With the Willow Deity as a safety net, Shi Yi had nothing to fear.
A Mountain Treasure, is it?
Let's do this!
For this, Shi Yi temporarily changed his itinerary. After leaving Stone Village, he did not head east, the direction where the sun rises.
The Great Wilderness is located in the Desolate Region, in the north. The entire northern area is the Great Wilderness, the habitat of Pure-Blooded Lifeforms and Ancient Descendants. Humans here are merely blood food.
The eastern and western areas are occupied by Stone Country and Fire Country respectively. Stone Country is in the east, Fire Country in the west, and the south is occupied by powerful fierce beast forces like Demon Spirit Lake.
And this is just the Desolate Region.
The Lower Realm has Eight Regions: Heaven, Earth, Profound, Yellow, Universe, Cosmos, Vast, and Desolate. The Desolate Region where Shi Yi is located is merely at the bottom, not considered important among the Eight Regions of the Lower Realm.
Desolate Region, deep within the Great Wilderness.
Within a majestic mountain, a white beam of light pierces through the heavens and earth. Inside the light beam, there is a black spherical object, densely covered with strange runes.
This spherical object is the so-called Mountain Treasure, but it is not the only one. Every few decades or centuries, strange treasures inexplicably emerge from the depths of the Great Wilderness.
The reason is simple.
The Eight Regions of the Lower Realm are not simply the Lower Realm.
They are inherently part of the Nine Heavens Ten Earths of the Upper Realm.
However, due to the special nature of the Eight Regions of the Lower Realm, they do not belong to the Nine Heavens Ten Earths. The Eight Regions of the Lower Realm were refined into a small world by ancient powerful beings using supreme magic power, modeled after the Nine Heavens Ten Earths of the Upper Realm.
The Eight Regions of the Lower Realm hide too many secrets and too many opportunities. Even the gods of the Upper Realm often forcefully descend to seize opportunities, so the Eight Regions of the Lower Realm are not a Lower Realm in the usual sense.
In the usual sense of a Lower Realm, even a single blade of grass from the Upper Realm would be an unimaginable treasure.
However, some opportunities and some peerless prodigies in the Eight Regions of the Lower Realm make even the Upper Realm envious.
On a mountain range seven million li away from the Mountain Treasure, there was a man and a woman. The man looked very young, eleven or twelve years old, while the woman appeared to be around thirty.
"Teacher, you came with me. What about Stone Village?"
"Stone Village has the formation I left behind. As long as they don't step out of Stone Village, it's essentially the same whether I'm there or not."
"Teacher, does this count as me abducting you?"
"I don't belong to anyone. They worship me, and I protect them. I am not the private property of Stone Village."
"Do you belong to me?"
"Do not harbor improper thoughts. I am merely your teacher."
It was obvious.
This man and woman were the Willow Deity and Shi Yi, preparing to seize the Mountain Treasure deep within the Great Wilderness.
Normally.
The Willow Deity would not follow Shi Yi. She wanted him to grow up on his own and be capable of handling things independently. However, Shi Yi was thick-skinned and held her small hand, pestering her for a long time, finally succeeding in luring her out of Stone Village.
However, the Willow Deity had also made it clear to Shi Yi beforehand.
Unless it was a life-or-death crisis, a danger of body and spirit perishing.
Otherwise.
She absolutely would not step in to help.
She would only watch Shi Yi get beaten up.
The Willow Deity's idea was very simple.
Don't fantasize about being able to do whatever you want in the Great Wilderness just because you have her with you. At most, she would stay by his side as a spectator, and continue to research and clear up the various mixed forces within the Ten Celestial Passages.
"Teacher, I understand," Shi Yi pouted.
So what if she's his teacher?
Does she think being a teacher can dispel his thoughts?
Don't even think about it. Can't I ride my teacher and destroy my ancestors?
"It's good that you understand, Shi Yi. You are my disciple. From today onwards, you must not only cultivate the Original True Understanding, but also my secret method. From now on, you must not be negligent in the slightest."
The Willow Deity sat on Shi Yi's shoulder, one arm resting on his head, her fair and tender jade feet dangling against his chest, her body emitting a faint fragrance.
From a distance.
Shi Yi looked like a mount, a human mount, and she was his master.
Fortunately.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, the Willow Deity had cast a special secret method on herself. Others could neither see nor touch her, so Shi Yi didn't have to worry about being seen and mocked.
"What secret method?" Shi Yi asked.
At eleven years old, his body was well-developed. Although not tall and strong, he was considered young and vigorous. His shoulders weren't broad, but they were enough for the Willow Deity to sit on.
"This is a secret method I created myself. It has no name, only four words: Unceasing Growth. If you must give it a name, you can call it the Willow Deity Method."
The Willow Deity reached out and gently tapped Shi Yi's forehead. Profound and complex rune mysteries instantly appeared.
She didn't impart the complete Willow Deity Method, but only a part of it, the part suitable for Shi Yi's current realm to learn. The complete Willow Deity Method was far beyond what the current Shi Yi could learn.
"The Willow Deity Method, Unceasing Growth... With this secret method, as long as I'm not instantly killed, it'll be hard to even die!"
Shi Yi stopped walking, carefully sensing the Willow Deity Method that had appeared in his mind, especially the power of Unceasing Growth. He felt that even dying would be a difficult task.
As a Double Pupil user, a born Saint, with innate wisdom.
Shi Yi learning Precious Techniques and cultivation methods was not as difficult as it was for others. As long as he understood the runes of the Precious Technique itself, he could imitate it and use it.
In other words, as long as Shi Yi was willing, any Precious Technique in the world, as long as he had seen it and understood it, he could use it in a somewhat decent manner.
Of course, the power of a Precious Technique used in this way was not guaranteed.
After all, understanding it and being able to use it barely were two different things from being proficient.
"Carefully comprehend this secret method. The Mountain Treasure is not that easy to obtain. Next, you may face a series of continuous fierce battles."
After the Willow Deity finished speaking, she, who was sitting on Shi Yi's shoulder, transformed into unobservable light spots and drilled into the Ten Celestial Passages hidden deep within Shi Yi's forehead, continuing to research Shi Yi's strange Ten Celestial Passages.
For the next few days, the Willow Deity did not come out, only occasionally accompanying Shi Yi for meals and chats. For the most part, it was diligently studying Shi Yi's Ten Celestial Passages.
Shi Yi walked alone deep within the Great Wilderness, getting closer and closer to the location where the Mountain Treasure was about to appear. He could feel that a storm was brewing in that place.
It was different from two years ago.
When Shi Yi was sent out by the Willow Deity to train, he had to fight his way through, slaying the fierce beasts that wanted to eat him.
Now, he didn't need to lift a finger. Relying on the crimson feather on his head, he could roam freely in the Great Wilderness.
So, along the way, Shi Yi didn't encounter any trouble. Most fierce beasts, sensing the aura of the crimson feather, basically retreated on their own.
But this didn't mean Shi Yi could obtain the Mountain Treasure without any obstacles. Beneath the calm surface of the lake lay a terror that made even him feel a little apprehensive.
The Little Red Bird, Shi Yi wasn't unfamiliar with it; he knew it. The Little Red Bird was one of the Four Great Fierce Beasts of the Great Wilderness.
The Little Red Bird was a Vermillion Bird, and the being behind that large golden claw was, without a doubt, a Zhu Yan.
The Four Great Fierce Beasts of the Great Wilderness were the Vermillion Bird, Zhu Yan, Heaven Swallowing Sparrow, and Qiongqi. These four fierce beasts were the true rulers of this Great Wilderness.
Among them, the Vermillion Bird and Zhu Yan did not dislike humans, while the Heaven Swallowing Sparrow and Qiongqi intensely loathed humans and frequently attacked the tribes and great clans in the Great Wilderness.
Every time the Heaven Swallowing Sparrow and Qiongqi attacked a tribe or great clan, at least tens of millions of people would be devoured by them as blood food.
They didn't do it to fill their stomachs or for cultivation. For fierce beasts of their level, eating ordinary people, no matter how many, was useless. They did it purely for the sake of slaughter.
Now, the Vermillion Bird and Zhu Yan had left the Great Wilderness, but the Heaven Swallowing Sparrow and Qiongqi were still hidden deep within the Great Wilderness, waiting for opportunities. No one dared to ignore these two great fierce beasts.