Child’s Taste

Stone Village’s morning was extremely beautiful. The morning sun shone, scattering golden multicolored light everywhere. The village’s spiritual essence was dense, and everything was covered in a layer of dazzling brilliance.

At the entrance of the village, the green grass was like a carpet, and the large expanse of grass looked extremely gentle. A group of five-colored birds were looking for food by the lake, and the dark blue lake was as translucent as gemstones.

There were all types of spiritual birds and auspicious beasts roaming about nearby. The Willow Deity was breathing in heaven and earth divine essence, and the silver peach tree swirled with silver-white holy splendor, naturally attracting many spiritual objects.

These creatures weren’t dangerous at all. As for those large vicious beasts, they didn’t dare approach at all and treated the Willow Deity like a god.

“The weather is great.” Shi Hao was drowsy as he stretched his back. He was incomparably relaxed. He slept extremely soundly that night, not needing to be on guard like he was in the outside world at all.

Soon after, the village became lively. Smoke rose from the chimneys, and the fragrance of meat wafted from every household.

“Uncle Shi Hao, what are you eating?” Soon after, a little kid ran over, circling around him. He stared at Shi Hao with his large eyes as if he was about to drool. Shi Hao immediately laughed and said, “Here, I’ll give you a bit. Don’t be greedy.”

Shi Hao tore off a piece of roasted sparkling Flood Dragon meat and used his Engravement Realm cultivation to refine a portion of its essence. Otherwise, there would definitely be a huge problem if a child this young ate it.

“That’s so good. My mother wouldn’t even let me eat it at home. She said that it had to be refined into medicine because she was scared that I would get sick.” The little boy was satisfied. After eating that piece of meat, he sucked his fingers again and put on a pitiful appearance. He still wanted more.

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

“I know!” The child nodded. His large eyes were extremely bright as he stared at the other roasted meat.

Shi Hao laughed. He and the village chief lived at the front of the village. When they woke up in the morning, they prepared food. The fragrance pervaded the air, attracting the nearby children.

“Uncle, I want some too.” Dazhuang’s youngest son ran over. He was only two or three years old and was panting heavily. He was quite robust and adorable.

“Me too! I want one too!” An extremely thin and small child staggered over. His large eyes were crafty. This was Pihou’s child and was only a year or two old.

This morning was extremely lively. Shi Hao practically drew all of the children in the village over. He helped them refine the overflowing divine essence in their meat, allowing them to enjoy the delicacies.

“What a waste.” The group of adults sighed.

“They won’t waste it. I’ll use this overflowing essence to help them sort out their muscles and bones. There are many benefits,” Shi Hao said.

Without a doubt, that day, he became the most welcomed person among the village’s children. No matter where he went, he would always be followed by a group of tails, randomly moving around him.

“Uncle Shi Hao, bring us to the bird nest. I heard that our village’s guardian bird, Da Peng, Xiao Qing, and Zi Yun were all brought here by you guys. Is that true?”

One of the children brought up the embarrassing events of the past. This made Shi Hao rub his nose. Dazhuang, Ermeng, Huzi, and the others who weren’t too far away felt extremely embarrassed.

They were all fathers now. When their own children brought up the past, they felt a bit embarrassed.

“Little brat, what do you know? You are not allowed to speak nonsense,” Dazhuang berated them.

“I know everything. You guys were really naughty. You were picking bird nests and climbing mountain peaks all day. You did everything you could and ran into the great wastelands all day long. Why are you guys controlling us now?” A little boy exposed their past.

“Nonsense. At that time, we were as obedient as your Uncle Hao. We never left the village and never caused any trouble.” Pihou’s face was completely red as he tried to defend himself.

The group of children looked down on him.

“We all know that Uncle Hao is the most mischievous. When he was only a year old, he always chased after Big Yellow and pulled its tail. Look, Big Yellow’s tail is bald, and it hasn’t grown any hair.” A child pointed at a dog.

There was a big yellow dog, which was still quite robust, but its tail was indeed bald. It was baring its teeth at Shi Hao. After all these years, it still bore grudges, not forgetting the past.

“You lousy dog, why are you so vengeful? I fed you Flood Dragon meat for nothing. Didn’t I cleanse your body for you?” Shi Hao’s face was completely red.

Around the kids, he felt the power of time. He was a little guy back then, but he had become an uncle. A group of little fellows who were biting their fingers and still drinking milk replaced them from back then.

“Uncle, let’s go search for the bird nest!”

“Uncle Hao, let’s find a companion for Big Yellow.”

“Uncle, I know where that five-colored sparrow you always chased when you were young built its nest. It’s just behind the village. I’ll bring you there to get it.”

…

The group of children chattered noisily and were incomparably lively. They had just finished their breakfast and were full of energy. They had nowhere to vent it.

Shi Hao waved his arm, making a decision. “Alright, today, I’ll take you all to search bird nests and catch baby vicious beast!”

“That’s great! We are entering the mountains!” A group of children cried out loudly.

They were truly overjoyed and jumped about like a group of small bandits. They ran about the streets in celebration.

“The sun is shining brightly and it’s suitable for wandering around. We’ll set out now.” Shi Hao waved his hand and said, “Those who haven’t had milk yet, hurry back home and drink milk first. You won’t be able to eat it when you go out later.”

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

Needless to say, three or four little fellows wiped their snot and ran back home while shouting, “Mother, I’m hungry! I want milk.”

The group of people laughed.

Even the village elders were all smiling. A group of middle-aged men couldn’t help but laugh.

“Little Hao, you are going to enter the Void God Realm in three days to fight a decisive battle. How can you have the time to mess around with them now?” Dazhuang said.

“Brother Hao, hurry and enter seclusion. It’s time to seriously think about the great battle. Don’t waste any more time.” Qingfeng was extremely worried.

“It’s fine. I’ll just restore my natural state and face the enemy in the most relaxed way. There’s nothing to be nervous about.” Shi Hao waved his hand, not caring at all.

When the little fellas ran over while wiping away the milk at the corners of their lips, Shi Hao raised his hand and said, “Let’s go!”

Just like that, all of the children in the village ran over, all of them following behind him. He became the head of the children, making all of the young and old in the village happy.

“Well… why don’t we also reminisce about the bitterness and sweetness of the past and take a look?” Pihou, Huzi, and the others said softly.

In the end, they followed him furtively, feeling a bit embarrassed and falling far behind.

“Uncle Hao, let’s leave from the back of the village. The Five-Colored Sparrow is building its nest behind our village. It’s really cunning. You didn’t catch it when you were young, and we never caught it.” A group of children shouted.

Shi Hao nodded. His childishness was aroused. When he was young, that Five-Colored Sparrow made him suffer greatly. Each time, he would chase after the bird for more than half a day, but no matter what, he still couldn’t catch it. It often made him so tired that he sat on the ground, breathing heavily.

When it came to his childhood failures, this was definitely the case. He had never succeeded before.

“Uncle Hao, aren’t you angry? I heard that there was a time when you chased after it for an entire day without even eating. In the end, you were so tired that you laid on the streets and cried non-stop,” said a boy.

“Stop it.” Shi Hao knocked him on the head.

The group of children all laughed loudly.

“This is one of the few times Uncle Hao suffered a setback when he was young. Don’t bring it up again.” An older child laughed. However, no matter how one looked at it, this fella was purposely exposing this embarrassing matter.

Shi Hao rubbed his nose, feeling embarrassed. That Five-Colored Sparrow was only a palm-sized bird, but it was extremely slippery as if it had developed intelligence. When he thought about it, he was genuinely angry about that bird when he was little, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

“Willow Deity brought Stone Village a hundred thousand miles away, and that bird also followed the village here. It didn’t leave this entire time. After all these years, I still haven’t seen it grow old. That’s quite strange. It’s still so annoying,” Shi Hao said to himself.

The group of children immediately roared with laughter.

“Right, it’s just annoying. It provokes us every time, but in the end, we can’t catch it,” a little boy shouted.

“It’s here.” A boy pointed at an ancient date tree that was as thick as a millstone. In the depths of the luxuriant branches and leaves, there was a bird nest the size of a person’s head.

“How strange. Why didn’t I see it today?”

“That’s right! Yesterday, we saw it running all over the place, provoking us. Does it know that Uncle Hao has come back and wants to settle things with it? Is that why it ran away first? That’s so clever!”

The group of children felt indignant.

Shi Hao soared into the air, and rose to the level of the bird nest. When he looked inside, he ground his teeth in anger. “This wastrel little bird, the nest is full of spiritual medicine leaves. Shame on that bird!”!”

When the group of children heard this, they immediately shouted. Dazhuang and the others behind them were also shocked.

“It has indeed looked around for the village’s spiritual medicines, but it only pulled out a leaf or two. Later on, it became quite well-behaved, and I didn’t see it cause any trouble,” Ermeng said.

“This fella might really have developed intelligence. There are some spiritual medicines that I haven’t even seen before. I don’t know where it got them from. It’s actually building a nest with them!” Shi Hao ground his teeth. He felt like he was played by this fella when he was young. It was clearly a spiritual bird!

However, no matter how he searched, he didn’t see the Five-Colored Sparrow anywhere. It had long disappeared.

“Forget it. Let’s ignore it for now. Let’s enter the mountain!” Shi Hao waved his hand.

This group of little fellas were like bandits as they ran around the mountain. Fortunately, Shi Hao was watching over them, or else someone would have gotten lost.

“A bird nest! It’s so big!”

“This is a mountain eagle’s nest. Hurry up and climb. Get the bird egg.”

The group of children was excited and made noise as they charged toward the mountain peak.

The mountain eagle’s nest was large enough to cover the entire mountain peak. There were a few pitch-black giant eggs, all of them the size of millstones.

“It really is big and not easy to take away.”

“Forget it. It’s not some particularly powerful vicious bird. Let’s just let it go. We’ll get Uncle Hao to bring us to the Fire Phoenix’s nest later.”

This group of children’s ambitions were extremely high. They knew that when Shi Hao and the others were young, they dug out the nests of the mutated Green-Scaled Eagles and brought back powerful demonic birds like Zi Yun and Great Peng. Naturally, they also wanted to do that.

“Flood Dragon! Everyone, hurry up and catch it!” A child cried out loudly. He crawled into a hole as thick as a bucket, grabbed a tail, and tried his best to pull it out.

When the little fellows saw this, they all rushed forward while shouting. They exerted strength together and pulled out a flying python. It had wings and spat out venom from its mouth.

Shi Hao was speechless. These kids were so wild. They dared to catch anything.

They continued on their way, entering the depths of the mountain range. Shi Hao carried a basket on his back and put a few babies inside. He carried one in his arms, and another one sat on his shoulder, or else they definitely wouldn’t be able to continue walking.

“A sable! What a powerful strange beast!” A child cried out loudly.

There was a sable that was entirely purple and resplendent as if it was carved from jade. It was as large as a tiger and was releasing a terrifying aura as it confronted them.

In the end, after giving Shi Hao a few looks, it had no choice but to yield. It then disappeared into the mountain forest.

“It’s so savage. Look, there are so many vicious beast bones next to the tree hole it resides in. It’s so powerful!”

“Hey, there are still a few young ones. They haven’t been born for long and haven’t opened their eyes yet.” The children cried out excitedly, fighting to be the first to get one of them.

In the end, they were stopped by Shi Hao. “If you take the cubs away, that female sable will lose her mind.”

“That’s right. It’s too cruel. It’ll definitely feel terrible after losing its child,” said one of the kids.

Shi Hao smiled and said, “We can take one away.” He pointed at a small sable that was incomparably weak. It had some congenital problems and was about to die at any time.

A child carried it out. Shi Hao took it and poured a mouthful of Little Devil Wine into its mouth, which immediately made the dub drunk. However, its vitality became much better.

“Let’s go. It was going to die anyway, so it’s fine for us to take it away.” Shi Hao set out again.

“This little sable has three eyes, and the one between its brows hasn’t opened yet. It’s so special! It’s a mutant!” A child cried out loudly.

In the end, the group of little fellows all surrounded him and were extremely happy.

Shi Hao knew that this little sable was quite extraordinary. If it was raised in the village, it might be of some use in the future.

Currently, Shi Hao was in the late stage of the Engravement Realm, and his strength was great. He could travel through the great wastelands without worrying too much. He used a precious artifact to bring the children into the depths of the primordial mountain range.

A pungent smell of blood wafted over. Two giant beasts died miserably in the mountain region ahead, and their blood dyed the ground red.

Shi Hao was shocked. One of them was a mutated Scaled Leopard. Its entire body was scarlet red and flickering with divine splendor. The other was entirely golden and surrounded by lightning radiance. It was actually a well-known Archaic Descendant—a Lightning Hound.

“The great wastelands are so cruel. In a battle between such powerful descendants, both sides lost their lives.”

“Search carefully. Find out why they fought.”

They searched around, and soon after, Shi Hao sensed something. The children’s eyes were also sharp, and they discovered the Lightning Hound’s nest. Golden multicolored light flickered within, and several furry little creatures with golden furs were pitifully looking outward.

“Lightning Hound cubs!”

“There are four of them in total. Now, Big Yellow has new friends!”

The children cheered.

If it was a few years ago, when Shi Hao saw a rarely seen Archaic Descendant nest like the Lightning Hound, he would definitely feel intimidated. However, now that his cultivation realm had increased, he wasn’t scared anymore. “Bring them all away. If they grow up, they’ll definitely be able to protect the village.”

The children were all beaming with joy.

In the back, Pihou, Huzi, and the others were all excited. Even they were tempted by the cubs and all took action.

They didn’t find the nest of the mutated Scaled Leopard but instead disturbed a giant Spirit Black Bear. After fighting for a while, the old bear repeatedly cupped its hands and bowed. They didn’t make things difficult for it and let it go.

“Uncle Monkey, Uncle Huzi, you guys aren’t good enough. Your harvests aren’t as great as ours.” The group of children provoked.

“Let’s go!” The children shouted.

When the sun was about to set, they all gained something. They were either carrying large bird eggs or carrying precious young beasts, all of them smiling like flowers.

While Shi Hao was accompanying the children, the dual-pupil individual was also strolling on the other side of the mountain range. He was walking alone, stepping on grass and trees. He would climb on treetops and ascend to the summit of the majestic mountain range, where he looked down on all the small mountains.