I Will Blaze a Trail for the Current Era's Cultivation!

"Big sister!"

Before the Green-Scaled Eagle had fully landed, little Shi Hao leaped down impatiently, shouting at the top of his lungs, his eyes brimming with tears.

Seeing him, Shi Zhao tossed aside the Zhu Yan in her hands and reached out to catch her little brother.

"Big sister, you're finally back! I knew nothing would happen to you!"

Seeing his sister again after more than half a year, Little Shi choked up and could not hold back his tears. They rolled down his cheeks.

Like an abandoned little beast, he clung tightly to his sister and refused to let go.

"Yes, yes, I'm back. Everything's all right now. It's all right."

Shi Zhao was a little at a loss herself. She had not expected such a strong reaction from the boy; it seemed she had underestimated her place in Little Shi's heart.

She hurriedly reached out and snatched the Zhu Yan back through the air, then stuffed the little creature into little Shi Hao's arms. "Look, I even brought you a present. Do you like it?"

"Squeak, squeak!" The Zhu Yan tried to resist.

Shi Zhao shot the little beast a fierce glare, her bright eyes full of menace.

"Eep, eep, eep..." Frightened, the Zhu Yan hurriedly burrowed into little Shi Hao's clothes.

At the sight, little Shi Hao could not help laughing through his tears. He was still a well-behaved, sensible child; he had simply been overcome by emotion and lost control for a moment.

After all, she was the most important person in his life!

If he really counted it up, in his short life, he had spent far more time with his sister than he remembered spending with his parents.

Coming back to himself, the little fellow lowered his head in embarrassment, his small face flushed with shame.

Before long, the siblings returned to Stone Village's new location.

It was not very far from the ravaged Great Wilderness, and its surroundings were even better than before. A river flowed past the village, and a lake lay nearby, clear and azure, with large fish leaping from its waters from time to time. The scenery was beautiful.

"After you left, big sister, the Willow Deity used a supreme art to move all of Stone Village, letting us escape a terrible disaster."

"Then the village appeared here. Little Red Bird came too, badly injured, and the Willow Deity saved him."

In high spirits, little Shi Hao cheerfully recounted everything that had happened lately.

"But the Willow Deity fell into a deep sleep too, and said it would take six months to a year to wake up."

His voice grew a little subdued at that point. Then he blinked his large eyes, lifted the Zhu Yan from his arms, and began kneading and pinching the little creature.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!" The round golden ball stared with wide eyes and squealed nonstop, voicing fierce dissatisfaction and protesting the siblings' behavior.

Unfortunately, the protests accomplished nothing.

"Big sister, what kind of creature is this? It doesn't look like an ordinary little monkey."

"This isn't a monkey at all. It's a Zhu Yan. Look, its feet are red. A true pureblood Zhu Yan has a white head, though, while this one has a pair of qilin horns on its head."

Shi Zhao explained as she walked lightly toward the familiar village entrance, where a charred willow came into view.

"Willow Deity, your faithful devotee Shi Xiaozhao has returned!"

She blinked her large eyes and smiled, making insincerity her defining feature.

The Willow Deity gave no response, but the fragment of the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk seemed to sense something and emerged from one of her cave heavens.

"This willow is still alive. The deity has revived!"

The fragment circled the charred willow and transmitted a clear thought. It was evidently deeply shocked to utter those words.

After all, when Shi Zhao had received the legacy of the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art, the Reincarnation Disk fragment had only responded vaguely to her request and protected her as she left.

"You know the Willow Deity too?" Shi Zhao narrowed her eyes slightly and deliberately asked.

"The deity is the Ancestral Sacrificial Spirit of Immortal Ancient," the Reincarnation Disk fragment said solemnly. Then it fell silent, seemingly unwilling to say more, and slipped back into her cave heaven on its own.

Shi Zhao could more or less guess why. It was simply the grief of a creature mourning another of its kind.

The Willow Deity of old-the Ancestral Sacrificial Spirit-had stood shoulder to shoulder with its master, the Six Paths Reincarnation Immortal King.

Yet after that battle, both the Six Paths Reincarnation Immortal King and his dear friend, Immortal King Wuzhong, had fallen, while the Ancestral Sacrificial Spirit had been reduced to this state. How desolate it was.

"The road of cultivation is long, but one day..." Shi Zhao raised her head and looked straight at the blazing sun. She left the sentence unfinished, but the conviction in her heart grew ever firmer.

One day, she would change things!

Inside the village, little Shi Hao was already shouting at the top of his lungs, going from house to house.

Shi Zhao's return naturally delighted the villagers. They had long since accepted the girl as one of their own, and immediately laid out a feast at the village entrance to welcome her home and wash away the dust of her journey.

"Young miss!" A Man was beside herself with excitement, holding tightly to Shi Zhao's arm and refusing to let go.

"Big sister Zhao!" Qingfeng was so overwhelmed that he too could not help bursting into tears.

Shi Zhao comforted them one by one, her heart filled with warmth as she savored this tender moment.

After the celebration, peace returned to Stone Village.

Classes resumed at the school at the far end of the village. This time, every child studied diligently, and not one let their mind wander.

Having witnessed the devastation of the Great Wilderness and their ruined homeland, they all yearned for strength, wanting the power to protect their homes and loved ones.

They were desperate to improve!

Another half year or more passed, and little Shi Hao's strength advanced by leaps and bounds. With his physical body alone, he could lift a boulder weighing nearly fifty thousand jin.

And he was not even six years old yet.

Under Shi Zhao's instruction, his mastery of bone text had also become profound.

He had also continued studying the Azure Sky Peng Precious Technique and the Suanni Precious Technique, achieving remarkable results.

A Man and Qingfeng progressed rapidly as well.

A Man in particular possessed truly extraordinary talent, far surpassing ordinary geniuses. She was certainly no less gifted than the supposed successors of great sects, and might even surpass them.

After all, she was someone who would later catch an Immortal King's eye and be accepted as a nominal disciple.

Of course, the one who made the greatest progress was naturally Shi Zhao.

To open her tenth cave heaven, she tried every method she could think of.

I still haven't reached the limit of this realm. The embryonic primordial spirit cave heaven is special and shouldn't count among them. Otherwise, opening the tenth cave heaven earlier would have been far too easy.

And if it must count, then I should break past the limit!

She delved deeply into various precious techniques, studied the Primitive True Understanding, practiced the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art, and ventured into the Great Wilderness from time to time to challenge powerful ancient species whose cultivation realms far exceeded her own.

Beyond that, the mysterious virtual realm on the back of the Tattered Cloth, which could transform imprinted primordial runes into primordial ferocious beasts, helped her enormously. It was equivalent to having her primordial spirit engage in the fiercest life-and-death battles with pureblood ferocious beasts-an experience that was exceptionally rare.

"With my supreme talent and world-shaking

wisdom, open!"

She truly opened the tenth cave heaven, but this was not the end.

She knew full well that ten cave heavens merely reached the utmost boundary, rather than breaking past the limit. Accomplishing only this was nowhere near enough.

Combining the ten cave heavens into one is feasible. Their combined power can nurture a physical cave heaven and make up for the weakness of my body, Shi Zhao told herself.

If those words got out, who knew how many people would want to beat her to death?

Her primordial spirit was simply too strong-unbelievably strong-which made her body seem somewhat lacking. In truth, it had nothing whatsoever to do with the word "weak."

That's right. I actually broke past the limits of the Cave Heaven Realm from the very beginning-the embryonic primordial spirit cave heaven! If I open a physical cave heaven as well, that will make twelve cave heavens!

"I will walk my own path. I will blaze a trail for the current era's cultivation!"