At dawn, the morning clouds shone brilliantly, scattering light like crushed gold.
Shi Zhao drifted away under the reluctant gaze of the royal ancestor in the Scripture Temple.
"What a fine seedling, and one of our Shi Clan, too. This old man almost wants to swallow his pride and take her as his final disciple," the elderly venerable sighed.
Unfortunately, he was confined to the Scripture Temple and had few years left to live, so he could only entertain the thought. Besides, there was no shortage of people vying to nurture such fine, uncut jade.
The moment Shi Zhao left the Imperial Palace, she saw Fourth Grandfather waiting eagerly for her and immediately bowed. She held this old man in considerable respect.
"Little Zhao, you finally decided to come back!" Fourth Grandfather said with a smile.
"I've read enough. After delaying so long, it's time to come back and cultivate properly." Shi Zhao's eyes were clear. Though she spoke of delays, there was no urgency in her voice.
Strictly speaking, she had indeed lost some time. Leaving aside the years before her awakening at one or two, even afterward, she had rarely forced herself to squeeze out her potential and reach her limits.
After that, she had been busy looking after little Shi and burying herself in the royal Scripture Temple. All told, she had spent nearly a year without truly focusing on cultivation.
Now that her mindset had changed, she naturally would no longer "cherish" herself so much.
As soon as she returned to the Martial King Manor, a crowd came to visit.
After meeting several clan elders, Shi Zhao closed her doors to visitors, her little face cold.
Fourth Grandfather also went to arrange her upcoming medicinal baths and baptism. Preparations had long been underway, and now they could finally be put to use.
Outstanding children of kings and marquises would normally undergo baptisms at five, ten, and fifteen, tempering their bodies and cleansing their organs with Vicious Beast True Blood, rare Treasure Medicine, and the like, laying a solid foundation for future cultivation.
After the Supreme Bone had been forcibly implanted in Shi Zhao, her standing within the Martial King Manor had soared. Before long, all manner of true blood and spirit medicines had begun arriving at her door.
"Your innate constitution is excellent. Even though your baptism at five didn't use the very best ingredients, it wasn't much inferior. Old Fifteen didn't shortchange you."
"From the looks of it now, you could even undergo your ten-year-old baptism early!"
Watching the little girl toss a lump of iron weighing tens of thousands of jin back and forth with one hand like a beanbag, Fourth Grandfather hurriedly began adjusting his plans amid his astonishment.
With this degree of pure physical strength, she seemed close to the Extreme Realm of a hundred thousand jin in a single hand, practically like the offspring of a Heaven-Tier Primordial Ferocious Beast.
Possessing such strength through the flesh alone at her age was absolutely world-shaking. It was a transcendent achievement, something an ordinary mortal body simply could not accomplish.
There was no blaming it on the Supreme Bone. She had spent all this time in the Scripture Temple. Surely she couldn't gain strength out of thin air just by reading, without taking spirit medicines or nourishing supplements?
This meant she could accomplish all of it on her own!
Yet the more this became apparent, the more Fourth Grandfather felt he had wronged Shi Zhao.
There had been another victim of that incident. The incomplete Supreme Bone might not benefit her at all; instead, it could become a burden and a constraint.
"It really hasn't affected me much." Hearing his concern, Shi Zhao comforted the old man. "It's a form of tempering for me, too. The Supreme Bone wears away my blood essence, but it also makes my blood and vital energy purer, as though I'm undergoing tempering and baptism every moment."
Had she said nothing, it would have been better. Her reassurance only made Fourth Grandfather more worried, and he asked urgently, "Wasn't it supposed to merge with a bloodline of the same root and source? Why would it wear away your blood essence?"
"...Because I haven't let the Supreme Bone merge completely." Shi Zhao fell silent for a moment, then explained while gently stroking her faintly aching chest.
She had never wanted the Supreme Bone, nor did she need it.
As for using the Supreme Bone to temper herself, that had come later. It was an unexpected discovery during her studies in the Scripture Temple, the result of tormenting herself with nothing better to do.
Yet through that tinkering, she had actually devised a method of tempering her body.
The price was just a hundred-million-bit of pain, tormenting both body and mind.
Fourth Grandfather looked at the stubborn girl and heaved a long sigh. Without saying anything more, he turned to prepare everything she needed, doing his utmost to help.
The resources of an entire clan were staggering. With such vast reserves at their disposal, there would certainly be no shortage of Primordial Remnant true blood or rare spirit medicines.
Not long afterward, an edict suddenly came from the Imperial Palace, conferring upon Shi Zhao the title "Princess Zhaoyang" and granting her a precious medicinal liquid brewed according to Ancient Alchemy Recipes treasured by the royal family.
For a time, waves swept not only through the Martial King Manor, but through the entire Stone Kingdom.
Although they were all members of the Shi Clan, with blood of the same source flowing through their veins, and the clan's kings and marquises theoretically all had the right to contend for the throne,
it was still exceedingly rare for a king or marquis's young daughter to be named a princess without any warning. Inevitably, many people began to speculate.
In truth, even Shi Zhao herself was somewhat stunned when she received the edict.
"His Majesty the Human Emperor was delighted to learn that you spent half a year studying in the Scripture Temple. He has bestowed these rewards to support your cultivation." The Old Guard Captain came in person.
Seeing Shi Zhao's expression, a smile spread over his old face. After stuffing the edict into her arms, he took out a precious cauldron and said, "Remember to return the cauldron once you've used it all."
"Can I get a refill?" Shi Zhao suddenly asked.
"No." The smile gradually vanished from the Old Guard Captain's face, and the corner of his mouth twitched. "Do you know how precious this cauldron of medicinal liquid is? Many princes and princesses aren't even qualified to enjoy it."
"Then please thank His Majesty the Human Emperor for me." Shi Zhao did not ask why the Human Emperor had suddenly made her a princess. Since no explanation had been offered, asking would clearly yield no answer.
"As I should." The Old Guard Captain left as quickly as he had come. He did not know why the Human Emperor had done this either, only that he had issued the edict after leaving the Scripture Temple.
After confirming that nothing was wrong with the medicinal liquid, Shi Zhao ladled out a bowl and drained it in one gulp.
In an instant, radiant light spilled from her body, and she immediately felt a slight change. Her limbs and bones seemed to be hammered and tempered, her organs became crystalline, and the bones within her shone a lustrous white.
Strands of dawnlike radiance rose, forming clouds of glowing mist that engulfed her completely and took a long time to disperse.
Beyond that, she supplemented her training with daily medicinal baths while using the Supreme Bone to temper her body and hone her spirit, constantly challenging and breaking her limits.
She trained bitterly day after day without the slightest slackening. Several months later, she had already achieved remarkable results.
Without needing to circulate runes, her body automatically shimmered with a hazy, precious light. This was the pure power of her blood and vital energy, protecting her on its own.
Shi Zhao was certain she had broken through the Extreme Realm of a hundred thousand jin.
"I still haven't reached my limit!" she murmured.
The Extreme Realm had been broken, but this was not the end. She absolutely could not stop here.
She knew very well that if she wanted to travel farther and more steadily in the future, she had to hold herself to strict standards now, constantly surpass herself, and break
through new limits.
Day after day, month after month, Shi Zhao ended each day covered in wounds, without the slightest hint of pampered weakness or laxity.
The medicinal liquid from the Imperial Palace had long since been exhausted, and she had already undergone her ten-year-old baptism ahead of time. As the medicinal baths gradually lost their effect, she used the seven stars in her palm to forcibly draw starlight into her body.
Starlight was anything but gentle energy. On the contrary, it was exceptionally violent, readily tearing through sinews and bones. In the past, she had only dared draw in tiny wisps, but now she refined it with all her strength.
In the blink of an eye, another half year passed, and Shi Zhao was already over eight years old.
She remained delicate and pretty, with a fair little face and large, lively eyes, yet her body was extraordinarily powerful. Her flesh was crystalline, her bones glimmered with starlight, and an indescribable aura enveloped her, as though a young Star God had descended into the world.
Clearly, her progress during this period of training at her limits had been astonishing, and her body had undergone an incredible transformation.
"Up!"
A Stone Mountains piled from several enormous boulders rose from the ground, lifted in Shi Zhao's hands. Then she released one hand and still held it steadily aloft.
With a boom, the boulders flew apart, startling Fourth Grandfather into rushing over. Tugging at his beard, he said, "Child, tell me honestly. Just how strong are you now?"
Shi Zhao blinked and extended her left hand, gently touching her thumb and forefinger together to gesture at a universe between her fingertips. "Barely a little more than a hundred thousand jin."
Well, she had just measured it. It was only twenty or thirty thousand more.
To be precise, it should have been 129,600 jin in a single hand, exactly the number of years in one cosmic cycle!
Forget humans-even the strongest offspring of creatures like the True Hou and the Golden-Winged Roc could not achieve this. A hundred thousand jin was already the limit, and growing stronger was exceedingly difficult.
Such unrivaled divine strength was not humanity's forte, yet in this respect, she had reached the utmost of the utmost, taking an inconceivable step forward.
If a comparison had to be made, perhaps only the offspring of legendary creatures such as true dragons and Heavenly Horned Ants, the most formidable beings or those said to embody the pinnacle of strength, could attain such an achievement.
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