Purple mist billowed like a vast ocean, surging forth with overwhelming force, filling the skies and covering the mountains and rivers. The sheer pressure made souls tremble in fear. The mist coalesced into a towering purple giant, its colossal foot descending toward the ancient willow at the village’s edge, carrying the might of heaven and earth as if the heavens themselves were striking down.
This spectacle, this sheer dominance, left all the gathered warriors stunned. Zi Shan Hou was indeed formidable, living up to his fearsome reputation. With a single step, he could obliterate an entire tribe! No wonder legends spoke of his past deeds—how he had wiped several mighty clans from the face of this land. Such terrifying power was beyond resistance.
Shi Village faced imminent peril. The willow tree was under siege from four supreme experts, each attack devastating, each strike shaking the heavens. Yet, the willow’s branches remained unwavering, rising to meet the assault from the master of Luo Fu Great Marsh.
A monstrous flood dragon, over two hundred zhang long, filled the western sky, spewing radiant light as it crushed mountains and forests into dust. With a piercing *shii!*, the emerald willow branch, unbreakable as divine steel, pierced straight through the flood dragon’s skull, impaling it like a green god-chain, unstoppable in its might.
Despite the grievous wound, the dragon thrashed violently, its essence dissipating rapidly. It still lashed out, spraying beams of light that devastated the land around Shi Village—forests vanished, boulders shattered, the earth cracked apart.
The tender willow swayed, glowing brilliantly as its supple branch coiled around the dragon’s neck like a sinuous serpent. With a sharp tug, the mighty beast plummeted from the sky, crashing into the earth.
Far away, the master of Luo Fu Great Marsh spat a mouthful of blood, his eyes flashing with shock. His treasured technique, infused with his very essence, had been shattered in an instant—devoured by the willow as mere nourishment. The flood dragon withered before his eyes, drained of all vitality.
Meanwhile, the willow faced another assault—dozens of black lightning bolts from the north, crackling with destructive fury, aimed at its delicate green shoot. Could such a fragile branch survive? The lightning was merciless, capable of reducing even the hardest steel to dust.
“By my name, I decree your destruction!” roared the Thunder God, his voice shaking mountains and earth. Yet, to everyone’s astonishment, the willow absorbed the storm of lightning, its emerald hue growing even more vibrant, as if nourished by the very force meant to annihilate it.
With a gentle sway, the willow dispersed the lightning, absorbing every last spark. The Thunder God stood dumbfounded, his confidence shattered.
*Shii!* The willow’s branch extended, streaking westward toward Luo Fu Great Marsh’s master, who stood by a great river. Before he could react, the branch lashed down. Desperate, he summoned a mighty beast-bone artifact as a decoy and fled.
Yet, the artifact shattered instantly, reduced to dust, its essence absorbed by the willow. The master screamed in despair as the branch split him in two, his body withering as if aged ten thousand years in an instant.
The crowd was paralyzed with terror. The mightiest of Luo Fu Great Marsh had been slain like an insect.
“Escape, Patriarch!” the Thunder Clan cried out in panic as the willow turned its attention northward. The Thunder God, already sensing doom, summoned his artifact and fled on a storm of lightning.
But the willow was faster. A green streak flashed across the sky, severing the mountain where he stood. The branch coiled around him, lifting him into the air and dragging him back to Shi Village.
To the horror of all, the willow did not kill him—it kept him alive, absorbing the endless lightning he unleashed.
“Rebirth through destruction… It seeks the nourishment of thunder!” The realization sent chills through the crowd. This willow was no ordinary being—it defied all reason.
The Thunder God hung from the willow’s branches, his struggles growing weaker by the moment. The once-mighty ruler of thunder was now a prisoner, his fate sealed.
Meanwhile, the golden wolf-pelt artifact, nearly indistinguishable from a true divine wolf, lunged at the willow’s roots. But the moment it unearthed a single gnarled tendril, it was ensnared and dragged underground.
With a sickening *crack*, its golden claws shattered. The artifact withered before their eyes, reduced to mere fertilizer for the willow.
“Such a supreme treasure… turned into nourishment?!” The onlookers trembled.
Finally, the purple giant’s foot descended once more—Zi Shan Hou’s ultimate strike. The willow responded by conjuring a swirling green vortex, a towering cyclone that swallowed the giant whole, tearing it apart in an instant.
Silence. Only terror remained.
Shi Village’s willow had proven itself beyond all challengers. Who, in this land, could dare call themselves the First Guardian Spirit now?
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