Chapter 56

"Damn monkey, stop right there!" In the village of Shicun, a broad-shouldered and thick-waisted woman chased out, and ahead of her, a fist-sized golden sphere was holding a leg of a beast weighing over a hundred pounds, fleeing as if rolling on the ground, looking quite comical. As it ran, it quickly gnawed on the meat.

What was unbelievable was that it was only a few inches tall, but by the time it reached the village entrance, the over a hundred pounds of smoked meat had all entered its belly, leaving only a large bone.

"Dead monkey, can't you choose a different house? This is the sixth time in half a month!" The middle-aged woman's voice was like a lion's roar as she snatched the bone, which was over half a meter long, and struck it on the golden sphere's head.

With a "clang," sparks flew as if it had hit iron, and the golden sphere, with an innocent look, blinked its big eyes, not retaliating or arguing.

"Tiger Aunt, it's not a monkey, it's a Zhu Yan," the little one corrected, grabbing the golden sphere's tail and lifting it up.

"That's right, it's very annoying, even pigs hate it!" The middle-aged woman, still furious, struck it again with the bone, but to no avail, as it was like hitting iron.

"Little Zhu, in these past half a month, you've stolen from every household in the village. Is your little belly still not full?" Shihao pulled its ear.

"Zhi zhi..." The golden sphere protested, clearly unhappy with the name.

"It's not the pig from the tree, it's the Zhu from Zhu Yan. If you don't like it, I'll call you Furball." Little Shihao smiled, rolling it in his palm.

The golden Zhu Yan was indignant. What kind of name was this, with "pig" and "ball"? It really didn't like it.

Shihao rubbed and pinched it, and amidst the Zhu Yan's protests, they arrived at the lakeside to practice.

There were already a group of children sitting on the green grass, all very serious, diligently practicing bone scripts. After a great calamity that destroyed everything within ten thousand miles, the children were greatly moved, and everyone was motivated to become stronger.

"Furball caused trouble again, I heard Tiger Aunt's lion roar just now."

"Haha, it causes trouble every day, I don't know how it can eat so much, its little belly is like a bottomless pit."

A group of children got up, laughing and surrounding the golden Zhu Yan, pinching its round body, finding the feel to be truly excellent.

"In these past half a month, the smoked meat it has stolen must weigh as much as a dragon-elephant, right?"

Little Shihao nodded, saying, "It might have been starved, it was sealed at the bottom of the lake for over a year, not eating or drinking. It's just recovering its strength."

The clear blue lake occasionally had large golden fish leaping out. The children sat by the shore, starting their practice again.

In the past year, Shihao's strength had advanced rapidly, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. Just with his physical body, he could lift a three-thousand-pound boulder. After all, he was only six years old, and when he did this, it stunned everyone in the village.

Moreover, he was also refining bone scripts, his skills already very profound. At this rate, it was hard to imagine what level he would reach!

True cultivation was not just about tempering the physical body, but also about comprehending primitive runes and touching the essence of heaven and earth. Otherwise, even if the physical body was strong, it would be hard to reach the peak.

True supreme beings did not distinguish between physical body and bone scripts. When tempering the physical body, mysterious patterns would emerge, turning into fragments of the great way, merging with the flesh and blood, inseparable. When practicing bone scripts, they would turn into divine light, nourishing the flesh, melting into one furnace.

People gradually realized this, so in the initial stages, they tried to keep the physical body and bone scripts as one, practicing them as a whole.

Of course, this path was very difficult. In a village of hundreds or even a town of thousands, it was hard to find someone who could walk this path.

The Blood Movement stage was the first true step in cultivation. Generally, in a tribe of ten thousand people, it was good if one person could achieve it, as the conditions were too strict, making this path very hard to walk.

At this stage, one needed to mobilize all the essence blood in the body, like rolling thunder, refining bone scripts, and generating divine light in the blood, thus tempering the essence of heaven and earth, nourishing the physical body.

In simple terms, the Blood Movement stage was the condensation of blood and runes, generating divine light, and then nourishing the flesh, seizing the essence of heaven and earth, strengthening oneself, and thus achieving the purpose of cultivation.

The destructive power of the early Blood Movement stage was already quite astonishing, capable of easily suppressing people like Shilinhu and Shifeijiao, who had a strength of five to six thousand pounds in their arms.

If measured in numbers, the early Blood Movement stage had a minimum destructive power of eight thousand pounds!

Little Shihao, by integrating runes into his flesh and blood and generating divine light, like an eternal divine furnace continuously drawing divine essence from the world, was considered to have entered the Blood Movement stage.

Even strong people like Shilinhu and Shifeijiao did not count as being in this stage, as it was too difficult. In a tribe of ten thousand people, it was good if one person could cross this threshold.

The mid-Blood Movement stage had a destructive power of twenty thousand pounds, and the late stage was even more astonishing, capable of bursting with fifty thousand pounds of divine strength, allowing one to charge through a herd of giant beasts!

Even in a tribe of tens of thousands of people, if someone entered the Blood Movement stage, they would find it hard to reach the late stage and burst with such astonishing strength throughout their life.

Little Shihao was only six years old, and with his physical strength alone, he could lift a three-thousand-pound boulder. If he added the secret power of the runes in his flesh and blood, it was even more astonishing, already considered the peak of the Blood Movement stage.

In the past two years, Shihao's progress had been rapid. The old chief's collection of bone books had been thoroughly studied by him, his skills extremely profound. He was at the point of reaching the pinnacle and about to break through to another realm.

Shiyunfeng did not let him do this, as Little Shihao's cultivation speed was too fast. At such a young age, he had already walked the path that many people took a lifetime to walk, which was unbelievable. He felt that at this stage, Shihao needed to solidify his foundation, and wait for the Willow Deity to recover before taking its advice.

In recent days, Little Shihao had almost worn out the bone books, thoroughly mastering these runes, with nothing left to learn, and could only explore and research on his own.

In addition, he was also studying treasure techniques, one being the primitive runes of ancient magical birds, and the other being the great power of the Suanni, both of which could make a large tribe of tens of millions of people envious.

As the sun was about to set, the evening glow dyed the sky red, making the lake even more beautiful. A group of exotic birds played in the water, suddenly causing a great commotion, all the giant birds flapping their wings and calling incessantly.

In the water plants, a human-head-sized egg was rolling, moving very fast, away from that area, dragged over by a furry golden ball.

The children watched in amazement as the golden Zhu Yan stole a fierce bird's egg, and the group of several-meter-long red-feathered cranes, with their fiery red bodies, called angrily.

"Furball, these eggs are very fragrant when roasted, but they are not medicinal. Go steal a nest of the small phoenix birds' eggs, those are the good stuff," the snot-nosed kid incited, small in size but quite mischievous.

"Zhi zhi..." Furball called out, turning into a golden light and disappearing in a flash, its speed extremely fast.

Soon, a group of small phoenix birds in the water plants by the lake angrily called, flapping their wings, splashing water, and venting their anger.

The fist-sized golden sphere was highly efficient, stealing over twenty eggs in a short time. If Shihao hadn't held it down, it would have continued.

"Really fragrant!" The children started a fire by the lake, roasting the bird eggs, and enjoyed the meal with Furball.

The eggs, though not many, were very fresh, a nourishing treasure, and they ate heartily, their bodies burning hot. The golden ball, though not greedy, was happy to share.

However, its big eyes were rolling, already thinking about which house to visit tonight, after all, it couldn't steal eggs for them for nothing.

As night fell, the willow tree at the village entrance suddenly emitted a glow, enveloping the entire Shicun village, just like in the vast mountains, every night it was the same.

It had been over a year since it fell into a deep sleep, and this had just ended.

"The Willow Deity has recovered!" The villagers exclaimed.

At this moment, the Zhu Yan's golden fur stood on end, its eyes wide open, very nervous, staring intently at the tender green branch on the charred trunk.

"Swoosh"

It suddenly darted up, pouncing on the willow tree, trying to bite the tender sprout, sensing the astonishing divine essence, containing the strongest vitality.

"Furball, no!" Shihao shouted in alarm.

The green willow branch fell, wrapping around Furball, suspending it in mid-air. If not for a closer look, it would seem like it had hanged itself. This sudden change made its big eyes wide open, struggling fiercely.

Little Shihao quickly explained, "Willow Deity, don't take it to heart. Although it is an ancient legacy, its runes are broken, and it may have forgotten its past."

After a long time, the Willow Deity finally let go, clearly very concerned about this golden Zhu Yan, but did not say much.

Furball, freed, let out a startled cry, rolling down and jumping onto Shihao's shoulder, hiding behind his hair, blinking its big eyes, staring at the willow tree, not daring to move again.

All the people of Shicun came, extremely devout, seriously worshiping, expressing their respect.

Finally, the chief, with a tentative attitude, consulted, recounting Little Shihao's cultivation achievements, and asked the willow tree what to do next.

No one expected the willow tree to respond, emitting a divine thought, saying, "In ancient times, the strongest fierce beasts, like the true hou and the golden-winged great roc, their young could lift ten-thousand-pound divine iron."

"Ah!"

Everyone exclaimed, this was too shocking.

What kind of existence was the Willow Deity? What it said would definitely not be false, far more reliable than the legends they had heard, but this news was too astonishing.

"That is just the pure physical strength, without using their race's unique supreme treasure techniques," the Willow Deity added.

Golden-winged great rocs, true hou, these heavenly ancient fierce beasts, without even thinking, their treasure techniques were absolutely supreme, incomparable!

The villagers were all stunned, speechless.

"So, don't rush to break through. Try to break the ten-thousand-pound pure physical strength limit in the shortest time. It will be of great benefit to you," the willow tree warned.

The villagers were stunned, clearly the Willow Deity was treating Little Shihao differently, saying so much for his sake, more than it had in the past few decades combined.

"I will work hard!" Little Shihao blinked his big eyes, clenching his small fists, and then timidly asked, "Willow Deity, can you help me see the things in my subconscious? I want to know what happened back then."

He was very nervous, afraid of uncovering a cruel truth, but he also very much wanted to know the outcome, to understand the past.

"Sure." The willow tree responded very simply with these two words.