Little Solitary Mountain Town

After two months, Xiao Tian finally found Little Solitary Mountain Town. When he first heard its name, it had sounded familiar. Later, when he learned that the town's Sacrificial Spirit was actually a mountain, he remembered: this was the town outside the Wilds Forest where Stone Village's ancestral grounds lay. It stood on the outskirts of the Vast Mountain Range, had a population of over two thousand, and was only a little over a hundred li from Stone Village.

What an unexpected delight! He could meet Little One, Shi Hao, ahead of time. Xiao Tian had a special fondness for Shi Hao. In his previous life, he had loved the character both in the novel and in the animated adaptation.

Besides, building a good relationship with Little One, Shi Hao, would also let him cling to the Willow Deity's mighty thigh. Two birds with one stone-why wouldn't he?

There were eight villages around this town, including Stone Village, Bei Village, Little River Village, and Ox Village. Sometimes no one came here for six months or even a year. The distance was only a little over a hundred li, but ancient, primeval forests barred the way, teeming with fierce birds, Savage Beasts, and poisonous insects. Every long journey meant people would die.

Upon arriving in town, Xiao Tian immediately announced that he would settle here. He was already close to his destination, but he could not simply turn up unannounced. He needed a good way to enter Stone Village naturally-by being invited, for instance.

The two guardians accompanying him were grandsons from a branch of the Xiao Family. Despite being forty-eight and fifty-two, they had to call Xiao Tian Grandpa.

How awkward!

Xiao Tian told them to just call him Young Master. Xiao Feng had no objection to this form of address. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Xiao Tian would inevitably become the future head of the Xiao Family. Leading the Xiao Clan to five thousand years of prosperity would be no problem at all.

The two soon purchased a courtyard residence for everyone to live in. It had nine rooms and a five-hundred-square-meter courtyard.

Buildings in this world tended to be tall and rugged. Only in large cities did they gradually become more refined.

Trees in this world easily grew over thirty meters tall, with trunks so thick that two adults could not encircle them together. They were everywhere in the ancient wilderness forests.

None of them knew what Xiao Tian intended to do. They only knew that, before their departure, Marquis Ling Tian had instructed them to listen to Xiao Tian. As long as he was not deliberately courting death, they were to follow his arrangements as much as possible.

Even Xiao Feng, his father, served as a guardian. He was to concern himself with nothing else and simply keep Xiao Tian alive and safe.

"Dad, I'll be staying in this town for a long time, and I'll also head into the Wilds Forest to train.

"All I ask of you is to keep a low profile, a low profile, and an even lower profile. Don't disrupt the daily lives of the townspeople or the villagers nearby."

As they prepared to officially settle in, Xiao Tian gave these instructions very solemnly to his father and the other two juniors.

"All right. I understand."

Xiao Feng immediately voiced his agreement.

He wanted to back his son up and establish his authority.

"Understood, Young Master."

Xiao Shan and Xiao Yuan hurriedly gave their solemn assurances.

"In that case, you can do as you please from now on. There's no need to follow me around all day."

Xiao Tian added one final remark.

Little Solitary Mountain Town rarely saw outsiders, especially strangers riding powerful One-Horned Flood Dragon Blood Horses, who looked anything but ordinary.

However, half a month passed without these people causing any trouble. Only the young boy among the four strangers frequently entered the wilderness forest.

Many people who understood cultivation guessed that they had probably come here to give the boy practical training.

At seven years old, Xiao Tian stood one meter forty-five tall and looked like an eleven- or twelve-year-old boy.

His glossy black hair was casually tied into a ponytail with a jade band, and he wore a crimson outfit fitted for action. With his unsmiling, earnest little face, he made many people want to pinch his cheeks, but none dared.

Over the past half month, the children of Stone Village had been overjoyed. A wasteful boy often fought Savage Beasts nearby, then simply abandoned their corpses after killing them.

Stone Village's Auntie Green-Scaled Eagle had discovered this. At first, she worried that the abandoned corpses were a human trap and ignored them. Later, she realized that the powerful human child was simply fighting for the sake of fighting, killing the beasts along the way and leaving them behind without a second thought.

In the end, the Green-Scaled Eagle led the village adults over. After inspecting the Savage Beast corpses, they found nothing wrong with them. The village was often short of food, especially with a whole group of growing children who had all embarked on the path of cultivation and consumed enormous amounts.

Not long before, they had even fought with Bei Village, over thirty li away, over prey and hunting grounds.

Had Little One not intervened, Stone Village would have been in danger.

Since there was nothing wrong with these Savage Beast corpses, they would be fools not to take them.

For ten days straight, that wasteful boy fought Savage Beasts all over the place. Once he killed them, the Green-Scaled Eagle conveniently carried them home in her talons.

Two more days passed. One night, beast roars shook the heavens deep in the wilderness mountains. The peaks trembled, loose rocks tumbled, and trees burst apart.

Stone Village learned from the Green-Scaled Eagle that a Suanni was likely nearing death from old age. Unable to make another breakthrough, he could only be weeded out, unwilling though he was. That was why he kept roaring in fury.

That Suanni was a true Primordial Remnant, possessing a primordial treasure bone. His flesh and blood, too, were a tremendous treasure to Stone Village.

Many other Savage Beasts and fierce birds had also set their sights on this juicy prize.

Naturally, Xiao Tian, who had recently been fighting in the wilderness forest, had also heard the Suanni's furious roars. He estimated that the Suanni was at least an Array Formation Realm Primordial Remnant.

However, he had long since instructed his father and the two juniors not to hunt in the nearby forests.

Four powerful monsters were searching this Wilds Forest for the Mountain Treasure. Only the area near Stone Village was safe. Anywhere else, one careless move could leave his father and these two juniors dead without even knowing what had killed them.

"Over the next few days, I'll make contact with the people from the village in my dreams and build a good relationship with them. Don't ruin my plans. Unless I face certain death, you're not allowed to intervene."

That evening, Xiao Tian gave these instructions to his father, Xiao Shan, and Xiao Yuan.

They had escorted Xiao Tian all the way here and had spent over half a year together. By now, they could be trusted.

Xiao Shan and Xiao Yuan were both surprised. They had never imagined that they had traveled over a million li to this place because of Xiao Tian's dream.

Still, this world was wondrous and mysterious to begin with, so they did not ask more. Their mission was to keep Xiao Tian safe. If necessary, they could abandon Xiao Feng and flee with Xiao Tian.

Marquis Ling Tian had personally given that order. Naturally, they could not reveal it.

But Xiao Feng had said something similar himself. If they truly encountered an enemy they could not resist, even if he died, nothing could be allowed to happen to Xiao Tian.

In the courtyard, azure bone text flowed over Xiao Tian's body as he shaped it into three azure moons. Within them, the figures of three Azure Birds were already so lifelike that they seemed ready to fly out at any moment.

The three azure moons rose behind him. This was the family's most powerful clan-protecting treasure art, no weaker than the treasure art of any Primordial Remnant. It came from the treasure bone of an Array Formation Realm Azure Bird remnant.

The Azure Bird, also known as the Luan Bird or Dark Bird, bore five-colored markings and was a remnant with the Phoenix bloodline.

The Phoenix belonged to the ranks of the Ten Fiends.

Xiao Tian wanted to develop the treasure art's deeper powers, such as the Five-Colored Divine Light Sword.

After watching Marquis Ling Tian use it, he had seen that the marquis could even incorporate the Five-Colored Divine Light Treasure Art into his bow and arrows.

Of course, their cultivation realms were different, so there was no comparison. What mattered was that he had witnessed the tremendous power of this treasure art.

(End of chapter)