Life in Stone Village settled into a tranquil rhythm.
Almost every evening, Liu Shen's humanoid form would appear, dine with Shi Yi, and vanish without a trace. Hu Niu dropped by every few days, often spending the night in Shi Yi's hut.
Though Shi Yi wasn't used to sharing his space—having grown accustomed to sleeping alone over the years—Hu Niu wasn't one to be reasoned with. After eating her fill, she'd sprawl across his bed and drift off.
Shi Yi could only sigh in resignation. He couldn't hit her or scold her. Sometimes, he entertained the thought of taking things further, only to be reminded that he hadn't yet reached that age.
Full of desire, yet lacking the means!
Nine years old—crossing that line would be a crime against the heavens!
Just as Shi Yi thought these peaceful days would stretch on indefinitely, a sudden conflict erupted between Stone Village and Wolf Village, separated by several mountain ranges—an irreconcilable clash.
The cause wasn't complicated.
Stone Village's children, emboldened by their newfound strength from the true blood baptism, grew restless. Their muscles and bones enhanced, they could easily handle ordinary ferocious beasts.
Unlike adults, children couldn't contain their excitement. Feeling their power surge, they yearned to explore the world beyond Stone Village. In groups, they sneaked out to hunt ferocious beasts.
In the Great Wilderness, ferocious beasts were the lowest tier of creatures. Compared to exotic species, ancient species, or pureblood beasts, they were mere prey.
If things had gone smoothly, these children would have teamed up, using humanity's signature tactic of overwhelming numbers, to hunt a ferocious beast. At worst, they'd return to face a beating from their parents and a stern warning not to leave the village again.
But the world was never so kind.
The group of Stone Village children ran straight into Wolf Village's hunting party.
Perhaps fearing that Stone Village's rising generation would threaten their dominance, the leader of Wolf Village's hunting party didn't hesitate to slaughter the children, none older than ten.
Hu Niu, who stuck close to Shi Yi, narrowly escaped disaster. But of the ten youths who had slipped out, three returned as cold, lifeless bodies, left forever in the perilous depths of the Great Wilderness.
Thankfully, the surviving seven remembered their parents' advice: If you encounter danger outside, run and don't look back.
Fueled by the strength granted by the true blood baptism, they fled back to Stone Village.
This sparked a blood feud between Stone Village and Wolf Village. Shi Yi didn't stand idly by. Having accepted Stone Village's ancestral artifacts, he had no face to remain a bystander. Naturally, he stepped in.
Taking matters into his own hands, he used his Qilin Step to slay Wolf Village's exotic species-level guardian spirit. Without it, Wolf Village was no match for Stone Village. The entire village—men, women, children, and elders—was massacred by Stone Village's warriors.
Over a hundred bloodied heads were piled in the ruins of Wolf Village. In ten years, perhaps less, it would be as if the village had never existed.
It sounded cruel, but such was the harsh reality of the Great Wilderness.
The strong lived; the weak perished.
Yet this brutal, blood-soaked scene—especially the internal strife among humans, Stone Village's ruthless slaughter of even the elderly and children—stirred doubts in Shi Yi's heart.
In the vast Great Wilderness, spanning billions of miles, are the beasts truly the cruel ones?
In his previous life on the blue planet, Shi Yi had pondered this question deeply. People often said ghosts were terrifying, but ghosts, when they harmed others, usually sought vengeance.
Humans, on the other hand, could kill another without cause or connection. With their intelligence, their cruelty far surpassed that of any ghost.
Of course, the blue planet Shi Yi came from had no ghosts—just a technological universe. But that made it all the more tragic: those who died unjustly had no chance to become ghosts and seek retribution.
____
Half a month later.
Boom!
In the deepest reaches of the Great Wilderness, countless miles from Stone Village's Cangmang Mountains, a blazing inferno erupted across the vast sky.
The firelight was blinding, accompanied by a piercing bird cry that shook the heavens.
As the crimson flames grew fiercer, scorching the sky as if it might collapse, the heavens transformed. No longer blue, the sky became a fiery hell, awash with red clouds.
The temperature across the billion-mile Great Wilderness seemed to spike by dozens of degrees. Rolling heatwaves radiated, palpable even from an unimaginable distance, carrying the terror of those flames.
At that moment, Shi Yi, seated atop the canopy of the great willow tree at Stone Village's center, slowly opened his eyes. A massive Heavy Pupil materialized in the sky above the village, piercing through the thick clouds in an instant.
Though Shi Yi often earned a lashing from Liu Shen's branches when he touched her humanoid form—leaving him writhing in pain on the ground—interacting with her willow tree body was different. Sitting on its trunk or canopy? She allowed it without complaint.
Shriek!
Under the gaze of Shi Yi's Heavy Pupils, a small red bird streaked across the boundless sky, its divine might awe-inspiring, its speed surpassing even true lightning.
But in the next moment—
Buzz! A golden claw, massive and furry, descended from the dense clouds, covering the sky as it reached for the red bird with unmatched power.
Whoosh!
The red bird darted aside, narrowly evading. The golden claw smashed a mountain range to dust, sending rocks flying through the air in a terrifying spectacle.
"This bird's impressive, but whatever's behind that golden claw is no pushover either," Shi Yi muttered, squinting. The Heavy Pupil projection above Stone Village mirrored his expression.
Boom!
The golden claw struck again, its momentum staggering. It forcibly dispersed the crimson firelight, its sheer presence unimaginable. Just a single claw loomed above the clouds—its true body had to be at least ten thousand meters tall.
Shriek!
The red bird flapped its wings, and the crimson firelight surged anew, reclaiming the sky. It cast an ominous portent, as if the world teetered on the brink of destruction.
And so, in the deepest reaches of the Great Wilderness, a cataclysmic battle unfolded, like a myth come to life. Each swipe of the golden claw shattered a mountain range.
The red bird was no less formidable. With a flap of its wings, mountains melted into molten lava, crimson rivers of magma shooting into the sky, connecting heaven and earth.
This was merely the aftermath. The true battle raged in the heavens.
Through his Heavy Pupils, Shi Yi saw it clearly: the red bird, no larger than a palm, had feathers red as dripping blood. Its aura was fierce and indomitable as it dove into the thick clouds, clashing relentlessly with the fearsome creature behind the golden claw.
"Definitely pureblood beasts—adult ones at that. Clearly, these two stand at the pinnacle of the Great Wilderness, perhaps even the entire Desolate Domain," Shi Yi said with certainty.
The apocalyptic power unfolding in the sky stirred something within him—an indescribable sensation.
After witnessing Stone Village's annihilation of Wolf Village, Shi Yi had been plagued by self-doubt, questioning whether he'd done wrong.
Now, all he craved was strength. He could feel his blood boiling within him.
On the blue planet, a man's romance lay in guns, cars, and cannons—the thrill of speed and passion.
In this barbaric world, a man's romance was power—the ability to wield forces that could destroy heaven and earth.
At that moment, only one phrase could capture Shi Yi's heart:
To grasp the sun and moon, to pluck the stars—there is no one like me in this world!
Lost in these thoughts, Shi Yi's fists clenched unconsciously, his heart brimming with a hunger for power.
_
If you want to support me and read advanced 100+ chapters and also other stories: patreon.com/Caluem