Chapter 261 Growing Up
Jiaojue put away the jade pot, feeling his heart swell. He couldn't say anything else. He wanted to bow to Ji Rong, but was afraid he wouldn't be able to. So he trembled. As soon as he had that thought, the four scepters of red, gold, blue, and green appeared in the air. They raised their claws and bowed slightly to Ji Rong.
"Boom!" The tree trunk emerged from Ji Rong's body, and as soon as it landed on the ground, it shot upwards and grew rapidly.
New buds sprout from the inside of the ninety-nine golden leaves, turning into tender shoots.
Ji Rong's bird body excitedly flapped its wings and rubbed against the tree trunk. Ji Rong's human form then emerged from the feathers on the bird's head. At this moment, she was small and sat on the bird's neck.
Then, Ji Rong, in her bird form and celestial body, leaped onto the tree. The tree branches grew rapidly, expanding outwards.
Upon seeing this, Jiao Jue repeatedly waved its claws and made hand seals to create a protective barrier. It also summoned a small dragon formed from its own authority to completely envelop and seal Ji Rong's three bodies.
Perched on the tree, Ji Rong looked around. She felt as if she were in a golden ocean of knowledge, so she lay on a branch, poked her bird head out, and together with the human-like figure in the sky, began to read word by word from the shimmering golden leaves.
The ocean of knowledge has no end. She didn't know how long she had been reading; she only felt a golden expanse stretching to the horizon. As she grew weary, she felt as if she had returned to that tiring night many years ago. So she told herself, "I'll sleep for a while and read some more when I get up." And she fell into a deep sleep.
She didn't know how long she had slept, but suddenly she saw herself waking up from a seedling. She waved her leaves and enjoyed the sunlight. Seeing the birds and beasts running around, she also stretched her roots and ran around like them, feeling extremely happy.
Gradually, she grew bigger and taller, and many birds and animals came to make their home on her branches.
Seeing how lively she was, she settled down by a fragrant, golden lake and stayed there peacefully.
She remained there for many years, watching as mountains turned into meadows and lakes converged into rivers. She even grew up to reach the sky, where, above the boundless white clouds, there were several golden thrones. Curious, she waved her branches, poking and prodding them, and clumsily picked up one of the thrones, piercing it to pieces.
"My authority!" A gigantic beast, glowing with light, flew in from the horizon, roaring and lunging at Ji Rong, but Ji Rong easily swept it up and hurled it down into the clouds.
"Bang!" The giant beast spat out balls of fire, which struck Ji Rong's tree trunk. Ji Rong felt excruciating pain all over her body, and a sense of despair rose from the bottom of her heart. She screamed in pain and flew up.
"I have wings now!" Ji Rong exclaimed happily in her heart. She flew forward, higher and higher, farther and farther, until she reached the chaotic horizon. There she saw a huge deity supporting the sky and stomping the earth.
Seeing her looking at him, the deity smiled smugly at her, then opened his mouth wide and took Ji Rong into his warm, moist mouth. Ji Rong lay in the deity's mouth and saw a chaotic world of five colors intertwined at the boundary between heaven and earth.
"So beautiful!" Ji Rong exclaimed.
Just then, the deity suddenly groaned and spat out a mouthful of golden blood. He quickly spat out the blood and Ji Rong, then gently blew on Ji Rong, encasing her in a golden bubble.
Then, little by little, the enormous deity transformed into stark white bones and specks of white light before Ji Rong's eyes.
The putrid stench instantly filled Ji Rong's mouth and nose. The foul-smelling liquid gathered drop by drop, and under the intertwining of five colors, it gradually merged into a golden stream.
The enormous skull rose from the source, nodded to Ji Rong, and said, "Indeed, it is extremely beautiful."
The transformation happened so fast that Ji Rong was completely disoriented. She realized she was dreaming again. Ji Rong immediately stretched out her wings and claws and slapped them hard on her head. She saw herself following the golden source, passing through mountains and plains, drifting towards the distant horizon. Wherever the source went, there were birds singing and flowers blooming.
She drifted along with the stream, not knowing how long she had drifted, when suddenly she heard a voice from above the soil saying, "Ku, do you have the guts to cut off the source?"
"Why wouldn't we dare!" Then a dull thud could be heard from above.
Seeing the golden bubble enveloping her trembling, Ji Rong cried out in her heart with a bitter expression, "Disaster is coming!"
The source of her life was cut off, and Ji Rong's bubble was shattered. Like a drowning fish, she struggled to get up and searched around. With great difficulty, she touched something warm and, without hesitation, crawled into that warm place.
With a "pop" sound as the earth broke through the ground, Ji Rong awoke from her dream. She found herself transformed into a tree, a tree with a golden lake of origin within it.
Her mind looked inside and saw her bird-like and celestial-like forms, which were soaking in the Source Lake, looking at her with joyful eyes.
Outside, under the tree trunk, came an unusually noisy sound. Ji Rong withdrew her mind and looked down. She saw Feng Qing standing upright, twisting her five-colored body, tilting her head back, squinting at Jiao Jue, and saying triumphantly, "See, I was right. She has been refined by our remnant will and has been able to obtain such a fortune."
Jiao Jue squinted and sneered, "The benefits are clearly because you took advantage of her ignorance and clung to her so that she would send you to share the power of the Golden Mother and make you gods. Her current good fortune is clearly due to the protection of my power."
Gu Qingqing, sitting below, stuck out her tongue and licked her lips, then looked up and said, "Could it be because Ji Rong ate many rare delicacies and obtained many sources?"
She tilted her head and stared at the golden tree, saying, "I've only eaten a few pieces of divine flesh, yet I've had many dreams and recently even comprehended some techniques. It's only natural that Ji Rong would change more after eating so much."
Ji Zhuang, standing to the side, disagreed, saying, "It shouldn't be. I ate it too, and I only gained some strength."
As Ji Rong watched them arguing beneath her tree trunk and felt the surging power within her, she couldn't help but raise her head and laugh.
Upon hearing this smile, Ji Rong realized something was amiss. She stared at the series of golden waves in the sky, utterly puzzled.
But after these waves formed, they fell like rain onto the creatures beneath the tree. Ji Zhuang and Gu Qingqing stretched their necks and burst into loud laughter.
Upon seeing this scene, Ji Rong was startled. She immediately tried to run away, but as soon as she took off, she discovered that the roots beneath her were flying everywhere.
She couldn't help but feel anxious, and hurriedly calmed herself down to look for the bird-bodied and celestial-bodied creatures, only to find that the two had already fallen asleep contentedly by the lake, and she couldn't wake them up at all.
Ji Rong stood on the edge of the cliff, looking at her eight-zhang-tall tree trunk. She was very unhappy. Growing so tall and strong, even moving was difficult. How was she going to live in the future?
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