Chapter Six: Parents

While Ji Hao was feasting with abandon, Ji Xia and Qing Fu stood quietly at the bedroom door, watching him through the crack. When all the meat in the house had been devoured by Ji Hao, and especially at the moment when his aura broke through, Qing Fu smiled gently.

Ji Xia grinned, his massive frame slipping soundlessly out the window. With a few leaps, he vanished into the pitch-black forest without disturbing a soul. It was only after running far into the wilderness that Ji Xia muttered in a low voice, "A good appetite is a good thing—eat more, gain strength, and that’s what makes a man!"

He paused briefly, then chuckled softly, "As expected of my son, always mysterious and strange since he was young. What on earth did he learn from those shaman elders? No matter what, it’s a good thing. After all, he’s my son!"

The sun had yet to rise; a thin mist shrouded the mountains and forests. Yet the Fire Crow tribe’s settlement was already alive with noise.

Scarlet dawn burst from the colossal green mulberry trees atop Golden Crow Ridge, as nearly a thousand giant crows beat their blazing wings and soared skyward, cawing joyfully as they scattered in all directions. In the mulberry groves within the settlement, countless young fire crows called raucously, rising like a black cloud and swirling around Golden Crow Ridge.

Armed with spears and battle-axes, the adult warriors of the Fire Crow tribe mounted their battle beasts, forming teams as they entered the forest to begin the day's hunt. The women, laughing and chattering, shooed the children from their homes and also began their busy day. The hides from yesterday’s hunt needed preparing, the ores dug up by the mining slaves had to be sorted, and a mountain of natural plant fibers awaited processing—there was never a shortage of work in such a large tribe.

Ji Hao stood atop his house, facing the gradually brightening east. His chest and abdomen rose and fell slowly as faint streams of lavender vapor shot swiftly from the distant horizon, which he drew in with cautious, measured breaths.

In silence, he recited the nine sacred words—“Approach, Soldier, Battle, All, Formation, Array, Advance, Forward, March”—while his hands wove fluid arcane seals before his chest. The first wisp of pure Yang violet energy, naturally generated between heaven and earth before dawn, was slowly absorbed into his body, turning into mist that merged with his soul. His spiritual power grew step by step, sweat beading and streaming down his forehead.

Before last night, Ji Hao could only absorb a single wisp of pure Yang violet energy each morning before his soul and body would reach their limit. But after tempering his body with dragon blood and his soul with phoenix blood, this morning he had already drawn in thirty-six streams of pure Yang violet energy without yet reaching his limit.

"Indescribable!" Ji Hao’s heart brimmed with joy, a faint flame flickering atop his head. From the look of things, the pact with the shadow was not a mistake—at least for now.

"Hao! Big Brother!"

With a chorus of shouts, several hundred children, all slightly younger than Ji Hao, ran past his house, carrying stones the size of small hills on their shoulders. Seeing Ji Hao standing on the roof in his familiar "daze," they shouted boisterously at him.

Ji Hao put away his cultivation pose, calmed his surging breath, and smiled, waving to the children.

As the hundreds of children thundered past, the runes carved by the shamans glowed with earthen light upon the stones they carried, making each stone dozens of times heavier than its actual weight. The children ran with their burdens, their footfalls rumbling like thunder, sweat streaming down their rough skin.

"Ah, these little ones will soon become first-rank shamans—qualified warriors at last!" Ji Hao watched the Fire Crow tribe’s children with heartfelt admiration.

The cultivation of a shaman was purely a process of tempering the body and building strength. The densest, hardest blue-steel rocks from the southern wilds were carved into blocks three feet long, wide, and high—the weight of such a stone was considered one "stone" of strength. A first-rank shaman possessed the strength of ten thousand stones! A second-rank shaman wielded twenty thousand!

After his breakthrough last night, Ji Hao had reached the fourth rank of the Shaman Realm, his raw physical strength now totaling forty thousand stones.

"But Ji Wu’s strength…" Ji Hao’s gaze followed the children as they ran off, his brow furrowing in thought.

In their brief clash in the council hall, Ji Wu had radiated a fierce, fiery aura—a sign that his raw power had reached the tenth rank, on the verge of breaking through the last two levels of the Shaman Realm and awakening his innate bloodline powers.

With his current fourth-rank strength, Ji Hao could still gain the upper hand through spells and technique, but to defeat Ji Wu head-on, whose strength far surpassed his own, would be difficult. Let alone, after defeating Ji Wu, he would still have to face the pressure from Ji Shu and the others.

"In the days to come, I’ll have to hunt and devour more powerful beasts," Ji Hao muttered to himself. "Should I ask Uncle Crow for help? Uncle Crow is at the Grand Shaman level—if I could kill and devour a hundred lesser shaman beasts…"

As he pondered, a strange aroma of cooked meat wafted up.

Qing Fu had entered the courtyard, waving Ji Hao down. "Hao, come down. Your father went hunting at first light and brought back some prey to nourish you."

Ji Hao looked at Qing Fu in surprise, then quickly jumped off the roof.

Ji Xia’s battle beast, the copper-skinned berserk bear, was blocking the hall door with its massive head, drooling copiously from its gaping maw. Lying on the ground, it whimpered and whined like a spoiled child.

Seated by the firepit, roasting the prey, Ji Xia grabbed a log as thick as a thigh and hurled it at the bear. With a miserable howl, the log struck the fat bear’s head, sending its rotund body rolling dozens of yards away like a ball.

"Get lost, fat bear!" Ji Xia growled. "All you do is eat, all day long. One day you’ll be so fat you can’t walk, and then I’ll have no choice but to butcher you for meat and pick a new battle beast!"

Amidst the gruff scolding, Ji Hao entered the hall and looked at the prey roasting over the firepit.

It was a huge serpent, its muscles emitting a curious glow, its flesh, tendons, and joints faintly translucent, and its bones dense as steel, reflecting a cold gleam in the firelight. Muscles like jade, bones like steel—this was the hallmark of a peak Shaman Realm beast.

Ji Hao knew well that within thousands of miles around Golden Crow Ridge, ordinary ferocious beasts were countless, but those at the peak of the Shaman Realm were few and far between. Often, even with large hunting parties scouring the forests, it would take months to encounter a beast of this level.

"Father!" Ji Hao sat down beside the firepit.

"Hao!" Ji Xia glanced at him, grinning broadly. "You ate up all the meat last night. I was afraid you’d still be hungry, so I went and caught a white-spotted venom python for you."

The white-spotted venom python—a peak Shaman Realm, highly poisonous creature, swift as the wind and elusive as a shadow—was notoriously difficult to capture. Its marrow was incredibly potent, perfect for replenishing vital energy and blood.

Qing Fu entered, gently stroking Ji Hao’s head. "Hao, you ate so much last night—did you break through your strength? That’s wonderful. When you first break through a level, you must eat well to replenish your power."

Ji Xia and Qing Fu smiled at Ji Hao, not asking a word about what had happened the night before.

As Ji Hao looked at them, his eyes grew warm, and a gentle current of affection welled up in his heart. Never asking why, only silently providing protection and everything he needed—is this what it truly means to be a parent?

"Then, I really am starving—Father, Mother, I’ll eat now!" Ji Hao laughed heartily, grabbed a stone knife embedded in the python, and deftly chopped off a section of the serpent’s tail as thick as a barrel, swallowing it whole, bones and all.

The multicolored flame in his lower abdomen flared brightly; the snake’s flesh and bone instantly transformed into heat, rushing into the flame, which then released radiant beams that merged into Ji Hao’s body.

Visibly, his muscles rippled under his skin like water, and his bones crackled with crisp sounds.

Ji Xia and Qing Fu smiled with satisfaction. Ji Xia stroked his chin and said, "Yes, eating well is a good thing. Hao, eat as much as you like—your father will always find good things for you."

Qing Fu smiled as well, gently stroking Ji Hao’s head.

Suddenly, someone knocked at the courtyard gate, and a soft, rather affected voice called out, "Is Shaman Qing Fu here? I’d like to consult Sister Qing Fu about some matters concerning medicine."