Chapter 649

Chapter 649: Nestling Bird on the Wooden Perch

After purchasing two cultivation books, the two continued to stroll through the market stalls. Baichou bought some commonly used external injury medicines, and Lolan Hill bought some paper and pens. They then returned.

After a simple dinner, Lolan Hill locked herself in her room and picked up the two books with great interest.

Can the System try to analyze and deduce? She whispered softly to herself.

A line of text appeared in her vision.

[Due to the change in the world’s Extraordinary system, the structures and formulas in the previous database cannot be used. It can only make corresponding improvements now.]

So that’s how it is. The young lady tilted her head. It seems quite a lot has happened during the time I was asleep. By the way, after leaving Carithes, did I go to Emanas? Unfortunately, I can’t recall for now.

But for now, it’s best to cultivate an Extraordinary Sequence to ensure survival.

She attempted to merge the two books.

[Received, please input the contents of the two books into the system.] The mechanical voice sounded beside her ear.

Lolan Hill spread out the two books and quickly flipped through them. Her eyes flickered with rays of light as if a vast amount of information was passing through.

Then she held two shadow stones and injected some mana. The images began to play.

Two hours later, the image presentation was completed.

[Reception complete, starting deduction. 2% 5%]

As the System began to improve its content, Lolan Hill felt a wave of fatigue wash over her. This System is truly becoming less efficient; it consumes so much energy. With such thoughts, she slowly fell into a deep sleep.

And just after she fell asleep, a faint light appeared in the room. A small sun pattern began to appear on the young lady’s smooth forehead. Once it appeared, the progress bar of the ongoing deduction suddenly accelerated significantly, and the colors on the progress disk gradually shifted towards a light golden and red hue.

However, this good scene didn’t last long. Soon, the moon pattern replaced the sun. The colors on the progress disk changed accordingly, turning into a light silver and blue.

Thus, the patterns of the sun and moon alternated continuously, vying for dominance in determining the host’s future cultivation direction. The numeric pointer on the progress disk occasionally moved forward and backward, constantly changing.

This time, unlike before when they would temporarily stop after arguing for a while, they were now fully exerting their efforts to compete fiercely.

Over time, their struggle put a heavy burden on the young lady’s body. In her dream, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, and her breathing became increasingly chaotic, as if she was having an extremely difficult dream.

Finally, when their competition reached a white-hot intensity, specks of starlight, like smoke, appeared around the two patterns and then merged into them. Thus, the three finally stabilized and gradually disappeared. Only then did the virtual deduction progress bar in the void reach 100%, with the colors inside resembling a kaleidoscope of seven rainbow hues, dazzlingly beautiful.

[Deduction complete]

After a brief pause, the System seemed to confirm that no other crown-level figures would come to interfere. Only then did the virtual screen display these words. Looking at the description below, it was hard to imagine any connection between this cultivation method and the previous two books.

[The Wood Phoenix Technique of Jianmu] (Golden Rank, Legendary): Based on the prototype of the Blue Virtue Bird and the rhythm of the Holy Tree Jianmu, it records the advancement route and cultivation methods from Natural Sequence 1·Nurturing Spirit Seed to Natural Sequence 5·Circling Branch Skylark. Its cultivation path has special effects in cultivating plants, manipulating the power of heaven and earth, and summoning birds.

“Jianmu: In legend, the name of a tree. Born in the center of the world, it is a hundred feet tall, and the gods ascend to the heavens via it.”

— — —

The next day, early morning.

The young lady opened her weary eyes and looked blankly at the ceiling, feeling still somewhat dazed as if she hadn’t slept all night.

Strange, even though I didn’t dream anything last night, why am I so sleepy? The young lady hugged her arms, rubbed her eyes, and slowly raised her body from under the blanket, looking at the virtual screen in her field of vision.

Has the deduction finally been perfected? She felt a surge of joy in her heart and then shifted her gaze downward to read the detailed introduction on the screen.

“The Wood Phoenix Technique of Jianmu. The ‘Wood Phoenix’ should refer to one of the Five Phoenixes, the Blue Bird. Could ‘Jianmu’ refer to the former World Tree?” The young lady suddenly recalled the explanation she had read recently.

“In the twilight, the sun descends upon Jianmu, and the next day, the sun rises from Jianmu, floating up from the east.”

According to the knowledge she learned from Cui Nasha, the World Tree had been destroyed thousands of years ago, but its description was remarkably similar to that of Jianmu on the Eastern Continent. Considering the myths of both continents about the sun and the moon, it seemed quite natural for the sun to rest and rise on the World Tree.

The girl shook her head slightly, trying to clear her mind for a moment, then sat up on the bed.

Although she couldn’t directly deduce to Sequence 8 like before, reaching Sequence 5 was still pretty good. She would continue learning and attempting to reach Sequence 5 after her own promotion.

All the scriptures she had studied were paths explored by predecessors; there was no reason she couldn’t discover a brand new path herself.

With a pleasant mood, the young lady dressed for the day.

Half an hour later, a young lady wearing a light blue dress appeared in the mirror. She had long, smooth hair with a few pearl chains adorning the back. The dress gradually darkened from the middle to the sleeves and hem, with colors reminiscent of autumn bird feathers—blue with a hint of lively light green.

Beneath her swan-like neck was a white right-lapel collar, with a white belt edged in blue feather color around her waist, accentuating her graceful figure. When her hand extended, two simple crimson knots could be seen on her snow-white wrist, which she had woven herself.

At Bai Zao’s house, she had made many pendants, tassels, and long fringes, and later kept a pair of red knots for herself.

After tidying up her clothes and appearance, Lolan Hill put on her usual light gauze hat and stood up again, walking outside.

Today they would leave here and head to the state capital within Min Province, which would be more prosperous. However, Yu Baichou suggested considering other larger cities since the distance wasn’t much different anyway, and it might as well be somewhere more bustling.

Within the Plantagenet Dynasty, besides Luo Capital, Muyou City, Longquan Bay, Beifu Mountain, and nine other major cities, the next tier were the famous large cities scattered across the land. Below that were the state capitals of the 134 provinces, and then came ordinary cities like the one Lolan Hill currently resided in.

Surrounding these ordinary cities were smaller towns, fortresses, ports, and other small urban areas, followed by villages such as the Ye Family mountain village she had recently encountered.

Compared to the West Continent, the East Continent was even more expansive, thus having a significantly larger population and more complex situations. Besides the government offices and troops dispatched by the dynasty, local factions often played a crucial role in maintaining stability.

Stepping out of the room, Lolan Hill arrived at the first floor of the inn where Yu Baichou was already eating breakfast. It was said this was a custom in Nanfeng Continent.

Breakfast wasn’t just tea; it included various foods like wontons, noodle soup, and pan-fried buns.

“The Young Lady has awakened. Would you like to eat something?” There weren’t many people in the inn, and Yu Baichou called out.

Lolan Hill nodded; she was indeed hungry. For some reason, she felt unusually drained after waking up last night, even experiencing low blood pressure upon getting up.

“Haha, take a seat then. I’ll tell the boss to bring another plate,” he said, still wearing coarse cloth garments today, though they looked very clean, as if they had been thoroughly washed by someone in the inn yesterday.

Uncle Yu probably wouldn’t wash his own clothes. The girl suddenly thought, then shook her head to dispel the notion.

Not long after, Yu Baichou returned with a three-tier steamer placed on the table, still emitting steam.

“Eat while it’s hot. Try to eat as much as possible; we might not have dinner until late tonight.”

In this world, people generally only ate two meals a day, with those who had leisure and money eating three meals along with snacks.

“Understood, Uncle Yu,” the girl nodded and began eating the steaming soup dumplings with chopsticks.

Sniffing the aroma, she realized that when hungry, everything tasted exceptionally delicious.

Seeing the girl finish all the soup dumplings in the three-tier steamer, Yu Baichou was somewhat surprised. Today, the Young Lady seemed to have an especially good appetite.

But this was a good thing in his eyes; during her growth phase, eating more was always beneficial. Otherwise, being too thin and easily toppled by a gust of wind would be concerning.

After finishing the soup dumplings, Lolan Hill restrained her urge to eat more and stood up, preparing to set off with Yu Baichou.

Two hours later, the two were far from the city, heading toward a ferry outside.

“According to a fellow traveler, a boat should arrive around noon. We will sail eastward and then north to reach Leixia Marsh.”

“Sailing east? Isn’t it to Min Province City?” The girl blinked, curious.

“Min Province City is a bit small. I think it’s better to go to Leixia Marsh; it’s the largest city among the Seven Lei States, with many factions, making it easier for you to choose.”

“Besides, traveling by water is familiar territory for me. I can encounter fellow members of the Tushitan faction along the way, seek their advice, and avoid some troubles. Nowadays, the world isn’t stable, and there are plenty of bandits in the wilderness.” Yu Baichou explained.

At this moment, he was using the butt of his gun to hold up a bundle, which he then placed on his shoulder.

“Then what about Little Gray and the donkey?” The young lady thought of her little donkey, although she had never ridden it.

“This is easy to arrange. We can just bring them along on the ship. There’s a designated area on the lower deck for livestock.”

“Is the ship that big?” The young lady recalled when they were in Calithes, the ironclad ships seemed to still be in experimental stages.

“There are specialized factions for shipbuilding, like the Green Wave Sky Ocean Tower in Longquan Bay. It’s one of the top thirty-six factions, and among the best at shipbuilding.”

“What’s the other faction?” The young lady was about to ask, but suddenly cries and shouts came from afar. The crowd at the ferry terminal waved their arms and shouted towards the large ship on the river.

This tall building-like boat had five floors and was about tens of meters high. As it slowly approached the shore, its massive shadow gradually obscured the sky, making it seem as if the heavens were tilting, causing people’s legs to tremble.

Finally, the large ship stopped steadily at the shore, and the crowd gradually calmed down. Then they entered the ship through the gangway lowered from the high steps at the ferry terminal.

When Lolan Hill approached the building-like boat, Yubai Chou handed over the tickets he had bought earlier to the guard for inspection. The burly guard asked carelessly,

“Where are you from?”

“Southern Dragon Lane,” Yubai Chou replied casually.

“Ah, it’s the same mountain. My apologies, my apologies,” the rugged guard smiled. He and Yubai Chou exchanged greetings with a fist salute, chatted briefly, and then let them in.

“Come together for dinner later tonight,” the man said before leaving.

After they had walked away and reached their cabin, Lolan Hill curiously asked, “Um, are you all from the Tashitan faction?”

“I didn’t expect the young lady to notice so quickly. Yes, that was actually a password. There are several types, generally used to identify each other when outside, and help each other out.”

“Our Tashitan faction was originally part of the Canal Gang. Many of our brothers are on the waterways, so we often meet and frequently drink together.”

“Then I won’t disturb you tonight. I plan to practice the book I bought the day before yesterday,” Lolan Hill thought that if she joined them, she would see a few big men sitting around talking and drinking heartily. She decided it was better not to join in. First, it didn’t fit the style, and second, it would disturb them when they were relaxing.

It was clear that Uncle Yu was also someone who enjoyed drinking and eating meat. Separating like this allowed him to enjoy himself more.

“Haha, then I’ll have the cook on the ship prepare some good food for the young lady. No need to say anything else, there will certainly be plenty of fish.”

“Thank you, Uncle Yu.”

After boarding the ship, Lolan Hill did not wander around but sat in the room to start practicing.

She leaned against the bed, slightly closing her eyes, and the book “Jianmu Qinghuang Decision” appeared in her mind.

The consciousness in her mind resembled a gray sea of mist, with various thoughts floating within, faintly visible.

As the young lady silently sensed the mana (power of heaven and earth) around her, a few light spots swirled like gauze, as if they had consciousness and emotions, dancing joyfully around Lolan Hill, forming a faint light band.

These light particles gradually merged into the young lady’s body, and in her sea of consciousness, a blue droplet seemed to fall.

This droplet fell into the misty sea, dissolving the hazy surroundings and making everything clearer and brighter.

Then, like a seed sprouting, it slowly grew. Delicate patterns with a faint luster spread across the tender leaves, extending and lengthening.

As the sprout gradually grew larger, a small blue bud appeared, seemingly nurturing life.

This tiny branch continuously absorbed and converted external energy, turning it into light blue natural sequence magic power, which settled in the branches and leaves, outlining delicate patterns.

Time slowly passed, and the branch slowly grew larger, resembling a small shrub, delicate and exquisite. The bud hanging from the branch finally bloomed, revealing a small fledgling covered in downy feathers.

A clear chirp sounded in her mind, and her entire body felt refreshed. Then, the fledgling emerged from the bud and landed on a fork in the tree.

At this moment, the fledgling could not yet fly but perched on the branch, falling asleep. With its steady breathing, green light points flowed from all directions into the fluffy down on its outer body, looking quite cute.

By nightfall, the young lady slowly awakened from her practice, and the verdant light in her eyes gradually faded.

Natural Sequence 2 · Perch Fledgling, achieved.

Let’s go eat.

Good night everyone.

(End of Chapter)