The following days.
Shi Yi completely resigned himself to fate and settled down in Stone Village.
In Stone Village.
There were no charming and lovely maidservants like A Man for him to tease, no beautiful and moving mother to call him to wake up, and no life of a prince or descendant who had everything handed to him.
He had to rely on himself for everything: cooking, sleeping, cultivating, washing clothes, and every few days, he had to follow the Stone Village hunting party to hunt for food.
Although it was plain, it was simple, and Shi Yi gradually adapted to this plain life.
Perhaps the plainness in his eyes was different from others, but his days were quite fulfilling.
Every morning, he would first go to the Willow Deity to build up some goodwill, which meant finding her for awkward chats on and off. He was a child, after all, and if he didn't make good use of this age, he might never have the chance again.
Since the chats were awkward and lacked substance, the Willow Deity didn't always pay attention to Shi Yi, but it was clear that her subsequent divine sense transmissions became gentler, unconsciously treating him as a junior.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
This saying was truly not false.
When cultivating the Original True Understanding, even with the help of his Double Pupil, Shi Yi encountered countless large and small problems. As soon as he had a problem, he would quickly go to the Willow Deity for guidance.
Although the Willow Deity felt Shi Yi was a bit annoying, her essence was ultimately that of a woman, and maternal radiance was hidden within her heart. Otherwise, she wouldn't have responded to anything Shi Yi said.
Since they already had a karmic connection and she didn't particularly dislike Shi Yi, Shi Yi got solutions to his problems with cultivating the Original True Understanding from the Willow Deity.
There was nothing he could do.
Shi Yi was not as resilient as Shi Hao, whose shoulders could support the entire Heaven. He was just a mortal, a mortal with powerful strength and extraordinary talent.
He had self-awareness and wouldn't think too highly of himself, believing he was the legendary Long Aotian. He was humble and cautious, never risking his life and future.
Perhaps this Shi Yi was not mature enough, but the feeling of being needed somehow made the Willow Deity feel very comfortable, and she gradually began to pay attention to some of Shi Yi's off-topic awkward chats.
Three years later.
Great Wilderness, Stone Village, village center.
"Willow Deity, your voice is so pleasant, you must be very beautiful!"
"Not beautiful at all, I am very ugly, charred all over, and dilapidated."
"Really? I don't believe it, unless you transform and show me."
"Shi Yi, you are still young, you should not be overly attached to physical appearance."
"I'm not attached, Willow Deity. Since you yourself said that the human form is helpful for cultivation and makes it easier to comprehend the Great Dao, why do you insist on maintaining your Willow Tree body?"
"Shi Yi, what I taught you is to understand the human form, to understand why other races transform into human form, not for you to use this sentence specifically to provoke me."
Shi Yi's provocation had no effect on the Willow Deity. She had lived for countless years, and her state of mind was already unshakable.
She would not satisfy his wish to see her true Dharma Body just because of these few provocative words from Shi Yi.
The so-called Dharma Body was the human form.
Whether it was an Ancient Descendant or a Pure-Blooded Ferocious Beast, as long as they wanted to and were willing, they could transform into human form, and their original body would not change.
However, most Ancient Descendants and Pure-Blooded Ferocious Beasts disdain transforming into human form. Humans are merely blood food, not worth condensing a Dharma Body for.
"I'm not trying to provoke you. What I mean is, if Willow Deity, you can condense a Dharma Body and transform into human form, there's no need to maintain your original appearance. Is it possible that the idea that human form makes it easier to comprehend the Great Dao is just a lie?"
Seeing that his goal had no hope of being achieved and that he couldn't see Willow Deity's true Dharma Body, Shi Yi didn't care about anything else and directly used the fifteenth stratagem of the Thirty-Six Stratagems: the Incite Method.
"A lie?" A faint voice sounded.
One had to admit.
Shi Yi's Incite Method was very successful, and in some ways, very unsuccessful.
The success was that.
Willow Deity truly manifested her Dharma Body. This was the appearance of her true Dharma Body.
Under Shi Yi's disbelieving gaze.
He saw a peerless beauty slowly walk out of the void. The woman was barefoot, her pair of snow-white jade feet lightly stepping on the empty void.
As the woman walked casually, she gave off the feeling of a goddess descending from the nine heavens to the mortal realm. The cyan-white long robe she wore clung tightly to her graceful body.
As she moved, she inadvertently revealed her tall figure, her long and shapely legs, the beautiful undulation and elasticity of her chest, and the slender and supple curve of her waist.
This woman possessed an air of unparalleled elegance, making anyone, regardless of their status, feel an irresistible urge to look up to her in her presence.
Her clear and flawless eyes reflected a sense of understanding and calmness that came from seeing through the ways of the world, carrying the feeling of having experienced the vicissitudes of human life.
And when she saw a certain indescribable entity, which was Shi Yi, her beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, and a dangerous aura permeated the entire Stone Village.
The failure was that.
Although Shi Yi successfully used the Incite Method to make Willow Deity manifest her true Dharma Body, he himself had to bear the consequences of using the Incite Method.
The Incite Method, the Incite Method, the Incite Method is a very powerful rhetorical skill. When using it, one must clearly consider the target, environment, and conditions, and not abuse it casually.
When using the Incite Method, one must grasp the timing, neither too fast nor too slow. If too fast, haste makes waste. If too slow, it will naturally be ineffective.
Shi Yi succeeded, but also failed.
"Three years have passed, Shi Yi. You've grown up, and you've opened six Grotto-heavens. It's time for you to go out and explore. Under my wings, you will never truly grow up."
Willow Deity stood barefoot in mid-air, her fair and tender jade feet always maintaining a distance of one centimeter from the ground, looking so sacred and inviolable.
As she said, three years had passed.
The nine-year-old Shi Yi was already a big boy. He had shed some of his childishness and gained a bit of youthful charm. His handsome features made the girls of Stone Village yearn for him every night.
He had a handsome face, with eyes as bright as the Milky Way beneath eyebrows as sharp as swords. His straight and prominent nose was as if carved from jade.
The curve of his lips below his nose was like a bow, drawing an exceptionally perfect line. If it were a little longer, it would appear too rugged and become imperfect.
If it were a little shorter, it would appear as delicate and weak as a girl's. It was precisely that a little more would be too rigid, and a little less would be too soft. As it was now, it was just right and perfect.
He was about 1.6 meters tall, without any bulging muscles. His golden ratio body, coupled with perfect merman line abs, meant every muscle on his body was just right.
His long, ink-black hair flowed behind him, reaching his waist. His resolute and handsome features gave him a hint of scholarly air, but he didn't appear weak.
"Willow Deity, I..."
Before the words even finished.
The Willow Deity flashed and appeared before Shi Yi, placing a hand, carved like white jade, on Shi Yi's shoulder, instantly sealing his body.
Just as Shi Yi's eyes darted around, a spatial vortex opened before him. The jade hand on his shoulder forcefully pushed him into the spatial vortex.
"This brat is truly annoying, chattering incessantly for three years. Now I can finally have some peace and quiet for a while."
The Willow Deity clapped her hands, and her Dharma body disappeared. The giant willow tree in the center of Stone Village seemed unchanged, no one noticing that it had briefly vanished.
(End of Chapter)