บท 9: War Is Imminent!
บรรณาธิการ: EndlessFantasy Translation
The ancient willow tree stood in peace and silence.
The Stone Village's youth had left to hunt Suan Ni after its recent outbursts.
The sacrificial offerings to the willow tree had been left at the altar for days.
During these three to four days, Ye Yun knew from the contents of the conversations that the villagers were planning to attack the Suan Ni.
He watched as the people of Stone Village moved in tight formations towards the forest and a myriad of thoughts flooded through Ye Yun's mind.
Regardless of the world, it seemed that humans had always been the same: eager and never second-guessing their desire to snatch up resources.
Back on Earth, Suan Ni was a symbol of good fortune. Why was it here as an ancient descendant? Could Earth and this world have some kind of connection?
But the moment Ye Yun thought of this, he brushed it off, thinking that it was inconceivable for it to be true.
The way of life here was way too different. Everyone in Stone Village lived in the present and did their best to live fulfilling lives every day - working on their cultivation methods, going out to hunt, and carrying out sacrificial activities. Nothing much changed in their day-to-day.
Then there was the Willow Deity, a willow tree guardian spirit of the Stone Village. Despite how it swayed naturally with the breeze, there was nothing ordinary about it - from its charred bark and the single living drooping branch to its ability to respond to the villager's prayers and bring comfort to them. The moment the willow tree's branched brushed over the Green Scaled Eagle egg and awaken the latter's ancestral inheritance, the villagers knew how powerful their guardian spirit was.
Now, there was the presence of a dying Suan Ni whose blood and meat were prized possessions to the humans and their cultivation in this world. In order to compete for Suan Ni's blood essence, the Stone Village residents were ready to go all out.
Still, Suan Ni was no ordinary beast. Even on the verge of death, it would not allow itself to be defeated by humans so easily. Suan Ni was an ancient descendant after all.
This time, the battle was bound to be tragic.
Ye Yun was starting to get bored. He was a rooted blade of grass after all. He could not move or speak. The system was all he had to entertain himself, besides cultivating. So the eagerness of the villagers to get to Suan Ni excited him too. Unfortunately, there was nothing Ye Yun could do except sit next to and accompany the willow tree.
Though the villagers' intentions to take advantage of Suan Ni's death were a little brutal, Ye Yun couldn't blame them. The people of Stone Village were pure in heart and sincere in emotions. They just happened to exist in a cultivation wasteland where the strong preyed on the weak and the fittest survived.
And it was most probably because of such an environment that made the children in the otherwise harmonious and peaceful village mature earlier with higher intelligence. Especially that child, Shi Hao. He was only four years old this year, but he was already extremely perceptive.
It was just that his hands had not been stained with blood yet that he was so pure and flawless.
All this pondering simply led Ye Yun down a confusing rabbit hole. He slightly extended his roots and touched that of the Willow Deity. Ye Yun never figured out the Willow Deity's true form in 'Perfect World' so he was very curious as to what it looked like.
All Ye Yun knew was that he could sense the Willow Deity's presence, which was starting to seem more mythical than before.
As he tried to recall more of 'Perfect World', Ye Yun realized that his memories of it were starting to get spotty. He could not remember how this event with Suan Ni would play out.
Forget it. Let's get back to the situation between the Stone Village residents and Suan Ni.
According to the village chief's deduction, the sound coming from the mountain forest was gradually weakening. Suan Ni was now at death's door.
The villagers started to pray and make sacrificial offerings to the Willow Deity more than ever. After all, the outcome of the battle was related to their survival. The village's cultivators prepared themselves diligently. If they did not obtain Suan Ni's blood essence today and got attacked by other desolate beasts, the battle would be all for naught.
Ye Yun sized up the cultivators. He knew them. However, neither Ye Yun nor the villagers knew who would survive the battle.
Today, some families would face more despair and losses than others.
Stone Village had countless children of Shi Hao's age who had lost their parents and were willing to live under others' roofs.
Battles and wars in the Great Wasteland had always been ruthless. In a blink of an eye, countless people could lose their lives. This was the reality of this world.
Ye Yun did not want to think of the aftermath of today's battle. He decided to go back to his cultivation.
Suddenly, the system's notification rang in his ears.
[Beep beep, the host has not checked in today. Do you wish to check in today?]
Ye Yun was not excited by the system's ping. He had been checking in every day but the rewards given by the system had been quite rubbish. As such, he had long given up on expecting anything from the daily check-ins.
The only permanent beneficial reward he could tell was his Art of Nine Revolutions Essence. The rest? Well, they were absolutely useless.
The only other benefit he had received from the system was the mission.
But this wasn't a mission check-in, so Ye Yun unenthusiastically checked in.
[You have successfully checked in today. Congratulations to the host for obtaining Clairvoyance. The system reward has been distributed.]
Ye Yun was overjoyed. One second, he was lamenting how trashy the system's reward was, and in the next second, he had obtained Clairvoyance.
"Tell me seriously, System. You are able to read my thoughts all the time, right? Especially my sarcasm."
Alright, he admitted it. This new reward, Clairvoyance, was not too bad. But it was not particularly useful either.
Even though Ye Yun cultivated the Art of Nine Revolutions Essence and could use his Divine Sense to check his surroundings, his range was limited. His current range of Divine Sense was only the immediate surroundings of the Stone Village's boundaries.
Now that he had Clairvoyance, he would be able to see more of the world kilometers away. It was very helpful to Ye Yun who was an unmovable blade of grass under a willow tree.
This way, he could also know what was happening around him.
Ye Yun did not waste any more time and immediately used Clairvoyance. In a blink of an eye, his range of vision gradually widened.
Like a high-quality drone, he was finally able to see into the mountain forest.
Nature's beauty was such a masterpiece.
The peaks rose into the clouds as the river flowed through the mountain range in nine bends. The fog of time descended from the misty mountains to the forest and the desolate wasteland.
This is the Great Wasteland that he had transmigrated to.
After taking in the scenery of the Great Wasteland, Ye Yun decided to continue cultivating.
The villagers of Stone Village had already geared up and were ready to go.
Since they were about to travel several miles from their village into the mountain forest to confront Suan Ni, they decided to pray for blessings and protection from the guardian spirit.
The talented young cultivators of the village carried magical treasures as their sacrificial offerings to the guardian spirit.
While other villagers offered the typical harvests of the forests to their respective guardian spirits, those from Stone Village made such offerings to the willow tree guardian spirit for the additional request of watching over them as they go into battle.
This was how the cultivators of Stone Village were able to fight on the battlefield like fish in water. With the help of their guardian spirit, they had a good feeling that today's battle would be a success.
The deafening roar of a mighty beast echoed through the mountain forest again, reverberating through the villagers' bones and shaking their souls. They could sense that the beast was about to die soon.
The time had come! The young cultivators in the desolate Stone Village knelt before the guardian spirit.
"Oh, Guardian Spirit. Please protect the people of our village and grant us safety in obtaining the essence blood and returning to our loved ones."
After praying, they immediately set off and ran into the depths of the forest.
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