The Outline of the Entire World

"Roar!"

At the critical moment, the Golden Hou, which had long been watching the great cauldron warily, acted. Before the cauldron could erupt, it swept up everyone from Stone Village in golden light and carried them a thousand meters away in an instant.

"The village... is unharmed?"

At the entrance to Stone Village, once the light faded, everyone saw clearly that the great black cauldron had not truly exploded. Only the force of its eruption had made it seem so.

Now, framed by flames, the great black cauldron glowed a red so vivid it seemed about to drip, like a crystalline, resplendent "heart." Countless crimson rays streamed from it, and its incessant pounding was dazzling beyond measure.

At first, it had merely been releasing its own power, but soon it became like a mountain flood bursting forth, like a vast sea breaching its banks. The Divine Radiance, celestial light, and flames, compressed to their utmost limits, exploded with a boom, sending out a terrifying ripple of energy.

In that instant, not only did everyone in Stone Village feel the terrifying ripple, but even the birds and beasts in the distant mountains sensed it.

The powerful creatures all raised their heads and looked toward the source of the spreading ripple.

The weak ones, meanwhile, trembled in terror. That horrifying ripple made them shudder, shaking with fright.

The ripple was violent and powerful, yet it did not seem lethal, for Stone Village suffered no damage. Its houses, planted trees, poultry, and everything else remained intact.

Meanwhile, inside the great black cauldron.

By now, Di Yi had finished applying True Understanding to the medicinal liquid, the creatures' blood, and the essence of their five organs within the cauldron. Only a layer of material residue remained at the bottom.

He felt his whole body relax, like parched land receiving sweet rain after a long drought. An incomparable sense of ease washed over him, bringing peace and serenity even to his mind.

"Thump!"

Di Yi instinctively wanted to stretch, but he forgot that he was inside the cauldron. That sudden movement knocked its lid straight off.

In an instant, some balance seemed to break. The sweeping ripple abruptly snapped apart, unleashing fragments of information as deep as an abyss and vast as an ocean, profound and boundless, as fathomless and brilliant as a starry sky.

Immediately afterward, the great black cauldron erupted with a thunderous bang. Trailing the lingering light of Divine Radiance, it fell from the high sky into which it had leaped and smashed a huge crater into the entrance of Stone Village.

"Hm?" The sudden shift between light and darkness left Di Yi momentarily dazed, but he quickly recovered and descended from the height where the great black cauldron had been.

At that moment, a faint glow emanating naturally from his body covered his skin. He seemed beyond the dust of the mortal world, like a clear lake untouched by a speck of grime, reflecting all manner of profound mysteries.

"Even the supreme beings of heaven and earth in those ancient legends could hardly be more than this, could they?" The old patriarch was shaken, for the instant he saw Di Yi, he felt as though he were looking upon an entire world, boundless and vast, filling both existence and emptiness.

"Roar..."

The Golden Hou was also stunned, and it seemed to have sensed even more than the old patriarch.

In its eyes, Di Yi's entire being seemed to dissolve into the grand momentum of heaven and earth, allowing it to see the outline of the entire world clearly.

But in the next moment, it recovered from its shock and grew excited, light swirling in its eyes. It brought the villagers back to Stone Village, then rushed to Di Yi ahead of everyone else and lay at his feet, nuzzling him.

"Honored guest, how... do you feel?" The old patriarch, who arrived second, also asked with concern as he handed Di Yi the clothes that had been drying at the village entrance.

"I feel good!" Di Yi accepted his clothes and answered while getting dressed.

"That's good, that's good." The old patriarch had thought something had gone wrong when the cauldron lid suddenly blasted away, but Di Yi's answer put his mind at ease.

"By the way, Patriarch, this should be the power of Bone Text, right?" Remembering something, Di Yi gathered a beam of Divine Radiance in his hand as he spoke.

"Yes, this is the power of Bone Text. Mysterious symbols nurtured within the flesh and blood produce Divine Radiance, which continuously draws upon the transformative bounty of heaven and earth for your own use." The old patriarch nodded and offered further explanation to help Di Yi understand this power.

"Then does that mean I count as a cultivator of the Blood Moving Realm Land?" Hearing the phrase "draws upon the transformative bounty of heaven and earth," Di Yi recalled what Shi Yunshan had said and asked.

"Not merely 'count as.' You can be more certain, honored guest. You are a cultivator of the blood moving realm," the old patriarch said. "Refining Bone Text and stimulating Divine Radiance within the blood, thereby refining the transformative bounty of heaven and earth to nourish the body-your present condition fits that description of the realm very well."

"It was that easy? Just through a medicinal bath?" Di Yi was astonished. He had thought cultivation would be a very difficult process. After all, even the older people in Stone Village had never entered this realm.

They lacked neither medicinal baths nor exercise, yet none of them had succeeded.

"Er, well... there must be several factors involved. After all, from what I can see, you are no ordinary person." The old patriarch did not know how to answer either. If they insisted on discussing it, it would cut far too deeply.

Over the following stretch of time, Di Yi talked at length with the old patriarch. First, he expressed his gratitude for the experience of the medicinal bath, then turned the conversation toward information about the Blood Moving Realm Land.

Gradually, as their conversation deepened, he gained a considerable understanding of the blood-moving realm and also learned quite a bit about what came after the Blood Moving Realm Land.

Of course, although the old patriarch spoke at great length, he explained that this was all common knowledge and touched only on the surface.

Even so, it was enough for Di Yi.

For an idea had come to him: if the blood moving realm offered even the slightest possibility of healing, what would happen if he continued cultivating beyond it?

"Patriarch, does Stone Village have any Bone Scriptures concerning cultivation?" Di Yi asked.

"No." The old patriarch shook his head. They had no specific cultivation methods. They simply studied the patterned symbols born within the blood and bones left behind by vicious beasts, combining this with medicinal baths and baptisms to strengthen themselves.

It could be said to be a very primitive approach.

"What about outside the Great Wilderness?" Di Yi continued.

"Outside the Great Wilderness? Naturally, there are some. After all, the world outside is larger and far vaster than Stone Village."

Before this, the old patriarch would only have thought Di Yi was making fun of him again.

Now, however, he realized that although Di Yi came from beyond the Great Wilderness, his home must also have been somewhere cut off from the world. Otherwise, he would not have known nothing about cultivation and understood so little of it.

"I see..." Di Yi nodded, an idea taking shape.

"Honored guest... are you planning to leave?" With the shrewdness of his years, the old patriarch naturally caught the meaning behind Di Yi's words and asked.

"Yes. I've been here quite a while. It's time to travel around a little." Di Yi did not hide his intentions, though he also said he would not set out immediately.

"That's a good thing. You've found your own goal, honored guest. This is a new beginning!" The old patriarch spoke from the bottom of his heart. Then, remembering something, he asked tentatively, "By the way, honored guest, when you decide to go beyond the Great Wilderness, could you take some of Stone Village's young people with you?"

"Of course." Di Yi thought it was a good idea. "But Patriarch, I can take them out, though I may not have the time or energy to look after them."

"That's all right. You needn't worry about that, honored guest. If they needed someone to care for them, there would be no point in leaving the Great Wilderness." The old patriarch indicated that Di Yi need not concern himself with anything else. "They are sons of Stone Village, raised in the Great Wilderness, with abilities of their own. All you need to do is take them out. Everything else will be their own responsibility."

"In that case, I have no objections." Di Yi nodded. He also said that although he might not have the time or energy to look after them, if they faced mortal danger and he knew about it, he would certainly help.

"With that promise from you, honored guest, this old man can rest easy." The old patriarch's feelings were sincere. Taking Di Yi by the hand, he declared that they would hold a feast that night and celebrate properly.