furious, he shouted at the surroundings, "Who is causing trouble here? Get out here at once and show yourself to die!"

The bandit leader constantly watched for every movement around him, yet he still saw no trace of the enemy. Instead, he was met with wave after wave of attacks from his own subordinates.

As a Cave Heaven Realm expert, the leader naturally dispatched his merely average subordinates with ease using rune techniques, showing absolutely no mercy to his own men.

The leader smiled disdainfully. How could he sit in this position without being ruthless?

"Not bad for someone in the Cave Heaven Realm. One move, one enemy down. Oh, no—one move, one friend down."

In the next moment, Huo Yuhao stepped out of the darkness and clapped mockingly.

Seeing the blue-haired youth before him, the leader revealed a look of utter disbelief.

"A little brat possesses such a bizarre and rare treasure. Could you be the descendant of some great clan? I bear you no grudge, so why are you targeting me like this?"

A strange smile appeared at the corner of Huo Yuhao's mouth as he followed the other man's assumptions. "Nothing much. I'm simply out gaining experience, and I happened to treat you like a wild monster to farm. Besides, you definitely can't afford to provoke my background."

The leader snorted coldly. "If that's the case, then don't blame me for being merciless. This is merely a helpless act of self-defense to save my own life."

Just as the leader prepared to use a treasure technique empowered by his single Cave Heaven to blast Huo Yuhao into dust, several astonishing rays of light shone around Huo Yuhao's body. The Primordial Demon Bird Technique grew ever more dazzling beneath that radiance, piercing through the leader's chest like a sharp arrow in an instant.

Within a few breaths, the pain in his chest spread through his entire body until it stabbed into the nerves of his brain. A crushing wave of dizziness struck him like a storm.

"At such a young age, he has actually opened..."

The leader's legs went weak, terror overflowing from his face. In the end, he collapsed groggily to the ground, gasping weakly for breath as he murmured in broken intervals.

"This is impossible..."

Suddenly, a fierce gale rose from a dark corner not far away and swept the bandit leader directly away. Seemingly satisfied as if it had just finished a hearty meal, the gale immediately ceased howling.

A massive pangolin emerged with heavy steps from where the bandit leader had vanished, cautiously examining the blue-haired youth before it.

Clearly, the pangolin was the sacrificial spirit worshipped by these bandits. Naturally, becoming the sacrificial spirit's food was the bandit leader's honor.

The pangolin suddenly spoke in human words, threatening the blue-haired youth before it. "If you make an enemy of me, Little Western Paradise will never let you go."

Huo Yuhao smiled disdainfully. "Do you think they would offend me for the sake of an insignificant servant mount like you?"

The pangolin seemed somewhat shaken. "You... who exactly are you?"

Huo Yuhao gave a cold laugh. "You aren't qualified to know."

Lightning and luminous mist erupted together in resonance. Bone-piercing cold swirled around the Suanni Treasure Technique, and the fused treasure technique containing Ultimate Ice and lightning arts precisely locked onto the pangolin's old injuries and hidden ailments.

Sensing tremendous danger, the pangolin hurriedly summoned a pair of golden bone shears to block Huo Yuhao's attack.

Yet the fused treasure technique Huo Yuhao unleashed strangely vanished into thin air. The golden streams of light from the bone shears struck only empty air with nothing to brace against, scattering completely.

The next instant, the fused treasure technique silently fell like a meteor before the pangolin, precisely piercing through its old injuries and hidden ailments. Its old wounds flared up, cracks spread across its entire body, and it ultimately exploded to death, leaving behind only an unwilling roar.

"What kind of bizarre treasure technique is this? Why are you trying to kill me—"