"Dad and the others are back! They’ve brought back so much prey!"
The children of the village were the first to notice. Every day, after finishing their training, they would scramble about, and as dusk approached and the sun dipped below the horizon, they would gather at the entrance of the village, eyes fixed expectantly on the forest at the end of the road.
Because Maoqiu and the others wandered about at night—sending flames into the sky one moment and causing the earth to tremble the next—the village was rarely at peace. The elderly, the women, and the children were deeply anxious about the safety of the Hunting Team, waiting for them each day with growing unease.
Hearing the children’s shouts, the villagers gathered at the entrance to welcome the return of the Hunting Team.
The harvest of the Shi Village Hunting Team this time was arguably the most bountiful in decades. Unlike the events in the original stories, every person now returned with shoulders laden and arms full of ferocious beasts and wicked birds, all of which could be used as medicine. This single haul of precious blood and medicine was worth more than an entire year’s worth of harvests from the past.
This success was inseparable from the aura of Shi Heng. With the dangers of the forest invisibly neutralized, the Hunting Team had been able to scavenge with ease, leaving behind countless ordinary beasts they couldn't even bother to carry.
The strong men of the village, each possessing an arm strength of over three thousand jin, emerged from the woods dragging, pulling, or shouldering one or two giant beasts. They had even managed to bring back a few scaled horses. Even so, there was still prey left behind, requiring another trip later to clear it all.
"Dad, how were you all so strong this time? I’ve never even seen many of these ferocious beasts!" Pihou ran up to his father, Shi Shoushan, and asked excitedly.
"Haha! You little rascal, your old man hunted you your favorite Tu Lou this time! Aren't you happy?" Shi Shoushan laughed heartily, then added, "And your favorite Brother Heng is the most impressive of all. He shot a thousand-jin striped giant tiger with a single arrow. He’s right behind, carrying it—you should go take a look."
A group of children stood by the road, gossiping and commenting on the prey as it was brought into the village.
"Wow! A Pixiu! A fire rhino! And a dragon-horned elephant! That must be over twenty thousand jin! And another dragon-horned elephant! Oh ho! We won't have to skimp on our meals this year!" Surviving in the Great Wilderness was no easy task; the villagers often went from feast to famine. Seeing so much prey, everyone was filled with joy.
By tradition, they brought the prey to the sacrificial altar for the Sacrificial Spirit.
On the already spacious altar, the prey was piled into a massive mountain of meat.
The Willow Deity did not choose to intervene just because of the abundance of prey. Her heart was set on the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, and as the former number one Sacrificial Spirit who had once looked down upon the world, she neither craved nor desired the food the villagers had worked so hard to hunt.
After the butchery was finished, the elders began the medicinal bath for the village children.
The children, still haunted by the agony of the previous medicinal baths, tried to hide, but they were dragged out from every corner of the village by the elders, stripped bare, and tossed one by one like little chicks into the bronze cauldrons prepared in the Martial Arts Practice Square. The elders then forcibly held them down to proceed with the second bath.
Shi Heng leaned against the roots of the Willow Deity, watching the scene from the original story as if he were in a dream.
He stared blankly at the distant bonfire and said, "Willow Deity, I killed someone yesterday! I didn't feel a shred of mercy."
He was not a psychopath; he simply had not yet recovered from the reality of taking a life for the first time.
The willow branches emitted a faint glow, swaying in the wind.
"Follow your own choices, so long as you believe them to be right. ...Your arrival is a good thing for Shi Village; you are changing it with every passing moment. ...In truth, you need not try so hard. The destined outcome was set long ago."
An ethereal, wise voice drifted toward him.
"Yes... need not try so hard..." Shi Heng said, staring blankly at the willow branch. He thought to himself, *But who else but you makes me want to marry you? I can only climb toward the summit with all my might!*
...
The next morning.
"@ Peerless Martial God - Xu Qi'an, do you have a moment?"
"Ready to come over? Come on! It’s noon here, and I'm just about to have lunch!"
"Alright!"
In the Da Feng capital, at the Ren Zong Daoist Academy, a flash of white light appeared.
"The Group Leader is here! Sit down!"
Shi Heng sat in the gazebo with Xu Qi'an and looked around.
"How come I don't see your wife, Luo Yuheng?"
"Don't look, she's sleeping!" Xu Qi'an raised an eyebrow with a mischievous grin.
"Impressive! A Martial God's stamina is truly something else!" He gave Xu Qi'an a thumbs up.
"Haha! Keep working hard, kid! Your target is too strong; if you stay in your current shape, don't blame me when... heh heh!" Such is the simple, unadorned nature of conversations between men.
"The Heavenly Dao will be here in a moment. It stopped chirping after the war ended, but I accidentally ate some of that spicy beef you gave me, and I threw the bone away, only for It to come and pick it up! It really has no sense of shame—a dignified Heavenly Dao reduced to scavenging for bones!" Xu Qi'an complained relentlessly.
"Do you still want to improve your strength or not? What if a mighty figure passes through the Boundary Sea, takes a dislike to you, and *snap*—we're all done for!" As he spoke, a human figure materialized beside the gazebo. It was the Heavenly Dao, taking the form of the 'Jian Zheng.'
Xu Qi'an looked at Him with disbelief: "I don't believe a word you say, you old geezer! If that's the case, why have you been fine for so long?"
"You'll understand when you reach that realm. Xu Qi'an, aren't you going to introduce us?" the 'Jian Zheng' asked, looking at Shi Heng.
"Telling you wouldn't help anyway. Just call him the Group Leader! He’s definitely going to be incredibly powerful in the future."
The 'Jian Zheng' addressed Shi Heng: "I see. Group Leader, I remember your aura; I saw you in the Void of the Boundary Sea. I am the Heavenly Dao of this world; you may call me Jian Zheng as well."
Shi Heng said in shock, "What! You saw me?"
"Indeed. I am the world itself; if you pass by me, I will certainly see you."
Shi Heng was speechless. He had only just arrived and had already heard such explosive news from the Heavenly Dao.
"Worlds cannot connect to one another on their own, or they would merge. From my perspective, imagine you come from a 'lake,' while I am a 'puddle.' There are two other 'puddles' and another 'lake' nearby. Because of you, a connection has formed, linking the four worlds together without causing them to merge."
"..., so you're saying that now I'm wandering around the Boundary Sea carrying five worlds with me?"
"You could put it that way. When Xu Qi'an suddenly produced things that were not 'mine,' I guessed it was your doing. Actually, this is not a bad thing. The Boundary Sea is fraught with crises; worlds perish there at every moment. Now that I have the protection of two 'lakes,' I am much safer."
"I see! So, does 'Jian Zheng' mean that the ferocious beasts I shared are of great benefit to you?"
"Yes. I can analyze the unique transcendent rules of the 'lakes' from them."
"Then what is your purpose in calling me here?"
"Continue to collect higher-level ferocious beasts or heavenly treasures. This is a small token of my appreciation for you; it will have infinite uses for you right now." The 'Jian Zheng' extended a hand and sprinkled a sphere of mysterious, profound light.
Staring at the light sphere, one could vaguely see the origin and end of the universe, the rise and fall of countless tribes, and the changing landscapes of history. The sphere dove into Shi Heng's body, then entered his sea of consciousness. Upon meeting the Ziyun, it began to orbit it like a star around a planet.
Shi Heng asked, bewildered, "What is this?"
"A 'key.' A 'key' to help you unlock the rules," the 'Jian Zheng' said with a smile, then waved his hand, dissolving into rays of light that vanished into the air.
"Alright, stop thinking about it! He's just a riddle-monger; why bother with him? Come on, let's go to the restaurant; I'll treat you to a good meal!" Seeing that the Heavenly Dao had left, Xu Qi'an beckoned for Shi Heng to follow.
Shi Heng couldn't make heads or tails of it, so he simply stopped thinking.