Chapter 214: Breakthrough: The Heaven-Man Realm!

In Stone Village, Fang Yu cultivated, and the village children cultivated as well.

Fang Yu cultivated by observing the Willow Spirit; its single new sprout held countless mysteries in his eyes, worthy of careful contemplation.

As for the village children, they were learning bone script.

Bone script contained peculiar patterns, seemingly imbued with a divine art, but for the children, memorizing it was harder than climbing to heaven.

Because bone script had no logic to follow—it extended in directions children could hardly remember, offering no reasoning whatsoever.

Memorizing these runes was simply too difficult for them.

One by one, the children finally quieted their minds to focus, but after only a short while, they grew drowsy again.

Only one tiny child managed to memorize these bone scripts, even integrating a few into his body, making him different from the others.

This tiny child had a name: Shi Hao.

"How can Little Dot be so powerful? He's barely as big as a bean, yet he succeeded."

"Little Dot's physique is also excellent—far superior to the other children. If we nurture him like this, when he grows up, he'll become our village's strongest warrior."

"That young master named Fang Yu seems incredibly powerful. Could we ask him to teach Little Dot?"

"That's hard to say—he's our guest; we can't trouble him too much."

"But lately, something feels off. At night, huge creatures keep passing by, making great noise—something seems to have happened here. Could Fang Yu have come because of this?"

"I think something extraordinary may have emerged deep in the Wilds, drawing the attention of ancient relics in surrounding lands—perhaps a mountain treasure."

"Mountain treasure? That's not something we can obtain. I only hope our village isn't affected—if something huge comes, we'll all have to fight for our lives again."

In Stone Village, several elders watched the distant scene, discussing among themselves.

"But we have the Sacrificial Spirit, so we should still be protected—too bad the Sacrificial Spirit cannot leave, and we're only marginally safe within the village."

The old village chief, Shi Yunfeng, spoke; his spirit seemed distant, as if recalling events from long ago.

Back then, he was still a boy, and had witnessed a terrifying, awe-inspiring scene.

It was a midnight of thunder and lightning, torrential rain, a storm reaching its peak—mountains had been shattered by lightning, flash floods surged, monstrous beasts surged like a tide, an apocalyptic sight.

At that moment, a colossal willow tree appeared among the clouds, bathed in a sea of lightning; thousands of willow branches turned into blazing divine chains, piercing the heavens as if battling something.

Finally, the great willow broke, shrinking to its current size, its entire body charred black, falling to earth and taking root in Stone Village—simultaneously, endless lightning vanished, the downpour ceased, the floods receded, and the monstrous beasts fled.

All returned to stillness; the willow took root, and the strange stone the village had worshipped as its Sacrificial Spirit left Stone Village on its own.

Every time Shi Yunfeng recalled that wondrous scene, his spirit trembled—few in the village even knew of that moment.

For the first few decades, it remained entirely charred, lifeless—until ten years ago, when a single tender green sprout emerged, and then nothing changed again.

Now, a boy had come to this village, cultivating near the Sacrificial Spirit.

The old chief's gaze rested on Fang Yu; he always felt this young master was deeply mysterious.

Yet, this young master's arrival had indeed brought some blessings to Stone Village.

Without entering the mountains to hunt, they had acquired many monstrous carcasses—this was excellent for everyone. The village's young men sharpened their blades, preparing to process the beasts' bodies.

Each monster's blood essence, sinews, and bones were extremely valuable; they had to be handled carefully to preserve their essence.

The old chief personally directed the young men, who slashed at the giant beasts with sharp blades; now and then, metallic clangs rang out, sparks flew—sounds of blades striking the beasts' hardened bones.

Some had prepared large ceramic jars to collect the blood essence preserved in the beasts' special organs—this was an excellent blood tonic, exceedingly rare.

Among these monsters were descendants of ancient aberrant beasts; one was a píxiū—though merely a mixed-blood descendant, not a pure-blooded Píxiū Clan member—it was still immensely valuable to Stone Village, worth a fortune.

"That young master is truly powerful! A píxiū descendant—we'd need over a dozen men to capture it, likely losing several in the process—and yet he slew it casually."

"Yes, and this two-headed fire rhinoceros—immensely strong, its hide nearly invulnerable, impossible to kill—but the young master killed it. Now we can extract its true blood from the horn—no less potent than the píxiū's."

An elder took up the blade himself, slicing open the rhino horn's flesh; immediately, a crimson blood, glowing like firelight, flowed out.

Suddenly, the blood transformed into a red glow—a two-headed fire rhinoceros, palm-sized, entirely crimson, lifelike, roaring in fury.

"Excellent! Truly excellent! Such vigorous true blood—now the children will have a blessing."

The elder who wielded the blade laughed heartily and swiftly sealed the true blood in a ceramic jar.

Throughout the entire Stone Village tribe, everyone was joyful, smiling broadly.

Only the group of children still learning bone script sensed something ominous; they shrank their necks, wanting to flee, for they knew these so-called blood tonics and bone tonics would mostly be used on them—this was pure torment.

The sensation of the medicinal bath was unbearable—like being cut by knives, excruciatingly painful; they had no desire for it at all.

"These brats don't know how lucky they are. Back in our day, we wanted medicinal baths but had nothing good to offer."

"Indeed, this stuff is priceless—it can rapidly strengthen their strength. If they persist with these baths, their sinews and bones could rival those of giant beasts."

Several elders shook their heads.

At that moment, the temperature in heaven and earth suddenly rose sharply.

Whether the village youths, elders, or children, all turned their gazes toward Fang Yu, seated in the empty air nearby.

The temperature there changed violently; countless golden flames blazed into view in the void.

"Hao Tian Fire, form into a formation! The Dao of Heaven and Humanity—break, break, break!"

Chants suddenly poured from Fang Yu's mouth; at this moment, boundless Hao Tian Fire transformed into a swirling vortex, like a nebula, spinning above his head.

If observed at the finest level, this vortex bore the texture of the Willow Spirit's new sprout.

Yet from the grandest perspective, this vortex was a formation.

A formation forged from Daoist Gang Qi!

Here, Fang Yu observed the Willow Spirit's new sprout—and broke into the Heaven-Man realm.