Seized by the System

“Which bird are you to dare to peck at me?” After realizing that something was odd, a flash of green light appeared from the great green insect’s body and formed into a cover around the insect.

With a loud “clang”, the crimson-mantled bird’s beak bent out of shape…

“That hurts so much!” The crimson-mantled bird had no idea that its attempts to peck an insect would be blocked by the itsect itself…

This one move was enough to hurt the bird until it jumped around in pain, no longer standing steadily on both feet. A woodpecker always pecked at great speed, so if it were struck back, the impact would be tremendous as well.

“Hmph, you’re scared now huh? Then don’t come bother me when I’m looking for the old ginseng’s roots anymore.” Chong Daqing ignored the bird that had appeared suddenly, and continued to dig away at the soil.

The Crimson-mantled Woodpecker was in so much that tears flowed freely from its eyes; the outside world was truly a dangerous place!

Ever since it became a woodpecker of Basin-level, its beak had become even harder than before.

A single peck from its beak would be able to reduce stones into dust and dent metal, yet it never expected that it would be defeated at the likes of a fat insect.

Unbelievable!

Its tears rolled down its face and fell onto the ground, soaking into the soil.

The old ginseng with its abundance of leaves suddenly swayed a couple of times, and one of its rootlets broke off abruptly…

A single drop of white liquid shot out and into the Crimson-mantled Woodpecker’s beak.

It was currently in agonizing pain, so why would it notice this happening?

However, a few moments later, it felt that its beak no longer hurt. Besides that, it also tasted something sweet in its beak…

It was the sweetness of a ginseng.

Then, its entire body suddenly shook once, and a rush of energy rose from its body up into the sky…

At the same time, the entire arcane realm seemed like it shook faintly too.

“I’ve achieved a breakthrough?!” The Crimson-mantled Woodpecker was stunned as if it could not believe what had just happened.

In mythology, Zhang Guolao ¹ had divinized after eating a thousand-year-oldfleeceflower root ² .

In reality, a woodpecker had drank a single drop of ginseng essence that allowed it to breakthrough into Pond-level…

The difference was astounding.

The old ginseng was still a bit away from being a thousand-year-old plant, but the main point was that it had spent its first 500 years growing in a bad environment and not absorbing vitality at all.

It spent the rest of its life growing in the Draconic Arcane Realm, which was overflowing with vitality, so it just might gain the same effects the fleeceflower root had. After all, both plants had the same foundations. After a while, the Crimson-mantled Woodpecker seemed to have regained consciousness; it shook its beak and instinctively pecked away at mid-air.

This action prompted a slight and almost undetectable fluctuation, which spread throughout the entire arcane realm in an instant.

“There are so many trees here, yet there’s only one insect. That’s so strange. Do trees here not have insects?” exclaimed the Crimson-mantled Woodpecker.

“Nonsense, you’re definitely new here, so you don’t know anything. The only insect that can enter this place is me, the one and only Daqing. I was granted this privilege by the Great Azure Dragon. I’m eating a bit of this old ginseng’s roots because it was what the Great Azure Dragon owed me as payment. I’m no insect that steals food.” Chong Daqing’s upper half popped up from within the soil, and it spoke with its front limbs around its waist.

When the crimson-mantled bird heard the strong insect speak, it immediately flew up into mid-air in flight.

After just advancing to Pond-level, the bird finally realized just how powerful this great green insect was. The insect’s aura ran deep—it was actually a powerful powerhouse.

If the bird was a pond, then the insect was a great ocean.

…

“Rich-man Host, it was just as you guessed. This woodpecker is quite amazing after advancing to Pond-level. Because it achieved this breakthrough in my arcane realm, when it first communicated with the world, I had realized its true talent. As I expected, it was extraordinary, outrageous even. It just might be able to catch that parasite,” revealed the System in shock.

“Hiss…” Fang Ning was shocked as well; the System rarely commented on people, and even when it did, it rarely went to this extent.

“What exactly are its true talents?” asked Fang Ning hastily.

“Questioning the sky and the ground, listening to their voices, diagnosing their illnesses, and destroying all insects under the sky…”

“Ugh, where is that from? Such imposing words don’t usually come out from your mouth,” said Fang Ning in disbelief

“Look at you. Every time I speak before a battle, when have I never been impressive?” questioned the System.

“Haha, I still don’t believe you. You’ve always been a big fan of copy and paste,” Fang Ning was too lazy to focus on the details so he continued in a rush, “If that’s the case though, just have it quickly catch that hateful parasite. We can’t allow it to mess around as it pleases anymore, the longer it stays alive, the more trouble it breeds. Its actions are practically destroying our foundations and sabotaging our plans to be wealthy.”

“Are things so serious? It’s very dangerous, but it’s harmless to us. We’re all people with high qualifications in cultivation, so there’s no need to worry about being infected by it,” scoffed the System.

“You’re so naïve. It’ll be killing a lot of ordinary people, and when they’re all dead, we’ll be losing an endless source of labor. Without labor, our wealth will be like water without a source and a tree without roots.” Once Fang Ning heard the System’s words, he grumbled in exasperation.

“Oh, oh, I see! Since this parasite is going to harm the world so much, I’ll have to annihilate it as soon as possible,” declared the System.

“You should speak like that in front of outsiders. Why act in front of me?” deadpanned Fang Ning.

“I learnt it from you just now. If I don’t play things up, how would you understand my importance?” asked the System boldly.

“Stop spouting nonsense and just go.” Fang Ning had a clear grasp on the current situation; after all, he was a human being with a conscience. The more time they wasted here, the more time that parasite would have to wreak havoc.

…

The Crimson-mantled Woodpecker currently had on a confused expression.

It had no idea how it managed to leave the mysterious land to return to blue skies and lush lands.

If it were honest, it was quite reluctant to leave that place.

That place was a treasure, since it was able to achieve a breakthrough in a short amount of time.

Otherwise, according to its estimation, it would have to eat a few more insects off the red maple tree before it would be able to achieve its breakthrough.

That would take at least a few weeks.

However, it of course had no idea that the benefit that it had enjoyed was a rare one.

The old ginseng’s first drop of essence had been given to it, which was why its natural talent had evolved. This exact thing was why the System was so shocked.

An evolution like this could not be trigger by eating a few insects that were rich in vitality.

Even Fang Ning and Chong Daqing had not enjoyed treatment like this.

It was obvious now that it was rewarded for being a good bird.

At this moment, Vigilante A had appeared before it.

“Fellow cultivator, you’ve successfully evolved and your power has increased greatly. Now, I would like to invite you to cast your powers to aid me in dispelling of evil,” stated Vigilante A solemnly.

“That, that’s to be expected,” agreed the Crimson-mantled Woodpecker quickly.

There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Although it had no idea what benefits it had truly enjoyed, it was clear on one thing—if it were not for Vigilante A, its breakthrough would not have been possible at all.

Based on this alone, it aimed to do its best to help.

However, there was one problem.

“But, I have no idea how to help you. If that parasite were on some tree, then I would be able to find it easily…”

“This world is also a tree…” said Vigilante A calmly.

That explained matters completely.

In that moment, it was as if a single strike of lightning had flashed in the bird’s brain.

Right after, the bird’s Natural Trait was triggered in a single moment.

It subconsciously pecked a random space in mid-air!

In an instant, invisible ripples spread throughout the entire world.

In the next moment, it saw things differently; the sky was no longer the sky, and the ground was no longer the ground.

The sky and the ground disappeared, replaced with a towering tree. The tree was so tall it reached the sky, and the veins that ran through it could be seen clearly.

Its leaves were the sky, its roots the ground, and it pierced through the entire world.

Poisonous insects in groups as stick as stalks in a field of flax were latched onto the giant tree, desperately absorbing its nutrients.

There was also a large group of black and indescribable insects that were gathering at the top of the tree.

“What does that parasite look like?” asked the bird.

Vigilante A reached out, to which a dark red Nine-Curve Insect appeared indistinctly before its eyes.

“Found it.” Suddenly, it started rapidly pecking away at a single place, its long tongue stretching out at the same time.

Soon, a red, winding insect appeared with its long tongue.

Its eyes glimmered and it was just about to eat the worm, but right before it could do so, a tiny fire dragon appeared. The dragon went straight for the Nine-Curve insect and burned it to dust.

“Uh, do you perhaps also like eating insects?”

“No. You’ve just cultivated to Pond-level, so I was worried that you’ll be harmed by this poisonous insect, which was why I killed it first,” said Vigilante A seriously.

“Thank you so much, fellow cultivator. You were right just now, too. It did feel like I had entered an inexplicable state where I saw the sky and the ground as a tree. However, that feeling is gone now. It’s a pity since I have no idea when I’ll be able to enter that state again. If I could control it, I would no longer have to worry about not having enough insects to eat…”

The Crimson-mantled Woodpecker was faintly aware that it had received great blessings from this person before it. It had never heard of any woodpecker predecessors seeing what it had saw just now.

“You have a bright future, so never forget your initial goals. Remember your celestial duty of eradicating all pests of the sky and the ground. If you work hard at cultivation, you’ll be able to master that realm in no time,” said Vigilante A calmly.

“Hmm, I understand. I’ll definitely work hard at being a good bird.” As it spoke, the Crimson-mantled Woodpecker flapped its wings encouragingly.