Five-Finger Mountain

In fact, no one had gone far after their last parting. They were all still nearby.

Over the past few days, Xiao Tian had maintained a mental link with his Seventh Brother's Clone, concentrating entirely on stealing fruit.

When his Seventh Brother's Clone attempted to open a twelfth Heavenly Grotto, his Da Wa body had tried as well. The result was failure, and a lack of resources was not the only problem.

Still, there was no rush. After all, it had not been long since he had opened his eleventh Heavenly Grotto.

That day, Huo Ling'er's people found Shi Hao and his companions and approached them to discuss exploring a Divine Cave.

This was the plan Huo Ling'er had settled on after considering several factors.

The people of the Heaven Mending Pavilion were essentially on her side, whereas the others seeking to join forces with her belonged to other races, such as the Feather King, the Nine-Headed Lion, the Silver-Blood Giant, and the Fire Cloud Sparrow.

When they reached the valley where they were to meet, they saw that several powerful beings of other races had already sent their subordinates there to make contact.

Xiao Tian knew about this group. Big Red had already infiltrated their ranks and was merely waiting for them to arrive so they could catch the whole lot in one net.

Big Green, the Treefolk prodigy, defined his own role quite simply: he was a tree. Whenever Xiao Tian rested, he would turn into a great tree to provide shade and stand watch.

Sure enough, Shi Hao liked Huo Ling'er. The moment they met, he could not help running over to provoke her and smack her bottom, until it even turned into a fight. Wasn't this precisely how a boy behaved when his heart first awakened to love?

How old was Shi Hao, anyway? He had already caught on at eight. Children from the mountains really were different. He probably wanted to sling a big, plump girl over his shoulder and carry her back to the village!

Crimson light rose from Huo Ling'er's body, turning into flames. She glared at Shi Hao with her large eyes and said, "Bear Child, you're so young, yet you're already this naughty! You can't smack a girl's bottom. Don't you know that?"

"But that's what my big brother does."

Shi Hao immediately put on an innocent expression, turning his large eyes toward Xiao Tian as he spoke with apparent purity.

Xiao Tian had been enjoying the show. He had never expected Baby Hao to pin something like this on him. Was he that sort of person?

Huo Ling'er studied Xiao Tian seriously for a few moments. She had never imagined this senior brother was that kind of man.

"Junior sister, I still have something to say. You should lose some weight. There's too much flesh on your bottom. It even bounces my hand back when I hit it. It's all soft and has no fighting power. You should train it all into hard muscle, like mine."

Shi Hao spoke again.

Huo Ling'er's eyes widened. She nearly suffered social death on the spot and instinctively looked toward Xiao Tian.

"Don't look at me. This child was born a menace. I never taught him any of that."

Xiao Tian's face darkened as he spoke.

The Desolate Heaven Emperor truly had been a menace as a child, one who sorely deserved a beating. Even Xiao Tian was having trouble holding back. Wasn't this ruining his reputation?

"You little brat! Just watch how I deal with you!"

This time, Huo Ling'er was utterly enraged, flames spewing from all seven openings of her head. She had cultivated her family's Vermilion Bird Treasure Art to a profound level. Scarlet Vermilion Bird wings spread behind her, and her slender, graceful body moved through the air as though dancing. A flying sword formed from flames traced an elegant arc and slashed toward Shi Hao, much like the Southern Bright Li Fire Sword.

Shi Hao used the Treasure Art Xiao Tian had taught him. Five-colored wings unfurled behind him, and a crescent azure moon took shape, repeatedly clashing with the crimson flaming sword.

And so the two fought and bickered, giving everyone no peace throughout the journey.

The other members of the Fire Kingdom's pack of sycophants watched with envy, jealousy, and resentment. They wanted to do the same, but they did not dare. Besides, they were no match for Huo Ling'er. Teasing her would get them hacked to death.

By the end, both were panting, and Huo Ling'er was drenched in fragrant sweat. Shi Hao, however, seemed mostly to be putting on an act, imitating Huo Ling'er to provoke her.

Watching Shi Hao, Xiao Tian could not help thinking of himself. When he had first seen the War Goddess, he had decided action was better than merely feeling his heart stir. Now, things were looking very promising.

Ahead, a mountain four thousand meters high loomed across their path. It looked like an enormous rock that had fallen from beyond the heavens, appearing abruptly on this boundless grassland and exuding a towering, majestic presence.

Their destination was a pitch-black cave halfway up the mountainside. Xiao Tian could sense that the mountain's extraordinary appearance was actually due to the faint aura emanating from that cave.

Huo Ling'er immediately sensed that this imposing aura was connected to a Divine Spirit. She had seen things giving off similar auras in the Fire Kingdom.

That was why she had deliberately contacted beings of other races to share the risk, leading to the gathering before them.

A group of beings from other races had already assembled at the foot of the mountain. Their leaders all had striking, extraordinary appearances, exuding auras that were savage, guileless, or weighty.

Guileless?

Xiao Tian looked at the Nine-Headed Lion and nearly laughed aloud. The lion gleamed gold from head to tail, with fine golden scales covering his body beneath a layer of golden fur. He looked as though he had been cast from Dao Tribulation Gold, resplendent and grand.

His body was four meters long and three meters tall at the shoulder. Blood energy surged within him like a furnace, and his heartbeat rumbled like thunder. He bore down on others like a mountain. Though he was clearly imposing beyond measure, Xiao Tian inexplicably found him adorable.

"Raaawr! You there, boy! What's that look in your eyes supposed to mean?"

The Nine-Headed Lion roared and glared angrily at Xiao Tian.

The way that human looked at him was utterly disgusting. It sent chills through his entire body and made him deeply uncomfortable.

"My great king, you've finally arrived!" Big Red cried excitedly, then turned toward the Nine-Headed Lion. "Nine Heads, follow my great king! With him, you will surely become the mightiest mount in the Great Wilderness. Endless splendor and glory await you!"

"Aoo-roar!"

The Nine-Headed Lion's fur bristled at once. That shameless bird, the Fire Cloud Sparrow, had actually uttered something so revolting.

"So what if you're a Primordial Remnant? A spineless weakling. No wonder you ended up as a mount."

The Feather King, a humanoid being standing two meters twenty tall, with a golden horn on his head and five-colored wings on his back, glanced at the Fire Cloud Sparrow, then gave the Nine-Headed Lion an indifferent look as he sneered contemptuously.

"Oh? You're that Bear Child. Come here and become my servant. Follow me, and one day you can attain Marquis-Sealing or King-Sealing and protect your people."

The Silver-Blood Giant looked at Shi Hao, and his eyes suddenly lit up. When his eighteen-meter body spoke, his voice boomed like a beating drum.

Only then did Shi Hao realize that his fight with Huo Ling'er had been so intense that he had unwittingly returned to his true form.

Huo Ling'er truly was powerful. In the Blood Moving Realm, she had cultivated strength of ninety-eight thousand jin, nearly breaking through the hundred-thousand-jin limit. Now she was also on the verge of opening her ninth Heavenly Grotto. No wonder the Fire Emperor doted on her so much.

In fact, all those young talents from the Fire Kingdom who followed Huo Ling'er had been beaten up by her first. That was why they followed her willingly and wholeheartedly.

"Hao Tian, that birdman is yours.

"The other two are mine."

Xiao Tian felt it was time he stretched his limbs as well.

As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped forward. His body rapidly expanded until he stood two meters taller than the Silver-Blood Giant.

His left fist shot straight toward the Silver-Blood Giant. The giant barely had time to raise his hands to defend himself. Boom! Blazing runes engulfed him, his hands twisted at unnatural angles, and silver blood dripped down. His entire body was blasted away, plowing two enormous trenches through the ground.

Xiao Tian reached out with his right hand and grabbed. A silver halo flowed across his palm as he used the Treasure Art of the Sacrificial Spirit, Silver Mountain. A mysterious crushing gravity descended, enveloping the Nine-Headed Lion.

The Nine-Headed Lion felt his fur stand on end. The terrifying threat Xiao Tian posed this time filled him with involuntary dread. Roar! All nine heads roared together, shaking heaven and earth. Golden ripples surged from his nine heads and gathered together like nine great waves, drawing the golden runes into resonance with heaven and earth. If unleashed, they would surely shatter the ground and overturn mountains and rivers within a ten-li radius.

But it was useless. Xiao Tian's great hand descended, and a silver mountain appeared, like the Buddha's Five-Finger Mountain. All those golden runes and terrifying sound waves were suppressed beneath his single hand, vanishing without leaving so much as a ripple.

The next moment, Xiao Tian seized the Nine-Headed Lion by the scruff of his neck, taking his fate into his grasp. He lifted the lion to his side and casually flicked his forehead.

As that thick finger approached, the Nine-Headed Lion struggled desperately. "Don't come any closer!"

Boom!

The Nine-Headed Lion felt as though a Primordial Divine Mountain had rammed into his skull. Golden lights danced before his eyes-"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, stars were shining near and far"-and both eyes crossed. Dazed and dizzy, he could no longer tell north from south.

After Xiao Tian punched him away, the Silver-Blood Giant turned and ran without the slightest hesitation. All he wanted now was to get far away from that monster.

Unfortunately, it was already too late. Xiao Tian stamped on the ground. Boom! In an instant, the earth shook and the mountains trembled. The ground beneath his feet split apart, and he leaped more than ten li in a single bound, landing in front of the Silver-Blood Giant. Clang! A golden sun rose behind him and became two millstone-sized wheels of light, with Suanni roaring within them.

Slash! Slash!

The Silver-Blood Giant's legs were sliced clean off at the tops of his thighs. Lightning instantly scorched the wounds black, ensuring that not a drop of blood was wasted.

"A Silver-Blood Giant's blood can temper the body, sinews, and bones. I'll trade you for those two legs.

"Senior Brother Li Xiaoyao, I'm willing to exchange a Divine Li Fire Bull, a Primordial Remnant, for them."

Huo Ling'er immediately spoke up in excitement.

When Huo Ling'er had first entered the Hundred Broken Mountains Range, she had encountered a Divine Li Fire Bull. Back in Broken Void City, it had made a Human Race servant in the Spirit Transformation Realm carry it around, stealing quite a bit of the limelight. Then Huo Ling'er and her companions had hunted it down together.

"Deal."

Xiao Tian agreed at once.

"Spare me, mighty Human Race expert! Your strength utterly overwhelms mine. I, Yinchuan, am willing to submit."

The Silver-Blood Giant prodigy immediately panicked. Lost legs could grow back, but if he lost his life, someone else would refine his spiritual essence to strengthen themselves. He did not want to die yet. Especially after seeing that Xiao Tian had already accepted the turncoat Fire Cloud Sparrow and the Tree Person as followers, both inferior to himself, he felt he might still be salvageable.

"Very well!"

Xiao Tian answered indifferently.

With such a huge subordinate, he could travel with a Tree Person providing shade and a giant serving as his bodyguard. That sounded rather nice.

Once Xiao Tian agreed, the Silver-Blood Giant immediately took out the precious medicine he carried. After refining it, he began healing his injuries, and his severed legs rapidly grew back bit by bit.

That was the benefit of cultivation in the Cave Heaven Realm. The Blood Moving Realm offered no such ability.

In the Cave Heaven Realm, apart from the head, even the internal organs generally no longer counted as vital points.

(End of chapter)