Chapter 77 - Return

“Little big bro, can my foot really be healed?” Little Qingfeng’s eyes were brimming with hope. He was such a young child, yet his foot was already broken. His heart was naturally be saddened and he longed for its restoration.

“It’s possible. After applying some precious medicine, it will will be cured for sure.” The little guy shifted his gaze towards Hairy Ball on his shoulder.

Hairy Ball was originally sound asleep, but he suddenly shivered and quivered, waking up from his sleep. He rapidly leapt off from his body onto an ancient tree as it vigilantly looked downwards.

“Hairy Ball, don’t be so stingy. Qingfeng is already like this, do you not want to help him?” The little guy laughed as he beckoned towards it.

Zhi Zhi! Hairy Ball screeched and was unwilling to jump down.

Qingfeng’s left foot was bitten by a poisonous Flood Dragon, and although his wounds have closed, that area still looked quite terrifying. A sarcoma grew there, and it greatly contrasted with his pretty little face.

Poisonous Flood Dragons were not actually genuine Flood Dragons. They were more like vipers, only that they were several meters long like a unicorn. Their bodies, however, were highly toxic, and whoever it poisoned would inevitably die. On the day that Qingfeng was bitten, if it an ancestral elder did not disregarding his own circumstances to detoxify and replenish his life force using his own innate essence when Qingfeng was critically ill, he would certainly have died immediately.

“Too vicious, he is such a young child, yet they still had the heart to take such actions.” The little guy had the tone of a little adult, and he forgot that his own age was not that great either..

As he spoke these words, the western border were in turbulent times. A great quake spread across Stone Country’s imperial capital, and invoked a huge killing spree. However, the person responsible -- the little guy, had lost all awareness of this as this was outside the scope of his knowledge; he had forgotten that he had sparked these events a long time ago.

“Little Big Bro, where are we going?” Qingfeng asked.

“Returning to our clan’s true ancestral land. When you nurse your wounds completely and trained your body a bit, we’ll go to Heaven Mending Pavilion together after I get a little stronger.

“Ah, true ancestral land?” Little Qingfeng widened his eyes in surprise.

Xilulu… The unicorn held its head high and released a long neigh. Its entire body was a silver white as its scales flickered gloriously. It carried the two children and soared across mountain gorges and into the distance.

The great wasteland had many fierce beasts, and so there were many bloody battles on this journey. However, the little guy had already journeyed through here, so the returning route was a lot smoother.

When Qingfeng heard his little big bro had traversed the 300,000 li of the great wasteland by himself, his little mouth was left wide agape. He exposed a shocked expression and felt that if news of this got to to Stone Country, it would certainly invoke a world-frightening wave.

“There’s a huge bird’s nest on the summit there that covers the entire mountain top!”

On top of a lofty mountain within the heart of the mountains, there was a gigantic bird’s nest that had a diameter of over a hundred meters. It was constructed on the mountain peak, and possessed an oppressive aura.

In the distance, an enormous vicious bird streaked across like a black cloud. It was over 100 meters long and was 200 to 300 meters long with its wings spread. Its demonic aura shocked the heavens, and all the feathers on its body seemed like they were casted in metal as they flickered in terrifying rays of light.

On this entire journey, little Qingfeng cried out in surprise from time to time. He had never traversed through the great wasteland and had never seen such a terrifying creature.

“Ya, that tree consumed a huge Flame Rhinoceros!”

After a short while, they saw a tall and old tree. Its branch suddenly waved and penetrated a Flame Rhinoceros over several zhang long, absorbing its blood. It was extremely terrifying as the entire tree transformed into a red color.

“The great wasteland is very terrifying. There are all kinds of bizarre creatures here, so we have to be cautious and careful. If we relax for even a bit, we might encounter a situation where we lose our lives,” the little guy warned.

This was a bizarre world, and at the same time, it was also a terrifying world. The natural living environments were nasty, and the competition was cruel. Humans had to struggle and fight in order to live on.

They were very careful throughout their entire journey and avoided many dangerous areas. Those places were not places they could travel through right now. The mists were dense, and they could see various terrifying figures come and go; it astonished their souls.

Of course, they could not avoid a bloody battle forever. There were many vicious birds and fierce beasts throughout this journey. The little guy had to experience many fierce battles everyday, and his body bathed in more and more beast blood as he traveled.

After a journeying for over twenty days, the two children finally approached Stone Village. Their beast skin clothing were already covered all over in streaks of blood.

“Wa, savages, two savages are here!”

Near the dark blue lake shore, a group of children saw two bloody figures and began to cry out as they rapidly surrounded them.

“Something’s wrong. That blackish-red horse is a unicorn. The little guy returned!” Those children near the lake shore finally recognized him.

The little guy and his companion were in a rather difficult situation since even the unicorn had been dyed red-black in the blood of beasts. Its scales that previously flickered in silver light were full of bloodstains, and even Hairy Ball was no exception. It was clearly visible that they had encountered many bloody battles during their journey.

“Aiya, little guy, you’ve returned. The villagers were almost worried to death. You leave once and you leave for over fifty days!”

“Little guy, you look so miserable. I almost couldn’t recognize you!”

A group of children rapidly surrounded them and showed their affection. Despite the fact that his body was filthy and covered in thick blood, they came up and put their arms around his shoulders and grabbed his neck as if they continued chattering as if they would never run out of things to talk about.

“Who is this child?” They naturally saw Qingfeng and could not help but ask.

“His name is Shi Qingfeng and he’ll be my little bro from now on.” The little guy introduced.

A group of adults were all alarmed and quickly rushed out. Shi Linghu and the others were all so emotional to the point that even some very old elders ran out.

A young child traversing the great wasteland by himself. Returning alive after traveling for over 300,000 li was truly a miracle.

“This is too great! Child, you have finally returned. Being able to return alive is good enough already.” The chief was normally very calm, but his voice was trembling right now. During these past few days, he was genuinely worried to no end.

The trial this time was extremely difficult. Even if a group of fully grown experts traveled together, nine out of ten of them would still die, but the little guy succeeded.

This was once a cruel trial by fire that the strongest Archaic Vicious Beasts such as the Hornless Dragon or Leopard Dragon placed their children through. Even those terrifying children of the vicious beasts might still die halfway through.

The little guy succeeded; moreover, he returned while protecting another child!

“Child, you’re extraordinary! You completed the most terrifying trial, and you will inevitably fly into the heavens one day!” A group of elders trembled with incomparable joy to the point that some of them had tears in their eyes.

How many years have passed already? Stone Village’s legends have already been treated like stories by others, and no one believed that they once possessed such ancient glory. With this child’s sudden emergence, they truly believed that recreating their former glory was no longer impossible.

“Child, have you broken through?” The chief asked with deep concern.

“I haven’t. I’m preparing to seclude myself within the village. Breaking through is not a problem, as I want to rush into even greater heights.” The little guy answered.

Everyone nodded as they felt happy for him.

“You did well. You’ve successfully completely this ancient trial by fire,” the willow said. When the villagers heard, they suddenly began to pay their respects.

Little Qingfeng was startled as he curiously watched.

The little guy was amazed since the willow tree in front of him was now so different. A lot of its scorched black tree bark had been shed, and it also had some protrusions on its tree trunk as if something was going to drill out.

“I am going to train behind closed doors, and go into deep hibernation for a year.” When Willow Deity came out with such a news, it made the hearts of the villagers tremble.

“Honorable Master Willow Deity, you’re okay right?” A village elder trembled and asked.

“This is a good thing for me, but you all will need to watch out, because I have no way of protecting you for the next year,” said the Willow Deity.

Everyone’s mind was startled. They were going to lose the protection of the Willow Deity because of this deep slumber, and this made them feel uneasy. The only rejoiceful thing was that there were no evil beasts here, and no tragic incidents have occurred.

“It’ll be fine. Willow Deity hibernated for a long while last time as well. Aren’t we all fine right now, there should be no problems.” Shi Feijiao comforted the villagers.

“You are quite excellent, so don’t waste your innate gifts. After I wake up, I will show you a different world.” These were the warnings that the Willow Deity gave to the little guy.

Just like that, the willow tree’s entire body became dark ever since that day. That green and glossy branch no longer shined within the night as it fell within its deep slumber.

Putong, Putong.

In the beautiful, clear, dark blue lake, a group of children jumped in one after the other. They were swimming without worries, and they shouted and screamed joyfully as they played.

The little guy striped himself clean and ferociously dove inside to wash away all the bloodstains from his body. Qingfeng watched in envy from the shore since he did not know how to swim.

“Come down, it’ll be fine. We’ll teach you how to swim together.” A group of larger kids shouted.

“Ah, I won’t, I’m scared of the water.” Qingfeng cowered, but he was still forcefully dragged inside. Under the protection of the group of children, he plopped up and down for a whole hour until he finally learned how to swim.

“It’s truly beautiful. This place is too pretty.” Qingfeng was extremely happy. Within the azure lake, little fish with gold scales covering their bodies sometimes emerged before their eyes, and as they jumped out of the water, they flickered in their precious splendor. On the soft green grass by the shore, groups of birds paced back and forth. There were many different species there, and their brightly colored feathers circulated with a magnificent splendor. They were not startled by the sight of humans, and all of them were exceptionally beautiful. There was also a herd of unicorns running by the shore, incomparably pure and holy.

Qingfeng felt that this was simply an illusory world within his heart. It was so tranquil and auspicious that there was nothing to bother him. If he could live here for a long time, he would certainly be incredibly happy.

During the evening, the group of children went onto the shore in secret, and Hairy Ball behaved even more underhandedly as he hid and watched from within a bush.

“What are they doing?” Little Qingfeng puzzledly asked Shi Hao.

The little guy replied, “They are preparing to steal bird eggs. They are very rare and precious egg laid by little Luans. They are a precious medicine used for healing. Under normal circumstances, the chief will not let them randomly do this.”

Qingfeng was amazed while simultaneously feeling very fascinated.

Sure enough, sooner after, chickens flew and dogs jumped as chaos spread throughout the beautiful lake shore. A group of children as well as Hairy Ball stole a pile of multi-colored striped bird eggs and roasted them over the fire.

Shi Linghu’s voice echoed from the distance, “You bunch of brats. You are forbidden from doing this in the future. Otherwise in the future, all these precious birds and strange beasts will be scared off.”

“We understand!” The children giggled and laughed as they ate the fragrant bird eggs together with a mouthful of the roasted golden and shiny Dragon Whiskered Fish. They were all incredibly satisfied.

“This place is so good!” Little Qingfeng was extremely happy. With this many playmates and so many interesting stories, he felt extremely joyful.