The shattering of the stone knife was, without a doubt, a painful loss.
Yet, when Shi Yi pulled out the rune-covered bone fragment inscribed with the Original True Solution and used it as a makeshift bone knife to carve up the Fire Demon Bull's corpse, the towering willow tree not far behind him nearly lost its composure, tempted to lash out with its branches and give him a good thrashing.
Shi Yi didn't understand, and neither did the people of Stone Village. But who could blame them?
This rune-covered bone fragment had been brought down from the Upper Realm by Liu Shen herself. She knew its value far surpassed merely being a record of the Original True Solution. The bone fragment itself was a supreme treasure, crafted by an unparalleled powerhouse.
The fragment in Shi Yi's hands, much like his Qilin Treasure Technique, was incomplete—a mere third of the original treasure. The remaining two-thirds of the rune-covered bone fragment were lost, scattered to unknown corners of the world.
And the kind of being Liu Shen deemed a "powerhouse"? Only an Emperor could claim such a title.
Above the Immortal King, there was the Immortal Emperor.
What a pity, though.
In ancient times, even the Immortal Emperor was but a legend, a whispered rumor that beyond the Boundary Sea lay the opportunity to break through from King to Emperor. Whether it was true or not, no one had ever confirmed.
Such matters were far too distant for the current Shi Yi. Liu Shen even felt that, with his temperament, let alone reaching Immortal King, even achieving immortality would be a stretch—never mind the lofty realm of Immortal Emperor above it.
Unaware of Liu Shen's inner musings or the fact that he'd narrowly escaped another whipping, Shi Yi eagerly wielded the rune-covered bone fragment as a bone knife, slicing through the Fire Demon Bull's remains with enthusiasm.
And truth be told, this bone fragment—crafted from who-knows-what kind of bone—was extraordinarily sharp, cutting through anything with ease. The Fire Demon Bull, a remnant of an ancient species, was as fragile as tofu before it.
Just as Shi Yi was getting more and more absorbed in his task, Liu Shen's distinct voice suddenly rang out.
"Shi Yi, do you realize the true value of that rune-covered bone fragment in your hand?"
"Value?"
Shi Yi glanced at the bone fragment in his hand, puzzled. The Original True Solution inscribed on it had already been fully etched into the depths of his soul through his Heavy Pupils.
As far as he was concerned, its only value now was as a substitute for the stone knife.
"This bone fragment is the sole original copy of the Original True Solution, bearing the first part, the Divine Guidance Chapter," Liu Shen explained.
"In the Upper Realm, countless great sects, immortal orthodoxies, and eternal clans possess transcribed copies of it. At its peak, it can lead one to the pinnacle of the mortal realm, just a step shy of immortality. Beyond that lies the immortal path."
She paused, her tone tinged with regret. "But the second part of the Original True Solution, the Transcendence Chapter—the path to immortality—has never surfaced. No one has ever obtained it, let alone the third part, the Ultimate Chapter."
Liu Shen's words carried a trace of longing. If she could obtain the Ultimate Chapter of the Original True Solution, she was confident she could break through to Immortal Emperor without ever setting foot in the perilous Boundary Sea.
The Boundary Sea was fraught with danger, an endless expanse of worlds and universes. Even an Immortal King faced a high chance of falling there. Unless absolutely necessary, she had no desire to take such a risk.
Liu Shen wasn't afraid of the Boundary Sea or the unknown. For one who pursued the Dao, to grasp the truth in the morning and perish by evening was a worthy end.
But if there was a safer path to break through to Immortal Emperor, deliberately seeking death in the Boundary Sea would be sheer madness.
"The sole original copy?"
Shi Yi glanced at the bone fragment again. In his previous life, when he watched the Perfect World anime, he'd been too distracted by the female lead to notice that this thing was the only one of its kind.
A few minutes later, he muttered, "So what if it's the only copy?"
He continued, "I've already memorized all the scriptures of the Original True Solution inscribed on it. If this bone fragment gets damaged by accident, then so be it. Nothing in this world is eternal or indestructible, is it? And if it's so easily broken, it can't be that great to begin with."
With that, Shi Yi resumed using the bone fragment as a knife, slicing through the Fire Demon Bull's remains without a care, utterly indifferent to the fact that this was the sole original copy of the Divine Guidance Chapter of the Original True Solution.
What he didn't know was this: while many great sects in the Upper Realm possessed transcribed copies of the Divine Guidance Chapter, the original copy might still hold hidden scriptures yet to be discovered.
Typically, anyone who obtained the sole original copy of the Original True Solution would treasure and protect it. Only Shi Yi, with his practical mindset, cared little for such concerns, believing in using things to their fullest without overthinking.
"In truth," Liu Shen added softly, "the Divine Guidance Chapter of the Original True Solution is accompanied by a supplementary scripture called the Myriad Spirits Diagram. It's also part of the Original True Solution. When cultivated alongside the Divine Guidance Chapter, it can potentially unlock the power to transform the mundane into the miraculous. But the Myriad Spirits Diagram has been lost for ages, which is why fewer and fewer disciples of the great sects in the Upper Realm bother cultivating the Divine Guidance Chapter."
"The Myriad Spirits Diagram? Transforming the mundane into the miraculous? What does that have to do with me?"
Shi Yi hesitated for a moment. I don't have the kind of luck to stumble upon something like the Myriad Spirits Diagram. Better to focus on the present. With that thought, he picked up the bone fragment and got back to work.
Seeing this, Liu Shen fell silent. She, too, believed Shi Yi had no connection to the Myriad Spirits Diagram. He didn't strike her as someone blessed with great fortune, and the odds of him obtaining the Myriad Spirits Diagram in the future seemed next to none.
Yet, she overlooked one thing.
The fact that Shi Yi had crossed paths with her, spending three years earning her trust, was itself a stroke of immense fortune.
Perhaps because she had fallen to the mortal realm for so long, even she had nearly forgotten how exalted she once was.
She was no mere god—she was an immortal, and immortals stood above gods.
Gods would eventually perish when their lifespan ran out, but immortals endured with boundless longevity.
___
Several hours passed.
As dusk approached, Shi Yi finally finished carving up the massive remains of the Fire Demon Bull. Beef, tripe, bones, tendons—everything was neatly piled into a small mountain.
It was no easy feat.
The Fire Demon Bull, after all, was a colossal creature over ten meters tall. Shi Yi, small in comparison, wielded a palm-sized bone fragment. Even though the fragment sliced through the bull's remains like a knife through tofu, it wasn't something that could be done quickly.
At least, not in a short amount of time.
The people of Stone Village lent a hand, of course.
But even with iron knives, a dozen burly men, sweating profusely, worked all afternoon, breaking over a dozen blades and managing to carve off only a few ounces of meat.
Thanks to the barrels of ancient species' true blood Shi Yi had gifted, which secured a brighter future for Stone Village, the simple villagers genuinely wanted to help him. Yet, in the end, they found themselves powerless to contribute much.
Still, they held firm hope. With the next generation of Stone Village baptized in the true blood of an ancient species, breaking through to the Heavenly Passage Realm wouldn't be a trivial matter, but it would be as natural as eating or drinking.
Stone Village was small, but it brimmed with potential.
Now, the old patriarch, Shi Yunfeng, likely understood why Liu Shen had insisted on keeping Shi Yi in the village. This boy from the outside world truly had the power to reverse Stone Village's longstanding poverty and weakness.
Though Liu Shen was mysterious and mighty, she never meddled in the village's affairs. To grow, the village had to venture out, not linger within its walls, idly relying on Liu Shen's protection.
___
The Great Wilderness, Cangmang Mountain Range, Stone Village
Night fell, and countless pairs of eyes gleamed outside Stone Village. They had caught the scent of the ancient species' true blood wafting from within, along with the tantalizing aroma of the Fire Demon Bull's flesh.
Yet, as their gazes fell upon the willow tree at the village's center, the creatures behind those eyes forcibly suppressed their frenzied bloodlust, wary of becoming the next to be struck down by its branches.
Their arrival was inevitable.
Previously, the true blood and remains of the ancient species had been stored within Shi Yi's Heavenly Passage, their aura concealed. Now, carved up openly in the heart of Stone Village, the scent was driving the beasts mad with desire to charge in.
Some had acted on impulse—and now, they were corpses.
___
East of Stone Village, beside a small stream, in a modest house
Pop, pop . The sound of bubbles bursting.
A small iron pot sat over a fire, its contents sizzling with oil and water. Bright red chili peppers, vibrant green Sichuan peppercorns, and various mushrooms floated atop the bubbling broth.
The presence of these spices wasn't surprising. Just as this world had creatures like Qilin, Pixiu, Phoenix, and Vermilion Bird—beings also recorded on the blue planet—such ordinary seasonings were hardly out of place.
Take an example: the blue planet had rice and wheat. Did that mean other worlds, other universes, couldn't have similar crops?
Of course not. Across the myriad realms, many things were universal. The key was whether one could discover their uses.
"Yi gege, the water's boiling. Can we eat now?"
Hu Niu sat beside Shi Yi, clutching her chopsticks with an air of seriousness, her mouth practically watering.
"There's one more person," Shi Yi said, shaking his head.
"One more person?" Hu Niu's eyes flickered with confusion.
_
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