Although his father had belittled Xiao Feng as utterly worthless, he was only thirty-four that year, in the prime of his life. And as an Inscription Realm expert, he was already doing quite well.
Of course, his father, Marquis Ling Tian, was a man of many romantic exploits. He had five wives and plenty of sons and daughters, most of whom shared a father but had different mothers.
As for whether there were any illegitimate children, Xiao Feng had no idea.
But none of that mattered now. Xiao Feng had taken it upon himself to change his surname. He was Shi Feng.
"My name is Shi Shan."
"My name is Shi Yuan."
Xiao Shan and Xiao Yuan stepped forward and immediately declared their allegiance.
The corners of Xiao Tian's mouth twitched. What are you three stirring up trouble for? What if this little stunt changes the plot and robs the Willow Deity of the chance to display its divine might?
This brat... The others were stunned.
The men who had traveled with them from Little Solitary Mountain Town into this vast Savage Forest actually had such a background? They were genuine members of Stone Village?
They had long since noticed how powerful Xiao Feng and his two companions, Xiao Yuan and Xiao Shan, were. They had wondered why these men had not brought their own children along. So they had been heading home all along.
"He's absolutely adorable."
At some point, the two little girls, as lovely as sprites, had reached Little One and begun fussing over him, squeezing his little cheeks.
Xiao Tian immediately stepped forward as well and planted a kiss on each of the little twin girls' cheeks. "So adorable."
"Ah!"
Both sisters screamed at once. When did this bad guy get over here?
"You pinched my little brother's cheeks, and I kissed yours. That makes us even. Why be so stingy?"
Xiao Tian spoke with complete seriousness.
"Bad guy."
The two little girls spoke in unison.
Seeing this, Xiao Feng smiled like a proud father, deeply gratified. This boy was far better than he had been in his youth.
The old man from Cloud Heaven Palace looked as black-faced as the bottom of a pot. Those were his precious granddaughters.
Soon, the adults in Stone Village were alerted and came out to see what was happening. Lately, Xiao Tian had been taking Shi Hao and several children with strength exceeding a thousand jin out hunting, bringing back large quantities of prey every day.
Stone Village no longer lacked food or clothing. Recently, many villagers had been brimming with vitality, and some had even recovered from lingering ailments. After all, they had eaten the flesh of the vicious wolf-companion beast Sacrificial Spirit and drunk suanni broth.
Later, Xiao Tian had hunted several Savage Beasts even stronger than that vicious wolf-companion beast and brought them back to nourish everyone.
In the end, these visitors still entered Stone Village. There were simply too many of them, creating the uncomfortable impression of guests overwhelming their hosts. Talking over one another, they insisted on entering the village to look around.
Then, amid all their clamoring, they entered Stone Village and damn well refused to leave. They even instructed their children to go around probing for information.
The people of Stone Village were simple and honest. Skinny Monkey, Ermeng, Snotty, and the others were coaxed into revealing plenty with just a few little gifts.
The visitors also learned that Xiao Tian was an outsider who had only joined Stone Village six months earlier, while Xiao Feng, Xiao Yuan, and Xiao Shan had appeared for the first time that very day.
Many suspected that Stone Village possessed something valuable that had attracted these three adults and one child-such as the Suanni Precious Technique.
Then the three boys named Jiao Peng, Zi Shankun, and Lei Mingyuan were tacitly permitted to stir up trouble. They set their sights on the Green-Scaled Eagle chicks that had just returned to the village.
"Three chicks. One for each of us."
This time, Jiao Peng did not dare act too arrogantly. Little One might have been young, but he was truly powerful, and Jiao Peng's whole body still ached. Thus, he temporarily joined forces with the other two.
Three iron arrows flew toward Little Azure, Great Peng, and Little Purple, but the chicks dodged them easily. Following Xiao Tian around these past few days had brought them considerable benefits too.
Xiao Tian had been coaxing the two little girls, promising to teach them the Suanni Precious Technique. Holding hands and kissing cheeks, he had been negotiating for them to become his little girlfriends.
And then something like this had happened.
"Little One, don't hold back. Teach those three brats a proper lesson. Coming into someone else's home to hunt-they have no idea how to spell death."
Xiao Tian rose and spoke to the anxious Shi Hao.
Shi Hao had already been preparing to act. Hearing Xiao Tian's words, he held back even less and charged like a little azure heavenly peng. Bang, bang, bang! Three thunderous impacts rang out, and all three children screamed as they were blasted away. The arms they had used to clash with Shi Hao snapped, leaving white shards of bone protruding.
Each of their faces also bore a little footprint. Since they had no shame, he would strike them in the face.
Little Shi Hao was furious. He had finally tasted the warmth and coldness of human nature. These people had arrogantly forced their way into Stone Village, then refused to behave once inside. They had even drawn bows and shot at the rare fledglings the village was raising. Their shamelessness knew no bounds.
"So vicious at such a young age, striking with such a heavy hand."
A servant from Luofu Marsh stepped forward and spoke coldly to Shi Hao.
But the moment his words fell, he was sent flying sideways. Crack, crack, crack! His bones snapped in an unbroken series, and by the time he crashed down outside Stone Village, more than half the bones in his body had been shattered.
Xiao Tian had already appeared where the man had stood. "You people really have no damn shame. You forced your way into Stone Village, and now what? You want to seize everything by force?"
"Boy, you aren't even from Stone Village. What are you doing here?
"We're all here for the same thing."
Someone from the Golden Wolf tribe stepped forward and spoke without a trace of courtesy.
"What thing?"
Xiao Tian's voice remained calm.
"The Suanni Precious Technique."
The man from the Golden Wolf tribe answered bluntly.
"The Suanni Precious Technique? You want it? I'll give it to you."
Xiao Tian spoke coldly.
The next instant, a golden sun enveloped him. Like a bolt of lightning in human form, he appeared beside the young man from the Heavenly Wolf tribe. Both were in the Cave Heaven Realm, but before Xiao Tian, the young man was as weak as a lamb. He was instantly blasted out of Stone Village. Even after landing, electric currents coursed over him, and in an instant, he became a charred corpse.
With the Willow Deity backing him here, Xiao Tian feared no one.
"Boy, you're courting death!"
A Spirit Transformation Realm expert from the Golden Wolf tribe flew into a rage and attacked Xiao Tian directly. He seemed to transform into a golden wolf, making no attempt to conceal his razor-sharp killing intent.
"You're courting death!"
Furious, Xiao Shan roared and transformed into a blue flood dragon, lunging to kill. A sweep of his tail sent the giant wolf flying.
At the same time, Xiao Feng stepped forward. "Luofu Marsh, our clan is not one you can afford to provoke."
Savage malice surged from Jiao Peng. He spat out several mouthfuls of blood and glared venomously at Shi Hao. "Uncle Jiao, please act! Capture that little bastard for me! Crack his bones, leave him with one breath, and bring him over!"
Shing!
The moment he finished speaking, Xiao Tian attacked. An azure moon flew out, with a luan bird dancing inside it. Beneath the night sky, it was breathtakingly beautiful-but far too fast. In an instant, it severed the child's head.
Screee!
The Green-Scaled Eagle's cry rang out. The eagle had grown even larger, its spread wings spanning forty meters, showing something of the Azure Sky Peng whose blood flowed within it. It swooped down and tore the gray flood dragon, over twenty meters long, into two halves. Blood rained through the air.
Before the gray flood dragon could howl in pain, the Green-Scaled Eagle pecked his skull open. His brains burst out, and he died a gruesome death in an instant.
That gray flood dragon had been in the Spirit Transformation Realm. Recently, the Green-Scaled Eagle had received benefits and entered that realm as well, while the Willow Deity had greatly purified its bloodline.
On Luofu Marsh's side, Jiao Cang was so furious that the corners of his eyes nearly split. Yet he could sense that Xiao Feng's imposing aura was no weaker than his own.
"Who exactly are you?
"Fellow cultivators, what happened today cannot end peacefully. Kill these three, wipe out Stone Village, and we can share the Suanni Precious Technique."
Jiao Cang turned to the others as he spoke.
"We of Cloud Heaven Palace will not take part in such a thing."
The people of Cloud Heaven Palace spoke up.
The others remained silent, however, savage light flickering in their eyes. They had all begun entertaining thoughts of seizing the Suanni Precious Technique.
Shi Feijiao and Shi Feihu were frantic. They stepped forward and handed a tiger bone and a bian hide to Xiao Tian and Shi Hao respectively. "Young Brother Xiao, if there's no other choice, please take Little One and leave."
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-
Meanwhile, Luofu Marsh had actually concealed quite a few experts in the woods, including cultivators of both the Cave Heaven Realm and the Spirit Transformation Realm.
Xiao Tian said nothing more and took the tiger bone. It was a treasure bone left behind by a Primordial Remnant with White Tiger blood, and it instantly fused with his arm.
The next moment, Xiao Tian vanished from where he stood. Screams rose continuously from Luofu Marsh's people outside. Empowered by the White Tiger Remnant Treasure Bone, he was bathed in a radiant azure moon. Wherever he passed, blood sprayed, and one person after another had their skull pierced and died on the spot. Most importantly, they could not even see how Xiao Tian attacked.
With the talents of the Calabash Brothers' first and Sixth Calabash Brother empowering him, he became an invisible ant-sized man. Combined with Stone Village's Ancestral Artifact, the White Tiger Remnant Treasure Bone, he could pierce anything. His combat strength was now firmly at the Spirit Transformation Realm.
Boom!
Jiao Cang of Luofu Marsh also struck, attacking Xiao Feng directly. Without a word, Xiao Feng summoned the White Bone Great Saber he had nurtured within his heavenly grotto. Silver runes flowed over his body, and behind him, a White Silver Mountain faintly took shape.
Splurt!
In an instant, Xiao Feng hacked Jiao Cang in two. As Marquis Ling Tian's son, Xiao Feng had been sent to protect Xiao Tian because he genuinely had considerable skill. In combat, an ordinary Inscription Realm cultivator truly could not defeat him.
He had possessed over sixty thousand jin of strength in the Blood Moving Realm and opened six heavenly grottos in the Cave Heaven Realm. That left him ten thousand jin and one heavenly grotto short of his father, which was why he was constantly belittled.
Compared with most people, however, Xiao Feng was a genius. Within the Xiao Clan, he was known as Madman Xiao.
Still, when it came to producing offspring, Xiao Feng had done quite well. At the very least, in the original plot, his son Xiao Tian had held his head high: over eighty thousand jin in the Blood Moving Realm and eight heavenly grottos in the Cave Heaven Realm. Even among the final batch of disciples recruited by Heaven Mending Pavilion, he had been the foremost genius on the surface, earning the flattering description, "a silver-robed youth with towering horns of promise."
Of course, others considered that a flattering description. Back then, whenever Xiao Tian heard about his "towering horns of promise," his blood would often surge and smoke would pour from his seven orifices.
"Who else?"
Xiao Feng was radiant with confidence, finally holding his head high. He had bottled himself up for eight years. Since Xiao Tian's birth, he had gone a long time without fighting and killing. Did they really think he could no longer lift his saber?
This was a savage world where people married at twelve or thirteen. Sensitive readers, please do not impose modern thinking on it. There are plenty of popular, sensitive novels you wouldn't be able to read either-wouldn't you fall apart if you did?
(End of chapter)
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