269: A flawed jade is a king (or eight).

Wang Yun only felt the light and shadows before his eyes shift; a powerful force enveloped him, traveling across who knows how many tens of thousands of miles.

When that power was exhausted, and he was gently placed on the ground, the sight before him left him stunned.

This was a Small World.

But, it was a dead world.

The sky was gray, the ground was black, and the air was filled with a thick Death Qi and decay.

And that towering ancient tree, emerald green all over, which had saved him, now stood in the center of this world.

It had driven its roots deep into this dead, silent land, as if it were absorbing something.

But Wang Yun could feel that its vast vitality was rapidly fading away.

The last bit of radiance faded from its massive tree body.

The Ancestor of Grass and Wood completely fell into silence, turning into a massive, withered sculpture.

"Tree... Grandpa?"

Wang Yun called out tentatively, his voice sounding exceptionally abrupt in this dead, silent world.

There was no response.

He was instantly filled with anxiety.

How was Grandpa Mo doing? Would those five bad guys hurt him? And how was he supposed to leave this ghost of a place?

He ran around the Ancestor of Grass and Wood, circle after circle, calling out countless times, but the ancient tree remained like a cold tombstone, motionless.

He fell into despair.

In the endless silence, he began to explore this Small World aimlessly.

He saw mountains of grass and wood remains.

Some looked like withered vines, some like broken ancient trees, and others were the dead corpses of exotic flowers and grasses whose names he couldn't even identify.

They were stacked together, forming endless "mountains of corpses," exuding sorrow and deathly silence.

Wang Yun remembered how Old Mo and the others addressed the ancient tree. The Ancestor of Grass and Wood. He understood in an instant.

This place was the burial ground of the Grass and Wood Clan.

What kind of misfortune had they encountered to cause an entire clan to end up in such a state? Even after death, there was no one to bury them, just left to rot in the wilderness for who knows how many eras.

They were lives too.

A great compassion made him forget his own suffering. He looked down at his own thin, weak hands and touched his chest, which ached faintly and was long since hollow.

He knew that he wouldn't live much longer either. Grandpa Mo had said that he wouldn't live past eighteen.

Since that was the case, he would do something meaningful in the final moments of his life.

A thought sprouted in his heart.

"I will give you... a home." The youth said softly to the endless remains of grass and wood.

This was not just to repay the life-saving grace of the Ancestor of Grass and Wood. It was even more because he truly wanted to do it.

Thus, in this forgotten world of death, a thin and weak youth began a seemingly foolish yet massive project.

He had no tools, so he used his hands. With his fingernails torn and his flesh mangled, he sought out sharp stone shards.

He carefully separated each of the grass and wood remains from the mountains of corpses, dug graves for them, then gently placed them inside and covered them with black soil.

This was a lonely and long process. To dispel the loneliness, and also to comfort these departed souls, he began to "chat" with them.

Every morning, he would run to the withered ancient tree, like a child reporting their lessons to an elder.

"Tree Grandpa, good morning. Yesterday I buried another one hundred and thirty-two of your clansmen. Rest assured, I will let them all be laid to rest."

"Tree Grandpa, how do you think Grandpa Mo is doing right now? Did he manage to escape? I miss him very much."

While burying each set of remains, he would speak softly.

"I'm sorry for disturbing your rest. I've found a new home for you; it's very quiet here."

"The outside world is very beautiful. There are blue skies, white clouds, and many, many little bugs that glow. And there is a good man named Grandpa Mo; he has saved many people."

"Don't be afraid, it will be peaceful soon."

His voice was the only sound in this dead, silent world.

Day after day. Spring passed and autumn came. He did not know how much time had passed; perhaps a year, perhaps three years.

He only knew that the pain in his chest was becoming more frequent, and his coughing at night was becoming more violent. The blood he coughed up stained the black soil before him red.

His body grew increasingly weak, thin to the point that only bones remained. But the movements of his hands never stopped.

On this wasteland that had once been piled with remains, small graves appeared, dense and neatly arranged, stretching all the way to the end of the world.

Finally, after burying the last set of remains he could reach, Wang Yun exhausted his last ounce of strength.

He leaned against a small grave he had piled up with his own hands, began to cough violently, and large mouthfuls of blood gushed out.

He looked at this endless expanse of graves before him, and a satisfied, clean smile appeared on his face.

"Tree Grandpa... I... I did it..."

His voice was weak, as light as a sigh in the wind. After saying this, he could no longer hold on and slowly collapsed within this peaceful cemetery he had created with his own hands. He lost consciousness.

A thousand days burying wood. Comforting spirits with his life.

Just at the moment Wang Yun collapsed, a sudden change occurred.

Above every single grave he had buried, a dot of emerald green light rose up.

The light was faint, yet filled with the will of gratitude and approval. One dot, ten dots, a hundred dots, a thousand dots, ten thousand dots... Countless dots of light rose from the endless graves, like countless fireflies dancing, illuminating this gray and dead world.

They were the remaining wills of the Grass and Wood spirits. It was them using their final strength to respond to this kind child.

However, these massive points of life light did not go to heal Wang Yun's already withered Physical Body. They gathered into a brilliant river of green light, surging toward Wang Yun's chest.

The place where his Supreme Bone had once been dug out, leaving a permanent wound and a hollow.

This vast vitality, resonant with ten thousand spirits, finally touched the ancient tree that had long been withered and silent. The last trace of the Ancestor of Grass and Wood's sleeping consciousness was awakened.

It "saw" everything. It saw the youth's day-after-day persistence, heard his sincere whispers one by one, and felt the gratitude and approval of the countless clan members' wills on this land.

The ancient tree trunk vibrated silently. It made its final decision.

A wisp of "Ancestor Origin," more brilliant and purer than all the light points combined, as if containing the very first touch of green when heaven and earth first opened, peeled away from its very core. Then, it actively threw itself into the river of green light surging toward Wang Yun's chest.

This was the final sacrifice. It was also the beginning of a new life.