Just as Hu Niu was feeling puzzled.
"Thump, thump, thump!" A knocking sound rang out.
"Please come in!"
As Shi Yi's voice fell, the door was gently pushed open by a hand. A woman much older than Hu Niu, barefoot, slowly walked into the room.
Her beauty was unparalleled, sacred and magnificent. All the words of praise in the Nine Heavens Ten Earths could not describe her beauty.
This made Hu Niu unconsciously feel a sense of inferiority. She felt like dust in front of this woman.
Walking barefoot like this, aren't you afraid of small stones hurting your feet? This was the first thought that popped into Hu Niu's mind.
But immediately after.
As the feeling of inferiority surged within her, she no longer dared to look directly at the other person.
Fortunately, Shi Yi was someone who knew how to read the room. He patted Hu Niu's small hand, indicating that she didn't need to be so nervous, before stepping forward to greet the Willow Deity, who had transformed into a human form.
"Oh, Senior Willow, you're finally here."
Noticing the Willow Deity slightly shaking her head, Shi Yi quickly slammed the brakes on his words. The word "Senior" slipped out directly, and at the same time, he tentatively extended his hand.
"Shi Yi, this is the only time. You should understand."
The Willow Deity naturally avoided Shi Yi's extended hand. She never denied her charm, especially the attraction it held for someone with an unstable temperament like Shi Yi.
Over countless years, she had seen countless peerless prodigies. Their Dao hearts were as stable as a rock. Such low-level matters between men and women were simply not worth her attention.
The word "Dao companion".
To her, it was a word that was both desirable and unattainable. The reason she agreed to eat this hot pot with Shi Yi was simply because she didn't find him annoying.
Don't underestimate this evaluation. Given Shi Yi's personality, for her not to find him annoying, and even be willing to interact with him, was already an almost impossible feat.
"Understood, understood, Senior, please have a seat."
Shi Yi showed not the slightest hint of awkwardness. His thick skin was practically invincible. He quickly moved a stone stool over for the Willow Deity and prepared chopsticks and a bowl for her.
"Senior?"
Hu Niu quietly nudged Shi Yi's waist with her elbow. She thought others couldn't see, but in reality, her every move could not escape the notice of the Willow Deity sitting beside her.
"Didn't I go out for a few months of training? Thanks to Senior's care, I returned safely. This hot pot today is specifically to thank Senior for her kindness," Shi Yi explained.
The Willow Deity didn't want to reveal her true identity in front of Hu Niu, so Shi Yi could only half-truthfully make up a story to explain the origin of the Willow Deity's current human form.
"So that's how it is!" Hu Niu suddenly understood.
At first.
She had thought the Willow Deity was someone related to Shi Yi, or even a child bride.
And a child bride, as the name suggests, is a wife raised from a young age.
They are basically five or six years, or even more than ten years, older than the husband.
This was not an impossible thing.
Old Clan Leader Shi Yunfeng said that it was normal for a child Shi Yi's age to have a child bride. In the large tribes of the Great Wilderness, many were already fathers in their early teens to ensure the continuation of the next generation.
"A bit spicy, but the taste is alright. I didn't expect your cultivation to be mediocre, but you're quite proficient in unconventional paths."
Willow Deity elegantly swallowed a piece of beef, feeling the slightly spicy taste in her mouth, and gave her evaluation.
The food Shi Yi had painstakingly prepared with care was, to her, merely something barely edible.
It wasn't that Shi Yi was incapable, but rather that she herself didn't like these things. She disliked both carnal desires and the desires of the palate.
Her heart held only the Great Dao.
If not for being betrayed by her own kind, which led to this great calamity, nearly causing her demise and scattering her to the Lower Realm's Eight Regions, Shi Yi probably wouldn't have had the chance to speak a single word to her in this lifetime.
"Senior, one cannot live solely for cultivation. If, in the end, one cultivates to the point of being alone with the Great Dao, and looking back, there is no one behind them, how lonely would that be?"
Aside from his initial probing, Shi Yi didn't attempt to make any physical contact. Even though Willow Deity was sitting right beside him, less than ten centimeters away, he remained very well-behaved.
"The strong are always lonely, Shi Yi. If you are to become strong in the future, you must always learn to savor loneliness."
As Willow Deity spoke softly, she skillfully used her chopsticks to blanch beef in the bubbling hotpot, looking like an old Taotie.
However, this was the first time she had tasted food in her human form. The friends she had known before were either discussing the Dao or in seclusion. Her entire life had been spent in cultivation.
Of course.
This didn't mean she would agree to eat with just anyone who asked. So far, only Shi Yi had succeeded.
He had bothered her for three years and she had taught him for three years. Three years was insignificant to her, but it had successfully opened her heart.
This opening of her heart wasn't falling for Shi Yi, but rather like an immortal descending to the mortal world. Willow Deity developed a hint of curiosity towards Shi Yi, this Double Pupil wielder with an unstable Dao heart.
How far could someone with such an unstable Dao heart go, even with her help?
To be honest.
How could Shi Yi's little thoughts be hidden from a supreme being like Willow Deity, who could be sensed just by mentioning her true name? She simply found him interesting.
Just interesting.
That was enough.
"But if a strong person cannot even decide their own fate, and only has loneliness, only loneliness, can they truly be considered strong?" Shi Yi retorted.
"If you can't even endure loneliness, then how can you become strong?" Willow Deity said indifferently.
"What kind of strength makes one strong?" Shi Yi asked back.
"Above this world are other worlds, and above the strong are other strong. What kind of strong person can truly be considered strong? This question you must ask yourself."
Speaking of this.
Willow Deity paused slightly, seemingly in thought.
Who knows how much time passed.
She extended her fair, jade-like hand and gently placed it on Shi Yi's head. This was the first time she had touched the opposite sex in her human form, and the first time she had intimate contact with the opposite sex in her human form.
"Shi Yi, if you consider those who rule the Desolate Region strong, with your Double Pupil talent, you can easily achieve that in the future. If you want to stand above the Nine Heavens Ten Earths, your current efforts are far from enough. If you want to achieve that almost impossible dream in your heart, I'm afraid you won't see even a glimmer of hope in your entire life."
At the end of the conversation.
The Willow Deity also sighed slightly, and said softly, "I shouldn't have agreed to you back then and revealed my human form. Perhaps then you wouldn't have such unrealistic delusions."
A person's eyes can speak.
A Double Pupil holder is no exception.
Although the Willow Deity couldn't see through Shi Yi's past life, the way he looked at her, no matter how subtle, how could it escape the notice of this Immortal Ancient Ancestral Offering Spirit who had lived for who knows how long?
And at this moment, Shi Yi.
I always feel like she has some misunderstanding about me. She wouldn't think I'm some good person, would she? She wouldn't think that I would give up the entire forest for one willow tree, would she?
Shi Yi lowered his head. He had a lot he wanted to say in his heart, but now, he couldn't say a single word. Who knew how the Willow Deity defined the word 'scumbag'?
A woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea.
Honestly.
Shi Yi felt a bit like running away. In front of the Willow Deity, he had almost no secrets. He felt that he was still too young, actually trying to use some low-level methods to win her favor.
On the other side.
"What are Brother Yi and the senior talking about? I can't understand a single word?" Hu Niu frowned.
*End of Chapter