The entire sky had been dyed scarlet red, blending in with the blood-stained ground.
But Stone Village remained peacefully calm as if nothing had happened. No one would have known that just a few moments ago, everything that had begun with Suan Ni at the lake in the mountain forest had finally come to an end.
Wolf Village was dozens of kilometers away from Stone Village, and unlike the latter, the former was in a mess. They were already feeling lost after losing their guardian spirit. Then, the Outsiders captured their village chief and a few others to be brought to Stone Village only to return and slaughter almost half of the entire Wolf Village. Their bodies now lay on the ground, already cold.
After a long time, a figure staggered out of Wolf Village. He carried the Wolf Fang, a magic treasure left behind by their guardian spirit. It was the only reason he had not died yet. Lang Feng, Wolf Village's cultivation prodigy, walked away from Wolf Village with Wolf Fang in his hand.
Huang Yunfeng had ordered the Outsiders to kill those at Wolf Village who had been privy to the scheme the Wolf Village's chief concocted. But only a handful of Stone Village's people knew about their village chief's instructions.
Some things were better left unsaid and unknown to certain people. After all, it was related to Stone Village's ancestral artifact, something that should not be spoken of in public.
Even though he knew that his method was very cold and heartless, Huang Yunfeng stood by his decision. He was the leader of Stone Village, so he had to ensure that he upheld his duties of protecting Stone Village. Showing even the slightest bit of mercy could be their downfall.
Ye Yun agreed with Huang Yunfeng's decisions as well and would have done the same if he was in the village chief's shoes.
Night had fallen but Ye Yun could not sleep at all. He was still busy helping the Willow Deity clean its roots - it was quite a time-consuming and laborious task. As he was cleaning, he kept thinking about what might be able to restore the willow tree's vitality.
He glanced at the willow tree and said, "Willow Deity, what do you need to wake up? Vitality? Don't worry, I don't think it will be long until you are restored to your former glory." Ye Yun had a thought in mind.
But he decided to ponder on it later. Cultivation was more important as it was destined to be a long road. He had to plan ahead and prepare himself for any potential hiccups along the way.
If his memory of 'Perfect World' served him right, things would start to get rowdier around here. He had to quickly increase his combat strength and his impatience was making him feel as if his cultivation speed was not high enough.
But Ye Yun decided to cast aside such distracting thoughts and focused on cultivation.
As for Shi Hao, the four-year-old child had become more mentally matured. Despite the chaos, violence, and corpses he had witnessed previously, he remained unfazed. He knew that this was all part of the process of making him stronger.
In the next few days, the village chief had the villagers prepare the black cauldron for his rite of passage while Shi Hao prepared for it by trying to quicken the fusion of the Bone Text's energy with his body.
The rite of passage was similar to a catalyst. Once Shi Hao passed it, his cultivation would increase by leaps and bounds.
Thus, it was no wonder Shi Hao was looking forward to the rite of passage. Like Ye Yun, he couldn't wait to get stronger.
While the preparations for Shi Hao's rite of passage were in progress, the Outsiders from Martial Soul Hall had not been idle either.
After they had completed the task given by Stone Village's chief to deal with the people of the other tribes, the Outsiders had been assigned to settle in Stone Village's quarters further up the mountain range even though the place had been destroyed by the storm winds the other day. The village chief just needed them to be close since the Outsiders had promised to hunt desolate beasts for Stone Village for half a year. He could care less about their living conditions.
And Stone Village had nothing much to fear about the Outsiders from Martial Soul Hall living among them. The latter now deemed these villagers to be stronger than them and would never dare lay a single hand on any of them.
Stirring conflicts would only cause major casualties on both sides, a situation anyone would want to avoid. Thus, it was better to abide by the Stone Village's chief's instructions and stay at the residence at the mountain range.
Moreover, at least they would still be within the range of the willow tree guardian spirit's protection. The Outsiders weren't sure how long they would survive if they were left in the open Great Wastelands before getting devoured by the desolate beasts.
However, that also meant that they had been worried about how they were going to keep their end of the bargain. In the end, the bishop and the others decided to leave Stone Village quietly. They had to find a place to cultivate and figure out a way to return to Martial Soul Continent as soon as possible. Otherwise, they would have to be on tenterhooks every day.
While they were aimlessly searching, one of them spoke his mind. "Bishop, why don't we go to Wolf Village to settle down? They have already lost their chief and a significant number of their members. There aren't many of them left. If we go there, we can take control."
"Are you stupid? We just attacked them. We are the ones who killed their people. Why the hell would they let us take over? Plus, we still need to return to Martial Soul Continent. We can't stay in Perfect Continent forever."
"But Bishop, why can't we stay here? Can't we just study the cultivation method of Wolf Village? Since we are going to be cultivating to improve our strength, what need do we have to be afraid of the future?" asked a child naively.
A young one like him would not know the terrors of Perfect Continent. He had been staying at Sand Eagle Tribe and had not experienced the terrors of the mountain forests or Stone Village.
A child like him could simply think of improving his strength and cultivation methods.
Moreover, he had also heard of another child from Stone Village who hadn't even reached his age but was already much more powerful than most adults. This only inspired the Outsider child to work on his cultivation to be as strong as the other child one day.
"I'll let you figure that out for yourself," said the bishop helplessly.
Such an idea had crossed the bishop's mind before. But just like someone's personality, cultivation methods become more deeply rooted in a person with age. Children like the one who had just spoken could easily learn new ones, which was probably why his proposition made sense to him. But for the bishop and the other adult Outsiders in the group, trying to learn Wolf Village's cultivation method was useless.
Moreover, the cultivation methods of the two continents were different. How could they be learned and mastered just like that? There was only one certainty, and that was if the Outsiders stayed any longer in Perfect Continent, they would die.
Back at Wolf Village, none of the survivors had noticed that someone among their ranks, and a very important one too, had left.
Things were not over for Lang Feng, not with the Wolf Fang in his possession. But his misfortune in meeting frightening people continued.
Lang Feng used to be a cultivator with exceptional talent in Wolf Village. But he would soon meet a group of people after he left Wolf Village that would make him realize that he was just a frog at the bottom of a well. He would finally understand what it truly meant to be a prodigy.
The group of people Lang Feng would stumble upon were cultivators from larger tribes who had arrived in this part of the Great Wastelands to investigate the strange phenomena from the past few days in the desolate mountains. This group of people consisted of the elites of each tribe. They were initially out and about to train in the mountains, but when they sensed the strange phenomena, they knew it was related to an ancient descendant and wanted to investigate to see if they could obtain any of the treasures left behind.
The people of Stone Village would not have expected the departure of someone from Wolf Village would trigger an incoming series of events.
For now, the desolate Stone Village remained as peaceful as ever.
Shi Hao's cultivation had reached the level required for him to take the next step.