My Heart Is Like Iron, Indestructible?

"Old Clan Leader, how did you obtain this Runic Bone Fragment? What it records is no simple matter." Shi Yi felt that the Original True Understanding was extraordinary, yet he had no idea exactly why.

This was not his fault.

Although Shi Yi was a transmigrator—and one who had transmigrated while still being nurtured in his mother's womb, awakening the memories of his past life at six—it did not mean he knew Perfect World well.

In his previous life, the Azure Blue Planet where Shi Yi had lived had erupted into a global Nuclear war. Everything had been destroyed by terrifying nuclear radiation, and the entertainment industry had become a complete mess.

Everyone had struggled to survive. Those who mutated, mutated; those who died, died. Shi Yi had watched the Perfect World animation before, but he only remembered the general plot and main characters.

As for the details of Perfect World, he basically knew very little. It would not be wrong to say he knew nothing when asked.

Take this Runic Bone Fragment recording the Original True Understanding, for example. He knew absolutely nothing about it and did not understand it at all.

This thing looked extremely extraordinary, but he did not know whether it could compare to the cultivation methods passed down by Martial King Manor.

"Of course it is not simple. It fell from the sky. It was... it was a gift from the heavens!"

As Old Clan Leader Shi Yunfeng spoke of the Runic Bone Fragment's origins, his voice trembled with excitement. From time to time, he could not help glancing at the thick, charred Willow Tree behind Shi Yi.

"So it's related to her?" Shi Yi smacked his lips.

Even if he did not know much about Perfect World and only had a vague understanding of many things, he still knew that the Willow Deity was the ultimate powerhouse to cling to. Unfortunately, he had offended her right from the start.

"I remember it was forty years ago, on a stormy night..."

Old Clan Leader Shi Yunfeng nodded. Even now, he clearly remembered the day the Willow Deity descended upon Stone Village.

That night decades ago, lightning flashed and thunder roared. Torrential rain poured down, wild winds howled, and heaven and earth seemed to collapse.

Many mountains were split apart by lightning. Mountain floods surged like seas, beast hordes stampeded, and the sight was terrifying enough to make people tremble.

Looking up—

An unimaginably massive Willow Tree stood bathed in an endless sea of lightning. Bolts as thick as mountains coiled around its enormous trunk, while hundreds of millions of willow branches transformed into blazing divine chains.

In the end—

Those willow branches pierced through the entire Azure Sky and killed the master behind it.

However—

That unimaginably massive Willow Tree did not fare well either. Its trunk was broken in half by an immense force, while its body was scorched pitch-black by the boundless sea of lightning.

In the end, the Willow Tree rapidly shrank its form and fell from a sky of unknown height, landing right in Stone Village.

There was also a faint glow wrapped around this lustrous white Runic Bone Fragment, which fell into Stone Village alongside the Willow Tree.

"It fell from the sky with her?"

Shi Yi scratched his head, then turned to look at the enormous Willow Tree behind him. It took three people holding hands just to barely encircle its trunk. He understood that the Original True Understanding was definitely no ordinary thing.

"Yes!"

Old Clan Leader Shi Yunfeng nodded forcefully. He had still been young back then, and the shock of witnessing it all was beyond imagination. From that moment on, he had revered the Willow Tree as a deity.

Over the decades, he had repeatedly held the bone fragment and kowtowed before the Willow Tree, offering sacrifices, yet he had never received a response. He had not even known that she could communicate through divine sense.

But now, it seemed—

It was not that she could not communicate through divine sense. Ordinary people simply were not worthy of her doing so. Yet ever since Shi Yi came to Stone Village, she had actually taken the initiative to communicate with him for the first time.

And the reason she had contacted him was merely to tell him to keep Shi Yi here. He did not understand Double Pupils or saints. He only knew that Shi Yi was someone the Willow Deity valued.

"Senior Willow Deity, can you tell me just what the Original True Understanding recorded on this Runic Bone Fragment is?"

Shi Yi walked beneath the Willow Deity's enormous charred trunk and fearlessly patted it.

He had thought it through. A being of this level could kill him with a single thought. Acting timid and restrained before her would only make her look down on him.

The Willow Deity remained silent. There was no response. Her thick, charred trunk was like a black boulder, not swaying in the slightest from Shi Yi's patting.

"Senior Willow Deity, don't be so stingy. I admit I was wrong. I offended you, Senior. You've already hit me, so forgive me. Tell me what the Original True Understanding really is."

Shi Yi was not someone who cared much about saving face. With such a powerhouse right before him, he could shamelessly throw away his pride. If the Willow Deity would not answer, he would keep asking until she was willing to respond.

In the blink of an eye, half a day passed.

Perhaps she had become annoyed.

A jade-green willow branch stretched out from the void and viciously lashed Shi Yi across the backside. Seeing him roll about on the ground in pain, the enormous Willow Tree formed by the Willow Deity gave off a trace of delight.

Immediately after—

A voice whose gender could not be distinguished finally sounded in Shi Yi's mind.

"You rascal and scoundrel, you truly have no shame."

"This junior, Shi Yi, respectfully asks the Willow Deity for guidance. How exactly should one cultivate the Original True Understanding?" Shi Yi hurriedly climbed up from the ground.

Although he had been whipped again, it was good enough that she was willing to communicate. If she had refused to communicate, that would have meant he had truly offended her beyond repair. Since she was willing to speak, there was still room to mend things.

"For a mortal to comprehend the Original True Understanding, they must establish the most solid foundation. During childhood, in the Blood Moving Realm, they must be like the cub of a Heavenly Ranked Primordial Ferocious Beast, capable of lifting one hundred thousand jin of Divine Iron with bodily strength alone. Their Spiritual Will must also be tempered harder than iron. You have already met the former requirement of one hundred thousand jin of divine strength. As for the latter, I fear you are still far from it."

Perhaps because Shi Yi's attitude in admitting his mistake was sincere, and because he was only a six-year-old child, the Willow Deity's divine-sense transmission unconsciously carried a trace of feminine gentleness.

"My heart is like iron, indestructible?" Shi Yi blurted out.

"Those eight words describe it quite accurately. I did not expect you to possess such literary talent, able to speak such a line so readily. But I feel you cannot possibly live up to those eight words."

After inadvertently revealing part of her true gender, the Willow Deity did not continue to conceal it and directly spoke in her most authentic voice.

Her true voice was very pleasant.

"Willow Deity, do you mean... I cannot cultivate or comprehend the Original True Understanding?"

Shi Yi's little face was filled with regret. He knew himself best. What indestructible Spiritual Will did he have? He was merely an ordinary person who could not even resist a honey trap.

Even now, though he possessed Double Pupils, the incomplete Qilin Treasure Technique, Kirin Steps, and the divine strength to wield one hundred thousand jin with a swing of one arm, he was still only a mortal with great power.

"Ordinary people without an indestructible Spiritual Will truly cannot comprehend the Original True Understanding. If they force themselves to comprehend it, they will only suffer backlash from the runes on the bone fragment. At best, they will cough blood and be severely injured; at worst, they will die on the spot. But you are a Double Pupil User, so you can take a shortcut. You can use your Double Pupils to comprehend the runes upon it."

The Willow Deity's words opened the door to a new world for Shi Yi, but he was no reckless fool. He wanted to know whether taking a shortcut came with some unacceptable price.

"So that works too. Is there a price for taking a shortcut?"

"At least you have some self-awareness. Naturally, there is a price. The stronger you become, the harder it will be to control your strength. If you wish to perfectly control your own power, you must properly temper your Spiritual Will in the future."

"Does tempering one's Spiritual Will mean abusing myself?"

"How can those unwilling to endure hardship temper themselves and advance?"

"Actually, I don't think I'm that bad..."

"Why do you think you were sent here?"

The Willow Deity's single sentence completely shut Shi Yi down, leaving him unable to say a word.