The sky gradually turned dark as if black clouds were taking over.

Shi Wawa looked up and said: “It’s coming so I gotta go. Are you coming with me to the village?”

“Sure.” Li Qiye smiled and nodded, also staring at the sky.

Black clouds slowly covered and spread above as if they had their own sentience, trying to sneak into the canyon.

An experienced person unaware of this phenomenon wouldn’t think much of it. As for those with a little bit of knowledge or people who lived around these parts, they immediately knew that danger was coming.

The wisest thing to do right now was to either leave the canyon or hide in a village. Otherwise, they would find that their powerful cultivation was useless. The winds of petrification were unstoppable.

All the inhabitants in the canyon, whether it be human or golem, old or young, male or female - all ran towards the closest village.

“Go back home now, the winds are here!” People started shouting and stopped with their business.

“Hurry or we’ll be too late!” Shi Wawa started running away but noticed Li Qiye still sitting there. He became worried.

Li Qiye smiled and caught up.

“What’s your name?” The youth asked as they ran away.

“Young Master.” Li Qiye chuckled.

“Okay.” Wawa didn’t think twice about it.

His village wasn’t far so they arrived in no time at all. There was not a sound - no dogs barking or chicken squawking, no people either.

The thousands and thousands of runes on the stone pillar in front have connected together by this point. Suddenly, they started flowing downward straight into the mud. They seemingly wanted to reach the bottom of the earth, pouring down like a waterfall.

This wasn’t a surprising sight at the canyon because every single village had a pillar like this. In fact, its presence was essential before starting a village. It was impossible to start a village or a sect here in the canyon without having one pillar.

Li Qiye smiled after seeing it. This wasn’t his first time. However, he didn’t see much else. Only two of them were here in the village with black clouds looming above - a rather frightening scene.

This naturally couldn’t scare Li Qiye as he leisurely walked around.

The houses here had a unique architectural style only found in the canyon. They were small and short; all made out of rocks and stones.

In the middle of the village was a large humanoid statue. Judging by its expression, it seemed to be waiting for something while protecting the village.

Who knows if it was due to old age but the statue no longer had any clear features, especially the face.

There were several rocks of varying size and shape positioned around the statue. Moreover, they had a different degree of being underground. Some were half-buried while others have only fallen down.

Shi Wawa brought Li Qiye to the statue first. He bowed towards it and took out a rock, cut it open, then poured the liquid on the surrounding rocks.

“Great Uncle and everyone, time to eat. Here’s a feast from Shi Wawa.” Wawa earnestly said. The tone was rather childish yet he put on a serious expression - akin to a child from a poor family needed to become the head of the household early.

Meanwhile, Li Qiye watched quietly and waited for the youth to be done.

Once Wawa finished, he pointed at the closest stone to him and introduced: “This is my mom, that’s my great uncle, and that’s my oldest uncle...”

He clearly remembered and could distinguish all of them. Li Qiye smiled and nodded while listening.

Those not from the canyon would find this creepy, especially during this darkened hour. Of course, Li Qiye wasn’t surprised at all while looking at the stones.

“Pop was the last to leave me.” Wawa wasn’t sad at all. On the contrary, he seemed a little excited while speaking: “He worried about me being all alone so he stayed longer. It wasn’t until five years ago that he trusted me enough to undergo the full process. Pop’s better than anyone, the most talented in our village. He was the last one to leave but he’s way deep underground now.”

It sounded as if Wawa was celebrating the fact that his father was “dead” and “deep underground”.

In reality, atavism wasn’t sad for the golems. They took pride in it and celebrated this honor.

Disappearing completely into the ground meant being able to return to the source - a way to live forever with time. This wasn’t true immortality but it was still a form of existence.

There have been sages in history who taught that immortality was impossible. However, there were two other methods for continual existence.

One, have enough descendants. Two, let their reputation and tales be passed down for generations to come.

The golems managed to come up with a third method - their atavism started by Golem Ancestor.

Li Qiye wasn’t sad looking at the stones since this was the choice of the golems. Outsiders shouldn’t judge them either way. Plus, there was nothing to criticize, really. Continual existence in another sense still trumped all.

Since Wawa was finished with his introduction, Li Qiye turned his sight towards the statue.

Wawa took note of this and hurriedly spoke: “This is our forefather, I think Pop told me he is our second-generation forefather.”

“Successive style?” Li Qiye stopped looking.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

“Yes, you know about it? Pop said that our first-generation forefather lived in the same era as Golem Ancestor. He was extremely strong and later on, our village finally had a stronger descendant who took on the responsibility instead. He chose the pseudo-atavism path and stayed here while the first-generation forefather finished the process.” Wawa spoke then bowed towards the statue.

This type of succession was common in Stonewind Canyon and even the plateau. Many ancestors chose the pseudo path in order to protect their descendants.

Because of this, no one dared to look down on the golems even though their population was decreasing. The remaining pseudo-atavism golems were dreadfully powerful.

“Our forefather was so, so strong.” Wawa stared at the statue with admiration.

“True.” Li Qiye smiled.