Unfortunately, the Willow Deity did not reply, as usual. But it was still using its branches to absorb the flood dragon's blood essence and vitality. Ye Yun felt helpless. He shouted a few more times but was only left in silence.
"You must be in a really deep sleep. Which makes sense, I guess. You are lacking quite a lot of vitality. Otherwise, you would have been revived a long time ago," said Ye Yun with a sigh.
Then Ye Yun looked at the child who had fallen because of the Willow Deity and landed on the altar. His arm looked badly mutilated and his blood had splattered all over his body. He struggled to break free, wanting to leave the altar as his eyes filled with tears and fear.
After a short while, the villagers of Stone Village arrived after hearing the commotion.
Their eyes were wide open as they stared at the willow tree's branches that were continuously curling around the flood dragon. They were excitedly astonished by what they were witnessing.
"What's going on? Is the willow tree actually moving? What is it twining around? A flood dragon?!" Huang Linhu stared at the willow tree's branch.
"There must be a reason for this. The willow tree guardian spirit never makes a move unless it was absolutely necessary. The flood dragon must have been planning to attack the willow tree, thus provoking the guardian spirit. That's how it ended up like this." Shi Hao stared at the flood dragon with clenched fists.
"How should we deal with the child on the altar? His entire body is covered in blood and he looks quite frightened. Maybe the guardian spirit intervened to save him? Or was he the one who lured the flood dragon here?" Huang Feijiao frowned as he looked at the child laying miserably on the altar.
"How can such a young child control a flood dragon? I think that the flood dragon had snatched the child away from his home and was rescued by the guardian spirit." Huang Linhu thought Huang Feijiao's reasoning was inconceivable.
While everyone was still speculating, the child on the altar suddenly spoke. But rather than ask for help, he threatened the villagers.
"I advise you to be sensible and let me go. If you don't, the experts of my tribe will definitely kill all of you."
But as soon as the child finished speaking, Shi Hao went up to him and slapped the child.
"Watch your mouth." Shi Hao's face was filled with anger.
"Huang Linhu, Huang Feijiao, go check out our surroundings. I want to know if this brat is speaking the truth. Do you see any other tribes on their way?" The village chief spoke with a heavy voice.
"If you see anyone, don't approach. I don't want any conflicts to start prematurely." The village chief immediately warned his men.
Huang Linhu and Huang Feijiao nodded and prepared to leave the village.
Unfortunately, before they could step out of the boundaries of their village, they had already noticed more than ten to twenty figures charging towards Stone Village like a threat. There seemed to be a leader in front who shouted at them.
"Who has the guts to touch our tribe's young prodigy?"
But by the time he spoke, the Willow Deity had finally absorbed all of the flood dragon's blood essence and vitality. Everyone knew because the body of the beast had turned into nothingness.
The person who shouted earlier immediately froze. He finally realized that Lang Feng was right. The willow tree guardian spirit was no ordinary being. He started to be more cautious.
But then, the willow tree branch simply drooped back down again, as if nothing had happened. The willow tree returned to its original state.
Ye Yun used his Divine Sense to check on the Willow Deity's vitality. It was more spirited than before, but not enough to support its full recovery.
Then, Ye Yun wondered, could it be that the Willow Deity was simply reacting to the impending threat of the flood dragon and the child towards it and the desolate Stone Village?
But before he could continue with his train of thought, he suddenly felt an endless stream of energy surging into his body from the intersection between his and the Willow Deity's roots.
The Willow Deity was channeling energy into his body!
Ye Yun had once thought that plants were always in competition for resources. Never would he have imagined that plants could share resources, such as vitality like the Willow Deity was doing with him now.
Ye Yun's heart was filled with joy by this kind act.
The system's sudden notification came about.
[Beep beep, detected that the host has triggered a check-in. Do you wish to do so?]
Ye Yun did not hesitate to say yes.
[Check-in successful. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Flood Dragon Soul Power. Do you wish to use it?]
"Use it, quickly."
In an instant, Ye Yun felt an endless stream of soul power rapidly surge into his soul. For a moment, it was as if his soul was floating in Heavenly Lake. Not only was he refreshed, but all the negative energy and impurities in his body had also been removed.
Ye Yun's spirit felt so comfortable that it could not help but refine itself.
Now that Ye Yun had obtained the ability to refine his soul and spirit, Ye Yun felt that forming his soul avatar was just around the corner.
The system seemed to have waited for Ye Yun's spirit to be refined as it was only after that it beeped again.
[Detected the host's use of the reward. A mission has been triggered: Please help the Willow Deity fulfill its wish to remove the current threat to Stone Village. I hope the host can complete it before sunset.]
What? Didn't the Willow Deity just absorb the flood dragon's vitality and blood essence? Did it know that it was still lacking the ability to protect Stone Village?
Ye Yun could not help but laugh out loud.
"Well, the mission sounds pretty fun anyway." Moreover, based on past experience, Ye Yun felt that the system would reward him well if he completed the mission.
Ye Yun was suddenly filled with excitement. It had been a while since he last completed a mission from the system. He had been so busy cultivating that he had almost forgotten his potential and abilities in combat.
By the time Ye Yun accepted the mission from the system, the teams from the other tribes had arrived at the entrance of Stone Village.
The village chief noted more than ten figures with unknown origins and he knew that they were not good people as he looked at them seriously. Moreover, he could tell that many of these people were experts.
And if today's events went public, it would only attract more attention and cause more trouble.
This matter was not easy to handle.
For a moment, the air was still.
Then, the old man next to the girl spoke.
"Perhaps you have misunderstood. We are not evil people. We just happened to hear the cries of children as we were passing by and became curious, which is why we hurried over. I hope you can understand. Is your tribe leader around?"
When they had seen the willow tree guardian spirit's ability, they had decided not to attack Stone Village so soon. After all, they were supposed to be training during this period of time. There was no need to start fights.
Once they had determined Stone Village's abilities and stance, then they could decide whether to attack or not.
Since the strangers showed no intentions of attacking, Huang Yunfeng said, "I am the tribe leader of the village. Leave with your children. Our village does not welcome you."
But when someone from Luofu picked up his tribe's cultivation prodigy and stared at Huang Yunfeng's pathetic appearance, he said, "Leave? Your people attacked our cultivation prodigy. How can we just leave?"