The Crazy Son-In-Law

Xiao Shun was eager to bring his cultivation to a new level, and one of his options was to use a vast amount of spiritual materials and herbs to refine elixirs. However, those items were often already purchased by large financial groups, wealthy families, and the like, and the thousand-year-old wild ginseng in Wang Ye’s collection was an example. They weren’t things that could be bought simply by having money.

Another option was to find an undisturbed forest, live in it, focus on cultivation, and be nourished by the spiritual energy emitted by those ancient trees that had existed for over a thousand years. Even so, it would probably take ten years or even longer before he could enter the Consolidation stage. It was not yet time for him to leave the city. After all, he still had people to take care of in the city, and he couldn’t leave just yet.

Speaking of ancient trees… There was indeed such a tree in Stillwater. Although no one could really know if it was indeed a thousand years old. However, according to the elderly people in the city, that old elm tree had existed even before any written history.

Originally, there were two such trees, and at that time, Stillwater was just a small village with no more than a hundred households. These two elm trees sheltered the place for more than a hundred or even several hundred years. In the past, it was challenging for people to control or even predict their crop yields. Whenever there was a severe drought season and people didn’t have enough food, however, they could always find enough fruits from these two elm trees to fill their stomachs.

Legend had it that even if they picked all the fruits, there would be even more the next day. Thus, there had never been a famine in this city, let alone starvation of any sort.

However, decades ago, the city was struck by a bizarre drought, and people were left without food again. One of the old elm trees suddenly became sick. Not only were there no fruits, but its leaves also turned yellow and fell within a few days. No one truly cared about what had happened; instead, they immediately took their axes and chopped down the entire tree. They took its branches back for firewood or made furniture from the wood.

According to the memories of the elderly, the day after the elm tree was chopped down, people were shocked to find that the other elm tree’s crevices were filled with fresh blood. At first, they thought someone had splashed animal blood on it. However, to their surprise, they later discovered that the sticky, dark red blood was actually flowing out from the old elm tree’s crevices.

This scared the villagers, and they all knelt around the tree, asking for forgiveness. Nevertheless, in the following years, those who had cut down the old elm tree died one after another. Nearly a third of them died suddenly and mysteriously. This caused panic in the village, and a large part of the population moved away as a result.

Less than twenty households remained, all from the same family, the Sikong family. Yes, these people were the ancestors of the current Sikong family. And the remaining old elm tree was now located in the backyard of the Sikong residence.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

Ever since then, whenever the Sikong family had a new head to take charge, he would receive its blessing staying under the old elm tree for a month. This was the Sikong family’s tradition, continuing to the present day. Some say that the prosperity of the Sikong family was related to this old elm tree…

At midnight tonight, the full moon hung in the sky, casting an icy glow over the backyard of the Sikong residence. All was quiet.

Creak…

A door in the backyard opened, and an elderly man with silver hair and a withered face leaned on the door frame, looking up at the round moon in a trance. Moments later, he struggled to step over the high threshold, hunching over and trembling as he crossed the door.

The old man’s clothes were thin, unable to resist the biting cold wind. Shivering uncontrollably, he hurriedly followed a brick path. He passed an artificial rock and got into a long wooden corridor.

At the end of the corridor was the old elm tree that had sheltered the Sikong family for nearly a hundred years. In the midst of winter, there were not many leaves on the branches. From a distance, it looked like a giant hand supporting the sky. The old man was Sikong Xinrong, the head of the Sikong family. Gasping for breath, he continued to walk along the corridor with difficulty.

About five minutes later, he finally reached the courtyard where the elm tree stood. Gazing at the old elm, he knelt down slowly, his eyes filled with reverence. Under the moonlight, he drew a sharp, cold blade, cutting his palm open. A smear of crimson blood slowly flowed down his arm. Crawling forward, he pressed his palm against the tree trunk and solemnly said, “I am Sikong Xinrong, the current head of the Sikong family. Tree Spirit, I offer you my blood as a sign of my sincerity, and ask you to take my life in order to save the Sikong family from this crisis. Please help us.”

The fierce wind howled around him. In the midst of these howls, every word he spoke seemed even more desolate. “I am Sikong Xinrong, the current head of the Sikong family. Tree Spirit, I now offer you my blood as a sign of sincerity, and please accept my life to help the Sikong family through this crisis! Please help us!” he said again.

“…”

An hour passed, and Sikong Xinrong’s voice grew weaker and weaker. It gradually turned into a faint whisper. He could feel the gradual loss of his body temperature, and his life was ebbing away. Before long, he breathed his last breath and finally collapsed on the dry, rough trunk.

At that moment, a thick cloud suddenly blocked the moonlight, which did not leave for a long time. Without the moonlight, the courtyard became dimmer. On the dark, dry trunk, there seemed to be some flickering green spots, each of which seemed to contain a tremendous amount of vitality. They appeared particularly conspicuous in the freezing cold of the deep winter night.

These light spots quickly gathered together and slowly flowed down the trunk, eventually sliding into Sikong Xinrong’s hand.

“…”

“Master, Master, it’s time to get up.” Sikong Xinrong heard the familiar voice of his butler and slowly opened his eyes, immediately feeling as if he was filled with endless strength. He knew that what happened last night was not a dream, and he only had three days to solve the troubles of the Sikong family. He decided to start with the most recent and most hateful event first. However, before that, he had to make arrangements for his family before the end of his life.

He suddenly sat up, and the butler beside him was a bit startled. The butler was puzzled. Recently, the master would even need his help to sit up, but what happened today? At the same time, he had an uneasy feeling in his heart, an intuition he had gained after working as a butler for the Sikong family for decades.

“Gather everyone in the front yard for a meeting,” Sikong Xinrong said with a bright, clear eyes, and a much more powerful voice than before.

The butler hesitated for a moment and asked, “Including those great uncles?” The “great uncles” he mentioned were a few highly respected elders in the Sikong family, all over eighty years old.

“Everyone,” Sikong Xinrong glanced at him and said.

“Understood.” The butler replied and hurried out of the room.

After the butler left, Sikong Xinrong opened his nightgown and found a faint green glow on the skin of his chest, and a brilliant smile spread across his withered face. This was the secret that had kept the Sikong family standing in Stillwater for nearly a hundred years. Ordinary people were mere ants in the face of the Tree Spirit!

He had obtained this power at the cost of his life, but he was already old enough and if he could even just help his family with that, he would think it was a bargain.