Never Show Mercy to an Enemy!

Shi Hou's palm hung in midair, barely half an inch from Bei Feng's scalp.

The wind from his palm sheared off the hair atop Bei Feng's head.

At that very instant, an inconspicuous bone token at Bei Feng's waist suddenly shattered. An icy aura erupted, forcibly knocking Shi Hou's palm away.

Shi Hou's expression shifted slightly, and he retreated two steps.

Bei Feng convulsed all over, blood spilling from his mouth and nose. Yet a hazy phantom faintly emerged over him-a hideous Beast-Shaped Sacrificial Spirit, staring at Shi Hou with cold, venomous eyes.

"A Sacrificial Spirit's life-saving safeguard?"

Shi Hou narrowed his eyes and sneered.

No wonder this piece of trash dared to step forward. He had something like that on him.

Strong.

"Skinny Monkey?"

Only then did Shi Hao turn around. Looking at Bei Feng, whom Shi Hou had driven back, his little face was deathly pale. The sneak attack had clearly frightened him.

"Remember this."

Without turning around, Shi Hou stared at the heap of trash still twitching on the ground and said flatly:

"Mercy to an enemy is cruelty to yourself."

As soon as he finished speaking.

Not far away, the surviving young men of Bei Village finally recovered from their paralysis. After witnessing that scene, how could they dare harbor even a shred of greed? A few of the stronger ones scrambled up, ignoring the searing pain in their bodies. In a flurry of hands, they hoisted Bei Feng up and dragged their companions' corpses away, fleeing into the depths of the forest without looking back.

They did not even dare spare another glance at the giant wolf's corpse on the ground.

Only when those chaotic footsteps had completely faded did the Sacrificial Spirit's phantom disperse.

"Whew..."

Shi Feijiao plopped onto the ground, clutching his still-bleeding thigh. He cracked a grin that looked uglier than a grimace.

"That felt good! So damn good!"

"Shame we let that brat get away, though."

Shi Hou said nothing.

He turned around, his soot-black face expressionless, but his gaze flickered when it swept over the wound on Shi Shoushan's shoulder.

"Don't move."

He walked up to his father and swept a hand past his ear. His signature black pot landed on the ground once more.

"What are you doing?"

Shi Shoushan grimaced in pain as he watched his son reach into the black pot and rummage around.

"Forget about food right now. This wound's poisoned. We need to hurry back to the village and find the clan chief..."

Before he could finish, Shi Shoushan choked on his words.

Shi Hou had pulled something smelling of fresh earth from the pot... a Chinese cabbage?

Its leaves were a lush, glistening green, with faint purple wisps curling around them. Its roots were crystalline and translucent. Just one whiff of its fresh fragrance seemed to ease the agony in his shoulder.

"What's that?"

Shi Linhu leaned over, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. "Has that cabbage become a spirit?"

"Just a few scraps left over from last time. I kept them in the pot for a few days."

Shi Hou casually spun a lie, but his hands moved with remarkable efficiency.

He tore off a cabbage leaf as though tearing paper and pressed it straight onto Shi Shoushan's wound without even washing it.

Sss-

A puff of white smoke rose.

The blackened, festering wound seemed to have met its nemesis.

The cabbage leaf instantly sucked up the poisoned black blood. Then it dissolved into a mass of pure green liquid and seeped into his flesh.

New flesh writhed into growth.

In fewer than three breaths.

The arrow wound on Shi Shoushan's shoulder, which had been deep enough to expose bone, actually closed and scabbed over.

Apart from the tender pink of the newly grown skin, which did not quite match the weathered skin around it, there was no sign that he had nearly lost the use of an arm moments earlier.

"This..."

Shi Shoushan moved his arm, his joints cracking. Not only had the pain vanished, but a warm current coursed through his meridians, and he felt even stronger than before he was injured.

"Divine medicine! This is divine medicine!"

Shi Feijiao slapped his thigh excitedly, only to strike his wound and howl in pain.

"Skinny Monkey, give me some! Even a cabbage stalk will do!"

"There's enough for everyone."

Shi Hou was not stingy.

He pulled several carrots so red they were almost purple from the pot, along with a few bunches of glossy green spinach.

He had plucked all of these from the village vegetable plots and nurtured them in the pot for over ten days. Every plant now rivaled the precious medicinal herbs found deep in the Great Wilderness.

Their appearance was simply a little too down-to-earth.

And so, an exceedingly bizarre scene unfolded in the valley.

A bunch of burly men had spinach tied around their arms or cabbage leaves wrapped around their legs, while they crunched enthusiastically on carrots held between their teeth.

"Mmm, this carrot's so sweet! Feels like even my old ailments are gone!"

"The wound on my leg actually stopped bleeding!"

"Skinny Monkey, this pot... it really is a treasure."

Shi Linhu looked at the black pot on the ground, his gaze complicated.

At first, everyone had thought it was merely a cooking utensil that made delicious food. Later, they had thought it was an incubator capable of nurturing bird eggs.

Now it was clearly a treasure-gathering basin that could grow anything planted in it and turn decay into miracles.

"It just grows a few vegetables."

Shi Hou put the pot away and slung it onto his back, unwilling to explain further.

He walked over to Shi Hao, who was squatting on the ground in a daze.

Little One was staring blankly at a pool of blood on the ground, left behind by Bei Feng.

"What are you thinking about?"

Shi Hou ruffled his hair.

It felt nice, soft beneath his hand.

"Skinny Monkey."

Shi Hao raised his head. The hesitation in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a trace of resolve.

"You were right."

Shi Hao clenched his little fists. "Next time, I won't stop."

Shi Hou smiled.

A row of white teeth shone against his dark face, making his grin especially radiant.

That's more like it.

The future Desolate Heaven Emperor needed no cheap mercy, only fists that could protect his loved ones.

"Come on. Let's go home."

Shi Hou scooped up Black Pig, who was still playing dead on the ground, and tossed him onto his shoulder.

"Sorry for the trouble, uncles, but we'll need to haul all this meat back."

"Hahaha, haul it! Of course we will!"

The men, their wounds now healed, burst into hearty laughter.

"We really struck it rich this time!"

"And that dead wolf, Bei Feng's mount-it had a trace of savage beast blood in it. Its meat's bound to be delicious!"

"Right, right! Skinny Monkey's cooking tonight. Let's stew that wolf!"

The sun sank in the west.

Dragging a small mountain of spoils, the group marched out of the forest in a grand procession.

Shi Hou brought up the rear. He watched Shi Hao's tiny figure ahead of him, then rubbed his own dark face.

His Blood Qi Value had not risen, and he had even chipped in some vegetables.

But this round was no loss.

As long as Shi Hao, my "one and only diner," had his mind at ease, wouldn't the experience points come pouring in by multiples from now on?

"Home to cook!"

Shi Hou hummed an unfamiliar little tune, his steps light.

He was already weighing whether that giant wolf would be better braised or steamed.

After all, you nourished what you ate.

That wolf-hearted, dog-lunged thing would be just right for helping the villagers grow a little more sense.