Tree God

Only in the details can the true quality be seen.

Looking at the small ball darting through the air, he suddenly realized that his seemingly powerful Swordsmanship was merely a superficial gloss built upon the physical fitness of a Martial Artist; in reality, it was hollow and unstable within.

Martial Arts are not like studying; understanding something doesn't mean you've mastered it.

Memories are just memories. To make them your own, you need to practice them repeatedly, refining them through a thousand trials until they become muscle memory, an instinct of the body. There are no shortcuts for this.

The restlessness in his heart faded, and he quickly calmed down.

Then, he thrust his sword towards the small ball again and again!

About a hundred kilometers from here, on a small island.

This island was much larger than the one Chen Shouyi was on, spanning five to six kilometers in circumference, with abundant resources and lush forests.

One particular tree stood out amongst the rest. It was several hundred meters tall, its jade-green leaves forming a massive canopy that covered the sky like a giant umbrella, spanning nearly a fifth of the island's area.

Beneath this great tree, a tribe of several hundred people was settled.

This was a very primitive tribe, their civilization still in its infancy.

The adult males, who held higher status, were mostly clad in animal hides. The young and the women were largely naked.

Of course, animal hides here signified more than just clothing; they were symbols of strength and status.

However, this tribe was thriving. The men were strong and robust, the women had rosy complexions, and the proportion of children was extremely high.

Under the protection of the Tree God on the island, there were neither fearsome beasts nor dangerous Nature Spirits. The entire tribe flourished, filled with vigorous vitality, with the number of new births each year far exceeding the number of deaths.

Five years ago, following a divine oracle, they had sacrificed over thirty tribesmen to help the Tree God eliminate a great beast on the island.

For two full years since then, they had not experienced a single abnormal death among their people.

Until yesterday!

Before nightfall, two of their tribesmen who had gone fishing never returned after leaving.

The nights in this world were perilous. While the Tree God's protection extended to the island, preventing any Nature Spirits from harming them, the moment they reached the ocean—an area where the Tree God's great power could not yet reach—death was almost certain.

Regarding this matter.

Early in the morning, before the tribesmen went out to hunt or gather, the tribe's shaman summoned everyone to perform a sacrifice to the Tree God.

The shaman was nearing the end of his life, his face deeply wrinkled. At his age, he was already contemplating what came after death.

In this world, death was not the end of life.

During a past communion with the Tree God, in a state between wakefulness and sleep, he had vaguely seen countless deceased tribesmen continuing their lives elsewhere, in peace and serenity.

Later, during another communion, the information from the Tree God confirmed this.

Performing sacrifices to the Tree God was not only a manifestation of his elevated status within the tribe but, more importantly, a way to please the Tree God.

Such an event was naturally something they would conduct, even if they had to create the conditions for it.

The 'Tree God' was immense. Not to mention its colossal, unparalleled canopy, its trunk alone was over ten meters in diameter. No one knew how many years this tree had lived. Its bark resembled parched earth, crisscrossed with cracks, giving it an ancient and weathered appearance.

According to their status and age, all the tribesmen gathered around the Tree God in several concentric circles.

The innermost circle comprised the tribe's chief and the strongest warriors. Behind them were the adolescents still in their growth phase, followed by the women and children. Naturally, the infants and toddlers were not brought here.

For such a primitive tribe, and for a 'Tree God' that had only recently developed sentience and was still in its nascent stages, the sacrifice was not a complex ritual, nor did it involve formal prayers. However, the solemn atmosphere was undiminished.

The frail, elderly shaman danced wildly, gesticulating and uttering strange cries that even he couldn't understand.

Soon, a beast, about the size of a goat and bound by its four legs, was carried by four strong men to the base of the tree.

The shaman took out a black stone knife, seemingly made of obsidian, and with a swift cut across its throat amidst its shrill screams, severed it. Blood gushed out. As soon as the blood touched the ground, a faint, clear luminescence rose from the densely interwoven roots on the ground.

The beast, which had been twitching, suddenly lolled its head, its life completely extinguished, as if its soul had been absorbed.

Silence fell upon the surroundings. All the Barbarians wore expressions of awe mixed with fear. Even the bewildered children fell silent, their faces etched with unease.

Within the light, the old shaman sat with his eyes closed, his head tilted, appearing to have lost consciousness.

But not a single Barbarian dared to disturb the communion between the shaman and the Tree God.

After a long while, the old shaman finally opened his eyes. He seemed greatly startled, his face contorted in terror:

"Danger comes from the north!"

Chen Shouyi was completely unaware of all this.

He had been practicing continuously for four to five hours.

His accuracy in hitting the fast-moving small ball had improved from two or three hits out of ten initially to generally four or five hits out of ten by the end.

Of course, Chen Shouyi knew that such significant progress was only possible during the initial stages of practice. Any further improvement would require much more effort.

It was like an exam: improving from twenty or thirty points to forty or fifty points was the easiest. With a little effort, or even just being more careful and attentive during the test, one could achieve it. But going from seventy or eighty points to ninety was far beyond what simple, short-term effort could accomplish.

The further one progressed, the more arduous each step became!

Feeling the hunger in his stomach, Chen Shouyi finally stopped.

He had only returned to the entrance of the passage, and in less than half a minute, the soreness in his muscles had rapidly subsided under the innate ability of Natural Healing.

He opened his briefcase and had just taken out the cooked beef and bread he'd brought for lunch.

Shell Girl then flew over gracefully, pointing at the pile of Gold Sand that had appeared in the distance as if seeking praise, and shouted loudly:

"Gems! Gems! Gems!"

Chen Shouyi was no longer as excited about Gold Sand as he was at first, but to avoid dampening Shell Girl's enthusiasm, he still went over to take a look.

There was about three taels, and combined with what was left from the previous few days, it was already over a jin.

Based on the estimated amount, he immediately took out three small glass beads from his pocket as a reward.

Shell Girl accepted them with a delighted expression, shining them in the sunlight like a greedy merchant. She then flew back into the air and hovered over a patch of grass for a long time, vigilantly watching Chen Shouyi as if guarding against a thief. While he wasn't paying attention, she quickly flew into the grass.

Using the grass as cover, she crouched down, her slender hands digging a small pit in the soil to reveal the shell buried within.

She opened the shell and placed the three glass beads inside.

The glass beads here were already completely full, emitting a dazzling array of light.

As if afraid of being blinded by the radiance, she squinted her eyes.

Looking at this 'huge' treasure chest filled with gems, she felt captivated and completely lost in the moment.

It took quite a while before she snapped back to reality. She quickly closed the shell and covered it with soil again.

She acted as if nothing had happened, flitted around in front of Chen Shouyi, and soon, with renewed vigor, began searching for Gold Sand everywhere.

Chen Shouyi, who was eating his dinner, finally looked up and glanced speechlessly at her busy figure.