Meeting a God Without Bowing

"Come, let me take a look!"

Shi Zhao beckoned to Little Shi. "Go lift the cauldrons. Let's see how much stronger you've gotten."

"Okay!"

Little Shi felt as though he had been granted a pardon. He quickly escaped the crowd of burly men feeling him all over and ran aside. Starting with a thousand-jin bronze cauldron, he worked his way up in one unstoppable rush, actually lifting the heaviest cauldron in the village.

It was an eight-thousand-jin Hòu-Patterned Cauldron!

And that was not his limit. He clearly still had strength to spare.

"Very good. Even better than I expected. Those extra ingredients weren't wasted. You're almost strong enough to lift ten thousand jin." Shi Zhao stroked his little head.

At her praise, Little Shi immediately broke into a chuckle.

His entire body was fair and translucent, its divine radiance concealed within. His soft, glossy black hair fell to his shoulders, his large eyes were lively and bright, and he brimmed with energy.

No matter how Shi Zhao looked at him, she adored him. A smile never left her lips.

In her experience, human cubs were at their cutest and most fun at precisely this age!

At that moment, far away on a certain Primordial Divine Mountain, the bearer of Double Pupils suddenly felt his eyelid twitch...

"Chirp, chirp!" The three fledglings crowded over too, full of intelligence.

They and the Green-Scaled Eagle had also benefited greatly. Over the past few days, they had eaten the Demon Ape's arm and some of the Old Suanni's flesh and blood, becoming increasingly intelligent and extraordinary.

The Green-Scaled Eagle was on the verge of a breakthrough and had already left Stone Village to enter seclusion.

The village gradually settled down. Little Shi Hao held the Suanni's precious bone and studied the runes on it. Shi Zhao had no intention of teaching him the complete Suanni Method just yet, instead letting him explore it himself first.

The experience of thinking independently like this was countless times better than simply pouring knowledge into his head.

Besides, a descendant's precious technique was more than sufficient for him now. Once he mastered it, learning the complete pureblood precious technique later would yield twice the results with half the effort.

"Sis, I've memorized it, but the Suanni's precious technique is too complicated. I can't understand it yet." Little Shi looked somewhat dejected.

Shi Zhao was speechless. It would have been strange if he could understand it immediately.

"It's all right. Take your time. You'll grasp it sooner or later. Back then, I studied for ages before I learned my first precious technique too. You can thoroughly master the Green-Scaled Eagle's precious technique first."

"Mm-hmm, I understand!"

Life in Stone Village was peaceful, but in lands much farther away, the winds and clouds began to shift.

Some great tribes in the Great Wilderness, and even certain self-proclaimed kings and marquises, turned their attention toward its depths.

To their astonishment, they discovered that the supreme creatures had begun fighting over the Mountain Treasure two years ago, and their battle seemingly had yet to end completely.

Of course, they dared not actually join a struggle like that. Still, they all sent people to investigate, and without consulting one another, they brought along their tribes' young prodigies.

They claimed they were taking the children out to broaden their horizons, but they all understood one another perfectly well. They would surely run into familiar faces, and then compete to establish who was superior. That was their real purpose.

Party after party headed into the mountains. Some tribes rode Silver Unicorn Horses, some noble scions stood on enormous beast bones flying low over the ground, and some powerful figures swept through the sky on the backs of great flood dragons.

"Grandpa, look! This village's sacrificial spirit is so strange. Why is it an old willow scorched by lightning, with only one tender branch left?"

On a snow-white feather five or six meters long stood an old man, two boys, and two beautiful little girls who looked like sprites, their eyes sparkling as they glanced around.

"Huh? What are those children doing over there? They seem to be learning bone text?"

Nearby, atop a great flood dragon, a five- or six-year-old child ignored the villagers outright. His eyes shone as he said, "What a strange sacrificial spirit! It nurtured new life after being struck by lightning. That tender branch must be a rare treasure. None of you had better fight me for it!"

People from several other tribes nearby gathered around at the sight, and they too were drawn to the village's sacrificial spirit.

With their shallow knowledge, they nevertheless stumbled upon the answer like blind cats finding a dead mouse: the Willow Deity had suffered a great calamity and been reborn amid destruction.

As a result, every one of them believed that tender branch was an ultimate treasure.

Before the adults could say anything, the children began fighting. They wanted to duel here and determine who was the greatest prodigy within fifty thousand li.

"Wow, Sis, lots of people have come outside the village! Huh? Why are they fighting?" Little Shi tilted his head in puzzlement.

"They want to steal the Willow Deity's only tender branch," Shi Zhao said with a soft laugh.

"They're awful! How can they do that?" Little Shi's eyes widened. He wanted nothing more than to give all those bad people a sound beating.

"They are awful. Go beat up the little ones in a moment." Shi Zhao nodded.

"Okay! I'll knock them all down!" Little Shi waved his little arms, his eyes earnest and resolute.

"You can definitely do it! Knock them down, Little One!" the other mischievous children chimed in.

Outside the village, the powerful figures in the forest had exceptionally keen senses. Naturally, they heard this exchange, and all of them froze.

As far as they understood, this was merely a remote, backward mountain village. There could not possibly be any experts here.

Yet a little fellow had just said he would defeat every prodigy outside the village.

More importantly, even after seeing the duels outside, all the children beside him agreed. That was rather bewildering.

Whose child was this, then, to be so fearless?

"You wild mountain brats really don't know how high the heavens are or how deep the earth is! You dare mock me? Are you looking to die?" Rage surged through the young child who had dismounted from the great flood dragon.

He shook his arms and immediately broke away from the fight. Leaping like a fierce bird, he covered nearly a zhang in a single bound and rushed toward the village entrance, intending to teach these wild brats a harsh lesson.

"You really are a bad guy! I haven't even gone to beat you up, and you're already attacking first. You're awful!" Little Shi was angry too. Eyes wide, he quickly stepped forward.

His fair, tender little hand shot out with a whistling sound, and a single slap sent his opponent flying back.

"Wow, what a cute, amazing little boy!"

The two little girls on the snowy feather were utterly astonished. They looked exactly alike, and seeing the porcelain-doll-like Little Shi act so fiercely made their eyes light up. They giggled nonstop.

Behind them, the powerful figures turned to stone. None had expected a child from this village to actually send the renowned prodigy Jiao Peng flying with a single slap.

What kind of village was this?!

Many grew wary. Some even thought this was a secluded clan surviving from ancient times... In fact, they had guessed correctly. Unfortunately, its strength did not quite match their expectations.

Little Shi had intimidated the whole crowd, yet the village's mischievous children began passing judgment on their mounts

, saying they could not compare with one ferocious beast or fierce bird or another, or that they were inferior to the Suanni they had eaten last time. Suspicion and uncertainty spread, and no one dared put on airs anymore.

Then they saw the girl who had spoken earlier rebuke the children and begin explaining a passage of bone text. Her explanation was remarkably profound, and some of them had never even heard of what she described.

Only then did they notice that, though she was young, the girl was clearly a peerless beauty in the making. She had a radiant air and delicate features, graceful brows and a well-shaped nose, with a heroic spirit between her brows.

Despite her coarse hemp clothing, her bearing was utterly transcendent.

Could a little mountain village really raise a girl like this?

How was that any different from a golden phoenix flying out of a mountain hollow?

"Big sister, you're so pretty!" The beautiful little twins approached Shi Zhao, and one asked, "Is this your village's sacrificial spirit? What do you call it?"

"The Willow Deity," Shi Zhao replied, blinking.

"What? A deity?!" The adults nearly jumped.

Shi Zhao was secretly amused. She deliberately withheld the explanation, wanting to see their furious, flustered expressions when they discovered the truth later.

After a moment's thought, she added, "Ahem. Meet a god without bowing, and your fortune is already lost. Since you've come from so far away, why not pay your respects?"

They truly were taken in. Exchanging glances, they decided they might as well bow. It would not cost them a piece of flesh, after all. What if they really did damage their fortune?

"Ahem, please present your offerings first," Shi Zhao said, struggling not to laugh.

At the same time, she revealed part of her aura. Astonishingly, her cultivation was in the Cave Heaven Realm!

That intimidated them all over again.

"Well, we're already here..." Someone had been completely led down the winding path.

With the atmosphere built up to this point, it really would have been hard to justify not paying their respects.

But after wandering cautiously around the village for quite a while, they finally realized something was wrong. Why did everyone here have so little cultivation?

One or two people would have been understandable, but surely they could not all be hiding their abilities?

Once they came to their senses, quite a few flew into a rage out of humiliation. The children, accustomed to being spoiled and indulged, found it even harder to swallow this insult and angrily lashed out.

"Big brother, hitting people for no reason is wrong!"

Little Shi fluttered his large eyes, calling them "big brother" one after another and knocking down a little prodigy with each punch.

"I'm furious! You've forced me to use my precious technique. You've brought death upon yourself!" Jiao Peng's face flushed crimson, his features nearly twisted out of shape.

"You're not good enough yet. You few, come at me together." Little Shi's bearing changed as well, taking on a steadiness beyond his years. He extended his little hand and pointed out several of them.

Acting cute and wheedling with his sister did not mean he was truly childish or simple-minded, especially now that he was gradually recovering those forgotten memories. He simply cherished his happy life all the more.

Little Shi took the initiative and used the Green-Scaled Eagle's precious technique. Before long, he had knocked the little prodigies down one after another, displaying extraordinary combat instincts. Even joining forces did them no good; he overwhelmed these outsiders.

"Damn wild brat! Uncle Jiao, swallow him for me, then wash this village in blood!"

A vicious air rose from Jiao Peng. Wiping the blood from his face, he looked toward the nearly zhang-long Fei Jiao circling in midair and spoke savagely.

"Roar!" Fei Jiao lowered his enormous head from the sky and stared at Little Shi, his gaze cold and murderous intent spreading around him. None of the adults intervened.

"You're so young, yet your heart is already so vicious." Shi Zhao's expression abruptly turned icy. At some point, a Purple-Gold Great Hammer had appeared in her hand, bursting with dazzling lightning.

Boom-!!