Chapter 6 – Preparation
The villagers were all petrified, and were all in a stupid daze. Although they had already heard about this previously and knew that the little guy’s physique far exceeded his peers, no one could have imagined that it was so abnormal.
“He shouldn’t have even used the Bone Text’s mysterious powers yet right?” Someone asked.
“No he didn’t. I saw very clearly that he purely utilized his body’s strength.” The hunting group’s leader Shi Linghu replied.
Hong!
The little guy Shi Hao threw the copper cauldron to the ground, and as it smashed into the ground, smoke and dust polluted the air. He quickly took a step back, avoiding the rising dust. This loud noise once again made the villagers’ hearts tighten; this truly was a little devil.
The results were really hard to believe: a three year-old infant lifted up a thousand jin cauldron. Not to mention within the mountain range’s vicinity, it would be difficult to find someone like him even within the limits of this earth.
The villagers were all mind-blown, and even chief Shi Yunfeng was startled. He did not believe that Shi Hao could lift up such a large cauldron at his current age, and never expected it at all.
“Is this real? How could that little brat Shi Hao have such a ridiculous amount of strength? I have never heard of a child like this one.”
“It really is quite inconceivable. If he did not have the body of a human, I would have thought that some ancient beast’s child came here!”
All of the villagers turned around, and they were commenting on the little guy’s striking performance.
“Chief, you’ve been to a few prosperous regions right? Have you met any children like this one?”
“That’s right. Yunfeng you’ve been to many powerful tribes. Have you heard about anyone like this little devil?” Even some of the elders couldn’t hold themselves back any longer and had to ask.
Shi Yunfeng replied, “I was once at a clan that had several million members and met several of their extraordinary children. They all had unlimited amounts of great resources that would cause anyone to be stupefied. Although they were quite formidable for their ages, compared to the little guy, they were still somewhat lacking.”
The villagers who heard that all blanked, and then all began to laugh. This was heaven showing favor towards Stone Village! A young child that had power similar to an archaic beast’s descendant, what would happen once he properly grew up?! Stone village would become prosperous because of him.
An elder said while analyzing, “Those large rich and powerful clans have as many experts as trees in a forest. They must have killed fierce beasts that were beyond frightening and used the true blood of rarely seen archaic beasts to refine and baptize the bodies of their especially talented children. Otherwise, the difference when compared to the little guy would be even greater.”
“There are various limitless fields, vast and boundless. Those great clans and aristocratic territories from legends might have even more formidable children. After all, the world is too big, and the things we understand are merely a small corner of what is truly out there.” Said Shi Yunfeng
The display of martial arts this time made all of the villagers extremely happy. The children were all quite strong, and the potential for growth was great. As for Shi Hao, that was a happiness beyond their expectations, since his performance was truly too shocking.
While everyone began to scatter, several clan elders as well as Shi Linghu and some other important individuals did not leave. They continued to seriously discuss like before, as if the discussion they had previously never ended.
“When Shi Hao grows up in the future, in a one on one situation, won’t he be able to defeat a ferocious, pure blooded juvenile Suan Ni with his bare hands? As long as even one of those legendary archaic beasts comes out, then even an extremely powerful and large clan would be easily destroyed.”
TL: The Suan Ni is a mythical lion. It was mentioned in Coiling Dragon.
One of the elders extinguished his burning thoughts and said, “Having potential while you are young does not necessarily mean that you will become a powerful individual that will shock the world. You have to know that there are countless geniuses who faded away while they were young.”
Everyone was speechless, and soon after nodded their heads.
Shi Yunfeng frowned and said, “Now that you mention it, Shi Hao was born in this village, so he was not born with the physique of those other children with Xiantian parents. He had a worst start than them, and we cannot provide for him like those major clans with archaic true blood, mountain treasures, panaceas, etc.”
Shi Linghu said, “Right now he is still young. If it was before, then maybe he really would have been too late to catch up to the children from those great clans.”
Shi Yunfeng thought for a bit before saying, “According to my understanding, once a talented child reached five years old within one of those great clans inside the great earth’s limits, they would enter their life’s first crucial baptism. They would be placed inside of a copper furnace a good deal of panaceas as well as archaic true blood and a few other ingredients to slowly refine the body, allowing it to increase in strength.”
The others all softly sighed; after all, this was only a small village. Was it really possible for them to compete with those great clans? It wasn’t even possible for them to procure those panaceas and the archaic true blood from legends.
“We’ll just try our best to kill some giant beasts and extract some of their precious blood. We’ll accumulate it bit by bit and prepare for the little guy’s five year-old baptism.” sighed an elder.
Shi Linghu frowned and brought up another issue. “In order to be able to compete with those powerful kids from legends, besides shedding your body and building a strong foundation, practicing an inherited cultivation technique is also an important issue.”
Chief Shi Yunfeng nodded his head and replied, “I will look for a solution to this issue.”
Everyone at that time became stumped for words. They all knew in the past, the chief left to explore the distant regions, he had entered quite a few sects. In the end, through the price of blood and lives, he brought back some bone texts. Could it be that those were comparable to the ones passed down by those major clans?
Ten or so brothers went through life or death struggles together, and only two of them returned while immersed in blood. In the end, only the chief survived, yet he still contracted some strange disease. His past was something that he never talked about, and none of the villagers asked him about it either.
What exactly happened that year? There was obviously a secret that he didn’t want to reveal.
In the following days, chief Shi Yunfeng was always extremely busy, and would often be slowly refining medicinal herbs. Within the courtyard, the stove cauldron never ran out of fire, and the smell of medicine was extremely strong.
“Grandpa chief. You don’t need to work so hard and be so tired. You need to rest too.” The little guy’s eyelashes were rather long, and were prettier than those of little girls’ as he thoughtfully advised the old man to take a break.
“There’s no need.” Shi Yunfeng laughed while shaking his head.
Several clan elders as well as Shi Linghu and the other people who were familiar with the situation didn’t tell Shi Hao too much. He didn’t know that Shi Yunfeng was actually preparing for his five-year old ‘baptism’.
With the setting sun came the returning hunting troop. Each of them had a wild beast on their shoulders. Although there were some that were wounded, they were still all talking and laughing.
The chief’s stone courtyard was located near the village entrance, and Shi Hao was currently standing in front of the courtyard entrance while looking at everyone who was returning.
“Uncles, you’ve all returned.” He lifted his small innocent and tender face. His eyes were clear and were a brilliant black as he politely greeted the returning group of individuals.
‘Come here, these are your favorite berries. Uncle picked them especially for you.” Shi Linghu handed over a package wrapped in animal skin. After opening it up, the inside was a bright red. A sweet scent traveled around, and each round fruit were like sparkling and translucent carnelians.
‘Thank you uncle.” Shi Hao blinked his big eyes, and happily received the berries.
At night fall, the villagers once again offered the beast corpses to the willow tree as sacrifices. After finishing the ceremony, some of the more spiritual prey was delivered to the chief’s courtyard.
Soon after, the smell of blood began to spread from the stone courtyard. Several fierce beasts were lined up over there, their bodies trickling with blood. Moreover, the beasts’ bodies were gradually drying up, and were flickering with symbols, making them appear strange and mysterious.
That was the Bone Text, and at this moment, it was interwoven within the blood as tiny streaks of electricity streaked across. It looked as if Shi Yunfeng was performing sorcery, and he was currently using a mysterious force to slowly refine the best features of the beasts’ blood to obtain the ‘blood medicine’. After undergoing continuous smelting and refining, the amount of beast blood decreased more and more. At the end, there was only a single drop of blood left, and it was collected into a jade container. The blood bead was sparkling and translucent, and was brilliant like a blood diamond.
“According to what is recorded in the Bone Text, during the five year-old baptism, the panacea, true blood and other mysterious components will have a mystical effect on one’s foundation, greatly affecting one’s future.” Chief Shi Yunfeng softly spoke.
He did not want to waste Shi Hao’s talent, and did not want him to fall behind the other major clan’s geniuses. He was always thinking of ways to save up the materials needed for his ‘baptism’.
“It’s better to go without than to go with a bad option; only high quality true blood is useful for the little guy. Unfortunately, it really is simply too rare. In addition, if it was excessively powerful, it might be too difficult to handle.” He quietly said to himself.