This realization made Ye Yun realize how insignificant his existence was as a blade of grass, fueling his desire to simply keep on cultivating and improving his abilities.
After some time, the color of his blade had turned a darker shade of green. He had become an Advanced Sprout. It wouldn't be too many more days until he entered the next stage, Growth.
As usual, Ye Yun was cultivating when he heard the deafening roar of a desolate beast, breaking the tranquility of the village.
Ye Yun's eyes immediately opened and he used his Divine Sense to explore deeper into the mountain forest.
He saw huge rocks falling from the mountain range just beyond the village and heard the deafening roars of low-level beasts come one after another, triggering a domino effect of fear and a wave of fleeing desolate beasts. It was as if they had encountered a terrifying creature.
While many of the low-level beasts fled, many had died as well.
"The villagers who went out hunting today must have encountered a thorny problem." Ye Yun could not help but sigh.
He was helpless in this situation. He had the right intentions, but he could not do anything.
And things turned out just as he had predicted. A few moments later, the villagers had gathered at the village entrance and saw Huang Shoushan with a few others limping back with bodies covered in wounds.
Huang Shoushan had the most severe injury.
His wound was not caused by a desolate beast, but an arrow that pierced through his chest and out his back. Blood seeped out from the wound and drenched his clothes.
A few youths from the village supported him with faces filled with anger and eyes that glared escalating killing intents.
Based on the arrow stuck in the chest of the villager, it was obvious that they had not been attacked by a desolate beast while hunting that day. Instead, they must have argued and exchanged blows with another village.
And the exchange of blows had obviously turned deadly.
Still, Ye Yun had no way of interfering in the matters between the villages. All he could do was simply watch as some of the villagers calmly bandaged and treated the wounded person while others pacified the person's relatives.
The villagers worked together seamlessly as if they were used to dealing with such matters before.
Shi Hao stared at Huang Shoushan and clenched his fists in anger. A weak light glowed from his fists.
Unfortunately, he had never gone out to hunt, so he could not do anything, nor did he have the ability to help.
Like Ye Yun, Shi Hao had no choice but to watch helplessly as everyone helped Huang Shoushan treat his wounds.
He hugged the baby Green Scaled Eagle tightly in his arms and walked to the willow tree. His face was filled with anger as he caressed the bird unhappily.
The Green Scaled Eagle egg that had been awakened by the Willow Deity had hatched a month ago and Shi Hao had decided to raise the hatchling.
The baby bird was born with intelligence, but it was not high enough to understand human speech.
"Little Purple, I must quickly comprehend the runic power within your body. Only then will I be able to go hunting with the others.
"If I had stronger abilities, I might be able to help and prevent anyone from getting injured."
Shi Hao didn't care if Little Purple could understand his words. He just needed someone to talk to.
Little Purple lowered its head slightly as it leaned against Shi Hao's palm and slowly rubbed against it.
The egg whose ancestral inheritance Ye Yun had awakened hadn't hatched yet for some unknown reason. However, it had a strong spiritual nature, so if one was not watching or being careful with it, it would roll to the willow tree on its own accord.
To be more precise, it would roll to Ye Yun and stay close to him. After all, it was Ye Yun who had awakened its ancestral inheritance.
This usually happened every time Ye Yun cultivated. Ye Yun did not know whether he should cry or laugh.
——
Shi Hao leaned against the willow tree and stroked Little Purple's head as he watched the villagers treat Shoushan. Despite the growing anxiety within him, there was nothing he could do.
He did not know how to treat wounds and when he tried to help in the past, he ended up becoming a hindrance. This past experience had deeply upset him.
His relatives had passed away early. If it was not for the kindness of the villagers to take him in and feed him the milk of beasts, he would have died long ago.
The uncles and aunties in the village took special care of him. They might not be related by blood, but the villagers were better than family.
His heart would ache every time he saw one of the villagers get injured.
However, he was just a four-year-old child. He was not capable enough and his emotions were written all over his face.
Ye Yun sized up the unhappy Shi Hao. His clenched fist emitted the light of the Bone Text, but Shi Hao did not notice it. Ye Yun started to feel sad for the child.
How pure this child's heart was to be genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of others at such a young age.
As expected of the person who would become the Desolate Heavenly Emperor in the future - a four-year-old child who easily stood out in the village.
Stone Village's hunters had not been able to hunt any desolate beasts and ended up getting attacked by others instead.
Therefore, Stone Village did not prepare any sacrifices that day.
Shi Hao silently knelt under the willow tree and began to pray.
"Guardian Spirit, oh Guardian Spirit, I hope that you can protect the people of my village from getting hurt. Shi Hao will do everything in his power to repay you."
Just as he finished saying this, Ye Yun felt the endless power of the prayer spread out from Shi Hao's body and flowed into the former's body.
The system's voice then echoed in his ears.
[Beep beep, the host has triggered today's check-in and a mission. Do you wish to check in? ]
Ye Yun was no longer in the mood to stare at Shi Hao. He quickly replied. "Check in."
[Beep beep, the check-in today has been successful. You have received the Sacrifice Acceptance Ability and Shi Hao's Prayer.]
[Mission: Help the villager of Stone Village heal.]
[Description: During the mission, healing does not consume cultivation.]
As soon as the system was done, the gentle healing ability was released from Ye Yun's body in flickering specks of emerald green light that merged with the body of Huang Shoushan. His wound started to heal.
Wha-
"F*ck the system! Isn't this a blatant scam? And it even notified me in such a tactful manner! What the f*ck?! What check-in?! I didn't get a reward! I was forced to complete a mission instead!
"Where are my rights? Don't you have any feelings?"
Ye Yun did not expect that a system check-in could trigger a mission, so he had no choice but to complete it!
Even if the treatment did not cost him anything, and he was only using his attributes to help others heal their wounds, doing things in the shadows was very uncomfortable!
If a follow-up check-in triggered a mission again, it might consume his ability, so he would suffer a great loss no matter what!
"Damn it, System, get over here and explain yourself!"
[Beep beep, successfully completed the mission. Congratulations to the host for entering the Growth stage.]
[Beep beep, system's explanation: Dear host, please rest assured. This system upholds humanitarian principles. All missions are based on the host's life and cultivation. Please refer to the system manual for more details.]
After the system's explanation, it fell silent again.
Ye Yun immediately felt his roots rapidly expand and extend into the depths of the soil, further interweaving with the willow tree's roots.
Fine! The reward of the mission is pretty awesome!
'If you were going to give me something so good, just say so earlier next time. Then, I won't have to scold you, will I?'
The reward this time was quite big.
A mission had allowed him to enter the Growth stage in an instant. This was great!
After all, Ye Yun had transmigrated to this world for a few months and had been cultivating diligently every day. However, he had been stuck as an Intermediate Sprout for a while before only recently becoming an Advanced Sprout.
Since he had triggered and completed a mission today to heal the people in the village, he was able to quickly break through to the Growth stage.
'In that case, please arrange dozens of missions for me then, System!
'I'll execute any mission you assign me! No complaints guaranteed.'