The fierce wind howled.
On the Green-Scaled Eagle's broad back, Shi Hou held down Kang's pig head and looked down below.
The old site of the Great Wilderness was gone.
The endless mountains had been utterly flattened by some terrifying power, turning everything within a hundred thousand li into pitch-black scorched earth. Lakes of lava, large and small, bubbled across the cracked ground, giving off a pungent sulfurous stench.
No fierce beasts. No living things.
The Purple Mountain Marquis's estate, the Thunder Clan's massive city, the Golden Wolf Tribe's encampment-those towering powers that had once swaggered about, clamoring to raze Stone Village-had not left behind even a single intact brick or tile.
A casual strike from an ancient Supreme Being had stripped this entire region of every last trace of life.
Grudges, schemes, displays of might-all had been ground to ash.
The Green-Scaled Eagle circled and swooped down, landing before a surviving stretch of bare rock wall where Stone Village's entrance had once stood.
Shi Hao pulled a Bone Dagger from beside his calf and jumped off the eagle's back.
He walked up to the rock wall, gripped the hilt in his small hand, and carved into the hard stone, stroke by stroke.
Stone chips flew.
A Willow Tree totem with drooping branches was carved deep into the wall.
Shi Hao tossed away the Bone Dagger, its edge now curled, and vigorously patted the stone dust off his clothes with both hands.
Turning around, he clenched his small fists, making his knuckles crack.
"Let's go back and train!" His childish voice rang clear, each word striking the ground like a stone.
Without strength, he could not even touch his parents' shadows.
The Green-Scaled Eagle spread its wings and shot skyward, vanishing into the heavens.
Time passed.
More than a