“Our village’s sacred spirit is the Willow God, while yours is a wooden carving. Haha, how strange!” The children laughed.
"By the way, why are you all alone outside the village? Aren't your parents here?" the one-armed elder asked.
The little one said, "Oh dear, it's all their fault, they insisted on coming out."
“Little one, that egg is still in your hands!” the mischievous monkey retorted, not to be outdone.
"Um, let's go back quickly, it's too dangerous here," the little one said somewhat shyly, while hugging the bird egg even tighter.
"Alright, let's hurry back to Stone Village. It's still a bit dangerous here. You guys are really brave to steal the eggs of the Azure-Scaled Eagle." Mu Yun was also impressed.
"Yes, Grandpa, let's go home." The group of children then followed them toward Stone Village.
Chapter 559 Stone Village
Stone Village.
"What's going on? What's wrong with that blue-scaled eagle? Why is it causing trouble near our village?"
Some people in Shicun noticed the anomaly and looked suspicious. They quickly sent someone to inform the elders, and a group of people came to a high platform at the entrance of the village to look at that area.
"Chief, today I saw Ermeng, Dazhuang, and Xiaobudian sneaking around together. Could they have gotten into trouble outside the village?" said a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy, informing a dozen or so younger children that they were missing.
"Those little brats!" Shi Linhu slapped his thigh, suddenly remembering that when they were talking about the Azure Scaled Eagle, Pi Hou and a few other children had been peeking around nearby.
Upon learning of the situation, clan leader Shi Yunfeng understood the urgency and decisively said, "Go quickly and retrieve the two ancestral artifacts. We'll go together!"
Just then, Little Dot and a group of children came running in from the village entrance.
"Oh no, Grandpa Chief!" The children were immediately startled, thinking to themselves, "We're doomed, we've been discovered leaving the village."
"Is the child alright?" A group of burly men rushed over, picked up their own children, and examined them from all angles, afraid that they might have been injured.
"It's okay, we're all fine, just a few people got minor scrapes," the children replied.
"It's good that you're alright. Tell me, what did you run off to do?" The burly men were relieved, and then they all raised their large palm-leaf fans and slapped the children's bottoms with all their might.
"Ah, us!" After the children told their story about stealing the Azure Scaled Eagle's eggs, their fathers became even more ruthless.
"Chief Mu Yun of the Kimura Clan pays his respects to Chief Shi of the Stone Clan." Mu Yun led a group of people into the village from outside.
"Grandpa Chief, it was Grandpa Mu who saved us. They even brought a sacrificial spirit with them. It was that wooden carving that scared away the Azure Scaled Eagle," the little boy said, grabbing Shi Yunfeng's leg.
"Ah, it's Chief Kimura of the Kimura clan. I've heard so much about you. Thank you so much for saving the little ones."
Although Shi Yunfeng found it strange that the Kimura people were here, especially with their spirit offerings, he still felt he should express his gratitude.
"I didn't know you were here," Shi Yunfeng said, looking at the ten children behind him and the sacrificial wooden sculpture being carried by the elder of the Longsword Clan, quite puzzled.
Just as Mu Yun was about to explain, Shi Linhu suddenly spoke up, "Clan Chief Mu, shouldn't you be out hunting? Why are you here, and with..."
"Hmm? What's going on?" Shi Yunfeng frowned.
"That's right. Yesterday, when we went hunting, for some reason, many wild beasts appeared in our hunting area."
"This caused us to deviate from the route and eventually end up in Kimura, so we went there to rest for a while." Shi Linhu knew that the clan chief had saved people from Kimura, so he didn't hold back.
"The people in Kimura all said you went out hunting, so why did you bring the children and the spirit to our place?" Shi Linhu was very puzzled.
"Oh! What a tragedy! What a tragedy!" Mu Yun slapped her thigh, and tears streamed down her face.
Afterwards, Mu Yun recounted the whole story. Finally, he knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face, and said, "I only hope that Chief Shi can take in these children, as well as these three pregnant girls."
“Our spirit has also moved here. Don’t worry, the three of us old folks can still hunt. We and the children can also change our surname to Shi.” After saying this, Mu Yun seemed to have aged decades.
"Grandpa Chief!" the ten children cried out, their voices trembling with sobs. The two elders and the pregnant girl were also in tears.
"Oh dear, Chief Mu, what are you saying? Please get up." Shi Yunfeng immediately helped Mu Yun up and said, "We will take all these children in. You can all live in our Shi Village."
"If it weren't for you saving these little guys in our village, we really don't know what they'd be like. And since there's food in our village, you wouldn't be starving."
"Yes, don't worry, Chief Mu, all my naughty children were saved by you."
Immediately, all the strong men in the village said the same thing.
"Thank you, thank you Chief Shi, but we still need to change our surname. We can't have two clans in one village. Otherwise, we'd rather die in the mountains," Mu Yun said resolutely.
"Alright then!" Seeing Mu Yun's resolute expression, Shi Yunfeng had no choice but to agree.
"Wait, what about the people in your Kimura? You've even brought the sacrificial spirit here, what are they going to do?" Shi Yunfeng's expression changed drastically at this thought.
"Don't worry about them, that's their choice," Mu Yun said dejectedly.
"What do you mean by 'choose' or 'not choose'? They are your people, more than a dozen lives!" Shi Linhu said angrily.
The old women received them very kindly, and Shi Linhu felt very angry when he thought that they were just waiting to die in the village.
"Quickly, Shi Linhu, you two go to Kimura immediately and bring them back. Hopefully, it won't be too late!" Shi Yunfeng knew the seriousness of the situation and said immediately.
“No, they’re just a burden. It was their own choice. We don’t need to save them.” Mu Yun grabbed Shi Yunfeng’s arm.
"Hmph, we've even taken in your Stone Village, let alone them." Shi Yunfeng slapped Mu Yun's arm away and snorted coldly.
"Thank you, thank you. The three of us will go with the sacrificial spirit, which will help us avoid some fierce birds and poisonous beasts, and make our journey faster."
Subsequently, Shi Linhu, along with more than twenty strong men and Mu Yun and two others, quickly headed towards Kimura.
“Go and build some stone houses for them to live in.”
After giving a few instructions, Shi Yunfeng had some strong men build stone houses in the village.
Some women also settled down with their three pregnant daughters and other babies.
"Grandpa Chieftain, if we take all the eggs of the Azure Scaled Eagle, they can hatch into offspring of ancient demonic birds. Perhaps in the future they can rival the Sacrificial Spirit and protect our village!"
"That's right! From now on, our Stone Village will have flying war birds. These are three eggs from the descendants of ancient demonic birds!"
The children were trying to get forgiveness by showing off their good deeds. They were worried that they would get a beating when they got home, even though they had already been beaten.
"Do you know how much meat it takes to feed such a ferocious bird every day? Food is always scarce for us, so where would we get the extra to feed three enormous creatures?"
"Ah!" The children looked distressed.
"Besides, do you think that's all? Take a look outside the village," an elder said, shaking his head and sighing.
The children climbed onto the high platform together and looked out of the village, and were immediately taken aback.
Chapter 560 Kimura's 'Spirit Ritual'
The terrifying blue-scaled eagle stood on a boulder, its eyes cold and its scales gleaming. It stood guard outside, never leaving.
“This kind of fierce bird is very vengeful. You stole its eggs, how could it let it go? It will be difficult for it to go hunting outside the village in the future.” Shi Feijiao worried.
The children immediately turned pale, realizing they had gotten themselves into big trouble.
"Eek, let's give the egg back to it. The Azure-Scaled Eagle is pitiful without its offspring," the little one said softly, blinking its big eyes.
The villagers decided to try sending the eggs out; if that didn't work, they would think of another way.
Three jade eggs, each the size of a water basin, were crystal clear, dotted with patterns, and shimmering with beautiful light. The mysterious power of runes permeated the air, radiating divine brilliance.
As soon as everyone stepped out of the courtyard, before they had taken more than a few steps, the old willow tree, its trunk completely charred black, next to the altar of the clan chief's stone house suddenly moved.
The single willow branch, shrouded in verdant mist, cascaded down like a shimmering divine chain, gently caressing an egg and instantly making it shine brightly.
Outside the village, a blue-scaled eagle, its scales gleaming, stood on the boulder, its eyes fixed on the ground, beams of light shooting out like bolts of lightning. It seemed to find it hard to believe.
The willow branch was lush and vibrant, full of life. After being gently brushed by, it slowly withdrew and remained motionless.
Clearly, it wasn't very interested; it just casually flicked its wrist. The villagers were in awe, and it took them a long time to calm down.
After hesitating for a moment, they carefully placed the three eggs on a grassy area outside the village, and then quickly returned to the village.
The Azure-Scaled Eagle flapped its wings, transforming into a raging gust of wind, and instantly pounced over, its wingspan protecting the three eggs.
Then she stared intently at the special egg with its interwoven patterns and shimmering brilliance. This egg was the very one that the Willow God had touched.
With a long howl, the ferocious bird seemed extremely excited. Its cry shattered the heavens, causing the giant trees in the surrounding fields to tremble and leaves to fly wildly!
After a long while, the Azure Scaled Eagle raised its head and looked at Willow God. A strange look appeared in its eyes, and the fierce light had long since disappeared.
However, to everyone's surprise, the Azure-Scaled Eagle flapped its wings and then suddenly flapped them, creating a howling wind that pushed all three eggs into the village, rolling them toward the big willow tree.
Judging from its meaning, it wants the Willow Goddess to help it raise its three children.
"What? It didn't want it, so it gave it to us?" Everyone was a little stunned. What was going on? One strange thing after another.
"It saw a mutated egg covered in runes, which will be far more powerful than this one in the future, and wanted to leave it to our clan's sacrificial spirit so that we could raise it," said clan chief Shi Yunfeng.
The clan chief loudly inquired whether it truly intended to leave its offspring here. To its surprise, the blue-scaled eagle nodded, then gestured with its eyes, looking at the three eggs and then at the old willow tree.
"call!"
A fierce wind arose, and the Azure Scaled Eagle, with a wingspan of fifteen or sixteen meters, soared into the sky and disappeared into the clouds in the blink of an eye.
Time passed slowly, and when the blazing sun set and the full moon hung in the sky, Shi Linhu and his companions finally returned.
Fortunately, none of the dozen or so elderly, weak, or disabled people in Kimura's household were attacked by wild animals; perhaps the aura of the sacrificial spirit had not yet dissipated.
Because of the wooden spirit offering, they were not attacked, lost anyone, or even got injured.
They assumed that the animals had returned with many dead beasts, so they threw a feast to welcome them.
At the banquet, Mu Yun and the others changed their surname to Shi on the spot, and from then on, they integrated into Shi Village.
Ten days later, the three eagle eggs hatched one after another.
"The eldest is called Dapeng, the second is called Xiaoqing, and the third is called Ziyun." These are the names the children gave to the three baby birds.
The Azure-Scaled Eagle, which had disappeared for more than half a month, also returned, bringing its prey: a dragon-horned elephant.
In the days that followed, the Azure-scaled Eagle brought prey from time to time, including flying pythons and giant elephants, as well as all kinds of wild beasts from the mountains.
On this day, Shi Yunfeng, several clan elders, and Mu Yun and two others gathered in a room. Inside, there was also a sacrificial spirit from the original Mu Village.
"What exactly is this sacrificial spirit? It has no aura, no life, yet it keeps ferocious beasts away." Shi Yunfeng stared at the statue, puzzled.
“Actually, we don’t know either. My son, Shi Feng, found it in an ancient tree. No matter what we did, it didn’t respond,” Shi Yun said.
"There might be something extraordinary inside, but never mind, let's just leave it as is." Shi Yunfeng didn't intend to break it open, after all, he had protected Kimura for three years.