After a day of hurrying back and forth, the sun dipped below the western horizon, and Shi Heng finally reached a location a few miles outside Shi Village.
"Roar!"
Ferocious beast roars echoed from the distant mountain forest.
It seemed Bei Village's final madness had begun!
"Bang!"
In the forest ahead, Little Tot had already heavily injured over a dozen Bei Village youths in rapid succession. At this moment, Little Tot and the Cyan-scaled Eagle, carrying the Suanni's remains, the Evil Ape's severed arm, and the Leaving-Fire Ox Demon's horn, were surrounded by a group of Bei Village youths and ferocious beasts.
All around lay a circle of beast carcasses, a testament to how formidable Little Tot was after Shi Heng had disrupted his path.
On the other side of the beast pack was a ring of Bei Village youths, hurling iron spears and shooting arrows at the Cyan-scaled Eagle to prevent Little Tot from wantonly slaughtering the beasts.
"Little brat, I admit you are exceptionally strong, but unless you hand over the Suanni's remains today, the Cyan-scaled Eagle you're protecting will lose its life right here!" Bei Village Chief Bei Liqing threatened Little Tot.
He knew time was short; once the people from Shi Village arrived, there would be no opportunity left at all.
"You Bei Village bastards used underhanded tricks to injure Uncle Afu earlier, and now you want to hurt Aunt Cyan-scaled Eagle too! I won't hold back anymore!" Little Tot's eyes reddened; his kind and simple nature had previously stopped him from dealing fatal blows.
Living in the Great Wilderness, the struggle for resources was brutally cruel. Little Tot had always grown up under the protection of Shi Village. Facing this predicament, he now realized that blindly holding back could change nothing. From this moment on, the Emperor Huang of massacre and decisive action began to grow.
"Stubborn to the end! Then die!" Bei Liqing didn't care that his opponent was only a three-year-old child; he immediately gave the order to attack to both the youths and the beasts.
"Is that so? Who do you think is going to die?"
From deep within the mountain range stepped a young man dressed in beast-skin clothes, holding a massive heavy iron broadsword. His muscles bulged with perfect proportion, making his height of one meter eighty-five appear exceptionally well-balanced.
It was Shi Heng, having finally arrived.
"Since you harbor the ambition to snatch food from the tiger's mouth, you can all stay right here! Today, Bei Village shall be erased from the wilderness!" After crushing a few wolves to death with his bare hands, Shi Heng slowly walked into the encirclement and stood in front of Little Tot.
"Ignorant junior, don't get arrogant just because you have a bit of strength! Since you're here, go die together!" Bei Liqing gritted his teeth, speaking with utter hatred upon hearing that Shi Heng wanted Bei Village erased. How could he not know that this battle was now a fight to the death?
"Little Tot, blame your uncle for arriving late! Today, Uncle will let you witness this: enemies must bear a bloody end!" Shi Heng turned his head and said to Little Tot.
"Uncle Shi Heng!" Little Tot looked at Shi Heng, his eyes brimming with hot tears.
"Shoot them!" Bei Liqing gave a direct and ruthless order.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Dozens of massive iron spears and giant iron arrows came flying through the air from all directions.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!" Wielding a massive broadsword and the Cyan-scaled Eagle's Divine Technique respectively, Shi Heng and Little Tot deflected every single attack.
"Hah! If this is all the skill you have, then go die!" Shi Heng smiled with utter contempt.
With a single explosive step, he charged toward the nearest ferocious beast and began a relentless massacre.
One must know that Shi Heng's arm strength alone—referring strictly to brute force—had already reached fifty-four thousand catties, the Extreme Realm. His speed had increased correspondingly, making him utterly unstoppable today, cutting through foes like grass.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
The giant broadsword swung in Shi Heng's hands like a whirlwind, sweeping away everything in its path like a tempest. The surrounding wolves and ferocious beasts all perished, reduced to shredded flesh and gore.
In an instant, the battle circle was shrouded in a bloody mist, littered with severed limbs and beast carcasses. It was intensely gruesome.
"How is this possible?! How can you be this strong?! You didn't even use the power of Runes! How can this be?!" Bei Liqing and the crowd of Bei Village youths turned pale with fright at Shi Heng's monster-like strength, collapsing to the ground in incoherent terror.
"Little Tot, remember: never show mercy to your enemies!"
"Mm! Uncle Shi Heng, Little Tot will remember!" Little Tot watched Shi Heng display such divine might, instantly cleaving through all the beasts, his eyes glowing brightly.
"Hum!" Forty-two points of light shot out urgently from the crowd of Bei Village people—it was the treasure artifact bracelet bestowed by the Bei Village Sacrificial Spirit.
The points of light spun and danced, transforming into a meteor shower as they hurtled toward Shi Heng. Wherever they passed, rocks and vegetation were ground into fine powder.
Seeing this, Little Tot waved his small hands, conjuring two pristine silver moons—one protecting Shi Heng, the other charging directly at the points of light. When the two collided, divine brilliance scattered in all directions.
"Hmph! Endless!" Shi Heng was not in a rush now; he stood quietly in place, waiting for the Bei Village Sacrificial Spirit to appear. If the Old Bei escaped, it would only cause endless subsequent complications.
"Clang!" "Clang!"...
In the clearing, the silver moon and the torrent of light intertwined, colliding for dozens of rounds. The silver moon shattered, only for Little Tot to raise his hand and condense another, continuing to lock horns with the light shower.
"Hum!"
The light shower reversed direction, returning to transform once more into a string of beast teeth worn on the wrist of Bei Feng, a Bei clan youth of fifteen or sixteen.
"You're using the power of Bone Inscriptions?!" Bei Feng stared at Little Tot in sheer disbelief.
While Little Tot and Bei Feng were clashing, the people of Shi Village had also arrived, surrounding Little Tot and the Cyan-scaled Eagle.
"Bei Liqing! You people of Bei Village are courting your own destruction!"
Shi Feijiao's tiger eyes bulged, burning with fury. He had never expected Bei Village to take advantage of the fire to loot and rob the Suanni remains that Little Tot had risked his life to retrieve.
"Feijiao, don't waste your breath on them. It seems the lesson last time wasn't enough, and they haven't learned their lesson—let's completely wipe them out this time!" Shi Linhu's face was frosty, feeling it was time to settle things with Bei Village once and for all.
"Sacrificial Spirit, please manifest! Help us win this war!" Bei Liqing knew that if the Sacrificial Spirit didn't intervene, they would undoubtedly die.
"Awoo! Awoo! Awoo!"
A chorus of wolf howls echoed from the distant mountain forest, and a chilling intent to kill permeated the entire battlefield.
"Little Heng, Linhu, Feijiao, are you all ready? Damn it, if Bei Village's Sacrificial Spirit dares to show its face, kill it for me!" Shi Yunfeng shouted.
"Chief, this is exactly what I've been waiting for. Leave it to me, you guys don't need to lift a finger. As for the rest of Bei Village, don't let a single one escape! Daring to bully Little Tot—they've grown tired of living!"
Shi Heng directly and straightforwardly took responsibility for slaying the old wolf. He also wanted to gauge his true strength now that he had broken through the limits of the Blood-Moving Realm at fifty-four thousand catties.
Night had fallen, and the bright moonlight cast its glow across the battlefield. The air, already thick with the stench of blood due to Shi Heng's slaughter, now grew somewhat sticky.
In the original timeline, the old wolf was naturally suspicious and merely watched from the sidelines. Shi Heng knew it would certainly be reluctant to part with the old Suanni's remains, so he deliberately provoked it to see if it would work.
"Brother Linhu, exterminate them completely! Things have reached this point, there are no pleasantries left to observe!"
"Kill!" Shi Linhu, chosen by the Old Chief as the next village chief, was a highly qualified leader. He made a swift, decisive decision and ordered all the Shi Village clansmen to slaughter the Bei Village faction.
Shi Linhu and Shi Feijiao possessed cultivation levels approaching the Blood-Moving Realm (Mid-Stage), and coupled with the main force of Shi Village youths who were all nearing the Blood-Moving Realm (Early-Stage), crushing the Bei Village youths was an absolute breeze. The situation was utterly one-sided.
"I am not resigned! Sacrificial Spirit, if you don't step in, we're all going to die!"
Right before Shi Linhu struck him down, Bei Liqing let out a desperate plea for help with his dying breath. Tragically, until the very end, the group from Bei Village never received aid from the old wolf, showing just how cold and sinister the old beast truly was.
The pursuit continued. For a time, the sounds of slashing and desperate roars resounded across the mountains. Knowing they could not match Shi Village head-on, Bei Village adopted a hit-and-run retreat tactic, but even so, they could not escape their doom.
In this battle, even Little Tot personally slew the fifteen-year-old Bei Feng. Showing mercy to an enemy was cruelty to oneself; Little Tot had quietly matured.
"Hmph! The old wolf is naturally suspicious and cunning, remaining utterly indifferent even to the total annihilation of Bei Village. Let's go, let's head back to the village."
Seeing that the Bei Village Sacrificial Spirit could watch the destruction of its own people with total apathy, Old Chief Shi Yunfeng knew that staying would only invite unnecessary variables.
Having already applied and fed various precious medicinal pills to the Cyan-scaled Eagle and seeing its injuries stabilized, he had no intention of lingering here. With the old Suanni's remains in hand, they needn't worry about the old wolf failing to appear.
Shi Village had dispatched over a hundred people this time, including many tender-faced youngsters. Even teenagers of fifteen or sixteen had come along, showing just how anxious and furious the Old Chief had been this time.
Because Shi Village's strength had formed an overwhelming momentum, only a few younger ones with insufficient experience had sustained minor injuries during this purge of Bei Village; everyone else was completely unharmed.
Without lingering after reorganizing their ranks, the group headed straight back toward Shi Village.
"Awoo—!"
The moonlight was bright, casting silver light across the earth. A cold, murderous aura permeated the deep mountain ravines. When they were still two miles away from Shi Village, the howling of a pack of wolves echoed from the forest.
Pairs of emerald-green, eerie eyes the size of small bowls peered out from the mountain forests in all directions—a full forty or fifty massive black-backed giant wolves, each the size of a dragon-horned elephant.
"Chief, I'm afraid we won't be able to shake them off for a moment. These giant wolves are likely trying to stall us from returning to the village!" Shi Heng said to the Old Chief.
"Hmph! Old, unyielding beasts, it seems they've reached the end of their wits!" The Old Chief cursed helplessly, having no choice but to order the youths to guard against a sneak attack by the wolf pack.
"Awoo!"
The surrounding wolf pack had no intention of fighting them head-on; they only harassed the section carrying the Suanni's remains.
The giant wolves moved faster through the mountain forest than the Shi Village youths, forcing everyone to adopt a defensive posture, making rapid movement impossible.
"Beasts will be beasts! They can't see the situation clearly and still want to buy time!"
With his broadsword in hand, every swing of Shi Heng's blade cleaved a giant wolf in half, though he dared not slaughter them too quickly.
Since the old wolf was still hiding at this stage, hoping to incite a beast tide for a sneak attack, he would let it have its wish to avoid startling the snake in the grass.
After the span of an hour, fewer than half of the giant wolves remained, when suddenly the continuous roars of beasts echoed from the distant forest.
"Rumble!"
The earth trembled, forest leaves fell, and the beast roars grew closer and closer.
Seeing the ferocious beast tide approaching, the surviving giant wolves scattered in all directions.
The Old Chief could only curse the old wolf for its viciousness and cruelty in driving a beast tide to trample them to death under the hooves of beasts.
"Awoo—!"
The Bei Village Sacrificial Spirit finally made its grand entrance!
Under the moonlight, the yellowish-brown old wolf possessed a wolf's body, a wrinkled face, and a pair of wings on its back. Faint runes flickered across its entire body as it flew through the air, driving the beast tide right up to them.
I've finally waited for you, big old wolf!
"Beast! You're the one we've been waiting for. Die right here today!"
As soon as Shi Heng finished speaking, he activated the primordial precious talisman that had naturally evolved from his physical body. Dense runes spread all over him, his skin radiating a golden divine brilliance. He looked like a supreme god, like an abyss-dwelling demon, his entire body covered in golden regular patterns. Faintly, one could even hear the sound of flowing water—terrifying to the extreme.
The crushing pressure of a fifty-four thousand-catty limit-break erupted outward, instantly cutting the roars of the beast tide short. Cries of agony from giant beasts trampling one another echoed through the forest. After a brief moment of chaos, every single ferocious beast prostrated itself on the ground, treating Shi Heng with the awe and reverence due to a legendary pure-blooded king of beasts.
The mountain forest grew dim, and all the clamor suddenly died away. All creation fell silent, leaving only the sound of Shi Heng's heartbeat, resounding like a war drum across the mountains.
"Thump! Thump!"
"Little Heng, you—!"
"Little Heng! How is this possible?!"
"Uncle Shi Heng is actually this strong?!"
The Old Chief and the others stared in utter disbelief. They had never imagined that right when the beast tide was about to trample them, Shi Heng would directly suppress the surging, pitch-black tide of beasts with sheer presence!
Judging by his display, Shi Heng had likely pushed the Blood-Moving Realm to an unfathomably profound degree—a realm the Old Chief wouldn't even dare to imagine, yet he was seeing it manifested in Shi Heng today.
In just two years, Shi Heng's strength had grown to such an immeasurable degree!
"Chief! Leave it to me!" Shi Heng smiled and nodded.
"Awoo—!"
Seeing the beast tide halt, the old wolf fixed a pair of vicious, ice-cold emerald eyes on Shi Heng, filled with shock and uncertainty.
"What? Too scared to come down? With your days numbered, if you don't have the Suanni's remains, I'm afraid you won't live much longer, will you?"
Holding the broadsword in his right hand, Shi Heng flashed a middle finger at the old wolf, mocking the beast hovering in the air.
The old wolf's intelligence had long since awakened, surpassing that of ordinary people. Although the current situation looked extremely ominous, its fear of death no longer allowed it to care.
"Awoo~!"
It knew that if it didn't eliminate the person before it, the beast tide would be utterly useless, let alone allowing it to seize the Suanni's remains and advance to the Spirit Transformation realm.
Golden light flashed from the old wolf's short front paws as runes condensed. A massive golden wolf claw materialized in mid-air, lunging toward Shi Heng.
"All you know how to do is bark like a dog! Big old wolf, you die tonight!"
"Bang!"
With his body half-crouched and covered in rune-imbued golden light, Shi Heng leaped upward, charging into the sky. The ground beneath his feet shattered like a tortoise shell, forming a large crater while all the surrounding trees were reduced to fine powder.
Leaping into the air, Shi Heng swung his right-hand broadsword toward the descending golden wolf claw.
"Crash!"
In the face of absolute strength, the golden wolf claw shattered into a sheet of golden radiance that scattered in all directions.
Without losing momentum, Shi Heng arrived directly above the old wolf's head. Locking eyes, the old wolf's eyes revealed shock as it frantically flapped its wings to retreat backward.
"Trying to run? Down you go!"
With that, he raised his broadsword with his right hand and brought it down with full force toward the old wolf's head, plunging both of them toward the open ground below.
"Boom!"
The impact echoed across the mountains like a peal of thunder. For a moment, rocks and soil splattered everywhere, and all the surrounding giant trees and boulders shattered as a massive crater was blasted into the ground.
Inside the giant crater, the old wolf's head had been reduced to a pulp; only its skull, reinforced by the primordial precious talisman, remained intact. The old wolf had been slain by Shi Heng with a single sword strike.
Shi Heng's own beast-skin clothes had shattered into pieces, leaving only a short scrap of beast-skin trousers. Wardrobe malfunction once again!
His divine physique, having evolved precious talismans, shone with golden light. Mysterious patterns flowed around his body like golden blood, and under the illumination of the pristine moonlight, he looked like a heavenly god descending to the mortal realm. When had the Shi Village youths ever witnessed Shi Heng displaying such a form?
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Their weapons slipped and fell to the ground in a clatter.
"Is this fellow Heng even human? Good grief! He wasn't replaced by some archaic pure-blooded ferocious beast, was he?!" Shi Feijiao dropped his jaw as he spoke.
The people of Shi Village stared in sheer disbelief at Shi Heng, who had killed the old wolf with a single move in the arena.
"Who knows?! For the past two years, Heng has always hunted alone out in the wilderness, but I never imagined his strength would reach such a terrifying level!" Shi Linhu also wore a look of shock, his eyes locked firmly onto Shi Heng.
"You all realize this is purely Shi Heng's physical strength! Over the past two years, whenever I taught Bone Inscriptions, Shi Heng only listened a few times!" The Old Chief's wrinkled face was filled entirely with pleasant surprise.
"Uncle Shi Heng! You're too strong!" Little Tot widened his eyes, his fair, tender face flushed red with excitement.
Shi Heng chuckled wryly and said to the crowd, "My strength is limited, too. Those fierce beast kings like the old Suanni possess heaven-shaking might, and during the previous fight, I could only temporarily avoid their edge. As for this old wolf, since it kept hiding, I simply kept concealing my true strength, waiting for it to show itself."
"As for why I am this strong, I'll explain it after we get back to the village!" He said with a mischievous grin, looking at Little Tot.
Withdrawing his divine physique, Shi Heng picked up the old wolf's bone artifact and carcass, then walked back toward the Shi Village troop.
Seeing the oppressive aura vanish, the surrounding ferocious beasts scattered in a chaotic rush toward all directions, carefully giving a wide berth to the Shi Village group where Shi Heng stood, terrified of irritating him and being swatted to death.
"Right! Night brings many dreams—let's get back to the village quickly!"
Seeing that the old wolf was dead, Old Chief Shi Yunfeng waved his hand, ordering everyone to carry the Suanni's remains and the heavily injured Cyan-scaled Eagle.
Back to the village!
...
"Shi Heng..."
Inside Shi Village, the peerlessly elegant figure amidst the Willow Deity stared unblinkingly at Shi Heng's body the entire time, a pair of wise, phoenix-like eyes once again revealing a look of profound astonishment.
...