The day was fair and breezy, the sun shining brightly-a fine day for reconciliation, a fine day for an outing.
Seeing that the two little tyrants in the courtyard had not come to blows, the two vast crowds outside breathed a collective sigh of relief, then went their separate ways, each heading home to their own mother.
As for what the two had actually said, it did not matter.
Nor did anyone believe that a single embrace could let them smile away all their grudges.
Everyone had seen that they still parted on bad terms. Shi Yi had forcibly broken free of the embrace, his expression grim, while Shi Zhao had left in a huff, her face full of anger.
"Hah, she actually thought she could play on his feelings. Was she trying to make peace? Yi is a born divine being. Young as he is, how could childhood affection sway him?" Shi Yuan stroked his beard and smiled.
"An ignorant child-and some people have grown senile, too. They actually treasure an incomplete Supreme Bone. A few achievements wrung out by draining her potential are hardly worth mentioning." Shi Li smiled as well.
Shi Yi looked at them coldly and suddenly felt like laughing.
He understood everything.
His mother was dead, his father had gone far away and never returned, and these people had little genuine affection for him. They were merely using one another.
He had indeed played no part in what had happened back then. He had long believed that double pupils were themselves an invincible path, and he already had someone he wanted to catch up to and surpass.
Unfortunately...
"My mother contacted the Rain Clan behind my back and secretly plotted to take the Supreme Bone. She even invited a renowned elder of the clan to perform the extraction. I resisted in the end, but they drugged me unconscious. I was powerless to change anything."
In the Void God Realm, Shi Yi quietly joined Shi Zhao and began to speak.
"But although my mother did wrong, she ultimately did it for me. She has already been driven to her death. If any karmic debt remains, I will bear it all."
He said evenly, "If you want justice for that younger clansman, we can fight in ten years. Whether we settle who is stronger, decide victory and defeat, or determine life and death, any of those is fine."
"My dear little brother, stop thinking about challenging your big sister all the time." A rare smile appeared on Shi Zhao's face. "The karma between you two is yours to settle. That child will return sooner or later. When that day comes, I'll watch the battle."
Shi Yi nodded without another word and turned to leave, only to be caught by the arm.
"Since you're already here, come look around with me. Let's go!" Giving him no chance to object, Shi Zhao dragged her little brother all over the Initial Land.
Both wore dark cloaks to keep people from recognizing them at a glance, but their tiny bodies made them look rather comical.
Their cultivation was still shallow, so neither had visited the Void God Realm many times. After all, a dazzling world could bewilder the eyes. They were still too young to be in any hurry to temper themselves here.
Yet once the siblings started wandering, they found it rather hard to stop.
"I keep feeling that you're going to lead me astray," Shi Yi said morosely.
Shi Zhao's eyes widened in shock as she defended herself. "How could that be? I'm such a kind person..."
"Heh." Shi Yi merely chuckled without answering.
"Little brother, you're being naughty. Keep this up, and you'll lose your big sister someday." Shi Zhao drew a deep breath. "Looks like I'll have to use my strength to make you face the facts!"
She grabbed Shi Yi and charged off on her long legs, vanishing in an instant. Someone nearby rubbed their eyes, wondering whether they had been seeing things.
Soon, a crystalline stone stele appeared, wreathed in mist. A line of words emerged on its surface, each character shining with dazzling light and ringing like metal.
"Broke the Initial Land's speed limit, setting a new pinnacle of speed."
The line trembled continuously, its strokes like iron lines and silver hooks. Brilliant beyond compare, it lit up the sky and rang like ten thousand swords, startling everyone nearby.
"Someone actually set a record! The Void God Realm recorded it and announced it to the world!" Everyone was stunned, then broke into lively discussion.
"What I just saw... wasn't an illusion?" An old man with graying hair and beard gaped.
"They seemed to be two children. Young, at any rate. What a shame-why did they have to run so fast? Now there's no chance to swindle them out of their reward." Not far away, another old man came running after a Five-Colored Bird. He, too, had caught a glimpse of them.
Had Shi Zhao still been there, she probably would have recognized these two Immortal Kings with damaged souls. When she passed by, she had only seen one of them and inadvertently missed her chance.
The two great Immortal Kings had suffered grievous injuries long ago. Their souls were impaired, and they had been separated from their physical bodies for too long, trapped in the Void God Realm. They had even forgotten their pasts and spent their days wandering around, cheating and swindling.
"The Extreme Realm of speed? I'll break your record someday!"
Before Shi Yi could finish, he watched his self-appointed big sister swiftly carve the words "Eat, Sleep, and Beat Up Little Brother" onto the stele. He immediately began grinding his teeth.
What a tough mystery. Just who could she possibly want to beat up?
The little girl rubbed the young boy's head beside her, smiling happily.
In the Void God Realm, each region only allowed people to exert the combat power of its corresponding cultivation realm. No one could exceed it. Anyone who broke an ultimate limit here would receive a certain reward.
A shower of radiant light fell, enveloping an object that hovered before her.
Shi Zhao reached out and took it. A bone fragment landed in her hand, its surface etched with markings that seemed to record a Precious Technique. Unfortunately, it was incomplete, missing half.
She glanced at it, her expression shifting slightly. She had not expected such a pleasant surprise.
The method recorded in this fragment touched upon the domain of the primordial spirit. It was extraordinary and would be immensely useful to her.
"I'm heading out!" Rather than study it immediately, she logged off.
At that moment, stone steles appeared not only in the Initial Land but also in the higher-level cave-heaven paradises. News spread everywhere as dazzling light shone and several lines of words emerged.
"Oh? Someone broke another record!"
"Who was it? What ultimate limit did they break?"
An uproar swept through every region. No one dared dismiss any record in the Void God Realm. Whenever a new one appeared, everyone paid attention, for its holder was certain to be a terrifying expert who represented the utmost pinnacle of a particular field and deserved everyone's respect.
"Eat, Sleep, and Beat Up Little Brother?!"
When people read those words, their expressions turned peculiar. What kind of ridiculous name was that? Who could be so bored as to give themselves such a title?
"One thing's certain: this person definitely has a little brother."
They kept reading. When they saw that the Initial Land's speed record had been broken and a new pinnacle of speed established, they were all shaken.
Speed did not entirely represent strength, but the more fundamental a physical attribute was, the more it tended to reflect a person's life potential.
Other records might involve clever shortcuts or luck, but running fast was simply running fast. There was not the slightest room to water it down.
"How many
tens of thousands of years has that record stood unbroken? Today, someone finally broke it!"
"Who is this person? Hurry to the Initial Land and find them! We must build a good relationship and win them over..."
In the Martial King Manor, Shi Zhao sat cross-legged, her little face luminous and white as jade. Her long, upturned lashes trembled like raven feathers, then her large, lively eyes suddenly opened.
With one concern settled for the time being, it was time to put the other on the agenda.
"Child, do you really have to go?" Fourth Grandfather's old face twisted bitterly.
How could he not feel bitter? If this child left, wouldn't that mean he had lost her?
How would he explain himself to his old brothers afterward? Would they beat him half to death?
"Great-grandfather, I've lived in the Imperial Capital since I was little. I've never seen the vast world outside. Take me traveling first, and we can decide what to do afterward." Shi Zhao appeared to make a concession.
Of course, that was a lie!
Although she did not know where the Ancestral Land was, she knew that Stone Village was not too far from the Second Ancestral Land-roughly three hundred thousand li away.
Once the Stone Kingdom's border regions were excluded, the remaining area was not particularly vast.
The main reason the Ancestral Land was difficult to find was the Magic Formation laid around it. After the Willow Deity descended and absorbed the power of the divine corpse beneath the Ancestral Land, that formation had already been broken.
In other words, the Ancestral Land was no longer completely cut off from the world.
Before you continue