Chapter 368 - Children’s Delight

Stone Village’s morning was extremely beautiful. The rising sun scattered down its radiance, covering the village in golden multicolored light. Basked under this radiance, the spiritual essence surrounding this village was dyed in a layer of dazzling radiance.

Meanwhile, the green meadow at the front of the village was incredibly soft. The large area of grass seemed extremely gentle. A group of five-colored luans were foraging the lakeside for food, and the dark blue lake was transparent like an enormous gemstone.

All types of spiritual beasts and auspicious birds roamed about nearby. With the Willow Deity theretaking and giving out divine essence, as well as the holy silver peach tree scattering its divine radiance, it naturally attracted many spiritual creatures.

These were all harmless creatures. Those large vicious beasts wouldn’t dare come closer, for they revered the Willow Deity as a god!

“The weather really is nice today.” Shi Hao was drowsy from just waking up. After stretching for a bit, he felt extremely relaxed. He slept extremely soundly last night, completely unlike how he would in the the outside world where he was always on his guard.

Soon, the village became noisy again. Smoke rose from the chimneys, and the smell of meat came from every household.

“Uncle Shi Hao, what are you eating?” A little brat ran over and circled around him and looked at him with mischievous eyes. He looked like he was about to drool, causing Shi Hao to laugh. “Here, I’ll give you some. Don’t be too greedy.”

Shi Hao tore off a piece of shining flood dragon meat and used his Engravement Realm cultivation to refine a portion of its spirituality. Otherwise, the small child would definitely encounter some issues after eating it.

“It smells so good! At home, my mom wouldn’t let me eat any and said that it has to be made into medicine first. She says that it’s bad for me.” The little brat was satisfied as he cleaned out that piece of meat. He then sucked his fingers pitifully, clearly indicating that he still wanted more.

“You really shouldn’t eat too much of this stuff. I only gave it to you after refining it. At home, you have to listen to your parents, understand?” Shi Hao asked.

“Yes sir!” The little child nodded. His eyes were extremely bright as he stared at the other roasted meat.

Shi Hao smiled. He lived at the front of the village with the village chief. He made food as soon as he woke up, and the fragrance attracted the nearby children.

“Uncle, little uncle, I want some too!” Dazhuang’s child who was only two or three years old was panting. He was extremely healthy and cute.

“Me too, I want some too!” An extremely petite child with naughty eyes staggered over in a hurry. This was Pihou’s child, and he was only two years old.

This morning was extremely lively. It was as if Shi Hao had attracted every child in the village. He helped refine some of the divine spirituality within the flesh and allowed them to enjoy the delicacy.

“What a waste!” The adults all felt incredibly regretful.

“There’s no waste. I used the extra essence to help them sort out their muscles and bones. There will be many benefits,” Shi Hao said.

Without a doubt, he became the village children’s most welcomed individual. No matter where he went, they would all follow him like a tail and stay around him.

“Uncle Shi Hao, bring us to steal bird eggs! I heard that our village’s protectors Big Peng, Little Green, and Purple Cloud were all stolen by you guys. Is that true?”

When one of the children brought up the embarrassing incident from back then, Shi Hao couldn’t help but rub his nose. Dazhuang, Ermeng, Huzi and the others who were nearby felt awkward as well.

Now that they all had children, when their past rotten deeds were brought up, they felt incredibly ashamed. They all began to instruct and warn their children.

“Little brats, what do you understand? Don’t speak nonsense.” Dazhuang directly said.

“I heard that you guys were really naughty back then. You guys spent all your time robbing nests, climbing mountains, and running around the great wastelands all day. Why are you stopping us from going?” A mischievous brat exposed their past.

“Nonsense. Back then, your Uncle Hao and the rest of us were all obedient and never left the village. We never made any trouble from the start.” Pihou’s face was completely red as he tried to defend himself.

“Whatever!” The group of children didn’t seem convinced.

“We all know that Uncle Hao was the most naughty and mischievous. He started chasing after big yellow all day as soon as he was a year old, pulling its tail. Look at how bald big yellow’s tail has become. It hasn’t grown any hair all this time.” One of the children pointed to a place not too far off.

There was only a large yellow dog there. It was now quite robust, yet its tail was completely naked. It was currently baring its teeth at Shi Hao, not forgetting the resentment it had towards Shi Hao all those years ago.

“Stinky big yellow, why are you holding a grudge? I’ve wasted the flood dragon flesh on you. Should I not have helped you cleanse your body?” Shi Hao’s face was completely red.

Of course, the so called ‘older self-respect’ was only towards these little children. He now truly understood the weight of time, for even he, the little guy from back then, was now an uncle. The group of finger-sucking, milk-drinking little fellows had replaced their generation.

“Uncle, let’s go loot bird nests, okay?!”

“Uncle Shu, let’s go find a companion for big yellow!”

“Uncle, I know where the five-colored sparrow you liked to chase back then built its nest. It’s behind the village. I’ll bring you there to steal from it.”

The group of children chattered continuously. They were all extremely lively and full of energy after just finishing their meal with no other place to exert it.

Shi Hao waved his arm around and made a decision. “Alright, today, uncle will bring you out to loot bird nests and catch young vicious beasts!”

“Yes! Awesome! We are going into the mountains!” The group of children shouted excitedly.

They were simply too happy as they jumped and hopped around like little bandits. They were running about and using all of their energy in celebration.

“The sun is shining brightly and it’s a good day to go out. Since I said we would go, then let’s go.” Shi Hao waved his hands and said, “Those that haven’t drank milk yet should go back home and do so. We won’t have time when we go out later.”

The group of children immediately roared with laughter. Even Pihou, Ermeng and the others began to giggle when they heard this.

Nevertheless, there were three or four little fellows who wiped away their snot and ran home diligently while hollering, “Mom, I’m hungry, I need milk.”

“Haha...” Everyone began to laugh endlessly.

Even the older individuals in the village were smiling. The middle-aged individuals couldn’t hold themselves back either.

“Little Hao, the great battle is happening in the Void God Realm three days from now. There really isn’t time for you to be playing around with them,” Dazhuang said.

“Little big brother, you should use every second you can to cultivate in isolation. You need to earnestly prepare for the battle! You can’t waste any time.” Qingfeng was rather worried.

“Don’t worry. Facing it in the most relaxed and natural state is the best way. There’s nothing to be nervous about.” Shi Hao moved his hands about, seemingly unworried.

When the little fellows ran over while wiping away away the milk from their mouths, Shi Hao raised his arm and said, “Let’s go!”

Just like that, all of the children within the village ran over and followed behind him. He naturally became the children’s leader. The villagers, young and old, all felt happy as they watched.

“This... Why don’t we just go with the flow and take a look.” Pihou, Huzi and the others muttered softly.

These individuals ultimately decided to sneakily follow along. Out of embarrassment, they followed from a bit farther away.

“Uncle Hao, let’s go to the back of our village. The five-colored sparrow built its nest there. That bird is so sneaky! You never caught it before, and none of us succeeded either.” The group of children noisily shouted.

Shi Hao nodded in agreement. When he was little, that five-colored sparrow had made him suffer endlessly. Each time, he would chase it for half a day without any results. Often times, he would end up sitting on his bottom exhausted and breathing deeply in anger.

If he thought back to the things he failed at when he was little, this was one of things in which he had never succeeded at.

“Uncle Hao, aren’t you angry too? I heard that for the sake of catching it, you ran around for an entire day without even eating. In the end, you were so tired you laid on the road and cried.” One of the milk babies said.

“Why don’t you go stand on the side.” Shi Hao flicked his head.

“Hehe... Haha!” The group of children all roared in laughter.

“This was one of the few things that your uncle Hao failed in several times when he was little. You guys should stop bringing this up.” These larger kids were laughing so much that it was clear they were purposely unmasking the past.

Shi Hao rubbed his nose and truly felt rather embarrassed. That five-colored sparrow wasn’t that large, only the size of a fist, yet it was incredible at escaping. He thought back to how he was infuriated by that small bird and how helpless he felt.

“When Willow Deity moved Stone Village to a place ten thousand li away, that little thing also followed along. It never left, and after all those years, it strangely didn’t seem to mature at all. It is still as unpleasant as before.” Shi Hao muttered to himself.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The group of children erupted into laughter.

“Exactly, unpleasant is exactly the right word! It would always come and provoke us, but we just can’t catch it!” One of the little children shouted.

“This is the place.” A mischievous kid pointed towards an ancient tree that was as thick as a millstone. Within the luxuriant leaves, there was a head-sized bird nest.

“Yi, it’s so strange. How come we can’t see it today?”

“Yeah! We saw him running all over the place while harrassing us just yesterday. Could it be that it knew uncle Hao came back to get even and ran away ahead of time? This fellow really is ridiculous!”

The children were all angry and unsatisfied.

Shi Hao soared into the air and arrived right in front of the bird nest. When he looked inside, he immediately grinded his teeth in anger. “This rotten little bird! There’s leaves of spiritual medicines all over the nest! Too disgraceful!”

When the group of children heard what he said, they became furious. Dazhuang and the others in the back were shocked as well.

“It did loiter around our village’s spiritual medicines before, but it only managed to tear off one or two leaves. It then behaved itself and we no longer saw it causing trouble,” Ermeng said.

“This fellow really is too smart. There are some spiritual medicines that I haven’t even seen before. Who knows where it got them from? It actually used these to build a nest!” Shi Hao became angry whenever he thought about his childhood defeats. This bird really was amazing!

However, no matter how he searched, he couldn’t see any sign of the five-colored bird. It was nowhere to be seen.

“Whatever. Let’s forget about it for now. Let’s head for the mountains!” Shi Hao made a large waving motion.

The little fellows were like bandits as they ran around all over the mountains in excitement. Fortunately, there was Shi Hao to look after them, or else who knows where they would run off to.

“A bird nest! What a large bird nest!”

“This is a mountain bird’s nest. Hurry and climb up! Let’s quickly steal the bird eggs.”

The children were extremely excited as they rushed up the mountain.

The mountain bird’s nest really was rather big, covering the entire mountain peak. Inside were several enormous pitch-black eggs, all of them millstone-sized.

“So big! It’s not easy to bring away.”

“Forget it, this isn’t some particularly strong vicious bird. Let’s let these go. When we go back, let’s have little uncle Hao bring us to steal from a fire phoenix’s nest.”

The children’s mood was quite good. They knew that Shi Hao had stolen from a unique Green Scaled Eagle’s nest and brought back powerful demonic birds like Purple Cloud and Big Peng.

“Flood dragon, everyone, hurry and catch them!” One of the children shouted loudly and climbed into a small cave. He was trying his hardest to pull on a tail.

When the little fellows saw this, they all ran forward and pulled with all their strength. They unexpectedly pulled out a flying python. A pair of wings could be seen, and it spat out poison from its mouth.

Shi Hao’s forehead immediately creased. This group of brats was truly wild! They dared to catch anything.

They continued along and entered the mountain range depths. Shi Hao carried a medicine basket on his back and tossed a few of the milk babies into it. He also held on and placed one on his shoulder as well, or else they would definitely become become too tired.

“Sable! Wow, what a powerful beast.” One of the children shouted.

In that direction was a sable that was covered in resplendent purple light. The tiger sized creature seemed like it was carved out of jade. A terrifying aura was being released from its body as it confronted their group.

However, after giving Shi Hao a few looks, it was ultimately left with no choice but to surrender and disappear into the forest.

“That fellow is so savage! Look, guys, there are so many bones of vicious beasts next to the cave it lived in. So powerful!”

“Yi, there are still a few young ones inside too that haven’t been born too long ago. They haven’t even opened their eyes yet!” The children cried out in excitement as they tried to outdo one another.

However, they were stopped by Shi Hao. “If you guys bring back its young, the mother sable will go crazy.”

“Oh, that would be really sad. If it loses its children, it will definitely feel very bad.” One of the milk babies said softly.

Shi Hao laughed and said, “We can bring back one.” He pointed towards one sable cub that was particularly weak. It was clear that it was was born weaker than the others and would die at any time.

One of the children carried it out and handed it over to Shi Hao. After feeding it a bit of little devil wine, it immediately became drunk, but its vital energy became a lot better.

“Let’s go. It is about to die either way, so it shouldn’t be a problem if we bring it away.” Shi Hao lead the children on their way.

“Wow! This little sable has three eyes, only, the one between its brows had not opened yet. It’s so special! It really is special!” One of the children cried out.

Because of that outburst, the small fellows all surrounded it and became incomparably happy.

Shi Hao naturally knew that this small sable was still quite special. If it was raised within the village, it might become useful in the future.

Shi Hao was at the late-stage Engravement Realm and quite strong, so he naturally went where he wished within the great wastelands without much worry. He used precious artifacts to bring the children into the depths of the primitive mountain range.

The strong smell of blood assailed their nostrils. There were two enormous vicious beasts that died miserably, and blood completely dyed the ground in red.

Shi Hao was shocked. Among them was a mutated scaled leopard that was entirely red and flickering with divine splendor. The other was gold and curling with electricity. It was a well known archaic descendant -- Lightning Hound.

“The great wastelands are truly cruel. These two powerful descendants fought and took each others’ lives.”

“Let’s take a look and see why these two fought so viciously.”

They began to search about, and soon after, Shi Hao noticed something. The children also had sharp eyes and noticed a lightning hound nest. Golden multicolored lights flickered about, and several shaggy golden little things were pitifully gazing outwards.

“Lightning hound’s children!”

“There’s a total of four of them! Now big yellow has companions!”

The children cheered.

If it was a few years ago, Shi Hao would have felt some restraining fear upon seeing these lightning hounds, but now that his cultivation realm was higher, he naturally didn’t possess such feelings. “Let’s bring them all back. If we can raise them, they can definitely protect our village.”

This time, the children all began to grin from ear to ear in joy.

Behind them, even Pihou, snot baby, Huzi and the others’ gazes became fiery. These young creatures would even make them go crazy, and they made their moves one after another as well.

These individuals did not search for that mutated scaled leopard’s nest. However, they did drive away a ten zhang tall black bear. After fighting a bit, the old bear became completely submissive. They didn’t make things too difficult for it and allowed it to go.

“Uncle Hou, uncle snot, aunt Huzi, you guys aren’t good enough. Your harvests aren’t as good as ours!” The group of children provoked.

“Let’s go! Continue!” The children shouted.

By the time the sun was about to set, they all had great harvest. They either held large bird eggs or hugged precious young beasts. Smiles bloomed everywhere.