Calling the Willow Deity

Ye Yun had not been able to communicate with anyone or anything ever since he transmigrated to this world.

He suddenly had a thought.

"That's right. Why have I only been communicating with the system?

"I'm growing next to the Willow Deity, and it's no ordinary willow tree."

But this hadn't been something Ye Yun had been consciously ignoring. The Willow Deity might not be an ordinary willow tree but it had not made its presence known to both the villagers and Ye Yun. If Ye Yun had not recognized it through his past experience reading 'Perfect World', he might have truly thought he had just grown next to a normal willow tree.

Now that he had realized how he should have treated the willow tree, he quickly used his Divine Sense to attempt communication with the Willow Deity. "Willow Deity?"

There was no reply.

"Willow Deity? Guardian Spirit?" Ye Yun called out twice more. These were the only two names by which he knew the willow tree.

Still, there was no form of response from the willow tree. But Ye Yun did not give up. He called out to the Willow Deity many times after that but was only left in silence after each attempt.

The willow tree guardian spirit was definitely there. It had moved its branch to lightly brush against the Green Scaled Eagle egg and awaken its ancestral inheritance. The willow tree was not vacant.

Ye Yun had no intentions of giving up. He momentarily put aside cultivating for now and continued to use his Divine Sense to call out to the Willow Deity.

He expanded his Divine Sense to make sure that he would be able to detect even the slightest movement or response from the Willow Deity.

Ye Yun attempted to communicate with the Willow Deity throughout the entire night.

Unfortunately, he did not get anything remotely close to what he had wished for.

When dawn arrived, the warm rays of the morning sun shone on Stone Village. As one admired the scarlet sky, one could see the silhouette of the ancient willow tree. A gentle breeze brushed past the tree and its one branch rustled against it.

But aside from that, there had been no other movements or response from the willow tree.

Ye Yun finally gave up and thought that the Willow Deity probably had no high hopes of recovering fully.

This made him feel a little sad. But it was also possible that it wasn't time for the Willow Deity to awaken yet. 

"Or could it be that the Willow Deity acts when given a specific stimulus?" Ye Yun speculated.

"If someone attacks the Willow Deity or the village, would it react?" Ye Yun pondered and secretly rubbed his hands, almost wanting to test it out. But he did not actually dare to and started to think of other ways to stimulate the tree.

He arrogantly intersected his roots with the Willow Deity's roots and tugged at them. He wanted to help the Willow Deity clean out its root system of messy bundles and insect infestations.

And yet, the Willow Deity did not give a single response. It was probably still in a deep sleep.

Honestly, it wasn't that Ye Yun was desperate to speak to the Willow Deity. It's just that his current conditions post-transmigration had made him a little lonely and frustrated, especially when he could only watch and help the villagers of Stone Village from afar.

And the willow tree had been his only companion, providing warmth in the night and shade in the day.

It even came to a point where Ye Yun started to treat the willow tree as a family member. Perhaps it was because they were both plants that grew in the same place in this world.

Despite the lack of response, Ye Yun persistently repeated the task of helping the Willow Deity keep its root system tidy daily.

Hundreds of kilometers away from the desolate Stone Village of the Great Wastelands, a guest with an unfathomable identity arrived at Sand Eagle Tribe.

——

Two days had passed since the battle at the mountain forest lake.

The people of Stone Village had been carefully disposing of the pieces of the corpses they had obtained from the mighty beasts' battle and refining the extracted blood essence into medicinal bath items for body tempering. They planned to let the children in the village temper their bodies today.

These spoils weren't the only benefit they had received from the battle at the mountain forest lake.

Shi Hao, in particular, had come out of the night mentally stronger.

Anyone could tell that the Wolf Village's guardian spirit was planning on taking out Shi Hao through a surprise attack. Even if Shi Hao managed to dodge the attack, he would have still gotten seriously hurt.

And this was when Shi Hao was soft-heartedly trying not to kill the cultivators of Wolf Village while fending them off. Despite his mastery over the use of ancient runes, he still held back and decided to restrain his opponents.

Unfortunately, rather than repaying his kindness, his opponents took advantage of his soft-heartedness to take him out instead.

As the village chief explained to him, Shi Hao would not be alive if the sword Qi had not swooped in so suddenly but timely.

Shi Hao had finally understood that being kind and merciful on the battlefield would only lead to his demise and that of his loved ones. Hurting others was the only way to protect those he held dear.

Inspired, Shi Hao had decided that he would one day be the one to wield that sword Qi and put its mighty power to good use.

And in order to do so, he had to devote himself to cultivation and work towards achieving supreme strength bit by bit. Traveling the Great Wastelands would probably be necessary for his cultivation journey if he wanted to catalyze or trigger some of the breakthroughs.

The village chief stood at the door, gazing at Shi Hao who was sitting cross-legged next to the willow tree.

Shi Hao now appeared even more mature than before - his eyes shone with something akin to divine light; his originally young and tender face had slightly hardened due to his experience at the mountain forest lake; and his soft and straight baby hair had turned a little more disheveled. The village chief found Shi Hao looking more and more like his father.

Shi Hao was only a four-year-old child, yet his heart was so strong that it was unimaginable. However, would it be enough to sustain him on the path of cultivation? How far would he be able to go in this vast and dangerous wasteland? Would he be able to obtain and realize the potential of the countless supreme treasures? Would he be able to realize his own potential?

Such thoughts prompted the village chief to pray for the child.

"Guardian Spirit, I hope that you can protect Shi Hao and let him advance on the path of the Great Dao. He is our cultivation prodigy, but our village is so inadequate that we are unable to provide him with what he needs to realize his potential."

Once he was done with his prayers, the village chief switched gears and called the children of the village over.

"Children, come. It is time."

Shi Hao left his spot by the willow tree and walked over to the village chief. But leaving the willow tree made him feel a little strange.

"Why does sitting by the Willow Deity's side feel extremely comfortable? It's like my cultivation progresses smoother than usual."

But now that he was about to temper his body, he decided to ponder about that later. He stretched out one leg after another and immersed his entire body in the bucket filled with blood essence.

He slowly closed his eyes and enjoyed the process of body tempering with blood essence.

Interestingly enough, body tempering with blood essence was not as simple as it seemed, and it was actually quite an uncomfortable process. One would usually experience pain as if one's body was getting severed. The slightest carelessness in the process could endanger one's life.

If one was unable to accept the pain, one's body would suffer a setback. But one would be able to receive great benefits to their cultivation if one was able to complete the process smoothly.

Moreover, the smooth completing of body tempering would also grant the person defenses akin to a mighty beast's indestructible scales - the person would not have to worry about getting injured in a future battle.

Shi Hao endured the pain of the body tempering process. He was well aware of the costs and benefits of this. His fair face started to flush red; his skin became covered in a cold sweat; and his facial features were distorted from the pain.