Chapter Fifty-Seven: Willow Tree's Mutation
The morning mist had yet to disperse when Chen An carried a clay bucket beyond the fence.
The bucket sloshed with the dirty water left over from washing dishes the night before, flecked with oil and rotten vegetable leaves. As usual, he splashed it over the roots of the Withered Willow. The water seeped into the charred soil, leaving behind several damp marks. When he turned around, the corner of his eye swept over the Willow Branches, and he abruptly stopped in his tracks—
That Withered Willow, which had lain dormant for years, was now like a giant awakening from a long, endless dream. Every inch of its body was undergoing an astonishing transformation at a speed visible to the naked eye!
The branches that had been bare yesterday, resembling charred arm bones, had somehow thrust out countless new shoots overnight!
These newborn branches were lush and dripping green, brimming with vigorous vitality. They looked like green arrows loosed from their bows, pointing straight toward the heavens. A layer of incredibly fine, silvery-white fuzz covered their tender bark, like frost newly formed at dawn. Under the clear morning light, each new branch shimmered with a hazy ring of pale golden radiance, sacred and teeming with life.
At the tips of the branches, the plump, swollen leaf buds that had still been tightly closed yesterday had now split open one after another, revealing tender leaves about the size of a fingernail.
The new leaves were still curled up, their delicate shapes resembling the tongues of sparrows. A hair-thin silver edge naturally bordered each leaf. Most wondrous of all were the faintly emerging veins. They were not ordinary green, but carried threads of golden light like drifting filaments, as if living radiance were quietly circulating through them.