Senior?

Just as Hu Niu was feeling puzzled,

"Knock, knock, knock!" Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

After Shi Yi spoke, the door was gently pushed open by a hand. A woman much older than Hu Niu, barefoot, slowly walked into the room.

She was peerlessly beautiful, sacred and radiant. Even if one exhausted every word of praise in the Nine Heavens Ten Earths, none could describe her beauty.

Hu Niu could not help but feel inferior. Before this woman, she felt like dust.

Isn't she afraid of stepping on pebbles while walking barefoot? This was Hu Niu's first thought.

But right after that,

as the feeling of inferiority rose within her, she no longer dared to look directly at the woman.

Fortunately, Shi Yi was good at reading the room. He patted Hu Niu's little hand to show that she did not need to be so nervous, then stepped forward to welcome the Willow Deity, who had already transformed into a human-shaped Law Body.

"Oh, Senior Willow, you've finally come."

Noticing the Willow Deity subtly shake her head, Shi Yi immediately slammed on the brakes. The word "Senior" slipped from his mouth as he tentatively extended his hand.

"Shi Yi, only this once. You should understand."

The Willow Deity naturally avoided Shi Yi's outstretched hand. She never denied her own charm, especially the attraction she held for someone as fickle-hearted as Shi Yi.

Over countless years, what peerless geniuses had she not seen? Her Dao heart was steadfast as a boulder. Trifles such as the attraction between men and women were beneath her notice.

The words Dao Companion.

To her, they were something forever beyond reach. The reason she had agreed to come eat this Hotpot with Shi Yi was merely because she did not find him unpleasant.

Do not underestimate that assessment. With Shi Yi's temperament, the fact that she did not find him annoying and was even willing to pay him attention was already an almost impossible thing.

"Understood, understood. Senior, please sit."

Shi Yi did not show the slightest embarrassment. His skin was thick enough to be called invincible. He swiftly moved a stone stool over for the Willow Deity and prepared a bowl and chopsticks for her.

"Senior?"

Hu Niu quietly jabbed Shi Yi in the waist with her elbow. She thought no one had seen it, but every movement she made was impossible to hide from the Willow Deity seated beside her.

"Didn't I go out training for a few months? Thanks to Senior's care, I returned safely. Today's Hotpot is specially prepared to thank Senior for her kindness," Shi Yi explained.

The Willow Deity did not want to expose her true identity before Hu Niu, so Shi Yi could only make up a half-true story to explain the origin of her current human-shaped Law Body.

"So that's how it is!" Hu Niu suddenly understood.

At first,

she had thought the Willow Deity was someone important to Shi Yi, perhaps even his child bride.

And a child bride, as the name implied, was a wife raised from childhood,

usually five or six years older than the man, sometimes even over a decade older.

That was not impossible.

Old Clan Leader Shi Yunfeng had said that it was normal for children Shi Yi's age to have child brides. In the Tribal Clans of the Great Wilderness, to ensure the continuation of the next generation, many people became fathers when they were only in their teens.

"It's a little spicy, but it tastes acceptable. I didn't expect your cultivation to be so-so, while you're actually quite proficient in these unorthodox pursuits."

The Willow Deity elegantly swallowed a piece of beef. Feeling its slight spiciness in her mouth, she gave her assessment.

The food Shi Yi had painstakingly prepared was, to her, merely something barely fit to eat.

It was not that Shi Yi lacked skill, but that she herself did not enjoy such things. She disliked both lust between men and women and the pleasures of the palate.

Her heart held only the Great Dao.

Had she not been betrayed by her own people and suffered that great calamity, nearly perishing with her Dao extinguished before ending up in the Eight Regions of the Lower Realm, Shi Yi likely would not have had a chance to exchange even a single word with her in this lifetime.

"Senior, people cannot live only for cultivation. If one cultivates until, in the end, one is alone with the Great Dao, and when one looks back, there is not a single person behind them, what kind of loneliness would that be?"

Other than his initial probing, Shi Yi made no further attempts to get handsy. Even though the Willow Deity sat beside him, less than ten centimeters away, he remained remarkably proper.

"The strong are always lonely. Shi Yi, if you become a strong person in the future, you must also learn to savor loneliness."

As the Willow Deity spoke softly, she skillfully used her chopsticks to blanch beef in the splattering Hotpot, looking like an old glutton.

Yet this was her first time tasting food with a human-shaped Law Body. The friends she had known in the past either discussed the Dao or entered seclusion. Her entire life had been spent cultivating.

Of course,

that did not mean she would agree whenever someone invited her to a meal. So far, Shi Yi was the only one who had succeeded.

He had bothered her for three years, and she had taught him for another three. Three years was insignificant to her, yet it had successfully opened her heart.

This opening of her heart did not mean she had fallen for Shi Yi. Rather, like a fairy descending into the mortal world, the Willow Deity had developed a trace of curiosity toward this Double Pupil User whose Dao heart was not firm.

Even with her help, just how far could someone with such an unsteady Dao heart go in the end?

To be honest,

how could the little thoughts in Shi Yi's heart possibly be hidden from a supreme being like the Willow Deity, who could sense anyone merely by having their True Name thought of? She simply found him interesting.

Simply interesting.

That was enough.

"But if a strong person cannot even choose his own fate, if he has only loneliness, nothing but loneliness, can he truly be considered strong?" Shi Yi retorted.

"If you cannot even endure loneliness, how can you become strong?" the Willow Deity replied calmly.

"What kind of strength counts as being strong?" Shi Yi asked in return.

"There are worlds beyond worlds, and stronger people beyond the strong. As for what kind of strong person can be considered truly strong, that is a question you must ask yourself."

At this point,

the Willow Deity paused slightly, as if deep in thought.

No one knew how much time passed.

She extended her fair, jade-like hand and gently placed it atop Shi Yi's head. This was the first time she had touched a member of the opposite sex with her human-shaped Law Body, and also the first time she had such intimate contact with one in this form.

"Shi Yi, if you consider someone who rules the Wild Domain to be strong, then with your talent as a Double Pupil User, you will achieve that easily in the future. If you wish to stand above the Nine Heavens Ten Earths, your current efforts are still far from enough. And if you wish to fulfill that nearly impossible dream in your heart, I fear that even if you spend your entire life pursuing it, you will not see even the slightest hope."

At the end,

the Willow Deity sighed softly. "I should not have agreed to show you my human-shaped Law Body in the first place. Perhaps then you would not have developed such unrealistic delusions."

A person's eyes could speak.

Double Pupil Users were no exception.

Though the Willow Deity could not see through Shi Yi's past life, no matter how subtly he looked at her, how could he hide it from this Immortal Ancient Ancestral Offering Spirit who had lived for who knew how long?

And at that moment, Shi Yi thought,

I keep feeling like she has some kind of misunderstanding about me. Does she think I'm a good person? Does she think I'd give up an entire forest for a single willow tree?

Shi Yi lowered his head. He had many things he wanted to say, but now he could not say a single word. Who knew how the Willow Deity defined the words "scumbag man"?

A woman's heart was as deep as the sea.

Honestly,

Shi Yi somewhat wanted to run away. Before the Willow Deity, he had almost no secrets. He felt that he was still too young, actually trying to win her heart with such low-level methods.

Meanwhile,

"What are Yi Gege and Senior talking about? Why can't I understand a single word?" Hu Niu frowned.