Old Vulture had vanished.
Shi Hou stood at the edge of the ravine and looked down at the wolf leg that had been neatly severed.
The cut was smooth, the exposed bone stark white. Its black fur was as stiff as steel needles, and it gave off the sour stench of moldy, years-old cured meat.
"Pretty quick on your feet."
Shi Hou pulled his foot out of the mud and dusted off his trousers.
He had just turned around.
A fierce gust rushed straight at his face.
A broad, rough palm covered in thick calluses.
Smack!
It landed squarely on the back of Shi Hou's head.
"Who..."
Shi Hou was about to turn and glare when two iron-vise hands clamped down on his shoulders.
Shi Shoushan's stubbled face loomed right in front of him.
His eyes were frighteningly red, with tiny splits at their corners.
He stared hard at Shi Hou, looking the dark-skinned boy over from head to toe, then from toe to head.
His grip was so strong that Shi Hou's shoulder bones creaked.
"Dad, that hurts..." Shi Hou grimaced.
"Hurts? So you still know what pain is?"
Shi Shoushan's voice was so loud that Shi Hou's ears rang.
His trembling hands finally steadied, and then he thumped Shi Hou hard in the chest.
"That was a sacrificial spirit! Those were runes! You little brat, do you have a death wish?"
In the middle of his scolding, he suddenly turned away and roughly wiped his face with the back of his hand. His shoulders sagged, and he let out a long breath.
Beside them, a small figure also came rushing over.
Shi Hao said nothing.
He simply hugged Shi Hou's thigh, burying his face in Shi Hou's tattered beast-hide trousers.
Wet tears and snot were smeared all over Shi Hou's leg.
"Skinny Monkey..."
Shi Hao called out in a muffled voice, his little hands gripping tight, as though the moment he let go, Shi Hou would dissolve into black smoke and disappear.
Screee-
Wind whistled overhead.
The Green-Scaled Eagle brought its enormous head close and gently nudged the black pot on Shi Hou's back with its hard beak.
"All right, all right. What's the big deal?"
Shi Hou could never stand these sentimental scenes.
He rubbed Shi Hao's head, mussing the boy's hair into a bird's nest, then disdainfully pushed away the Green-Scaled Eagle's enormous head.
"Stop looking like you're at a funeral. Aren't I perfectly fine?"
He pointed at his own gleaming dark face.
"That bad-breath attack couldn't even break through my defenses. It was just a little disgusting."
By then, Shi Yunfeng and several adults from the Hunting Team had also gathered around, supporting one another.
Shi Linhu walked to the edge of the ravine, and his eyes lit up at the sight of the severed wolf leg.
"This is good stuff!"
Shi Linhu rubbed his hands together, jumped down, and circled the enormous wolf leg twice.
"This is flesh from a sacrificial spirit's true body. Even if it's only a leg, the vital essence inside is a hundred times stronger than in those dirt wolves we hunted!"
He looked up and called to Shi Hou, "Skinny Monkey, quick, bring your pot over and store it! We can take this back to the village and boil it into medicinal broth to temper the children's muscles and bones!"
The men around him nodded in agreement.
In the Great Wilderness, no hard currency was more tangible than the flesh of high-level vicious beasts.
And yet.
Shi Hou did not move.
He stood where he was, his brows drawn into three deep furrows, staring at the wolf leg with utter distaste.
"No."
Shi Hou's refusal was crisp and decisive.
"What?" Shi Linhu froze. "Why? This is sacrificial spirit meat!"
"Too ugly."
Shi Hou pointed at a black patch on the leg, then at the claw that was still oozing yellow grease.
"Uncle, you didn't see what that old dog looked like just now."
"Its skin hung loose like old tree bark, all wrinkles. There are even a few lumps on this leg. Just looking at it kills my appetite."
Shi Hou tightened the black pot on his back and even took a step backward, as though afraid the leg would dirty it.
"I'm a cook. I have professional standards."
"An ingredient that looks like this is kitchen waste. If I put it in my pot, even the Dragon-Horned Elephant and Suanni meat would pick up its stink."
"It reeks of years-old foot odor. Even a dog wouldn't eat it."
Kang poked his pig head out of Shi Hou's arms at just the right moment, grunted twice, and turned his face aside in agreement.
Shi Linhu's mouth hung open. For a long while, he could not get a word out.
He looked at the wolf leg brimming with surging vital essence, then at the dark-skinned boy's disgusted face.
What a wasteful little brat!
That's meat! That's precious medicine!
How did it become foot-stinking garbage the moment you opened your mouth?
"If you don't want it, I do!"
Shi Linhu was so angry that his beard bristled.
He jumped down into the ravine and called over Shi Feijiao and two other burly men.
"Come on, give me a hand! We'll carry it back!"
Shi Hou walked far ahead, occasionally fanning the air with his hand.
"Keep a little farther away, uncle. It really assaults the nose."
"Get lost!" Shi Linhu snapped.
"Hurry back to the village. We only won by luck this time," the clan chief said.
The whole group surged toward Stone Village, not daring to pause for even a moment.
The sun slanted westward.
In the distance, wisps of cooking smoke rose into the air.
The outline of the enormous, charred Willow Tree appeared at the far end of their view.
They had reached Stone Village.
At the sight of home, everyone's taut nerves relaxed.
Carrying the wolf leg, Shi Linhu grinned and was just about to shout that they were safe.
Just then.
Disaster struck without warning.
Old Vulture caught up with them. It could not bear to lose Suanni's precious body. If it obtained it, it could not only heal its injuries but also achieve another breakthrough.
"This is bad! A wounded vicious beast is the most terrifying. It's going to fight to the death!" Shi Yunfeng had barely finished speaking.
On the charred willow at the village entrance, which had lain silent for untold years.
The lush green willow branch stirred gently.
Snap.
A soft sound rang out.
The Old Vulture, charging at tremendous speed with terrifying runes swirling around its body, suddenly froze in midair.
The savage expression on its face had not even had time to fade.
At some unknown moment, a willow branch that looked soft and boneless had pierced the center of its forehead.
Effortlessly.
As though piercing a sheet of window paper.
The light in Old Vulture's green eyes instantly scattered.
The raging power of the runes within its body was instantly snuffed out.
The willow branch flicked gently.
Thud.
Old Vulture's enormous corpse was casually tossed onto the yellow earth, kicking up a small ring of dust.
The branch withdrew and drooped against the charred trunk again, swaying gently in the breeze as though it had never moved.
Dead silence fell over everyone.
Shi Linhu stood with the wolf leg on his shoulder, his mouth open wide enough to fit an egg.
The Green-Scaled Eagle shrank its neck back, landed, and lowered its head, not daring to look at the Willow Tree at all.
This was the Willow Deity who remained silent day after day, with only a single revived branch.
Killing an Old Vulture on the level of a primordial remnant was easier than swatting a fly.
Shi Hou swallowed.
He looked up at the emerald-green willow branch, a flicker of fervor flashing through his eyes.
Now that was a real mighty thigh to cling to!
"Skinny Monkey."
Shi Yunfeng came back to his senses and tapped the corpse on the ground with his cane.
"This... you don't want this either?"
Shi Hou crouched and poked Old Vulture's aged hide with a finger.
It really was tough, and it really was ugly.
"Ahem."
Shi Hou stood up and patted the black pot on his back with a perfectly righteous expression.
"Since this ingredient was bestowed by the Willow Deity, it's a Divine Object."
"It might look a little shabby, but the hide is pretty good. Skinning it to make a bed for Big Yellow would be nice."
"As for the meat... I suppose I can stew a pot and give Big Yellow an extra meal!"
Before you continue