In a nameless mountain, located in the south and not far from the Ancient Dragon City. 

This mountain is just an ordinary mountain and is usually only inhabited by non-spiritual wild animals, better known as Wild Beasts.

In addition to the Wild Beasts, there are also many small isolated villages on this mountain. Those villagers detached themselves from the outside world but occasionally had contact with a nearby small town to trade the Wild Beast they hunt from the mountain with other staple foods.

The people on this mountain are superstitious as they believe in the existence of entities called Spiritual Gods. This can be seen from the admiration of each village has towards their respective Spiritual Gods.

They even perform a ritual every year by sacrificing something that can please their Spiritual Gods. In return, their Spiritual Gods will continue to shelter and protect them from any attacks by Wild Beasts or hostile villagers that occasionally invade their village.

As soon as Qin Yi and Li Hai arrived at the foot of this nameless mountain, they both immediately got off Jin Shen’s back and decided to continue their journey on foot.

This mountain has very thin spiritual energy, and it is almost the same as ordinary mountains. It’s no surprise that no cultivators are living here.

Along the way, Li Hai began to explain the situation on this mountain. However Qin Yi was not so surprised when he heard that the people of this mountain believed in so-called Spiritual Gods.

Even back in his hometown, there were still some people who still believed in Gods and Immortals but those so-called Immortals were probably just Qi Condensation cultivators they happened to see.

Those cultivators liked to pretend to be Gods and Immortals and do some miraculous stuff using their miscellaneous martial skills in front of the ignorant mortals.

Hence, their existence was feared and revered by those mortals.

However, they appear very rarely because staying in the mortal world is not beneficial for them, even wasting their time and delaying their cultivation. 

Therefore, Qin Yi had never met them at all. He had only heard legends about Gods and Immortals, but it was unknown whether it was true or false.

However, the people on this mountain are not superstitious with immortals, but other entities called Spiritual Gods.

This made him a little confused and he couldn’t help but ask.

“Senior brother, those Spiritual Gods… what are they?”

“According to investigators’ reports, these Spiritual Gods are actually only Magical Beasts. Moreover, they are only Rank 1 Magical Beasts. It is very difficult for them to advance to Rank 2 without consuming particular treasures that miraculously grow in this mountain with this thin spiritual energy.”

Li Hai replied as he continued to walk through the winding road.

Qin Yi felt strange as he asked further, “Why are Magical Beasts willing to protect human villages? More importantly, they are Rank 1 Magical Beasts; they still haven’t developed intelligence and react based on their feral instincts. Isn’t it dangerous for the villagers who are just mortals to keep them?”

Li Hai was silent for a moment before replying.

“There are two possibilities why those Magical Beasts are willing to protect the human village. The first possibility is that those Magical Beasts have lived with humans since childhood, therefore it is normal for them to feel affection and be willing to protect the humans who have cared for them since childhood. It is like how cultivators raised their beast pet.”

“The second possibility lies in the so-called the “Ritual.” Unfortunately, the temple’s investigators still haven’t found out what kind of Ritual it is. Those villagers kept their mouths shut tightly regarding this Ritual, and no matter how much gold the investigators offer them, they are not willing to disclose it.”

“Not even one of them?” Qin Yi was shocked.

Li Hai sighed and said, “Yeah… In fact, all the mountains’ villages seem to have some kind of agreement not to reveal the Ritual to outsiders, and even the nearby small towns don’t know about it.”

The two of them were silent for a moment, then Qin Yi tentatively asked.

“So, what does the seller have to do with this mountain?”

Li Hai smiled and instead asked Qin Yi back.

“Have you ever heard of the Blind Old Man?”

Qin Yi shook his head.

“In this region, there is an old and blind wanderer; he loves to travel the world and is good at propheszing things. Everyone calls him the Blind Old Man. He is famous for his prophecies that never go wrong.”

Li Hai paused for a moment before he continued saying.

“A few days ago, a temple’s investigator accidentally saw Blind Old Man enter this nameless mountain and dwell in one of the villages. People say that Blind Old Man is an approachable person and he often gives some prophecies to people with the condition that you should bring him good wine.”

“So…” Qin Yi glanced at Li Hai hesitantly and asked, “We’re going to ask Blind Old Man about that seller?”

“Well, that’s just one of our objectives.”

Li Hai replied with a smile.

Without Qin Yi realizing, he and his senior brother arrived at the gate of a village.

Not long after, a man in black robes approached them from within the village.

“Captain Li.”

He greeted Li Hai while lowering his head slightly.

“Hm, how’s the situation here?” Li Hai asked.

“Return to Captain Li, apart from the occasional witness to the clashes between villages, there’s nothing else to report.”

“How about Blind Old Man?”

“Currently he is staying at the Village Chief’s house.”

“Good, take me there!”

“Yes!”

With that, the black robe man led Li Hai to the Village Chief’s house.

Qin Yi followed them from behind without saying anything.

He began to observe the surrounding area inside the village.

The village itself is built around a tall tree, which was decorated with plain polishes, extinguished torches, and several wooden houses.

No matter how you look, this village is only a typical village that he could see somewhere.

But there is something that stands out the most about this village; it is the vast and towering willow tree that grows in the middle of the village. It had green and verdant leaves, and it almost covered most of the area within the village.

“So big…”

Qin Yi couldn’t help but mutter.

The black robe man heard him muttering. 

He started to wonder who this black-cloaked person was.

Although he found that this person had a weak cultivation base, he still didn’t dare to look down on him since Captain Li brought this person in personally.

Maybe Captain Li had a purpose of bringing this person here.

He thought and started to open his mouth.

“This village is called Green Willow Village, and the giant tree you saw is the village’s Spiritual God called the Willow Tree. I heard from the villagers that this Willow Tree was originally just a tiny sapling a hundred years ago. Until now, it grew to this size and was able to protect the village from any external attacks.”

Qin Yi widened his eyes as he was astonished to hear that this huge willow tree was the Spiritual God of this village.

Doesn’t that mean that this tree called Willow Tree is a plant type of Magical Beast?