In the dense ancient forests of the Western Frontier, a streak of golden light raced over mountains and ridges, bursting out of the primeval wilderness. When it stopped, a slender figure emerged.
Who else could it have been but Shi Zhao?
"I finally made it out!"
A year earlier, she had finally persuaded Fourth Grandfather to let her leave the Imperial Capital. She had traveled throughout the Stone Kingdom, thoroughly experiencing the customs and ways of life in its various regions.
Of course, it could not have been purely a sightseeing trip. Trials and training were essential.
This time, for instance, she had traveled alone through the borderlands of the Western Frontier, crossing hundreds of thousands of miles of the Great Wilderness. She had battled countless ferocious birds and strange beasts, surviving over a hundred bloody battles before finally emerging from the vast mountain ranges.
Fortunately, her Primordial Spirit was extraordinarily powerful, and her spiritual perception was almost unbelievably keen. Along the way, she had avoided many terrifying dangers before they could strike.
Although she had suffered grave injuries at times, she had overcome every ordeal. Her strength had been thoroughly tested and improved, leaving her increasingly confident and powerful.
Cloudsurge Town, which could also have been called a city, was a vital fortified stronghold in the Western Frontier.
Fourth Grandfather had arrived ahead of her to wait there. Seeing her return safely, he let out a long breath of relief, finally setting his heart at ease.
Every time Shi Zhao went out to train, it was an ordeal for the old man.
But a young phoenix would eventually have to spread its wings and soar. He knew very well that there was only so much he could give her.
True powerhouses always had to be tempered in blood and tears. Which of those legendary, world-shaking figures had not fought their way out of the Great Wilderness?
Only through such trials could one transform into a True Phoenix and soar above the nine heavens!
Shi Zhao arrived covered in the dust of her journey. After entering the city, she washed up, restoring her pretty, youthful appearance.
Although she was not quite ten, she had already grown tall and graceful. With her slender, elegant figure, she looked no different from a girl in her teens.
She changed into a pale jade-green dress embroidered with tiny runes. Her lovely face was luminous and fair, her brows like distant mountains brushed with dark ink, her eyes like rippling autumn waters. Her small nose tilted slightly upward, and her lips were red without a touch of rouge.
A trace of childishness still lingered around her eyes and brows, but it could no longer conceal her graceful bearing. One could already imagine how breathtakingly beautiful she would be when she fully matured.
"Miss, you're so pretty! You're sure to become a great beauty someday!" A Man said as she attended her, her eyes sparkling.
In truth, A Man's natural talent was also exceptional; only her background had held her back. After Shi Zhao took her in, her cultivation had begun advancing rapidly as well.
"Beauty this, beauty that. You've got the nerve to tease me now, have you?" Shi Zhao casually tied up her long hair with a scrap of black cloth and flicked her high ponytail, sounding a little displeased.
"Not at all! I'm being perfectly serious~"
"Hmph. All right, I'm going into seclusion." Shi Zhao rolled her eyes at her, settled her mind, and sat cross-legged to reflect on everything she had gained during her journey.
Several days later, peals of wind and thunder rang out from the residence. Starlight descended, mist drifted and spread outward, and brilliant radiance shone amid surging auspicious colors.
"I did it!"
Shi Zhao successfully broke through, opening her sixth Cave Heaven. The vital essence of heaven and earth was refined and poured out in rolling streams, flowing into her body.
Others needed a year, or even several years, to open a single Cave Heaven. Yet she had broken through repeatedly within one year, opening three. If word of such speed spread, it would surely leave countless people dumbstruck.
Soon, she reined in her aura, regained her composure, and pushed open the door.
"Miss has peerless grace! Miss is unrivaled beneath heaven!" A Man declared with a grin.
Shi Zhao immediately rewarded her with a sharp rap on the head. A Man clutched her forehead in pain. Although they were mistress and servant, they were sisters at heart and observed few formalities.
"Child, you truly are astonishing." Fourth Grandfather hardly knew what to say. At this rate, he suspected she might reach the Spirit Transformation Realm shortly after turning ten.
"Great-Grandfather, I'd like to visit the Second Ancestral Land," Shi Zhao said.
Fourth Grandfather nodded in agreement. By now, he indulged her every wish. Never mind a request like this-even if she asked him to risk his life fighting an ancient savage beast, he would have agreed.
Before leaving, Shi Zhao stopped and looked toward an earthen hill beside the city gate.
The hill was small. A plant roughly forty to fifty feet tall grew atop it, dark green from top to bottom. Its enormous leaves resembled palm-leaf fans, and it bore three extraordinary flowers that gave off waves of fragrance.
"That is Cloudsurge Town's Sacrificial Spirit. It is quite remarkable and has guarded this place for centuries. Its strength is no less than that of the Sacrificial Spirits of great cities," Fourth Grandfather explained when he saw her stop.
"Could I go closer and take a careful look?" Shi Zhao asked.
"Others couldn't, but don't forget that you're a princess of the Stone Kingdom." Fourth Grandfather smiled.
Even the residence where Shi Zhao had secluded herself lay within the military camp, a place he himself could not enter lightly. Otherwise, the commotion of her breakthrough would already have drawn considerable attention.
Shi Zhao ground her teeth. She still could not understand what madness had possessed the Human Emperor, making him inexplicably bestow the title of princess on her.
It's fine for now, but what if he suddenly loses his mind again someday? If he dreams up some damned marriage alliance, I'll have to commit high treason for once and storm the Human Emperor Hall with a blade in hand!
Sure enough, the guards of Cloudsurge Town did not stop them.
The Sacrificial Spirit's petals were gorgeous, shimmering with radiant light. One flower was wreathed in crimson radiance, one was white as jade, and one was shrouded in purple mist. Each flower held a flying sword formed from its stamen, comparable to a precious artifact. It was truly extraordinary; stationed here, it could hold off an army of thousands.
Shi Zhao communicated with the Sacrificial Spirit, offering a secret swordsmanship text in exchange for directly examining its method of nurturing weapons within its body, so she could imitate it by condensing weapons from runes.
This method was not particularly profound. After reaching a certain level of cultivation, almost anyone could reproduce it through a related Precious Technique. Improving upon it, however, was extremely difficult.
If she could glimpse its fundamental transformations ahead of time and gain some understanding, the benefits would be endless.
The next day, Shi Zhao bid farewell to the Cloudsurge Sacrificial Spirit and headed for the Shi Clan's Second Ancestral Land, where the ancestor who had restored the Stone Kingdom's fortunes had grown up.
"It's still an ancestral land, isn't it? If it's this run-down, why doesn't anyone repair it?" Looking at the dilapidated estate, where many buildings were on the verge of collapse, she was momentarily speechless.
"An ancestral land cannot be altered lightly," Fourth Grandfather could only say.
In truth, this was a place of exile, and ordinary people did not even qualify to enter. Only those of prominent standing in the Shi Clan who had committed grave offenses would be banished here.
"Fourth, what brings you here? What terrible crime did you commit? You even dragged two such lovely young girls into it?" asked an old man whose hair and beard were entirely white.
"..." Fourth Grandfather laughed awkwardly and hurried to explain.
That old man also came from the Martial King Manor and belonged to Fourth Grandfather's generation, ranking third among them. In his day, he too had been a figure of formidable renown.
Had he not feared implicating his descendants, he would never have remained trapped here. The other old men were much the same, their hearts worn down and their strength
exhausted. All had entered the twilight of their lives prematurely, with little time left.
"Heh, I knew you brat wouldn't be so kindhearted," the old man scoffed, though he could not stop smiling.
How could he not be happy to see an old brother again before he died?
Yet before the two could reminisce for long, the old men all gathered around Shi Zhao, quickly leaving Fourth Grandfather out in the cold.
"Come here, good child. Let me take a proper look at you."
"Such fine talent, such flawless jade! I've never seen its like in all my life!"
"Hiss-whose child is this? Truly terrifying..."
Exclamations of astonishment rang out through the shabby courtyard.
Shi Zhao felt rather helpless. She had never expected to become some sort of rare specimen. She hurriedly asked A Man to bring out the meat, wine, and wild game they had hunted in the Great Wilderness, finally managing to divert the old men's attention.
The old men smiled and stopped making things difficult for her.
Before long, a somewhat thin and frail child was brought over. At first glance, he spotted the girl in green, who seemed utterly out of place amid the ancestral land's air of decay and ruin.
Shi Zhao noticed him as well. A thoughtful gleam flashed through her starry eyes, as though something had occurred to her, though it was also somewhat unexpected.
She had just learned that no new "criminals" had been banished here in recent decades, and Shi Ziling and his wife had never appeared here either.
Then where had this child come from?
"This is a child we adopted. He is also a member of the Shi Clan. We only hoped to give him enough food to survive, but we are all nearing death. Keeping him here any longer would only harm him. We hope you can take this child away," the old men pleaded.
"Well..." Fourth Grandfather hesitated, turning to Shi Zhao for her opinion.
Shi Zhao understood. So that's how it is. Presumably, he isn't actually their close blood relative. She then looked at the child and asked softly, "What's your name?"
"I don't have a name. They all call me Little One," he replied timidly.
"Then I'll call you Qingfeng. Shi Qingfeng. From now on, be as free as the wind..."
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