Ancestral Reversion

Everyone was stunned.

Outside the village, the ferocious bird that looked as though it had been cast from molten iron also shuddered. It abruptly raised its head, two lightning-like beams shooting from its eyes as it stared fixedly at the altar.

The egg brushed by the tender green willow branch erupted with myriad rays of rosy light and countless auspicious glows. Misty radiance swirled around it, as if it had suddenly been "deified." It was crystalline and dazzling, astonishing beyond compare.

The speckles on the eggshell were glowing like tiny suns, giving off blazing radiance as vigorous life force surged forth. More patterns emerged around those spots, complex and unfathomable, dazzling to the extreme—like dragons and serpents rising together, like divine sparrows dancing through fire.

An inexplicable change came over the egg. Its patterns interwove and rapidly spread. Before long, the entire egg had transformed, gaining many more "markings." It was brilliant and resplendent, divine light spilling from it in all directions.

"The life force within this egg is stronger than before by who knows how many times. The life imprint passed down by the ancient demonic bird must have revived considerably. If this egg hatches, it will surely surpass the Azure-Scaled Eagle!" Chief Shi Yunfeng said in astonishment.

This egg was rather special. It might have inherited many fragments of the ancient demonic bird's imprints, causing an ancestral reversion. If so, its bloodline would be incomparably noble, far surpassing its parents'.

A mere gentle brush from Old Willow Tree's tender branch had caused such a sight. It was shocking! Had it discovered what was special about this egg, or did it possess some mysterious power that had changed it?

All the villagers were astonished. Gazing at the egg shining with brilliant light, their eyes blazed with desire. This was absolutely a rare battle bird with limitless potential.

Outside the village, the Azure-Scaled Eagle stood atop that massive boulder, its scales gleaming. Its eyes were wide and vacant as beams of light shot out like bolts of silk. It seemed unable to believe it either.

It desperately wanted to rush into Stone Village for a closer look, but when it saw Old Willow Tree, instinctive fear overcame it. It did not dare approach, only crying out urgently from outside.

That willow branch was lush and emerald green, brimming with life. After lightly brushing the egg, it slowly withdrew and made no further movement.

Clearly, it was not very interested. That had merely been a casual brush.

The villagers were filled with reverence, and only calmed down after a long while.

"Chief, should we keep this egg?" Shi Linhu asked. The villagers were all tempted, their hearts burning hot. It would be such a pity to let an egg this miraculous slip away.

"Don't you see that ferocious bird outside the village? If we keep it, it will go mad." Shi Yunfeng frowned.

Old Willow Tree was mysterious and powerful. It had always protected the village, refusing to allow savage beasts to come here and wreak havoc. Stone Village was its domain. Yet it only defended; it had never taken a single step beyond the village, much less launched an attack on anything.

The Azure-Scaled Eagle did not dare enter, but merely blocking the paths out of the village would be enough to make Stone Village suffer. After all, they still needed to hunt in the mountains.

"Forget it. Return the egg to that featherless great eagle," one of the village elders said.

The clansmen were all deeply disappointed, but there was nothing they could do. The Azure-Scaled Eagle was powerful, the apex predator of this region. So long as the creatures from the deepest reaches of the mountains did not emerge, it was the undisputed overlord.

The group proceeded cautiously. Shielding and defending themselves with two ancestral artifacts, they carried the three bird eggs to the village entrance, placed them on the grass, and swiftly retreated.

By then, the blazing radiance around the mutated egg had already faded, no longer so dazzling. Yet the newly formed mysterious patterns had not vanished. Compared with the other two eggs, it was clearly of a completely different kind, the egg of another bird species.

The Azure-Scaled Eagle spread its wings and turned into a violent gale, pouncing over in an instant. With one sweep of its wings, it shielded all three eggs, then carefully stared at the special egg covered in interwoven markings, crystalline and gleaming.

With a long cry, the ferocious bird seemed immensely excited. Its call tore through the sky, making giant trees in every direction tremble and leaves fly wildly!

Only after a long while did it raise its head. An odd expression appeared in its eyes, its ferocity long since withdrawn. It stared at Old Willow Tree within the village, yet did not dare take even half a step inside.

"Take your eggs and leave already!" someone shouted.

As though they were sending off a plague god.

Yet, to everyone's surprise, the Azure-Scaled Eagle flapped its wings, then gave a fierce beat. The roaring wind shoved all three eggs into the village, sending them rolling toward the great willow tree.

"What? It doesn't want them—it's giving them to us?" Everyone was dumbfounded. What was going on? One bizarre thing after another.

"It saw one of the eggs mutate, becoming covered in runes. It will grow far stronger than itself in the future, so it wants to leave it with our clan's 'sacrificial spirit' and have us raise it," Chief Shi Yunfeng said.

"It can think like that?" The crowd was astonished.

"Don't forget, this is a ferocious bird that has condensed mysterious runes within its body and possesses a source bone overflowing with mysterious power. Its intelligence should be no lower than a human's," the old chief said.

The stronger a ferocious bird or strange beast was, the greater its intelligence. Legend had it that some ancient descendants were far cleverer than humans, looking down upon the human tribes of the earth like gods.

The chief loudly asked whether it truly intended to leave its offspring here. To everyone's surprise, the Azure-Scaled Eagle nodded, then gestured with its gaze toward the three eggs before looking at Old Willow Tree.

Whoosh!

A fierce gale rose. With a wingspan of fifteen or sixteen meters, the Azure-Scaled Eagle soared into the heavens and vanished among the clouds, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Everyone stood there dumbstruck. It had just left? Only three crystalline eggs remained on the ground. No one had expected things to end this way.

"Uncle Linhu, what do we do next?" Er Meng asked.

"What do we do? You little brats caused this mess, so you're responsible for incubating the eggs!" Shi Linhu glared.

"Ah, no! Save us!" the children wailed.

The three eggs were placed beside the altar beneath the great willow tree. People were assigned specifically to guard them as they waited for the young birds to break from their shells. These were the eggs of powerful ferocious birds, after all—exceedingly precious.

More than ten days later, a crisp crack rang out. One egg split open, its jade-green shell cracking apart as a little creature rolled out from within, its entire body covered in glittering azure scales.

Then another egg cracked open, and an identical little creature struggled free. It poked its head around, its eyes bright as it looked about in every direction.

The third egg was special. As it cracked, it first emitted streaks of rosy light, followed by a cry. The hard eggshell suddenly shattered in its entirety, crumbling into powder as divine radiance shone brilliantly there.

A young bird emerged. Its body was not covered in azure scales, but purple ones. Flowing light and rosy radiance spilled from it, like a blazing flame. It was many times more miraculous than its two siblings.

Only after a long time did that mass of purple glow fade away. The remarkably spiritual young bird was covered all over in dazzling purple scales. Its large, watery eyes seemed able to speak as it curiously watched the crowd. Anyone could tell at a glance that it was no ordinary spirit bird.

"They're born!" the children cheered, racing home to fetch chunks of meat to feed the three young birds.

Suddenly, a long cry rang out. A massive ferocious bird dove from the clouds, rapidly approaching Stone Village and casting a vast shadow.

"Huh? After disappearing for more than half a month, the Azure-Scaled Eagle has returned. Don't tell me it regrets its decision and wants to take back its offspring?" a villager cried out.

"No, that is...?" The people stared in shock, their eyes wide with astonishment.

With a boom, dust soared outside the village. The Azure-Scaled Eagle released its enormous talons, and a colossal creature crashed to the ground, smashing out a huge pit as earth and stones sprayed everywhere and smoke billowed up.

It was a gigantic Dragon-Horned Elephant, six or seven meters long and five or six meters tall. The pair of enormous dragon horns on its head gleamed with precious light. It was so heavy that it had crushed several towering ancient trees. It was already dead. Several claw holes pierced its skull, which was larger than a millstone, blood gushing from them as it had been killed in a single strike!

"What is the Azure-Scaled Eagle doing? Does it want us to use this to feed the three young birds? It really is like a human—it has such great intelligence!" the clansmen exclaimed.

With another whoosh, a fierce gale swept up broken branches and fallen leaves as the Azure-Scaled Eagle soared into the sky once more.