Ruyi Jingu Bang

Xiao Tian finally no longer had to run around naked. His innate divine ability, Size at Will, could now be applied to his clothes and the weapons in his hands.

The three-meter-tall tree bore only nine fruits in total. They gleamed gold, with dragon scales appearing on their surfaces. Its leaves resembled flood dragons, pitch-black and steaming with poisonous vapor.

Yet the fruits were not poisonous at all. They were immensely nourishing and could even neutralize poison.

Xiao Tian picked the fruits and casually stuffed them into the Heavenly Grotto at the Zhongwan acupoint on his abdomen.

"Not a bad haul. Keep moving. Time to run."

Xiao Tian swiftly left the scene of the crime and headed toward the next area he had previously lacked the courage or time to visit.

He arrived beside Shi Shan. From far away, he spotted a huge cave halfway up its slopes. Beside the cave grew a nine-leaf purple cloud orchid, its fragrance refreshing the heart and soul. It glowed beneath the sunlight in a riot of colors, like an immortal herb.

A three-tailed azure fox had originally lived here, but it had been summoned away. Xiao Tian dug up the spiritual herb outright, leaving not even its roots behind.

Just like that, the depths of the Primordial Desolate Forest became Xiao Tian's paradise. He harvested all manner of potent, ancient medicinal plants, hundreds or even thousands of years old, without the slightest hesitation.

An hour quickly passed.

"Congratulations, host. Check-in successful.

Obtained the Mutated Ruyi Jingu Bang. It has already recognized the host as its master. Retrieve it?"

[Two golden bands cap its ends, with a stretch of black iron between them, strewn with stars; Dao patterns, dragon markings, and phoenix script densely cover the areas beside the bands.

"Ruyi Jingu Bang: weighs thirteen thousand five hundred jin in embroidery-needle form and one hundred thirty-five thousand jin in its normal form. Size at Will; weight changes at will."]

"Retrieve it."

Of course Xiao Tian had heard of this famous object. He could not worry about the details now; first, he would see what kind of treasure it was.

The next instant, light flashed in Xiao Tian's hand, and an embroidery needle radiating dazzling treasure light appeared in his palm.

What a treasure.

No wonder Sun Wukong had fallen in love with the Ruyi Jingu Bang at first sight. What man did not enjoy swinging a staff? Now Xiao Tian could hardly bear to put it down either.

At a mere thought, the Ruyi Jingu Bang changed to a thickness and length he could comfortably grip, while its weight became the standard one hundred thirty-five thousand jin.

Excellent, excellent. With this weapon, getting things done would be much easier from now on.

There was one more place to explore: the territory of a one-horned Golden-Maned Lion. It lay rather far away. This was a powerful beast king, a primordial remnant on the same level as the Li Fire Demon Bull and the Demon Ape.

Xiao Tian entered the Golden-Maned Lion's territory. His naturally keen sensitivity to the concentration of spiritual energy in heaven and earth was enough to guide him toward Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

From afar, Xiao Tian spotted a silver lingzhi, with silver lightning interweaving around it. It possessed at least two thousand years' worth of medicinal potency.

Without hesitation, Xiao Tian dug up the lingzhi and transferred it into his Heavenly Grotto. He reckoned none of the fierce birds and savage beasts that had left would return. Given the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow's and Qiongqi's viciousness, once they had served their purpose, wouldn't they simply be gulped down as snacks?

By now, the surrounding territories of the Thunder Clan, the Purple Mountain Clan, and the others had probably been reduced to ruins. He was powerless to stop it. All he could do was grow stronger and avenge them someday by eating the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow and Qiongqi-tooth for tooth, life for life.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In the distance, heaven seemed to collapse and earth to split apart. The four Venerable-level primordial remnants fought like mad, attacking one another without restraint, for every living creature within a hundred thousand li had already been devoured by the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow and Qiongqi.

The Little Red Bird, a Vermilion Bird Remnant, and Zhu Yan no longer had anything to hold them back. The two had been fighting each other at first, only to suffer a sneak attack from the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow and Qiongqi and sustain serious injuries. Earlier, they had also tried to stop Qiongqi and the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow from running amok, taking more injuries while fighting with their hands and feet tied. Now, they were the ones at a disadvantage.

Borrowing the Sixth Calabash Brother's divine ability, Xiao Tian walked through the void. This world's planar stability was beyond question. Venerables could shatter the earth, yet they could not shake space itself. It truly deserved its reputation as the Lower Realm's prison. Escaping? They could forget about it.

That also meant these powerful beings' attacks could not harm Xiao Tian in the slightest. Right beneath their noses, he fled far away.

The Sixth Calabash Brother's innate divine ability practically placed him in an invincible position from the outset. It was incredibly powerful and practical.

Willow Deity had taken the other inhabitants of Stone Village away into a stretch of chaos, where they could not see the outside world. Only after two months did Stone Village see daylight again.

During that time, Xiao Feng, Xiao Shan, and Xiao Yuan paced in anxious circles, yet they could not leave Stone Village. They could never have imagined such a terrifying upheaval outside. Why had the usually shrewd Xiao Tian run out there?

The only thing keeping Xiao Feng from going mad with worry was the note Xiao Tian had left: "I'm going home. See you at the Xiao Clan."

Crack!

Stone Village had seemed to be tucked into chaos, but in truth, it had merely been drawn into a willow leaf. This space shook violently, then the gray haze vanished completely, followed by the chaotic energy. Sunlight spilled down.

The villagers soon discovered that they were no longer in their original location. A river so clear they could see its bottom flowed past the village. Plump fish swam freely through its waters, some leaping out, their golden scales glittering as they stirred up shimmering sprays.

Not far away lay a lake as blue as the sky, strikingly similar to Qinghai Lake, the largest lake in China back on Earth.

In short, Willow Deity had found Stone Village a precious haven suited to survival and raising future generations.

"Uncle Feng, my big brother is so clever. He must have gone home already. You don't need to worry."

Recently, seeing Xiao Feng worry about Xiao Tian every day had made Little One, Shi Hao, think of his own parents. He had been sad for a long time, but he was sensible enough to comfort others. Xiao Tian was already so grown-up, yet he still made people worry, doing something even more childish than a naughty little kid would.

"Little One, we're leaving. We'll set off for the Xiao Clan right now. This is a token proving membership in our clan. Keep it, and come visit the Xiao Clan if you get the chance."

Xiao Feng was very fond of Little One. He was a good child with excellent talent and limitless prospects.

Over the past two months, Xiao Feng, Xiao Shan, and Xiao Yuan had been teaching the village children to cultivate, and they had also guided little Shi Hao. They had benefited too: little Shi Hao had simply shown them the Suanni Precious Technique.

Xiao Tian had already learned it anyway, so a few more people learning it hardly mattered.

If Xiao Tian had not gone missing, Xiao Feng would have considered this journey a stroke of good fortune. They had obtained unimaginable benefits and even witnessed a Sacrificial Spirit as powerful as Willow Deity.

Finally, Xiao Feng, Xiao Shan, and Xiao Yuan bid Willow Deity farewell and swore solemn oaths never to reveal Stone Village's location. They, too, did not want to see these simple, honest villagers troubled by all manner of outside factions again.

In the end, Shi Hao did not take the mount Xiao Tian had given him, leaving it in Stone Village.

He had discovered a herd of Unicorns outside Stone Village and immediately taken a liking to their leader. Pure, flawless white, it looked much better than Xiao Tian's azure one. He wanted to tame a mount through his own abilities.

From far away, the Green-Scaled Eagle shot Little One a sidelong look. "Is Auntie not good enough anymore?"

Xiao Tian was utterly speechless. The four Fierce Beast remnants seemed to know no fatigue. They had fought for two months, and he had spent two months running before finally escaping the area they were ravaging.

Along the way, Xiao Tian had also opened another Heavenly Grotto. This one was outside his body, but that did not matter. Once he fused with the other Calabash Brothers' panels, he could merge the external Heavenly Grotto into the corresponding innate acupoint.

As for the unification of ten Heavenly Grottos pioneered by Shi Hao, that had already become impossible for Xiao Tian when he opened four Heavenly Grottos inside his body.

Everyone had their own path to invincibility. His would certainly differ from Shi Hao's.

Xiao Tian truly was going home, heading toward his family's residence.

His grandfather's fifty-eighth birthday celebration was approaching. He wanted to get back first and offer the Suanni Precious Technique as a birthday gift. He had to beat his father to it.

Afterward, he would cultivate within the clan for a while and enjoy the treatment due to a great clan's young master. Ideally, he would open another Heavenly Grotto before entering the Void God Realm to check in next year.

For now, he was in no hurry to enter the Void God Realm. He knew his own circumstances best. With his strength, he was already invincible in the region corresponding to the Blood Moving Realm. Thanks to the Great Dao fragments that came with the Calabash Brothers, he had broken through this world's original shackles.

Moreover, Xiao Tian had a feeling that as he grew and continued fusing with the Calabash Brothers' panels, his origin would keep strengthening. Even his initial physical strength at the Blood Moving Realm would likely continue growing imperceptibly.

That meant his growth truly extended to every part of him. He would not even need to recultivate repeatedly as Shi Hao had after discovering that heaven and earth were incomplete.

For instance, when Shi Hao first entered the Upper Realm's Three Thousand Dao Provinces, he had recultivated.

After being betrayed and captured by An Lan, who took him to the Foreign Realm, he had recultivated again.

That was because the Great Dao of the world containing the Foreign Realm was more complete than that of the broken Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

Two months later!

After returning home, Xiao Tian discovered that his father had already arrived. Upon asking, he learned that Xiao Feng, Xiao Yuan, and Xiao Shan had been so worried about him that whenever they had enough magical power, they carried their mounts as they traveled. When their power ran low, they rode their mounts while recovering.

Traveling day and night like that, they had forced their way across more than one million two hundred thousand li in less than a month and returned to the Xiao Family.

Yet after pushing himself so hard, his father had arrived home to find Xiao Tian still absent. He had nearly gone mad with anxiety and was preparing to search for him, only to be held down by the old man, Marquis Ling Tian.

His grandfather's exact words had been, "What's the rush? Since Tian'er has broken through to the Cave Heaven Realm, he's old enough to go out and temper himself. If he's chosen to do so, you should respect his decision.

"Besides, since he left a note saying he would return, he certainly will.

"He doesn't have your ability to carry a Flood Dragon-Blood Horse while traveling. Even if he's coming back, you'll need to wait another month or two.

"Now get out of here and spend time with your wife and daughter. Just tell them Tian'er has gone out to gain experience and will come home a little later."

As soon as Xiao Tian entered his clan's territory, he saw his grandfather, Marquis Ling Tian, standing atop Wangxi City's wall.

Beneath the newly risen morning sun, his tall figure was draped in golden light.

Riding a Leopard Hou of an ancient variant bloodline, Xiao Tian felt his eyes moisten at the sight of that figure. He was certain the old man came here to wait for him whenever he had time. Otherwise, how could they have met so coincidentally?

"Grandfather, I'm home."

Xiao Tian leaped lightly into the air. A pair of lifelike azure feathered wings appeared behind him, edged in five colors, proving that he had cultivated his family's Luan Bird Treasure Art to a profound level.

The Leopard Hou followed obediently behind him. Despite possessing the strength of someone with two Heavenly Grottos, it behaved as meekly as a kitten. One could only imagine what it had endured.

(End of chapter)