The quiet and comfortable village was especially peaceful.
Beside the entrance of the village, there was an ancient tree towering into the sky, standing tall and sturdy like a guardian of the village.
The rough bark of the tree was almost as black as carbon as if it had been burned by fire.
But the tree was not one that grew from a seedling. The spot where it currently stood had once been occupied by a stone. During a thunderstorm one summer, lightning and thunder roared and flashed angrily one after another as if they were at war at each other.
Eventually, the colossal being was struck by a bolt of lightning and fell out of heaven onto the spot where it stood today.
The tree crumbled and fell violently, the turbulence of the strike and impact of the fall created a deafening boom that sent tremors throughout the seemingly endless land.
It no longer had its branches and its bark had been charred black. The lightning strike had cut off the tree's vitality.
Now, the tree stood as a guardian spirit of the village. Even when a giant python as thick as a tree battled with a bird covered in golden and red feathers with deafening roars, their tumultuous scuffle might have struck at and broken more of the tree, but the village remained as peaceful and undisturbed as ever.
For years, the tree stood seemingly lifeless until a single branch finally grew.
Despite its unimpressive appearance, green grass spread wantonly under the tree, occupying its shade.
If one looked carefully under a starry night sky, one could vaguely catch sight of a misty figure glowing light green like a piece of emerald, pulsing with vitality as it sat among the grass and swayed with the wind under the ancient tree.
The sunlight during the day allowed the misty green presence to camouflage among the wild grass around it.
A voice suddenly spoke from somewhere within view. "Ugh... What's happening? Do I have a fever?"
The moment Ye Yun opened his eyes, he felt his body suddenly become heavy and he was unable to move.
'What's going on? Is a ghost pressing down on me?!' He thought in confusion and tried to move his body again. But the weight remained on his body like shackles that prevented him from moving.
His head was spinning and he was having difficulty keeping his eyes open. Ye Yun tried his best to take back control over his body. He tried to keep his eyes open to look around.
But everything he saw was quasi-black. It was like a nightmare.
The suffocating feeling on his body escalated and he started to feel as if someone had piled layers of quilts on top of him. He was starting to have difficulty breathing.
'What's going on? Could it be that someone wants to kill a penniless person like me?' Ye Yun could not help but panic.
He desperately tried to move his body, struggling for a long time before he finally recovered from the indescribable suffocation. The moment the light entered his eyes, his brain was filled with an endless stream of information.
After taking a moment to take it all in, he took a deep breath.
That's right, he had transmigrated. He had arrived in a world with endless territories, complicated laws, and many small sub-worlds.
This place was filled with rich spiritual Qi. All living beings in this mortal world could absorb spiritual Qi to cultivate.
As for him, he had turned into a blade of grass!
How did he turn into a blade of grass after a nap?
Ye Yun was at a loss. He was still having a hard time accepting this fact.
He finally understood what he was experiencing earlier.
If he was a blade of grass, that meant that he was suffocating because he was still in the soil.
"Well, isn't this just perfect? What am I supposed to do now? Don't tell me I have to cultivate for tens of thousands of years to turn into a human?"
Ye Yun sighed helplessly. He felt that he had just been given an unjust fate.
At the same time, the system's sudden voice echoed in his mind.
[Beep beep. Congratulations, dear host, for successfully binding with the system!]
[The host's basic information is as follows:
Host: Ye Yun
Identity: Nine Heavens Jasper Grass
Status: Sprout
Item: 0
Influence: 0
Grade: Ordinary Rank 3
Ability: Divine Healing]
As a 21st century youth from Earth, Ye Yun was not too surprised by the system's format. After all, transmigrators were usually supported by one.
Thankfully, fate was still on his side. Even if he was a blade of grass in a completely new and unknown world, he still had the system to support him as he tried to figure things out.
No matter what, the future was within reach.
This made him a little excited.
With this in mind, his brain was once again filled with information, allowing Ye Yun to understand a series of functions in the system.
One of them was the Daily Check-In system that would give him a Midas touch. As the name implied, checking in every day would allow him to receive a random reward from the system. Each random reward would allow him to cultivate to break through to the next level. Once he had accumulated a certain number of check-ins, he would be able to activate the Lucky Draw function.
Knowing this made Ye Yun smile slightly. However, he started to look at his surroundings. In the quasi-black space, only his body was surrounded by a light green glow, which was incredibly strange.
No matter how much he tried to analyze his surroundings, he was still unable to find out where he was in the collection of worlds.
The system's mechanical notification rang again.
[Beep beep. Dear host, you haven't checked in today. Do you want to check in?]
Hearing this, Ye Yun's eyes flashed with excitement. "Yes! Check me in! Check me in, quickly!"
[Check-in location: Lightning Strike under the Willow Tree. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the reward: Art of the Nine Revolutions Essence]
[Cultivation method description: Art of the Nine Revolution Essence is a divine technique of the Chan Faction from the Investiture of the Gods. It not only facilitates the cultivation of the Golden Core of the Great Dao but also all kinds of magic spells.]
As he stared at the reward that appeared on the system's virtual display screen, Ye Yun's eyes were filled with delight as the corners of his mouth curled up.
The Art of the Nine Revolutions Essence! It was a famous divine technique!
He had never thought that he would be able to obtain the Art of the Nine Revolution Essence the first time he checked in!
This cultivation method was a big deal because it was practiced by Yang Jian from the Investiture of the Gods, and it turned him divine! There were very few people who could rival him in the three realms!
With this divine cultivation method, how could Ye Yun not be excited?
The profoundness of the cultivation method unfolded in Ye Yun's mind as he quickly learned and grasped the Art of Nine Revolutions Essence.
He was so excited by this that he quickly began cultivating.
As he controlled the wantonly-flowing spiritual Qi, lightning flashed and struck his body. The lightning strike tempered his body and gave his green spiritual glow a quasi-purple hue momentarily.
——
Time gradually passed as night started to fade and gave way to the light of the morning sun. The golden rays spread throughout the sky and illuminated the peaceful village.
Ye Yun, who had been cultivating the entire night, opened his eyes and carefully observed his surroundings.
Above him was a towering willow tree with one drooping branch. When he turned around, he saw more than ten children sitting crossed-legged facing the sun. Their facial expressions appeared solemn as they continuously gathered spiritual Qi into their bodies with control.
There was an old man next to them as he constantly provided guidance.
One of the children was younger than the others, approximately four or five years old. But Ye Yun could tell that he was the strongest among the group of children.
When the child meditated, the ancient energy contained in his body circulated accordingly.
After analyzing his surroundings, Ye Yun knew that he was in an ordinary village. It was no different from what he was familiar with before he transmigrated, though he suspected that it might be some ancient era as most of the houses seemed to be made of stone.
His observations also told him that everyone here had been absorbing the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth and using it for cultivation from a young age. Ye Yun saw a few of the children, who were only a few years old, shake a huge rock that weighed hundreds of kilograms.
Although he did not know what world he was in exactly, many of the laws from his world seemed to be interwoven here.
Still, these were simply speculations. Ye Yun had no way to verify it.
He carefully observed his surroundings again and confirmed that the village was so ordinary that there was nothing outstanding about it.
Ye Yun closed his eyes and decided to cultivate. Regardless of which world he was in, the strong preyed on the weak. Cultivating to increase one's strength and abilities was paramount.