Chapter 600 - End of the Road, Hacking off the Bone
The little Stone returned. This shook the wasteland region. He returned from Immortal Mountain unconscious. His body was covered in injuries with blood flowing out everywhere. He entered Stone Country Imperial Palace.
The world under the heavens was in commotion. A great earthquake shook through the wasteland region. This signified that s.h.i.+ Hao had completely lost hope for life. He didn’t have much time left.
Even though there were always rumors that he was going to die, it hadn’t reached that point yet. At that time, perhaps a miracle could happen and he could stick it through this disaster.
However, it now looked like the dust had already fallen. In the end, this young supreme being that had quickly rose to power and shocked the world had reached the end of his life. There was no way to save him.
The world was greatly shaken. Everyone was discussing this. Many people felt great great pity and incomparable regret.
“Just how extraordinary was Stone Emperor? He is going to die just like that? It is just too much of a pity.””
“He fought against deities, eliminating a great disaster, but in the end, he himself is going to die and have his dao scattered. How unfair is this, how sorrowful!”
All areas were discussing pa.s.sionately. The great sects of the world all knew about this. Even though they had long speculated this situation, when it was confirmed, it still made them sigh.
“The little Stone is actually quite pitiful. Ever since he was young, he had his supreme being bone gouged out, becoming unbearably feeble, almost dying in his swaddling clothes. Later on, he was left in a remote village without his parents ever since he was young, relying on himself to survive. Finally, he walked into the great wastelands alone, fighting his way to greatness. What a pity! In the end, he still ended up like this.”
Many people knew about s.h.i.+ Hao’s past. After understanding his experiences, they all sighed. This was truly a young supreme being whose life was full of trouble and misfortune. It really was a difficult life.
Those that understood his experiences all felt sympathy. The seemingly powerful Stone Emperor, the extraordinary little Stone was actually extremely pitiful.
He was still unable to break through the shackles of fate in the end. When he was young, he relied on himself to survive through seemingly inevitable death. However, after growing up, he still had such a tragic end.
“What a pity! Truly lamentable!”
The world was sighing. Just how many years had pa.s.sed since something like this happened? All eight regions were discussing the matters of a single region. They all shook their heads, feeling regret for him.
It was precisely that day that even more powerful individuals from great sects crossed regions to arrive.
Quite a few people came to pay a visit. It could be considered a type of sending off, wis.h.i.+ng to see him one last time.
Everyone knew that after this, there would no longer be a little Stone in this world.
The recalled his accomplishments fondly, remembering his achievements. The sects were all moved. Most of them carried good will and arrived in Stone Country.
Stone Capital was quickly packed with people. Most of the people who came were cultivators who wished to see the little Stone off. They calmly waited for the sad ending to arrive.
Stone Country, imperial palace.
The three great supreme experts, Stone Country’s kings, as well as Stone Village’s people didn’t give up. They were still trying to think of a way.
For the sake of saving s.h.i.+ Hao, the War King, Peng Nine, and others earnestly requested the villagers to have s.h.i.+ Hao remain in the palace and not bring him away immediately. They spreads the news to the rest of the world that as long as they could save s.h.i.+ Hao, as long as there was a way, Stone Country was willing to pay any price.
When news of this spread, quite a few great inheritances and powerful sects moved, sending over a few medicinal herbs and old pill formulas.
Stone Village’s people were also busy. The ancestral altar opened, and these people entered through the pa.s.sageway to move all of their ancestral artifacts to Stone Country to carry out various methods.
One could see them bringing over ancient cauldrons, dark ancient wood, mysterious strange stones, and other old objects. They were all brought over.
No one laughed at them. Everyone knew that these simple and honest villagers were doing everything they could in hopes that a miracle can happen.
“This piece of wood… might be blood dragon wood! It is originally a precious tree, but it had dragon blood poured on it! It’s value is priceless!”
The War King was astonished. He studied the medicinal dao extensively, so he was knowledgeable about plants, spiritual herbs, and other medicinal objects. He noticed that a piece of dark red wood was actually an incredibly precious divine wood.
When this type of object was slowly refined into medicinal liquid, it would possess the characteristics of dragon blood. It might possess a certain amount of wondrous effects.
“This piece of iron, no, this isn’t metal. This is the body of a divine bug!” The great doctor Zhang Zhong also came here. He browsed through these ‘old objects’ and picked up a black object. It looked like a piece of iron, and when it was struck, metallic sounds could be heard.
He was quite shocked. After carefully identifying it, he discovered that it was a divine bug known as Blackgold Bug. It could be used in medicine, a divine bug that could only be discovered but not sought.
It was clear that this bug had already matured. Even though it was only a foot long, its medicinal effects were astonis.h.i.+ng. It was curled up like a piece of metal.
Everyone couldn’t help but become shocked. Back then, Stone Country’s ancestral land was truly formidable. A mature divine bug like this possessed divine level battle strength, but they unexpectedly killed one, leaving it behind in the village.
“Formidable, truly formidable!” Everyone sighed in amazement.
“If one wants to make a nine revolutions divine pill, this Blackgold Bug is definitely an essential main medicine. What a pity it is that we are missing too many ingredients, or else we definitely would have tried to refine it…” The War King sighed.
It was rumored that as long as the nine revolutions pill was successfully refined, as long as one took it, they could immediately transcend and become a deity. This was an incredibly precious holy ancient medicine. Since the ancient times, only a few people successfully refined it.
Unfortunately, in order to refine this pill, one needed many divine level medicinal herbs, or else they could forget about it. It was just too far fetched a dream. If they really had this pill, s.h.i.+ Hao truly might have a chance of surviving.
“This pill isn’t something that will appear if we beg. A single batch is hard to find after tens of thousands of years.” Zhang Zhong shook his head.
Everyone sighed. In the end, it was still too much of a dream.
Everyone looked through these old objects. Unfortunately, two astonis.h.i.+ng items were already beyond their expectations. There weren’t any other special medicinal herbs or other objects.
However, they discovered an ancestral artifact that was extremely powerful. However, it was just a weapon and could not save one’s life.
Stone Village’s people felt gloomy and frustrated. There weren’t any other methods.
The ancestral altar shone. Hairy Ball and Little Red appeared. One lost a portion of its body, the other a pair of wings. They were already severely injured and unable to move freely.
However, they still came. These were two deities! This shocked everyone here!
“We… don’t have any way either…” The two experts became sad. They thought bitterly for some way to cure him, but in the end, they both shook their heads, feeling deeply helpless.
“This thing might have some use.” Hairy Ball said, bringing a praying mat with him.
This was something s.h.i.+ Hao left behind in Stone Village before fighting the great battle. This praying mat came from the Kun Peng nest. It was made of elder wood, the branches of a world tree.
“What a pity, after experiencing countless years of time, all of its spiritual essence has practically been exhausted. Otherwise, it would definitely be greatly effective.” Zhang Zhong sighed and said.
“These are the fruits of the silver peach tree. We plucked all of them and brought them over,” said s.h.i.+ Feijiao. He carefully brought over a jade case. Peaches flickering with silver light shone.
This was the holy medicine s.h.i.+ Hao brought back from the Hundred Shattering Mountains and planted in Stone Village. It had already become mature, but they never plucked its fruits. It was only put to good use today.
“There is also a drop of divine wine. It was also obtained from the Kun Peng nest,” said Hairy Ball. It had followed s.h.i.+ Hao into the Northern Sea back then, so he naturally knew these things.
“Don’t use it. Don’t waste anything anymore.” s.h.i.+ Hao shook his head. He deeply understood his own circ.u.mstances.
He was still carving the Kun Peng technique. No one could stop him. From time to time, people could hear a light sound from his chest. His supreme being bone was clearly splitting apart.
He truly was exhausting his own life. Everyone’s expressions became unpleasant to look at, but they couldn’t do anything to help him, because this was one of s.h.i.+ Hao’s final wishes.
He gave all of the various things inside the precious interspatial case to Stone Village. He still wanted to leave behind this method.
“Child, mother is begging you, don’t do this to yourself anymore!” Qin Yining grabbed his arm, feeling incomparable pain. There was frustration, confusion, pain, and regret.
She wanted to save her oldest son, but she feared that her second son might die. That short period of hesitation caused them to miss the best time for implanting the bone.
As a mother, she didn’t want to lose any of her children. However, this type of decision was just too difficult. This was only human nature. No matter who it was, they would still have no way out.
If possible, she would rather use her own life to exchange for her older son’s.
s.h.i.+ Ziling’s eyes were so wide they were splitting and trickling out blood. He blamed himself greatly, clenching his fists in pain. The bones of his fingers were about to break from the grip.
“Father, mother, do not blame yourselves, or else I’ll feel bad. Everyone will die one day. I feel quite fulfilled right now.” s.h.i.+ Hao spoke. He didn’t want them to feel bad.
That day, people continuously came to Stone Country Imperial Capital wis.h.i.+ng to see s.h.i.+ Hao off. They all knew that he was going to die soon.
The amount that came were many times greater than that of Immortal Mountain. It was packed with people, and they were all discussing among themselves.
Only, ninety percent of them were stopped outside the palace. s.h.i.+ Hao needed time to rest and slowly pa.s.s his final moments. It would be too noisy with all these people around him. Even though they came with good intentions, they couldn’t all be allowed in.
Inside the palace, only Xiao Tian, Nine-Headed Lion, War King, and Stone Village’s people were there. Everyone else was stopped.
Finally, an imperial bodyguard reported, “The n.o.ble ladies from the higher realms Lan Yu, Hong Huang, Shui Yue and the others geniuses come to meet the Emperor.
Qin Yining stared blankly for a moment, and then she said, “Invite them in.” She thought of the precious technique Hong Huang’s clan possessed. They also had a rebirth technique that was related to the phoenix and incredibly powerful. She wanted to disregard all costs to obtain it and use it to save s.h.i.+ Hao.
Xuan Ming, Bi Gu, Lan Yu, Shui Yue and the others sighed with sorrow. When they saw s.h.i.+ Hao, they didn’t dare believe that the stunning and incomparably powerful little Stone actually fell to this state.
“A pity, truly unfortunate.” They shook their heads. Back then, they wanted to rope him in, but this type of thing happened.
The little Stone fell from the ninth heaven down. These geniuses’ thoughts immediately changed. The little Stone was definitely going to fall into eternal darkness. Even if he survived through some miracle, it would still be too difficult to reach great heights again. It was because his supreme being bone had been destroyed!
“Sigh, there’s no way out of this. No one has survived after being infected with Immortal Palace’s bronze stain curse.” Xuan Ming shook his head.
Qin Yining pulled Hong Huang to the side and began to consult her, telling her that she was willing to pay any price to obtain their clan’s rebirth method.
Peng Nine was also startled. “Fire Nation has the Vermilion Bird technique. Their flame rebirth method is astonis.h.i.+ng. If we can find it, it is worth giving a try.”
An old king from Fire Nation appeared. He wanted to help the little Stone, immediately inviting him into the palace!
Now that they reached the critical moments, regardless of whether it would work or not, they wanted to try it. They combined the five elements rebirth method, vermilion bird rebirth method, and true phoenix’ corresponding rebirth method to carry out one last struggle.
Fire Nation’s old king was quite glad to be of help. He agreed and handed over the rebirth method to s.h.i.+ Hao.
Even though Hong Huang felt some hesitation, because that technique was a secret that couldn’t be transmitted out, after Qin Yining’s continuous pleas, she agreed to exchange it for the five elements rebirth technique.
s.h.i.+ Hao remained quiet. He didn’t want to ruin everyone’s moods either. He silently remembered everything to cooperate with the treatment.
Unfortunately, everything failed again. This signified the very end of s.h.i.+ Hao’s life. There were no other ways left.
When dismal clouds weighed down on everyone’s minds, s.h.i.+ Ziling stood up and walked outwards. Qin Yining was somewhat surprised. She turned around to look at him. “Where are you going?”
“Divine Furnace Valley.” s.h.i.+ Ziling replied.
When everyone heard this, they began to carefully think to themselves, but they didn’t know what kind of place this was. Zhang Zhong was the only one whose expression changed. He knew that this was a strange place.
That mountain valley was like a divine furnace. It was incomparably sinister with many irregular things inside.
When normal people entered, supernatural things would happen. They would only be throwing away their lives. However, a few great individuals tried to look for Divine Furnace Valley, but they didn’t find anything. This was definitely a strange place.
The strangest thing was that back then, the reason it was found was because there had been an expert who used himself as a blood sacrifice, using the most sincere heart to pray. In the end, he was able to obtain a nine revolutions divine pill for his companion.
However, this had never been proved. It was only a legend.
It was because when later generations were forced into desperate situations, they also headed there with incomparably sincere hearts. However, they offered themselves in blood sacrifice without obtaining anything.
Not long ago when s.h.i.+ Ziling heard the others mention the nine revolutions divine pill, he was moved, remembering these things. Right now, he was going to risk it all!
Zhang Zhong shook his head, begging him not to go. He also explained these secret rumors to everyone, and when everyone heard this, their expressions immediately changed.
“I will go together with you!” Qin Yining was incomparably resolute.
The two individuals quickly rushed out without hesitating for a moment. They activated a type of precious technique together and left Stone Capital.
“You all definitely have to overtake them… I don’t want to have any leftover regrets…” s.h.i.+ Hao asked the War King to take action.
“I understand!” The War King nodded and chased after them.
s.h.i.+ Hao believed that with the War King’s speed, it shouldn’t be a problem. After all, he was already a supreme expert.
Everyone began to think to themselves. There was truly no other method. Everything that could be done had already been done. There was no way of life left.
“If there is nothing that can change the result, then let’s prepare to send Stone Emperor on his way.” An old king sighed and said.
That day, Stone Country began to make preparations. They knew that s.h.i.+ Hao didn’t have long to live, so they allowed the experts of various sects in, carrying out a final ceremony for him.
When news of this got out, the entire world was shaken. This meant that the little Stone might die at any time. His life had reached its critical point. He was going to completely disappear.
The eight regions were shaken. Ocean Clan also learned of this, and many experts hurried over to Stone Capital. This meant that there was no way at all to redeem the situation.
The War King stopped s.h.i.+ Ziling and his wife. They were extremely sad. If not for being forced to this state where they truly had no choice left, why would they even think about believing such an odd legend.
“Father, mother, being together with you two in my final moments already makes me extremely happy,” said s.h.i.+ Hao.
That night, Zhang Zhong frowned. He predicted that s.h.i.+ Hao might only be able to live one more day. There wasn’t any other hope.
Village Chief s.h.i.+ Yunfeng’s voice was trembling. He wanted to bring s.h.i.+ Hao back to satisfy his final wish.
“Let’s wait a bit more. Let me say my farewells to everyone. After returning to Stone Village, I won’t come back out again.” s.h.i.+ Hao said softly.
s.h.i.+ Hao met many people, including the sect masters of various sects. He nodded towards each of them, thanking them for coming here to send their farewells.
This night was, without a doubt, a grand occasion. Only, everything happened in a silent manner.
What was quite rare was that s.h.i.+ Hao remained awake the entire time. Using Zhang Zhong’s words, this was the final radiance of a setting sun. During his final hours, he might not go unconscious.
In the dead of the night, s.h.i.+ Hao and Qin Hao met again. The large palace was s.p.a.cious. No one else was here. The two of them were the only ones here.
Everything that had to be said was already said. s.h.i.+ Hao had a single requirement for his younger brother, and that was to take care of his parents. Right now, it was somewhat silent between the two of them.
“Older brother, do you hate me?” Qin Hao asked.
“How could I hate you? We are brothers.” s.h.i.+ Hao calmly said.
“I want to become stronger, becoming the number one expert of the heavens. I will properly take care of father and mother. This time, I wasn’t able to save you…” Qin Hao said softly.
“It was my own fate that is about to end. How can it be blamed on you?” s.h.i.+ Hao shook his head.
“If there was still time and I didn’t hesitate, instead giving you the immortal bone, this wouldn’t have happened. You would have two bones, and in the future, you would definitely become the most powerful expert in this world. No one would have been your opponent.” Qin Hao said softly.
When s.h.i.+ Hao said this, he seemed to have thought of something. He didn’t reply to his words and instead said, “Even though I did everything I could, I was only able to carve out half of the Kun Peng technique. I will leave it with Stone Clan.”
Qin Hao didn’t say anything and only nodded.
For a long time, there was no sound in the s.p.a.cious great palace. It was extremely quiet. The two sank into a state of silence.
Only after a long time had pa.s.sed did s.h.i.+ Hao open his mouth and say, “Do you think that if one person had two supreme being bones, they will be able to become number one under heaven?”
“Who would be able to rival that?” Qin Hao asked in response.
“When you brought up that topic, I remembered the higher realms. There are actually more than a single ‘exceptional talent’. Perhaps there are also people who obtained two bones,” s.h.i.+ Hao said.
Qin Hao was stunned. He had never heard of this before. This was definitely astonis.h.i.+ng.
In an extremely serious voice, he said, “I feel that the number of bones isn’t important. That isn’t the path to becoming the strongest. If there is a day when you become self-confident, feel that you can abandon your supreme being bone, not needing even a single piece, then, you can truly be considered to have stepped onto the path of no equal.”
Qin Hao didn’t agree to this and said, “If you have a higher starting point, why would you abandon it? I believe that the one with two pieces of bone will be more powerful. That person will become the number one supreme being.”
“Perhaps there are already people like that in the higher realms.” s.h.i.+ Hao said softly. He then stared at his own little brother and said, “If you feel that you can become the strongest expert like this, then let me give you a chance, let you soar to the very top. However, you have to properly think it through!”
He didn’t know whether his younger brother was interested or not when he mentioned these things. However, it wasn’t important anymore, because he didn’t care about his supreme being bone anymore.
He was going to die already, so what was the point in keeping it? Since this younger brother felt that having two bones would make him number one in the higher realms, then he’ll give his to him.
s.h.i.+ Hao felt that regardless of what his younger brother was thinking, they were born from the same parents. In the future, s.h.i.+ Hao still had to rely on him to take care of his father and mother.
“War King, Peng King, Zhang Zhong doctor…” s.h.i.+ Hao called over these people.
“Your Majesty!” Several old kings all looked at him.
“I am going to give my supreme being bone to my younger brother. Please protect us during this process.” s.h.i.+ Hao said. He feared that others would misunderstand, so he called them over to explain.
“What? Your Majesty, you cannot!” These people were all shocked.
“Older brother…” Qin Hao also opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.
“You don’t need to say too much!” s.h.i.+ Hao was always a decisive person. Even in his weakest state, he was also like this. Divine radiance shot out from his pupils, making it hard for everyone here to speak.
His body was full of cracks to begin with. Right now, he forcefully struggled, and his chest directly exploded. s.h.i.+ Hao resolutely and decisively removed the two-thirds of the bone that remained.
This bone was still sparkling white, but it was full of cracks. It was forcefully pieced together. Auspicious multicolored light was being released. Even though it left his body, it still looked like it was burning with immortal light.
“Your Majesty!”
The War King and Peng King’s hearts were shaking. How powerful was the little Stone? Even before his end, he actually made this kind of action, making tears pour down from their old eyes.
“Great doctor Zhang Zhong, please help my younger brother accept this bone!” s.h.i.+ Hao said. He calmly sat there, using his own strength to close his chest. Even though blood flowed out, he still didn’t move too much.
“Stone Emperor!” Zhang Zhong was astonished. He never thought that this type of result would happen. s.h.i.+ Hao instead gave his own supreme being bone to his younger brother.
The Ming King, Peng Nine, War King and the others rushed over to help s.h.i.+ Hao stop the bleeding and help him. They all felt as if they were suffocating.
Soon after, Stone Village’s people received news. s.h.i.+ Ziling and Qin Yining also heard what happened. They rushed into the palace, all of them trembling.
“Don’t rely excessively on these two bones. If there is a day you can transform them and use the supreme blood to nourish your entire body, allowing all of your bones to transform, that might be another path to the path of no equal.” s.h.i.+ Hao said.