"Shi Yi, tell me, where did the scripture you're reciting come from?"
This sudden question from the Willow Deity left Shi Yi at a loss for how to answer for a moment.
Lie to her?
Could he get away with it?
Moreover...
Lies only bring more lies. Using lies to verify lies will only result in more lies. Telling one lie might even require thousands of other lies to cover it up.
So, lying was definitely not realistic. He wasn't a born liar; he couldn't even fool himself when he lied. Lying to her would make him look more foolish than a clown.
After much thought.
Shi Yi raised his head, a bright smile on his face, revealing his white teeth.
"It's a secret!"
If he couldn't lie, then it could only be a secret.
As the saying goes:
A man with secrets is the most charming man.
A man who is completely transparent might not be respected by women, and once a man is seen through by a woman, he can only become a toy in her hands.
Although Shi Yi didn't know what kind of woman the Willow Deity was, he believed that no woman liked lies. Of course, lies specifically meant to praise women didn't count.
As for women...
They could accept some lies, but not others at all.
You could lie and say she was beautiful and kind-hearted.
But you couldn't say she was malicious and dark-hearted.
Besides that.
On important matters, neither men nor women could accept deception.
If you didn't want to say something, you didn't have to, because perhaps you had your reasons for not speaking.
But if you chose to deceive with lies...
That was undoubtedly the most hurtful approach.
"You have secrets?"
The Willow Deity's expression didn't change, but her gaze towards Shi Yi held a hint of warmth.
She had thought he might use some lies to cover up the origin of this scripture.
She could allow Shi Yi to have his own secrets, but she would absolutely not allow deception, in any form.
If Shi Yi chose to use lies to placate her, she would simply disappear, as if she had never appeared at all.
"Teacher, can't I have my own secrets?" Shi Yi stood tall and proud, looking as if it were the most natural thing in the world, completely unbothered by saying this.
In his opinion.
The Willow Deity wasn't his woman, so why should she question him so thoroughly?
He just wouldn't say.
What could she do about it?
The Willow Deity didn't press further, speaking calmly, "Shi Yi, I think the reason you were able to open the Ten Celestial Passages is largely due to these supreme scriptures. Based on the complexity and chaotic nature of your Ten Celestial Passages, you have at least thirteen supreme Dao scriptures."
In fact, the day Shi Yi opened the Ten Celestial Passages, she discovered that this Double Pupil user was extraordinary and knew he had many secrets that even he himself wasn't aware of.
However, Shi Yi had never recited any scriptures, and he still needed to ask her for guidance on cultivating the Original True Understanding. She couldn't be certain that Shi Yi's Ten Celestial Passages came from supreme scriptures.
"I don't know!"
Shi Yi's big eyes rolled. He wouldn't say a single word.
He wouldn't say it even if he was beaten to death!
"You don't want to talk about the thirteen supreme Dao scriptures, so don't. But the scripture you've already recited, you shouldn't need to hide it from your teacher anymore, right?" the Willow Deity asked.
"It's a secret!" Shi Yi scratched his head and chuckled foolishly.
As soon as he finished speaking.
Slender, glowing willow branches extended from the void, directly tying Shi Yi up like a zongzi.
"Slap!"
A willow branch whipped down from mid-air, making the sound of hitting plump flesh.
"Don't hit, don't hit. The secret of the scripture's origin really can't be told, but if the scripture is useful to Teacher, I'll recite it for Teacher again."
Shi Yi felt a burning pain on his backside and looked speechless. How old was he? He was already eleven this year, and she still treated him like a child.
It was too disrespectful!
She didn't treat him like a man!
Shi Yi gritted his teeth.
But there was nothing he could do.
"Do you know why I didn't let you finish reciting? The supreme scripture you are reciting consumes a lot of your own energy and cannot be recited casually. You can recite it at most twice a day, otherwise you will be physically and mentally exhausted and faint."
The Willow Deity saw the expression on Shi Yi's face.
She really hadn't treated Shi Yi as a man.
In her eyes.
Shi Yi was just a little brat who hadn't grown up, a little kid who was precocious and had improper thoughts about her.
His messy, improper thoughts about her, his head full of unrealistic ideas, she found more amusing.
It was because of this.
The Willow Deity's reaction to Shi Yi's deliberate, active closeness was not disgust, but rather the amusement of teasing a child.
Especially seeing Shi Yi's adorable look of gritted teeth and helplessness, Willow Deity found it even more amusing.
It sounded like it didn't fit her aloof personality, but people were different, and feelings were different.
When you were with your family, it was definitely different from when you were with your friends.
It was the same for Willow Deity.
She felt very comfortable and relaxed being with Shi Yi. As for others, she wouldn't even bother with them, but even if Shi Yi talked nonsense endlessly, she would answer him.
Of course, this was inseparable from Shi Yi's tireless efforts day and night. In the five years he was away from home, his biggest gain wasn't opening the Ten Celestial Passages, but rather "kidnapping" Willow Deity.
Now.
Willow Deity didn't mention Stone Village.
Nor did she plan to go back and be the Offering Spirit.
Instead, she treated Shi Yi's tenth Celestial Passage, this chaotic world filled with earth, water, fire, wind, yin, yang, chaos, and the five elements, as her home, even opening up a small world within it.
As for the safety of Stone Village.
There was no need to worry too much.
Not to mention the array formations and restrictions left by Willow Deity in Stone Village.
Most of the young men and women in Stone Village had undergone the Ancient Descendant True Blood Baptism, and many had already broken through to the Celestial Passage Realm, developing in the direction of a large tribal clan.
Moreover, if Stone Village wanted to go out, it couldn't possibly stay cooped up in the village forever. To truly go out, they could only fight against other tribal clans and fierce beasts in the Great Wilderness.
"Twice? Teacher, isn't once a day enough?"
Shi Yi's face showed some reluctance. Without Willow Deity saying anything, he also felt that his chanting was different from ordinary people. Chanting too much, this thing would really drain his body.
How to put it.
The scripture he chanted could actually manifest. It wasn't just simple chanting.
The scripture chanted from his mouth was as if a Saint had personally chanted it, containing the decrees of Heaven.
If it were an ordinary person.
If they didn't have talent, even if they chanted these scriptures until they died, they wouldn't be able to cause the slightest ripple.
But he was different. Every time he chanted a sentence, there were signs of Heaven and Earth manifesting, golden lotuses blooming, and saving the world.
A Saint Reincarnation with Double Pupils?
Was that how it came about?
No.
The Saints of this world, the ancient Saints, were completely different existences from the Saints he knew in his previous life. There was no connection between the two.
Shi Yi rubbed his face hard.
He felt he was thinking a bit too much.
"There's no room for negotiation, Shi Yi. From now on, you will recite scriptures in your own Grotto-heaven world, twice a day. No slacking," Willow Deity said in an unrefusable tone.
She understood Shi Yi well. With his lazy and hardship-averse nature, as his teacher, she had to be a bit more assertive. Otherwise, if he kept slacking like this, when would he ever gain the ability and qualification to walk alongside her?
The Great Dao is a solitary path.
Lonely and desolate.
If Shi Yi truly had the capability to walk alongside her...
Actually, there were some things she wasn't entirely unwilling to consider.
And so.
Besides needing to cultivate the Original True Understanding and the Willow Deity Method, Shi Yi now had a new daily routine: reciting scriptures.
Although this scripture recitation routine was within his Grotto-heaven world and accompanied by Willow Deity, it was still not an easy task for Shi Yi.
Nothing else, Shi Yi's scripture recitation was different from ordinary people. When he recited scriptures, it was as if he were a Saint, his mouth containing the decrees of Heaven. The consumption of reciting scriptures was simply too great.
One must know.
Previously, Shi Yi, relying on the Unceasing Growth of the Willow Deity Method, had fought fiercely against an adult Pi Xiu for ten days and ten nights without exhausting his physical strength. He even grew stronger the more he fought.
But after reciting the Script of Salvation three times, and only a third of it at that, he couldn't bear it and fainted. From this, it was clear that Shi Yi's scripture recitation was truly not ordinarily difficult.
Furthermore.
Besides the Script of Salvation, Shi Yi didn't dare to casually recite the other supreme scriptures temporarily floating in his soul consciousness sea, fearing he would be gone before he even finished reciting.
A third of the Script of Salvation, recited three times, could drain him dry. As for that scripture, "The Dao that can be spoken," which is the True Scripture of the Dao and its Virtue, it would probably only take a few words to drain him dry.
Being a person requires meticulous caution.
Being a person must not be greedy for merit or rush forward.
Shi Yi was deeply versed in the way of caution. Even when opening the Ten Celestial Passages, he had Willow Deity as a safeguard. He wasn't just blindly indulging in pleasure and lust, but was clear that she wouldn't stand by and watch him have an accident.
The only accident.
Shi Yi felt it was these thirteen supreme Dao scriptures in his soul consciousness sea.
He truly hadn't expected that the seemingly ordinary Dao scriptures from his previous life would turn into supreme Dao scriptures, and even open up the Ten Celestial Passages for him, whose potential and value were immeasurable.
The next day.
Martial King Manor, back garden.
"Aunt, little brother, I..."
(End of Chapter)