[Beep beep. Dear host, would you like to check in today?]
Ye Yun checked in silently, no longer as excited as the first time he did it.
Why would he be when he hadn't been receiving any check-in rewards?
Shi Hao hadn't been the only one facing a daily mystery - the mysterious Qi flow - recently. Ye Yun had also been trying to figure out his own daily mystery - the lack of daily check-in rewards.
He had not obtained a single thing since his first reward!
When he received the Art of Nine Revolutions Essence at the beginning, he thought he would be able to subsequently receive equally good rewards.
However, Ye Yun could never be more wrong and his subsequent check-ins could not be more fruitless.
Was the system messing with him?
Let him draw the one and only card in a blank deck so that he could be miserable later?
How wicked.
Still, Ye Yun did not want to reject the option to check-in for fear of missing a potential opportunity of getting a reward.
[Congratulations, dear host for completing today's check-in. You have obtained the Breath Concealing Technique and a piece of the Original Green Scaled Eagle Rune!]
When the voice disappeared, the Breath Concealing Technique quickly merged with Ye Yun's knowledge base and the mysterious Qi flow circulating from his body became concealed in an instant.
At the same time, the piece of Original Green Scaled Eagle Rune fused into Ye Yun's body, circulated through his blood, and transformed into strength, thus allowing Ye Yun's cultivation to finally break through.
Ye Yun had gained a reward that was not only much anticipated, but also much needed!
In addition, when he absorbed the rune, the crisp surface of the grass - Ye Yun - was instantly engraved with an ancient symbol, the exact same one as the mark on the eggs.
Shi Hao - who had not stopped investigating the mysterious Qi flow around the Willow Deity - immediately noticed the changes. He suddenly turned around, looked at the willow tree, and a thought appeared in his mind.
The timing of all of these was just impeccable!
The moment Ye Yun's check-in rewards took effect, the people from the village had come to pick up the eggs, only to be shocked.
Both eggs radiated with a divine aura as multicolored spots of lights appeared all over, making them pulse with vitality. The spots of light eventually turned into ancient symbols that seemed to have developed their own consciousness as they rotated and changed around the eggs with an endless ancient Qi flow.
Those who had picked up the eggs could immediately feel a constant emission of heat as if he was holding a pulsing furnace in his hands.
Ye Yun noticed the gathering of people. At first, he was confused, but then he remembered the plot of the novel.
Shi Hao and his friends must have successfully stolen the eggs from the Green Scaled Eagle's nest. When they brought the eggs back to the village, the Willow Deity's branch must have touched one of the eggs and awakened its ancestral inheritance.
It must have been the egg with the ancient runes!
But why were there two glowing eggs?
Ye Yun became equally as confused as the villagers. Eventually, the system pinged him a virtual notification display, though it lacked any proper explanation.
[Successfully helped the Green Scaled Eagle egg awaken its ancestral inheritance.]
Ye Yun stared at the line of words on the display and fell speechless.
What's going on?
'I didn't do anything to the egg, did I?'
——
When the mother Green Scaled Eagle rejected the return of her eggs by the villagers, the latter decided to keep the three eggs until they hatched. The mother Green Scaled Eagle flew off and the shocking events at the willow tree ended with the arrival of night.
Shi Hao was lying in his room, tossing and turning as he faced some difficulty falling asleep.
In the end, he got up, put on some clothes, and walked across the courtyard to the village chief's room.
"Say that again?!
"There is another guardian spirit besides the willow tree guardian spirit?!"
The surprised voice broke the silence of the night before the silence resumed. It was the village chief.
Shi Hao had just told the village chief what he had speculated based on the events earlier during the day.
How else could they explain not one, but two glowing Green Scaled Eagle eggs? Everyone had clearly seen the willow tree branch touching only one of the eggs. It must have been the work of two guardian spirits.
Shi Hao also had an additional and potentially related speculation - that the divine spirit of the willow tree guardian spirit had awakened.
What other explanations were there? Despite years of sacrificial offerings to the willow tree guardian spirit, nothing had happened until now.
In addition, Shi Hao had sensed the mysterious Qi flow near the willow tree days ago. And the moment the willow tree's branch touched the Green Scaled Eagle egg and awakened its ancestral inheritance, the mysterious Qi flow had disappeared.
If this wasn't evidence of the revival of the willow tree guardian spirit, Shi Hao didn't know what other explanations there could be.
However, the village chief still had a hard time believing Shi Hao. It was not because the village chief still saw Shi Hao as a child and thus deemed his words groundless - the village chief did not doubt Shi Hao's logic - but because Shi Hao's words were simply so inconceivable to the village chief that he couldn't bring himself to accept them, at least not immediately.
As far as he knew, there should only be one guardian spirit of Stone Village.
The matter of two guardian spirits appearing in the same place was unprecedented.
"Two guardian spirits... Really?"The clan leader muttered to himself.
Ultimately, he did not care what was possible or not. What had happened today was still an auspicious event for Stone Village in the Great Wasteland.
Moreover, there was currently no better explanation for the awakening of the second egg's ancestral inheritance.
The village chief noticed how late into the night they were, so he advised Shi Hao to go to bed. Then, he turned to his window and stared at the quasi-black space alone, deep in thought.
If Shi Hao was right about the mysterious Qi flow that had appeared for a while but dissipated the moment the Green Scaled Eagle eggs' ancestral inheritance awakened, such a major event had to be discussed with everyone.
After all, it was related to the guardian spirit and fate of Stone Village,
The village chief was already fortunate enough to witness the willow tree guardian spirit's extremely powerful abilities years ago. If there was another guardian spirit around, what would its identity be?
——
Ye Yun did not know that his cultivation had brought the willow tree back to life and awakened the ancestral inheritance of an additional Green Scaled Eagle egg. So it's not a wonder he was not aware that he might be the other guardian spirit Shi Hao had been guessing at.
Instead, he had noticed other changes around him and made a discovery.
When the ancient runes fused into him earlier, he not only had a breakthrough in his cultivation, Ye Yun found that his roots had grown deeper into and spread wider throughout the ground.
Before that, his roots were right under the surface of the soil and did not touch the willow tree's roots at all.
Now, his roots had extended so deep into and far across the ground that they could almost come in contact with the willow tree's roots.
This realization excited Ye Yun, even if he was still a blade of grass, unable to move.
Based on his development progress, wouldn't it be just a matter of time before he gained a human form?
Ye Yun quickly activated the virtual display and browsed through his information and attributes.
It was as he had expected. He had already become an Intermediate Sprout.
Even though he did not know what kind of plant he would become when he matured, Ye Yun was already feeling quite confident in his ability to reach his goal.
There was something else that he had noticed.
The more he cultivated the Art of Nine Revolutions Essence, the higher the density of his soul and the wider his field of vision.
Initially, his field of vision was only limited to around the altar by the willow tree and some parts of the village. Today, he could already see the entire Stone Village.
Though his field of vision had much more room for expansion, Ye Yun was already excited about the small recent improvements.
As such, he had become highly motivated to cultivate diligently. He couldn't wait to explore Stone Village.